What mood are you in for news?

What mood are you in for news?

I am always looking for new ways to communicate and share moods, feelings, attitudes and perspectives. Direct communications of knowledge is important, but at times its good to know what others are thinking as well. Perhaps a sanity test for yourself when you read an article on the web. Well the other day I came accross and interesting site called Wevoke.com . http://www.wevoke.com/

It seemed like another simple story collating service or just a means of announcing certain articles. So many exist out there! But I was surprised by a simple little drop down list at the top of the website that asked how I wanted to FEEL.

I wasn't kidding you. Not search by article category or author.. But how I wanted to feel about a particular article or subject. Well at the moment I really needed to hear to some heart warming news. So I selected I wanted to be "most happy"

There were some interesting articles listed. One gave me a smile was titled: News: Couple Has Online Affair With Each Other by Mistake

Way at the top of the website is listed the moniker... "Search by feel" I laughed at the possible unintended humor in that as well.

Give it a whirl. I suspect you are only seeing the beginning of articles and news marketed by feeling!

Dexter Zone: Spotted Owls and where do they fit in burning forest?

Dexter Zone: Spotted Owls and where do they fit in burning forest?

Spotted Owls and where do they fit in burning forest?

Spotted Owls and where do they fit in burning forest?

It seems that the spotted owl never really goes away. We have been assured that its an endangered species, but somehow it maintains its numbers to come back in full flight for the news at certain critical points.

Lately the South Lake Tahoe fire has been featured prominently in the news. However quite a bit of press has been involved once again about the plight, flight and habitat of this creature of the woods.

Here is quite an interesting transcript of a Rush Limbaugh show discussing the topic.

Rush Limbaugh's recent take on the Spotted Owl

To me this is a perfect example of how a primary news story ... The South Lake Tahoe Fire... gets hijacked by a secondary story... The spotted owl.

I understand Rush's points in the transcript. However it seems that he is catering as well the maneuvering of the main story to a subtopic by by certain interested parties. Worrying about one creature type in an ecosystem by a huge fire. Who is representing the plight of the non-migrating Northwest Mushroom?

So this discussion about owls simply directs additional press and attention to the subtopic rather than the main topic. The South Lake Tahoe fire is being commented on as being the worst fire that has been seen in over a century! This is of course not only referring to the current crisis , but the additional fire potential in the area. But somehow the spotted owl seems to be nabbing quite a bit of press and attention.

So as the various owl types are being discussed:

Spotted Owls - Dragged into all kinds of debates about their degree of being endangered, and its habitat requirements. The result of which changed many aspects of human habitat and livelihood through extreme changes in forest policy. Guess what? Various groups are learning that they may have been wrong on some of its requirements. Will these groups help undo the damage to human habitat and livelihood?

Non-Spotted Owls - I haven't heard too much about these owls lately. Except for the old television and magazine ads for Cigars... I only see some cameo appearances in movies. Are they they intellectual elite in the Owl World?

The Barred Owl - a Google search today reveals that "barred owl" appears on some 479,000 web pages. I must admit that I don't follow owl species as closely as possible, but I understand that they really "LIKE" the spotted owl. They "LIKE" (this is a family oriented blog) so much that they want to cross breed the Spotted owl out of existence. No they are not the Horned Owl or the Horny Owl. Its the Barred Owl. Do Barred Owls publish web pages to get leads on potential locations for Spotted Owls?

So the fire rages on. Hopefully it will shortly be put under control. Incidentally over two hundred structures and countless other types of property destroyed so far. Unfortunately this means that many people no matter what position they have on the topic of Spotted Owls or the Northwest Forest Plan will be far to busy trying to save people and property before worrying about how many owls survived the conflagration.

The owls will somehow determine at the next owl convention how many survived the fire. Are there any owl rescue services out there?

So this blog has been hijacked as well. It was really just a thinly disguised ploy to get Barred Owls more attention. I don't know how many BarredOwl/Spotted Owl Dating services are out there. No doubt someone will ask for funding to make that happen.

Flash! I just went to http://www.godaddy.com/ to do a quick domain check. Guess What?

BARREDOWLDATING.COM

Is still available as a domain site!

