Dan Leveille's Blog

Baby Seal Hunting

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Baby seals are the cutest things ever.

But their cute little heads are bashed in, and they're beaten to death. Their fluffy little newborn bodies are ripped apart. Their undeveloped skulls are sliced open with a metal hackapick and dragged back to the ship, or skinned and their carcases are left to rot. Each spring, about 300,000 baby seals, between 2 and 12 weeks old, are clubbed or shot to death.

Check out this video:

It's such a sad thing that people can actually do something to a creature like this.

A giant seal massacure.
Source: Britannica Blog by Brian Duignan, April 5th, 2007

Source: Britannica Blog by Brian Duignan, April 5th, 2007

Source: Public domain photograph on Wikipedia

Check out Humane Society's Seal Protecting Site and seal hunting on Wikipedia.

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Domain Shopping Spree

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:50:00 -0700

I went on a domain shopping spree today, bringing my total domain count to 15.

The domains I currently own are:

See all of Dan's Domains »

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Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:37:25 -0700

On May 3rd, 2008, RIT is hosting an festival called Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival. They plan to attract 30,000 people.

The festival will be a showcase over 150 different exhibits of student and faculty work and innovations at RIT. From space exploration to eye tracking devices to innovative websites. See the full list of exhibit titles.

An exhibit for my website, BookMaid.com has been approved so I will be at the event.

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Self Referencing

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:32:00 -0700

Under only very rare circumstances should the web be self referencing.

Self Referencing Links

For example, here are some bad examples:

Click here to see my website.
visit this link to go to my website.
visit dan's portfolio website here: http://www.dan-lev.com.

Instead, use:

Why? If someone has gotten to your website, they obviously know how to use links. You don't need to tell them that it's a link or that you need to click it.

Links should never need to specified that they're clickable. Use standardized styles - different colored or underlined words/phrases are links.

Who cares? Google does, for one. Google reads what the links say, and then classifies those terms with your link. For example, "Please visit Dan Leveille's Photography and Design Portfolio." When Google sees that link, it remember the terms "Dan, Leveille, Photography, Design, Portfolio" that are in reference to www.dan-lev.com. Now when someone searches "Photography potfolio," Google will display www.dan-lev.com a tiny bit higher in the search results. A few links will obviously not make a difference, but keep doing it and you'll see a difference.

This is why searching "failure" on google used to return the White House's biography of George W. Bush as the first result. It's called a Google bomb, because so many people linked the site using the verbiage "failure."

Self Referencing Pages

Welcome to my website!
This page outlines the uses of this product.
Below is a list of links to other blog websites:

Instead, use:

Dan Leveille's Photography and Design Portfolio
Product uses:
Other blogs:

People know they're on a website, or on the "product uses" page.

Never use "Welcome to". People don't need a welcome. Who cares? Google does. The terms in headings are very important in search engine optimization. No one needs a welcoming. What if they go from the contact page to the home page, they get welcomed again. That's uneeded.

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I Hate Windows Vista

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:52:21 -0700

That's it. I'm sick of Windows Vista. I've decided that I'm going to upgrade to Windows XP.

The warnings "WARNING: Are you sure you want to change your resolution?" were annoying at first, but now I don't get them anymore. Vista was fine. It looked better than XP, had a nice search, and felt nicer, until I ran into some problems:

My microphone doesn't work
Applications constantly stop responding. After waiting a minute or two, they become responsive. SOMETIMES. Other times, they'll crash. It's great when you're typing a long message and haven't saved/sent it.
Videos don't work - I've had to download so many different codecs and stuff, and some still don't work. Some don't have audio.
Control Panel dialog boxes sometimes take minutes to response. If I open "Connect to a Network Connection" or other dialog boxes, It will show a blank screen. 3 minutes later, it appears.
Sometimes the task bar doesn't work and when I click on an item, it doesn't maximize or minimize.
It won't let me install Adobe Camera RAW

Those are just a fraction of the problems I run into. I'm sick and tired of it. So I'm going to finish backing up my files and then I'm going to uninstall Vista.

Conclusion: Vista sucks.

UPDATE: After posting this blog entry, only seconds before I was about to close Firefox for the last time on vista, I got a "Firefox is not responding" error and it crashed Firefox. Yeah, it's time.

