On Parenting, School Policy and Avoiding Diabetici

in Food

Seriously I don't get certain parents. If school policy says "no sugar allowed in school" why do you bring cupcakes for your sons birthday.
Deyan cannot have sugar, and if he does eat it, eventually he can become a diabetic. No fun!

So don't expect me to help you carrying 2 trays of cupcakes into the school for your sons birthday, and don't expect me to keep my mouth shut about you breaking school policy!

I'm an example for my kids, helping you with your sugar loaded treats, would be a direct smack in the face for my son.

  • How would he be able to trust me moving forward if I bring him in direct danger?
  • How would he be expected to follow the rules if I, his dad, am breaking the school rules?
  • What example are we setting for our kids if we believe kids with dietary restrictions should be denied a treat, while others are all enjoying the cupcake.

I understand its a disappointment for your son, but you can throw him a party, and serve cupcakes, candy, soda etc. I will be happy to decline the invitation.

My main concern is to prevent D becoming a diabetic patient. With a strict diet, we have a chance to prevent this as long as possible, which is hard enough with today's kids menus in restaurants.

So don't mind if I don't give a damn about the 1 day your son is disappointed for not bringing cupcakes to school! We have to deal with D's disappointment every day! Deal with it, you can to...How about you take those Sugar loaded cupcakes back home...

</rant>

PS, I didn't even go into the correlation of sugar levels, corn syrup and bad nutrition and the rising obesity among kids.

SF Photowalk Promotion for Google Glass

in Pictures

Google is aggressively promoting Google Glass and the Google+ photography communities and its features these days. And rightly so, as a lot of people still claim Google+ is a ghost town, there actually are a number of very lively communities on Google+. These communities show there is interest in the new platform. Examples of communities active on Google+:

  • SEO's. With the potential of Google+ having a positive effect on a site rankings, and hence it's ability to get more free search traffic, it's almost a must have in every SEO toolbox.
  • Photographers. With the beautiful picture layout, unlimited amounts of pictures you can upload for free, large size display, and auto upload from your smart phone, this seems like the new favorite photographer platform.

During Google I/O last week, a special Photowalk was organized with Thomas Hawk (thomashawk.com) and Trey Ratcliff (stuckincustoms.com), two photographers famous for their pictures online, and early adopters of Google+. From all the announcements, the products placements and the free goodies which were given away, the focus of the Google team organizing the SF Photowalk (event link on Google+) was on the photographers community to introduce them to Google+ and Google Glass.

A large focus for the photowalk was also the product placement of Google Glass. All the Google people walking with us were wearing the new gadgets, and both Thomas & Trey had just received a pair of Google Glass to promote taking pictures with the camera in Glass. One lucky Photowalker would walk away with a fresh pair of Google Glass. Unfortunately it wasn't me...

Google Glass making its appearance at the SF Photowalk
Thomas Hawk & Trey Ratcliff posing with Google Glass at the SF Photowalk
Bystanders gladly trying out Google Glass
Bystanders were all very interested in what was happening. Imagine you see a group of around 250 people walking through the streets, all equipped with camera's and taking pictures of everything they see around them.

There were around 200-250 photographers and photography enthusiasts at the photowalk. The picture below was made by Peter Adams, and published here with permission. The original can be found here.
SF Photowalk group photo by Peter Adams

The San Francisco Photowalk was a lot of fun. Some people had taken props to take pictures of, like in the picture below here.
Fun with Props at the San Francisco Photowalk
I think I took around 200 images, which I will not all publish here. I have uploaded 172 pictures to a Google+ album, which can be found here.

Tagged as: Google

Google Local Reviews

in Internet

So this is how Google is trying to get more people familiar with their local business reviews product, and compete with Yelp; at popular events for the San Francisco Hipsters you might see a team hired by Google trying to convince people to try out the product. They actually expect you to review a couple of local businesses right there on one of the laptops. Just to make you familiar with the product. And what do you get for all the data you just entered and the time you spent, right.. a T-shirt.