No I didn't register the domain. Okay the first person to register it and take advantage of it can thank me in some small way. I know the Barred Owls may thank you. Perhaps you will get a grumble from the Spotted owls.

'Til Next time!



Stay Tuned.

Bypassing Corporate Security or Banging the TV..Same thing

Bypassing Corporate Security or Banging the TV..Same thing

We are pretty ingenious for imitating or creating workarounds in life. Sometimes we shouldn't do it ... But people will fall into a trap of thinking they are "solving" an issue or creating a workaround when they are simply fooling themselves. Its too bad that we do not have enough people looking over our shoulders and asking why we are trying such a silly trick . This can be even more amusing when you find out that OTHERS consider you to be the smart one and they are following you down the same pathway to doom.

A couple examples. Photocopy technology. Still a very complicated process which includes many parts and bits of computer technology. The manufactures try their best to put smarts into these machines to warn you about different problems or issues. How many people have you seen being stuck late at night trying to coax out a bit more toner out of an empty cartridge for that critical report? In some cases the gentle thumping of a cartridge might help, but they are frequently actually resetting certain sensors, timers, reset trips on some machines. So the trick of turning off the warning light might be banging the toner cartridge, or may be something else. However its late at night and you must try all of these things so you can print the last twelve pages of the report! This can be a gentle process or a brutal one depending on the beginning or ending temperament of the user. How many "the copier is broken" notes on copiers that went kaput late at night? So the first person might get away with a few tricks, but the tenth person is certain to have a frustrating experience. Of course no living person or alternate resource! I know most of you in office situations have been there!

I won't bother with the details of fixing the situation. Just that I know that such remedies are probably cheaper than handling picking up the pieces of a copier that did not survive end of month reports!

Banging the T.V. to make it work. This trick may be fading out. However at one time there were some technical reasons that tapping the television could temporarily take care of an issue. The technology has changed over time and the number of certified TV repairman have dropped considerably. Reducing to a great degree that you know what you are doing by tapping the TV to make it work! For some time though... People started tapping anything electronic to make it work! Hey it seems to work! How about mechanical devices! Sure that seems to work! Not sure why.. Uncle Fred did it in the 1950's Maybe it will work for me! That was then .. This is now.

Please explain Corporate Security as it relates to this post?

Check out the Mouse Jiggler

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/MouseJiggler.php

This will be a fantastic gizmo that will fly off the shelves! Many people will buy this because they want to bypass the corporate mandates of screen saver software that is a requirement to auto-run on corporate systems!

There are some applications that will for example pause, crash or halt if screen saver is activated. Some people will request their IT support to remove the Mandated Screen saver or disable it so they can run their application. However this can be a dead end a corporate security policy may not have exceptions or workarounds. So the alternative is to sit around wiggling yourself and the mouse while your app runs rather than walking away and come back to find the application has stopped?

No way!

So the mouse jiggler and its relations will either give the computer the impression that the mouse is being wiggled! So the screen saver stays off. Person at the computer right? Wrong!

The people buying such a device will at first have a chance to get their coffee breaks and IT Security will be happy until they find out that unattended computers are not being protected.

It will be glaring so to speak. Computer screen with a non-screen saver display and human head not nearby to view the screen...

I predict this product will work for a while until the security snoops at the big corporations catch wind and confiscate these gizmos and toss them into the school teacher forbidden items drawer! Then the vendor will have made his $29.00 bucks for a while until piles of these things are stuffed away by the corporate security police! ( Probably stuffed next the the mad-windup-clicking-teeth-toys.)

Its an eternal battle.. So the next round will start again with a new gizmo.

So whats my point? There are reasons for plans. There are reasons for messages. There are reasons for decisions. There are reasons why things work. People who are sufficiently empowered will sometimes take a direct line to "solve" an issue when in reality they are undoing someones plans that were originally intended as a benefit.

So who is at fault? That is a question that surfaces when people try to pick up the pieces after something was "fixed" to death or disabled.

You cannot plan for all contingencies.

Have you planned for the creativity of the human mind to bypass your well thought plans?

Are your instructions geared for your target readership?

