16-March-2003 -- An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch

Grok Headline matches for 16-March-2003 -- An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch

"a bunch of open letters to the US
President. "

"a bunch of open letters to the US
President. " 11/18/2003 08:58 PM

Test Drive a Bunch of Open Source
Content Management Systems

Test Drive a Bunch of Open Source
Content Management Systems 09/15/2004 09:19 AM
Now THIS is a marvelous idea. Put a bunch of content management systems online with screenshots, and descriptions. Make the admin passwords public so that anyone can log in and...

March 2003 Column> What's New 2003

March 2003 Column> What's New 2003 03/11/2003 09:44 AM
My March 2003 column is complete and titled " What's New 2003". It mentions Internet "What's New" resources that I articulate in my various national key note presentations, workshops and television/radio interviews. Other resources are also available to my radio interview listeners by clicking here.

an open letter

an open letter 08/27/2004 03:56 PM
For the love of Crusade. A short animation that may not be played at the 2004 Republican Convention.

An Open Letter to "That Guy."

An Open Letter to "That Guy." 10/28/2003 11:08 PM
If anyone knows "That Guy" who everyone in Chicago wants to kill, would you make sure he reads this?

open letter

open letter 07/21/2004 01:15 PM

michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93
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"open letter"

"open letter" 07/22/2004 02:53 AM

Open Letter to Apple: Ogg For Us

Open Letter to Apple: Ogg For Us 05/28/2004 09:12 AM

This one is, as they say, for my homies: Now I don't know if anyone at Apple reads Gizmodo -- they like whizbang fu-shneckenry, so we'll assume someone does -- but I'd like to just go ahead and address something real quickly. When Steve Jobs said in the April 28th iTunes Conference Call that they had no plans to add Ogg support to iTunes/iPod because Apple were "not getting any requests from customers for it," I realized that, possibly, Steve Jobs does not troll the forums of Slashdot all day long (!?). So I'd like to sort of act as the liaison between those fuming but misdirected Ogg supporters who, perhaps subverted by the customer service firewall that (possibly) isn't getting the occasional messages through, and the product managers, et al, at Apple that aren't hearing the cries of this vocal but poorly aimed minority. Please either 1) add native Ogg support to iTunes and iPod (I know we can add Ogg to iTunes ourselves now, but still...) or 2) give us a good reason for not choosing to support the admittedly niche but excellent codec besides 'no one asked for it.' We're asking.

I will, because as much as I would like to think everyone ever reads this site, forward this request to Apple, like all you Ogg advocates should be doing with yours, as well.

Open letter to crackhead

Open letter to crackhead 04/25/2004 01:29 AM
A San Francisco Craigslister has written an open letter to the crackhead who improvised a pipe from his motorcycle's sparkplugs:

On Wednesday morning I emerged from my girlfriend's building by U.N. Plaza to find that you had sawed the tops off both the sparkplugs on my motorcycle. At the time, I had no idea why anyone would do that. Other than the sparkplugs, the bike was untouched. Some kind of bizarre vandalism? A fraternity prank gone awry? I had no idea. All I knew is that I looked like a huge douchebag riding the Muni to work in a padded motorcycle jacket and helmet.

Because the bike was immobilized I got a $35 street sweeping ticket that night. Thursday I had it towed to the shop ($45) where they replaced the sparkplugs and the boots ($50 including labor). They explained to me that "people" - I use the term loosely here - like you break off the tops of spark plugs and use the porcelain tubes to smoke crack. As an engineer and former MacGyver fan, in a way I think this is kind of cool. But then I remember that I just paid $100 for YOUR crackpipes, and I get angry again.

Link (Thanks, brecht!)

An open letter to Corel

An open letter to Corel 06/22/2004 04:05 AM
On the occasion of the release of WordPerfect for Linux, we would like to extend Corel Corp. a hearty welcome to the growing desktop market! Corel has a history of working with Linux and helping to advance the use of Linux on the desktop and in the business world, so we find this new release of one of your flagship products to be a very significant and positive event. Your gutsy move to port WordPerfect to Linux places the company at the intersection of smart business strategy and doing what is best for the global community of infocentric citizens. However, if we could make just one request?