In other news, Verizon decided that I didn't need cell phone service. So I do not have cell phone service in my home town (or neighboring towns.)

Like this blog? You may also like I Hate Dell.

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Some Rights Reserved

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:41:09 -0700

After watching a presentation at my college, Rochester Institute of Technology, by Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Creative Commons, I've decided to license all my artwork under a Creative Commons license.

I've licensed all my artwork (in my gallery) under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I think that everyone should do this to at least some of their work. It helps people avoid copyright problems and helps promote the sharing of information.

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RIT Opening Campus in Dubai

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:15:18 -0700

It was just announced today that the Rochester Institute of Technology is opening a campus in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, opening in the fall.

It's going to be called "RIT Dubai" and it's part of the a huge complex in Dubai, called the "Dubai Silicon Oasis". Apparently they're not offering full-time enrollment at RIT Dubai until 2009. They'll be offering electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, finance and service management.

References

http://www.rit.edu/news/?v=45936

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I Hate Dell

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:38:52 -0700

So before making my order on a Dell Inspiron 1720, I asked the sales rep, "I'm leaving for college on Aug 18th, will I get it before then?"

"Yes sir, you won't have to worry about receiving it before then."

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL DATE: 16-20th

Customer Support Part 1:

[conversation summary]
Me: I was told I would not have to worry about getting it before the 18th, yet my estimated arrival date is 16-20th
Dell: I'll give you next day shipping for free

Courtesy Gift #1: Next Day Shipping

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL DATE: 15th

Customer Support Part 2:

[conversation summary:]
Me: I heard dell was having delays. Will I get my laptop before the 18th like I was promised.
Dell: Your laptop is scheduled to arrive on the 14th. You will not be having any delays. Your laptop is almost done and will be sent to you shortly.

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL DATE: 14th

Customer Support Part 3:

So now it's early morning of the 14th and my laptop is still in production.

[actual conversation:]
Me: Would this delay be because i have an Espresso Brown Case? I was told the colors were being delayed?
Shama: Currently there is no delay on this color.
Me: okay. Would you be able to check if there are any delays on any of my parts?
Shama: I have check your detail cannot assure you right as there is no part delay showing on the order.
Me: What?
Me: Could you rephrase that sentence? It didn't make sense!!
Shama: Since the order is not showing anything just in production and the estimated ship date 08/14/2007 however hoping that the order has not been backordered but than to can will be able to give more prompt information by tomorrow.
Me: Okay. After a few minutes of reading that over, I figured out what you mean. It's hard to understand you!
Me: I will be back tomorrow for more.
Shama: I apologize for the confusion.
Me: bye.
Shama: Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Me: no bye.

Please note their amazing English skills!

Customer Support Part 4:

[voice mail:]
Dell: Sir, I'm calling to tell you there's a delay on the color of your laptop and your estimated arrival date is the 28th."

Order Delay #1: August 31st

Customer Support Part 5:

After complaining to Customer Support, the rep. said she would give me a Dell Coupon once I received my order. Yipee! Now I can buy more delayed Dell products!

Courtesy Gift #2: A Dell Coupon

Dell: Sir, you're going to look so professional with your Espresso Brown Laptop.
After complaining more, she said she would request to expedite my laptop.
Dell: (rapping up the conversation) Okay sir, are you satisfied with the support you received today?
Me: No.
Dell: ..... (unexpected answer) I'll have you talk to my manager.

So the manager says the SAME thing. If I change my color, it won't make a difference because then I'll pretty much be canceling my order and resubmitting it. The manager says that the last customer support rep will call me back tomorrow after she request to expedite it.

Customer Support Part 6:

She called me back and the request to expedite was DENIED. After complaining, I manged to get another courtesy gift.

Courtesy Gift #3: A "free product from Dell"

Order Delay #2: September 5

Customer Support Part 7:

Once again, I went onto the chat after hearing about my delay. I told them I would NEVER buy from Dell every again, nor would my company (yeah... i don't have any employees, but they don't know that). I just made them know how upset I was and how it was drastically effecting my life (which it wasn't really).

