designanator's Open Salon Blog

Virus-free cyberattack

Fri, 1 Jun 2012 15:06:49 -0400

"For a really effective cyberattack on Iran all that was needed was for our awful ISP to also be their awful ISP."

The National Debt Clock, 22 years later

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:05:38 -0400

Two months ago (March 31st) as I was strolling along West 44th Street enroute to my meet-up downtown with Froggy and Cranky, I took a photograph of the National Debt Clock under a rainy sky:

Curious to see if the debt had grown in two months time, I logged onto the online version of the debt clock this morning:

It turns out that the dept per taxpayer had jumped $10,538 in just two months time! Overall, the national debt had increased $572.550,162,763 in that time period!

I remembered from earlier days in Manhattan when the clock was first put up on the side of the building. I found an article in The New York Times from within a year's time (1990) of the clock having been unveiled and was interested to see the much smaller overall debt of $2.978 trillion!

Family share of debt was $45,813 compared with $127,982 in March of this year. The online debt clock appears to equate "taxpayer" with family putting the current family debt, as of this morning, at $138,520!

Say, add in a few more zeroes and you're into the high roller category!

Since then, the only noteworthy addition to the block has been the ''National Debt Clock,'' a digital display that furiously ticks off the growing debt and ''Your Family Share.'' (In the middle of last week, the figures were $2.978 trillion overall; or $45,813 a family.) The clock was put up by Douglas's father, Seymour B. Durst.

--David W. Dunlap, The New York Times, February 18, 1990

Inspiration for more comedy on Big Salon's "oy vey"

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:05:55 -0400

Recently, there was an open call on the cover for OSers to submit their two minute (or less) comic videos to be considered for Big Salon's new feature called oy vey. The post mentioned $100 for any comic videos that were picked by Salon.

The open call post seems to have been pulled by the staff since I could not find it this evening to link to, however, I do have four great comics who serve as great examples for anyone thinking about entering their video for consideration on oy vey (assuming the open call is still open).

Of course, there's no stopping us on OS from simply uploading our own comic stand up routines in video form for the OS community at large to enjoy and no gatekeepers to decide who gets on and who doesn't.

There are many wonderful professional stand up comics out there...here are four who happen to float my boat...

GNS: Four years on Open Salon!

Sun, 20 May 2012 09:05:59 -0400

Tuesday marks four years since I published my first post here on OS. It's amazing to consider how much this place has grown since those early days and it's great to see a large number of beta members still actively posting here.

My first post started with an anniversary...that of my time being an avid reader of Big Salon. My first comment ever, which was on the first post was none other than Kerry Lauerman who left this friendly comment:

"Wow, that's longer than I've been here (at least by a few months). I sometimes miss those big, white, airy layouts from the early Salon days. They were a definite inspiration for the Open Salon design.

Thanks for joining -- and welcome!"

I was wondering how many posts I had since then and the number is 909 with today's post. A few were re-posts so taking that into account the number of original posts is around 900.

Besides being a creative outlet, it has been truly heartwarming to make so many wonderful friends here over the past four years and to have met a fair number of them at meet-ups in the New York metro area! I have been inspired by so many posts and have learned so much from reading other posts that I couldn't begin to count all of that!

Many thanks to all OSers who have made this such a great online community!

A well known song associated with Earth, Wind & Fire: That's The Way Of The World that I wanted to present as a musical accompaniment today. The Open Salon Rock Group gathered to put this one together recently...

Here's a look back at Part One of Vintage Open Salon covers I posted on November 7, 2008. I have more covers from the past that I will be presenting over time.

One feature of Open Salon that never lingers for too long are the covers, unlike the posts. Here's a selection from my early days on OS when it was still in beta. I don't whether the OS staff archives covers or not, but here's Part 1 of my archive. You'll notice that a few avatars have changed since the days of spring of some active members still currently blogging. (Note: my screen images don't include the full depth of each cover.)

May 23rd

Above and below: May 27th

May 28th

May 30th

June 2nd

June 7th

June 9th

June 11th

June 12th

June 13th

June 16th

June 17th

Facebook afterglow

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:05:04 -0400

"Was the IPO good for you, too?"