Open Letter to Apple: Ogg For Us, Please

Open Letter to Apple: Ogg For Us, Please 06/02/2004 10:09 AM

Dear Apple, the other day I mentioned that lots of us would like an official position about Ogg Vorbis support for the iPod. Let me restate the request in more clear terms, without my usual fatmouthing. Mr. Steve Jobs recently said Apple had not heard any requests for Ogg support on the iPod or in your music library tool, iTunes. This is a formal request for one of two things, if you would.

Please add Ogg Vorbis support to the iPod and iTunes, as a vocal (but apparently not vocal enough) minority has been requesting. Failing that, if you could please give us an official position on why Apple will not add the totally free and excellent codec to compliment your fantastic iTunes music library software and iPod music player. While I understand you are orienting your marketing and DRM approach around AAC (another excellent codec), adding Ogg would in no way diminish the ease of use that are hallmarks of your player and software (just as supporting MP3 has not interfered with your choice of AAC). It would, however, make it easier for me to continue to recommend the iPod to my readers as the best player for audiophiles and allow me to get even more use out of a player and platform in which I have already invested.

If the current third generation iPod is not computationally able to decode Ogg, that would be a reasonable explanation, of course. I would not expect Apple to officially support a codec in iTunes, but not iPod. I look forward to your response. Thanks! Joel
Open Letter to Apple: Ogg For Us [Gizmodo]

An Open Letter to Apple

An Open Letter to Apple 07/09/2004 04:49 PM

Alex Salkever of Business Week has written an open letter to Apple's Steve Jobs in a recent column that provides some interesting perspectives on where Apple should go next in terms of its computer business. Most of his points are awfully hard to argue with.

You've been to Target (TGT), right? You probably seen the terrific product designs such as well-known architect Michael Graves' line of stylish housewares -- offered a budget prices. Heck, Blue Light Specials at Kmart (KMRT ) haven't been the same since Martha Stewart's line of kitchen gear, sheets, and towels hit the aisles several years ago. Dumpster-diving debutantes can't get enough of them. Even sportswear designer Mossimo makes great threads for fiscal lightweights.

We're in the era of cheap chic, Steve. And I have no doubt that Apple can play that game with the best of them. Give us a really cheap, really cool PC, and watch them fly off the shelves.

He also makes the case for selling iMacs without integrated monitors, and I hope that's in the works for the next series of iMacs. I've decided to purchase a Mac later this year, and while the iMac displays are gorgeous, I tend to look at them as a barrier to switching when I have to pay to replace a perfectly good CRT that's already sitting on my desk. I also cringe at the thought of what happens when the display gets along in years. Right now, you have to chuck the whole iMac and get another.

There's a pretty big hole in Apple's product line right now with the removal of the single-processor G5 from production. I'm a developer, and interested in a serious computer, so the iMac/eMac form factors don't appeal to me much, due to the home user target and the integrated monitors. On the other hand, the $2,000 starting price for a G5 is asking a bit much from a machine that, from my position as a PC user, is an unproven value. The way the refurbished single-processor G5's are flying out of Apple's refurbished section, I don't think I'm the only person that's in that boat.

I'm curious to hear from the Mac folks on how they see Apple's position.

Click here to comment on this entry

CNN.com - Bush sends Iraq war letter to
Congress - Mar. 19, 2003

CNN.com - Bush sends Iraq war letter to
Congress - Mar. 19, 2003 03/20/2003 11:10 PM
there may be a "tactical" advantage to delaying a military strike .. you overruled that amendment back in october .. Bush sends Iraq war letter to Congress .. Formal announcement

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Las Vegas, Nevada-World Series of Poker
Comes to Hollywood - New Hollywood
Motion Picture "Lucky You" Scheduled for
Casting and Filming in Hollywood and Las
Vegas, Soon

Las Vegas, Nevada-World Series of Poker
Comes to Hollywood - New Hollywood
Motion Picture "Lucky You" Scheduled for
Casting and Filming in Hollywood and Las
Vegas, Soon 03/14/2005 05:55 PM
Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana are set to star in "Lucky You" at Warner Bros. Story revolves around struggling singer (Drew Barrymore)who hooks up with professional poker player (Eric Bana)as he collides with his estranged father at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The casting company for the movie is currently seeking poker players and dealers for the film. Details and application forms are available on the front page of www.PokerConnection.net [PRWEB Feb 15, 2005]

Open Letter to Reed Hastings

Open Letter to Reed Hastings 07/30/2004 10:06 AM

Dude,

You (and your company) got where it is via innovation, chutzpah and lots of luck.

