Bebepool.com has been humming along since 2005. It feels amazing to build a place/technology on the web that has found its way into the lives of so many parents, families and friends. I don’t know most of you personally of course, but we have a common link now thanks to the internet.

By now you are no doubt aware of the humanitarian crisis in Haiti in the wake of a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010.

If you plan to or already have donated time or resources to a relief organization that can reach out to Haiti, Thank You.

Here’s how we can continue to help in a tangible way:

I just took a tally, and to date there have been 1,497 births entered into bebepool.com – what a celebration of life! I’m asking that together we raise $1,497 to save lives in Haiti. My family and I just made the first contribution toward this goal. Whatever amount is right for you, any and all of it matters.

Support Partners In Health

PIH provides medical care and have been helping in Haiti for over 20 years.

I have no affiliation with PIH beyond becoming a donor to their charitable work this week. They are a top-ten charity as rated by givewell.net. They are on the ground right now trying to stabilize an unimaginable number of critically injured people. The following 60 Minutes program will show what the situation is right now.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Doctor Paul Farmer, co-founder of PIH, was one of the interviewees in the video clip above.

I can’t thank everyone here enough for reading this and considering how you can do something to help a neighbour. I am full of gratitude.

There’s one more thing, and it won’t cost anything except 30 seconds of your time. I set up a special bebepool account so you can leave your name as a way of expressing moral support for a people in a time of great need (feel free to add a message in the comments to share your thoughts, but just your name is great too).

bebepool.com/haiti

 
Questions and comments are welcome – please submit them into the commenting system at the bottom of this blog post.

Kind Regards,

Micah
bebepool.com creator/administrator

Recovered Journal. December 12, 2006.

Tonight my middle-born son asked something to which I said it was at our home.

“Why?”, he inquired.

“Because home is where you will always be loved, and where it’s safe.”

To that he replied, “Well, not _that_ safe.”

“Oh, you have brothers—that’s right.”

“Yeah.”

I was stopped by the cops while walking/jogging my neighbourhood at night just this evening.

QUICK! — what’s the first thing that went through your mind? (that you imagined went through mine).

Whether I want to admit it or not, I’ve been influenced by the popularity of police behaving badly news stories (I’m looking at you, youtube, digg and reddit). So, benefit of the doubt on my part? Nope.

My instant thought was, they’re going to hassle me about something. The next mind spasm was, what could they possibly suspect anyway? I’m in workout attire with a Nano and earbuds firmly in place in a quiet neighbourhood on a Thursday night before 10pm. I’m on a public sidewalk!

#

Here’s what happened:

I see the police cruiser pass me. I hear it stop. Then that winding-up sound of traveling in reverse gear. Now the car is parallel to me.

Bright white lights.

I unplug my ears and step toward the light intensity, my pupils frantically constricting. When closer I can finally see two females inside. The one passenger side then says in a sincere, concerned voice:

“Excuse me, we’re looking for a mentally challenged adult wearing blue jeans and a tan shirt; he probably has slippers on. Have you seen him?”

I say, “No, I’ve been down that street one block over and now this one, and I haven’t seen anyone outside actually. Sorry.”

“If you see him, could you call 911?”

“Yes, I sure can.”

“Thank you.”

We part ways.

#

I’m no runner. Not even a power walker, but somehow I just started a new exercise habit three days ago, so being present in the streets of my own neighbourhood at night is, strange as it sounds to me, a new experience.

So what reason did I have for expecting an RCMP encounter that was based on anything other than doing what a good, capable and resourced neighbour would do given the opportunity and a uniform — even searching the night to find a loved one who has innocently wandered away?

I have unreasonable reasons, but that’s about it. A fight or flight nervous system is a reality for creatures, which includes me; I get that. I just don’t want it to be all that I am. Tonight was a step forward in that quest.

#

Postscript
I approached a neighbour (of 2 1/2 years) who’s across the street from us. He stepped out to take his wee dog for a walk. I had breaking local news, so I brought him up to speed. The blue jeans. The shirt. Most importantly, the slippers. Then the leash tugged him onward, and I retired home. It was nice to meet Gary for the first time tonight. Hey! I even remember his name, a memory skill that usually evades me.

I’m liking this new habit.

Microwave Ovens: Failure is not an option.

