Links N’ Junk 9
Posted by Rey
It’s been a crazy week: tons of work, an intense conference (which I sort of liveblogged over at the Bible Archive) and very little sleep. It doesn’t stop me from putting up some links n’ junk.
Movies. Megatron
Tek. PS3 puts its power to good use: to combat Alzheimer’s. 100 inch LCD screen (HT: Gizmodo)
iLife. An iPod causes a bomb scare.
News. DNA proves the identity of a kidnapped woman.
Design. CSS does some beautiful things and this article proves that—but I still don’t get how coders praise the visual by using something so non-visual
Art. Master of the Line— Gustave Doré
CSS Design: An Oxymoron?
Posted by Rey
Anyone who does any type of web work had better learn it or at least know it. But anyone who is a designer will look at it and realize its immediate limitations. Before the Coder caste fires a concerted denial of service attack on me, let me bring up the example of an egg.
Do you like eggs? I like eggs in only one form—scrambled. I’ve tried it in its other permutations and they just aren’t tasty. Just by saying “scrambled eggs” you might be forming a concept in your head of what scrambled eggs looks, feels, smells and tastes like.
If I asked you “what do scrambled egg taste like?” you’d probably be hard put. Kind of hard finding a synonym for “eggy”. Same applies to lots of foods: pizza, rice, burgers, meat. Chefs , on the other hand, have a language that can describe the intent of the flavor without actually nailing down the flavor: in other words, they know what the flavor is going to do, they don’t have to strip it down to it’s base description to implement it. So then, a chef may add a dash of pepper with the intent of making the eggs spicier to the tongue and nose understanding that the end product is a meld of the different senses.
Designers are chefs. They prepare this visual meal by putting in these different elements which are elemental but completely part of the end product. The visual dinner is served marinated in context, seasoned with fonts, sharpened with color and distinct by design decisions.
Web design though proved to be problematic when the point and click culture became visual connoisseurs. Website content started slowing down web-redesigns forcing the designer to spend long and tedious hours translating content into new framework
Enter CSS. In a goal to separate the content from the visual elements, these cascading style sheets came to the rescue. A designer who properly formats code and picks the colors, the art slices, the fonts, the pixels and the way these things work together can present a pretty site that operates on different devices. With lines of written non-visual code the visual designer could describe the visual elements that would lead to the final product
Let’s go back to the chef. He has to find a new way to prepare the scrambled eggs. What CSS does is have the chef sit down, away from the kitchen and describe how the ingredients taste, how they will be used, which taste buds they will titillate and finally how they would apply in different restaurant tables. Does anyone see a problem with this?
A lot of coders don’t. I’ve seen people ask about CSS WYSIWYG get shouted down for wanting something as code-dirty as that while company’s like Softpress look at the void and realize the need. Designers still need to design in their kitchen but they don’t want to sit there describing their design decisions instead of just intuitively making them.
Back in the day writers using word processors had to use code to show where they were showing emphasis in text. They would have to do things like [bold]this[bold] while writing. Their writing was hindered as they spent time wondering why whole sentences were bold. Yet now, no one complains about having word processor software: it’s a lifesaver.
QuarkXpress, Indesign, Adobe Illustrator they all work because they allow you to feel your design decisions in real time. CSS sycophants say with scorn “Just hit save and refresh” as a work around. In other words, take away the designers strength, the visual and let him make his decisions blind and keep checking if it is what he feels fits the end goal. Let’s get the Pollacks of design out of the web and support only the Mondrians.
If I knew the chef in the restaurant kept going in and out of the kitchen checking to see if the meal actually tastes right or the way he wants, I don’t want to eat at that restaurant. I know that the food may come out clean, concise, look very neat on my platter but in the end, it’ll probably taste bland and repetitive. I’ve seen some really slick looking CSS sites, but just because those exist doesn’t mean the process is right.
Been Quiet ‘Round Here This Last Week
Posted by Rey
What a long week. I’m still writing posts from the Liveblogging fest in Bible Archive. I’ll have some rants on CSS this week, I’m sure.Links N’ Junk 8: Perceptions edition
Posted by Rey
Nostalgia: New Coke and Car Seats
Quiz: Interesting self-tests at the research center and be honest (MCF).