You were the first to fiure out the balance between meatspace and cyberspace in regards to content-on-demand.

Congrats!

But now I hear that you're doing a me-to movie download play and I'm sorry - that's just not enough!

You REALLY need to think seriously about what value added you can offer that will differentiate your downloading service from the rest and how your brand and customer base can be best leveraged.

And being a me-too copycat ain't that.

You collaborative filtering sucks and we (your loyal customers) have been eagerly awaiting the time when you get a clue about that.

Wal-mart and Blockbuster are gonna kick your ass - unless you stay out ahead of the curve.

Here's a hint: THINK PEOPLE!

Rafa t Ali reports.....

An interview with Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, on VOD, online delivery and others issues.

On online delivery: "We're focused on downloading to your TV, over the Internet, and that's about all we've said to date. The big advantage we have is that mixing it with DVD, customers can get unlimited DVDs and unlimited downloads under one subscription."

[Paid Content.org]

Open letter to Michael Dell

Open letter to Michael Dell 12/23/2003 07:14 AM
Industry veteran John Dickinson has a bone to pick with Dell's CEO: Your customer service just ain't what it used to be.

Open letter to the European Commission

Open letter to the European Commission 11/18/2003 09:16 AM
ZDNet Nov 18 2003 8:34AM ET

An open letter to California's governor

An open letter to California's governor 09/13/2004 03:35 AM
Dear Mr. Schwarzenegger, The purpose of this letter is two-fold: To congratulate you for your choice to utilize open source software in California in order to reduce operational costs. To warn you that the path you take in a different section of the cost-reducing white paper is dangerous and stands against the ideology of open source enthusiasts.

An Open Letter to a Digital World

An Open Letter to a Digital World 12/19/2004 03:00 PM

Another open letter from Darl McBride,
CEO of SCO

Another open letter from Darl McBride,
CEO of SCO 12/04/2003 04:49 PM
Since last March The SCO Group ("SCO") has been involved in an increasingly rancorous legal controversy over violations of our UNIX intellectual property contract, and what we assert is the widespread presence of our copyrighted UNIX code in Linux. These controversies will rage for at least another 18 months, until our original case comes to trial. Meanwhile, the issues SCO has raised have become one of the hottest technology stories of the year, and often our positions on these issues have been misunderstood or misrepresented. Starting with this letter, I'd like to explain our positions on the key issues. In the months ahead we'll post a series of letters on the SCO website (www.sco.com). Each of these letters will examine one of the many issues SCO has raised. In this letter, we'll provide our view on the key issue of U.S. copyright law versus the GNU GPL (General Public License).

Open letter to Puma @ Gawker

Open letter to Puma @ Gawker 03/14/2003 06:21 PM
Open letter to Puma @ Gawker .. saga of those Puma ads .. verbal offensive .. responds

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Open letter to OQO: time to put up or
shut up

Open letter to OQO: time to put up or
shut up 01/08/2004 08:15 PM
Since it seems like we've been hearing about this forever without any convincing evidence that it is actually going to come out, we understandably are...

seldom sober: open letter

seldom sober: open letter 05/16/2004 02:18 AM
Nick Berg video .. An open letter .. Read it

liverevolt.com/seldomsober/archive/001850.html
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Open Letter to a Digital World

Open Letter to a Digital World 12/19/2004 03:49 PM

Open Letter on Exclusive Demos

Open Letter on Exclusive Demos 12/16/2003 01:40 PM

An open letter to Flip Saunders

An open letter to Flip Saunders 04/19/2004 12:19 PM
Dear Flip Saunders, First, congratulations on your Minnesota Timberwolves capturing the #1 seed for the playoffs in the Western Conference. I have been a fan for many years, and for the first time, I feel good about the team you have assembled and have high hopes for this postseason. But we need to talk about Wally Szczerbiak. You've got to get rid of him. Can't you see that when he's...

