The Soapbox Archives:
Some people feel very strongly about their pet peeves (for instance, some women want me to write about guys who don't realize how gross they are when they don't bother to wipe off their sweat between dances). However, they're also afraid of coming across as being anal-compulsive or something if they make too much public noise about it. They'd rather I take the flak for voicing an opinion on touchy subjects. (well, I'm glad *I* don't have to dance with the sweaty guys because they *are* pretty gross).
But there are some subjects where I really don't have that much of a vested interest. Think of it: will guys care if I tell them I think they're pigs if they dance while covered with sweat? I don't think so. However, if women take a stand and refuse to dance with guys who think it's okay to drip sweat all over their partners, well, that's going to have much more impact.
In a similar light, certain individuals take actions that discourage dancers from attending other dance organizers' events and then lie about it. Sure, I have a strong opinion about people who do that, but will anyone care? However, someone whose dances are affected by these anti-social activities should speak up. The readers need to know that I'm not making up hypothetical situations just to have something to write in this space.
And I really don't write here to see my stuff in print.
I'd really like to see articles and opinions written by the people in the community. Like, for instance, back in the "old days", people use to get hostile when another dance promoter encroached on their turf or adversely affects their business.. That's happening so much today. Where are the dance promoters who are affected? Tell us how you feel.
The most common login attempts are for accounts using common first names, such as "michael", "sarah", "robert", etc. That would probably hit a lot of small companies since they have few enough people that they can use first names for email addresses. I suspect that bigger companies require longer, more unique names like firstname.lastname@company.com so those accounts won't get attacked much unless they get onto a spam list. However, the normal "staff", "root", "support", and other common names still get attacked often.
If you have your head in the sand about computer security, it's time to come out and get a bit of reality and knowledge. There are a lot of bad people out there. Until international cooperation allows us to go after the people who try to break into other people's computers (or we send in UAV's with Hellfire missiles), we're going to get attacked by those people whose only purpose on this world is to make the rest of us miserable. Don't make their job easier. Secure your computer accounts and don't use easy passwords.
I should have taken a bunch of psychology courses while in college. The study of the human brain and how it operates, specifically how people arrive at conclusions, has to be a fascinating subject. Quite often I get the thought, "*What* was he thinking?!?!?", and it would be nice to actually come up with an answer to that question.
It would be extremely unfair to expect people to do things the way I do so I spend a lot of time keeping my opinions to myself but I still do wonder how people arrive at their conclusions.
Actually, that is more fun...watching people figure out what they want to do.
A simple example: if someone comes into my house, they'll notice that there are a lot of shoes at the door. Do they think that I'm just anal-retentive about keeping my shoes in one place or I'm fastidious about keeping the outside dirt from being tracked all over the house? Or am I trying to encourage visitors to take off their shoes in my house? Or does it just make sense to put them at the door so I'll find them since I can't leave the house without my shoes?
What's just as interesting is what visitors do when they come into my place.
To be honest, my mom taught me to always take my shoes off when I entered someone's house so it's an automatic action, unless I'm told I don't have to take off my shoes. I still might take off my shoes anyway. Maybe they know something I don't. It may be cultural, it may be just manners. The engineer in me just says that no matter how dirty the house might be, outside has gotta be worse. And there less chance of someone's feelings being hurt when I take my shoes off in someone's house without being told to.
PS: I wasn't thinking about the house parties that I'm attending over the next couple of weeks....but I hope everyone else is.
This would be a good time to remind all of you that I get a lot of information in email for this website so I really don't have the time to be looking on individual websites for any new information. Trying to compare what I have to what's on the websites would leave me with no time to sleep. As I often say, "it's not my job". Those who stand to make money off dancing or want paying customers are the ones who have the responsibility of getting their information to me. Of equal importance is organizing that information so it takes a very short time to type it into these webpages.
If you're a dance organizer, remember that it costs nothing to list your event on this website and that this website reaches *a lot* of people, including people who might not be your regular customers. (I would have gone to the recent Black & White dance at Providence Swing except that...I found out about it only a few hours before the dance). And make sure your information here is updated. (This is a hint for the Boston Swing Central who last sent me new calendar listings in October).
If you're a dance customer, talk to the people who run your favorite dance event or dance studio and tell them to get listed on this website. When I started this website, it was small enough so that it was worth looking around to see who else had websites. Nowadays, there just isn't enough time.
Those who take the time to send me information are those who will have access to the thousands of people who pass through this website every month. (21592 unique visitors in November, plus another 1408 on the Tango side and 636 from tap dancers)
PS: The same applies to long newsletters. It takes up a lot of my time to read them and they're mostly repeat information or self-serving propaganda. I tend to use only a tiny part of the information I get from those. Just send me only the information I'm going to use and your information will get onto the website sooner.