Sunday, July 20, 2008

Will Evans and Dave Malouf's recommended reading library for IA / UI / UX Professionals

Will Evans writes "Here is the one I put together with dave malouf:

IxDA Booklist: Design, IxD, IA, UX and everything in between
compiled by will evans and david malouf

-----------------------------------------------
1. Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right
Design (Paperback) by Bill Buxton (Author)
2. Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever
Devices (VOICES) (Paperback)by Dan Saffer (Author)
3. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us
Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (Paperback) by Alan Cooper (Author)
4. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback) by Alan
Cooper (Author), Robert Reimann (Author), David Cronin (Author)
5. Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and
Planning (Paperback) by Dan Brown (Author)
6. Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental
Knowing (Paperback) by Malcolm McCullough (Author)
7. The Electronic Design Studio: Architectural Education in the Computer
Era (Hardcover) by Malcolm McCullough (Editor), William J. Mitchell
(Editor), Patrick Purcell (Editor)
8. Web Site Usability (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)
by Jared Spool (Author), Tara Scanlon (Author), Carolyn Snyder (Author),
Terri DeAngelo (Author)
9. User-Centered Website Development: A Human-Computer Interaction
Approach (Paperback) by Daniel D. McCracken (Author), Rosalee J. Wolfe
(Author), Jared M. Spool (Author)
10. Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design
(Paperback) by Jenifer Tidwell (Author) *
11. Design Research: Methods and Perspectives (Hardcover - Oct 1, 2003)
by Brenda Laurel (Author) and Peter Lunenfeld (Preface) *
12. Rapid Contextual Design: A How-to Guide to Key Techniques for
User-Centered Design (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Karen
Holtzblatt (Author), Jessamyn Burns Wendell (Author), Shelley Wood (Author)
*
13. Contextual Design : A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Designs
(Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Hugh Beyer (Author), Karen
Holtzblatt (Author) *
14. The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using
Personas for the Web (VOICES) (Paperback) by Steve Mulder (Author), Ziv Yaar
(Author)
15. Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability (Paperback - Jun 28,
2002) by Luke Wroblewski (Author) *
16. Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things (Paperback)
by Donald A. Norman (Author)
17. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition
(Hardcover) by Edward R. Tufte (Author)
18. Beautiful Evidence (Hardcover) by Edward R. Tufte (Author)
19. Envisioning Information (Hardcover) by Edward R. Tufte (Author)
20. Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
(Hardcover) by Edward R. Tufte (Author)
21. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
(Paperback) by Jesse James Garrett (Author) *
22. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing
Large-Scale Web Sites [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback) by Louis Rosenfeld (Author),
Peter Morville (Author) *
23. Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become (Paperback)
by Peter Morville (Author)
24. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application
Design (Paperback) by Robert Hoekman Jr. (Author) *
25. Defensive Design for the Web: How to improve error messages, help,
forms, and other crisis points (VOICES) (Paperback) by 37signals (Author),
Matthew Linderman (Author), Jason Fried (Author) *
26. Thoughts on Interaction Design (Perfect Paperback) by Jon Kolko
(Author) *
27. Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information
Technology (Paperback) by Jonas L?wgren (Author), Erik Stolterman (Author) *
28. Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (Paperback) by
Christina Wodtke (Author) *
29. Designing Interactions (Hardcover) by Bill Moggridge (Author) *
30. The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive
Systems (ACM Press) (Paperback) by Jef Raskin (Author) *
31. The Design of Everyday Things (Paperback) by Donald A. Norman
(Author) *
32. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things (Paperback)
by Donald A. Norman (Author) *
33. The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal
Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution
(Paperback) by Donald A. Norman (Author)*
34. Design Culture Now: The National Design Triennial (Paperback) by
Donald Albrecht (Author), Ellen Lupton (Author), Steven Holt Skov (Author)
35. Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability,
Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and
Teach Through Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler
(Hardcover - Oct 1, 2003)
36. Design Culture: An Anthology of Writing from the AIGA Journal of
Graphic Design (Paperback) by Steven Heller (Editor), Marie Finamore
(Editor)
37. Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works (Paperback) by Kelly Goto
(Author), Emily Cotler (Author)
38. User Interface Design and Evaluation (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in
Interactive Technologies) (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Debbie
Stone (Author), Caroline Jarrett (Author), Mark Woodroffe (Author), Shailey
Minocha (Author)
39. User-Centered Design Stories: Real-World UCD Case Studies (Morgan
Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Carol Righi
(Author), Janice James (Author)
40. Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer
Interaction (4th Edition) (Hardcover) by Ben Shneiderman (Author), Catherine
Plaisant (Author)
41. Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human Computer
Interaction (Interactive Technologies) (Hardcover) by Mary Beth Rosson
(Author), John M. Carroll (Author)
42. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User
Research (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies) (Interactive
Technologies) (Paperback)
43. User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (Hardcover) by JoAnn T.,