Open letter to Sir Howard Stringer

Open letter to Sir Howard Stringer 03/14/2005 05:53 PM

Hi Howard,

Congratulations. I have great respect for Mr. Idei and wish he could have completed his mission, but I'm sure the decision for him to resign was something that was thoroughly thought through. Personally, I'm glad that they chose you to run the company. I think you understand Sony and have many of the things that Sony needs to become the global company that Mr. Idei wanted it to be. My main concern is that you are quite immersed in the entertainment side of the business and I really believe that Hollywood is taking an unreasonably strong position on the copyright issue and is impinging on the rights of users and amateur creators. In your new role as the head of Sony, I urge you to try to take a more balanced and long-term view on the copyright issues. I suggest you at least listen to the rhetoric of the "other side" and maybe start by reading "The Future of Ideas" by Lawrence Lessig.

I hope you will still do the Sony Open Forum in Hawaii and let me continue to challenge you and your executives. (I promise to practice my golf too.)

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you again and hope your new job doesn't take away your sense of humor. ;-)

- Joi

Comment - TrackBack

Open Letter to FCC Chair Powell

Open Letter to FCC Chair Powell 11/12/2003 05:37 PM

I'd sure love to hear the FCC's response to Scott Raymond's excellent letter to Chairman Powell.

Approving the broadcast flag "in order to promote customer interests" is the biggest falsehood I've heard from Powell yet.

McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights

McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights 12/05/2003 12:59 AM
dtfinch writes "An open letter was posted today by Darl McBride, where he restates his claim that the GPL violates the U.S. Constitution, patent laws, ...

"Open Letter To Kansas School Board"

"Open Letter To Kansas School Board" 06/24/2005 09:46 PM

An open letter to Adobe FrameMaker users

An open letter to Adobe FrameMaker users 06/26/2004 07:08 PM
Fellow FrameMaker Users,

As you have no doubt heard, Adobe Systems has discontinued FrameMaker for the Macintosh, and there has been no announcement regarding a version for Mac OS X. My company is 99% Mac, 99% FrameMaker, so this is very disappointing news for us. Personally, I have used FrameMaker on the Mac every working day for the last 11 years, and I still think it's a fantastic product. Adobe has offered a cross-grade to the Windows version, but this is not an option for us.

If, like me, you want Adobe to develop and release a version of FrameMaker for Mac OS X, please sign the online petition that I've set up.

Please link this site to all FrameMaker users you know.

Thank you for your support

Paul Findon

Q&A: Raymond Expounds on Open Letter to
Sun, McNealy

Q&A: Raymond Expounds on Open Letter to
Sun, McNealy 03/08/2004 11:20 PM
Open-source advocate

Bob Young's Open Letter to SCO/Darl
McBride

Bob Young's Open Letter to SCO/Darl
McBride 12/19/2003 11:30 AM

Open letter to Miramax: leave KFC Cinema
alone

Open letter to Miramax: leave KFC Cinema
alone 01/07/2004 06:11 PM
An anonymous BoingBoing reader writes:

Miramax has apparently jumped on the "let's be evil" bandwagon. Kung Fu Cult Cinema is a site for fans of Asian Cinema, including reviews, message boards, etc. As part of the site, there are links to websites outside of the U.S. that sell Asian films legally. Miramax has apparently sent the site a bogus "cease and desist" order, claiming that KFC Cinema cannot even *link* to said overseas sites without violating the copyright they have on certain asian films (Hero, Shaolin Soccer, etc.). The link above is to an open response to Miramax's letter.

Link

E-billing: An open letter to John
Ziniades

E-billing: An open letter to John
Ziniades 02/03/2003 08:23 PM
Think Amazon, think Google, think eBay. Simplicity works. In addition to keeping things simple, we need to keep them customer-focused. ...

iPod owner's open letter to Apple

iPod owner's open letter to Apple 02/10/2004 02:48 AM
Letters Pepsi child shame threat to sales?

