You have to go watch this on YouTube. Ms. Boyle has one of the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. Susan Boyle – Singer – Britain’s Got Talent 2009
47 Year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britains Got Talent, singing I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables.
I don’t know why I relate to this, but I really do. Maybe it’s his obsessive nature, maybe it’s the history behind the objects of his obsession, I don’t know. He may be strange, but this is the kind of person that makes sense to me. I’m a little afraid of what that says about me.
I don’t know about you, but after seeing Jan’s latest work, I feel the need to go visit Wallace Falls. This series is just stunning.
Just feels like Spring this fine morning. Felt like posting something cheerful.
Shot in digital, edited in Photoshop.
Done any traveling, and have pictures you’d like to post? Photos don’t have to be of the high desert, but I’m fond of remote areas that take some work to see. If you have something like that, drop me a comment and we can discuss putting something up. If you already have your own blog, I’d be happy to link to appropriate posts. I would like to post at least one teaser image per post.
Are you a Wanderer? Let’s see where you’ve been.
I keep saying I’m going to start blogging again… and yet I don’t. Just can’t seem to find my muse. Working, reading, enjoying the weather. Yes, I actually do like Winter. Nothing quite as these guys though. Beautiful dogs, beautiful photography.
LeVar Burton is blogging. He’s only done two posts so far, but they were a surprise. He’s the first celebrity blogger I know of who actually seems to understand the concept of blogging. Nicely written in a very personal, yet not too personal way. He’s writing about what he knows, and interests him. He’s even taking the time to do audio versions of his posts. Nicely done Mr. Burton, keep up the good work, and good luck with stopping smoking.
Today is the beginning of a new era. A time of change. A glorious new beginning… Politics aside, we now have a President who understands the power of the internet. As of 12:01 p.m. EST, White House dot gov has a new look.
Powered by some form of ASP, it’s a valid XHTML site. Getting a Microsoft based site to validate is an impressive feat all by itself, but this one is done with style. As well as the usual stuff you’d expect on a government site, they’ve included a blog and photo galleries. Not only included the blog and galleries, but made them the face of the site. Rotating imagery, dynamic content, and enough RSS feeds to satisfy even… me.
I have to admit, I’m rather impressed. Who really knows how the Presidency will go, but I like the start. Neat, clean and very professional looking. You could almost say, Presidential.
My hat is tipped to the designer. Beautifully done.
I had no intention of sleeping through 2008 when I decided to take a blogging break, but it happened. You get out of the habit of blogging, and time passes. I’m starting to feel like bloggin again. Something different though. Not quite sure what yet. I might even wipe the slate clean and start the site over, I haven’t decided yet.
One of my favorite sites, a photoblog called Cascade Exposures, just moved. Go check out Jan’s new home.
This looks interesting. Google is jumping into the browser game with a browser called “Chrome”. They have some good ideas, I hope their product stands up to their hype. This has been in the works for quite a while, but I for one never thought they’d ever release it. I’ll be happy to be wrong if this is released as expected.
Google Ignites a New Browser War With Microsoft By Unveiling One of its Own
In its most frontal and aggressive attack on Microsoft yet, sources with knowledge of the project said Google is preparing to unveil a new browser – ready for download to users as early as tomorrow – to try to loosen Microsoft’s iron grip on the most important piece of software to navigate the Internet.
Also interesting is their form of news release… a comic book. Didn’t see that coming.
Update: The beta is available – Google Chrome
This makes me want to quit painting. Not really, but Esref Armagan really makes you think, doesn’t he? I’m fascinated by how he can keep track of what he’s done.
In case the embedded video isn’t working here, go check out The Artist with no Eyes.
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sent to me via e-mail, source unknown.
An email from Ireland to the brethren in the States… a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:
We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States. On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can’t keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn’t even like the country her husband wants to run.
Now…On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate Mc terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.
What in Lords name are ye lads thinking over there in the colonies?
Filed under both humor and politics… is that redundant?