PhD Hackos (Author), Janice C. Redish (Author)
44. Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work (Interactive
Technologies) (Paperback) by Tom Brinck (Author), Darren Gergle (Author),
Scott D. Wood
45. The Persona Lifecycle : Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product
Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies) (Interactive
Technologies) (Paperback) by John Pruitt (Author), Tamara Adlin (Author)
46. Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User
Interfaces (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Carolyn Snyder
47. Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability,
Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and
Teach Through Design (Hardcover) by William Lidwell (Author), Kritina Holden
(Author), Jill Butler (Author)
48. Prioritizing Web Usability (VOICES) (Paperback) by Jakob Nielsen
(Author), Hoa Loranger (Author)
49. Designing Web Usability : The Practice of Simplicity (Paperback) by
Jakob Nielsen (Author)
50. Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies
(Paperback) by Ben Shneiderman
51. User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (Hardcover) by JoAnn T.,
PhD Hackos (Author), Janice C. Redish
52. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Paperback) by Joseph S. Dumas
(Author), Janice C. Redish (Author)
53. Designing the User Interface (Hardcover) by Ben Shneiderman (Author)
54. User Interface Design and Evaluation (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in
Interactive Technologies) (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by Debbie
Stone (Author), Caroline Jarrett
55. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback) by
Helen Sharp (Author), Yvonne Rogers (Author), Jenny Preece (Author)
56. The Design of Sites: Patterns for Creating Winning Web Sites (2nd
Edition) (Paperback) by Douglas K. van Duyne (Author), James A. Landay
(Author), Jason I. Hong (Author)
57. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of
Data (Paperback) by Stephen Few (Author)
58. Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook (Pioneering
Series) (Paperback) by Dan Cederholm (Author)
59. Designing with Web Standards (2nd Edition) (Paperback) by Jeffrey
Zeldman (Author)
60. Design Your Self: Rethinking the Way You Live, Love, Work, and Play
(Paperback) by Karim Rashid (Author)
61. Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Hardcover) by
Alex Steffen (Author), Al Gore (Foreword), Bruce Sterling (Introduction)
62. Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do
(Interactive Technologies) (Paperback) by B.J. Fogg (Author)
63. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Paperback) by Betty
Edwards (Author)
64. Interaction of Color: Revised and Expanded Edition by Josef Albers
and Nicholas Fox Weber (Paperback - May 15, 2006)
65. Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual by Timothy Samara (Paperback
- April 1, 2007)
66. Massive Change by Bruce Mau, Jennifer Leonard, and Institute Without
Boundaries (Hardcover - Oct 1, 2004)
67. Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia (Leonardo
Books) (Hardcover) by Geert Lovink (Author)
68. Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture (Paperback) by
Geert Lovink (Author)
69. The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design (Paperback) by Brenda
Laurel (Author)
70. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback) by
Helen Sharp (Author), Yvonne Rogers (Author), Jenny Preece (Author)
71. Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines (Apple Technical Library)
(Paperback) by Apple Computer Inc. (Author)
72. Improvisational Design: Continuous, Responsive Digital Communication
(Hardcover) by Suguru Ishizaki (Author)
73. Aesthetic Computing (Leonardo Books) (Hardcover) by Paul A. Fishwick
(Editor)
74. Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology, and Contemporary Art
(Paperback) by Caroline A. Jones (Editor)
75. The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media (Leonardo Books)
(Paperback) by Peter Lunenfeld (Editor)
76. Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer
Interaction (Hardcover) by Bonnie A. Nardi (Editor)
77. Design Research: Methods and Perspectives (Hardcover) by Brenda
Laurel (Editor), Peter Lunenfeld (Preface)
78. Design Management: Using Design to Build Brand Value and Corporate
Innovation (Paperback) by Brigitte Borja de Mozota (Author)
79. Information Design (Paperback) by Robert Jacobson (Editor)
80. Information Graphics: Innovative Solutions in Contemporary Design
(Paperback)
by Peter Wildbur (Author), Michael Burke (Author)
81. Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design (Paperback) by
Paul Mijksenaar (Author)
82. Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age: From Method
to Metaphor (Leonardo Books) (Hardcover) by Richard Coyne (Author)
83. Designing Information Spaces: The Social Navigation Approach
(Paperback) by Kristina H??k (Editor), David Benyon (Editor), Alan J. Munro
(Editor)
84. Human Factors in Information Systems: The Relationship Between User
Interface Design and Human Performance (Human Computer Interaction)
(Hardcover) by Jane M. Carey (Editor)
85. Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach (Paperback) by
Jonathan Lazar
86. Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines (Paperback) by
Sanjay J. Koyani (Author), Robert W. Bailey (Author), Janice R. Nall
(Author)
87. Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work (Interactive
Technologies) (Paperback) by Tom Brinck (Author), Darren Gergle (Author),
Scott D. Wood (Author)
88. Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct
Effective Tests (Paperback) by Jeffrey Rubin (Author)
89. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Paperback) by Joseph S. Dumas
(Author), Janice C. Redish (Author)
90. The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business,
Life) (Hardcover) by John Maeda (Author)
91. Designing the Mobile User Experience (Hardcover) by Barbara Ballard
(Author)
92. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for
Environmental Structure Series) (Hardcover)by Christopher Alexander (Author)

