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Stumbled across a ton of reading about web authoring and standards:
My friends Belinda and Tim recently took their cat Bam Bam to a new groomer. There apparently was a miscommunication concerning what kind of haircut the cat should have gotten.
Poor little guy never used to get cold at night. Now he has to sleep with a hot water bottle. But other than that, he apparently likes his new cut. Go figure.
Yeah, I know Pete had a post about a similar incident several months back. That cat looked decidedly less happy.
Once upon a time, back in the 80's, there was a cartoonist named Matt Groening. Matt drew a quirky, subversive little comic strip called Life in Hell. It served up a weekly slice of darkly funny vitriol that documented life during the Reagan years.
Then Matt got a TV show, and the cartoon went to hell in a handbasket.
I found myself flipping through one of my book collections of Life in Hell strips (the classic Work is Hell), and spied one of my favourite cartoons. I thought about scanning it and putting it online, but I discovered that someone has beat me to it:
View "How to Kill Eight Hours a Day and Still Keep Your Job"
And you can view more on this Life in Hell fanpage.
OK, so I made another icon:
Not that anyone can see the bloody thing. Still working on that.
I also made some buttons, for people who like that sort of thing:
Just in case anyone is vaguely posessed to link to me. (Please copy and save the images to your own server. Thanks.)
....
Addendum 28 August 2003: Oh. My. GAWD. Thank you to Chris for your comment. That was truly an unfortunate typo in my HTML. And damn funny, too. Jeez, what did I have for breakfast yesterday?
Oh, yeah, right.
Just between you and me -- OK?
I have actual useful things that I could be linking to right now, but that seems like just too much effort.
I can't say this is true of everyone with a graduate degree that I've met, but it does seem very very familiar:
(Yeah, I know this is going to mess up anyone using a smaller monitor. Hope you'll forgive me.)
Can anyone see this in their browser address bar?
What about in the Favorites/Bookmarks list?
*sigh*
US attacked over UN resolution
US officials are objecting to a section of the resolution which refers to attacks on humanitarian workers as a war crime under the statutes of the newly-established International Criminal Court (ICC).
Washington does not recognise the court.
It also insists on either removing reference to it from UN resolutions or having paragraphs inserted that give immunity to nations like America that have not ratified the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.
(via Technorati)
So, you might be one of those children of the night, but who's to say that you don't want a decent, respectable, (somewhat) well-paying desk job, just like everyone else?
Corporate Goth is where you and your like-minded cohorts can congregate to lend support and swap fashion advice and tips on how to fit into that office environment. (However, it's a damn shame that the photo gallery is not working.)
More how-to linkage for the black-clad neophyte can be found on About.com's Gothic Lifestyle page.
As noted on asterisk*, CSS guru Eric Meyer has officially launched his website for Complex Spiral Consulting.
The site includes the first of what will hopefully be a number of useful articles on how to contain a floating element so that it doesn't drift out of its parent element.
(Link to the citation on asterisk* spotted on the IA Slash sidebar.)
Eighties music addicts will want to give this 80's Album Cover Quiz a run-through.
I got 14 out of 15, and -- sadly -- the one I got wrong is not the one you might have expected me to screw up.
Things are back on schedule with this week's selection of Gaping Void cartoons, available for viewing at Circadian Shift: The Outpost.
Courtesy of Gaping Void: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"
View the gallery for 25 August 2003.
Been having an off day. Life just kind of sucks like that, sometimes.
This probably indicates how warped my media consumption habits have become: although the article originates from one of my hometown newspapers, I didn't come across it until it showed up on Technorati's radar:
Towering design flaws
The usual suspects -- politicians, regulators, deregulators, utilities, and environmentalists -- were promptly rounded up when the Aug. 14 blackout lost 61 billion watts of capacity in nine seconds. Yet the real culprit was none of the above -- just as in 1965, 1977, and other regional blackouts that I described in a 1981 report for the Pentagon, Brittle Power: Energy Strategy for National Security (http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid533.php).
The real cause is the overcentralized power grid. Its giant machines spin in exact synchrony across half a continent, co-ordinated by frail aerial arteries and continuous, precise technical controls. Usually, it works well. But every few years by mishap, or anytime by malice, it can fail catastrophically.
Yet another British news outlet makes their style guide available to the masses: the Guardian Unlimited styleguide can be viewed online, or downloaded as a PDF or MS Word document. Although not as comprehensive as the BBC's guide, it does have a a few useful tips for dealing with sticky points of the written word.
