Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

Last week, I was at lunch with Greg Knauss. While enjoying our delicious In-N-Out burgers, the conversation wandered to email maintenance as can happen with serious geeks. We discussed the subtlety of hosting email and the amount of geek cred each method represented. Talk turned to the choices others make in what email they use and our perception of what that means about them. FYI, an email domain name is the name after the @ symbol. For example, if an email address was john@foobar.com, the email domain name is foobar.com.
We joked about putting up a survey to see what others think. In my copious free time, that’s exactly what I did. The survey’s still up here. I was able to cajole about 98 people into responding and my brief analysis is based on those responses. I was interested in how people feel about an individual’s choice of email domain. Not about the technology or functionality, but what the email domain says about the person using it.
A few caveats:

1. It’s not scientific, I never took stats in college, just engineering stuff
2. Yes, my scoring method is probably wrong
3. Yes, I know you don’t like my 12 choices of email domains
4. Yes, the survey was confusing and not sexy HTMLness
5. Go do your own survey if you don’t like mine

I asked people to rate email domain names with 1 being best and 12 being worst. Here is the raw data.

I don’t like getting personal emails from folks work email address. I won’t share the same way knowing that my reply is “owned” by their employer. I’m not sure how I’m going to know if someone’s vanity domain is a gmail one.
facebook.com unless they work for facebook but then that just goes back to using company email for personal. Just like it is unprofessional to use your personal email for work it is poor form to use your work email for personal. It would be hard for the casual observer to tell the difference between google hosted private domain and self hosted. ISP email is amateur hour. AOL or hotmail email probably means you have been using that since the 90’s, suck it up and change already. Alum email tells me you shop for all your casual wear at your college bookstore unless it is alum related correspondence.
I ranked the “Shared family email account” only a 6 since that type of account is analogous to a home phone number with an answering machine vs a cell number with voicemail — you’re never quite sure who’s going to be able to see your message. In general, though, my rankings are largely based on implications of longevity — that is, how long a given domain is likely to remain as a person’s canonical/primary email address. Naturally, that’s why “vanity domain” is the winner. (And that’s also why Hotmail and Aol are at the botoom — most sensible users soon outgrow those services.
I don’t place a particular judgment on these because most folks don’t have many choices on which domain they use (their area might not have many ISPs or for financial reasons they are limited)
Having an opinion about someone’s email domain feel like making a judgment based on the shoes they wear. Pointless and counterproductive, but I tend to do it anyways.
My worsts are based on the perception that these people aren’t savvy enough to go with a more modern ISP. My bests are based on the assumption that the person has made something of themselves – if this is their work domain. That said, individuals whose business value is derived from their business identity get respect from the use of that identity in the email domain name, so work domain would be a tie with either of the vanity domain options. I put it third only in the case of someone who uses their work email address for personal purposes (guess it feels to me like unwise misuse of company property, or like you’re slacking on the job.) I have to confess a little confusion on the difference between the two vanity-domain options because – unless I’m completely wrong (highly possible) I’d be completely unable to tell who is hosting your domain just by reading the name in an email header.
Extra bonus points for a working genie or compuserve address.
have admined my own email server (on a freebsd jail) for the last 8 years, and i’m female.
I do not understand the difference between the two vanity domains- google vs self. How would I know who was hosting the email? Work domains depend on the company: bob@pixar.com is cool; bob@foxnews.com is not. If you are not a student, any .edu email address tells me you’re either a) stuck in the past or b) trying to show off (bob@princeton.edu)
For some reason I presume hotmail is for flighty people, and gmail is more credible. I do not know why I feel this

What do you think? Are there email domain that make you think one way or another about the user?

Ever since I started doing this, I’ve been surprised how much people like watching these. Here’s three more.

My Hotel Room in New York from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

My Hotel Room in Paso Robles from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

My Hotel Room in Santa Barbara from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.

The 2011 SxSW Interactive conference was the ninth time I’ve
made the journey to Austin.  I have mixed feelings about it but haven’t been able to put it into words exactly.  After staring at a blank page for a while I finally drew this diagram that about sums it up.

SxSW starts March 11th in Austin. This is my NINTH year and these are my helpful tips for the novice. I’ve tried to revise the info over the years as things change.