Story: Listen to this: 1980. A certain Ms. Abbie Conant applies for 11 trombone auditions but is invited for only 1. The letter begins “Dear Herr (means Mister) Abbie Conant”. Sounds like Trouble.
Tech: Control your computer (PC or MAC) from anywhere. Here’s the pc only package (download the free one). And here’s the mac server install. And here’s the dynamic host setup so you can access it anywhere.
Apple: Dual-Core is (basically) two processors in one. The fastest Mac in the world has two of those. Is it the 4 CPU’s that makes it attractive, the design, the faster intel chip or the brand? I don’t know but go see if the product tempts you.
Design: Printing a Book with CSS. Does this make it functionally cool?
Art: I thought I hated Mondrian but as I grew as a designer he grew in appeal and I realized that his art was just different. Now I use him as an example for web design.
Leave It To Beaver Bloggers: Dealing With Family Life On the Web
Posted by Rey
If there’s a blog there’s an opinion. If there’s an opposing opinion there is an extreme. It’s the nature of blogging. Extreme liberals versus Extreme Conservatives. Hyper Atheists versus Biblical Extremists. It gets pretty darn annoying when those polar opposites are so blind to everything else that they wind up being a travesty of their position. One of these that come to the fore in my immediate thinking because of their extreme irresponsibility are Family Blogs.
Not so much a blog operated by a family but those blogs that paint a picture of what family life is. They blog to expose others to the reality of family—out of a need to address the topic or for narcism’s sake; doesn’t matter.
Family-Haters
You have the one kind that can’t see a single redeeming quality about families. Goth pics up along the border and snippets of Poe spattered on the site. These bloggers, through their dark tinted sunglasses, see all families rife with duplicity, baptized in abuse and propagating an unneeded institution.
Heck, the news doesn’t help things by constantly broadcasting kids being killed (probably by parents) and wives being beaten by their husbands and mothers going out right nuts and drowning their kids. I know the media has a duty to report but sometimes it feels as if they’re clapping their hands at the destruction of homes rather than looking at the octogenarians that still hold hands.
Family-Crusaders
So you get the bloggers who want to restore order to the false perceptions of family on a crusade to show that Family Life is Good. I applaud the goal but they then go to illustrate a perfect family who have absolutely nothing wrong with their home and everything they do comes out perfect. Their marriage is bliss, their toilet smells like roses, their trash is edible and their two point five children are obedient, loving, smart and strong. In fact, they’re so close to heaven that all they have to do is jump on their beds during one of their 365 sunny mornings and POP their head is poking right into Heaven’s clouds.
Both of these types of blogs are outright damaging and (once again) irresponsible.
With Great Blogging, Comes Responsibility
There are people surfing the web searching for answers. Something happens in their home at two in the morning (their kid hasn’t slept in six years, or their daughter got home late or the couple had another fight) and they’re on the web, searching for answers.
On the one hand they might find the bleak view of family and see it for what it is (maybe an angry teen) or see that their own situation is hopeless. The Lie has been propagated and now this Surfer goes to bed thinking that their family’s end is near.
On the other hand the surfer might stumble on this Edenic family and lose hope: their family is not like that. Their trash does stink. Their kids aren’t perfect. After months of not sleeping they sometimes cry and here this Perfect Family site just went off and told them “Yup, you’re an anomaly. You can lose hope now. You’re not perfect.” The Lie has, once again, been propagated.
I wish that these later sites, in their effort to be helpful, opened their eyes and realized how irresponsible they’re being with the tool of communication. Addressing them: You bloggers can still fight for a proper outlook on Family while dealing with problems that come up in the family. That octogenarian couple, their first five years was bordering on divorce but they carried their home through it and now, they hold hands in the park. I’m not asking you dadbloggers or your familybloggers or you lovebloggers to take out your dirty laundry in front of everyone; I’m just saying give people a little hope by showing that you make mistakes and that the Surfers are not alone.