Do you still want to wack the Toner Cartridge?

Just do your best!

Dexter

Sank... Company capitulated and .....

Sank... Company capitulated and .....


I wrote a couple brief articles about my getting involved with the fun and travails of a new computer with a really new operating system. Yes I helped my friend out. Here are the original links.

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such ideas.
http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/sink-or-swim-dont-know-until-you-try.html

Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System
http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/update-on-sink-or-swim-with-new.html

Well after some time after the printer/fax machine was working.. The owner of the computer called the people she bought the system .. (computer system + Fax/Printer) The result of the conversation was that the printer was too "new" and no one had turned in any empty ink cartridges ... so they could not sell her any more ink!

So this finally frosted her cookies! So with some notes and encouragement from me... She went ahead and had someone mind her small business while she buried herself in an office for an anticipated battle of a customer return.

To her surprise she found that she part of a wave of unhappy customers and that the company had apparently heard enough complaints lack of resolution of issues that they gave her an acceptable proposal.

She would keep everything except the computer system box itself.
She would ship the misbehaving computer back.

The manufacturer would send her a new tower computer with the previous version of the operating system installed. (Hurrah!)

Yes they did magically find some ink cartridges as well!

I am glad for her. She will hopefully will once again be a happy customer.

I feel sorry for the staff and management of the manufacturer who will have to cycle who knows how many systems back, refurbish and resell. I know its part a fact of life of the business... But no doubt they do not need extra work to do such on top of the normal returns!

In my opinion so much pain could have been avoided. So at best my specific contact will be again paddling water, but there still was a loss in productivity, frustration , and uncertainty.

It was only with some proactive work on the customer's part (With external guidance) to push the issue to some level of attention. I hate to think of how many doorstops were created with this mistake.

I will keep you posted as I learn of the results of their promise to correct her computer problems.

Regards,
Dexter

My Dog the Web 9.0 Communicator. (Part 1)

My Dog the Web 9.0 Communicator. ( Part 1)

I am becoming more convinced that my dog Max has secretly gone to some Internet Marketing and Search Engine Seminars.

He has been trying to tell me something in dog language for some time, but I have been too dumb until recently to figure it out.

There are all kinds of magic terms to be used in Internet marketing. There are quite a number of people out there who make a full time living to convince you quite correctly that the world wide web is huge in terms of the electronic communication space.

You read enough about all of it and find that you have scarcely scratched the surface of how many ways you can go wrong in sharing your message out on the web. Why worry about it? Well it always a question of how much you see is returned to you for the energy spent on a project.

Everyone has to decide what is a successful return on that investment in time, energy and thought.

Some people post on a website or blog and are happy that they alone can see the glowing electrons of their ideas hanging out in virtual space.

Some people want a reference for their close friends and associates to congregate. Almost a virtual couch at the mythical coffee shop in space. Its a public space, but only the people who know or care about stay around long enough to know more.

Some people are happy to contribute in a virtual community of some form. Whether or not they become known, is quite secondary to the sharing of information.

Some want to want to have a virtual business card as a reference for those who know about their services and need additional information.

Some want to create a presence on the web to build a product or market identification with their personal name, corporate name or gizmo.

The last on the list are the people who want to hook or by crook to get everyone to think they are the Center of the Internet world in terms of their company, product or service. They study hard to work the system in order to have everyone see them at the top of the list in search engines or other resources.

I have walked into the valley of FTP and have no fear. I have been one of you and seen much , but I stay on the trail of knowledge to find out where I go in the Internet communications Internet Sphere.

I do have one thing many of the marketeers of Internet Knowledge lack.

Sure they know about SEO, S.E.O. , Web 1.0, web 2.0, Web 9.0. They share tidbits about adwords, adsense, and sundry other internet advertising stuff.

