July 28, 2009 Sketch
A solitary dancer throws his body to the heavy bass of a funky beat. Most of the crowd is sprawled languidly on the grass covered hill beneath the dancer’s flailing arms as a man walks up the hill past the dancer without a glance and steps out of the frame. The dancer continues unabated, immersing himself in a creative movement of his own until he is joined by another. He greets the newcomer and then returns to his own rhythm. Shortly, the two dancers harmonize, each dance separate yet in tune with the same funky beat. Another dancer joins the two, this a big man with a wild mess of black hair and also apparently barefoot. The three spin and make themselves dizzy and roll in the grass down the hill and dance back up again. From the edge of the frame where the first spectator disappeared emerges now to join the three another pair of dancers, then three more. Cheers and screams erupt from the crowd and the madness spreads, people no longer shy or put off but encouraged by the confidence of company. Men and women run from behind the camera, from up the hill and down, and the languid crowd becomes unseated and swells the dance. Suddenly it is a large crowd and the brave incitor, the first solitary dancer, is lost in a joyous, dancing mass moving to the rhythm of the same funky beat.
wimp.com/crowddances
07/26
Encyclopedia Mythica Look up every sort of myths and folktale from all over the world
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July 23, 2009 Technology, The Internet
Websites can be an invaluable communication tool for people and businesses, a public canvas for an artist, or a place to upload embarrassing pictures of your drunk friends. With the economy mid-flush, every ambitious individual with a budget ought to know how to create their own web presence.
You can teach yourself and there are instant results. Anything is possible, and the limits are always expanding thanks to the pioneering forces of internet megacorporations fueled by ever growing numbers of consumers.
The Tools. To make your own website, all you really need is a computer and a text editor. You can keep the files on your hard drive and view them in a web browser (Firefox, Safari, IE, etc). Once you are brave enough to share, you will need a web host, and I recommend using an FTP Program because all web-based FTP’s are a nightmare.
The Cost. Web developers are generous people. For every web dev tool you can buy, there exists an open source version that you can download or use for free. A good web host, however, is worth the small monthly expense. It runs me $10/year for this domain and $5/month for hosting with A Small Orange. Much cheaper than your average rent. The amount of space and bandwidth you get at that cost will suffice for any personal website, as long as you are not streaming videos or offering large files for download.
Where To Start. Read the basics at W3Schools.com. Familiarize yourself with HTML and CSS. These are the two essential tools of web development. HTML is the structure, CSS the style. These two scripting languages are fused together inseparably.
Try things as you read about them to jog your memory. Don’t bother making notes because there are copious online reference charts on hand if you have to look something up later. A dedicated individual can learn the basic stockpile of HTML tags and CSS definitions inside of a couple days. If you keep at it you will be creating your own websites within the week.
Where to Go From Here. Once you cover the basics, move on to the advanced articles on W3Schools, and eventually perhaps you will tackle the Web Developer’s Handbook. Follow an ordered chaos of links from there to wherever it may lead you.
With the increasing amount of worthless content posted on the web, and given my own personal track record, I feel obligated to remind you to consider carefully before uploading anything (exceptions based on hilarity and replayability).
If you don’t have the time, or you are no good with computers, there are many wonderful freelance designers out there, totally willing to do the leg work for you and at a steal.
Want cheap? Look local. Do your research. In the end, however, as with any product, you will get what you pay for.
Good luck to you all. Read carefully, don’t skip ahead too far, and remember that Google is your friend.
07/22
The solar eclipse in Asia caused a human stampede that trampled an elderly woman, report says. Take it easy, folks! It’s only the Moon crossing paths with the Sun.
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07/22
I rediscovered the impeccabe A List Apart today and I promise I won’t delete anymore bookmarks.
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07/19
Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits Another reason for the kook’s to think that the original moon landing was staged. I saw bubbles, don’t tell me I didn’t!
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July 14, 2009 Culture
Through the Global Warming hype I have remained skeptical towards the idea that our carelessness and lax standards have caused our planet’s climate to overheat and blow a fuse. Mother nature, I thought, can take care of herself.
But the fad for Green is growing on me. Even if the future that climate doomsayers paint for us is blown wildly out of proportion– how often is your weather man spot on about tomorrow?– we cannot go backwards from here. No effort toward a healthier planet, a more sustainable economy, a cleaner life, can possibly be wasted.
To get right down to the basics, GOOD takes the day to tell us about our Water problems and what might be in the future. However, I hope the ingenuity of our engineers is enough to avert the impending civil war over Florida’s oyster industry…