Update: As per Curt’s good advice, some people doing it right:
My Brother’s Office
Posted by Rey
I’m sorry. That post the other day about Blade: The Series was such a fankids rave that I can’t even go back to check the thing for spelling errors. It was like this total geek out moment while watching the show with a keyboard way too close to me. In the future I hope to keep such things separate with the goal of writing something less play-by-play than that horror-post but I make no promises. So as to prevent anymore Dork-Side geek outs, I’m going to post some pictures of work in my brother’s new house.
Blade The Series Rocks
Posted by Rey
Remember when I said this show had potential for some of the secondary characters and that Blade (StickyFingaz) is just there for the hack and slash factor? I’m happy to say that I was wrong. This post will contain spoilers in every shape way and form.
Links N’ Junk 7
Posted by Rey
Theology: Walking into some theological debates on the web is like a bunch of people swimming out to the deep end of the ocean and arguing about who is more sure of the depth while everyone is treading water. With that warning I’ll link to this post from the Pyromaniacs with the added disclaimer that I don’t agree with everything he says nor with what the commenters say but it is interesting to think about.
Tek: Polyurethane forcefield for your laptop (HT: Gizmodo).
Tek-Wars: A dispute over an X-Box leads to arson (HT: Engadget).
Art: No highlighted artist this week—but that doesn’t mean I’m at a loss. Photorealistic Vector Art means nothing to most people but graphic designers everywhere will likely tip a hat (and kow-tow) when they see what people can do with Illustrator.
Blogspotting: Slate’s David Plotz is up to Numbers in his blog through the Bible series—he’s not a Christian. Also, a new blog with a focus on being human in art, faith and science (HT: Jeremy).
TV: Big Ideas has some cool Veggie Tale wallpaper downloads. One of them in particular features Larry in front of a huge computer console with some distinct numbers on the screen. (HT: Brian)
80’s Cartoon Meme
Posted by Rey
1. One ‘80s Cartoon that changed your life:
None of them really changed my life, sorry. If someone put a gun to my head I’d say “
Dungeons & Dragons” (links to my movie adaptation) because of its cool factor but that’s about it. I liked Sci Fi before D&D.
2. One ‘80s Cartoon that you have watched more than once:
I watched Thundercats every time it was on and repeats. Same with G.I.Joe. But, what I’ve repeated to see well into an age where I shouldn’t have been watching them is
Duck Tales. Woo Hoo.
3. One ‘80s Cartoon you’d want on a desert island:
I would want only cartoons that would help me out of my hopeless situation. Something with an incredible imagination that allows me to think outside of the (sand) box.
The Muppet Babies.
4. One ‘80s Cartoon that made you laugh:
Can’t say Muppet Babies, Duck Tales (though I’m tempted to say Inspector Gadget) but what jumps to my mind is
The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, I must say.
5. One ‘80s Cartoon that made you cry:
Because it was bad? The
Ewoks. Because of the power of love conquering evil? Well, that would be the
Care Bears. Quiet.
6. One ‘80s Cartoon you wish would have been made:
Highlander—without going through the 80s cheese factory.
7. One ‘80s Cartoon you wish had never been made:
The Gary Coleman Show. What were they thinking
8. One ‘80s Cartoon you are currently watching:
I’m not. Though I have recently watched Dungeons & Dragons but that breaks my self-imposed rule so that’s that.
9. One ‘80s Cartoon you have been meaning to watch:
M.A.S.K. I’ve only watched a few and those few were good. I wish I got a chance to watch it in its entirety.
10. Tag some others:
MCF tagged me and I will tag no one. i would say “The Line is duh-rawn hee-yah.” but MCF did (sort of) start this Meme so I’ll tag people who will never respond:
Jeremy,
Hugh,
Joe, and
David (sure man, you can do it in video form).
Oh Darrell, yoo hoo: I just deleted some 120 spam comments and at the last second one didn’t look like spam with a generated name but had about 2 paragraphs and your name. I am very very sorry.
Top Things For Kids To Do (or Kids’ Must-See Places)
Posted by Rey
Heya, kiddies gather ‘round. Let ol’ Rey put hish teesh in sho he can shpeak-eashy. There, that’s better. If you’re a kid you’re probably not looking at this site but I’m sure someone looking for things for kids to do might stumble upon it. A kid should be able to take the list, mark off the place he’s been to and have a nice little photo album to remember the event by.