They talk about all this as well:

AJ - Ask Jeeves, AOL - America Online, ASP - Application Service Provider, AV - AltaVista,
B2B - Business to Business, B2C - Business to Consumer, CPA - Cost Per Action, CPC - Cost Per Click, CPS - Cost Per Sale, CTR - Click-Through Rate, DH - Direct Hit, FFA - Free-For-All Link List ,HB - HotBot ,IM - Instant Messaging, INK - Inktomi , LS - LookSmart, MSN - Microsoft Network , NL - Northert Light , NSI - Network Solutions, PFI - Pay For Inclusion, PFP - Pay For Performance, PPC - Pay Per Click, PPCSE - Pay Per Click Search Engine , PPL - Pay Per Lead , PPS - Pay Per Sale , PV - Page View, RON - Run Of Network, ROS - Run Of Site , SEO - Search Engine Optimization , SEP - Search Engine Positioning , UV - Unique Visitor, WWW - World Wide Web , Y! - Yahoo!

This just is the beginning. But these Intern knowledge experts do not have one thing in their arsenal of web domination tools.... What is it ? Not a tool, not a company , not a person.

Its my dog. Max the dog has gone to some of these Internet web marketing seminars. He has gone undercover. So most of the time he is disguised as a typical dog. Sometimes he is disguised as a waiter. Notice a dog hair in your soup ordered at the restaurant near the Internet Web Marketing Seminar? It might have been Max who waited on you! ( I never ask. He converts the his money earned as a waiter to extra dog bones for the backyard.

Sometimes Max has disguised himself as a 3 dimensional logo. So he can walk into these marketing seminars with security escort.

He is a crafty dog. The only problem is the Dog/Human language barrier.

As I translate what he has told me.. I will be glad to share with you.

Stay tuned.

Talk about a cliff hanger!

Regards,

Dexter Babcock

The Tales or Tails of Sweet Cron

The Tales or Tails of Sweet Cron.

No I did not hiccup or make an incorrect misspelling. I live in an area that has all kinds of signs from all kinds of businesses. One sign that I have seen over the years proudly is labeled with the words SWEET CRON and an arrow pointing in the general direction of a farmer's produce/product stand. At first I thought it was a sign that had been hurriedly made and posted. The paint began to fade. But sure enough over the past couple of years.. Someone has gone out and faithfully repainted the sign with nice bright/fresh paint. Still the words SWEET CRON proclaims itself to the world. Oddly enough you can only buy SWEET CRON if you travel North on the freeway. there is a companion sign facing toward the Southbound traffic that proclaims that if you are traveling in that direction you can find SWEET CORN at the same farmer's produce stand!

I am afraid to ask the farmer what procedure is made if you drive onto his property. Does he make you turn around loop back on the freeway in the correct direction in order to buy your favorite bag of SWEET CRON or SWEET CORN ?

Is there some secret digestive problem with people are going Southbound that they cannot Digest SWEET CRON ? My theory is that air popped SWEET CRON , can only be popped safely in a northbound direction. So by selling SWEET CRON to cars traveling north will minimize accidents of some unknown nature.

What is more fattening? Sweet Corn or Sweet Cron? Is it just a marketing scheme to make people going in either direction on a freeway feel more special? Is it an intelligence test where Southbound people are fooled into thinking that the farmer's stand is just a Sweet Corn Sales outlet, when luscious SWEET CRON is sold if you know the correct monkey handshake and your car is driving in the correct direction? I need to know! Is this a pre-Internet keyword marketing test?

But I am not alone... It seems that there is some type of Sweet Cron conspiracy does exist.

For example in this blog by APRILMAY shows such a thing does crop up somewhere else in the country. I said crop up. Is this a reference to SWEET CRON CROP CIRCLES! ?

http://shmoo2.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html

Plantings of Sweet Cron are observed in Ohio in 2001.
http://vegnet.osu.edu/news/vnew1101.htm

Even the Google search engine seems to have been convinced to play along with the hiding of the luscious Sweet Cron.

http://www.google.com/search?e=LabratControl&hl=en&q=%22sweet+cron%22

Using this search will return as of this posting some 400+ matches. How many are observances of SWEET CRON sightings in the world? However notice that the search engine politely asks . "Do you mean Sweet Corn? " How sinister. :) Could it be that in the future that cars and vehicles will be running on Sweet Cron oil? Its just a plan to keep the rest from investing on Sweet Cron futures?

Toys and SWEET CRON?