93. The Timeless Way of Building (Hardcover) by Christopher Alexander
(Author)
94. Unleashing the Ideavirus (Paperback) by Seth Godin (Author), Malcolm
Gladwell (Author)
95. The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's
Leading Design Firm (Hardcover) by Tom Kelley (Author), Jonathan Littman
(Foreword), Tom Peters (Author), Tom Peters (Author)
96. Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors,
& Students (Design Briefs) (Paperback) by Ellen Lupton (Author)
97. Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving
with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie (Author)

98. Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques by
Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano (Paperback - Dec 5, 1994)

99. Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving
with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie (Hardcover - April 1, 1998)

100. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to
Stick) by Seth Godin (Hardcover - May 10, 2007)

101. Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful
Customer Experiences (VOICES) by Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff, and Darrel
Rhea (Hardcover - Dec 21, 2005)

102. Reduce, Ruse, ReDesign: Strategies for Sustainability by Nathan
Shedroff (Paperback - Jan 15, 2008)"

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

9th Circuit Court of Appeals to Hear Case - Performers Rights - Freedom of Speech in Public Places

One of my first friends in Seattle, Magic Mike, is fighting for the right to perform in public here. You would think it wouldn't be such a big problem , but he is the one of the few Seattle street performers to stand his ground and say "I have a right to be here." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is going to listen to Bob Corn-Revere, his pro-bono attorney's arguement this year "en banc".

Mike send me this email today:

"----- Original Message -----
From: elena garella
To: magicmike@funandmagic.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:11 PM
Subject: finally some good news

You beat the odds and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is going to hear your case en
banc (all judges) the week of September 22 in San Francisco"
--------

I admire Mike, not just for his magic performances, but because he has a strong personality, and despite being physically harrassed in public, is standing his ground - for all of us. I hope none of us will have to endure such a pointed attack against freedom of speech.

Magic Mike's key statement "I'm really not for cutting their funding as the are great public facilities and organizations and should be supported. But the people managing them are neglecting the trust we put in them when they begin to think they own something private for their own agenda and ignore the the rights of performers who add to the native entertainment of society."

