Ramblings
September 30, 2003
September 27, 2003
One of the reasons for redoing this site's code (in addition to keeping my HTML/CSS skills sharp) is so I can easily change the design using stylesheets, and allow you to pick the one you want to use. So far there's only been two available, which are located in the sidebar under the "Site style" heading: "lowercase" (the default design, which you're probably looking at) and text only (which really isn't a design).
I've added another quick one: "Bluesnik", based on the Jackie McLean album cover. This isn't the first time I've ripped off Blue Note album art for a quick design: Compare the original New England Flatland site with the Miles Davis Vol. 1 cover. But I wanted to add another site style, I'm a huge fan of Reid Miles' designs, and they translate pretty well into web designs. (BTW, I highly recommend the two Blue Note album cover art books.)
And for full disclosure, the stylesheet swapping code is courtesy of Paul Sowden, who wrote an article about it on A List Apart.
I've added another quick one: "Bluesnik", based on the Jackie McLean album cover. This isn't the first time I've ripped off Blue Note album art for a quick design: Compare the original New England Flatland site with the Miles Davis Vol. 1 cover. But I wanted to add another site style, I'm a huge fan of Reid Miles' designs, and they translate pretty well into web designs. (BTW, I highly recommend the two Blue Note album cover art books.)
And for full disclosure, the stylesheet swapping code is courtesy of Paul Sowden, who wrote an article about it on A List Apart.
September 26, 2003
Dell is releasing an MP3 player and an Online Music Store. Where do people come up with these crazy ideas!? And the design of Dell's MP3 player is like nothing you've seen before!
Stagnant (~stevenf):
Stagnant (~stevenf):
Please, some computer company other than Apple, have an original thought. Grow a pair. Come up with a concept, an idea of your own for once in your meaningless lives. Do something new. Show us why you deserve that 90% marketshare. Innovate. Take a risk.
We were at last night's game (many thanks to the Quinns!) where the Red Sox clinched the wildcard playoff spot. It's nights like that where, wearing our Sox jerseys and walking back to our car, someone shouting "NOMAAAHHHH!" at us from a passing car makes perfect sense.
Stop buying from spammers, Net industry says
You'd think that would be obvious, but apparently-smart people -- such as "the manager of a $6 billion mutual fund" and the "president of a California firm that sells airplane parts" (according to a Wired News article) -- can't seem to say no. Makes you wonder how many stupid people are falling for it.
You'd think that would be obvious, but apparently-smart people -- such as "the manager of a $6 billion mutual fund" and the "president of a California firm that sells airplane parts" (according to a Wired News article) -- can't seem to say no. Makes you wonder how many stupid people are falling for it.
September 25, 2003
Indie legends the Pixies set to reform
Now that's a reunion worth seeing! What bugs me is that this news is over two weeks old, and I'm just hearing about it now...
Now that's a reunion worth seeing! What bugs me is that this news is over two weeks old, and I'm just hearing about it now...
September 23, 2003
A few weeks ago my friends Jon and Julia got married. We had a great time at their wedding and were quite jealous of their honeymoon destination, Hawaii. (Jill and I have been dying to go back ever since our honeymoon there.) Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting seeing their pictures from their trip, but Jon gave me a little preview:
I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here, but it's such an amazing photo ... it almost looks fake.
I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here, but it's such an amazing photo ... it almost looks fake.
September 18, 2003
September 12, 2003
Bambino's Curse Red Sox weblog quotes a couple good comparisons between baseball and football (no, not Carlin's):
"Baseball is a fat Victorian novel, replete with colorful minor characters and discursive subplots, into which a fan can disappear for months; football is a series of quick-cutting TV cop shows." — Bob ThompsonI think both comparisons are pretty accurate ... and also help explain why football (which, oddly enough, I dislike as much as fat Victorian novels) is so much more popular than baseball.
"Football is sex; baseball is marriage." — Frank Deford
(I apologize ahead of time for my Mac snobbery...)
The more I use Windows, the more I'm shocked that people continue to accept and use such shoddy software. Besides the ugliness and inconsistencies between buggy apps, I need to restart Windows at least once every day or two. I waste too much time waiting for and force-quitting Windows apps. At home, the only time I start my OS X Mac is when I install new software that requires it.
And here's one of my biggest complaints with Windows apps: besides often being inelegant, they're overly complex for no good reason. Too much "we can make it do this, so let's put it in" in almost every application. I haven't found a single good MP3 player/ripper/burner for Windows that does just that and does it well, but there are plenty that do an awful lot more than that, though not well. Too many apps that do a whole crapload of things, and does them all poorly. Bleah.
The more I use Windows, the more I'm shocked that people continue to accept and use such shoddy software. Besides the ugliness and inconsistencies between buggy apps, I need to restart Windows at least once every day or two. I waste too much time waiting for and force-quitting Windows apps. At home, the only time I start my OS X Mac is when I install new software that requires it.
And here's one of my biggest complaints with Windows apps: besides often being inelegant, they're overly complex for no good reason. Too much "we can make it do this, so let's put it in" in almost every application. I haven't found a single good MP3 player/ripper/burner for Windows that does just that and does it well, but there are plenty that do an awful lot more than that, though not well. Too many apps that do a whole crapload of things, and does them all poorly. Bleah.
September 9, 2003
In the spirit of the quiet death of re-launch, I'm reworking this site -- again -- a little bit at a time. Of course, your average person won't notice -- it's mainly under-the-covers stuff. But this will allow me to easily change the design & layout of the site, as well as add a "choose your own style" feature.
Not that anyone really gives a rat's ass (this is really just CSS practice for me), but all this is coming soon, whenever I have a little free time. In the meantime, there might be some weirdness that'll be fixed as I go along...
Update: A web developer/designer friend of mine passed along this compliment, which I thought was kinda funny:
Not that anyone really gives a rat's ass (this is really just CSS practice for me), but all this is coming soon, whenever I have a little free time. In the meantime, there might be some weirdness that'll be fixed as I go along...
Update: A web developer/designer friend of mine passed along this compliment, which I thought was kinda funny:
Hey, nice CSS work on your site, by the way. It's a shame CSS is a lot like bebop jazz...rarely appreciated by anyone except other practitioners.
September 1, 2003
Yahoo News reported on the fake flatland video game story I did on eWire. Nice fact-checking going on there...
Labels: bmx
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