I was looking at sitemeter today (easy to keep track when you get very little traffic) and I noticed I’d gotten three referrals from search engines. They are here, here and here. I’m curious what kind of medication the guys at Google and Yahoo are taking to make me first hit on three different searchs. That first search I linked to was done from Kuwait and isn’t even in English.

Update -Whatever it is that’s moving me to the front of the search lists, it’s apparently contagious. I got hits today from Search MSN and Dogpile today. Both sites listed me on the first page on their searches. Very odd.

Very clever idea. I’ll be using this soon.

File Me Away | Thoughts & Stuff

“If you are a designer like myself greeking is a part of your typical design concepting process. You put together a nice design, drop in the typical latin text that starts with “Lorum ipsum” and you’ve got a nice example of how the work in progress will look once the final copy is in place.

There’s only one problem.

The typical Latin body of text does not truly represent typical English word length…”

“…It’s not rocket science, but why not use actual English literature text instead of greek?”

I get complaints whenever I use “Greeked” text. I’ll probably still get “this isn’t my text” (which they haven’t supplied yet), but at least it won’t be the “this doesn’t make sense” comment anymore.

It will also be nice laying out interesting text that’s very well written. Laying out a lot of text you end up reading it repeatedly as you work, little bits at a time. Some of my clients write well, some don’t, but most of them write on subjects that don’t interest me much. Using Greek isn’t much better. While I don’t try to read it, my eye keeps getting drawn to words that look familiar. It will be a pleasant change to work with a little classic literature instead of the dreaded Greek or my least favorite foreign language Real Estate.

Web Accessibility Toolbar - Vision Australia

I use a Web Developer toolbar for Firefox fairly extensively, but until now I hadn’t seen anything like it for IE. I’ve only used it a little, but it seems to work nicely. Use at your own risk of course, I haven’t had time to test it much yet. Looks very promising though.

Thanks to David for mentioning it on Tribe.

DRUDGE REPORT and BREITBART.COM are reporting shots fired in the Rayburn House Office Building. Drudge reports that Capitol Police are investigating.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing, interrupted a witness to request those attending the meeting to remain in the room and said the doors must be closed.

“It’s a little unsettling to get a Blackberry message put in front of you that says there’s gunfire in the building,” he said.
- BREITBART.COM

h/t HotAir.com

Update: FOXNews.com is reporting “ 4 ambulances arrive on scene”

Update: ABC News: Online news is reporting “WOMAN SEEN BEING REMOVED FROM RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING ON A STRETCHER”

Update: Expose the Left is showing an image of a Woman Taken Out Of Rayburn Building On Gurney …. A commenter on that site says she was treated for anxiety.

Update: Press Release from Representative Jack Kingston

STATEMENT: MEMBER OF KINGSTON’S STAFF TAKEN TO HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON - The following statement can be attributed to David All, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-GA, regarding a member of Congressman Kingston’s staff taken to the hospital during Rayburn lockdown:

“This morning, a member of Congressman Kingston’s staff was in the House Staff Gym when the Rayburn House Office Building was put under lockdown due to alleged gun shots. Under guidance of law enforcement officials, the staffer was taken via ambulance to the hospital. She was not injured or shot, just a little shaken up under the circumstances.

We have been in contact with our colleague and she is doing well.”

“Congressman Kingston is aware of the situation. He has encouraged us to remain cooperative with the Capitol Police as they work to resolve this situation.”

The House Staff Gym is located on the second floor of the parking garage of the Rayburn House Office Building which is five floors below Congressman Kingston’s office.

I made some slight corrections to some improperly coded punctuation for clarity.

Update: Capitol police re-open building after security alert | Reuters.com

Capitol police re-open building after security alert

Update: Capitol police reopen Rayburn building | Reuters.com

A mammoth U.S. House of Representatives office building reopened on Friday after a floor-by-floor search by police indicated sounds thought to be gunshots were probably noises made by construction workers, the U.S. Capitol Police reported.

BlackFive has featured Photos by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika several times now. He’s an incredible photographer stationed in Iraq. This third installment of pictures is by far the best. As an artist I can’t help but wonder what kind of camera he’s using. Regardless of the answer I want to see more pictures. BlackFive might like the “Day in the life of a Soldier” type photos, but his civilian photos are incredible too. What I’d really like to know is when will his book be published? If any photographer I’ve seen lately deserves to be published, this guy does.