Wired's open letter to new head of MPAA

Wired's open letter to new head of MPAA 01/06/2004 10:40 AM
Chris Anderson, Wired's Ed-in-Chief, has written an open letter to whomever succeeds Jack Valenti as the head of the Motion Picture Association of America:

Now the bad news: You're at risk of alienating your customers like the music industry did. The do-not-record "broadcast flag" that the TV industry just pushed through the FCC will introduce new restrictions on programming, none of which benefit consumers. Proposed legislation that throws anyone caught with a prerelease movie on their hard drive into prison for three years is the sort of disproportionate response that gives the RIAA a bad name. The notorious Digital Millennium Copyright Act is Hollywood's fault. And extending copyright protection year after year so that the film and television archives stay shut isn't just bad law, it's depriving Americans of their cultural history.

Link

Open letter to MovableType Developers /
Consultants

Open letter to MovableType Developers /
Consultants 12/19/2004 03:42 PM

This note was forwarded through SixApart and should be hitting the Developer Network mailing list or Forums shortly

I am in need of a MT consultant / developer. I have a MT site www.geeknewscentral.com, it is firing on most cylinders but it has a custom CSS that has made it difficult for me to enable dynamic html and make other changes. The designer of the skin has been too busy with her own projects to be able to support us.

I have a small/medium sized budget and I am willing to pay someone to come in look at the layout, and tell me what can be done better or what needs to be brought up to speed. I would like a permanent relationship with someone that I can hire to pay for their time $$$.$$ to keeps an eye on new plugins etc and that I can rely on.

I would do it myself but have too many irons in the fire. If you would be interested in working with us, please send me a e-mail introducing yourself and some links to some of the MT work that you are currently or have done in the past. Included should be your rate scale and any minimums, keep in mind I am looking for a long term relationship in which the consultant/developer becomes a integral part of our team.

The individual must be willing to sign a NDA.

Task that I am wanting completed:

A top to bottom overview of the layout of the site and clean up of any CSS and MT Tags.
Implement several specific changes to the site layout (NDA)
Get dynamic pages working!
Suggestions of plugins that could enhance the site!
Develop a Podcast only blog in line with out current design
Develop 2-3 new skins for new domains (NDA)

If you fit that description and will stick with us for the long haul drop me a e-mail.

March 14, 2003

March 14, 2003 03/14/2003 06:10 PM

AngryCoder: “FogBUGZ is very well designed, and virtually bug free. Frankly, if you are in the market for a defect tracking solution, you can’t do much better than FogBUGZ. It is by far the best solution on the market right now, and is also very attractively priced.” Thanks!

Joseph Jones, who wrote the review, didn’t like the perceived lack of customizability in FogBUGZ. I hear ya. This was one of those agonizing decisions for us. It’s a tradeoff between implementing features that make the sale, versus implementing features that, we think, will make people who use our software love it, which helps in the long term. At the time it was discussed in depth here on Joel on Software.

Take, for example, a typical report a bug tracking package gives you that shows you the number of bugs generated per day per programmer. Typical bad managers will use that tool to punish programmers with high bug counts or reward programmers with low bug counts. As a result, every time a tester tries to enter a bug, the programmer will argue about it. “That's not really a bug.” “Please don't enter it, I'll fix it on the side for you.” Eventually the bug tracking system subverts itself. That's not FogBUGZ's fault, but there you have it. Nobody wants to use it, they never upgrade, they don't buy more licenses when they get more programmers, and we lose the potential word of mouth.

The current system, in which we expect FogBUGZ users to have enlightened development processes, makes us miss out on initial sales but it makes our existing customers happier. And they tell friends, and they buy more and more licences, and all is good. We've found that anyone who has been using FogBUGZ and moves on to a new job that doesn't have bug tracking will recommend FogBUGZ at their new job, which is one reason our sales are up by about 200% since last year.

But this is all, to some extent, speculation. I can't prove anything here. Design decisions are hard that way.

Grok Description matches for 16-March-2003 -- An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch
GrokA matches for 16-March-2003 -- An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch

Strip Mall Land = Comforting

Strip Mall Land = Comforting 03/19/2005 02:47 AM

Turning off New Jersey Route 17 toward my cousin's house in Allendale it occurred to me that maybe opponents of sprawl and strip malls are overlooking one bright spot.  There is something comforting about driving down Route 17 or the Rockville Pike in Maryland.  You know that if you have a car and a credit card you'll be able to get everything that you might conceivably ever need and, after all, isn't that what American life is all about?