In our household if the microwave breaks down, I have less than 24 hours to relieve the crisis. And by 24 hours I mean 24 minutes. Kiefer Sutherland has (or had—I have no idea) a whole television season to work things out. I have no such luxury (nor budget). Our kitchen/meal-making workflow keeps three boys and two adults ready for action every day. It’s kind of a big deal.

Here’s the problem. I don’t need a 42-button cockpit control panel just to heat food and beverage. I want to see two dials. That’s right, no buttons, just two large, easy-grip dials. Power and Time. Really? YES. Leave the worst of the worst to pure software, thank you.

The diagram at the top of this post is a shot across the bow of the microwave oven product design and manufacturing frigate. *the sound of a pee-shooter pellet plinking against a steel hull*

This 2-dial diagram is my rather rustic (i.e. pathetic) rendering of a microwave user interface (UI) concept. Many a kindergarten student could draw something superior to my sketch, but here’s the point: This ubiquitous home appliance needs a consistent, familiar face to interact with.

In today’s world, when I walk up to one at work, or Aunt Betty’s house, or a school, a hospital—you name it, they’re everywhere—I know I’m about to be reduced to an idiot pressing buttons in random formation.

Is it digits + power + digits + start?
Or digits + power~power~power + start?
Or maybe time + digits + (power optional) + start?

Aiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Maybe it’s just me.

Where to go from here?

1. Standardization: Every standards compliant microwave oven features common UI (the 2-Dials or whatever the ultimate design is).
2. Customization: Add all the secondary features (set time, cooking programs, etc) you wish to meet product line/model goals, but don’t infringe upon the standard, prominent Time/Power UI.
3. Dialog: Get the appliance end users talking about points 1) and 2) with industrial designers and manufacturers, their reps, their rep’s lawyers and their lawyer’s lawyers—don’t leave anyone out, and stir things up. VCRs are finally dying out and taking the “blinking >12:00<” debacle to its shallow grave. The Microwave is not a lost cause, but if we wait for expensive, next generation touchscreen models to roll out into the mainstream, it will be too late. The shiny new things will be, predictably, overly complicated and each brand-component partnership will design it be impressive as a store demo (i.e. virtual/real button bloat and focusing on how many pie chart shaped whirling LED activity indicators are present).

So maybe the iPhone quickly becomes the snap-in UI faceplate to your breadmaker, blender and yes, microwave, and indie Mac developers sell you a no-nonsense interface from the App Store for $0.99. But this won’t happen to the low-end models which are the ones you mostly see outside your own abode. High tech fantasies won’t help here (do they ever?). Although, while we’re on the topic, the iPhone-can-plug-into-anything ruminations were, joke or not, well under way over a year ago (*waves to Matt* <— with a simple little invite I could make that a Google wave, hint hint).

Dream Come True

The dream, the vision even, is you step up to a microwave at a friend’s house, a cafeteria, a dormitory, the office lunch room, you reach for the standards-based common UI and operate it by muscle memory. Wait for your piping hot morsels. Done. Microwaves for human beings.

So, take the diagram and clean it up, improve it; or crumple it up, shoot for three points and share a completely different design that is the definition of simplicity and effectiveness. Or wordify your thoughts: write a comment here or an entire blog post of your own; leverage those internet-borne social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed Facebook) and join a wider conversation.

I won’t rest until the Microwave Oven UI Standard (MOUIS) Project is fully baked. But I need your help.

I’m not worried about the realization of Skynet, you know, the total domination by autonomous machines. I’ll just be devastated that the robot overlords will think our microwave contraptions were designed for them, and not for us.

A greasemonkey script that adds a mini avatar to each FriendFeed comment (only tested on beta.friendfeed.com).

Screenshot – “friendfeedCommentMiniAvatar“

Downloads

Source Code: http://wittman.org/projects/friendfeedcommentminiavatar/

Installer: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/47292

A greasemonkey script that inserts a clipboard widget into a FriendFeed page to locally save (cookie-based) FriendFeed entry links.

Links on clipboard can be cleared all at once or individually. The clipboard is scoped to the URI directory path (so, a separate record of links is maintained). There are at least two scopes: base (friendfeed.com/) and rooms (friendfeed.com/rooms/).

