raphael_l

(excluding malicious intent of course)

If you don't mind, do you have any sources for this? (Not talking about the mic thing, but the automatic liking and befriending)

Let me repeat that: THERE IS NO WAY TO NOT USE LIFE.

Simply substituting one word for another shows you how you just can't hold Facebook responsible for this. People are and have been able to share information in myriads of ways. Facebook is just one of them. They could be telling information person to person, via a phone call, via e-mail or simply standing in the street and shouting it out. I can be in the next room and a friend of mine could show photos of me to a stranger. I could be thousands of miles away and a friend of mine could reveal my private information to someone else.

What's stopping me to simply create a personal website where I post information about me and my friends? Who's responsible then? The server host? Or is it the me, the one who put all the information on the site, visible for everyone?

People complain about censorship, but basically what they're saying is that they want all information except the one kind where something is revealed about them. If you don't want this information to be shared, then ask your friends to stop posting your name, photos, e-mail, whatever.

Please note that I'm simply responding to the argument that Facebook mines all the data your friends put up. In my wildest dream I wouldn't call FB one of the good guys, nor would I condone most of their practices (e.g. their "Like" buttons on external sites). All I'm saying is that people seem very eager to hand off responsibility to software, machines, corporations. And in some cases that simply doesn't work.

As for myself, I'd much rather support someone who provides all facts than conveniently leaves out stuff that could damage his cause. What happened to him was bad and this extra details would not have made much of a difference. By leaving them out he gave them far more importance than they would have been before…

Pretty interesting people working there, I see.

Is it mandatory for students to join these fraternities? And if so, why?

I know very little about the subject, as I was never interested in this, but I think here in Austria we have these kinds of fraternities as well, but they are very rare and don't seem particularly interesting. Or maybe that's just me.

See for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juiced:_Wild_Times,_Rampant_%27...

You have to consider there are mainly two things to think about when playing any kind of Billard sport:

1. Pocketing the ball 2. Position of your cue ball (the white ball)

Mastering the one doesn't necessarily mean you have mastered the other. Pocketing a ball is fairly easy if you get in a good position - but first you have to get in that position and thats the tricky part.

In Straight Pool to win the important part at first is to have the balls spread out across the table, so as to have many options and easier shots. And that's the difficult to do because of the way you break. Because you actually start the game with a defensive break (because you have to call your shots and you can't just smash the rack open as you do in 8-,9- or 10-ball), as to not give your opponent an easy shot. This video shows 2 great pool players at the break [0]. In 9-ball for example there's luck involved (also where the rack is placed and what rack is used, but thats too complicated for now), because at the start of the rack you simply smash the balls wide open. If you make a shot - great. If not - great for your opponent.

So in Straight Pool the beginning is mainly safety play until someone actually manages to pocket a ball and open the balls up at the same time. Running a rack in straight pool isn't the issue - having a good ball to re-open the next rack to continue the run is the difficult part. That's the position issue. Because you have to be aware on how you want the develop the balls and what position your cue ball is going to be in.

There are a lot more things to consider but I think that's a pretty basic start as to why Straight Pool is more advanced than 8-, 9- or 10-ball ;)

[0] http://youtu.be/SqxvJaPABW0?t=9m42s

I've done usability tests where these "issues" came up, whenever a dropdown or any other form of interaction suddenly popped up and the user had to spend valuable time to re-focus to find out what exactly happened and if this was indeed the right control. Additionally animations are also very useful for transition purposes. Guiding the user from one screen to another can be quite stressful when it's done in an instant and the user has to understand what's happened. This is why Apple's guidelines to transition the screens in a horizontal motion were so damn good, because they allowed users to spatially recognize their "position" in the UI. And I'm glad that the MD guidelines now also state that transitions have to be spatially correct and a screen transition isn't just a window jumping out from the center of the screen. [0]

Of course these animations are only temporary and can only help you so much, but they're very good for consumers when they are noticed. And that's all they really are: helpers, not the sole messenger of the meaning of the UI.

But of course I understand the plight of delayed interactions. UI lag that is caused by hardware aside, they're really annoying. But I see that more of a problem of customization. The OS should allow to switch off any animation.

[0] http://www.google.com/design/spec/animation/meaningful-trans...

"Best practices - Support spatial relationships through consistent motions for incoming and outgoing elements."