So the new year came yesterday. I spent it with Leah. We went and got lunch at a local Souplantation using the gift certificates Leah got for Christmas, and then we went and saw The Two Towers with the movie gift certificates I got for Christmas. We were an hour and a half early for the movie, but we passed the time like it was nothing by playing hangman and the dot game. It remains astonishing how easy it is to pass the time with Leah. There’s a complete sense of calm in our interactions — and even when we disagree or have conflicts it is suffused with a comfort level I have never known. We also found in our conversations that we agree completely about most homeopathic medicines and the placebo effect. The mind has a powerful effect on our health. We cannot depend on it to cure everything, but a positive attitude does wonders for health. I was a little surprised by our similarity, but I suppose it makes sense given that both of our fathers are physicians. We have heard tell, both of us, that most illnesses simply need to be endured, and that most of what are thought of as cures are simply palliative care to help us ride out the hard part of illness while our body does the work. That said, when you need to get, say, surgery, or that suspicious spot removed, you don’t rely on your mind, you go to a pro.

Manned spaceflight is a government monopoly – and has been one for over 40 years. The marketplace has never been allowed to exist, and as a result, the dream of private tickets for a ride to orbit has all but died here in the US. Two tickets have been purchased, much to the chagrin of the Federalies. Both purchased rides in Russian spacecraft. It is a darn shame that the only capitalists for manned space travel are former Soviets.

via IP

Lindows founder offered Xbox Linux $200,000 prize — Michael Robertson, founder of the Lindows operating system, has offered two prizes of $100,000 to port Linux onto the Xbox, with and without hardware modifications.

Dori of BackupBrain described this blog as “excellent.” Very kind.

I think Dori might have had too much brandy in her eggnog, but I’ll kindly thank her for the compliment. I’ll also return the compliment by saying that I’ve been a consistent reader of the very excellent BackupBrain for a long damn time. It’s at least two years, because I’ve been reading since before I blogged myself. Which will be two years next month.

Recycle Your Christmas Tree.

I think I remember George Girton’s name as a participant of the old Webmonster web design lists — and he recognized my name from the Ryze Blogmap. Interesting, no?

Even more interesting is that it’s been several years since Webmonster was a going concern. They were some great, educational, fun discussion lists.

George maintains a blog now, which I’ll be checking out — The Daily Channel.com.

Problem 1: John “Convicted Felon” Poindexter runs it. For other problems, see: Act Three of Poindexter’s Incredibly Shrinking Site: Still More! via Politechbot.

The TIA office reminds me of the folks in George Orwell’s 1984 who are responsible for continually rewriting history to suit the current regime’s needs and enemies’ lists. Luckily, on the internet, it is possible to track such shenanigans.

I also think of how in (the also fictional) Wag The Dog, they are able to insert a song “Old Shoe” into the Library of Congress. I wonder how feasible it would be to simply generate a fact and insert it into history. You’d have to get access to all copies of resource texts and be very thorough. Lies are tricky things, yes?

Runny nose: check.
Lower back ache: check.
Headache: check.
Sore throat: check.
Tiredness/fatigue: check.
Roommate: also sick.

However:
Cough: minimal.
Appetite: okay.
Environment: clean, hospitable.
Girlfriend: brought me 7-Up last night.
Roommate: also sick, but nice.
Diagnosis: common flu.
Prognosis & outlook: With luck and TLC, I will be through this in a few days.

Father’s voice in my head: Ya shoulda got the flu shot, Joe.

“Well, it’s not really the right word, but freedom is kind of a hobby with me, and I have disposable income that I’ll spend to find out how to get people more of it.”

from Federal V.I.P.

The above article seems sort of hopeful to me, actually. Though it takes a celebrity, I think, to get the attention of Federal Authorities. I wonder if, since I have a blog, a kind of miniature public platform, if I might have some role to play were something like this to happen to me.

I’m overestimating the importance of this blog. But that’s what the article made me think of first. In addition, of course, to the way human institutions are beholden to the peccadilloes of its employees.

Matt of LAMPHost has made his own short url service — http://urlgo.net/. Cool!

It’s old, but I rather like this Bill Gates mugshot. There are many more celeb mugshots for the morbidly curious.

Pretty concise precis of the state of comics business in the USA. From The Comics Journal‘a own weblog, Journalista!

The Desktop Linux Summit San Diego, California — February 20-21, 2003. Know anyone who is considering Linux? Reads like a great little conference.