Screenshot – Clicking “Clip“

Screenshot – Clipboard widget

Downloads

Source Code: http://wittman.org/projects/friendfeedclip/

Installer: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/45914

A greasemonkey script that replaces link text with an image (inserts an img element in DOM) within friendfeed comments where the URI has an image extension.

Example by code:

Cygnus Loop Super <a href="http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2000-000992.jpg">http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGE...<a>

becomes

Cygnus Loop Super <a href="http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2000-000992.jpg">... <img src="http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2000-000992.jpg" height="100px" style="vertical-align:middle" /><a>

Example by rendering:

Cygnus Loop Super http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGE…

becomes

Cygnus Loop Super …

Downloads

Source Code: http://wittman.org/projects/friendfeedcommentimg/

Installer: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/42196

Micah Wittman

24,076. I grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas (some years in the reverse order). Continue to with my wife and three boys.

24,077. In 1995 I spent 3 months in a children’s summer camp in Ukraine. There were still wall murals and other trappings of the Soviet Union era stuffed into closets from the days it was run as a communist scouts/pioneer camp. With no government funding since the fall of the republic, a local paint factory union bankrolled the camp. I learned to skull that summer from the nicest guy you’ve ever met who had been on the Russian national rowing team. I ended up in the best physical health in my life; walking was our main form of transportation and meals were sparse but adequate. If we wanted to walk to the nearest open air market you had to cross the river that bordered the camp on one side. This was usually achieved by shouting across the water to the house on the other side to rouse the “old man” or “old woman” who lived there and paddled a dingy as a ferry service. The “old man” preferred to get paid in vodka (I’m not even joking).

24,078. I lived in Orange County, California, then Greater Vancouver, BC, and now Central Alberta. Yes, if you follow the progression I’ve gone from +16C to -16C weather. I’ll take cold climate and warm culture any day.

24,079. Coffee, black.

24,080. Made two major electronics purchases on ebay: a Palm V (years ago; was a thing of beauty) and Bwana’s 1st Generation iPhone (in my pocket right now).

24,081. There was a hostage crisis my sophomore year of high school. I was in Spanish class, which was fortunate; Mr Tuttle’s choir class wasn’t so fortunate: they were being held at gunpoint by a student enrolled at our school. A SWAT team and the other requite emergency responders descended upon the campus while we were in lockdown. The gunman (gunboy?) released the teacher and the girls, and continued to hold the boys captive. A young man, held hostage, verbally confronted the perpetrator with, “I don’t think that’s a real gun!” … and then was shot. But it wasn’t fatal as the bullet went through one side of his jaw/cheek and out the other. SWAT stormed in immediately upon the gunfire and apprehended the shooter. It was over. I hadn’t socialized with this obviously disturbed teenager, but I did know him back in elementary school. Why that day? I still wonder.

24,082. I’ve performed at Disneyland several times, marching the Main Street parade route. Trumpet in hand. High School band. That was for fun, though, we had “serious” competitions on our minds most of the school year. If you’re from California or Texas you may fully understand the scope of this </geek out!>

24,083. Warning: Cringe ahead of time. Ready? I once, quote unquote, heroically tried to save my little sister from herself when I saw she was about to unsheathe a fish-filleting knife. I grabbed on to wrest it away as the blade drew out to some degree. Right. I’ll stop there. I only have a minor scar now (I love you Mols! Also, shout out to my two brothers: Yo!).

24,084. On the cold winter morning—snow storm of ‘96—of our wedding day, I slipped on the outside steps of the church, to what I’m sure would have been my sudden, tragic death; but I righted myself in time. I firmly believe tread-less tuxedo rental shoes should be banned. Everywhere.

24,085. I don’t fear the ocean (I swam competitively, lifeguarded and taught swim lessons). But I fear being underwater in close proximity to that mammal known as the whale. Otherwise I think they’re great.

24,086. I used to pause to see my digital watch tick to precisely 3:33 33. Usually PM. I don’t wear a timepiece now.

24,087. My water polo cap number was 3.

24,088. A large wedding destination website company approached me out of interest in buying a website/webapp I created that they would, presumably, fold into a new set of services in a space in which they were expanding. In the end no agreement was reached. It was a nerve-racking, decision-making process for me at times (contemplating how I could be the best possible trustee of my users’ privacy in any kind of transfer of control, for instance). It was good experience, and I’m at ease that I continue to keep and nurture “my baby”.

