After winning a Webby Award, this site is worth a read, and a chuckle or two. e.g. "Attention, Mr. Axl Rose: We Did Not Feel Welcome in the Jungle" Visit the world of: McSweeney's Internet Tendency: John Moe's Pop-Song Correspondences.
Wednesday, 8 June 2005
ENVIRONMENT: Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush
So it's true, we all knew George Bush's presidency was run by big business, and now the cat is out of the bag. Climate change is a great idea, but not if it means making big oil businesses unhappy. Read: Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush: "In briefing papers given before meetings to the US under-secretary of state, Paula Dobriansky, between 2001 and 2004, the administration is found thanking Exxon executives for the company's 'active involvement' in helping to determine climate change policy, and also seeking its advice on what climate change policies the company might find acceptable."
Tuesday, 7 June 2005
WEB DESIGN: Multiple CSS Background Images
Anyone for Multiple CSS Background Images? The HTML Dog shows us how.
WEB GRAPHICS: ‘Giving To Hiram’ masthead
Cameron Moll talks us through a Photoshop masthead design. Read: How-to: ‘Giving To Hiram’ masthead ~ Authentic Boredom
WEB DESIGN: Ten Questions for Russ Weakley
The man behind the Floatutorials, Listuorials, et al, gets a Web Standards grilling. Read: Web Standards Group - Ten Questions for Russ Weakley
WORK: 'Dull work a heart attack risk'
This is not good news. Read: BBC NEWS | Health | 'Dull work a heart attack risk'
Monday, 6 June 2005
ONLINE DESIGN: So much time. So little to do.
Confessions of a Pixel Perfectionist - The software tools of a graphic designer. Read: Yellowlane | So much time. So little to do.
Saturday, 4 June 2005
CRICKET: The little genius in the corner
Wisden interviews Graham Thorpe. Read: Cricinfo - The little genius in the corner. ""I would say a lot of the mental strength in cricket is to make the right decisions as many times as possible and not to be intimidated," he says. "The only time I can remember falling down was in my third Test when I was facing Shane Warne and Ian Healy said I was going to play for a red-inker [a not out]. My pride took over and I thought, `Sod you, I'll show you I'm not playing for a red-inker.' I bolted down the wicket and got stumped. [He had made 60]. That's the one time I've really been done by sledging. So you learn from that. You start with something, a basic kind of inner strength, and then you grow. You grow as a person and as a player.""
Glass Sculpture
Glass Sculpture
Originally uploaded by richardk.
An interesting sculpture in glass and stone at Burghley House, Stamford, where I visited in April 2005.
Friday, 3 June 2005
WEB DESIGN: CSS flick animation
Is there nothing CSS can't do? Well, obviously it isn't much use at doin the washing up or hoovering, but it can create some very neat flick-book style animations. And not a hint of Flash in sight. See: stu nicholls | the CSS playground | CSS flick animation
Wednesday, 1 June 2005
WEB DESIGN: A Few Tips On Estimating Web Projects
Because money makes the world go round. Read Asterisk's A Few Tips On Estimating Web Projects
SHOPPING ONLINE: UK's only money saving expert
Using debit/credit card's online is a risky business, but no more risky than handing it over in a random shop, but there are ways to keep yourself safe from fiscal harm. Read: UK's only money saving expert's guide to safer online shopping.
Monday, 30 May 2005
PHOTOGRAPHY: Enter corbis comp.
Like taking photos? Any good at it? Then enter the Corbis photography competition
Friday, 27 May 2005
POLITICS: Zimbabwe police destroy shanties
What is wrong with Mugabe. He has no compassion for his fellow Zimbabweans. No sense of duty to his people, making thousands of people homeless. Where is the sense? Read: BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe police destroy shanties
ENVIRONMENT: Appetite for Amazon destruction
Progress is not always good. The Amazon rainforest is gradually disappearing, tree by tree, year after year, all to fee our greedy western appetites. Read:BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Appetite for Amazon destruction: "It makes no sense at all to let market forces destroy a precious ecosystem that we all need for our survival and yet somehow we are letting it happen."
Tuesday, 24 May 2005
TV AD: Firefox promoted
A well put together ad promoting the virtues of Firefox. Vive le browser revolution. Watch the Quicktime video: firefox
DIGITAL MUSIC: IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free
The battle for control of music we own and/or purchase (!) continues as software and hardware devices are pitted against each other, bypassing controls and copyright issues, as the consumer drives demand. Read: Wired News: IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free
Wednesday, 18 May 2005
WEB ACCESSIBILITY: Ten Questions for Joe Clark
Mr Web Accessibility himself, and yes he did write a book! Read: Web Standards Group - Ten Questions for Joe Clark, including: skip links, title tags, PDFs, data tables, maybe not so 'fun fun fun', but relevant.