Here's more details -- from email -

----- Original Message -----
From: Corn-Revere, Bob
To: Magic Mike Berger ; Elena Luisa Garella
Cc: Shapiro, David
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:43 PM
Subject: RE: the tragedy that Seattle Center wants to evict and tear down the Fun
Forest

Mike and Elena--

I just received a voice mail from the Clerk of the 9th Circuit saying that rehearing
has been GRANTED. I have not yet seen the order, but will send a copy once we
receive it. According to the message, the argument will be scheduled in late
September.

Congratulations!

Bob

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Magic Mike Berger [mailto:magicmike@funandmagic.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 2:13 AM
To: Elena Luisa Garella; Corn-Revere, Bob; Shapiro, David
Subject: Re: the tragedy that Seattle Center wants to evict and tear down the Fun
Forest

i might add on this memorial day that people died for those rights that are being
denied performers who give their heart and art to the public.

----- Original Message -----
From: Magic Mike Berger
To: Elena Luisa Garella ; Corn-Revere, Bob ; Shapiro, David
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 9:22 PM
Subject: Fw: the tragedy that Seattle Center wants to evict and tear down the Fun
Forest

This reporter did a nice piece about my cases in the past. She wrote about the
festival today, that arrested me in 1993.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004437244_folklife25m.html

Today, they made a balloonist stop and take down his sign that listed "suggested
donations". They did that to me years ago, Even though they settled that they
still do it. For years the art museum had they same sign. Folklife had it today
too, "suggested donations $10". I took a photo. They can do it. When performers do
it, it's vending, without a permit, $5000 fine and one year trespass.

Magic Mike
www.funandmagic.com
http://funandmagic.com/performersrights.html


----- Original Message -----
From: Magic Mike Berger
To: cclarridge@seattletimes.com
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 8:55 PM
Subject: the tragedy that Seattle Center wants to evict and tear down the Fun Forest

I have tried to get media, unsuccessfully, to address the tragedy that Seattle
Center wants to evict and tear down the Fun Forest, the only full-time amusement
facility that the general public has., or even that exists. They forced the owners
out by destroying the visitor traffic. Ask the guy in the gift shop across from
the monorail ramp. The dumb judges of the 9th called the Center an "entertainment
zone". HA !

And they attempted to tell the court they were NOT a traditional public forum, so
they can deny rights. Yet they have their hand out for the public's money.

Comments?

Magic Mike 206-675-8471
www.funandmagic.com
http://funandmagic.com/performersrights.html

Press release 3/12/2008 Magic Mike Berger
Seattle Center, the Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, Parks and Recreation have
shown over the last 20 years that they are willing to dismiss people's rights

The city of Seattle is preparing to raise millions of dollars for Seattle Center,
Pike Place market and the parks. The SeattleCenter, the Seattle Aquarium, Pike
Place Market, and Parks and Recreation have shown over the last 20 years that they
are willing to dismiss people's rights and use these public facilities like
private property.

There is an onus to operate within the Constitution and the Bill
of Rights to the public usage if you get public funds, yet they have a history of
rights abuse, denial of due process regarding appeals, and privacy abuse. My other
lawyer, John Scannell has also documented sweetheart land deals and no-bid
contracts. Remember, they wanted to sell the Market to New York and the Center to
Disney.

They act like public entities when they want funding. Yet, Seattle Center,
Seattle Aquarium and Pike Market officials claimed to me and to all of the
people that protested that their rights were being denied, that the land was
not public property. The Denny family donated the Center land to the city to be
used as free public use forever.

The Center removed that statement from their website recently. When I tried to get the facts about their rule changes about performers and the official nature of the property and who owned it they refused to comply with my disclosure request. Then my lawyer, Elena Garella made the same public disclosure request without telling them she was working for me. She got a box full of hundreds of documents which showed that they had been working on it for years. They even stated in their rebuttals to my case in Federal court that they had gone through two years of planning.

Yet I was told there was nothing. They also claimed to the Federal Court that they were NOT a public forum space and not governed by the Bill of Rights.

Since 1987, the Seattle Center has made every performer leave unless they paid a $200/month vender permit or they be arrested, fined $5000 and trespassed! For years the parks department and the Seattle Aquarium director called the police any time a performer was in the waterfront Park. Pike Place Market regulates public sidewalks across from their building claiming they own it.

