December 29, 2003
Talented young fellow
As I browsed the web tonight, checking regular haunts for updates, I stumbled across a website by a twelve year old lad that surprised and delighted me. The site is Pixul.net. The fellow in question Alex Miller. What surprised me was the quality of the design by one so young. What delighted me was the fact that so many of his thoughts and ideas rang very true. I particularly liked his thoughts on Jacob Nielsen's site about usability. To read this entry, scroll down to December 16. The web has a bright future with the likes of Alex being around.
I take my hat off to you young chap!
December 27, 2003
Audiograbber
Check this out:
"On February 9, 2004 Audiograbber will be released as freeware."
remember that you heard it here first! I have long found Audiograbber to be the best CD ripping software out there and have used the paid version for some time. Now it is going to be free! Go to the Audiograbber site and see for yourself. I guarantee that it does a spectacularly good job of ripping tracks to .wav and mp3. Back in the days of my online radio show, I used it exclusively for the initial ripping of tracks for the playlist. I have tried many, many other programs for this task but always end up coming back to this one, just get it in Feb and ditch the rest! Bookmark the page and make sure you return in 2004.
December 25, 2003
December 23, 2003
My Big Woody in full color!
As can easily be seen, the car is adorned with a traditional Wisconsin automotive beautification........a dead buck on the roof. Harder to spot are the furry dice and the 'Jesus on the dashboard' courtesy of the movie 'Dogma'. On the tailgate is a 'bible-basher' fish with 'N-Chips' inside it. The 5.2L V8 keeps it ahead of the pack as does its more obvious good looks. (The roof mascot was only temporary!)
December 20, 2003
Re: Cheese
More interesting info' added on this fascinating subject, just follow the link:
More Cheese!
Who's a clever girl?
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my wife, Robin, on the day of her graduation. Pictured after the ceremony, she now has a degree in Graphic Communication Technologies and a certificate in Electronic Publishing! The gold cords around her neck are for having a 4.0 through the entire program (for you Brits, this means a perfect, 100% score!), and the white cords are for Outstanding Graduate as voted by the faculty members.
December 14, 2003
Extra B'day news
They went and caught Saddam on my B'day! Great news! He sure looks a pathetic, scruffy bastard now! I hope that his capture will make his idiot supporters think again about their terrorism against the forces. It will be interesting to see what they do with him now.
December 12, 2003
Dual Birthdayship!
Today my Birthday started at mid-day............Somewhere in the Pacific
At six in the evening it started in the UK..........Across the Atlantic
At midnight it will start here............................Wisconsin, USA
Which is the correct one?
Probably the second but I'll celebrate the whole damn lot!
Its my Birthday and I'll drink if I want to!
RSS
Yo Geeks!
If you are using a newsreader and know what RSS is, I have put links to this blogs RSS feeds on the right. I figured that I might as well find out what this RSS thing was all about. I did. Now it is there! Enjoy!
After much playing with this thing, I found that I always had the RSS feeds running on this blog. Robin has on hers too. This technology is of little use if you are only checking a couple of blogs per day for updates. It does come in to its own if you are checking dozens. Its main purpose is for news items but I was reading the other day in Eweek that some believe that this is going to be the straw that breaks the back of the Microsoft Office camel! If so, more power to it. I have now dumped the offering from Redmond, finding that OpenOffice does all that I require and more.
December 11, 2003
Cheese
It strikes me that as I now live in the 'Dairy State' (even though CaliPhonya produces more!) I should put up an entry about cheese.
I found out something interesting about cheese in America this week. Two of the many Italian cheeses that are made here are Asiago and Fontina. In their native land they are different in both character and production methods. Here it is a different story. In America both of these cheeses are made using exactly the same process. I am not talking about the very small producers who hand craft every last little curd before selling to the very rich, I speak of those who make it for the masses, ie you and me. It turns out that the point at which these two cheeses become different happens after the aging process, basically not long before hitting the shelves. What is done to make them seperate entities? They get different labels! Thats right! When you go looking in the grocery store at Asiago or Fontina, you are looking at exactly the same thing! I have yet to check if the prices are the same but if you are in the market for either of these I suggest that you purchase the cheaper of the two. This situation may or may not apply to other countries but the American Public is being taken for something of a ride. One day I might get to taste these cheeses created in the manner that they should. Then I'll give you my verdict on the taste difference.
Stay alert shoppers, you may be paying extra for a label, like you have done all along for those ridiculously priced designer clothes!
Just when I thought that there was no more to tell, something interesting cropped up whilst chatting to a person in a bar. This individual works for a very well known multinational manufacturer of food products, best known for their cheese. He told me that one type of cheese that they make is exported in large quantities to Japan. The Japanese are a little fussy about what they eat and will not allow any of the additives that are used here in their cheese. Right from the start, they are getting a better product than available in the home market! Anyway, a large batch of this stuff has been struck by a fungal growth, not a rarity for this type, apparently. Normally this would be dealt with using additives. Now that they are stuck with a very large ammount of the stuff, that can't go to Japan due to the fungal growth. It can't be treated and then sent due to the additives. It is better quality than the home market gets so that even with the additives, it will be too good! The plan, currently under discussion, is to treat it for the fungus and then to slowly blend this stuff in with the home variety, in small enough quantities that the quality change will go unnoticed. So what? I hear you ask. Good thinking on their part! No, what bugs me is that the American consumer is getting an inferior product to that sent elsewhere. Why should the Japanese be given such preferential treatment? Nothing will ever change though. Big business gives so much money to the political parties that if a politician tried to improve the quality of the food industry, it would be political suicide. The Japanese are willing to pay for the better cheese, the ignorant American public are not, according to the analysts. As ever, it is all down to money.
Try reading "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser to learn more about the way these people operate here and elsewhere.
December 06, 2003
Guestbook
I have long been unhappy with the guestbook script used on this site so I have changed it! For a while it will look rather plain but I will be changing this. All the old entries are going to be moved over to the new version. Please feel free to add new entries as it will help with the testing and redesigning of the page.