Punished first, acquitted later – Ezra Levant
But I’ve read the dismissal letter three times now, and each time it makes me more angry. Because I haven’t been given my freedom of the press. I’ve simply had the government censor approve what I said. That’s a completely different thing.
This would be most of my problem with the Al Gore and his position on global warming.
Gore Hits the Waves with a Massive New Houseboat
I’m all for decreasing our need for oil (foreign or otherwise), and most anything else that would improve our environment. I’m a big fan of the great outdoors, and I want my children to see the same beautiful scenery I’ve seen. My problem with the global warming crowd is that most of the big names you associate with the political side of the movement are getting rich off of it. And they’re spending this money on things like a “new 100-foot houseboat that docks at the Hurricane Marina”. Grand total, probably somewhere between $500,000 to 1,000,000. If the most important thing we can do is to support Al Gore’s environmental causes, then why is his money going to something like this?
h/t Instapundit.com
I’ve keeping my eye on newspapers and online commenting for a while. Letting people comment on the newspaper like a blog seemed like an interesting idea. My interest was that I thought that newspapers wouldn’t stay on top of controlling spam comments. I was wrong. Where they lost control was with the actual commenters. Without some sort of accountability, apparently people feel free to say anything they want in this sort of forum. Threatening and abusive language, insults, random and profane comments… Apparently it’s all OK, as long as nobody knows who you are. It’s time somebody with a brain took control. This sort of thing doesn’t help anything. You need a moderator, and you need some accountability.
My first thought was that requiring accounts would be my first suggestion. Putting a name to that filth would stamp most of it out pretty quickly. While I came up with one idea, Derek Powazek has has come up with 10 Ways Newspapers Can Improve Comments.
Here are ten things newspapers could do, right now, to improve the quality of the comments on their sites. (There are lots more, but you know how newspaper editors can’t resist a top ten list.)
How long before newspapers start taking these sort of measures? I’m betting it’s going to go downhill quite a bit further at most papers before it gets better. I don’t think the newspapers grasp the negative effects of this sort of thing. Sure their site numbers are going up, but is this the sort of traffic that’s going to make you money? I don’t think so.
Do you live in a rough neighborhood? Instead of getting a dog for you backyard have a look at this Paintball Sentry Gun.
Sure, I have no reason to own one of these, but I want one none the less. Having a bad day, set it up on the front porch and order a pizza… delivered. I’d likely get arrested, and I doubt I’d ever get pizza delivered again, but you have to admit it would be funny. Nice solution to that annoying neighbor’s dog too.
The results of a fascinating study of the design of the top 50 blogs is available at Smashing Magazine. Some interesting results, but I was most interested in the ratio of fluid to fixed width layouts. 92% used fixed width. That seemed a little high to me, but I have noticed a strong trend that way in design lately. I was even more surprised to note that the writer describes the other 8% as “uses fluid elements”, but none used “used an elastic layout”.
I’ve always thought that a fluid width layout was a better design solution for most websites. Defining a minimum width for a site isn’t a bad thing, but a full fixed width layout is just too rigid. It doesn’t take the viewer’s preferences into account. You’ll also note that 56% of blogs surveyed used a site width of 951-1000 pixels. I don’t know about you, but that means if I’m viewing the site with my feed reader open, then I have to scroll left and right. Annoying! I’m sure I’m not the only person who dedicates less than 1000 pixels of screen width to their main browser window.
My favorite statisctic though was about the percentage of the layout used for main content.
“on average, 58% of the overall site layout is used to display the main content.”
The most important part of thelayout only deserves 58%? That’s the best you could do? That’s just sad, it really is.
A Small Design Study Of Big Blogs | How-To | Smashing Magazine
It is truly remarkable that among 50 top blogs not a single one used an elastic layout (width of layout grows with the growing font size) and only a small fraction uses fluid elements (layout changes depending on the size of the browser window). Here are the exact findings:* 92% of top blogs used a fixed layout,
* 8% used a fluid layout or a hybrid layout with fluid layout elements
(Engadget, Smashing Magazine, Gigazine, Coorks and Liars).
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