I received two criminal arrest citations at Seattle Center in April and July of 1993 and at the park by the waterfront in September and October of 1995 for performing
magic and making children balloon animals.

These citations were used to make me leave but were never called to court so I couldn't prove they were wrong. They knew they were wrong, but arrogantly did it anyway. Greg Youmen, the one man band with bird wings spent the night in jail for playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Bite Of Seattle. Jerry Brader was trespassed when a child touched a balloon at Folklife. Many other performers have been mistreated.

The late Walt Crowley sued for speech rights denied at the Seattle Center. My Center
permit was revoked without due process three times: for going through a stop
sign that was improperly placed; for using an explitive in a private
conversation; and for complaining they parked vehicles on performer spots.

Joe Foster spent the night in jail for playing a violin on the sidewalk at the
Ballard Seafest and other performers have been evicted from parks and
sidewalks. These are the only places new performers can hone their skills, such
as the Flying Karamozovs.

Seattle's is considered to be one of the highest taxed cities in the country.
If the people that run these organizations, the Seattle Center, the Pike Place
market, the Seattle Aquarium, and the parks department do not treat people's
rights as they should, why should they receive public money? You can read
details of these actions and court cases at my website,
http://www.funandmagic.com/performersrights.html

I'm really not for cutting their funding as the are great public facilities and
organizations and should be supported. But the people managing them are
neglecting the trust we put in them when they begin to think they own something
private for their own agenda and ignore the the rights of performers who add to
the native entertainment of society.

And it's hard to be a creative happy performer when you're constaintly being told you can't use the little publicly owned space that exists. I have been walking around entertaining strangers since I was 7 years old and I'm 60 years old. Many street performers of all types have quit. Many new ones might never start.

Stop by, say hello!
Magic Mike
www.funandmagic.com
http://funandmagic.com/performersrights.html
Press Release from Magic Mike - 1/31/2008


Magic Mike, Garella, Robert Corn-Revere, David M. Shapiro, Davis Wright Tremaine
law firm and ACLU petition the Court

Attorneys for Michael Berger, also known as Magic Mike the magician have filed a
petition in the ninth circuit Court of Appeals that asks all 15 judges of the
court for an en banc review of the recent decision to overturn Federal Judge
Robart's 2005 summary judgment that the Seattle Center rules were
unconstitutional. The petition filed yesterday in federal court by Magic Mike's
Attorney Elena Luisa Garella was joined by Robert Corn-Revere and David M.
Shapiro, both of the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm based in Washington, DC. Mr.
Corn Revere is well-known for his defending First Amendment rights. According to
Ms. Garella, ACLU has indicated they have approval to join in as amicus to the
court.

The case was heard by only three of the 15 judges, who ruled two to one in favor
of the city of Seattle to overturn, however the dissenting judge was strongly
critical of the decision. Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon in her descent of the two
majority judges.

“The case concerns the Seattle Center, a public park — although the majority
obscures this basic fact through a euphemism, calling the Center an ‘entertainment
zone,’” Berzon wrote.


Seattle’s permitting restrictions in fact serve no legitimate governmental
interest, Berzon wrote, and the majority’s ruling marks a radical shift in the
court’s First Amendment jurisprudence.


“Although this particular permitting scheme may seem innocuous, the principle that
American citizens ordinarily do not need government permission to speak in public
places is a precious one, and one the majority entirely ignores,” she wrote.

As for the description of being an entertainment zone, Magic Mike notes that
Seattle Center has given notice to evict the Fun Forest which must leave next year
and that according to the Seattle Center's own website, Mr. Denny bequeathed to
the city with the condition that it be used for "free public space forever".
Seattle Center administrators have repeatedly denied that it is a park, or city
public property, a traditional public forum when asked by performers the nature of
the land.

When Mike sent Seattle Center and the City a formal information request
months prior to the enactment of rules he was stonewalled and told there is
nothing to give him. Yet six months, later in a similar request, Ms Garella
received a box full of hundreds of documents showing that they had documents of
two years that they denied Mike so he could not get an injunction to prevent the
enactment of the rules.

