August 30, 2002
Candy Bar for OS X
CandyBar, an icon-customization program for Mac OS X.
Terminal Velocity - The Sequel
It seems cats do better when dropped...uh, I mean, fall, more than seven stories. Anything less and they fail to reach terminal velocity and don't land properly.
Of course, one might define "landing properly" as measured by the size of the puddle it makes.
August 28, 2002
Target Misses the Mark
Chain store Target unwittingly stocked a line of clothing containing a secret white supremacist code ("88"). When a customer altered Target to the problem, they quickly... did nothing. Nothing, that is, until their media flacks found about about the PR nightmare. Now, Target is pulling the merchandise, and blaming its slow response on the ignorance of the customer service department.
Had the complaints initially made their way to Target's media relations department, Brookter says, the issue would have been addressed immediately.
Oh, I see... the folks in charge of Customer Service don't have the power to yank neo-Nazi propaganda, but the folks down at the CYA division could have done so "immediately." Who's flying this plane?
August 23, 2002
Battle Plan - Online and Free at Guidestar.org
Do you or your organization work with non-profit organizations? Would you like to? If so, you may not know that many tax documents those organizations have to file are in the public record, available to any person who wants to review them.
Obviously, if you cater to, or want to cater to, the needs of such organizations, these documents can be a treasure trove of information. You can find find out who sits on the board of directors, who the officers are, and even who the key employees are. If they draw a salary of more than $50,000, you can find that information, too. You can see how much money the group took in over the past few years, how much cash they have on hand, and what their depreciable assets are - like computers, and computer software, often including brand names. (This can be especially helpful if you're trying to sell computer equipment or software to a group and you know that their last major purchase was several years ago and they are currently flush with cash.)
Ask yourself, why aren't these documents online? And why aren't they free? Good news. They are online, and they are free. Go to Guidestar.org and punch in the name of your favorite non-profit organization to see their information. You may be glad you did.
August 22, 2002
Tara Grubb has a Weblog
Tara Grubb, the Libertarian running for Congress against Howard Coble, has a weblog.
Oddly enough, her first real proposal seems more nanny-state than small-state:
Once I am in congress I will encourage businesses to offer a 6 month maternity leave for parents---the absolute minimum nature demands. Companies have nine months to prepare a temp. In addition to this, I will encourage the construction and development of on-site child care. Businesses could enjoy a healthy tax break for participating in programs that work to meet the needs of their families. Local communities would join with the federal government in the investment in their families and their future. Child care would be more personal. Parents would have more involvement--and the niche will be tighter.
Hey, I'm all in favor of strong parenting - but should we really be promting this idea at the federal level?
August 21, 2002
During, Not After
You've seen my "before" pictures. Heck with it... Here's what I look like this week.
More to come off. Actually, time for me to go running. Bye!
Sugar from Uncle Sam
Radley Balko thinks fat people should sue the government, not McDonalds:
For the past quarter century, the U.S. government has issued dietary recommendations that, if followed, were supposed to keep us all looking svelte and sexy - a nation of Halle Berries and George Cloonies. You've probably seen these recommendations. They form what the USDA calls its "food pyramid." The pyramid essentially recommends a low-fat, high-starch diet. It suggests 6-11 servings of "grains, cereals, rice and pasta" per day, and less than one serving of "fats and oils" - or less than three per week.
The problem is, that pyramid was built not on scientific evidence, but on the prejudices of politicians, the special interests of U.S. agriculture, and the egos of career scientists at the National Institute of Health.
In fact, not only is the food pyramid not built on sound scientific evidence, but sound scientific evidence increasingly suggests that the pyramid is a sham.
For twenty-five years, Americans have been told by their government that a low-fat diet would stave off obesity, lower cholesterol, and prevent heart disease. For twenty-five years, mounting scientific evidence has suggested otherwise. And for twenty-five years, the U.S. government has ignored that evidence, and Americans have gotten fatter.
Unfortunately, the government is probably immune from suit for this, but at least America ought to know where the real blame should lie. Our government shouldn't be in the business of giving nutritional advice anyway - even if it does especially when it's designed to promote certain special-interest farmers. One cool thing about the net is that it allows people to tell their success stories and get the truth out there.
Via Instapundit.
August 19, 2002
Kayaking NYC
Kayaking in New York Harbor: This might be my father-in-law, although I think he sticks to areas further out on Long Island.
