<![CDATA[NetBoomer.net - Blog]]>Sat, 25 May 2024 09:13:05 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Hey all you Northern Hemispherians.]]>Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:03:42 GMThttp://netboomer.net/blog/hey-all-you-northern-hemispheriansPicture
One of the awesome things about living in the Great White North is the fantastic view of the cosmos that is available to us on any clear night, in any season, and in almost any location in the northern hemisphere.
I'd like to draw your attention to one such beautiful sight and a hint at the story that accompanies it.
The closest galaxy to our own is the Andromeda galaxy. Closest being two and a half MILLION light years away.
Andromeda is a spiral galaxy much like our own except that in the last couple of telescopic surveys completed, it's estimated to contain about 1 TRILLION stars! That's about double what our own Milky Way galaxy is thought to contain.
On a side note, the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide sometime around 4.5 billion years from now. (Is that a good enough reason to have a drink this Friday night?)
What I want to bring to your attention, at least to the attention of you folks living in the northern hemisphere is two things; first is that the Andromeda galaxy (Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224), is bright enough to see with the naked eye on moonless nights in most areas (most areas away from cities and towns). Of course that depends on the amount of light pollution where you are star gazing and if you know where to look. (read on dear reader and I'll tell you where to look) 
The second thing I want to bring to your attention is the cool story behind the name of the galaxy and some great constellations that you can point out and talk about next time you and your friends and family are sitting by a campfire or looking skyward on a dark night.
Okay, so let's start with having a look at it.
It's easiest to get your bearings if you can find a couple standard location markers in the sky, like Polaris the north star, the Big Dipper aka Ursa Major (big bear) and Cassiopeia.
I'm guessing you know what and where the Big Dipper is but the constellation Cassiopeia might be new to you or at least the name is.
Cassiopeia is fairly easy to find in the sky and easily recognizable due to its distinctive 'W' shape, formed by five bright stars. It is across the sky from the Big Dipper. (draw an imaginary line from the Big Dipper, to the North Star, to the big "W")
Now using the big or deepest "v" in Cassiopeia as the head of an arrow, it will point directly at the Andromeda Galaxy. 
Without the aid of a telescope or some big binoculars, it will look like a little fuzzy patch of light, but just knowing you can see another galaxy is a bit of a thrill. 
This is getting to the TLDR point and so I'll leave it now with the invitation to come back soon for the second part of this posting which is the story behind the names of these stars and galaxies.

]]><![CDATA[I don't like to focus on the negative, however I do so now in order to offer a valuable insight into the majority of your market.]]>Wed, 22 Feb 2017 19:58:22 GMThttp://netboomer.net/blog/i-dont-like-to-focus-on-the-negative-however-i-do-so-now-in-order-to-offer-a-valuable-insight-into-the-majority-of-your-marketToday, we look at simple basic web design and usability and the result of doing it wrong.
I understand that you make your money off of the number of page views you can record, the number of clicks, and even the number of ad impressions you serve, to name a few.
As a result of your over zealous focus on monetizing your site (otherwise known as GREED) you have abandoned one of the primary tenets of the internet - access to information.
I would love to be distracted from my work just long enough to see some of the greatest photo bombs of all time, but if I have to click more than five times to see five images, then I am no longer going to surf your site or support your sponsors. 
To be honest, I close the window if it takes me more than two clicks to see any content I was promised.
Just the way it goes.
What I would like is for everyone else to do the same. CLICK OFF
That's right, if you get pissed off because you clicked on something that said you were going to see 10 of the cutest puppies in the world and end up five minutes into a site and still haven't seen at least three cute puppies - CLOSE THE WINDOW
We get to vote on what's on the internet by clicking on, and clicking OFF.
I hope you get the message here.
Here are a few more things that get me to stop using your site, viewing your content, seeing your advertising, and even using your advertisers products and services:
  • a video that loads and plays before the page is fully loaded
  • a video or audio that loads and plays with no user control to shut it off or mute it
  • background audio 
  • any video or audio controls that have to be found by scrolling down to the bottom of a long page
  • a slide show that isn't a slide show but individual pages that load for each "slide"
  • the deliberate construction of page elements that create false clicks or make the user click something other than what the user intended
  • almost anything that an average user would consider lame, blatant greed, or crappy practice
So to recap - please exercise your power to change the internet through your behaviour. If you don't like something, CLICK OFF. If you really really don't like something - tell the advertisers on that page that you are so disappointed with your web experience on that site that you are considering not using their products because they were a part of that experience.
Make a change.]]>