Do you love the Web? No really. Do you?
I spend just about every waking moment of my life consumed with some aspect of the Web. I'm not talking about playing games or chatting or getting an eBay fix, I'm talking about consumed by the technology, history, infrastructure, design, laws, commerce, relationships, security and I think you get the idea. I'm not insane, I take breaks, I have other diversions but more often than not while I'm in the midst of those diversions I end up thinking about how some aspect of any particular non-Web activity relates to the Web.

This partly explains why I so thoroughly enjoy almost everything I do with, to and on the Web. There is always something new to learn. Always something exciting. Just when I think I'm getting burned out some new technology comes along that completely changes the way I perceive the Web and my small role as a Web designer/developer/pundit/author/whatever.

Just once, I want to be able to walk into a room full of people and simply find a few folks at random to talk about the Web. I mean really discuss life with the Web. No sports. No politics. No weather. No television shows or movies. Just Web talk. That would be my kind of party. It's times like this I wish I lived in San Francisco.
posted by Eric J | 9:42 PM

Ahhh...the drama of awards
While I can't necessarily agree with some of the choices for the nominees in the Third Annual Bloggie Awards I will say that for the most part all the nominees are deserving (in my opinion, whatever that's worth) and I wish them the best.

However, I'm discovering that high drama and possibly scandal (did I say scandal?) surrounds this year's awards, as reported in many places but most completely at East West. While my suspicions are that some of the drama surrounding the awards is a publicity ploy I realize that in fact, it's quite honestly just an award that fell victim to some clever individuals hoping to achieve a little fame. Yet what awards show is complete without some scandal? Hmmm?

Anyway, turns out that "one man conspired with a small group of Dallas / Ft. Worth, Texas bloggers and others outside their local area into stacking the votes for the awards." I suppose this shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone because as I was filling out my nominee submission I did think that it would be relatively easy to send in quite a few submissions that appeared to be from different people. That's if I really had the time and not much else to do. I had no time and lots to do so I neglected any attempts at "stacking the deck."

Well, I hope it all gets cleared up and I really do like awards and hope that the Bloggies (or some similar awards) will continue encouraging bloggers to produce great blogs and also pay attention to other blogs out there. Blog on or something.
posted by Eric J | 8:48 PM

Something's not quite right...
I'm having this odd feeling that something is amiss in the universe. Something out of alignment. Just this weird feeling that things are not quite as they should be...hmmmmm...very odd. Wonder what it could be. Checking daypop.com...

Checking...

Checking...

No, wait. Nothing's wrong. Everything feels as it should be right now. Daypop is down so that means that everything is as it should be. Sorry for the false alarm. Now when daypop is up and running consistently, that's when you gotta worry. I mean I think it's one of the signs of the Apocalypse: And the Angel of the Lord unleashed the 5th seal and Daypop was functional for 3 months straight and blood flowed in the streets like a river.
posted by Eric J | 8:20 PM

ChunkyLover53@aol.com is REAL
Imagine my surprise when freakymarc made a comment on my blog post about This article at NYPOST.COM, revealing that Homer Simpson is real:

Well, sort of.

It's actually "Simpsons" writer/producer, Matt Selman, who registered the e-mail address before the episode aired.

"He logged in the night that the episode aired and it was immediately filled with the maximum number of responses," "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean told The Post yesterday.

"He's tried to answer every one of them and then as soon as he answers a hundred, a hundred more pop in...

Well, you can't believe everything you read but the NY Post is a pretty reputable paper...more so than the Enquirer anyway. All I can say is MATT SELMAN IS A COMPLETE IDIOT (or a marketing genius, depending on how this whole thing plays out).

I still think he's got some Fox interns helping him or something. Takes me an hour to got through 100 emails at work. And that includes deleting about half. Yipes.


posted by Eric J | 7:37 PM

The Homeless Guy Dot Net
Just got in from spending part of the day with Kevin Barbieux in Nashville. What a really neat guy. He runs The Homeless Guy blog site and I did an interview with him for an article I'm writing for webraw. I should have it ready for publication some time in the next couple of weeks. How's that for a teaser?

Anyway, it was really neat to meet Kevin and while I was there Mark Humphrey, an Associated Press photographer, was also there to shoot pictures for an AP story that is running sometime soon. Kevin is quite the celebrity. I won't go into any more detail here (gotta save it for the article) but it was a great time and the experience gave me a better understanding of Kevin, his blog and homelessness in America.
posted by Eric J | 11:42 PM

Safari Blogging...Oh (freakin') yeah
My life is complete (at least for the moment) because I'm currently blogging from Safari. Got this groovy tip from Evan Williams:

BTW, if you want to try some avant-garde browser on Blogger Pro, just put "&anybrowser=true" in the URL after blog.pyra?blogID=xxx. (Non-Pro will work with about anything.)

I probably should have known to do that but I really have other things on my mind so thanks mucho EVHEAD. Oh yeah, and unlike IE Mac and like Chimera the Safari browser utilizes the Blogger spellcheck. S-W-E-E-T.

BTW, this site uses Blogger Pro.
posted by Eric J | 11:32 PM

Not too shabby...and thanks Pulsating Brain
Well folks. I'm no php guru by any means but at around 9:30 I discovered that the beloved webraw/blog was hosed. Then I discovered that my wonderful host had upgraded to a more stable version of PHP. Version 4.3.0. Well apparently the new version didn't like the php include I was using for my navigation and the site became full of errors as the graphic sort of demonstrates.

