PDRater – Page 37 – PDRater – Permanent Disability Calculators

New Look for PDRater.com

By Jay Shergill Posted on October 9, 2008 Posted in Open Source, PDRater, Technobabble, Website Updates, Wordpress No Comments Tagged with Blueberry, Business Style, Business Website, Contenders, Dark Colors, Distractions, Forward Layout, Free Themes, Front Page, Glutton For Punishment, kitten it, new year, Occassion, Page Business, Pleasing Color Scheme, Runners, Sidebar, Small Font, Straightforward Layout, Style Front, Wordpress, Wordpress Themes

I’ve already talked about how much I love using WordPress. Its easy to add new abilities to the program by uploading “plugins” into the program. Its also extremely easy to change the entire look of the website by uploading a new “theme.” Its basically as easy as swapping out a new faceplate for your phone.

I’ve already disclosed what a terrible designer I am. Its for this reason I’m looking for a new theme for this website. You know, something that isn’t a step-cousin to ugly. Take a look at the ones I’ve found.

Top Three Contenders

“Aeros”
- Pros: Rounded corners and clean looking layout.
- Cons: I’m not sold on the dark colors or small font in the sidebar showing the menu.
- Aeros, front page
- Aeros, calculator page
“Magicblue”
- Pros: Clean, straight forward layout, not too many distractions.
- Cons: The graphic at the top is okay. I’d probably replace it with something else.
- Magicblue, front page
- Magicblue, calculator page
“Business-Style”
- Pros: This really does look like a business website. Good layout, each section of the sidebar is set apart.
- Cons: Too monochrome and not enough contrast?
- Business-Style, front page
- Business-Style, calculator page

Since you’re here anyhow, you might want to look at the WordPress Themes page. Hundreds of free themes for every occassion. Just in case you’re a glutton for punishment, here’s a few more potential looks for this site.

Top Three Runners-Up

“Blueberry”
- Pros: Simple straight forward layout, pleasing color scheme.
- Cons: Too similar to the current theme?
- Blueberry, front page
- Blueberry, calculator page
“Quickpress”
- Pros: Simple straightforward layout.
- Cons: Too blocky and clunky?
- Quickpress, front page
- Quickpress, calculator page
“Blueshadow”
- Pros: Another straighforward layout.
- Cons: Theme looks a little cluttered and somewhat like a news blog to me.
- Blueshadow, front page
- Blueshadow, calculator page

Let me know what you like and don’t like about them. While I’m no designer, I’m at least capable of chaning parts, combining parts, and putting in new graphics.

“Bonus” Material

These are some of the other themes I briefly considered. Some are just amusing.

ParterProgram – Almost as good as Business-Style
Nostalgia – GREAT menu system (which I may still use) but too monochrome
Extend – A little too flashy for this site
8some – I’m just not a fan of left side menus or the layout
Aspire – Good idea if this were a website in the Victorian era or it ran on steam-power
Kitten – Everyone loves kittens!
YAST – The theme is actually broken to begin with. Not a good sign.
Company Website 001 – Another theme that just looks broken

Benefits of Cloud Computing

By Jay Shergill Posted on October 7, 2008 Posted in Author, Calculators, Free, Technobabble No Comments Tagged with Course Document, Drive Space, External Computer, Flip Side, Google, Hard Drive, Heavy Lifting, Microsoft Office, Money Money, Money Time, Money Web, New Computer, Office Productivity Software, Software Upgrades, Spreadsheets, Trend Setters, Web Browser, Web Server Updates

Most people don’t even realize that they’re trend setters. With the increase in online or website based programs, more and more people are turning to “cloud computing.” This term refers to a process where all the computational heavy lifting is not performed on a user’s computer but rather an external computer.

The most common example of cloud computing is probably “Google Docs,” which is Google’s online suite of office productivity software. It includes programs for spreadsheets, presentations, and of course document editing. It can open and save in its own format, OpenOffice format, and Microsoft Office formats. Even Adobe released a free online version of Photoshop.

Cloud computing is basically the process of outsourcing your math. There are a lot of situations where this makes a lot of sense:

Money. Lower computing requirements mean you don’t need as powerful a computer, saving you money.
Money. Lower computing requirements also mean you won’t need to purchase an upgrade or new computer as often, saving you money.
Time. Nothing to install, upgrade, or troubleshoot.
Money. Web server updates mean you don’t have to purchase software upgrades, saving you money.
Scaling. Need another copy of a program? Just fire up a new computer and launch a new web browser.
Fewer Resources. When the program never actually runs on your computer, it uses no memory. When your computer isn’t working hard running a program, it uses less power.
More Resources. When the program is never installed on your computer, it uses no hard drive space. On the flip side, many cloud computing programs allow you to save your work or files online – giving you more hard drive space than what’s on your computer.

