The baseball strike has been

The NFL season starts really soon and college really starts up today!

Why do I love football so much? Why does America seem to embrace football with the fanaticism that it does? I dunnno. Could it be stories like this one about a big-headed teen? Or is it maybe just our love of a great sport that happens to be singly unique by only playing one game a week?

This is my personal opinion. Every other major team sport plays games all week long. Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Soccer (not sure about soccer but I guess it's not a major team sport in USA just yet) all play every day of the week. This diminishes the product. Football is only played once a week. Anyway, it's back and we should all be thankful.

The letter for the day.

The letter for the day. From Phont Typographics.

THinK DiffeRenT Ok, thanks to

THinK DiffeRenT
Ok, thanks to Apple that phrase is a cliche but here is proof that thinking different(ly) leads to innovation and some really great results.

Scenario: 2 flower Websites contrasted with 1 that chose to be unique without sacrificing usability and gaining that intangible - "STYLE."
1. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM - Flowers, Plants, Gourmet and Sweets, Unique Gifts and Specialty Boutiques
2. FTD.COM - Welcome to FTD.COM - Flower Bouquets and Gifts for All Occasions
3. Flowers Online by Florists Flowerbud: Fresh Flowers, Red Roses and Floral Arrangements

Apple - Trailers - Comedian

Apple - Trailers - Comedian
Watch this, it funny. *Fingers crossed that this movie is as great as the trailer*

BBspot - Ford Testifies to

BBspot - Ford Testifies to Stop Ride Sharing

It was bound to happen. I admit, I'm guilty of ride sharing. I feel so dirty.

Sony ejects Betamax at long

Sony ejects Betamax at long last - Tech News - CNET.com
The Betamax is dead! 27 Years! Wow. I remember borrowing my Grandma's old Betamax viewer and renting Beta Tapes from the video store. Of course this was also before Blockbuster or Hollywood or any of those Mega-Chains. I even recored the 1987 Bicentennial (passing of Constitution) celebrations from tv onto some old Betamax tapes. I wonder where those are?

Complexspiral Demo Folks, this is

Complexspiral Demo

Folks, this is nothing short of awesome. It should only be viewed on IE5 Mac, Netscape 6 or Konqueror 3.0. However, it is W3C compliant. The IE PC browsers are not. It is amazing when you think about it. CSS is where it's at friends.

TCS: Tech - Democrats vs.

TCS: Tech - Democrats vs. New Media
This is quite an interesting read. Of course it's really about the CBDTPA which is one of the most evil forms of legislation proposed in over a century. :o)

zen10mediaDon and the gang have

zen10media
Don and the gang have been mighty busy. The site looks great guys. zoomin v1.o is a mighty fine groupware tool.

It's good to see good people doing good things for good reasons.

--- A living document ---

--- A living document ---
On Instant Messaging Etiquette

DO:
1. Post an away message if you are going to stay logged in while away.
2. Ask if someone is "there" before discussing intimate details of some previous conversation or event.

DON'T:
1. Use too many emoticons. Three in a row is the absolute limit.
2. Use a background color for your text.
3. Ask a question and then ignore the response.

(more to come...)

Why the Web works best

Why the Web works best as a community (Part II).

I've been given an explicit thumbs up to continue to link the site referred to in my previous BLOG.
keep the link up. probably not a big deal.
-- Peter Rentz
(excerpt from an e-mail)

However, after rethinking some of my links I may just leave it off until I can find a better home for it. To end any mystery here is the link http://sandbox.cnn.com/prentz/. It really is a fun site to poke around in.

To just expand on the whole "Web-as-community" concept let me just say that it really is a global neighborhood. The longer I exist in both the analog world and the digital world I realize that the two have a symbiotic relationship that is rapidly merging into some sort of ultra-super-cyber-realm...or maybe I've just been reading too much Sci-Fi.

Why the Web works best

Why the Web works best as a community.

Until recently I had a link in the TOOLS section to what I considered to be a great little site. It had all appearances of being a CNN.com development site and also home to some pretty interesting links, graphics and WebDev stuff. Turns out the site really is a CNN.com development site among other things. I'm not linking to it anymore because the site creator, Peter Rentz, has politely asked that I remove it. Here is the e-mail he sent with a minor edit for the link to the "sandbox."

Yes "it (the CNN.com development Site)" is real.
i thought it was password protected from the outside but i guess not.
It probably would be a good idea to take the link down since a bit of that stuff is confidential. Or not.
-- Peter Rentz

The point of this is that the Web is a community. It is a "new" type of community and many people have not yet recognized it as a real, legitimate community. Yet those who do understand the Web as community have learned to interact with others as they would in any tangible, flesh and blood community.

I do not know Peter Rentz and he does not know me. However, our paths have crossed in this Web community and we have chosen to treat each other with respect and manners. If I met him at the local coffee shop I would hope that we would be equally cordial and community-minded.

It is this very spirit of community that has propelled the Web into the stratosphere that it now exists.

