Here's a quote from Joel Spolsky's book,User Interface Design for Programmers, that's being passed along the web. I must read this book! {quote via Evhead}

Usability is not everything. If usability engineers designed a nightclub, it would be clean, quiet, brightly lit, with lots of places to sit down, plenty of bartenders, menus written in 18-point sans-serif, and easy-to-find bathrooms. But nobody would be there. They would all be down the street at Coyote Ugly pouring beer on each other.

Quick Links - Special anti-record company version!

• Despair, Inc. - a.k.a. Demotivation.com. With mottos like "If you're not a part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem." and "Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people." - this company puts the sarcasm in an over "motivated" workplace.
  
• If Morpheus Is Illegal, So Is The Rest Of The Net - "Lawyers for makers of the file-sharing applications Morpheus and Grokster say that, if their clients can be held responsible for illegal copies of music and motion pictures, then so too should companies such as Microsoft and AOL Time Warner, whose software and Internet connectivity are essential to building networks of file traders. " {via slashdot}
  
• Recording Industry Announces 2001 Year-End Shipments - The recording industry is claiming loses this year. Funny - when Napster was in its hay-day, record sales were up. Makes you wonder if it makes neutering Napster was a wise business decision by the record companies... {via slashdot}
  
• 1001 things to do with Liquid Nitrogen - While not technically 1001 things, what is listed is extremely interesting! {via Boing Boing}
  
• The Register: US - One of my favorite techie news sites now has a US site. Bravo!
  
• Amazing Card Trick - Can you figure out how it works? It works everytime! Opine Bovine}
  
• Judge: If You Own Music, Prove It - A turnaround in the recent Napster lawsuits. The record companies must prove that they own the copyrights to what is shared and that they aren't using the copyrights in monopolistic fashion!

Man this has been a long week. And I apologize to those who have told me "You gotta update your page!" Having a sick wife makes being witty and charming a low priority. Thankfully Julie seems to back in good health now after being down for the count for about a week.

A quick run down of what's what - tonight Julie & I are going to see MOMIX. Should be an interesting experience. Last night, the dart team went 9-4. I threw OK, thanks for asking.

Bendie-links!

• The Dartboard IP project - When you mix computer geeks and darts, this is what could happen. {via slashdot}
  
• Doug Englebart 1968 Demo - See the demonstration that introduced the computer mouse, hyperlinking, and shared screen collobrative computer use. Kind of jargon filled, but it shows a watershed moment in computing technology. {via slashdot}
  
• The Blur Building - Look at this cloud-like building over a lake. Amazing. {via Boing Boing}
  
• Welcome to Earth - "This is what scientists are calling the most detailed colour image ever made of the entire Earth." {via slashdot}
  
• Become an Ordained Minister in 3 Minutes - I've seen offers like this in magazines for years, and I've always been tempted to do it. Reverend Scott Childers... eh, maybe - maybe not. {via little.yellow.different}
  
• Rolling Stone 50 Best Album Covers - What makes a great album cover? Rolling Stones shows you. {via Opine Bovine}

You'll notice I didn't say anything about Valentine's day on Thursday. There's a reason. I don't think that highly of Valentine's day. I tell my wife I love her everyday, I don't need a special day to do that. Of course, I'm not big on many of the official holidays anyway. Maybe it because I am one of those that has to work on all of these holidays. President's Day, Columbus Day, Whatever Hallmark Decides to Make a Card for Day - whatever we don't get many of those days off.

This weekend Julie & I went to Nebraska City for what was supposed to be a romantic weekend. I didn't exactly turn out as she had planned. First of all, Julie's been sick for a bit now - nothing major but she . We get to the place we thought we had reservations at and find out they had us booked for Saturday through Monday - not Friday through Sunday. They don't have any place open that night either. ERF! We end up staying at a Days Inn that was nice and clean - but the pillows were about as thin as cardboard. The next night we do get to stay at the Lied Convention Center and it is wonderful. Nice room, heavenly food, beautiful scenery -even in Winter. Then Julie starts coughing majorly and loses her voice. We end up spending most of the day watching FoodTV in the hotel room. (I really happened to enjoy that though) About 1:00 in the morning Julie's coughing has gotten worse and she has a fever and we are thinking about bailing and just going home. We tough it through the night and go home around 10:00 in the morning. It turns out that she's got acute laryngitis. Good thing she had today off so she could rest. It may not have been the most romantic weekend, but I think it was a nice one. We got away, I didn't spend the whole weekend in front of a computer, and I got to show my honey how much I really loved her - by being there in sickness and in health. Julie, I love you.