Sgt. Klika, do you need a graphic designer? I’ll make you a great deal if you let me work with those photos. Do you have any photos you’d like posted? I particularly like the civilian black and white photos, but send me anything you’d like posted. Want to guestblog? You’re very good, and you need your work in the public eye.

Keep up the great work, both as a soldier, and as a photographer. All of your work is appreciated.

Other BlackFive posts with Klika photos:
BLACKFIVE: Photos of SSG Russell Lee Klika
BLACKFIVE: Cav Troopers on the search for hidden Saddam Atrocities

The Online Photographer: City Photographers

It’s always seemed odd to me that cities don’t have photographers. The White House has an official photographer; so do football teams and opera companies; why doesn’t Chicago? Is Phoenix too bland, Atlanta eternal and unchanging, Portland, Maine uninterested in what Portland, Oregon looks like?

Our society could use a little more art, and a little more remembering the past. What a great idea.

OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts

Such institutional incoherence has consequences. In his sharpest criticism, Mr. Lewis charges that Harvard now ceases to think of itself as an American institution with any obligation to educate students about liberal democratic ideals. As the school increasingly focuses on “global competency,” the U.S. is “rarely mentioned in anything written recently about Harvard’s plans for undergraduate education.” In the absence of agreement on common values or a core curriculum, anything goes. Echoing Allan Bloom’s critique of relativism, Mr. Lewis writes that at Harvard “all knowledge is equally valued as long as a Harvard professor is teaching it.”

This should come as a surprise to me, but it doesn’t. We’re becoming a soulless society, schools should be better than that. They aren’t.

I saw a post on Hot Air yesterday about someone claiming to be an Army Ranger. I had my doubts about 10 seconds into the video. I’m not an authority on the military and never served, but the uniform looked wrong. More suspicious though was that the framed picture on the wall showed him in a BDU identical to the one he was wearing in the interview. In fact, the photo looked like it had been taken very recently. It just seemed odd.

Uncle Jimbo, BLACKFIVE and Greyhawk were all over the story next. With those guys in the game, I figured the fat lady was singing for Jessy (Jesse?) MacBeth. I particularly like Uncle Jimbo’s quote:

This spindly little weasel wouldn’t have made it through 10 seconds of RIP, let alone Ranger school or life in a Ranger Batt. The pic on his wall shows the wrong t-shirt, wrong sleeves roll, wrong flash, this boy is so many flavors of wrong I can’t keep up.

I wasn’t going to post on this, but I saw something today worth mentioning. It seems the guys over at ArmyRanger.com don’t take kindly to this sort of thing. They even go so far as to seek out posers like this and speak to them, in person. I’d pay good money to see this geek meet some real rangers. Why is it that posers always seem to be 110 pound geeks or 60 pounds overweight couch potatoes?

Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah’s Military Guys..

Ain’t this pretty? And Bill is older’n both of ‘em! If you liked that one - you’ll really like this one (that’s screen saver/wallpaper material there)!

I got a little bored eating lunch and PhotoShop’d a different sky into a photo highlighted at Argghhh! today. Now that’s wallpaper material.

I’m often surprised by how companies use their resources when it comes to computers. An organization I work with is currently undergoing a computer upgrade. No problem there. Everyone is getting a new computer. Again, no problem. Everyone is getting the same computer. That would be the problem. They have a diverse workforce doing a wide variety of work. I find it hard to believe that every employee is best served by the same computer. Data entry has the same needs as publishing? Executives have the same needs as the guys in the mailroom? I don’t think so. Someone here is getting the short end of the stick.

The part I don’t understand is why is this is being done? There is probably some magic accounting reason for this sort of change, but I can’t understand why the resources couldn’t be better allocated. You know some users are going to get short changed while others will get more than they need. In this case some of their data entry people are even requesting that they don’t get an upgrade. They have a “better the devil you know” sort of attitude. Their computers are working smoothly and reliably, doing everything they are asked, why should they change? It would be frustrating to be in their shoes. Why do they all need to be the same? How does this benefit the organization? I’ve written about this sort of thing before, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me, but I’m always surprised when I’m reminded that in computers, diversity is a bad word.

BREITBART.COM - Barbaro Is ‘Frisky’ After Surgery

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was “bright and appropriately frisky” Monday after surgery from his broken hind leg, even showing an interest in mares, but the colt still faces a long and perilous road to recovery.

I was watching the race at home when this happened. They haven’t said anything about the cause yet that I’ve heard, but it sure looked like he got hit from behind by another horse. Not quite a bump, but a horse crossed behind him very close right before he pulled up. Made me think the other horse hit the back of his leg as he crossed over. I thought one of the news channels would have been all over this by now.