Magic Mike claims that Seattle Center has it in for him because he stood up to
their attempts to make all performers become vendors. Magic Mike was featured in
newspaper stories and TV news features at festivals at Seattle Center from 1980 to
1987.

But in 1987 they started to tell all performers that they needed to
purchase a $200 a month permit, he called their bluff, and police refused efforts
by Seattle Center security to make him leave, saying that performing with a hat
that was not vending. Because he hadn't purchased a permit, in 1993 he was
arrested at the Folklife Festival for making children balloon animals. He and
another balloon artist were evicted, and two dozen clowns were threatened with a
$5,000 fine for illegal vending.

The Center claimed that balloonists gave out latex and face painters gave out paint, thus making them vendors. However after making them leave the festival they refused to give them their day in court and never pressed the citations. Then they did the same thing at that year’s Bite of Seattle. Details of abuse against performers can be found at Magic Mike’s webpage
www.funandmagic.com/performersrights.html

According to Ms. Garella, Corn-Revere saw the decision and was "shocked." He and
the firm are very motivated to get it reversed. Many legal professors and blogs
throughout the Internet have criticized the ruling as a reversal of the trend of
free speech. The Cal Law legal pad blog wrote an article with the headline
"Something Tells Us This Opinion Won't Stand".

Magic Mike claims that the center has distorted facts regarding the true need for these rules and has enforced the rules selectively, which is why the founding fathers felt that First Amendment rights should only be restricted with caution. After over 40 years without needing to disregard the Bill of Rights it seems excessive to say they are needed now. The photo IDs are also an invasion of privacy and the locations where people must stand do not sit well with performers like Magic Mike who has been a wandering magician for 54 years, since he was seven years old.

When Mike asked if he can move under a tree to perform when it's raining or hot instead of the location he was told he'll have to either decide to get wet or go home and at by not standing within 5 feet of a spot he would risk the revoking of his permit and one year trespass by the police department.

Magic Mike claims that the Seattle Center paints an untrue picture in order to cite a need which doesn't exist. According to Seattle Center rules, any vocal request by a performer for donations, no matter how mild, is aggressive. No one else that comes to the park is restricted except performers, not even aggressive panhandlers.

Elena Luisa Garella

927 N Northlake Way, Ste 301

Seattle, WA 98103

(206) 675-0675

(206) 632-7118 (fax)


Magic Mike
P. O. Box 31861 Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 675-8471
Details of abuse against performers can be found at Magic Mike’s webpage
http://funandmagic.com/performersrights.html

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Don't support drilling ANWR

I don't trust the government to do any thing with drilling for oil in ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_National_Wildlife_Refuge Here are my reasons -
Those responsible ...
1. could be more competent and should hire those to work for them who have ethics and respect for everyone
2. have shown a history of continuous spills, no planning, can not be trusted to get the oil out of Alaska safely
3. allowed a degenerate anti-culture to invade Alaska and now women fear walking around alone
4. need to consider other things than short term profit motives
5. could consider ANWR for an emergency - but it is not a long term solution - taking the oil means accepting a stop gap solution and having NOTHING left. Is this that last emergency?

Shipping oil unsafely by the goverment in league with private industry killed off Prince William Sound as a result of the March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdex Oil Spill. In the wake of 10.8 million U.S.gallons of oil Prince William Sound has not recovered, the land and water have not been able to clean and restore themselves to what they were prior to the spill. ("Almost 15 years after the spill, a team of scientists at the University of North Carolina found that the effects are lasting far longer than expected. The team estimates some shoreline habitats may take up to 30 years to recover. Exerpts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill )

I loved Prince William Sound - I photographed it - my heart literarly leaped with joy to see the birds and other wildlife in the pristine blue water with white waves lapping on the beaches when I was a federal wildlife photographer there.

The Native population and other people still can not make a living from that region. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill In 1991, following the collapse of the local marine population (particularly clams, herring, and seals) the Chugach Native American group went bankrupt. According to several studies funded by the state of Alaska, the spill had both short- and long term economic effects. These included the loss of recreational sports fisheries, reduced tourism, and an estimate of what economists call "existence value," which is the value to the public of a pristine Prince William Sound.)

