Everybody Talks About the Weather….

A couple of weeks ago, we had some fairly cool weather. Well, what passes for cool here in South Alabama, anyhow. We had lows in the 20s (Farenheit, mind you…that’s around -5 for you Celcius-minded folks), and highs in the 40s (around +7C). We were all scraping ice from our windshields in the morning, and wearing heavy coats to work.

Today it’s supposed to reach a high of 83F (28C). That’s March in South Alabama.

Site Upgrade

I’ve updated the code for this site. There aren’t really any new features, as most of the changes are “under the hood” bug fixes. Most notably, if you enter the site via the archives, the links for adding comments are now fixed. If you came here recently from Brent’s site and found that you had problems, I apologize.

Mr. Eaves and His Magic Camera

When Farrell Eaves dropped his digital camera in to a New Mexico pond, he thought that surely it must be ruined. But he fished it out and spent a few days drying it out, even tying the camera to the windshield wiper of his car as he drove down the highway. Surprisingly, he found that the camera still worked. But with a new vision of reality….

The images now produced are surrealistic, filled with vibrant colors, and sometimes portions of the image become ethereal. The effect is quite beautiful, turning ordinary subjects into extraordinary artworks. You can find more info from National Geographic photographer Bruce Dale (click the link on the left titled “Mr Eaves and his Magic Camera”).

If I dropped an $800 camera into water, I’m sure all I would end up with would be a very expensive paperweight.

Clan Controversy

In Scotland, there has been some long-standing animosity between the Campbell and MacDonald clans, dating back to the Glencoe Massacre in 1692. Having marched alongside some MacDonalds at the Alabama Highland Games a few months ago, I kind of figured that after 300 years, this was more-or-less water under the bridge. Apparently not.

A Campbell has been chosen as the head of a visitors center in Glencoe, and some of the MacDonald’s aren’t too happy about it.

“I honestly do not believe it,” Highland historian Hector MacDonald told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “I have nothing against the Campbells, but I would not stay a night in the company of one.”

If you have nothing against the Campbells, then what’s the problem? That’s just a wee bit hypocritcal, don’t you think?

How Bad Does Netscape 4 Suck?

I’m on a mission, and I need your help.

I want to collect links to essays about Netscape 4 suckage. I already have a few (see below), but I’m sure there must be tons more out there. But! I don’t want just any old blather. I want well written articles with technical details, preferably by professional (or semi-pro) web designers.

If you know of articles like this (or have written one yourself), please add a comment here with the URL. Thanks!

Busy Bee

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve stayed pretty busy at work, and at home, too. But it’s been a good kind of busy. Yesterday at work, we got our web team together and finally settled on a template and structure for a redesign of our company web site. This is something I’ve been itching to do since I started working here 2 years ago. Our web site has a lot of good features, as transportation industry sites go, but the structure and design are….haphazard (not my fault, it was like that before I got here).

I also got to help out our friends Ray and Rebecca of Post House Production. He’s got a cable-modem connection at their office, and wanted some help configuring the network. I’ll also be helping Ray learn how to administer his Linux box.

In addition, I’ve been helping my wife a little with some Java programming projects, with her new Linux box, and we’re going to be doing some video work for our church. And speaking of church, I’m working on memorizing lines for an Easter-related dramatic presentation I’m doing in a couple of weeks (I’ll be assuming the role of Nicodemus).

Whew!

Syndicate Dougal

In case anyone cares, and you haven’t noticed already, you can now get an RSS headlines feed from this site. See that orange “XML” button in the menus? Nooo, don’t click it — it’s just there to give you the URL (which is https://dougal.gunters.org/myphpblog/rss.php). RSS is a way to get headlines from other sites into your own. For example, check out this really boring page. Those headlines come from a bunch of other sites, and are updated dynamically — I don’t have to change anything at my end.

For more info, read the boring RSS 0.91 specs. Or you can go for something more useful, and check out syndic8.com (especially the “Documents” section).