You may not realize it, but most of us are still computing with 32bit Machines. Here’s an interesting story on how Intel may get whupped by AMD in the quest to get 64bit machines working and deployed. And there is of course, a big Microsoft angle.

Still sick. But slightly better. Lots of phlegm coming up. Keep those nasopharyngeal secretions coming! Gonna sweat it out at racquetball. Later, some rest. Next week – some freelance and other stuff happening.

Hope your weekend is rad.

and…. Onward!

So this weekend was nice. I lost three straight games at racquetball Saturday morning. But I played gosh darnit. Yay me!

More changes in the apartment over the weekend. Erin and I have made a lot of changes to the layout, kitchen, living room. more things to go to goodwill, and AmVets is coming tomorrow. It’s really cool. Last week I took her to Ikea, and she got some really cool stuff. I’m really liking this roommate thing. Erin’s a great friend. Even though maybe I got this cold from her. Tee hee.

Yesterday Leah and I were hanging out. On a strange impulse I told her to hop on my back — your standard piggy-back ride. But you see, Leah and I are sort of large people at the moment. “Works in progress” I like to say, since we’ve both lost weight in these past few months. Anyway, It was kinda cool. As it turns out, I’m rather strong, and maybe off my rocker, and I spun around a few times, making her very nervous and half laughing/half pleading for me to stop. I felt 13 years old and it was great. Kids, don’t try this at home.

Yesterday I spent several hours trying to get Leah’s Gateway computer back working. The OS restoration was going good, then it was hosed. Maybe I’ll just put Linux on the damn thing. It doesn’t seem to want to take Windows onto it, despite my roughhousing it. That’s a project for next weekend though.

I learned yesterday that sometimes when you’re talking about one thing, you’re really talking about another. You think you’re discussing the weather, then an anger or a negative feeling comes out in a strange way. You may not even be conscious of it. Luckily, if the person you’re talking to is smart, and inquisitive, and you are the same, you can examine what the conversation was really about.

Saturday night L. made tater tots for us while we watched a movie. That was really cool for some reason.

Okay, a few more links, and I have workish stuff to do.

Onward!

The Cover Problem is really The Negro Problem doing covers. This article in the LA Times talks about them covering Saturday Night Fever — the whole album — live. I’d have loved to have seen it. I think Stew and those kids have a lot of fun.

I like that cat Bill Rini. I really like his 5 Tips For Independent Contractors. The Cliff’s Notes version below (click “more…” below to read all the gory details).

1. Never take on a client who has fired more than one previous contractor to do the same job. more…
2. Never agree to do any work that is outside the scope of your agreement. more…
3. Bill in 1/4 payments. more…
4. Never discount your rates for a new client in the hopes of getting future business down the road at full rate. more…
5. Never let the client take critical processes out of the contract in order to save money. more…

This GBN Global Perspectives by Gwynne Dyer is really worth a read. It’s from our neighbors to the north, Canada. Very thorough and rather evenhanded.

Working Class Hero Penn (which I blogged about the other day)

William Gibson now has a blog. This makes me remarkably happy. And he’s already talking about Pattern Recognition.

And Bruce Sterling has been blogging for a while.

If Neal Stephenson started blogging all three of my favorite writers (all three cyberpunks) would have blogs.

Maybe it is the future.

Form action mailto: stinks was updated to include Safari, Mozilla, and Chimera. Mailto: form actions still stink.

I actually have a lot to say. I have some new opportunities. I have some new challenges. Money is tight, but there is work. This is good.

I went to a liquor store I used to go to near my former employer. The clerk recognized me and asked me if I’d lost weight, because I looked great. I replied, “yeah, I lost 85 pounds or so” — he of course asked me how I did it, and the simplest reply I could think of while I paid for my 7-Up was — “well, I lost my wife and my job, the weight came off easy.” He said, “well, maybe it was good for you!”

I suppose he’s right.

In negative news, Monday I got a parking ticket. I lost track of time working an on-site gig. Dumb. I usually set a beeping timer. This time I set a stopwatch instead. But a stopwatch won’t warn you like a countdown timer will. Ugh. Just $25 though. Could have been much worse.

The good news is that I did paying work Monday and Tuesday as well.

This is scattered, but c’est la vie. I’m tired.

Lots happening. I hope I can juggle it all and stay afloat. Creditors will have to stay in limbo for a while.