So, how does all this technobabble about cloud computing apply to you? Well, every time you use this website’s online web-based permanent disability calculators and EAMS search functions you’re letting my web server do the number crunching for you.

You’re, quite literally, letting me help you save resources, time, and money.

Debates Post Mortem – Advice for the Candidates

By Jay Shergill Posted on October 6, 2008 Posted in Not Workers Compensation, PDRater No Comments Tagged with Answering The Question, Barak Obama, Couric, Dead Heat, Dvr, Eye Contact, Foreign Policy, Inaccurate Claims, Joe Biden, John Mccain, Last Time, Maverick, new year, Policy Experience, Political Debates, Post Mortem, Presidential Debates, Sage Advice, Sarah Palin, Tomorrow Night, Vice Presidential Debate

I love watching political debates with a DVR. There’s nothing like being able to pause the debate so the candidates can benefit from my sage advice or criticism developed over my many years of political, economic, and foreign policy experience.

That said, I have the following debate advice for the candidates:

Barak Obama
- Stay focused and be concise.
John McCain
- Keep your arguments and comments accurate.
Joe Biden
- Eye contact with the camera.
Sarah Palin
- Never, EVER wink at the camera again if you want to be taken seriously.
- Not answering the question doesn’t make you a maverick, it makes you look uninformed.

Overall, the presidential debate of 9/26 was a dead heat. I don’t think either side won ground that day. It was one of the best presidential debates I have ever seen. Frankly, both McCain and Obama did a great job. The last time I enjoyed a debate as much was Clinton v G.H. Bush.

Historically, the vice presidential debate is hardly ever a deal maker or breaker – and its just as well for both parties. When speaking in interviews off the cuff, Biden can make ridiculous and wildly historically inaccurate claims. On the other hand, the Palin – Couric interviews made it clear that Palin can’t speak off script.

I can’t wait for the next debate tomorrow night!

Bad Bailouts and Wooden Arrows

By Jay Shergill Posted on October 3, 2008 Posted in Business, Not Workers Compensation No Comments Tagged with Bailout, Citations, Distillers, Legislation, Pirates Of The Carribean, Producers, Race Track Owners, Research Photo, Stock Car Race, Wooden Arrows, Wool Research

Quick, how are rum distillers, stockcar race track owners, wool researchers, TV and movie producers, and wooden arrows different from middle class home owners? ((Photo courtesy of ryaninc. I just can’t pass up an opporutnity to quote The Pirates of the Carribean…))

Give up? The home owners aren’t benefiting one dime from the bailout legislation!

Obviously, (almost) no one has the time to read 451 pages of this proposal – and that’s what some people are counting on. Thankfully, someone read it and found some startling things.

I’ve taken the liberty of putting together a list of the citations to my favorites:

Rum distillers (p279:11-19)
Stock car race track owners (p290:1-9)
Wool research (p295:7-296:13)
TV and movie producers (p298:6-300:19)
Wooden arrows (p300:20-301:18)

Wool research??? Its warm and itchy. What’s to research???

Nerds Are The New Cool

By Jay Shergill Posted on October 2, 2008 Posted in Author, Free, Laptop, Not Workers Compensation, Technobabble No Comments Tagged with Disability Ratings, First Cars, Floppy Disk, Handymen, Home Improvement, Homework, Huey Lewis, Huey Lewis And The News, Instant Messaging, Iphone, Ipod, Law School, Manly Men, Mechanics, nerd, Nerds, Online Calculators, Passwords, Public Service Announcement

Yeah, I said it. And, I don’t care that it sounds ridiculously self-serving. Frankly, I think iTunes, MySpace, and instant messaging are to blame. These three things, more than anything else, made computers cool.

You think mechanics and handymen were always considered cool manly-men? No way. First cars and home improvement had to be cool. THEN the guys who fix/maintain those things became cool.

There was a day when computers and the internet were only good for word processing and searching libraries. When these things were not indispensable, there were no real uses for nerds. You know, besides copying their homework.

I think the first time anyone ever thought I was cool for being a nerd was when I was in law school. A fellow law student had a floppy disk (yeah, it was that long ago…) that stopped working. The campus tech guys were unable to do anything about it. I asked if I could take a look – and was able to recover the data.

These days a nerd can save your iPod, iPhone, laptop, recover your lost passwords, convert your files, and set up your wireless network. They keep your computers virus free, network humming along, and your e-mails arriving right on time.

Heck, sometimes they even build online web-based workers’ compensation calculators which crank out permanent disability ratings and let everyone use them for free.

So, why not hug a nerd today?

This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by Huey Lewis and the News, because it really is “Hip To Be Square.”

Category: PDRater