Well in under an hour (roughly an hour because I took about a 15 minute break to play with my puppy) I found this most wonderful and helpful site: Pulsating Brain. There I learned that if I used this <?php @readfile("/path/to/file/file.php"); ?> instead of this <?php include ('http://www.webraw.com/incs/story_nav_bottom.html'); ?> then I would have no problems. It worked!

Be sure to check out the PB site. It has a cool background of Homer Simpson. Great use of CSS. Anyway, that's my PHP adventures with Server Side Includes. Tomorrow I go to meet Kevin.
posted by Eric J | 11:13 PM

Something Screwy
Something is suddenly going crazy with my commenting system. Trying to track it down. If I can't figure it out soon it may be a couple of days. Sometimes I just hate technology. If you see crazy error messages all over this blog then the reason is something screwy is going on and I'll track it down soon.

I hate it when things like this happen. If anyone knows what's going on please tell me by emailing from my contact section. Thanks.

UPDATE: Making progress. It's not my comments. It's my include funtion. For some reason this <?php include ('http://www.webraw.com/incs/story_nav_bottom.html'); ?>
posted by Eric J | 9:29 PM

Dave's Blog
Dave Barry's got a Blog. I must admit, I've been a Barry fan for years. Sure, his humor is fairly predictable and often bland but his Sunday column still makes me chuckle after all these years. Anyway, he's got a blog and it's really pretty cute. I imagine this is a real deal he cooked up on the weekend at home. It may be some publicity ploy but it looks pretty goofy and is powered by Blogger. It's also hosted on Blog*Spot which is kinda cool.

I wish more people of Barry's prominence would start public blogs. I know it's happening and will increase with time but I want a Coen Brothers blog or a Johnny Cash blog right now. That would rock.
posted by Eric J | 3:14 PM

iBlog 1.0 Beta 4
MORE ABOUT iBLOG: I just used iBlog and folks, this app is sweet. Still not sure about templates or customizing and things like that but it's a really cool little blogging tool. This could really be something. I've only spent about 10 minutes playing with it and was able to publish a test page without any problems. There is a tab in the preferences for the iDisk, FTP and Blogger API. The Blogger API tab is "coming soon" so I'll be really interested once that gets working in the final release I'm sure. It also makes a copy of your blog locally which is really cool.

It generates an xml feed and allows for private or public blogging. I will spend more time in the next couple of days poking around iBlog but I'm really impressed and if you know me I'm not easily impressed.

Second Update: iBlog also has a newsreader built in and I think it is pulling from NetNewsWire's list because webraw/blog is in the list of Blogs. For some reason having webraw/blog bundled with an application is extremely exciting to me. Doesn't take much to get me excited I guess. But still, you gotta admit it's pretty cool. And webraw/blog already gets a healthy amount of traffic from newsreaders.

Original Post
It was bound to happen but the "i" prefix has not migrated to blogs. Welcome to iBlog, the new Mac OS X blogging tool. It works with iDisk (which I don't have because I'm cheap) so even though I downloaded it I probably won't be able to test it out. On the subject of the "i" prefix I wonder if Apple made eyewear would they call it iEyeWear? Or a vacuum cleaner called iSuck. Fun.
posted by Eric J | 11:45 AM

Gigantic sized disappointment
Did anyone else feel a bit disappointed with the new Hulk trailer aired during the Super Bowl? I was completely underwhelmed. Not all that thrilled with DareDevil either but it looked MUCH better than the Hulk spot.

I mean what they show in a trailer should blow you away right? But what I saw were some lame CG effects reminiscent of The Mortal Kombat movie or something circa 1990 era technology. Not something they spent $120 million to make and recruited Ang Lee, of all people, to direct. I guess we're all supposed to get caught up in the Hulk nostalgia and go see the movie regardless of how crappy I imagine it will end up being.

Ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. Spider-Man had some pretty lame effects but I liked that movie pretty well. Maybe Hulk will be as fast-paced and slick and overcome the lame effects showed in the preview.
posted by Eric J | 7:41 PM

I'm not complaining but...
A List Apart hasn't had a new article in a long time. I know Zeldman is busy with his book but aren't there others involved with ALA who could help out with some new articles? Just wondering. Not complaining. God knows webraw is WAY overdue for a fresh article or something creative. Anyway, in the meantime I'm just going over the ALA archives.
posted by Eric J | 1:14 PM

Super Bowl Blogging
I am watching the Super Bowl and wondering how many people around the world are blogging right now. Are bloggers the type of folks who watch the Super Bowl? Obviously people are posting blogs after a quick peek at Weblogs.com. But I wonder if the numbers are much lower or even higher than other Sunday nights?

Are you blogging? Are you watching the Super Bowl? Are you, like me, doing a bit of both? Are these rhetorical questions?
posted by Eric J | 8:36 PM

Have you seen me?
Sometimes it's best to just share some quality links. These links aren't really blog related but they have provided some amount of inspiration in the past and continually find their way into the top of my browser's history list.

• HugeInc. is HUGE. These guys have a truly nifty Flash navigation.
  
• misprintedtype Great typography and general design.
  
• FutureFarmers are the farmers of the future...I guess.
  
• MINIML is very minimalistic and has some good fonts too.
  
• Hillman Curtis designs.
  
• Typorganism has cool navigation.
  
• Going On Six
  

Well that's all for today. I'm off to read.

What are you reading?

Eh? What's that you ask? What am I reading? Oh yeah...well. Long story but right now I'm reading The Dark Elf Trilogy. My anti-Tolkien friend recommended it. I'm withholding judgment until I've completed the tome and yes, when any book has Trilogy as part of the title it is automatically a tome.

Oh and big news coming to webraw very soon if all goes well. I'll fill you in later.
posted by Eric J | 11:21 PM

How to squeeze blog from a turnip
Matt Wood has skillfully described a familiar aspect of blogging in his article -- "The Blogger's Ego."

