The "Useless" Series

Well, its been awhile since I've blogged, so I've decided to create a blog marathon. Everyday for a week, I will post about things that are completely useless. So be prepared for 7 consecutive about the 7 most useless things that clutter life.

Today's Post---Cursive Handwriting:

Ok, everyone (at least primarily throughout the US) has to learn how to write in cursive during their elementary school years. And every student has asked why. And every teacher has answered: "You'll need to learn how to write in cursive for high school, college, and the rest of your life." And every teacher has lied. If you were a persistent and inquisitive student, then you continued to as why. Some teachers might follow up with "Cursive allows you to write faster," or something to that extent.

So honestly, how many students (you included) have ever used cursive extensively outside of elementary school? Other than, of course, to sign your name? And forging another's signature---especially your parents---does not count.

Wait, cursive lets your write faster? Maybe back in the 18th century it did, before the typewriter was invented. Today, PCs/Laptops allows every student with half a brain and lots of Instant Messenger experience to type at blistering rates of 75 wpm. If you can write legibly in cursive at 75 wpm, my hats off to you.

So, cursive, the ridiculous and over-taught art. Stay tuned tomorrow for another useless creation/practice.

Why I Hate Outlook

Ok, you may have noticed my slight propensity towards things technological. Anyway, I wanted to comment on a minor gripe of mine. Microsoft Outlook. You may remember a post from a few months ago about Microsoft Office 07. I praised the new UI (user interface) and explained a few of the new features.

The one program that has continued to suck (and no one seems to care but me) is Outlook. That is the most retarded interface ever born. Let's examine the default interface. The left third of the screen is filled with folder buttons and tabs to access your calendar, contacts, email, etc. The middle third lists your e-mails in whichever folder you happen to be viewing. The right third is a preview window that shows a preview of the current e-mail.

So wait, lets make a slow UI that has to open each e-mail as you scroll over it. But you can also double click on an individual e-mail to open it full screen. Why the crap is the preview window there? It seems ridiculously redundant to have two ways to view one e-mail. Also, if you scroll over an e-mail with a lot of in-line pictures, then Outlook takes a few seconds to load that e-mail into the preview. The computer stops to "think" and you have to wait for it. Even though you weren't even going to read that e-mail. Ridiculous. So, in summary, Microsoft Outlook is gay. Don't even get me started on the calendar portion!

My post would not be complete without listing some of the features of competitors. I'll go for my favorite, Gmail.

Gmail has POP access, just like Outlook
Gmail has e-mail forwarding
Gmail has 2.8GB of storage, and counting
Gmail links to most other Google Apps, like Docs & Spreadsheets (meaning you don't have to download attachments to open them)
Gmail has a great UI (conversation view)
Gmail has labels - instead of folders, any e-mail conversation can be put into multiple labels. For example, an e-mail from BYU which contains my financial information would be labeled (according to me) as "BYU" and "Financial Information." Outlook doesn't do this.
Gmail has a great search for finding e-mails
Contacts auto-complete when sending e-mails.

And more. So yeah, what gripes do you have about Outlook or other software you use? Do you have a good alternative? Anyway, until later, amigos

Google Analytics and My Blog (Who is visiting YOUR blog?)

If you don't know that I love Google by now, you obviously don't know me.

So, I've been trying out Google Analytics for about a week on my blog to see how many people visit the ole' blog. Let me tell you, its actually very interesting.

At first I was only checking the number of visits to my blog. Soon I discovered the advanced features of Google Analytics. Probably the coolest is the map overlay feature which shows where your blog traffic is coming from geographically. As of today, I've had 1 visit from the UK, 2 from California, 2 from Ohio, and 27 from North Carolina.

I can also tell you that 68.75% of my blog traffic comes from returning visitors while 31.25% comes from new visitors. Or, how about the fact that 40.62% of my blog traffic comes from the link at Kristen's Blog.

Now here is the most interesting statistic: Search Engine traffic. Apparently, one visit to my blog was the result of the search keywords "brain-eating amoeba new mexico." Ironically, I do have a post in which I discuss a hike in the New Mexican wilderness where I encountered some brain-eating amoebas. By the way, if you type the above search phrase into Google, my blog is the 3rd result. Weee! So, yeah, check that out and find out how many people are visiting your blog! You may even discover some sites are linking to your blog that you never knew about. So go wild. And tell me if you use Google Analytics. We'll swap numbers.

Color Paper

About

My name is Adam. I have been blogging sporadically since 2005 and have always enjoyed the connectedness of it. I'm preparing to serve a full time, 2 year mission for my Church. I work at a Real Estate company as a catch-all IT guy. I love watching movies, I don't read a ton of books but when I start one I can't put it down until I finish. More to come!

The "Useless" Series

Why I Hate Outlook

Google Analytics and My Blog (Who is visiting YOUR blog?)

Color Paper

About

My Blog List

Blog Archive

Followers

Search