ABC – Always Be Charging – If you bring a laptop, you need to be charging it every single chance you get. No battery lasts long enough. Try to sit near an outlet in the session rooms. Share power outlets with others. Phone coverage is hard, meaning it will be in ‘Searching…’ mode often. This drains batteries, so you might consider a specialty phone charger. My friend Brad says “throw a simple 3×1 plug adapter or short multi-outlet extension cord in your laptop bag, you can use this to cadge access from people who are already using outlets.”

Secure connections – Wifi traffic is in the clear and people are sniffing packets all the time. Arrange for secure email, FTP, and if possible, secure browsing while at SXSW. HTTPS: should be in the browser bar of any site you are perusing that utilizes a login. It’s unlikely that a malicious hacker is gunna do bad things, but it’s best to be prepared.

Go play at Kick – Kick is a game of kickball for SxSW attendees on Saturday morning at 10AM. It’s a ton of fun and a great way to meet people. Thanks to Anil Dash, the event is once again sponsored by SB Nation and their will be food & coffee!

Don’t hog bandwidth – There is good wifi, but a limited amount of bandwidth at SxSW and everyone there is highly connected. That means don’t be a bandwidth hog. Don’t run bittorrent, for anything, at any time. Don’t download large operating system patches at the conference. Don’t try to live broadcast anything. Don’t upload all your photos from your 10MB DSLR camera during sessions. Don’t update your podcast downloads. Don’t download fresh builds of linux distros. Do not backup your laptop to Amazon S3 at the conference. Am I getting through here? Your actions can affect the experience for others. Nothing you are doing is that important that it is worth preventing others from having net access. Beat the hell out the hotel broadband in the evening, but do everyone a favor and show some restraint so everyone can do simple web surfing, IM, and email at the convention center.

Introduce Yourself – People are at SXSW because they want to meet people and see new things. Strangely, many of the blogger types that go are introverted types that are a bit shy. Do yourself a favor and say “Hello, I’m So-and-so” to that person you are sitting next to. (Don’t say So-and-so, use your name…) I guarantee that they will be happy to talk to you.

Personal cards – Make up business cards with your name, email, and website info on them to hand out. Bring your regular business cards if you want, but what people really want is a card that ties you to your online persona so they can find you after SxSW.

When asking a question in a session, don’t make a sales pitch – From time to time, people use the question time during sessions to pitch their own projects. No one cares. You look stupid if you do. Ask questions that the rest of the audience might care about. If you make a sales pitch during question time and I’m in the room, I will throw a brick at your head.

Session Info – When you arrive on Friday go to the Convention Center and pick up your badge. They will give you a large canvas bag of swag. You don’t want to haul this around, so you need to figure a way to drop this off at your hotel before a long night of partying. In the bag are two crucial items. First is the program which has detailed session descriptions. Second is a small pocket card with the session schedule on it. You want these to be in your daily walk around bag, not in your hotel room.

Don’t sleep in – Many of you are not parents (meaning not used to getting up at the crack of dawn), but sleeping in past Noon means you are missing plenty of good stuff you paid a lot to see. Get up so you can grab breakfast and be at the 10AM sessions. If it’s more important to you to stay up till dawn and sleep in until 2PM, you probably shouldn’t be coming to Austin. You can do that at home.

Shiner Bock – Shiner Bock is a local Texas beer that you find everywhere. Often referred to as simply ‘Shiner’.

Badge Surf – Badge surfing is a perfectly acceptable behavior at SxSW, but don’t use it to fake knowing someone. If you want to talk to someone, say “I see from your badge…”. Don’t make them think that they should know you or that you’ve met previously.

Fray Cafe – Go to the Fray Cafe on Sunday night. Fray is people telling truthful stories about their life. It’s one of the best things about SxSW. Kevin Smokler is the host and is longtime SxSW veteran. Get there early for a good seat, otherwise you will be standing for the whole thing.

Stay Warm – It can get cold and rain in Austin this time of year. Bring a good jacket or coat just in case.

Sharpeners – There are no pencil sharpeners at SXSW. People think writing on a pad of paper with a wooden pencil is a bit strange.

Street Signs – For some reason, downtown Austin has few street signs. Get a map and study it before venturing out.