I was devastated because in 1979 I photographed the so called "recovery vessels" along the coast - yellow painted metal submersibles with no engine, that were not waterproof and fitted with no equipment whatsoever. What were these things - a joke I thought?

When I immediately showed government representatives photos of these yellow submarines - including the then head of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, he said they all knew about the condition of their fleet of oil spill recovery vessels: useless.

It was in fact why I left Alaska - clearly no one in the government cares enough to protect Alaska from the short term thinking and money grubbers. They did not even have an emergency plan for the inevitable spills. Drilling in a wildlife range - why not just go drill in the Outside / lower 49 state wildlife ranges if the US government likes that idea so much - first let's drill in the parks - how about if they start with Yosemite National Park?

You may not know that I worked on the Alaska pipeline in 1976. There are areas which are so easy to damage you would not believe it. If you just step on some sections of ground it turns into a soggy pond within weeks. In a year nothing can go by that area. Along the pipeline road all the animals had died out in a 4 mile radius. This is for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

How do I know? My close friend was the chief biologist stationed at Coldfoot at Camp 4 on the pipeline. She was threatened by her pipeline bosses that if she accurately documented the real effects on the environment - they'd just replace her with someone who would lie for them. I suggested she provide the real statistics under the table to the state and federal biologists so that they would at least know the truth even if it was not the official "truth".

The jackasses who came from the lower US states to build the pipeline robbed, raped, and murdered friends of mine in Fairbanks. We found one of our friends buried in a car trunk in a gravel pit. They had to have help to do that. It was like a war zone. I worked with those SOBs - it took me many years to recover - maybe this blog shows that.

The day I arrived in Coldfoot (a camp of between 400- 800 men) - there was lots of violence - some drunk 798'er (pipeline worker, welding union) attacked an old woman in her house with a huge rock - nearly killed her in a rape attempt. What is amazing is that she managed to escape although her head was broken and bleeding. How do I know? Because the only sheriff in hundreds of miles was a friend of mine - he was the one they sent for to find and arrest the asshole who did that. She had to be hospitalized - I think she was in her 60's. I was lucky because I knew how to stay safe but not everyone was so lucky.

For me I could not stand to watch the Alaska I knew as a child become the place it is now, and a place I expect will become worse. When I last visited Anchorage my friends were totally freaked out that I walked around at different times of the day and night in public. Why? Because rape is epidemic there. How do I know for sure besides the statistics? My best friend was an assistant district attorney in Anchorage.

The last thing I would ever do is put any trust into a government that has lead us by lying into an expensive war with one excuse after another and uses deceit and threats to cover up the facts about the effects.

We need to work to find alternative sources of energy - not use up our backup emergency sources in the face of their inability to plan or control the effects of removing the oil. Some areas are worth keeping just as they are because they are beautiful. We can still afford beauty can't we?

Or do we just continue to foster and support a culture of taking what we want when ever we want it - rape, lies, war.

Not me, not now, not with what I have myself seen and know - this is not from some third party source - it's from a 4th generation Alaskan.

Think of this as the last of your own wildlife reserves, and some of the last oil reserves in the country - would you use the very last of it, especially if you understood the effects it would have?

Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill for more information about the continuing problems from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill - including the "WikiScanner discovered changes made from within Exxon Mobil altering this article's descriptions of the oil spill and down playing its severity."

And the State of Alaska source: http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/

Friday, July 11, 2008

Does publishing a technical book make your reputation only?

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Linda Lane wrote:
A question for those of you who have published technical books - I have
heard they *never* make money but establish you in your field of expertise
- is this true?

Here's what Louis Rosenfeld said -
From: "Louis Rosenfeld"
Subject: Re: [Iai-Members] Does publishing a technical book make your
reputation only?

Yes and no. If your book is good or even decent, it should help establish
your name in your field. Unless you wrote one of the top few all-time
selling books in the industry, you won't make much in terms of royalties;
certainly very little when you consider how much you'd earn per hour for the
time you invested in writing.

But you'll be able to raise your consulting rates dramatically, and if you
have a consulting firm, you'll be able to charge more their time as well.
You might also find that you can be far more choosy about the projects you
do take on.