Courtesy Gift #4: $100 credit to my account

Customer Support Part 8:

I went on the Customer Support Chat to complain to them again. Here's a snippet of the chat log:

Me: Two delays is ridiculous. I can't trust Dell. I'll probably receive another email September 5th and they'll say that It's been delayed another week. They're just going to keep doing this again and again. It's pissing me off and I'm losing money from my company because I NEED this laptop ASAP
Mandeep: Marcel, I can understand your concern as I would have felt the same if I was in your place. As of now, we are not anticipating a further delay in the order.
Me: That's what the last two Customer Support Reps said before the last two delays. C'mon now. I know you're getting paid to say that.
Mandeep: Marcel, you will receive a confirmation email as soon as the order ships out of Dell.
Me: Great. I'll look forward to that email within a couple months.
Me: I'm tired of getting delays. Dell is the worst company I have ever dealt with. I am tired of the lies I've been getting from the representatives. I've been lied to - straight to my face. I can't trust anyone at Dell - and I have a good reason to.

After that, I talked to her/his manager. I managed to get a request to expedite the order. I got a call the next day and it was DENIED.
Just as I thought, I checked my order status on September 5th, and saw that my order was delayed another week.

Order Delay #3: September 12

Customer Support Part 9:

So I went into the chat once again. Nothing exciting. I'm getting pretty used to this customer support thing. I did get another courtesy gift out of them, and the representative told me to contact sales to see if they could transfer my order over to a local dell store. (see part 10)

Courtesy Gift #5: $50 credit to my account

So I checked my order status the next day and had another delay - I was never notified of this:

Order Delay #4: September 22

Customer Support Part 10:

I talked to sales just like the last customer support rep. told me to. I asked them if they could transfer my order to a local dell store - even though I don't see how that could work. I was right. Sales couldn't do anything. Another waste of my time.

Laptop Finally Shipped
Sept 14 - about 7 weeks after order was placed.

So to sum it up, I waited an extra 5 weeks / 4 delays because of my Espresso Brown casing. Now get this. I pull the laptop out of the box and it's so dark, that the brown is unnoticeable. (Note this image where it's clearly brown.)

Customer Support Part 11:

After two weeks or so of having the laptop, I decide to go claim my 4 "courtesy gifts".

To sum up the 170 lines / 1 hour and 20 minutes of customer support chat: I explained how I was offered these gifts and the representative asked me for case numbers. Now I was only given a case number for the LAST courtesy gift. The other 3 were over the phone, and I was never given a case number, nor did I think I needed one.

He claimed the best he could do was give me a $100 credit. - Even though the total courtesy gifts were: $100 and $50 credit, $50, a "courtesy gift", and a "dell coupon".

After arguing, I decided to go up a level of management and ask for his supervisor. After arguing with him, he told me the same thing. The max limit they could offer me was $100.

I told him I wanted to talk to his manager. He told me the same exact thing. He offered me either $100 or a printer. He claimed that each employee I spoke with was giving me an "offer" and at the end I could choose which offer I wanted. I replied:

Me: They didn't offer these items, they promised me them. They said "I'll credit your account with $50" and "I will send you a dell courtesy gift once you receive your laptop"

I asked to talk to the manager's manager. Now you know your company has problems when a you've gone up 3 levels of management and you ask to talk to someone higher. Apparently it's their strict policy that they can't offer me any more than $100, and no one in Dell could offer me any more.

So that's the end. I was credited $100 and that's all I'm getting.

Me: Dell has the worst customer support I have ever delt with. You can assure I will not be placing any orders with Dell again, nor will any of my family or friends. Every level of management has lied to me, and each had to cover up lies that the other said.

My Conclusion

Dell Customer Support Employees say whatever they can to make customers happy, whether it be a lie or the truth.
Whenever you're offered something by a company, get a reference number or name.

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The Future of Search Engines

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:00:44 -0700

I just discovered the most amazing technology that I guarantee you all will be a search engine standard within a year or two. I was thinking "how can search engines get any better?" Well, since it's been difficult to properly index audio and video files, maybe speech recognition software could index actual content of media files. Interestingly enough, a site called podzinger.com has already developed a technology to index video and audio files, including YouTube videos and podcasts.

This amazing new website allows users to search for text that is actually said in video and audio files. I guarantee Google's been working on something similar for years, in some underground lab, perfecting it for release.

www.podzinger.com
Go check it out. It's crazy.

