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- May 4, 2005
The Darth Side
May 4, 2005Read moreMy sister forwarded me a link to Darth Vader’s Blog, which chronicles his daily travails as he hunts down the rebel scum at the bidding of his Dark Master (“Boy, does that guy like to hear himself talk”, notes Darth in an aside). Though his hands are full dealing with idiots and the incompetence that surrounds him, Darth finds the time to share his thoughts with us:
Bolts blazed across the face of the great pink gas giant, the fleeing jalopies shattering in a series of little flashes. Captain Piett arrived at my side and saluted. “M’lord, we have established communications with the settlement. They claim to be a mining colony. Our close range scans show technology consistent with that claim.” He added, “They beg us not to attack.” I nodded slowly, lost in a trance. I closed my eyes and sought out the node in the net of the Force I had so faintly detected two days ago, and it was still there…down below, in the clouds of Bespin. There was significance there, there was meaning there, trembling just beneath the surface. I would seize it! “Prepare my shuttle and an armed escort. I will see this mining colony for myself.” “But Lord Vader, what if it’s a rebel trap?” bleated Admiral Ozzel, his moustache twitching. “Leave that to me.”
And of course, people can leave comments for Darth. He generally is pretty good about answering.
- May 3, 2005
My Dumb PHP Counter Script
May 3, 2005Read moreSaving this code snippet so I don’t have to look this up again. Move along! Nothing to see! (more…)
- May 3, 2005
The PayPal Wars
May 3, 2005Read moreThere’s an interesting writeup about The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, and the Rest of Planet Earth. The review discusses the general arc of the book, but the book sounds still worth reading for its grasp of the times:
Before going on, let me say that The PayPal Wars is valuable not only because it gives the reader an inside view of the entrepreneurial madness that was Silicon Valley, but also because Jackson understands the larger picture of which PayPal was a part. He understands the nature of boom and bust (this despite the fact that he received an economics degree from the decidedly mainstream program of Stanford University), pointing out the role of the Federal Reserve System in this latest sorry economic episode. That alone is enough to make the book worth reading.
I like PayPal as a user; however, tales of corporate culture clashes, greedy lawyers, and grasping government officials tend to make me ill. Which is probably why I should check this book out: to figure out why, and be better equipped to understand in the future. Via Arts & Letters Daily.
- May 2, 2005
DHTML Menus
May 2, 2005Read moreOn the MMBug Mailing List, there was mention of a couple of good dropdown menu sources that work on every browser. Here’s where it pays to buy software from someone who’s specialized in a very convoluted field: browser compatibility for tricky DHTML programming. I’m making this entry so I don’t forget, because this is a pretty common thing to need.
Ultimate Dropdown Menu from Brothercake. I like his site, and he’s a good example of a niche software guy that I would do well to emulate: know your stuff, be good at what you do, provide an accessible product, and present yourself well.
Milonic, which I looked into a while ago and ultimately didn’t use.
Coolmenus, which was what I used for one project once, but doesn’t seem to be actively updated any longer. The site is really slow too (I know, I’m one to talk).
- May 2, 2005
Baby Name Infographics
May 2, 2005Stumbled upon the Baby Name Voyager, a nifty Java applet that displays an interactive graph relating to the popularity of baby names over the decades. Type in your name! See its popularity rise and fall! Track the sudden popularity of “Zoe” in the 80s and 90s! See the precipitous decline of “David” after 1965!Read moreYou’ll need Java installed. AOL Users might be out of luck too.