Brainstorms & Raves (from where I got the Guardian link) also provides a bunch of linkage to various CSS layout resources. I think I've linked to some of them already, but what the hell.
OpenPhoto.net offers pictures available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Have fun.
Been napping. Naps good.
I guess that's enough for today.
My friend Morag writes in:
Finally, something more disgusting than Holiday Luncheon Meat (obtained in Dallas):
Armour Potted Meat (Food Product)
INGREDIENTS: Mechanically separated chicken, beef tripe, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, beef hearts, water, partially defatted cooked pork fatty tissue, salt, Less than 2 percent: mustard, natural flavorings, dried garlic, vinegar, dextrose, sodium, erythorbate, sodium nitrite.
This charmer provides 130 calories, of which 80 come from fat. Just a 3 oz. serving provides 25% of your daily allowance of cholestoral, 20% of your saturated fat, but only 14% of your total fat allowance and 31% of your daily sodium - there are 750mg of salt in this puppy, er, food product.
"Not a significant source of fiber or sugars."
In a second e-mail, Morag notes that another Armour food product is Armour Star Pork Brains in Milk Gravy . Mmm, mmmm.
I couldn't help but notice that Armour food products are but one of a family of product lines from the Dial Corporation, the others being:
Does Dial Corp. buy their raw materials in bulk?
Growing up in Toronto in the late 70s and early 80s, one the key sources of information about interesting music outside of the mainstream was The New Music, which aired on CITY-TV. There was a time when I religiously followed every episode.
Well, The New Music is entering its 25th season on the air. Canoe has published a handy little retrospective of the show's highlights and lowlights. (Although somebody needs a math lesson; the first episode of The New Music aired on Sept. 22, 1979 -- that's 24 years ago, not 25.)
The show will broadcast a two-part anniversary special on Monday, August 25th, and Monday, September 8th, on MuchMusic.
Just got in the latest batch of Gaping Void cartoons, and have duly posted same over at Circadian Shift: The Outpost.
Courtesy of Gaping Void: "cartoons drawn of the backs of business cards"
View the gallery for 22 August 2003.
Should you have nothing better to do, you can always view the previous galleries that are online:
At this late hour, I'm still only a little bit sleepy. If my eyeballs weren't completely fried from too much websurfing, I'd spend some time checking out The Sleep Channel.
Some other night, then.
(Link via Get, Give, Take & Have.)
[Addendum 22 August 2003: Oops. Somehow managed to post this entry twice. Duplicate has been removed.]
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
cubicle
NOUN: 1. A small compartment, as for work or study. 2. A small sleeping compartment, especially within a dormitory.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Latin cubiculum, bed chamber, from cubare, to lie down.
With an etymology like that, you'd think sleeping at one's desk would be more acceptable. Anyway, here's some linkage:
Edward Tufte explains why PowerPoint is evil:
Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall.
And here's a link from the Circadian Shift archives: MetaFilter discussion on why friends don't let friends use PowerPoint.
(Tufte link spotted on the biztechportalthing.)
This is a good post, with useful linkage, about copyright law here in The Great White North:
Canada: The next target of the RIAA?
....music file sharing is completely legal for our good friends to the North. About five years ago, they deemed the situation of rampant illegal file sharing unenforceable, and decided to do two things: legalize file sharing for personal use, and attach a levy to recordable media (along the order of $0.60 per CD, in 1998 prices.)
(Spotted on the biztechportalthing.)
Oh, you know I had to link to this:
New Wave Photos by Philippe Carly
(a) collection of concert and candid photos of popular and not so popular "rock", "new wave" and "punk" groups from the 70s, 80s and 00s
(Thank you, blogdex.)
Further to the last post, "N" sends along this link:
September 11, 2001
There are a number of metaphors for buildings. We see features -- eyes, nose and mouth -- in their windows. The image of the plane going into South Tower of the World Trade Center is metaphorically an image of a bullet going through someone's head, the flame pouring from the other side blood spurting out. Tall buildings are metaphorically people standing erect. Each tower falling was a body falling. We are not consciously aware of the metaphorical images, but they are part of the power and the horror we experience when we see them.