Tuesday, 17 May 2005
MUSIC: Arcade Fire - Funeral
On second listen I understood the passion and energy and melodies within this powerful album. Plenty of strong, memorable songs; a little Franz Ferdianand in its energy, but something of Talking Heads in there as well for me, and some melancholy and sadness thrown in. Well worth a listen, he said in a cliched reviewer style. CD WOW! - Arcade Fire - Funeral
Monday, 16 May 2005
HANDWRITING: Tips for improving your handwriting
Strained my right hand playing cricket at the weekend, so writing is a little painful, came across this via the Guardian Newsblog: www.paperpenalia - handwriting tips
Tuesday, 10 May 2005
WEB DESIGN: Image Attributes
mezzoblue § Image Attributes: "Questioning width and height values for images."
Monday, 9 May 2005
MUSIC: We Are Little Barrie
Get this 'perfect summer soundtrack'. All funky, soulful, rock and roll. See: Amazon.co.uk: Music: We Are Little Barrie
Friday, 6 May 2005
MUSIC: Police, nudity, furious punters and taking out U2
Miranda Sawyer follows Chris Martin around. Read: Guardian Unlimited | Arts Friday Review | Police, nudity, furious punters and taking out U2
GENERAL ELECTION 2005: The result in Peterborough
Where I'm living its Labour out, Conservative in. I voted Lib Dem, not a Tory fan, and not impressed with Labour's Helen Clark. See: Guardian Unlimited Politics | Aristotle | Peterborough. Oh and best of luck Tony B. you may have been a fool before, but just don't let the poeple down again!
WEB DESIGN: Content is king
Asterisk talks about the importance of content in relation to design. Read: Content vs. Design
Tuesday, 3 May 2005
WEB DESIGN: Usability testing without a budget
An often forgotten or ignored part of the production process, that can go along way to making a site work or fail. Read: Usability testing without a budget | 456 Berea Street: "It doesn’t really matter how much you know about usability – after working on a project for a couple of weeks you’ve become blind to many of the problems."
CULTURE: Why Pop Culture Is Good For You
Protein° Feed reports on whether Pop Culture is good for you or just mindless entertainment. I hope not, or I've been wasting a lot of time...
Monday, 2 May 2005
THE ELECTION, T-MINUS 3 DAYS: The war on Iraq was a sham, it wasn't even much of a war, we invaded, booted out Saddam, because George said so, then realised that's where the plan ended. Now the fallout from the episode is continuing to haunt Tony Blair, Guardian Unlimited Politics | Election 2005 | New British death returns war to election spotlight. Yes he was a fool for trusting a fool, but what's done is done, and if it's proven that he has broken laws, then he's got to go, but if not, and all the other MPs backed him up, then the other parties should stop putting up this smoke-screen and start telling the public what the future holds for Britain, rather than continuing to rake up the past.
It's mostly ifs and buts now, and we the people, NEED to know what will happen about education, crime, the environment - although by the sounds of it, someone had better remind the Conservatives about that. These are the things that will make a difference to the lives of the majority of the British public over the next five years. Unless of course George has more crazy taking-over-the-world-because-we-need-more-oil ideas.
INTERNET: The way things are. Sorry to rip a huge chunk of comment from Kottke's comments in A whole new internet? (kottke.org), but it's all true, after the dot com bust, companies panicked and only gave out money to develop sure-fire ways of getting a return on investment, while developing ideas and creative staff was not on many lists.
Read more: "When the dot com economy was crumbling in 2000 and 2001, I remember thinking at the time that although everyone I knew was out of work (myself included), that is was a good thing for the long term. One of the more pleasant side effects of the dot com boom was that billions of dollars were spent training indivduals how to design web sites, program, write, etc. In the years following the bust, when all those people were suddenly unemployed or stuck in high-paying jobs that they didn't care for very much but needed to pay the bills, they responded by starting to tinker around with all sorts of neat things, just for the hell of it. Because they could, because they wanted to, not because they had an artificial deadline to reach or some arbitrary client requests to satisfy."
Saturday, 30 April 2005
Friday, 22 April 2005
ENVIRONMENT: Not even George 'King Canute' Bush can stand in the way of the 'terrorist' known as nature. Read: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Antarctic glaciers show retreat: "The glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula are in rapid retreat."
Tuesday, 5 April 2005
WEB ACCESSIBILITY: Web designer? Then you must read this: Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) & web accessibility - webcredible
WEB DESIGN ACCESSIBILITY: Ever arrived at a site and felt unsure exactly what it's about? Page titles, taglines, headings, show yourselves!! Read: Tell me what you do!
WEB DESIGN: Get rounded corners with no images! Read and try: More Nifty Corners | Web Design | PRO.HTML.IT
Monday, 4 April 2005
"MR MEN": This made me laugh, but then it's late and I've got work in the morning, which will be less fun than eating an ironing board: See: b3ta.com
BIZARRE FORUM: No this ain't porn, it's just a bizarre hypothetical question?! Got the link from www.ntk.net. Read: The 2+2 Forums: How many 5 year-olds could you take on at once?: "Are you allowed to use one the kids to wield at other kids ala a sword?"