Adventures abound, as usual.

On word.

My Resumé has been updated. I welcome feedback and job offers.

Thank you.

This article: Can Bebe Stores Fashion a Comeback? about Bebe is worth a read, if you follow such things as women’s apparel.

Bebe?s top priority is staging a return from casualwear to what it does best-?career and dressier clothing that resonate with stylish 20- to 30-year-olds. Bebe veered off course about two years ago when the denim business took off and it began moving away from the career category. ?That hurt them?their average transactions haven?t been as high,? said Liz Pierce, retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

I find their ads great, as you know.

(Thanks Aileen for the pointer!)

Did more work today. More billable hours is good. I work so much better on-site than off it’s scary. This must mean I’m destined for a full-time job. At least that’s what I hope.

So everyone I know or thereabouts has worked on a book. The latest is Rudy Limeback, who contributed to Practical Web Database Design. So so cool. Buy it! (or not, I’ve not seen it in person yet. But with Rudy on the team, I bet it’s great.

View it: Fly Guy

via San Diego Blog: Brianstorms)

I got an email tonight that made my day:

I am asking my 10th grade English students to write an essay about Wordsworth’s poem. Your poem captured its essence and I plan to share your words (with due credit) with them.

Thanks.

Tom

I’m overwhelmed. This was in regards to my piece Two Ships in the Words area. Thanks Tom!

A belated Happy Birthday to Leah! for whom I made some enchiladas (based on my Mom’s great recipe) which she really liked.

May we all have luck kicking the bad habits we scarcely understand.

The Open Web Application Security Project

Religions (or lack thereof) cast in a very specific and irreverent metaphor.

The Blind Watchmaker was recommended to me by Madhu.

F*** Hip Hop: A Eulogy to Hip Hop by Pierre Bennu is an essay that got a lot of play on the nettime mailing list in the past month. It’s obvious of course, but it needs to be said, Hip Hop has grown old and useless as a vibrant voice. It’s simply a tool to sell more Sprite and clothes.

Not a revelation, but something that needs saying.

And yes, sorry about the language today.

had more leftover enchiladas.

they were good.

over and out.

(got this from Will himself)

Announcing JFEST II @ The Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley! This coming Saturday Jan. 18, 2003 – 5:30PM-2AM at The Scottish Rite Center

This festival will range from Folk Music to Rock & Pop and includes many of San Diego’s favorite local artists & performers. Including:

• Jason & Jane
• The Bitty Bums
• Will Edwards
• Cheeky Monkey
• Saba
• Scot Taber
• Magnuson
• Syk
• Dr. Lacubrious
• The Enchanted
• Bushwalla
• Christy Bruneau

Tickets are on pre-sale until Thursday for $10 and can be purchased from Will Edwards. Tickets will ALSO be on sale this Thursday night @ Twiggs Tea and Coffee in University Heights (4590 Park Boulevard, corner of Park at Madison, San Diego, California 92116).

Both email addresses for job applications with Miva (a local web technology company) bounce as unrecognized. That’s hr(at)miva.com and resumes(at)miva.com.

It’s a bummer that they bounce!

I’ll try support and webmaster next.

Sigh.

SDACM is using part of my review of their meeting featuring the Rocks Toolkit from last month. Nice!

Also, I’m going to their meeting on Thursday. Should be cool.

So I just had an interview with a recruiter. It went well, very professional.

I did take some standardized tests though. I did very well on two of them, one was on ColdFusion and one was on ColdFusion Scripting (yes, a subtle difference) and I got better than 85% on each (a B in my book). I’m rather happy with that result, as I’ve not written any ColdFusion professionally in half a year. The gig for which I am applying (well, two, possibly) are both jobs requiring ColdFusion, so that result is good.

And now, the bad news: I also took a SQL Server 2000 Developer test. This one, I stunk at. I got 16% correct on that one. It covered more ins and outs of SQL Server database creation. Triggers, stored procedures, integrity constraints, and the like. These are thing I have a vague awareness of, but have never touched myself.

The Lesson
To be a web developer, one needs only the most basic of knowledge of how a database works in the backend. Most of the production of database backed websites is simply SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements in SQL. More than that, at least for me, who has been been developing database-backed websites for several years now (see Resume), I have simply had no need to delve any deeper. It makes me want to know a bit more, though given my skills, I’m not sure how much more competent it will make me. But as always, I love learning new stuff.