Each of us, in the prefrontal cortex of our brains, has what are called "mirror neurons." Such neurons fire either when we perform an action or when see the same action performed by someone else. There are connections from that part of the brain to the emotional centers. Such neural circuits are believed to be the basis of empathy.
Follow Me Here quotes from a Salon article:
In 1990, then Republican House Whip Newt Gingrich (later Speaker of the House) hired a pollster to devise a lexicon of demonization. In a memo that Gingrich circulated, "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control," Republicans were instructed that "words and phrases are powerful" and that the list that had been test-marketed should be "memorized."
I decided quite some time ago that, if and when I get another portable PC, I'd get a subnotebook rather than a full-size notebook. Dragging around over 7 pounds of electronics, plus other accoutrements, is not fun.
Shoulda seen my jaw drop when I spotted an ad for this baby:
Maybe someday...
(Via Gizmodo.)
"N" sent me this graph from the IMO's website. I'm still not entirely clear on what the green line means, but look at that thing plummet when the blackout occured.
Meanwhile, Richard and Slashdot both link to these nifty satellite images from before and after the blackout.
One thing about the recent power outage is that it's given me an excuse to go on a flashlight buying spree. I like flashlights. Now I have more.
Miscellaneous linkage of interest:
Found the website of the Independent Electricity Market Operator, who functions as the hub of the electrical power industry here in Ontario. Updates are sketchy, but this page on Emergency Preparedness is a good jump point to other pages of interest.
Here's a Government of Canada page on how to Prepare Yourself and Your Family For Any Emergency. And here's the government's Public Safety site.
And I should probably turn off the computer again.
The radio's been tuned to CBC1 all night, getting the play-by-play on the impact of this blackout on the city. Turns out a good chunk of it is still without power. I feel very lucky, actually, having had it now for six hours. And I've been lucky that the water has been on during this whole thing.
Clearly, my inconveniences have been minor up to now. But I'm somewhat uneasy with the news that it may be days yet before things are back to normal -- the power may go out yet again. I'm not really prepared for this over the long term. Guess I'll have to strike out and -- assuming stores are open -- do some shopping.
To state what's on everyone's mind, you don't realize how much you take these things for granted until they're gone, even if only temporarily.
Right. Enough whining.
Nothing like a massive power outage to make one drag oneself away from the computer for several hours. I got an awful lot of reading done.
Feeding oneself proved to be marginally more difficult. I wound up walking down to Bloor and Spadina, where I knew a hot dog vendor usually sets up shop. Evidently, I wasn't the only one with this idea -- I waited twenty minutes for a hot dog and a Dr. Pepper. Good thing I like Dr. Pepper, because there wasn't a heck of a lot else to choose from in the beverage department.
Was kind of fun, actually, hanging out with the masses there in Matt Cohen "Park", although I suppose the street people who usually inhabit that corner were a bit miffed. People reading (I brought a book). People chatting. People just sitting back and watching the confusion. A break from the ordinary.
Currently, the power is still out in other parts of the city, not to mention elsewhere. I, of course, had to check my e-mail almost immediately after the lights came on in my neighbourhood. But perhaps I should sign off again, at least for a little while.
Things were running a little late this week, but the latest "Gaping Void Gallery" is online at Circadian Shift: The Outpost.
Courtesy of Gaping Void: "cartoons drawn on the backs of business cards"
Indeed, we are back. Wee bit of modem trouble over the weekend prevented the Sauna.org server from talking to the rest of the world.
You'd think that after nearly two days of enforced blog silence, I'd be bursting with things to say. Well, you'd be wrong. But here are a few links I've run across over the last while:
Right. So I managed to get some files uploaded to the Prohosting server. This month's retro MP3 offering is:
"Snobbery & Decay 12" (ZTT #28)"by ACT (9,601 KB)
This is my own transfer from 12" vinyl (usual caveat: recording is decent but not super-high-end audiophile quality). I'm actually rather pleased to feature this, as it's rather hard to find, and this is also not the mix that Blake featured on his site a few years back.
I've also made my own edit of the record, which cuts out the wonky sound clip stuff from the beginning and goes straight to the meat of the song:
"Snobbery & Decay (Edit)"by ACT (3,774 KB)
ACT, of course, was the duo of Thomas Leer with Claudia Brucken from Propaganda. If you dig the sort of mid-80s drama-laden proto-industrial bombast that Propaganda was known for, this is your kind of record.
(And the rest of you can yawn and click over to Fark now.)