Even this Youtube video has a comment by someone who had sweet cron as a child. Something connected with them to post such related to a retro-commerical of Stretch Artmstrong.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lw17Pb7Nso

This fellow has seen a SWEET CRON sign, but not has fallen under its spell. Maybe he just didn't get close enough to be under its spell.

http://jonderson.blogspot.com/2005/08/sweet-cron.html

Someone else has spotted it! Back in 2005!

http://3dogbyte.typepad.com/aunt_marvel_salad/2005/10/they_settled_do.html


Seen in China! Sweet Cron !
http://carolinede.en.ec21.com/product_detail.jsp?group_id=GC01126588&product_id=CA01126191&product_nm=Frozen_Mixed_Vegetables


Or maybe its just safer to stay Southbound on the freeway and buy Sweet Corn for my table and not worry about it.


I never asked the farmer. No doubt the sign works very well for him. I suppose he has been very happy creating all this attention. Certainly more interesting than Sweet Corn! :) I hope he is laughing all the way to the bank with the extra business! :)


Just as I Closed this posting, I found another soul looks like they took a picture of the same sign. However it looks like they are heading south in this picture. Is the SWEET CRON signage being sneaky and changing when we are not looking? My head spins at the possibilities.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24605158@N00/369599679/



Honestly Sweet Cron people.

Your secret is Safe! Good Sales to whatever it is called!

Of course .. I am setting myself up to be corrected. At which point I will be glad to to say like Gilda Radner used to say at the close of some of SNL Skits .. "Nevermind"
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0705717/

Dexter

Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System

Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System

I have worked too long in Technical Support Organizations to see people report issues that need to be resolved; demend service for the issue; continue to be insistant on updates to resolve their issue; but suddenly disapear when the problem is resolved. So the technical support person has no real followup by the customer to show that the work resulted in solving the problem. Even if it is not for a little bit of human satisfaction, but just to know that doing X+Y+Z does solve the issue for the next person.

The problem is that some Technical Support organizations have no clue to organize incoming information that could help them in customer support. Some know Organizations know how to do this. I know how to do this! In the case of a friend who asked for my help... There was not clean mechanism to report success or failure. I would have to wait a long time the phone support queue to update the support incident in order to simply say the issue is closed or that the problem was resolved. So there really is not much incentive to create closure with the support organization.

So I will have to satisfy myself gentle readers to say that I downloaded that update in 5 minutes on my high speed connection for my friend. ( It would have taken about 5 hours for her on her dial up to get this update) . I succeeded in un-installing the pre-installed drivers and reinstalled the new driver file set. Magically her printer/fax combo now works aok.

However it still is with horror as I watch a number of these pre-installed applications be shut down or blocked by the new operating system as it is not "compatible".

No, I placed my limits on getting her fax/printer combo working. I completed that task.

Its now up to her to continue dog paddling in the computer waters to keep posted on the latest sagas of her current operating system updates.

No doubt. I will be asked for further help... Stay tuned. :)

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such..

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such ideas.

There is so much to learn and do in the great world. Modern communications through so many channels work full time to let us know how much we don't know about the world.

So much is out there to tell us that we need X, Y or Z in order to be more successful in some aspect of life.

Some of these communications are primarily oriented so you go ahead and buy a product, or solution. So it is aways a balancing act of telling you enough that you are missing out until you purchase the solution. But if they tell you enough... you don't need to buy the solution... They already shared it with you!

Somehow the personal computer industry still seems to be gripping with how to get people happily started with their first computing experience.

I won't mention brands or the specific case. I don't want to embarrass the person who may be reading this post.

I recently came into contact with a small business owner who just purchased a new computer from a major manufacturer. She had very basic needs to start with in terms of a computer.

Unfortunately the computer manufacturer had decided to transition to the latest version of a particular operating system. I personally know from my experiences over the years as a Technical Support person that introducing new technology as product can be easy or rough in terms of use. However it seems that that whenever a major change is introduced , there is the possibility of disruptions of service or customer satisfaction as everyone learns the "ropes" in supporting the product.

I became involved in the situation when the owner of the new computer asked me in frustration to help.

