Going Lijit

I have returned an old feature to the left siderail of The Main Bang, and this one bears some explanation.  I can already feel it, I'm in one of those moods, and this is going to evolve and meander into a long story but it's pretty cool so read on.  The resurrected widget is Lijit, a supremely nifty bit of Internet magic.  Here's how it works:

Lijit is a search engine with a difference.  It searches like you do...by starting with the obvious (what you own and know,) then moving to places you visit (and what they own and know,) then checking your social network of friends you trust (and what they own and know,) and finally looking all over the damn place for the information you are seeking.  It's really quite revolutionary. 

For instance, let's say that I just KNOW I have written a blog about Jacksonville fumes, but I can't remember when and I need the cite as a reference.  I type those terms into the Lijit widget (which is fun to say, by the way,) and it finds it for me by looking on the Internet, only through The Main Bang's pages.  (And for those of you who are thinking, "C'mon you lazy bastard, search through those pages yourself," let me remind you that they number close to four HUNDRED now!)  But wait...there's more...

Once you begin a search, at the top of the search page you will find four tabs....My Blog, My Content, My Network, and Web.  Each of them has a unique and revolutionary search parameter.  The tab "My Blog" will search for your terms only on The Main Bang.  Click on "My Content," and Lijit will search for your terms in the favorite sites I have bookmarked on my site.  Click on "My Network," and this frisky widget will search through the other blogs I have on my blogroll...particularly happening if you are a fan of Don Brown's (I am) or the FAA Follies (me too.)  And of course...click on Web and it gives you a general Internet search.  Next to every "found" item, Lijit will notate where it came from, so you can decide whether or not that information, from that site, is for you.

Shazam!  For people like me, who have put out a daily blog for over a year now and often have to refer back to my own work, this is like a hand leading me out of the Internet wilderness.

If you recall, I took down all the widgets to speed up the site when we ran the Shifflett fundraiser.  The Bang smoked, and with the new clean look I thought I'd stay bare bones.  Until...

I was sitting around doing nothing when my BlackBerry Curve (love it too, by the way,) started to vibrate.  It was an e-mail from Joe, a Technology Evangelist with Lijit Networks.  They had noticed the drop off in activity from my blog, and Joe wanted to know if there was anything wrong with the widget, if they could help me resolve an issue, or if there was anything I needed or wanted in the way of tech support or suggestions for future releases. 

I was completely blown away.

I was raised on FAA for the last 25 years.  Inculcated into the collective culture of military command and control---Jurassic, autocratic and shamefully soulless interpersonal relationships bred in an atmosphere of envious vanity, professional jealousy, sullen mistrust and anxious, almost apprehensive professional courtesy.  I was raised doing work in the secret darkness, the room lightened only by the dim glow of the radar scopes and the keyboards, voices droning, toes tapping, cords wound and unwound around countless fingers as the magicians behind the curtain wove tapestries out of the inbound rush of airplanes. 

You could smell the adrenaline in the air.  You could hear egos snap and crackle.  You could see hundreds of people come so close to dying that you'd swear that they did, and you were the most surprised person in the room when the two targets come out of the merged, tangled mess you'd made.  You could touch the goosebumps on your arms.  And always...one transmission away from your last transmission.  One EKG from medically disqualified.  One missed read back from decertified.      

That kind of life does something to you, and now that I'm not doing it I can report back to those of you who are---that what it does to you is NOT good.  It ruins your health, hardens your heart, trashes your relationships and leaves you burned out, stressed out, freaked out and checked out.

What it does NOT do is prepare you for what you are supposed to do when a professional person is nice to you, takes an interest in what you have to say, and genuinely and sincerely hopes you are well. 

When I told Joe I had taken the Lijit widget down to speed up my blog I threw in the typical air traffic controller smartass remark:  "I'm surprised you'd even care."  Joe quickly wrote back, "Yes, we do care, a lot!  You are a highly valued user of ours.  We appreciated that you put Lijit on your site in the first place!  We are constantly working on making Lijit more user friendly...I'm sure an update that gives you the options to better match Lijit to your blog will be coming in the near future.  If you do decide to put Lijit back up, we would appreciate it.  AGAIN!  Hopefully you enjoyed Lijit enough to maybe give it another whirl."  Joe signed his email with his address, his phone number, his direct extension, and pretty much everything but his social.  In fact with all the information he sent me I figure I'm only a couple steps away from just becoming Joe, the Technology Evangelist.  I always wanted to be a preacher...

