Whale Speak

A Highly Irregular & Opinionated Web Periodical

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Entries from August 19th, 2008

Certainty

August 19th, 2008 · No Comments · SEO

Here’s the two points that a lot of SEO companies try to make: 1. We have a proven, methodical, scientific system. 2. Search results continually change in an unpredictable way. These two statements contradict each other. People crave certainty, especially in inherently chaotic areas, and some are quite happy to promise it.

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How to spot an internet scam

August 13th, 2008 · No Comments · SEO, internet

I feel like the guys in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink that could just look at a supposedly 3,000 year-old statue and say “fake”. But I’m beginning to see that there are a lot of people still falling for fake promises made by websites. Here’s a quick test that helps me when I have any doubt: go [...]

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Chicago from the air

August 8th, 2008 · No Comments · design

Chicago looks great from the air. Miles of tiny suburbs and then suddenly a short burst of skyscrapers and then Lake Michigan to the horizon. The building height here is kind of like a Black Swan. The average height is probably just above normal house height, which tells you nothing. It doesn’t describe the suburbs [...]

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Reasons why Vista is awesome

August 7th, 2008 · No Comments · software

It feels good to bash Vista. I find myself screaming at it on a near daily basis. But when I use another OS, I find that there are some small things that I miss. I thought it would be interesting to think of as many good things about it as I could. So far I’ve [...]

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Twitter and keeping in touch

August 1st, 2008 · No Comments · social apps

I was challenged to try twitter for two weeks. It’s taken me around 24 hours to love it. It’s like the bodysnatchers. One thing I happened to read a few days ago was someone proclaiming how sad it was that we needed these shallow social apps to keep in touch. Why don’t we just pick [...]

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