But of course, I’m not. Rebuilding my home PC among other things. Almost done. At the rate I’m going I should be done with the Spring projects by Thanksgiving. Then onto the Summer projects! Wait a minute, that won’t work….

How exactly did they do this? Damn cool.

“The Da Vinci Code” shows that conspiracy theories have no limits.

A righteous army has formed to prove everything Dan Brown says about the early Christian church is false, which it most certainly is. Mr. Brown’s history pales against the real story of Christianity’s first centuries. I recommend two gems: Henry Chadwick’s “The Early Church” (Penguin) and Peter Brown’s “The Rise of Western Christendom” (Blackwell). Grand, thrilling drama.

But markets don’t lie. Clearly Mr. Brown knows something that is true. What is it?

I haven’t seen the move, don’t have much interest. I might read the book eventually, but probably not. I’ve read Angels and Demons , it was a reasonably good read, but not good enough that I’m likely to read another of his. The reason this article by Daniel Henninger caught my eye is all of the press that Dan Brown’s book has been getting. Not only press coverage, but good press coverage. The TV station I watch in the morning has been running a series of news articles about it. They even use the phrase “Is the Da Vinci Code False?” in their advertising. I’ve seen this sort of advertising and news everywhere. False? They are assuming it’s true? Do they understand the idea of fiction? Apparently not.

A while back I wrote about “shooting at the moving target of their (the clients) expectations”. I’m doing a lot of that this week. It’s frustrating to say the least. I’m giving the clients what they ask for, and they’re thrilled with the work, but the end product isn’t quite what they need.

I’ve redone a complex series of web pages several times this week because after they were finished the clients realized something wasn’t quite right. It turns out after several incarnations that what they thought they wanted wasn’t what they really needed. What is most frustrating is that nobody has learned anything helpful. Sure I know what they need now, but what about next time. I don’t know any more about how to get the right information from them, and they haven’t learned how to communicate their needs to me.

I think the solution is that I need to know more about their business and they need to know a little more about mine. That said, I don’t know how to get there from here. I’m not exactly in a position to ask more of them, and they don’t see the need for any change. I see this week repeating itself on the next project and I’m not looking forward to it.

I just finished reading Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan. Not my favorite Jordan book maybe, but good. Moved a little slowly for me. I think that was mostly him setting up the next novel. Would have been nice if this one could have stood on it’s own a little better rather than being a 500+ page introduction to the next book. After 11 books and thousands of pages I understand this series is supposed to wrap up in the next book. While I do like the series a lot, I’ll be happy to see how he finishes it off. I have high hopes that the last book will be the best. Despite Knife of Dreams being a little slow, I like how he’s bringing everything together. The setup in this book bodes well for the finale in the next. Wait and see I suppose.

Had to touch up a photo today. While I spend part of my time doing actual graphic design, I also do my own production. My clients realize this and I get a fair bit of work problem solving. You have to be a jack-of-all-trades in this business.

Today’s project: Photo touch-up.

The problem: The photo is already printed. A computer printed, three foot by four foot matte print with a typo in the white text caption (not my project). The client can’t afford to reprint, and the typo is they’re fault so the printer won’t reprint for free.

Solution: Change one number into another number using an Exacto knife and a pencil. Darken with the pencil, lighten with the knife. I thought it would look reasonable, but it came out almost perfect. You can’t see the correction from more than about six inches away, and this print hangs where it can’t be viewed from less than about five feet.

In the immortal words of Hannibal Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together!”

Power Line: A note to our Minnesota readers

Sergeant David Thul writes that he is serving with the Minnesota National Guard in Iraq. He asks a simple favor. If you have conservative books or magazines sitting around the house that you’d be willing to part with, he asks that you send them to him for his unit in Iraq.

I’ll definitely be seeing what I can put together for this. I’m usually horrible about not throwing out old magazines, which will work in their favor.

I got the parts for my computer today. Blew the power supply on my PC last week. Taking the opportunity to make some other changes as well. Our power must have been spiking the last week or so. According to things I’ve read the power supply I had was a little flaky anyway, but my well pump capacitor blew this weekend too. If I could ever stop fixing things I might actually get something done. That’ll never happen.

Update: Of course there was more wrong than the power supply. The motherboard is fried as well. I’m ordering parts to completely rebuild it.

HotAir.com has the just released Video of plane hitting Pentagon on 9/11

Not very clear, but something big passes through the frame. Conspiracy theorists will claim fake, but if the government wanted to fake this, wouldn’t they have done a better job?