The issue boiled down that the product was shipped with unusable product and software. The new operating system had chosen to block the new software from working and certain new peripherals ( with the computer manufacturer's product label on it) would not work as well due to a lack of current drivers.

So the product was shipped with no warnings or suggestions to be on top of the latest situation. The technical support people who she contacted did not give her options on what to do next. She was given the suggestion by me to ask at first if they could sell or send her the previous version of the operating system if essentially her computer was unusable due to operating system incompatibilities. She was told, "They don't sell that version of the operating system anymore"

I would personally be very frustrated if this was my first computer purchase.

I stepped in and used my background to reach the "right people" . Even the computer manufacturer's support organization was not on the same page of knowing the status of product compatibility or driver updates.

I did talk with someone who did find an updated driver that supposedly would make the new business owner's computer work with the printer that she purchased as part of the package.

What surprises me ... Is that there was no mention in the customer's packaging where to go to get the current news on compatibility , news or drivers relating to her purchase.

So this was a new product purchase, which included old software that would not work and no other information to go by. The standard support process failed to help get on her feet with a new system using the default installed software.

The person owning the computer is on a slow Internet connection. So as a favor, I pulled down a 50 megabyte file update from my fast Internet connection in order to get this file in less than five hours using her modem connection. Technical Support said they could NOT ship a disk to her with this update.

I was becoming frustrated a bit with the handling of the whole process. That is saying quite a bit since I have by nature a great deal of patience. If this was my first computer.. I think it would be promptly putting it in a box and shipping it back.

So you still need a friend out there to help you on your road to computing. This should not be the case. Personal Computers have been with us for some twenty eight years.

So do you need to buy your first private plane in order to fly to the exclusive private plane airport ( which can only be reached by private plane) so you can learn about purchasing the right private plane?

If cars were this hard to buy and operate, many more people would be walking!

Eventually this change in operating systems will be a bump in the road. Unfortunately those who were "bumped" during this time period will remember this experience for a long time.

Widgets , Blidgets, Blogs and What not.

Widgets , Blidgets, Blogs and What not.

I have been in the computer industry long enough to know that the one one thing we are certain to see is constant change. This can be quite exciting as it is an industry where you always have an answer to the generic "what is new?" question posed by people who do not follow closely the industry and its latest developments.

So it is interesting to see how technology changes travel from the central core of a development team out to the outside "world" of the user community. It seems that the rate of acceptance and distribution is directly proportional to "I Got It Factor" . The "I Got it Factor" will someday be a mathematical formula that easily used in the distant future, but until now more cruder tools will have to be applied. The main point is that there seems to be a point where enough of the populace understands and accepts an idea, concept, thought, product, discovery to the point it can be easily related to other people. Part of this view can be distorted if you participate within specific groups that understand particular concepts and jargon. So pointing my fingers at myself .. I have to like so many people lift up out of the special pool to the "outside" in order to check if a concept has a high "I got it factor".

Case in point is an interesting concept... Widgets. This can turn to be a long discussion. However for this discussion I will concentrate on one service provided by http://www.widgetbox.com/


So For fun I Blidgeted this blog.

What is the focus and point of this blog?

Well essentially you have to tie your shoes and jump into the world of widgets in order to believe that this is a neat new thing to tinker with html on your blog or website etc. in order to have widget functionality added to your webworld. Once you have registered and installed this software, the door opens to you add many new widgets to your life. There are quite a number of widgets out there. Games, blogs, mini-stores, virtual pets, and the list grows. This has quite a bit of potential as you really could have someone else tinker with your website code and you ( being less technical) could play with tweaking adding additional widgets as you wish. You really never need to tweak that first panel code.

But the question is ... Has the technology reached the point where enough people will "tie their shoes" and give this technology a try? The webpage stats on their home page shows there is quite a bit of growth in installs. But is this another piece of technology that will have to saturate the more technical people's websites before the "I Got It Factor" reaches critical mass?

This whole concept seems to have viral possibilities... Just that the person adding that first widget still has to make that small leap to install some code on their webpage. That may be too big a leap for quite a number of people. Otherwise there will be other people who will simply play with widgets installed on other people's websites....