I’m away from home, so this is being posted from the friendly neighborhood Kinko’s.

Oh, and in addition to the 16%, the recruiting firm didn’t validate parking. Feh. The upside is obvious though, I may be getting one or both of these ColdFusion gigs! Huzzah!

Next up tonight, Racquetball.

ONWARD!

This is the most poignant post on the Lessig affair. Go read more about it on eldred.cc

This is a peculiar bug: JavaScript Tip: Avoid An IE Rollover Bug

Browsers are still not that great, are they?

Woke up this mornin’ tired. Stuff to do. Gotta do it.

Hope you all have a great day!

My friend Steve E passed me this link to the NYTimes review of the new William Gibson novel.
(Thanks Steve!)

So today started with racquetball with my Aunt. As per usual, we had wonderful games. After that I did some “financial” errands which needed doing, and went well. That was vague, but had to be. The truth is that finances are a bit sketchy for me at the moment, but I have a line on several full time jobs. The further truth, that I’ve been hesitant to reveal here, is that I’m on unemployment. This is rather humiliating, but necessary. I’ve decided that freelance is something I’ve not done as well as I would like. I’m eager to be “the web expert” somewhere – either the sole web person, or as part of a team. Luckily, I do have a line on several gigs.

I like that word, “gig” — it makes me feel like a musician.

I think I was trying to change the subject there. I feel a bit down about the job thing. My Mother points out to me that the best will happen, and she is praying for me. My family here in town also have been amazingly supportive. They ask how I am, if I need help. I appreciate their concern, and know they are a safety net if things get too troublesome. As it is I’m trying to go it alone — to feel what it feels like to be broke — I think I view it as a disincentive to ever be broke again. And oh, the State of California is certainly helping as well.

Tonight I had dinner with Leah. I made these little steaks Erin had, and L. made baked potatoes, and we had some green beans and a little salad. After I made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They turned out well. It’s great to “break bread” with someone you care about.

About Leah: I mentioned that I’ve met some of Leah’s brothers and sisters. Apparently one of her brothers described meeting me to the rest of the family — and said I was a “real person.” I was not sure how to take that, but Leah explained that it means I’m not “fake” and don’t put on airs. So I’m accepting it as a compliment.

Sunday will be a lazy day — a take-it-easy day with Leah — and possibly doing some laundry.

Monday I have to schedule an interview for later in the week. I’m excited, it seems like a good fit for me. That said, if you want to hire me please take a look at Mr. Resume. And I have other important errands as well on Monday. I’m going to help another Aunt and my cousin get their home network working. I’ll be doing this with my Uncle. That should be fun.

I’m going to leave this with a bit of nuttiness — the lyrics to a They Might Be Giants — “song”… called “Kitten Intro”

There’s something coming.
There’s a new car on the horizon.
It’s coming very slowly.
It makes a noise.
It has kittens painted all over it.
With a new kind of fur.
Cleaner, but with a unique smell.
Yet, one of these kittens is not prepared to have a good time.
It stands alone.
Away from the crowd.
It’s your kind of kitten.
Now the time has come to climb into that car and to shake the paw of destiny.

… and … o n w a r d.

I don’t care for Winnie The Pooh, but the story The Curse of Pooh is quite interesting.

Very cool quote from Dana Blankenhorn of a-clue.com:

I don’t know if Rosen knows this. I don’t know that Rosen cares. But it’s clear that RIAA is becoming increasingly frustrated with what appears to be an unannounced, unsponsored, unorganized, unsupervised, grassroots yet surprisingly effective economic boycott of a huge industry, namely musical recording.

Al Hirschfeld was a great cartoonist, and he will be missed. What a draughtsman!

Rudy passes along that Bill Maudlin passed away. Expect the excellent The Comics Journal blog, Journalista to have something pertinent on them soon. Thanks Rudy!

I’ve been busy lately. My last two posts have been about dead cartoonists. That’s a bit depressing.

Suffice to say I’ve been busy.

In the meantime, go read Defective Yeti. That guy’s funny.

More this weekend. I promise!