Found on Max Power.
August 17, 2002
Stop. Pay Toll.
For years now, I've been driving back and forth from D.C. to New York whenever we go to visit Dineen's folks. The drive can take as little as five hours or as many as ten, depending almost entirely on the backlog at the half-dozen or so toll booths along the route.
Sometimes, the lines stretch for miles - like last Thanksgiving weekend, when we sat for an hour in Delaware. Now that EZ-Pass is generally available up and down the whole route, that helps in less congested times, but on days when you can't even get to the toll booth because the fellow in the Winnebago dropped his quarter and spent ten minutes looking for it, EZ-Pass trims mere minutes off an extended ordeal of stop-and-go-very-slowly.
I began to realize that tolls on interstate highways might be considered a barrier to interstate commerce, and ought to be banned as the Constitution would require.
The New Republic, it seems, might agree.
(Note: The diatribe about "pro-management" corporate law completely ignores the existence of Nevada.)
BlogHog
BlogHog is cool - it aggregates RSS newsfeeds of all your favorite blogs and news sites. If that doesn't mean anything to you yet, go try it.
Cease and Desist
An old Web Techniques article on cease and desist letters and why they make lawyers look stupid:
Every time one of these legal actions backfires against an overreaching lawyer and his or her client or company, I always ask myself, "What were they thinking?" The answer usually turns out to be that they weren't.
Perhaps Ms. Jacobs ught to read this one.
August 16, 2002
Tara Grubb - Libertarian for Congress
According to Ed Cone, Libertarian Tara Grubb is running against Howard Coble for Congress. For those opposed to the Berman-Coble bill, supporting Grubb is a great way to send a message. Right now, if looks like she needs a web site - she may need dondations of hosting, domain name, design services, and for those who are politically savvy and libertarian-minded, she may accept help on the policy front.
Hey... election lawyers... can she accept contributions via PayPal?
Blogs4God
Blogs4God...
...is a weblog and directory that includes aggregated entries from more than 330 Christian weblogs.
Interesting.
Found via BlogRoots.
August 15, 2002
Doh! Zilla
It was bound to happen sooner or later: Godzilla trademark owners Toho Ltd. sent out a cease and desist letter claiming that the Davezilla name and logo infringe upon their trademark:
...use of the "ZILLA" formative along with imagery associated with GODZILLA is likely to cause the users of your site to believe that the "DAVEZILLA.COM" website is either associated with, authorized by, or sponsored by our client, and demonstrates an attempt by you to trade on the goodwill built up by our client.
Fortunately, clueful media outlets have picked up on the story allowing for the general public to learn that:
- not only is Toho behaving pretty foolishly, but also,
- they're not getting very good results.
As noted in the article:
One legal analyst said Toho was picking on a tiny opponent because prior battles with companies closer to its own size had ended in defeat. He cited a case in which Toho took Sears to court for its "Bagzilla" garbage cans, to no avail.
"I think it's an example of a trademark owner looking for a small, relatively innocuous player to make an example of," said Eric Goldman, assistant professor at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wis.... Goldman also noted that because Davezilla isn't actually selling anything on his site, Toho's attorneys would be hard-pressed to demonstrate that Davezilla was creating confusion in a marketplace.
Chalk this one up as a victory for Mothra.
August 12, 2002
$2.05
Last Thursday, I stepped on the scale and it told me I was just five pounds over the two-century mark. The last time I saw that number on a scale was probably back in college, as I zoomed past it on the way up.
The great thing about the web is that all my friends documented how truly huge I was, how well I filled out a t-shirt, how I always seemed to be playing pool and boozing it up, and of course, how elegant my belly looked hanging over my belt. (The belly and the belt are both history, each replaced with smaller versions.)
When I hit 200 - probably close to the end of this month, which was my goal - I'll put up some snappy new "after" pictures.
If You Can't Read This, Raise Your Hand
It's not the .htaccess file that's causing the problem after all. I'm not sure what it is.
If you're having trouble reasching this site from anything other than a Windows 98 computer, please let me know.
August 04, 2002
.htaccess problems
One of the many reasons that I've failed to update in a while is that I somehow botched my .htaccess file so that my home mahcine can no longer pull up this site without the "www." prefix in the domain name. If anyone knows how to help me with this, please drop a line or comment. Thanks.