He describes why we create personal Web sites:

Creating a personal website is an act of egotism. You do it because you feel the need to tell people what’s on your mind. But instead of picking up the phone and calling your friend or walking over to the cubicle next to you, you post your thoughts and opinions on the Internet for the whole world to see.

This is largely true. We all feel that we have "something to say" and that it is worth being accessible to everyone on the planet. There are certainly other motivations for blogs or personal Web sites but ego is almost always on the top of the list. One reason I might add is accountability. Webraw serves partly as a method by which to hone my skills and improve my writing, designing, interaction, organization and general Web-related abilities.

Matt continues by describing his early failings while publishing his personal Web site:

You shouldn’t build your site to please others because it won’t say anything about you. It will be quite obvious that you’re trying to impress them, and your content will become forced. I judged the success of my site by how many people visited every day, and when they didn’t stop by my broken ego told me to quit.

However, Matt has found what does work and compares it to dating. I must admit, I can wholeheartedly relate to his analysis. I've given countless people similar advice on dating:

I compare this concept to my experiences with dating. Any time I was trying really hard to meet someone, I couldn’t get a date to save my life. After weeks of getting shot down left and right, I would convince myself that I should just give up. But every time I gave up two or three women would start calling me back at the same time. I had better luck when I stopped trying to be something I wasn’t.

With dating it basically boils down to the fact that if you don't feel comfortable with yourself, by yourself and actually like yourself then it's going to be harder to find "that special someone" because you aren't going to be yourself. Same with your Web site. If you don't like the site and enjoy fooling around with it and writing for it then it's probably going to just fizzle out.

The best part is a quote at the very end which I think sums up any truly successful personal site:

My site might not make me famous, but at least for now, it makes me happy.

Now, go read that whole article. It's really good stuff. And besides, how can you resist visiting a site called Wood-Tang? Pretty difficult to pass up for sure.
posted by Eric J | 12:53 AM

Just thinking out loud
Is it just me or do the Blogs of Note not seem quite as interesting as they used to?
posted by Eric J | 12:52 AM

Hard at work because SOME Assembly required
This photo is the product of the last several hours of my hard labor. It's the new webraw workstation. Whoever came up with the assemble-it-yourself concept must have been some kind of sadist because this crap is hard work. If you've never put together some sort of do-it-yourself furniture kit then put that on your list of can't miss life experiences. Right under waiting tables and right above roofing houses. My back is still screaming. And I've only begun to arrange everything.

However, I did save $75 by doing it myself. That's a good thing. Also, I've gotten the PowerBook and PC (yes, with Windows 98) to coexist in the same space very nicely. Later I'm going to set up my extra monitor to get funky with some dual screen action on my PowerBook. I'm freaky like that.

The coolest thing is that I hooked up my Infinity bookshelf speakers to a little amplifier I rigged up and that is plugged into my PowerBook. Now I'm jamming some serious iTunes. Really, it totally rocks. I've needed a good workstation/desk area for years but never really knew what to get till I saw the set up a friend of mine had. I liked his set up so much I went out and bought the exact same thing. Fun.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to today. With the improved webraw workstation the content on webraw is guaranteed to improve by as much as 50%. What a bargain!
posted by Eric J | 11:04 PM

Hmmmm...Let me check my calendar again
UPDATE: The Nominees have been announced!

Nope, webraw/blog is not on the list but hey, what did ya expect? There's some mighty fine blogs out there. Just gives me a goal to shoot for next year.

A lot of the blogs I voted for did make the list with a couple of notable exceptions. Crazy Apple Rumors got passed over for Best Humorous Web log and Sunny Place got passed over for Best Kept Secret. Both truly great blogs in my opinion. Maybe next year. There were others I voted for that didn't make the list but that's the nature of any type of awards system. Not everyone is going to be happy with the nominees or omissions.

Now, the actual nominees are pretty good and I can't really argue with most of them. I encourage you to go over and vote for the Bloggie winners. It only takes a second and yes, even though it is kind of silly it's part of your blogging duty. Now vote.

-END UPDATE-

It looks like today is Tuesday, Jan. 21. Yet I don't see any of the Nominees.

On Tuesday, January 21, the finalists will be announced and voting will be open again to choose the winners.

Maybe it's too early. Don't keep us waiting long...please.
posted by Eric J | 9:27 AM

On Race and the Web
I live in Memphis. Memphis is primarily known internationally for two things:

First, it's the home of the King, Elvis Presley. It's also the place he died.

Secondly, it's the place where Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated. This is arguably one of the most tragic events in modern American history. In my mind it equals, if not surpasses, the tragedy of JFK's assasination but I don't want to get in the business of rating tragedies (of course there's 9/11 but I'm mainly speaking about individual greats).

Living in Memphis most of my life provides me with a unique perspective on Civil Rights. The sadness, history, reality and future of race relations in America are all evident here in Memphis. I am often extremely optimistic about the rights of minorities while at other times I am stung by the predjudice and racism that still thrives in many parts of Memphis and America.

One thing that I've really grown to love about the Web is the fact that it is color blind. Without getting into the politics of whether Web access is available only to the privileged or not (that argument is tired and irrelevant) I will say that on the Web you're simply human. Not a color.

You can guess but few who read my site really know the color of my skin. Likewise, unless you plaster your mug on your site (and there's nothing wrong with that) then nobody really knows what color your skin is either. And most importantly nobody cares.

I've made many friends and even worked with some people without ever having seen them or heard their voice. Some may lament that this is extremely impersonal, and it is to an extent, but what it also does is establish relationships based on something other than appearance. It bases relationships on what really matters, the content of character.