 

Google local reviews, trade a tshirt in exchange for your time and local knowledge

Google local reviews, trade a t-shirt in exchange for your time and local knowledge, write some reviews on local businesses and learn how the system works

Tagged as: Google

The Great Gatsby at Airbnb

One of the great things at Airbnb, is that once every months, there is a formal Friday, which means the majority of the employees dress up in their best suits to make a smashing appearance. Flip Flops & Fleece will be thrown under the bed for one day. And once every quarter, a special theme is giving all those working at Airbnb the opportunity to put their best in impressing their colleagues. Today, with the launch of the new movie from Leonardo Di Caprio, after the book The Great Gatsby, the Formal Friday theme at Airbnb was: The Great Gatsby.

Usually, a theme Formal Friday also means all three founders of Airbnb are in San Francisco, and are dressing up like anybody else in the office. Airbnb is not such a formal company where the founders hide themselves in a private office. No, Brian Chesky, Joe Gabbia and Nathan Blecharczyk can be found in between all the other employees everyday. A perfect opportunity to shoot some pictures with them for the Formal Friday; The Great Gatsby...

Nathan Blecharczyk and Dennis Goedegebuure at Airbnb HQ

Nathan Blecharczyk and Dennis Goedegebuure at Airbnb HQ

Brian Chesky and Joe Zadeh (Joebot) at Airbnb HQ at The Great Gatsby Formal Friday

The Great Gatsby Formal Friday at Airbnb HQ with Brian Chesky and Joe Zadeh (Joebot).

Joe Gebbia Airbnb

Not only for The Great Gatsby formal Friday will Joe Gebbia; CPO for Airbnb, wear a bow tie. Many days on the week, not only on Fridays, Joe can be spotted with a bow tie dressed up!

Penguin Updates, Bring IT ON

by Dennis May 10, 2013

With a lot of chatter on Twitter, it’s probably safe to say that we are on track to see a large update hitting the search results just in time for the annual SMX Advanced in Seattle (from the chatter, it’s most likely going to be a Penguin update). Like clockwork, Google gives the SEO’s something [...]

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Planning a Content Marketing with In-Page Analytics?

by Dennis May 3, 2013

With the launch of a new city in the Neighborhood project, Los Angeles, Airbnb just launched the largest number of city Neighborhoods so far, 61. I really enjoyed day dreaming with the great pictures of Neighborhoods like Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice or Hollywood. Maybe one day we will have the chance to move and live in Los Angeles, which has always been a secret [...]

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Airbnb Blog Running on WordPress, Genesis & Websynthesis

by Dennis April 30, 2013
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With Posterous closing, a race started a couple of weeks ago to move the Airbnb blogs from Posterous to WordPress. Lucky me, I have a number of years experience with WordPress, and more lucky me, I know people who even have more experience with WordPress and WordPress hosting. The Airbnb blogs are now running on [...]

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#TornadoWeek Hashtag Pushing

by Dennis April 30, 2013

Check out this creative way of getting people to engage with your brand on Twitter. The Weather channel is having their Tornado week. And now you can make the interns suffer from high winds. The only thing you would need to do, is tweet with the hashtag #tornadoweek in your tweet I can’t wait for [...]

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Always Be Linking, Especially with Students

by Dennis April 12, 2013
Thumbnail image for Always Be Linking, Especially with Students

One thing I’m trying to learn fast, as this is a big black spot in my SEO skillset; Link Building. First rule of Link Building: ABL Always Be Linking ABL Tweet this quote: Tweet Take up every opportunity to gain a true endorsement in the form of a link. And what better opportunity to get [...]

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Ever Seen The Northern Light

by Dennis April 12, 2013

My buddy Marcel, a colleague here at Airbnb went to Alaska to take pictures of the Northern Light. Apparently the Aurora is extremely beautiful this and next year due to the 11 year cycle of the Sun storms. Check out his write up, awesome pictures.. Best Kept Secrets to photograph the Northern Lights in Alaska- [...]

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