I still sing the praises of RSS Feeds. Quite handy! Yet I do know many casual users have no idea it is a standard feature to have an RSS news reader in many browsers. Not much work to add RSS feeds to your favorites in your browser... No code. Still every day I come across people who would no idea what I am talking about .

I suppose it all depends on what pool of knowledge you swim in or the focus of your daily life.

So look at widgets. If you blog... Consider making a blidget of your blog.

I added an Asteroids game from a publisher on my widget panel. Give it a try!

All the best

Dexter

Update: How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

Update: How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

I wrote a nice note about how I had been slightly confused by some instructions on an Oregon lottery instant "Scratcher" type game card.

http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-much-confusion-can-you-have-with.html

Well I have already received a quick response from the Oregon State Lottery agreeing with me that they are sorry about the confusion and that they would forward all my comments through both email and on the phone to the product manager of the game. The person talking with me on the phone also knows that I posted this on my blog! :) So you can leave comments here if you like as well. However the important thing to note was that the Oregon Lottery took my comments seriously and responded quickly. I wish all business communication was so prompt!

regards,
Dexter

How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?
A $20,000.00 valued blog entry. No I didn't I didn't get it. Maybe its worth a few for you! :)

I am not much of a gambler, let alone one who plays those instant Scratcher type games. I live in the State of Oregon which has a number of games, including those "Scratcher" type games seen in different States.

So it was with some surprise that a friend purchased one of these "scratcher" type games at the local grocery store and gave it to me as a present. Here is a scan of the front of that game card. I read the instructions several times on the back and played the game as I thought it was intended. I was startled to find that within the first few scratches of the game, I had apparently picked the top prize! Well I wasn't going to jump up and down until I saw the check!

So I made scan copies of the ticket for my documentation in case I was a top winner. So it was with some surprise that I found that I had won a $2.00 prize rather than the top prize when the game card was validated by the store clerk. So there had to be a lesson to be learned while almost feeling like I won quite a bit of money. So with my $2.00 win, I purchased a new card, that did not win. ( So how about a blog of this experience)

It turns out that both the graphics in the front of the game and the instruction were vague on how I determined what my "coordinates" that I would pick to scratch on the grid on the bottom portion of the game. I thought I had control of the choices. In reality the game had intended me to scratch off a section labeled "Your Coordinates Top Prize $20,000.!" and use those labeled coordinates to scratch the bottom section. Not only was I fooled, but a second person looking at the front of the instructions and back of the instructions did not see that the upper section should be scratched off. You can see by my scan, that I did not scratch that top part off.

Here are the current instructions on the card:
PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
Scratch “YOUR COORDINATES” one square at a time, to reveal your 10 coordinates on the Jetsons’ Grid. If you uncover three of the same symbol win prize indicated in the prize legend. You can win Multiple times on a ticket.

I sent a polite email today 2-9-2007 and called the state lottery offices. The person who answered the telephone was very pleasant , understanding and agreed there seemed to be an issue with the instructions. She appreciated the fact that I had contacted them and gave them a suggestion for updating the game instructions. http://www.oregonlottery.org/

So I will keep you posted if I get any additional response from the state lottery officials.

Here are my suggested updated instructions for this game

PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
Scratch off the section labeled “Your Coordinates Top Prize $20,000” This section has the 10 coordinates to scratch off the Jetsons' Grid. Scratch off one at a time the squares on the Jetsons' Grid that correspond to the 10 coordinates you revealed at the top. . If you uncover three of the same symbol on the Jetsons’ Grid, you will win prize indicated in the prize legend. You can win Multiple times on a ticket.

So I am not a sore loser. I am glad to understand the intent of the game.

Certainly this is an example where just a few words off on a few instructions along with unclear graphics could lead people astray. I am good natured about the issue, people do make mistakes all the time. But this is an example where just a few changes in some instructions could really make or break a person's day.

I know that the Oregon Lottery would not intend to confuse, so its only a matter a time that they will correct the issue, especially if they here more feedback on confusing games.

No doubt you may experienced this yourself at some time. Have you taken the time to write a short note to point out such issues?

I hope that if you do play a scratcher ticket, that you win all the rules, implied, direct or indirect.