Communicating in this manner and on this scale was never really possible before the invention of the Web. In many ways the Web is color blind and that is what MLK was seeking while he was alive. It's happening. Slowly. But it's happening.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. A special Day in Memphis. We've had celebrations and speeches and parades and even games (way to go Grizzlies). It is my hope that as technology changes people's lives it will also change attitudes and minds. Maybe in another 30 years we will find racial harmony and learn to be as color blind in life as we are on the Web. At least that's my dream.
posted by Eric J | 9:33 PM

BLOAG: I never said it was a good idea.
So maybe you've missed out on the melodrama brewing over at sarahhatter.com and if you have then count yourself either lucky or neglected, depending upon your perspective. Recently webraw/blog developed the Save Sarah Hatter campaign which has found its way onto several sites (to my surprise) including the beloved blog of Jason Shellen from Pyra ( see screenshot ).


But wait, there's more! The whole ordeal, however trivial and insignificant, has stirred up a some amount of emotions in quite a few bloggers. Jason Killingsworth even created his own satirical comment flood and a Save Jason Kill campaign as a result. Funny stuff.

Ok, if you're still with me I'm getting to my point. Why not create some sort of application that automated this entire process? Something that would automatically send a post to your blog notifying the world that you're taking a Leave of Absence and will return in due time, while inviting folks to submit comments. Additionally, the application would allow for customized Save "Insert Your Name" graphics to be created instantly with a mug shot of your own or choose one of the dozens of bundled free photos if you're just too ugly for the Web.

But wait, there's even more! You also can instantly generate up to 1,000 comments to be automatically associated with your LOA post. There is a slider to adjust the "mood" of the comments from "Good riddance" (for the masochists) to "Please come back" and every mood in between. There's even a randomizer if you just want a bunch of random comments posted with little actual relevance to your blog post, just like in real life!

There's even a "Bug me" feature that automatically sends beautifully worded emails to your inbox, inquiring about your absence so that you can experience the thrill of deleting those emails without reading them and you won't wind up looking like a jerk.

The application, named Blogging Leave Of Absence Generator (or BLOAG), is only available for OS X Jaguar on the Mac. Sorry Windows and Linux folks. It's available for download absolutely free. Why wait? Get yours today and join the multitude of bloggers who are taking a much deserved leave of absence and getting the attention and well-wishing they deserve.

(Download BLOAG - 2.5 mb)

posted by Eric J | 2:30 AM

Homer just keeps on e-mailing...
If you haven't sent an e-mail to Homer Simpson yet then you are truly missing out on some great correspondence (though the mailbox may be full now). As I related a couple of days ago I sent an e-mail to ChunkyLover53@aol.com after the address was mentioned during The Simpsons. SInce then I've gotten a few examples of other Homer responses to e-mails sent to his address.

Here is one exampleof some of the responses received sent in via comments by Heather :

"I wrote Homer too and got this response:"
>Fan,
>I am so tired from answering so many emails... I hope I never get another
>email again.

>-- Homer Simpson

>P.S. Please respond to this email.

---

"So I did respond and got this second response:"

>Who is this really? Is it Lenny? It sounds like Lenny.

>Hey Lenny, I'll meet you at Moe's later. Order me a keg and with a six-pack
>chaser.

>Your best friend,
>Homer

>P.S. Don't tell Carl I said we were best friends. I told Carl he was my
>best friend, but I was lying.

>P.P.S. If this is Carl, please don't read anything above this

"Too cute! I wonder if this is an autoresponse or someone is actually reading the emails?"

Well, I too wonder if this is an auto-response. Common sense tells me that it would have to be an auto-response but then again maybe not. One way to tell is the snowflake method. If more than one person gets the same email response then chances are pretty high it's an auto-response. If not, who knows? It is an actual AOL account that has recently been filled up and bounces back my subsequent e-mails alerting me that the mailbox is full.

Maybe Fox is using something like forced child labor to answer Homer e-mails en masse? I'd look for poor use of English as a sign that this is happening except Homer doesn't always have the best grasp of the English language so that's probably not a good indicator. If you get a Homer response that says PS. Please help me. I'm being forced to write this e-mail by evil Fox executives then I'd say you're probably onto something.
posted by Eric J | 12:55 AM

Save Sarah Hatter...or not
The Web has facilitated many odd obsessions. From eBay addicts to the pron junkies to basket weaving fan sites there is an endless supply of methods anyone can use to scratch their obscure itch or create a new itch altogether. I admit, I've succumbed to what I dub the Web Obsession Du Jour (or WODJ for the acronym obsessed) and am participating in the increasingly popular "Save Sarah Hatter" campaign.

What?!? You've not heard of this movement? This reminds me of that favorite 80s flick, Ferris Bueller's Day Off in which his faked illness (do I really need to explain?) spawns an out of control campaign to "Save Ferris." This resulted in one angry sibling and one angry and whacked out principal but the part I'm focussed on is the out of control campaign aspect.

Much like Ferris, Sarah Hatter has "gone missing." See the parallels.

No Ferris at school. No Sarah at www.sarahhatter.com.

Ferris was faking his illness that inspired a flood of well-wishers. Sarah is...well...who knows. Decide for yourself.

Ferris got an announcement during the Cubs game. Sarah Hatter will soon be the most commented and linked to blog on the Web.

So you're asking, why the hell am I reading this crap and why do I care about this "Sara" person? And I'd say, "Well, it's actually Sarah with an 'H'" and then explain that part of the "fun" of the Web, and blogs especially, is participating in purely nonsensical "movements" such as this one. Do you have anything to gain? Probably not. However, I know the next question you're asking is "How do I get involved?"