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RITBook - Textbook Exchange

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 11:39:36 -0700

After 3 month of designing, programming, researching, advertising and dealing with legal issues, I finally finished my newest project, RITBook. It's a textbook trading site exclusively for Rochester Institute of Technology students. From the day it was released, it's been a great success, and I'm really excited about how it's doing. There is now over hundreds of books on the website, and I'm getting lots of positive feedback about the website. Alot of people are really interested in the site, and they're helping me promote it. Hopefully it's going to take off!

I've decided to compile a few tips to starting a website. Hopefully it'll either help people out or just be interesting to read.

The Idea & Brainstorming

Develop an idea that is unique. If your idea has already been created by other people, is your ability level higher than the competition? Do you have better ideas then the competition?
Decide on a solid purpose of your site.

The Design

A beautiful site will attract people. Though functionality is more important, who wants to use a poorly designed site?
Inspiration. Search for design inspiration. I strongly suggest the following links for inspiration:

Choose a beautiful color scheme. I strongly suggest the following links for color inspiration:

Stay Simple. You don't want to overwhelm your users.
Consider your audience.

The Development

The way I sometimes program is think "Here's my idea, now how do I make it work?" Then you research.
Bring users around your site. Don't just rely on your menu, add things like "Looking for this? Click here."

The Release

BETA TESTERS ARE KEY. Before releasing your site, have people beta test it. Have "angry" beta testers try to do everything to "screw up" your site.
Advertise! Put advertisements everywhere.
Track where your visitors are coming from. This will show you the best advertising medium.

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Holiday Card Project

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:06:21 -0700

A few days before Christmas, I went to The Strong Memorial Health Hospital with my roomate and two friends. We delivered over 100 holiday cards to the patients at the hospital.

The project was part of deviantArt.com's Holiday Card Project where thousands of holiday cards were submitted by artists from around the world. It was a fun project, and it felt great to do something for people who may be having tough times during the holiday season.

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1GB Flash Drive for only $8

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 17:54:48 -0700

I just ordered a 1GB Flash Drive for only $8 - including shipping. How? Well my friend Richard Bushnell showed me this crazy deal!

How does it work?

First, sign up for Google Checkout. They're doing a promotional offer where you can get $10 off of products from participating stores.
Once you've signed up, go to buy.com's Kingston 1GB Data Traveler USB 2.0 Flash Drive and click "Add to Cart"
On the right, click the Google Checkout button.

Price: $48.08
After Rebate: $18.08
After Google Checkout Offer: $8.08
Shipping: $0.00
TOTAL: $8.08

Everyone go sign up now!

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2007 Cancer Donations

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 01:47:04 -0700

Today, 1,500 people will die from cancer in the United States.
Cancer accounts for 1 out of every 4 deaths.

I've decided that this month, I'm going to raise as much money as possible and at the end of the month of January, donate all of it to the American Cancer Society. These donations are going to help fund research programs, education, and services.

Personally, cancer has had an effect on my life, and the lives of my family and friends. If everyone would make any size donation, it will count. As stated by the American Cancer Society states, these donations are leading us toward our ultimate goal - the elimination of cancer.

If you or someone you know has been effected by cancer, or you would just like to help, please consider making a donation.

Donations can be made by credit card, bank account transfer or PayPal using PayPal.com, which is safe & secure and no account is needed. If you are willing to donate in any other method, please Contact Dan and I will do my best to make your donation possible.

I've added a counter to the top left corner of every page on dan-lev.com to display the total donations that have been made.

View Donations List

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Happy Holidays from Dan

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 03:49:49 -0700

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Holidays!

View Dan's Holiday Card

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Site Statistics & New Website

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:23:03 -0700

Well, I've been really researching and playing with search engine optimization (SEO) and dan-lev.com's statistics. The website is doing much better (visitor-wise) than it was doing before the site went down in September.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time for photography since I've been busy with school.

I have a new website that I'm really excited about. I bought the domain name, designed it, and programmed the majority of it. Before I finish, I just realized a legal/policy-type problem that I may have with running site. So I'm going to clear up everything in that department and then I should have it released. Unfortunately, this site is going to be only for a particular audience. Before I get too close to giving it away, I'm going to stop.

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