I never expected to write about a non winning ticket. But you never know what you will come across to discuss on communication issues.

All the best
Dexter

Body Language of Animals Do they Translate?

Body Language of Animals Do they Translate?

I know we try to see humanity in all different things of life. Humanizing animals is an example where we can relate to the animal in some way as we translate actions or behaviors they do in a way that would make sense to us if we were wearing their "body suit".

I have a duck named Daisy who cares to share my backyard of my home. She has quite a personality. ( I say this right after the preceding paragraph) There are a number of routines she goes through. She seems to for example have quite a "thing" for the Australian Sheep dog named Max. Well he looks like a large duck, except he has two extra legs, fur, a nose which doesn't quite look like a yellow bill, and he weighs around 75 pounds. Otherwise he looks like a duck! ( At least I think that is what Daisy tells me) I see her frequently paddling after Max, trying to give him a poke in the posterior or try to settle down and sun her self by Max. Max the dog has at times tolerated this behavior, but I swear if he thinks he is being observed... He has to leave and act as if it is an insult. (Is this all my perception, or is he really getting prepared for dog poker such as described in an earlier post?)

Daisy lately has been going through a morning routine of standing upright and performing an odd little march, walk or strut. She would look more like a penguin if she waddled. But this walk is straight and true. So one day I had the honor capturing her on film with her little act. She is now posted on video.google.com and youtube.com So long after she passes into the next realm, her walk can be enjoyed by everyone out there.

Daisy does her job providing entertainment every day. Whether or not the audience is watching or not. I suppose that is a lesson we can learn from a real professional in the business. Sometimes when you post information on the web, you have to assume both extremes.. You are sharing information whether or not the audience is watching.

Goose Stepping Duck

Daisy Duck is a local legend in Southern Oregon. (At Least that is what she told me.) It is rumored that she twirled the baton in traditional mid-western High School Marching band. When interviewed, she only said "QUACK". She still does a great a goose step with or without the baton.

Dogs, Cats and Humans. Can they all play poker together?

Dogs, Cats and Humans. Can they all play poker together?

I am not sure if we should... But what if we could? I have been fortunate enough to have know cats and dogs over the years from the casual level of acquaintance such as a cat saying "hello" to me from a fence on the way to elementary school. ( I am still not sure who was on the fence. The cat or myself. Perhaps the cat was on the way to elementary school.) Okay I was silly enough for the moment. But have you had the opportunity to study how some cats and dogs "talk" with each other? It is quite an experience to see the facial expressions of a dog when they "suffer" the attentions of a cat who has chosen to adopt the dog! I wouldn't dare to equate a dog to same intellectual plane of humanity.. But what goes through a canine's brain about this "cat thing" taking such a shining to Mr. Dog. What would the other dogs at the office do if they caught him getting a rub over by Ms. Cat?

On the flip side.. I have seen dogs who never have had any real contact with cats, suddenly having to deal with a new life in a new home with cats. Some take it well, in some cases.. Well best leave it that that it wasn't love at first woof. I have come to know a new dog in my household who had the new experience of living with another dog AND living with a CAT. This new dog would tell me by her actions and voice , that "did I know a cat lived here?" "Did you know a cat lived here?" "Did you know a cat lived here and ran under your bed?" "Did you know the cat lives here and still is under your bed?" "Did you know that I keep sticking my big dog head under the bed to say hi To the cat, but the cat keeps moving back?" "Did you know the cat is fun to play with?" "Oh I am supposed to be gentle with the cat... Well that is not fun" "Did you know you have a cat here" On and on. Well that went its cycle for about four months until "Sheesh, its the cat. What does it want?" The last bit of information that still stuck in the new dogs conversations with us concerning the cat. (The dog is about five years old and adopted from a friend who moved out of state) "Gee that cat has great food. Why can't I eat it?"

So where does the bit about poker relate to this post?

I still see in my mind's eye the various paintings of Dogs playing poker. But what about cats and dogs playing poker at the same time? I would hate to look what was on the snack tray!

Which lends to another post about being a pet and having to share the news of raiding a fellow pet's food.