Presidentially approved links (maybe..)

• Taking a Flyer on 100-Year-Old Plan - Two groups are hoping to recreate the Wright Brothers' original plane. {via slashdot}
  
• Study Links 8 Hours' Sleep to Shorter Life Span - It's a good thing I only sleep about 6-7 hours a night. {via slashdot}
  
• TweakXP - Some really good tips on how to improve your Windows XP machine. {via langalist}
  
• The Shifted Librarian - The blog of someone trying to make libraries more portable. {via daypop}
  
• Humans will 'sail to the stars' - A newer article on Solar Sailing. {via slashdot}
  
• How to Tie a Bow Tie - You never know - it may come in handy!
  
• Serious LEGO - Home of the Rubik's Cube Solving LEGO machine and many more {via /usr/bin/girl}
  
• What Color are you? {via daypop}
  
  

  Green You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature. Find out your color at Stvlive.com!

Wow, updated three days in a row. I'm back on a roll....

Today I stumbled across a bunch of CSS layout sites. Some wonderful ideas have started floating in my head. I promised myself that I wouldn't do a redesign until the current one was up a year - but dang there's some good stuff out there. Anyway I looked at: CSS Layouts: A tableless, CSS-based, liquid, three-column layout, Three Columns, CSS Layout Techniques: for Fun and Profit, Little Boxes, and A List Apart

Earlier I mentioned the British Telecom claim that they created hyperlinks. Wired has an article about how Bob Bemer really should get most of the credit - because of his work in the 1960s! He's the guy who made the "/" possible.

Link High, Private Eye is on the case...

• Keygen routine producing valid WinXP product keys? - Basically, Microsoft's precious activation/anti-piracy scheme is already blown.
  
• Backswing - If you are looking for SimGolf stuff, try here... {from Sara}
  
• Interview: David Brin's Naked Truth About Privacy - "In a polarized environment where opinions on privacy are simplistically reduced to “for” or “ignore,” David Brin’s concept of “The Transparent Society” (the title of his 1998 book) is a nimble approach that appears more relevant by the day." {via slashdot}
  
• Is this your CD collection? - Are you a member of the Dido demographic? {via daypop}
  
• Cupid's Bull's-Eye on Nerd Site - The editor and founder of Slashdot (a website that I read from everyday - sort of a Geek must-read) proposed to his longterm girlfriend in front of thousands of readers. This, I think, is a first.
  

Howdy folks! Things were better today. Especially since the article I co-wrote about a year ago has finally seen light. Go here to see it. It's the one title Index Relativity and Patron Search Strategy

There's a British company saying it owns the patent to hyper linking. There's a couple articles about it, one by CNN and two from Wired [1], [2]. Umm, isn't this like someone coming up and saying they've patented walking?

What does it tell you when those in the tech and computer field are taking their kids to schools that avoid teaching pre-teen children computing skills? Look at this article in the Oregonian, and then this interview with an Internet pioneer. {both via slashdot} I have to agree with this point of view. Children will pick up computing skills just as fast after age 12 as they might before hand. Give them a chance to learn to write before they learn to type.

Other Links-

• Eating Healthy Can Make You Sick - Take those extreme diets, roll 'em up, and make those people eat their own words. My momma raised me right, so you won't catch me having this problem.
  
• Loop Labs - Make your own Electronic music by mixing clips. I spent too much time on this one. {via /usr/bin/girl}

Signs things are looking up: 1) After many years of searching and looking, I just discovered the name of a song I heard on a tv show. Red House by Shudder to Think. I've been looking for this song since I heard it on Viva Variety on the Comedy Channel years ago. I heard the first few notes and thought YES! My quest is finally over! Hey, its the small things. 2) The cut on my ear from my hair cut (see earlier) doesn't look very bad. 3) I've posted twice in one day. {grin}

I got my hair cut today ... for the first time since October.. I was looking a bit shaggy to say the least. I'm a sexy bad boy now! OK, maybe not, but I think it looks good.

Now, the fact I haven't updated in almost a week would lead you to believe that I have an rather long list of links to put up. I don't. I just haven't seen anything that I felt like linking to lately. Maybe its just been a part of this general wave of apathy that's come over me for the past couple of days. I really didn't feel like going to work, paying the bills, doing what little house work I normally do or anything else except play computer games or watch tv. I don't why, but I have been in a funk for the past week. Maybe the winter weather is affecting me more than I'd like to let on. The past couple of years I've thought I had that seasonal depression disorder. Maybe I do. I'm just glad I seem to be kicking it a bit. I'll answer email and do the link thing another day.