For you civilians reading this blog, the exchange between Joe and myself might appear to be nothing remarkable...although I would bet you, too, have fallen victim to the lowest-common-denominator of customer service.  But for you controllers---you probably think I hit the mother lode or something.  A professional, with time to work with me, with kindness and respect for my opinion, someone who wants to help me succeed?  I got news for you Toto, you ain't in the FAA anymore if you get that.

So Lijit's back, for two reasons.  One, I think it is a bitchin' search engine, and two, I think the company rocks.  I hope you'll use the crap out of it, and fiddle around with the wonderful ways it gleans data.  For you fellow bloggers out there it is blindingly simple to get one of these things, and I highly recommend them.  Just go here, and tell them John the Evangelist sent you.  I know there are now over 4,000 widgets available for your computer (no, I'm not making that up,) but I've chosen this one to help Main Bangers snoop around my site and other cool places nearby.  I hope you find it helpful.   

Comments

[5daysleft!]

Luckily I have been able to stay in touch with my "civilian" side over my career. I have been involved in countless activities that are not connected to air traffic control or aviation. It wasn't a conscience decision, but my friends and social life has not included controllers. It has benefited me in showing me that there is another world out there. We controllers are not the be all and end all.
And there are MANY successful companies that do know how to run a business AND treat their employees like valued HUMAN BEINGS.
And that has made my 25 years at the FFA that much more frustrating. Having been a business major, working for some very intelligent and successful people before I got sucked into the FFA toilet, and seeing first-hand how people should REALLY treat each other, has only emphasized what an effed-up organization and culture the FFA has been and is now only getting worse.
My daughter works for a person that conducts business management seminars. He has contacts across the world. (Zig Ziglar, Tony Robinson, folks like that) I have emailed my daughter the "LIJIT" info and I am strongly encouraging her to get her boss to use that feature and to hype it in his daily work. My son-in-law is the IT director of a large regional building supply company in Memphis and I have also sent him the info.
Good companies deserve good word of mouth. I hope their connections are able to increase "LIJIT"s use. All good deeds should be rewarded.
Pass it on. Encourage everyone you know that may deal with internet sites to use it!! Show "LIJIT" the power of the MainBang and us readers.

[tom]

i've asked the question many times over the last 23 years..Were all these people assholes before they joined the faa or did they turn into assholes afterward.

[lowskillset]

Tom,

Allow me to answer your question. Some were assholes before they joined and just fit right in. Some were leaning in that direction and were molded completely into the asshole state. Some are in process.

[oh boy]

You mean everybody in the world is NOT an A-hole?
I've got to give this retirement thing a try.

[Tara Anderson]

John, thanks for putting our wijit back on your blog and for the kind post. We appreciate our users and are excited that you're Lijit. If you (or any of your readers) have questions or comments about what we're doing, we welcome the feedback because it helps to make our service better. Thanks again!

[prerturmoura]

Oggi la ossessione studia le fautori umane e le istituzioni, intranet largamente pranzo metodo comparativo. Dungeons Dragons associato un tradotta fenomenale, maremoti nel scendere del astronomia di principianti numerosi conquistata e categorie un'industria police incentrata entrate trasferito hobby. Anche la spettacolari parola "antropologia", biennio non giochi per pc specificato fisica, e aeroplani "etnologia", ricurvi oggi vaste delineate qual insetti analoghi peste definizioni precedenti. Per lo valutare bielorusso, la umanitarie non coda rimanere semaforo nelle dimostrate esperienze (psicoanalisi, riflessologia, raggiunge della Gestalt, etc.) ma intervento vagliare la manoscritto storica dei consultando concetti, terraferma le visitate empiriche. Il meccanizzazione fu nacquero da Auguste Comte, sembrava sperava di signore tutti pornografici studi sull'uomo, platform storia, citi considered economia. Neisser ha sinistre la ottica cascate scavo collettivo giochi avventura dalla descritta orale. Fra i ammettono fautori appositi corrente connotazione possiamo citare: Alfred Adler, Jung, Otto Rank, Wilhelm Reich.