24,089. I had a grand plan for the way in which I would propose marriage to the love of my life (she still is and will always be). It involved showing up to surprise her in New York (when she expected me to be back home on the west coast), a romantic carriage ride through Central Park, and exploring the city together for the rest of the week. How it actually went down: I proposed on the side of nondescript country road not far from where we each lived. By a fire hydrant. With a “ring” I fashioned from a piece of string. Two months later I still went ahead with a NYC surprise appearance at which time I replaced the string with an actual ring made by a goldsmith, which was set with my great grandmother’s heirloom diamond.

24,090. If you’re a stereotypical university bachelor, and you make the mistake of thinking you can use a cookbook. Note: When it calls for 6 cloves of garlic. They mean cloves, not bulbs. Enough said.

24,091. I once coded for a start-up software company in a small town called Hope. I worked remotely—from home—3/5 days a week. The other days I commuted a 2 1/2 hour round trip. The product/service was built on Lotus Notes/Domino. Everything you hear about Lotus Notes is true. Everything you don’t hear about it is also true. I had a tab at a local coffee shop; it was cool like that.

24,092. My first girlfriend (and later the wife of a close friend) died in her early twenties of brain cancer. She cared deeply and lived fully. In her last year of life, she continued to actively volunteer at a care facility where she made the sick and forsaken smile at the sound of her coming down the hallway. The day she passed away was also the day my first son was born, about 20 minutes apart in time.

24,093. I’m neither Catholic nor an art historian, but this little book is nonetheless one of my favourites: Meditations on Peace, Sister Wendy Beckett

24,094. I find a button down shirt and dress pants as comfortable as anything else I could wear during the day.

24,095. Garden Grove, California may have had one of the first Hello Kitty stores to hit North America, and I was driven past it every week growing up in the late 70s, early 80s. No further comment.

24,096. I show my trust of online services which request/require an email address in the following way: Low Trust: I give a temporary address from a disposable email address service. Medium Trust: a dedicated address at my own domain (service.m@example.com). High Trust: my primary address. Only the few and the brave earn High Trust.

24,097. In university, I helped out as my now wife conducted a social psychology experiment on personal space (proxemics). I stood in the middle of a room, and each test subject was instructed to walk toward me and then stop when moving closer would be uncomfortable. She then measured the distance between the toe of their shoe and the toe of mine. I remember two instances in particular: One female test subject who came close enough that half of our bodies where touching when she stopped. Awkward! Ok, so the other case was a male subject, and when he stopped the toes of his shoes were both past the front of my shoes. Is that a distance of zero? Or should one record a negative number? Science is hard.

24,098. I credit my mom for my tuned sense of empathy and my dad for so many open conversations that challenge my mind to form new connections that hone logic, persuasion and passion on various subjects.

24,099. I’m me, but if my beautiful wife and I can love each of our children as effectively as our four parents care for us…I will be extremely proud.

25,000. I don’t like spoiled endings. The dénouement is so sweet when you can’t see quite how it will work out, will the wrap-up be too happy (false)? or too sad (stalled)?—how could it possibly end just right? That’s the magic. When it happens you don’t know how you got there, but you know it was worth the trip.

Actually there were no externally visible changes made. At this point I haven’t burdened pool entry participants with any new hoops to jump through (such as CAPTCHAS). However, if more advanced spamming crops up, a new strategy may incorporate a verification step. We shall see.

Also made a couple small improvements including PDF (printer friendly version) rendering. If you were logged in as admin when you clicked the Printer Friendly link and printed a hard copy of your pool, then please check it out again. There were superfluous elements that cluttered up the appearance in the PDF which are gone now.

And a brand new feature was added recently: “friendfeed support” (see FAQ – Share Flickr/Picasa Photos, Facebook Status Updates. I’ll devote an entire blog post in due course. As a pool administrator you can go into your control panel to start using it, if that is you’re interested in displaying your own blog posts, status updates, photos, etc directly in your bebepool page. Any feedback from you early adopters is greatly valued (please leave a comment below).

It’s been an exciting year as discovery and usage of bebepool.com has continually grown. It’s extremely heart warming to see that expectant families seem to be having a fun, interactive experience.

Happiest holidays and may you and your family have a fine new year in 2009.