Darts tonight, whoohoo! I hope I do better than I did last week. I don't mind throwing great, but I'd rather throw consistantly. Don't like having a great game, average game, crappy game all in a row.

This is also the second night in a row I'm staying late at work. It's my own choosing, but I am really looking forward to this weekend as I don't have any plans!

I mentioned a couple of entries ago about Tiffany, the 80s girl wonder, posing in Playboy. I now have a couple of things I can link too that don't show "previews" of her posing. Try looking at CNN's coverage or look at her home page itself! Why am I still mentioning this? I don't know. Maybe the fact that during my college years I was involved in an play-by-email game a person who went to jail for stalking Debbie Gibson has something to do with it. (If you want, I'll tell you more about it later...)

In honor of the newest celebrity to show some skin...
I think I'm a Link now!

• The Manager Faq & The Hacker Faq - helping one type of person be able to work with the other. Dilbert and the Pointed-Head Boss should read these. {via /usr/bin/girl}
  
• Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Anime - Facts of life, from Anime videos. {via /usr/bin/girl}
  
• SimsBlog - If you are a real Sims fan - you'd read this daily dose of Sims updates. Or you might go get a life....
  
• IBM plays with chameleon-like computer - Here's your module, would you like a PDA, a laptop, or a desktop. It's all a matter of accesories. {via daypop}
  
• Bots Battle, Breed in A.I. Test - Cool. I wonder what happens when both oredator and prey join up to take on the scientists...

Arrrgh! I had just finished typing in my entry for tonight and then with a stupid mistake on my part - it was all gone... ERF!!! Let's just pretend I typed in the most wittiest thing you had ever seen on the web, shall we?

I don't think I'll ever eat at Valentino's again. This is the second time in a row that I've eaten there and had gastrointestinal problems, (read bad, painful gas..) I don't know what it is - but I won't tempt fate again.

Got my monthly article for Theme of Absence in. Go over there and check it out. Its not my best work, but its there. Take it as it is.

Been snooping around on the web for some free Sims stuff, just for fun. I found a bunch like Lyran's Sim Design, The Cloth Menagerie, Boutika and Glamour Sim.

Ain't nothin' but a link thang, baby!

• Best Picture Ever! - As a child of the 80s, I have to give this picture a big two thumbs up as well! {via daypop}
  
• Superbowl Ads - Now you can watch those Superbowl ads for a while longer, thanks to ifilm. high speed connection suggested {via daypop}
  
• Philips Burning on Protection - A major CD player manufacturer tells the recording industry what it can do with its copy protection scheme.
  
• Passenger pans airline after toilet ordeal - It serves her right for not following instructions, I think. {via wibbler}
  

I didn't go to the comics symposium today. One - Will Eisner can't make it as he is ill and that was the main reason I wanted to go. Second - I worked 12 hours straight at work yesterday, I'm a bit tired of campus right about now.

I won something! No, it wasn't the bloggies - I wasn't even nominated for those. A project I developed was awarded the Most Innovative Instruction or Training award by the Innovative User's Group. I was shocked as I didn't think it was that good. I ain't complaining though!

There's one more 80s pop star that you can cross off the "Where are They now?" list. Tiffany, you know the one you sang "I Think We're Alone Now", is posing nude in the March 2002 issue of Playboy. I won't link you to the Playboy page - but trust me, she's there.

To err is human, to link .. divine?

• Illumia RPG - A role-playing game, like Zelda on the original Nintendo, that you can play through the net. I spent too much time playing around with this one yesterday. {from Jason @ Theme of Absence}
  
• FTC Plans Crackdown on Junk E-mail - The FTC plans to start doing something about spam email. Congratulations! {from Jason @ Theme of Absence}
  
• Judge drops Napster bombshell - The judge in the latest Napster case questioned if the record companies copyright extended to digital distribution of music, and granted Napster leave to explore whether the labels were colluding to prevent it licensing music for online distribution. let's hear it for reasonable thought!
  
• Extreme Warfare Revenge - I play Extreme Warfare Deluxe a lot, and then I stumbled upon this site - EW will be updated in 2002!
  
• Reiko-chan's Japanese for Anime Lovers - Interesting. Learning to speak Japanese by using anime sound clips. {from /usr/bin/girl}
  
• To Those who forward EVERYTHING! - A "12-Step program" for people who reflexively forward every hoax mail or chain letter they receive. {from langalist}