"a comforting report pointing out that
everything that was covered by the Times
was in fact covered by the Times"

"a comforting report pointing out that
everything that was covered by the Times
was in fact covered by the Times" 09/27/2004 02:37 AM

PCs that know how you're feeling

PCs that know how you're feeling 01/26/2004 11:29 AM
Sandia Labs is working on PCs that can sense how you're feeling:Aided by tiny sensors and transmitters called a PAL (Personal Assistance Link) your machine...

Feeling alone

Feeling alone 02/10/2004 06:47 AM
I am serious with a woman, but sometimes I feel like she's a character in my drama, not that we're acting it out together.

I had a bad feeling about this

I had a bad feeling about this 06/06/2005 12:08 AM

« Three wise men gape in wonder at the crowds paying good money to go see the final (we hope) Star Wars movie. »

We must have been the last people in Helsinki to go see the final Star Wars movie last night judging by the tiny size of the crowd in the theatre. The highest praise one can give this movie is that it "sucks less than the previous two movies" which isn't an encouraging sign that anyone is going to go see it more than once in the theatre. After seeing the original seven or more times when it was first released in 1977, this movie serves only as closure and release from nearly 30 years of waiting for the damn thing to end. Had I known then that I'd have to wait so long and be so apathetic by the time the end arrived maybe I'd not have been so excited about the movies when I was younger.

George Lucas must have forgotten what made the first movie so incredible; a fun story, characters that we gave a damn about and a bit of creativity used to make it all seem believable. The last three movies are all about the special effects with little else to go on since the actors deliver their lines as though there's a teleprompter outside the camera frame and the characters are hard to love given their two-dimensionality. At least Obi-Wan has some redeeming qualities and even delivers the all important "I have a bad feeling about this" line that is uttered in every single movie and, like Hitchcock making a cameo in his movies, leaves you with something to look forward to. It ain't much, but it's something.

Palpatine making his transformation to Darth Swamp Thing did provide some comic relief as all 15 people in the theatre will attest to, but much of the movie was a colossal cosmic bore. I was checking my watch more than 30 minutes before it ended when it seemed like we had been sitting there for an eternity. Anakin is a walking illustration of why 'young and stupid' is one of the immutable constants in the universe, too. And the not very subtle comparison of Sith Lords and Bush was pretty lame in spite of my political leanings. Boring.

There was nothing that made this story human, it was all special effects and set-ups for merch like video games and action figures. I suppose Hollywood figures that special effects can make even the most lacklustre movie worth watching and now, since moviemakers don't seem to have a single original idea, they're going for remakes of classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which will no doubt be filled with every whizbang gizmo and outrageous special effect Hollywood currently has to offer. Ironic when one remembers that the whole movie was about the wonders of childhood imagination. Where's Lewis Black as I need him to rant about this on the Daily Show so that I can laugh instead of wondering who has to disappear to get fresh new people making interesting movies again instead of recycling old ideas with bad acting and computer generated animation.

But, I bought my tickets, served my time and now, it is done.

And I think everyone in Helsinki called in sick to work today as the park was teeming with sunbathers and people eating ice cream when I went home to give Otava is usual afternoon walk and lunch. It's a nearly insurmountable challenge to force yourself to go back to a desk job in a climate controlled environment after that. It almost makes me want to be an ice cream kiosk clerk on the Esplanade for the rest of the summer....

Feeling just Finn

Feeling just Finn 02/10/2004 02:47 AM
I'm off this afternoon to Helsinki for a quick business trip.  It will be my first time in  Finland; I'm looking forward to it.  I should be able to check email, but my responses will probably be slow through the beginning of next week. 

A Really Satisfying Feeling

A Really Satisfying Feeling 06/17/2004 07:27 PM
Going through a bunch of source-code files and and, one by one, removing the dozens of “print” statements that let you focus in tighter and tighter and tighter on a really obscure problem until you could finally see it. Debuggers are OK, but when the going gets tough, the tough use “print”.

I'm feeling lucky

I'm feeling lucky 12/05/2003 10:15 AM
[link]

Oh, I'm feeling lucky.

Oh, I'm feeling lucky. 03/11/2003 09:44 AM
Oh yeah, and a giggle for me today: Go to Google...

Feeling queasy?

Feeling queasy? 09/08/2004 12:50 PM
The GOP campaign braces itself for the Kitty Kelley treatment as the details in her new book on the Bush dynasty come out.