So I’m doing some development – in ASP (but that doesn’t matter, could be anything). Things I love about Mozilla today for web development (using 1.21 on Windows 2000 Server):

• the installer lets me only put in a browser if I want (since it’s for testing, who needs a mail client?)
• the JavaScript debugger is a godsend for checking my JavaScript for validity. Yesterday I mis-typed the enctype for uploads and a warning about that was in there. Nice! (Tools > Web Development > JavaScript Console)
• The cookies manager is GREAT for doing anything where the look of the page is permissions based. One can easily delete a cookie, and set the browser to warn you of all new cookies, so you can really keep track of what’s happening in your app.
  (Edit > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Cookies > Manage Stored Cookies)
• I can set it to stop popunders so I can research with no worries of untoward stuff showing up.
• I can always see the error messages of sites – (as opposed to Windows MSIE, where it conveniently “hides” error messages from me.

If you’ve not taken Mozilla for a spin, you’re missing out.

Go read Mixerman’s anonymous diary. It’s a wonderful use of the web. I’ve read the first 8 weeks worth and laughed out loud several times. Amazing, appalling, and entertaining stuff. But a warning: there’s plenty of salty language. But it reads like truth. Check it:
Mixerman’s Diary Week 1
Mixerman’s Diary Week 2
Mixerman’s Diary Week 3
Mixerman’s Diary Week 4
Mixerman’s Diary Week 5
Mixerman’s Diary Week 6
Mixerman’s Diary Week 7
Mixerman’s Diary Week 8

I tried to go the presentation “Designing in the Age of Experience” at The AIGA Center For Design downtown tonight. Unfortunately, Super Bowl madness has set in and there was no parking to be had within about a 10 block radius. I was simply too tired to fight with the massive amount of traffic in the Gaslamp tonight. I shudder to think at how it’s going to be in the next few days. I mean, this was just Thursday. Next up are Friday and Saturday.

It seems like madness to me.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

– Calvin Coolidge

This is particularly apt for me, as I am currently seeking employment. I have an interview Friday morning (today). I’m hopeful it will go well.

We shall see.

Onward.

This is some great Beck – performing and talking. Requires RealAudio Player. via RRE

Recently, Steven Champeon pointed out Russ Alberry’s Rant to me, and it’s a pretty great rant about public forums and the attendent problems and responsibilities.

Amazon has a page devoted to software products which include rebates. As of this writing, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring video game is free when you factor in the rebate.

I added a new lab item today: iTunes Error: The iTunes Music Library file cannot be read because it does not appear to be a valid library file. I hope it proves to be of use to people.

I want to tell you all about the exciting yesterday: featuring an adventure driving downtown, a parking lot attendant, a great job interview, a great lunch, progress on an ASP project, a beer, and seeing my girlfriend. But not today.

Today I’m going to have lunch with said girlfriend and maybe a movie. And later, BBQ.

It’s a lovely day. I’m outta here!

Onward!!!!

The Digital Militarized Zone is back online at dmz.rini.org. Go DMZ!

(Very silly)

Check out Internet Health Report…

The Internet Health Report delivers data about network performance (latency) between major United States Internet backbones. The measurement agents selected for the Internet Health Report have direct, single homed connections to a backbone so their connectivity is unambiguous. Each measurement agent connects to every other agent every 15 minutes and measures the latency (delay) of establishing a TCP connection across the Internet

The resulting data in the Internet Health Report provides a logical performance map of the Internet. The Internet Health Report matrix is updated every 15 minutes. Any time the delay between two networks exceeds a threshold, a color coded alert indicates the level of the performance problem. Users can drill down to see specifically where the delays are occurring by clicking on any of the color coded boxes in the display.

The numbers in the display represent latency between networks in milliseconds. The total in each box is the geometric mean of all the data points collected between the networks during the specified interval.

(Thanks Kynn!)

This is an appalling story of (alleged) mismanagement and malfeasance. Wow.

From NBC San Diego:

More Than 100 Arrested In Gaslamp Quarter: Crowds Generally Well-Behaved, Police Say

San Diego police arrested 109 people for various offenses at Super Bowl-related activities.

…

On the whole, (Officer) Hassen said, the crowds gathered to take in the pre-show festivities have been well-behaved.

I’m glad I was wrong. I think this means that the number of police deployed to the Gaslamp Quarter was impressive. I wonder how different the numbers of cops assigned to the Gaslamp for the Superbowl differs from any random Saturday night? I suppose those aren’t public numbers though.

And you’re asking about how I felt about the Super Bowl?

I thought the Matrix commercials rocked.

Lindows.com summary judgment motion dismissed — yeah, I’m still watching Lindows with interest.

…but only in Oakland.