Doing a quick Google, I couldn't find a heck of a lot of information about ACT.
There is a French site dedicated to Claudia Brucken (warning: Flash needed), as well as a Propaganda fan site in English and German (actually the pages about ACT on this site are "under construction", so it's not much bloody help, really).
Here's a rather terse ACT discography, and an h2g2 entry about Zang Tuum Tumb (ZTT) Records.
Stumbled across a directory on my hard drive labelled "clipart". I'm not sure where I got it from. There are numerous images grouped into various categories, like "animals", "computing", "household", and "music".
I found this image in the "office" directory.
Sure.
Earlier in the day, I was all set to upload this month's retro MP3 to Circadian Shift: The Outpost, but Prohosting's server is not cooperating. Boo.
To hold you over in the meantime, please go enjoy the BBC's website for Top of the Pops 2. There's a bevy of video clips, photo galleries, and trivia that explores over three decades of TOTP -- loads of fun!
In their latest newsletter, the folks at SitePoint discuss using JavaScript to equalize column heights in a typical CSS 3-column layout.
For those of you who like your kiddie-fare a bit more grim (Grimm?), Max und Moritz has found its way online, along with a number of other 19th-century German stories.
As mentioned previously, I had a copy of Struwwelpeter as a wee tyke. Hair-raising stuff that would send today's Barney and Teletubbies viewers into a state of hysterical paralysis.
(Linkage via MetaFilter.)
This is so neat: a site about TVOntario children's shows from the 70s and early 80s. Remember Jeremy, Barbapapa, or CUCUMBER? How about that uber-cheesy fitness show The Body Works (god, I think those teeny little Adidas shorts are back in style again)? If so, go and enjoy.
(Thanks to Over Anything for the link.)
Lotta people out there linking to this article on The 100 Worst "Groaners" that appear in newswriting. I'll admit I've been guilty of a few of these. So have you.
Clash With Police - The cops wore blue and the rioters wore purple. A serious faux-pas before Labor Day. Stripes and checks clash. Cops and mobs FIGHT, and we should say so.
Fell to his death - Can't you just see the poor guy, toppling out the window, hurtling toward the pavement, looking down and exclaiming "Hey, whaddaya know! There's my death, right down there!" People fall down and are killed.
Lay the Groundwork - Doesn't anybody "prepare" anymore?
Recent memory - "It's the bloodiest massacre in recent memory". Admit it. Why do you say "recent memory"? Because you don't remember! You don't know if it's the worst disaster in 10 years, 15 years or 45 minutes! But you don't want to tell your viewers that, so you fudge. All you're really doing is telling them how bad your research staff is. If you don't know the right number, go find out, or find another way to tell the story.
Watched in horror - Folks who happen to see a murder/earthquake/Wes Craven movie don't watch in joy, mirth or indifference (well, maybe the movie) so why state the obvious?
Remember, kids, avoid cliches like the plague.
Rule of Force is a blog that's been set up to cover the recent coup attempt in the Philippines.
(via Sleeve Notes)
Well, this is just dandy:
Man making salad in car charged in OPP blitz
Toronto -- A traffic blitz in cottage country over the holiday weekend resulted in 800 charges being laid by the Ontario Provincial Police - including one man who was caught preparing a salad while his lunch was cooking in a crock pot.
(via the generalnewsportalthing)
Another Monday, another bunch o' pix:
Courtesy of Gaping Void: "Cartoons drawn on the backs of business cards."
View the gallery for 04 August 2003.
And there are still the galleries for July 28 and July 21. Or not.
This month's retro MP3 offering will also be up in a day or so.
(Should my French be lacking, feel free to let me know.)
(Addendum 05 August 2003: Oops. Have now deleted the extra 'e' from the end of "attend"; thank you FreeTranslation.com.)
Blogging to resume later today.
Nothing like a good dose of pierogies to help one feel better.
Linguists, Japanophiles, and calligraphy junkies can all rejoice and look up their names in Kanji. (Thanks to modulo26 for the tip.)
I haven't been sleeping well lately. I'm also feeling a tad blogged out.
In lieu of useful content, please enjoy this little Sushi Cat, also known as Maneki Neko:
Have a nice day.
(Thanks to Pointdexter for the cat link.)
Zed and Richard and god knows who else have already linked to this article:
U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters
Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.
The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.
Assholes.
Happy Birthday, Switzerland!