Food – Eat food. Austin has a great bar scene. You will be drinking. Don’t drink on an empty stomach. It also would be a good idea to keep a couple energy bars in your bag during sessions.

Drink – Drink smart. If you start drinking early in the day, be sure to employ the “full glass of water between drinks method” to avoid overindulgence and a hangover. Or consider not drinking at all.

Texas BBQ – IMHO, Texas BBQ pales in comparison to BBQ in other areas like Kansas City and Carolina. That chopped beef sandwich stuff just doesn’t cut it, but people will want to eat it for lunch. That said, Stubbs makes a great brisket.

Say Hello to Me – I would love to meet Loyal Cruft Readers. On Twitter I’m @cruftbox or email me or IM at pusateri AT gmail.com and I promise to respond.

Any questions?

When Intelligentsia Coffee opened in Pasadena recently, I was intrigued the lasagna cupcakes they served. The cupcakes are made by Heirloom LA, a catering business. About the size of a muffin, a single lasagna cupcake was a delicious meal.
After seeing how much my daughter enjoyed them (she ate my entire cupcake and I had to order a second one), I decided I had to try making them at home.
After a bit of research, here is my method. The girls love them and take them to school as lunch.

Today is the day that many people choose to complain or be dismissive of the Superbowl.
I get it. The rise of microblogging, texting, and social media have given everyone the ability to publish their thoughts for others to read and that is a good thing. The Superbowl is a huge athletic, commercial and social event in America and will be the target of much commentary today.
There are people that go out of their way to make sure we all know how much they dislike the Superbowl and try to be as dismissive of it as possible. Usually their critique breaks down into one of the three main lines:
1) There’s more important things to worry about…
2) People shouldn’t like watching sports…
3) It’s too commercial and corporate…
And they are probably right, but it doesn’t make complaining about the Superbowl a good thing to do.
This post is for those of you that can’t wait for your harsh Superbowl commentary to begin.
When you are dismissive and mocking of something you disapprove of on a cultural basis, such as the Superbowl, you aren’t changing anyone’s mind, you are just being a jerk and raining on someone else’s fun. Don’t be a jerk.
That band you like? Yeah, a lot of people hate it, but they don’t mock you. The pictures of your kids/pets? Most pictures only appeal to a small number of people, but others don’t say they look average or make fun on them do they? What you like for dinner? What TV show or movie you liked? What you think is a good deal to buy? Most people disagree with you, but are kind enough not to mock you publicly.
We get it. You don’t like the Superbowl, for your perfectly justifiable position. Great. Don’t watch it. But don’t be a jerk to those that want to enjoy it.
Go do what you enjoy. Tweet about what you are doing for fun, not about what you are NOT doing.
Personally, I like the Superbowl as a celebration of what people can do in sport and their commitment to working hard as opposed to traditional holidays that celebrate a myth or the achievements of a dead person. Other holidays have their place, but the Superbowl is a celebration of active human endeavor.
Please consider what you say/post not just on Superbowl Sunday, but everyday. Are you being harsh in your comments because it will have some positive effect, or simply to make yourself look better and seem cool? You have every right to be a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk to many people that are doing nothing wrong but enjoying their life in a way you don’t.
“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” – Dalai Lama

Today is the last day of Movember. The Mo is in full bloom.

These things are worth your time to read:
Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving – This literally brought tears to my eyes as I read it and laughed so hard I snorted. Be sure to catch this one about Simple Dog as well.
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web – An amazing example of HTML5 and good explanations of the current internet to less tech savvy people. If only the whole web worked this way…
Color names if you are a man or a woman – Even made Michele laugh.
Two Hipsters and a Bong – Youtube clip 1:46 long, worth it
I made a fun poster.
The Great Cyberheist – A superb NY Times article on criminal hacking.

Why is November a hard month at Cruft Manor? Because it’s Movember, the month when I grow a mustache for charity.
This is the third year I’ve grow a mustache to help raise money to fight prostate cancer. Prostate cancer hits 1 on 3 men. Most people know a man in their family that’s been affected by this terrible disease. The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG use the money to help men with cancer and fund research.
I’m asking you to donate to the cause.
As you can see from the pictures on the Movember site and below, facial hair comes on strong with me. As my brother Matt says “Pusateri facial hair is an relentless force of nature. You can’t stop it; you can only hope to contain it.”