Ramblings
July 31, 2001
I don't know if they're just trying to get me to subscribe to the print edition, but The Onion's new double pop-under ad window is pushing it... 
July 26, 2001
What do you use now that Napster has shut down? Check out AfterNapster for a pretty complete listing of options.
I can't stand self-serving web designers. Cool Homepages is a good resource for viewing and rating web sites (review on eWire here). However, most of the highest rated sites are total Flashturbation -- slow loading, difficult to use sites done in Flash that do everything to try to impress the user ("Look at all the cool stuff I can do in Flash!") and nothing ot make the site easy to use.
Flash has its place on the web. And not every site has to be as simple to use as Yahoo and Amazon (every corporate and ecommerce site does, though...unless you don't want to stay in business). Entertainment and personal sites can (and, at times, should) be much different and push the envelope of web design (like those in CHP's UltraHip category). But not all of this cool, cutting-edge design works. And quite often it suffers from RayGun syndrome: using eye-catching design to hide the fact that the content is lame.
Take Cool Homepages' recent site of the week, 2Advanced (the highest ranked site on Cool Homepages). The first thing you see is a page of system and software requirements, and a small "enter" link at the bottom. You almost lost me right there. Then you open the Flash-made site, and it takes too long to load (over a T1 line -- I don't even want to try this over a modem). Is the Flash site cool? No doubt -- definitely one of the cooler ones I've seen; very high-tech and original. However, after seeing too many stupid animated "Loading content" messages, I just got irritated and left.
Flash has its place on the web. And not every site has to be as simple to use as Yahoo and Amazon (every corporate and ecommerce site does, though...unless you don't want to stay in business). Entertainment and personal sites can (and, at times, should) be much different and push the envelope of web design (like those in CHP's UltraHip category). But not all of this cool, cutting-edge design works. And quite often it suffers from RayGun syndrome: using eye-catching design to hide the fact that the content is lame.
Take Cool Homepages' recent site of the week, 2Advanced (the highest ranked site on Cool Homepages). The first thing you see is a page of system and software requirements, and a small "enter" link at the bottom. You almost lost me right there. Then you open the Flash-made site, and it takes too long to load (over a T1 line -- I don't even want to try this over a modem). Is the Flash site cool? No doubt -- definitely one of the cooler ones I've seen; very high-tech and original. However, after seeing too many stupid animated "Loading content" messages, I just got irritated and left.
July 23, 2001
Even though George Harrison denies being near death, it brings up another question: How is Keith Richards still alive?
July 21, 2001
First GT buys Schwinn, and now Huffy buys Schwinn. Somehow I find that both newsworth and not worth mentioning at the same time.
July 19, 2001
July 16, 2001
July 15, 2001
I don't like Cory Nastazio -- I've never met him, but his rock & roll image irritates me. Nonetheless, the double backflip he does in the new Vans commercial is real sick.
July 12, 2001
I've posted some photos of last week's 1-day Chatham vacation on photographica.org. Almost two rolls in one day, but overall I'm not really thrilled with how they came out (am I ever?).
I also shot some riding photos to finish off the last roll. Only one came out half decent; the rest were pretty much crap. I don't understand how one day I can shoot so well, and another I can't buy a good shot...
I also shot some riding photos to finish off the last roll. Only one came out half decent; the rest were pretty much crap. I don't understand how one day I can shoot so well, and another I can't buy a good shot...
July 10, 2001
"Soon the super karate monkey death car would park in my space. But Jimmy has fancy plans... and pants to match. The monkey clown horrible karate round and yummy like cute small baby chick would beat the donkey."
July 8, 2001
Sometimes this page is just a pile of text with no images, which is no good. So, I've added a random photo (there's only three right now) to help liven it up. Plus, some people have asked what happened to The Baby Photo, so that'll occasionally show up here...
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