Sunday, 3 April 2005
ZIMABAWE: BBC reports on the election. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Observers back Mugabe party's win: "'These were the most free and fair elections in the world,' Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the BBC." What an utterly ridiculous comment, how can he possibly begin to believe that this is anywhere near the truth, why would so many people and governments be critical of Mugabe if there wasn't something wrong in the country?
How can so many people be suffering under Mugabe's regime, and yet he still believes he is doing the right thing, continuing his racist policies and repression of anyone, black or white, who does not agree with his tyrannical, paranoid rule?
BLOGGING AND RSS: RSS/Syndication/feeds, whatever your call it, Molly Holzschlag looks into the approaches taken when adding RSS to a site. Read: molly.com » Where is YOUR Feed?
Tuesday, 29 March 2005
Monday, 21 March 2005
LIFE: If someone is brain-damaged/unconscious, and is never going to get any better, why would Bush/pro-life Conservatives want to force that person's loved ones to see them in a vegetative state being kept alive by machines for months, even years with no hope of ever seeing them recover? Why make everyone suffer?
It's not about the money it costs, or saving a hospital bed, etc, It's about reality, if someone is in a hopeless state, never to recover from their current state, what sense is their prolonging and compounding the pain for those still here? Read: Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush intervenes in right-to-die case
Sunday, 20 March 2005
HEALTH: Good for you Naked Chef! Read: The Observer | Politics | Blair acts on Jamie's plan for schools
Thursday, 17 March 2005
Tuesday, 15 March 2005
BEST IN BLOG: Blogs win awards. Blogs ahoy. Bloggin all over the world. Etc. I apologise, but you get the message. Read: BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Best blogs on the web' honoured
DA VINCI CODE: Fact or fiction, or a little of both? Read: Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Vatican appoints official Da Vinci Code debunker: "'There is a lesson for the church in the success of The Da Vinci Code and the lesson is that the church needs to use modern media much more effectively to present the Christian message to the new generation.'"
DESIGN: Icon magazine reveals the most influential companies. Read: Protein° Feed - The 21 Most Influential
Monday, 14 March 2005
PHOTOGRAPHY: The light, shadow, clouds, it'll never be the same again. Great image of Toronto. See: [daily dose of imagery] beaches reflection
CRICKET: The ICC discuss the current state of the international game. Plenty to keep them occupied. Read: Key issues on ICC agenda from cricinfo.com.
CSS FOR THE MASSES: For those of us not lucky enough to attend the pretty cool SXSW Web/culture festival. Read/see: How to bluff your way in CSS from andybudd.com.
ACCESSIBILITY: Great article on CSS/DOM based usable image maps. Read/see: CSS Image Maps - Flickr-like Technique?
CSS: Compress your css file sizes for larger projects, just add PHP. Read: Compressing your CSS with PHP
Sunday, 13 March 2005
CRICKET: Australia's Michael Bevan gone but not finished yet, eight centuries in nine state games turns a few selectors heads. Read: Bevan sets sights on World Cup recall
Saturday, 12 March 2005
COMEDY: The Two Ronnies return for one last hurrah, genius. Read: MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Two Ronnies back on TV: "And finally, the public are warned to be on the lookout for Joseph Gomez, a Spaniard, last heard of living in Tooting, whose mother was a nun in Barcelona. A one-time flautist with a symphony orchestra, he is wanted for looting in Haifa, where he worked on a farm. The police urge people to look out for a Haifa-looting fluting Tooting son of a nun from Barcelona, part-time ploughboy Joe"
MUSIC: Why do annoying songs nag away inside your brain all day? Read: BBC NEWS | Health | How tunes get stuck in your head
Friday, 11 March 2005
COMEDY: Dave Allen R.I.P. Read: BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Comedian Dave Allen dies aged 68: "'That extraordinary relaxed style with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other as he buttonholed us with wonderful jokes and stories is the image that we shall remember,'".
Thursday, 10 March 2005
PHP DEVELOPMENT: As I'm trying to get into PHP, this, frankly is gold. Read: Digital Web Magazine - Easy-peasy PHP
PEOPLE ARE MEAN: As my girlfriend so rightly put it. This blog about saving the life of a cute bunny is funny but not funny at the same time. Visit: Savetoby.com | Only YOU have the power to Save Toby!
Tuesday, 8 March 2005
Monday, 7 March 2005
SLEEP: Veerle's blog reveals the perils of getting enough sleep in the 21st Century: "A recent British research project concluded that British people on average sleep 90 minutes less then in the previous century." I hear you, but to be honest, I don't help myself. As Veerle rightly mentions, the Web is a such a huge place, there's always some temptation to occupy your time only a click away.
WEB DESIGN: Kim Goodwin at conference in San Francisco talks about the Web design process. Read: Getting Your Design Built - Wednesday, February 23, 2005: BayDUX (BayCHI)
WEB SEMANTICS: Molly Holschlag explains The Meaning of Semantics: "