More than 50 blocks of International had stretches of virtually lawless zones nearly three hours after the Super Bowl.

At least 12 cars were set on fire, many windows were smashed, some businesses were broken into and looted, bus benches were pushed over and street signs ripped down as police battled bottle-throwing rioters with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-stun grenades.

I guess the mayhem is not on the takeout menu for the Raiders fans.

Dave Barry, National Treasure, has a new blog.

The obvious line: I swear I’m not making this up.

MAS says, in his great curmudgeonly journal:

You can lead a database administrator to a security patch , but you can not make him install.

Between my job, INeedCoffee, and home I’ve got nine SQL Server 2000 installations. All of them have the latest Service Packs installed. Staying current with service packs for licensed programs isn’t rocket science.

I just made a new header out of some of my old Amiga images – the Katakana script says “Crawford” more or less. Back when Japan was my obsession. The sheep I found in some old Amiga clip art. I added the jet pack myself.

The font that says “ARTLUNG” is based on a typography sample I did in DPaint when I was 18 years old.

So you’re seeing a 14 year old pixel font from my Amiga days.

You could say I’m kicking it old school.

But maybe you shouldn’t.

It was really fun to do, moving all those individual pixels around. I love the colors too.

Oh yeah, the other headline.

Got a new job. Something full time. Something to help get my cashflow on a stable basis. I start Monday at 8am. Whoosh!

I’m giddy with joy, which is probably why I made a header today.

on.ward

A good one. Read it:

Far from an anomaly, Venezuela is a classic example of that economists call the ‘natural resource curse.’ A 1995 analysis of developing countries by Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner found that the more an economy relies on mineral wealth, the lower its growth rate. Venezuela isn’t poor despite its oil riches — it’s poor because of them.”

(((Read it ‘n’ weep. This Sachs-Warner thing is 8 years old. Ever heard of it before? Me neither.)))
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=225459

“How could that be? For the same reason so many entertainers go bankrupt. (((Hey, at least we make people laugh, fella.))) Showered with sudden windfalls, governments start spending like rock stars, creating programs that are hard to undo when oil prices fall. And because nobody wants to pay taxes to a government that’s swimming in petrodollars — ‘In Venezuela only the stupid pay taxes,’ a former President once said — the state finds itself living beyond its means. (((Boy, irresponsible deficits like that would never happen in America. Rich people get no tax breaks, either.)))

Ouch.

Caleb Clark, a very nice fellow, has written up a Sundance Film Festival Report that’s worth your time.

Just got this email from Ronny Vardy…

GALAXY GALLERY
Is proud to present paintings and new illustrations by Ronny.

Saturday, Feb 1st. From 8 p.m. till whenever.

Galaxy Gallery known as the smokers universe and also home the the Chronic cafe, has a real Amsterdam coffee house feel to it. Other than their amazing atmosphere and “bitchen” coffee, you can also enjoy smoking a hooka in different flavors like: apple, pineapple, cherry, mint and so on.

The galaxy is located at 7224 Melrose Ave. 3 blocks West of La Brea in Hollywood. Tel # is 323 938 6500, To reach me my # is 323 630 2387.

Booze and D.J’s

Hope to see you there.

See also my Ronny Vardy Fansite

Scoble picks up the Kynn/HWG/Navarro story.

Jimmy Webb and Jimmy Dale Gilmore.

Someone on the WebSanDiego.org List said something very like what this article — City Ogles Google Impact: The city of San Diego’s search appliance left employees and citizens hanging. Then it turned to Google has to say. The essence was this — “Why bother with site architecture and information design? All you have to do is put all your documents up and then let Google search them and bam, there’s your navigational scheme.” With a technology like google, information design becomes secondary. People only want to find what they’re looking for. Google is proven in this regard. A quote:

“The city had been running an older original-equipment-manufacturer version of Verity Inc.’s information-retrieval software, and it wasn’t getting the results it needed, either for its citizens or its employees. For instance, the public would get no results when it entered the word “maps” when looking for directions to city facilities, and employees had little success with terms such as “GroupWise” (the Novell E-mail software used by city workers) and “E-Pay” (a tool that provides intranet access to direct-deposit check stubs). When the city asked Verity how to solve the problem, the vendor suggested an upgrade to its K2 knowledge-management suite, as well as a taxonomy engine.”

(via http://boingboing.net )

I still have not learned to fight scope-creep.