Feeling Lucky?

Feeling Lucky? 09/10/2004 01:08 PM
365 Gay Sep 10 2004 5:47PM GMT

:: feeling sleepy? ::

:: feeling sleepy? :: 09/05/2004 06:31 PM
�� �� ����� ���� �� �� ��� ! .. I'm getting sleeeeeeepy .. feeling sleepy? .. Counting Sheep! .. ������ .. zhlen lassen .. HYSTERICAL .. delegiert .. Zzzzzzz .. outcome .. actie! .. counts .. pecore .. schaap

spassmonkey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/flash/counting_sheep.html
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Schoolgirl feeling

Schoolgirl feeling 05/27/2004 07:54 AM
Should I postpone my wedding if I'm still getting crushes on other men?

I am sure the feeling is mutual

I am sure the feeling is mutual 07/21/2004 09:42 AM
on the state of the nation .. she herself has said .. Drudge

signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040715/news_lz1w15linda.htmltrack this site | 5 links

Eric goes stati

Eric goes stati 06/09/2004 05:54 AM
Stat!.

Right. Apparently as I get more and more tired, the entry titles suck more and more.

Anyways, lately I've been involved in more than a few discussions where knowing about the composition of the "FOAF-sphere" (god, I must be tired) would be useful.

Specifically, right now there exist a lot of different kinds of FOAF in the world. Some mal-formed, some using old vocab items, some piping hot and fresh from active developers and systems. Being able to say what percentages exist would be really really nice.

So, I've dragged out the scutter code, and currently the "SemanticWebStatsBot" is crawling around the FOAF web. It's as polite as I'm getting for off-the-cuff code, namely it only does one request per second. It kinda pays attention to HTTP codes, but not really. iono quite what to do about Livejournal just yet, probably mull that one over in my sleep at some point.

Currently, I'm trying to answer the following "starter set" of questions:

• # of files (banal, not very useful, but likely to be a nice big spooky number)
• %age of files that are valid RDF
• %age of files that follow the OWL rules for the various vocabs (FOAF, REL, WOT, TRUST)
• "verbosity" of FOAF files (aka how many terms are used, both with FOAF vocab items and others)
• # of files that exist which have a "minimal useful FOAF personal document" set of vocab items
• # of files with a Document/maker combo (adoption rates)
• # of files with a PersonalProfileDocument/maker combo (adoption rates)
• # of files with depreciated or "made up" terms in the FOAF vocabspace
• Tallies of the usage of current terms (aka X many people use foaf:name, Y many people use foaf:nick, etc)
• %age usage of WoT and Trust vocabularies
• If possible, try to figure out generator information (admin vocab? scutter vocab?)

If the data looks interesting coming out of this, and it isn't too difficult to maintain (see: LiveJournal), I'm thinking I might just do this as a monthly compendium. Sort of a "State of the FOAF" if you will. So, the question is: If you had a monthly peek at the "Semantic Web" (or at least a fairly broad subset of the publicly available part of it), what kind of questions would you want answered?[esigler.2nw.net]

Eric Meyer on CSS

Eric Meyer on CSS 06/27/2004 10:06 AM

I read this book on the plane to and from Chicago. Eric Meyer is apparently a CSS God, although I hadn't heard about him before this book came out.

In the end, the book wasn't for me. If you're a CSS hacker of some repute, you're probably not going to get a lot out of this book. But if you've just started CSS and want to become such a hacker, this one is right up your alley.

The book is divided into "projects." In the beginning of each chapter, Meyer states what you're going to try and do, then walks you though every line of CSS to get there, explaining what you're doing along the way.

The idea is that you'll download the project files from the companion Web site, and follow along — changing the CSS as he writes, then refreshing your pages. This is a fantastic way to do it, and is perfect for the beginner who wants to see exactly what their changes produce.

Sadly, however, I was on a airplane at the time, which doesn't lend itself well to coding, and rather than completing long-winded projects, I was really looking for some wicked tips and theories to earn myself entrance to CSS Nirvana.