Well, glad you asked. All ya gotta do is add one of these linking images to your site and be sure to link to SarahHatter.com. Or just add a text link. That's it. Oh, that's not it. You also gotta comment on her most recent post and say something mildly witty. If you don't do mild wit then scathingly obscene. If you don't do either then just say "howdy."

I'm still not entirely sure why I'm doing this but let's just say I'm up to the challenge. Oh yeah, you can use this lil graphic too. Ain't it cute??
posted by Eric J | 10:25 PM

eDEVcafe.com reDesign
Here's what I've been up to lately. Designing (or re-designing) the wonderful Web Dev site - eDEVcafe.com. It's really a great resource for anyone involved in any aspect of the Web. From designing to coding to writing. If you haven't visited eDEV before then be sure to check it out.

Now that the the new design is officially "live" I will say that this particular project presented its own set of unique challenges. One of the biggest challenges was finding decent art and I've gained a new appreciation for quality stock photo sites such as Veer.com and GettyImages.com as well as increased respect for the people who have developed a certain knack for finding that "perfect" image (at the right price too).

I've learned a lot from this project and plan to write an article about some of the things I learned while working on eDEVcafe.com. One of the things I learned is that communication is critical for a project like this one. Good communication seems like an obvious aspect of any collaborative project but it is too often mismanaged or neglected. I may not be the world's best communicator but I can guarantee I'm a much better communicator now, after this experience.

Anyway, go visit eDEVcafe and if you get the urge, tell me what you think of the design. If you love it or hate it. Whatever.

One of the things I'm most proud of is that the eDEV site is NOT 1000 pixels wide like webraw.com. I asked them if they wanted the super-wide site design and they politely declined. Guess I failed at expressing the virtues of alienating roughly 10% of your site's visitors by not enabling the site to display properly on 800x600 resolution monitors.
posted by Eric J | 7:10 PM

Losing is not as fun as winning
Eldred lost. Lessig lost. We all lost. There is no other way to say it. Obviously I wanted (as did every red-blooded American) Lessig and Eldred and the gang to win but the fates have decided otherwise. At first glance this does not seem to bode well for similar Intellectual Property efforts but after taking a deep breath and looking at the big picture I realize that all is not lost and the fight simply continues.

Positives: There are very clear dissenting opinions (in pdf format) which provide some room for excitement. Additionally, public awareness of IP has been raised to a level that it otherwise would never have reached. Also, every "movement" needs a SuperStar and Lessig has become that SuperStar in the world of IP. I can't think of a better individual to fulfill that role. His recent work with Creative Commons is pure genious.

Also, one result of the public awareness generated from Eldred v. Ashcroft is that Congress will find it much more difficult to further extend copyright limits. Previously such efforts garnered little public attention, not so in the future.

There are also people such as Rep. Rick Boucher who are actually concerned about the consumer. I saw an interview with him at CES and he seemed like a thinking congressman, a rarity for sure.

Of course there is the seemingly scary news about the recent 'Landmark' Accord on Copyrights which is a sort of team effort by the RIAA and friends to "protect" (restrict use) their IP. While I'm not all that thrilled about this new accord one possibly good side effect is that the PoliceWare bill (CBDTPA) will almost assuredly die a deserved death.

We will continue to fight and many thanks to Lessig, Eldred and all involved for their valiant efforts.
posted by Eric J | 1:05 PM

It's 4:20, do you know where your kids are?
I saw this sign for some restaurant/bar while driving around town the other day. Needless to say I did a double-take after passing the joint (pun gleefully intended). This photo is pretty much how the place looks from the road. When I pulled in the parking lot to get a better look (and you know I did) I saw that there was a kettle styled pot with the word "The" prefixing the "Smoking Pot" signage. Well, the place is obviously one of those...uh...smoking pot restaurants where they have...a...big kettle smoking over an open fire or something. Yeah, those are common in strip malls.

The more I think about this place the more I want to go in there just to check it out. I mean what kind of place is The Smoking Pot? Maybe Fondue? Doesn't really look fondue so who knows. It really wouldn't surprise me to see a group of youths hanging around The Smoking Pot every day after school. Say around 4:20. Does 4:20 still mean anything? I admit, I'm not up on my High Times lingo so maybe 4:20 means something else now?
posted by Eric J | 1:31 AM

Because we all want to know what Jen is wearing.
| boxercox | jenwear | daily jens | is where you can see Jen (imagine that) in a variety of outfits. She's quite skilled with the digital camera and her frequent submissions to the mirror project have inspired me to begin shooting my own mirror shots for submission to the project. I'll display a few once I get the time to download them off the digicam and pic(k) a decent shot.

Oh and Jen, if you read this, you might want to check on your PermaLinks. Me thinks they're broke! Can't say what's wrong but seems like you're missing anchor tags.
posted by Eric J | 10:23 PM

Blog of the moment
Here's a new blog (new to me) that I've been reading lately. It's not for the kids and the easily offended but then very few blogs worth reading are written for kids or the easily offended. Anyway, it's great fun and good for many, many chuckles. Spend a few minutes and get to know Bumptious.
posted by Eric J | 8:19 PM

Do you watch The Simpsons?
I'm a pretty regular viewer of The Simpsons. In Sunday night's episode (Jan. 12) Homer was asked by a private eye how to contact him. Homer's response was to email him at Chunkylover53@aol.com. Obviously no major network television show was going to give out some random email address so I immediately emailed Homer just to see what would happen. The subject of my email was "Hi Homer" and the text of the message repeated the subject. Here is the response I received from "Homer."

> From: Chunkylover53@aol.com
> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 4:01 PM
>To: myname@email.com
>Subject: Re: Hi Homer

> Dear Internet Nerd,

> Thank you for watching high-quality scripted American television. As a
> valuable member of Fox's target demographic, please patronize our many
> excellent sponsors.

> Yours in Jebus,

> Homer Simpson

> P.S. If you think this is a generic response, you couldn't be more wrong.

I love that Fox did this. I think stuff like this is fun. I've seen shows (other than The Simpsons) where a Web address or phone number or something was given out and something humorous was delivered. I wanna see more of this type of thing. But I'm weird like that.

By the way, have you actually visited The Simpsons Web site? It's a big disappointment. It could be so great but it just throws up a nifty Flash into page and ends up being a mess. The site could be so cool but it's not. Matt Groening and Co. should pull whatever strings to get that site up to the level it should be at.
posted by Eric J | 8:08 PM

Cigarette Machines
Don't get to bars much any more so I was a bit surprised to see a good, old cigarette machine. Didn't know that these devices still existed in this age of the Evil, Devil Smokers (I quit smoking years ago, so I'm only slightly evil when I smoke the occasional celebratory cigar). These were (and still are I guess) great devices for the underage smoker. This one had a sign attached declaring that no one should use the device without first being carded. I'm sure that's an effective deterrent for all those 15-year-old Marlboro Light addicts out there. Anyway, I've always wondered why Americans have not openly embraced the vending machine in the way the Japenese or even some Europeans have done. It seems that vending machines for all types of products would be a natural fit for Americans.
posted by Eric J | 7:09 AM

I just got a new PowerBook
Not really. I actually just installed OS X.2, aka Jaguar. I've joined the hordes and am learning about Safari. I'm still new to it and have yet to discover all the little quirks and gems but it definitely does not work with Blogger. But hey, it's still beta.

I just had to get Safari. As I watched the Expo and heard Jobs showing off Safari I was grinning from ear to ear. I was getting really excited until he started showing off the bookmark feature. The one where it lets you rename your bookmarks as you save them. I just chuckled and thought, "That's your big feature? That's what you want people to get excited about?" I mean really, that is NOT unique to Safari. I'm sorry but it's not. Maybe the drag/rename/save aspect but save/rename is not new.

Additionally, after reading some other reviews of the browser I really hope Apple makes some big changes for the final release. This could have been a "OMG, Apple has changed the Web" much like Mosaic and then Netscape did back in the Stone Age.

I won't try to make suggestions for all the features Safari could have had (others have done a better job) but I do know some of the things that have actually been on my wish list for a while:

1. Integrate News Readers (such as NetNewsWire) into the browser.

2. Develop some sort of "smart" technology that allows obviously similar bookmarks to automatically be grouped together. Something like CNET, WIRED and TechTV.com would all be grouped in some generic Tech folder. I know many of these sites already come preloaded with the browsers but there has to be some way to allow the lesser sites to just get grouped and be grouped across different categories. TechTV, for example, could be in a TV and Tech category. Maybe the technology could use something similar to Google's for determining page rank and Alexa's for determining related sites. Obviously it wouldn't be perfect but I think it could be a great feature in a browser, especially for the casual user. Those casual users just don't use bookmarks much.

3. Page editing. I'd like to be able to click a switch and get into either a code view page or a wysiwyg page and edit the html and then view it all in that browser, all instantly. I know OmniWeb does this somewhat but really, why can't the browsers have a very simple wysiwyg editor or a decent HomeSite style html editor built in for just reverse engineering pages? Makes no sense.

However, I do like Safari. Snapback rocks. It's so simple and so great I don't know why nobody thought of it before. Safari is the reason I upgraded to Jaguar now. I was going to eventually but was in no hurry. Safari put me in a hurry.

Anyway, I've worked on Jaguar before so it's not entirely new to me but I'm still not comfortable with it yet. I mean there are still things to discover. It's a great OS though and I'm excited about getting busy with it over the next few weeks. It's gonna be just like having a brand new PowerBook and much cheaper too by the way.

UPDATE: This site uses Blogger Pro. When I log in on Safari I get a page saying that I need IE or Mozilla. I don't know if it Blogger works on Safari but the Pro version does not.
posted by Eric J | 12:50 AM

Glish is back...hooray
Kids....glish.com is back. Since Oct. 22, 2002 the blog has been conspicuously silent. Now, however, Eric Costello is back and I couldn't be happier. Well, ok, I could be a lot happier but the point is that glish is back and that's a good thing (apologies to Martha Stewart). I will probably have to add glish.com back to my list of recommended blogs but we'll give Eric just a couple of more weeks to be sure he's really back for good or just teasing us.

I read Robyn's blog about A-List blogs and inner-circles and the quote she included in her blog rings truly for any bloggers, especially those on the A-List

"It is not necessary to consider yourself a blog deity. If you quit, in time, people will forget. It's just the way it goes"

This is true. Humans deal with change. If a blog or Web site or any part of our regular routine just stops happening we adjust, find other diversions, blogs or Web sites and move on...but we don't forget. The memory often lingers for a long, long time. Good blogs are especially missed because of their very personal nature. Part of this realization is what inspired my Dead Man's Switch blog.

Anyway, welcome back Eric Costello. You were missed.
posted by Eric J | 12:07 AM

Wow...that wasn't as easy as I thought
I just sent in my submissions for the Third Annual Weblog Awards (Bloggies) and boy are my arms tired. Seriously, it was not nearly as easy as I'd thought. So many categories. So many great and worthy blogs. And also such ignorance on my part of which blogs should fit some of the categories. Unlike something like the Academy Awards where I know at least one flick that I'd personally nominate for each category, for the Bloggies there were many categories that I just had no idea who to nominate.

Best Merchandise of a Weblog? No idea. Blogger I guess, but is Blogger a Weblog? Or a Weblog TOOL? Hmm.

Best Weblog Webring? I've NEVER really understood Webrings of any kind. I've tried getting into them but it always seems like every Webring I start following links in just inevitably leads me to pop-up banner hell. Also, it seems like most of the Webring sites just look like crap (no offense to Webring sites). Not all of them mind you but a lot of them just seem...uh...crappy. Maybe that's why they're in a Webring to begin with?

Best Webcam of a Weblog site? Again, I've never been into the whole webcam thing and very few of the blogs that I frequent do webcams. So, no idea in this category.

Best GLBT Weblog? I read several Weblogs that I imagine would fit this category but none of them are about the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered) community. They are all tech/web blogs that happen to be written by gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals. I had to skip this one. Maybe I misunderstood the category requirements. I dunno.

Needless to say I'm excited about the Bloggies. Last year Wil Wheaton took many of the awards (deservedly so) including Weblog of the Year. It will be fun to see who (if anyone) runs away with the majority of the Bloggie awards. It's also cool that this year they are having an actual ceremony. I just wish it would be Webcast. That would really make my day. Hint, hint. Nikolai. Maybe next year.

If you haven't yet nominated your favorite blogs then get to it kids...there is still time.

posted by Eric J | 11:04 PM

pony pong 2000
pony pong 2000 is pretty much what it sounds like. The pony is very, very good. Linked up from the lab.
posted by Eric J | 1:45 PM

Blogger down?
Is blogger acting funny? I've tried posting to pro4.blogger.com and pro2.blogger.com but no luck. Posting to pro1.blogger.com is bad news as it loses the title code in my posts.

UPDATE: Blogger seems to be working again.
posted by Eric J | 12:05 AM

Another review from The Weblog Review
For some reason webraw/blog has been reviewed yet again by The Weblog Review. I'm grateful for the review but I'm not sure why they reviewed it a second time. This time webraw/blog got a 5 out of 5. Can't do much better than that.

It (webraw/blog) seems to operate on a "build it and they will come" philosophy, and its clear that there is already some regular readership. The writing is on par with everything else. It feels very mature, and its focused on its audience. Yes, you will care about the topics.

Stop it, I'm blushing. Well, this does provide me a moment to mention my audience. I know (through email and comments) some of you regular readers and I just want to say that in everything I do here at webraw I try to meet and surpass your expectations. It is because of you that I continue to work (sometimes tirelessly) to make webraw the best site possible. I guess I do sort of have a "build it and they will come" mentality. Is there any other mentality to have for this type of site? Probably not.

Jeez. Did I just end up sounding like some Oprah guest? Ugh. Well, last thing about reviews. If you feel inclined to nominate webraw/blog for the Bloggies and haven't done so yet then it's not too late. Nominations end January 12.
posted by Eric J | 11:08 PM

A good drink makes you refresh...
Welcome to Engrish.com!
posted by Eric J | 10:27 PM

FunnyBlogName041688
It's official. Blogging has reached another milestone. From the Blogger.com homepage Evan Williams posts:

Data point: Blogger now has over [to be said in your best Dr. Evil voice...] 1 Million Registered Users. Mwahahahaha...

The one million mark is all well and good but the TRUE milestone is the inevitable Screen Name Syndrome that is beginning to crop up on Blogspot hosted blogs (and elsewhere). SNS happens when the massive number of instant messenger users surpasses the availability of decent buddy names and the result is new members are forced to add random numbers or letters as a prefix or suffix to their messenger screen name.

You know what I mean. You've seen those buddy names like Billy13285 or QTChic45 or my the purely obscure jkslijdl (note:any resemblance of the mentioned screen names to real screen names is purely coincidental). So when a new blogger is denied http://boz.blogspot.com/ he chooses http://boz48730.blogspot.com/ instead.

However, all is not yet lost. I just checked and coolblog.blogspot.com and tiffany.blogspot.com are still available. So, if your name is Tiffany or CoolBlog then get them while they last. Now I wonder when the BLOGSPOT BLOG NAME SQUATTERS will move in. Now there's an idea. Blog Squatting. Hmmmm.


posted by Eric J | 10:21 PM

Wandering but not quite lost
Found this site the other day while looking through the Organica referrer lists (a great little tool don't ya know). The site, Not All Who Wander Are Lost, is a very enjoyable read but I can't quite put my finger on the reason. There is a tone to this blog that somehow appeals to me and keeps me coming back...but this isn't a blog review so go read it and see for yourself.

Anyway, what struck me as I was reading through some of the archived posts (it's a relatively new blog, archives go back to mid-November) is that many bloggers seem to go through a similar set of stages when they begin blogging. Something similar in chronology, but not emotions, to the 5 stages of grief. Let's see if I can better explain.

Curiosity Stage - There is the initial stage of curiosity and mixed excitement. The pains of getting the blogging tool to work and the joy of having those first few posts properly displayed.

Awareness Stage - The time when the blogging community begins to come into focus. The individual begins to realize the vastness and also the smallness of the blogging world.

Surfing/Linking Stage - With the growing knowledge of the diverse blogging world the blogger begins following more and more links and discovering new blogs and incorporating the favorites on his/her personal blog.

Ego Stage - The new blogger begins to receive feedback in the form of email, comments or referrer logs and realizes that he has an actual audience and that the audience likes what he is saying. This sometimes creates a sense of responsibility in the blogger and he becomes more rigorous in spell-checking and making sure his posts make sense.

Serial Posting Stage - With the new realization of the audience that is "depending" on the blogger she now begins cranking out post after post at a feverish pace. Partly out of sheer desire but partly because she wants to impress her audience.

Routine Stage - Very few bloggers can continue the Serial Posting Stage for long and the faithful fall into a comfortable routine. This is where the veteran bloggers refine their voice, flesh out their blogging identity and generally start saying things that are interesting to people beyond their inner circle.

Burn Out Stage - This is a "maybe" stage. Not everyone will hit it but many, many bloggers just get burnt out. Or they just lose interest after satisfying the initial curiosity. Whatever the case there is a blog specifically showcasing the graveyard of neglected blogs.

These stages are just a sort of voicing some of my informal observations. I am currently doing a sort of "blog-study" where I go through and randomly pick blogs and read their first few posts to see if some true patterns (that I can referrence) become apparent.
posted by Eric J | 11:29 PM

Apple to begin installing coin slots on all new iMacs
It's becoming harder and harder to maintain my love for the Mac. I still do you know. Love the Mac that is. But I have a feeling that our relationship is becoming strained and is possibly in jeopardy. This latest news from the appropriately named News.com is just the latest in a long list of things that piss me off about Apple. What follows is a minor Apple bitch session which I've been told is a good thing. Something along the lines of getting all the bundled up emotions out in the open and allowing the healing to start or something.

Anyway, I'm not giving up on Apple but I'm officially putting them on my "you better watch yo ass" list. But that's a different list, here's the list of things that piss me off about Apple:

1. OS X came out in March of 2001 and to my knowledge there is still not a single, decent game controller that works in OS X without some third party hack.
2. Charging full price for Jaguar upgrades. Not even Microsoft does that.
3. Charging for the stupid Mac Mail. I don't mind paying for some of the .Mac services but keep the free ones free or in some scaled back free version. Would it kill them to keep Mac Mail free?
4. Charging for iApp upgrades (see News.com story linked above).
5. Charging outrageous prices for Apple Care. A friend got a 4 year, full warranty on his new iPod from Best Buy for 1/3 the price of Apple's one year warranty of equal coverage.
6. Saying in their documentation that and 1152x768 screen resolution was much better than 1280x1024 (or whatever the height is) because on the laptop a 1280 screen would not look right and would hurt production or something. Then 2 months after I bought my PowerBook they released the new PowerBook with a 1280 screen resolution. Argh.

Ok, that's all I got right now. I really feel much better now. I think me and the big Apple will make it after all. Next week I should make a list of things I like about the Mac.

posted by Eric J | 9:39 AM

An old and brief review of webraw/blog
This review is dated Oct. 7. Have not heard of Bloggy Opinions before but it seems like yet another good way to find some great sites.
posted by Eric J | 8:58 PM

Narcissurfers welcome
Was participating in a bit of "narcissurfing" and ended up on this page. I like that word better than ego-surfing.

Anyway, one of the side effects of having the updated blog links from Weblogs.com is increased traffic. I just never thought of it being used for that purpose before but it's not a bad idea. I doubt anything like that will ever find its way onto webraw/blog but if you are looking for a simple method to get a few extra page views you might consider using the changes.xml from Weblogs.com.
posted by Eric J | 8:59 AM

A Humble Request
As regular readers of webraw/blog know, I rarely ask for any sort of favors and to my memory have never asked for any sort of site promotion on these pages. All links to webraw/blog are greatly appreciated and I'm always honored that anyone feels the content here is worth sharing with others.

Well, now is the time for the Third Annual Weblog Awards, also known as the Bloggies. All I'm asking is that if you feel that webraw/blog deserves a nomination for an award please take a moment and fill out one of the nomination forms (scroll down). There are a couple of sites that I'm going to nominate myself.

One thing webraw.com has in common with the Bloggies site is that they are both REALLY WIDE. That should be a category... Best Wide Site Award. I may be able to win that one. Ok, thanks in advance and while you're there nominate all of your favorite sites, whether webraw/blog is one of them or not.
posted by Eric J | 1:07 AM

New webraw Article: Organizing your writing...
Organizing your writing for the Web (It ain't a term paper folks) is the newest article on webraw.com. If you have written or plan to write anything for the Web then you need to read this article. Even bloggers can benefit from some of the stuff in the article.
posted by Eric J | 12:40 AM

Gay, Dead or Canadian
Gay, Dead or Canadian wins the "Great Blog Name of the Day" award.

What? Well that's all I got right now.
posted by Eric J | 10:23 AM

How was your New Year celebration?
Well, I can guarantee that no matter what you were doing you did not have anything close to the extreme fun I had on New Year's Eve. The night started with me and my love getting FUNKY at Isaac Hayes' Music, Food and Passion with some of the hottest looking people in Memphis. Of course Chef was there doing that Shaft thing and the music just thumped with soul-buttery flavor.

We quickly shuttled out of there to explore other delights on the last night of 2002 and found ourselves grooving to electric blues under the spirited cheeks of W. C. Handy. The Champagne flowed, the music grooved and we glowed with excitement and awe as the party built up to the climax of 10 little numbers. We counted, we shouted, we kissed and we felt the exhilaration of being ALIVE another year and the anticipation of what the New Year would bring. It was a night unlike any other.

Ah hell, who am I kidding. I spent the whole night staring at a computer, eating a Wendy's burger and listening to Jay Leno crack jokes about something stupid.

PS: Blogger just tried to lose this post but I saved it Offline so I have actually learned a lesson. Ha.
posted by Eric J | 2:42 AM