There are many important indirect benefits (in fact, some that have nothing
at all to do with money), so it's important to look beyond royalties when it
comes to making your decision.

cheers
Louis Rosenfeld :: http://louisrosenfeld.com
Rosenfeld Media :: http://rosenfeldmedia.com

And what Martin White said:
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008
From: "Martin White"

Linda
I've written two books in the last four years so can speak with some degree
of inside knowledge. The royalties will certainly not make you rich but
might subsidize a holiday. For me there have been two benefits. The first
was that in writing the books I had to make sure I really knew my subject,
including areas that until I started work on the book I had ignored as being
uninteresting or difficult. This boosted my confidence in client meetings.
Second they were also a great way to start meetings with prospective
clients. I can't think of a better business card and I bought extra copies
of the books to give as signed copies to clients that a) might use me again
or b) I wanted to use as references. Both worked out well. I don't think
they had any specific impact on my consulting fee rate.

Martin White
Intranet Focus Ltd
http://www.intranetfocus.com

Does publishing a technical book make your reputation only?

A question for those of you who have published technical books - I have
heard they *never* make money but establish you in your field of expertise
- is this true?

Here's what Louis Rosenfeld said -

Message: 12
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:41:52 -0400
From: "Louis Rosenfeld"
Subject: Re: [Iai-Members] Does publishing a technical book make your
reputation only?
To: iai-members@lists.iainstitute.org
Message-ID:
<95e872690807111141x43af8f7bq18e2d8607eed5f5@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Yes and no. If your book is good or even decent, it should help establish
your name in your field. Unless you wrote one of the top few all-time
selling books in the industry, you won't make much in terms of royalties;
certainly very little when you consider how much you'd earn per hour for the
time you invested in writing.

But you'll be able to raise your consulting rates dramatically, and if you
have a consulting firm, you'll be able to charge more their time as well.
You might also find that you can be far more choosy about the projects you
do take on.

There are many important indirect benefits (in fact, some that have nothing
at all to do with money), so it's important to look beyond royalties when it
comes to making your decision.

cheers
Louis Rosenfeld :: http://louisrosenfeld.com
Rosenfeld Media :: http://rosenfeldmedia.com

Moving a Domain, how to insure SEO - see Bruce Clay's SEO Web Ranking page

Your main concerns are that you'll likely lose your page rank in Google and other search engines for a bit until they find the new site, and that you
need to get all those bookmarked or links to your site to the right place on
the new site. It's easiest not to change your URL, but if you have to, here
are a few things you can do:

Create 301 redirects in your htaccess file to direct any of the incoming
traffic on the old URL to the new URL.

And find out who is linking to you, for the biggest traffic, and let them
know to change the URL.

Advertise the change to the URL via blogs etc to your target audiences to
let them know to.

Don't panic when you see that drop in rank for a while.

Finally, Bruce Clay is one of the big names in search engine optimization
and he offers some nice tools on this site, including a tool to track who is
linking to you.

http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm
Good luck.

Susan Fariss
SRA Touchstone

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Design Pattern Library - Stencil Kit

http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/wireframes/

Download a Stencil Kit
Especially for people who have not designed for specific types of interfaces before such as cell phones.

Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit version 1.0 is available for OmniGraffle, Visio (XML), Adobe Illustrator (PDF and SVG), and Adobe Photoshop (PNG), and covers the following topics:

Ad Units
Calendars
Carousels
Charts and Tables
UI Controls
Form Elements
Grids
Menus and Buttons
Mobile - General
Mobile - iPhone
Navigation and Pagination
OS Elements
Placeholder Text
Screen Resolutions
Tabs
Windows and Containers

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Bill Gates useability rant

Ok, everybody is talking about this -

here's the link ...

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp

"Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant
Sometimes, software isn't so magical. Even for Bill Gates.

---- Original Message ----

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

...

As for the message, Gates smiled and said, "There's not a day that I don't send a piece of e-mail ... like that piece of e-mail. That's my job."
Update: Dave Ross of KIRO-AM/710 in Seattle did a dramatic reading of the message on air Wednesday morning. Click here to access the audio."

Bill Gates critical view