(The following is from July

(The following is from July 20, 2002. I wasn't able to post it then...so here it is now.)
I was pulled over today by the Law Dawgs. Said i was driving recklessly. I don’t think I was but you know old Smokey. Anyway, my boy was asleep in the car seat and my wife was mumbling that I should keep my cool and BE POLITE. I fought every instinct in my bones to keep from arguing with this man but I pretty much was able to restrain myself.

He also asked for my license and proof of insurance. My insurance was NOT up-to-date. It never is. I think these things eternally expire.

Proof of insurance. I hate this law. If I have insurance that should be enough. But no. Now I must have proof of that insurance. How do I prove this? By carrying around a little card that expires every six months. WHAT. Yes, this card expires every six months so you must remember to get your new card and take this card and place it in your car. However, if you are like most American parents your car (and especially the glove box) vaguely resembles a landfill and actually finding anything in the car besides a wad of gum is nothing short of miraculous.

So now you must always drive with your license AND your proof of insurance. The big deal is that this seems entirely unfair. A license must be renewed every few years. You get it updated stick it in your wallet and now you can drive any car. You don’t lose it because your license resides in your wallet and your wallet contains extremely important papers (money) and pieces of plastic (credit cards). Additionally, your license is called upon for active service in MANY other situations such as writing checks, attending bars, purchasing items with credit cards, etc, etc.

So your license is something that you actually think about in more situations than when you are stopped by the police and getting it renewed.
The problem with insurance cards is that you ONLY need them when you get pulled over. You also get them every six months so you have many more to keep up with. And finally, but most important, you must keep this in your CAR. These are proof of the car’s insurance, not you. If you put this in your wallet then if your spouse or friend drives your car they are SOL. This is crazy.

A comparison might be made to car tags and the numerous codes that cars must first comply with before they are to be driven along the public streets yet I argue that this too is a faulty comparison. All of these items are much easier to keep up with because A: if you forget them you will be pulled over B: they are not slips of paper to be kept up with. They are either a sticker or an actual tag that must be screwed onto the actual car or, in the case of auto-safety, it’s an easy fix.

The conclusion is that Insurance cards suck. The solution is to associate each car with the insurance database and each insurance can enter this information into the database. Your social security number is associate with your drivers license.

Dern Legislature.

Yahoo! News - Ashcroft Asked

Yahoo! News - Ashcroft Asked to Target Online Song Swappers. It's happening. They are coming after you. I truly think that this is a good thing. They will NEVER prosecute grandma who downloads an old Chet Baker song.

Here's a quote from the article "The letter (asking the Justice Dept. to prosecute P2P users) 'implies that Justice should be going after relatively innocent behaviors that I suspect most Americans don't think warrant the time,' said Alan Davidson, an associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Here are the names of our legislators who are asking for the action: Delaware Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden; Wisconsin Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner; Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott; Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers; North Carolina Republican Rep. Howard Coble; and California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

NOTE: See how much money each of these congress persons received from the recording industry. My guess...it's a large number.

(This link was brought to you by Slashdot.)

ThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart

ThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart Masses Think Birthday. Think Christmas. Think Ultra-Cool stuff for the Geek in all of us. I just discovered this site and I'm already making out a wish list. ;)

My "Hello World" CSS page

My "Hello World" CSS page
I gots da funky stylee BayBee!!! Check it out. It's a start. Coding CSS like a MoFo. I only got two words to say, "Netscape SUX."

All content on this site

All content on this site is property of Eric Janssen. All images are mine, all text is mine, even the browser you're using to view all this stuff is mine. In fact you computer monitor is actually mine now since you are reading my content on it.

All of this is copyrighted, trademarked and patented. Do not attempt to steal all of this stuff as I will prosecute your sorry ass to the fullest extent of the law. I have rabid lawyers waiting for you to steal some content so they can SUE you for every penny you have.

In fact, these words that you're reading, the actual words, are mine. I'm talking about the words themselves, they are mine. You can't use ANY of these words ever again without my permission. In fact, now that I think of it, you can't even use English again without my permission or compensating me in some way.

AND DON'T even THINK about deep linking to this page. No deep links, no framing this page and absolutely no telling your friends about this page. Even writing the URL on a piece of paper is forbidden.

Have I made myself clear? Now go surf the Web and have fun for goodness sakes.

{inspired by http://www.dontlink.com/ and what seems like a lifetime of reading stuff eerily similar to what I just wrote}

Have R2 and the Lego

Have R2 and the Lego Space Gang build your next computer. From memepool.com.

From Slashdot: Salon.com Technology |

From Slashdot: Salon.com Technology | I come to bury IAmCarbonatedMilk.com, not to praise it. A look at dot-com squatting and the registering craze that took the country by storm just a short time ago.

Blogger wins! I have decided

Blogger wins! I have decided to continue using Blogger ™ to edit my Blogs instead of Radio UserLand (see previous Blog) because frankly, UserLand sucks. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine tool for Blogging but the learning curve is just too steep for the casual blogger like myself. Until I become thoroughly dissatisfied with Blogger ™ I think I'll stick around and learn the nuances of this fine (and free) blogging tool.

Blog on!