I did learn a few things. The chapter on fixed background positioning was good, as was the last chapter in the book, where he tries to take the layout of the book, and convert it into CSS for equivalent display on the Web. The best bits for me, it turned out, where the little sidenotes in the margins.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good book. I was just the wrong audience. He has another one — More Eric Meyer on CSS. Perhaps I'll try that one.

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Joel on Eric

Joel on Eric 12/15/2003 09:11 PM

Joel Spolsky's latest essay reviews Eric Raymond's The Art of Unix Programming (a book I really want to pick up) and uses it as background for a discussion of the cultural differences between Windows and Unix programmers. As always, it's an insightful piece.

Joel's key point is that while Unix programmers write code for other programmers, Windows programmers write code for end users. Unix programs end up being far more powerful and flexible, but Windows programs allow Aunt Madge to send email. Joel places the blame for the lack of success of Linux as a desktop operating systems on the cultural values that underpin it, which celebrate the diversity of multiple window managers rather than condeming them for confusing end users.

It's all good stuff. I'd argue that the rise of web-based applications balances the playing field somewhat in terms of ease of use of the different platforms - most people can handle a web application now (look at the success of webmail) and most browser behave in pretty much the same way no matter what operating system they run on. I guess that's why Microsoft were so scared of Netscape back in 1996.

Eric Berlin:

Eric Berlin: 03/31/2005 07:28 PM
132nd edition of Carnival of the Vanities .. Eric Berlin's blog .. 132nd

ericberlin.com/mt/archives/2005/03/_welcome_to_the.html
track this site | 4 links

"Eric explains "

"Eric explains " 11/05/2003 09:27 PM

More Eric Meyer

More Eric Meyer 04/14/2004 02:36 PM
Well since the cat seems to be out of the bag, More Eric Meyer on CSS is hot off the press and on its way to a bookstore near you. As a technical reviewer of the book (along with...

ERIC Database

ERIC Database 09/02/2004 06:26 AM

ERIC Database

ERIC Database
http://www.eric.ed.gov/

The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, produces the world’s premier database of journal and non-journal education literature. The new ERIC online system, released September 2004, provides the public with a centralized ERIC Web site for searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966. Effective October 1, more than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, will be available for free. This has been added to Research Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog. This will also be added to Academic Resources 2004-05 Internet MiniGuide and Education and Distance Learning Resources 2004-05 Internet MiniGuide.

Art: Eric White

Art: Eric White 12/30/2003 12:14 PM
(via Wiley's blog)

"Eric.Webl0g()"

"Eric.Webl0g()" 05/27/2004 04:55 AM

Goin' down the road feeling bad

Goin' down the road feeling bad 07/13/2004 08:52 PM
The Road to Tyranny (Realvideo). A sensational and informative film by Alex Jones. Ignore the presentation, or, consider it entertainment if you wish, but there's some pretty good content in there including some surprising news footage from the aftermath of the OKC bombing 19 minutes in.

Feeling Nortel's Pain

Feeling Nortel's Pain 04/28/2004 02:34 PM
Hopeful Nortel shareholders are taken to the woodshed one more time.

Cheney on Feeling Good

Cheney on Feeling Good 06/28/2004 08:13 AM

On Washington Post via Joi:

'Fuck yourself,' said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

...

CHENEY: Well, I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it.

Hmm.  Are there any medical researches done on the use of foul words to increase endorphin production?

Convention Bloggers Are Feeling Their
Way

Convention Bloggers Are Feeling Their
Way 07/29/2004 08:27 PM
AP via Daily Press Jul 30 2004 0:39AM GMT

Feeling hot? Have some dog stew
(Reuters)

Feeling hot? Have some dog stew
(Reuters) 08/10/2004 06:48 AM
Reuters - In South Korea's capital, sweating through the highest temperatures of the year, the hottest topic is whether to eat dogmeat stew or ginseng chicken soup.

washingtonpost.com: Feeling the Heat

washingtonpost.com: Feeling the Heat 08/11/2004 01:34 PM
has made hot-saucing children's tongues a Christian [sic] childraising trend

washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A52899-2004Aug9?language=printer
track this site | 3 links

Richard Morrison: Once more with feeling

Richard Morrison: Once more with feeling 09/14/2004 06:36 PM
an update on Morrison’s campaign

texastuesdays.com/archives/000096.html
track this site | 5 links

16-March-2003 -- An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch