1678 Blogger has good advice on page design

The host of my blog, blogger.com, which is owned by Google, has a good advice page on Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes. I thought #9 was particularly important, and I always pass this along to anyone I help who is setting up a blog. I also frequently remind the younger folks at LISNews that they need to be very careful about what they say about their co-workers and boss. Afterall, information is the librarian's business, and they are expert snoops and have long memories.

"9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
Whenever you post anything to the Internet -- whether on a weblog, in a discussion group, or even in an email -- think about how it will look to a hiring manager in ten years. Once stuff's out, it's archived, cached, and indexed in many services that you might never be aware of.

Years from now, someone might consider hiring you for a plum job and take the precaution of 'nooping you first. (Just taking a stab at what's next after Google. Rest assured: there will be some super-snooper service that'll dredge up anything about you that's ever been bitified.) What will they find in terms of naïvely puerile "analysis" or offendingly nasty flames published under your name?

Think twice before posting. If you don't want your future boss to read it, don't post."

I regularly violate #8 which reminds bloggers to have a focus in order to develop regular readers. When it comes to information, I'm an omnivore, which is why I've split off to specialty blogs for some topics, but this one goes from personal to politics to pets to page design.

1677 Mississippi will come back

My son-in-law will be sent to Florida by his insurance company. Like many of the other people who go into devastated areas, insurance adjusters provide an important service in times of need--and have a unique viewpoint. Angle of Repose, an insurance adjuster from California, stopped by and left a comment on my previous post, so I took a look and found this message of hope and many photos that are worth a thousand posts:

"If this deputy represents the citizens of the devastated Mississippi Gulf Coast, I predict that southern Mississippi will emerge from this disaster stronger than ever. This man was polite, generous, happy, confident -- not a bit of whining or complaining about him. He didn't know if he was going to rebuild his house or sell his property. He mentioned that big money developers are moving in. I posted earlier on how this could change the area, not necessarily for the better. But whether homes or large hotel/casinos are built in this area, Mississippi will come back strong."

Unfortunately, things don't look as good for Louisiana where he says there is much griping and moaning.

1676 Architects join forces to sketch a new Mississippi

Miami-based architect Andres Duany says Mississippi had been destroyed by urban sprawl long before Katrina, and now he has a vision to rebuild it without strip malls, office parks, and housing subdivisions. So he's gathered some of like mind and they're dreaming: Chicago Trib story reprinted in Archi-Tect.

"For Biloxi, the designers advocated tearing down an elevated highway and replacing it with a ground-level boulevard that would feed traffic into the depressed downtown business district, instead of bypassing it. They also would return two-way traffic to the downtown's forlorn pedestrian mall and encourage casinos, the engine of the city's economy, to have shops that faced outward toward the street rather than turning inward, as suburban malls do."

No one really expects Mississippi will be rebuilt on the dreams of outsiders, but some fresh ideas couldn't hurt. Afterall, who but architects have designed the mess we have now inside and outside our cities?

1675 Norma’s short list for Supreme Court

Thanks to WaPo for the bios. So if you detect some affirmative action on my list, blame it on my Democrat years.

—PRISCILLA OWEN, 50: Owen was confirmed in May for a seat on the 5th Circuit after a drawn-out Senate battle. Democrats argued that Owen let her political beliefs to color her rulings. They were particularly critical of her decisions in abortion cases involving teenagers.

—EDITH BROWN CLEMENT, 57: On the 5th Circuit since 2001, Clement is known as a no-nonsense judge with a reputation for being tough on crime and meting out stiff sentences. Her 99-0 Senate confirmation vote to the circuit court in November 2001 suggests she has broad appeal. She was touted as a top possibility for the vacancy to which Roberts was nominated.

—JANICE ROGERS BROWN, 56: Newly confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after a bitter Senate battle and filibuster, Brown is an outspoken black Christian conservative who supports limits on abortion rights and corporate liability.

—ALICE BATCHELDER, 61: A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Batchelder has been a reliable conservative vote on abortion, affirmative action and gun control. Bush’s father appointed the former high school English teacher to the court with jurisdiction over Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

—KAREN WILLIAMS, 54: A former trial lawyer, Williams is known as one of the most conservative judges on the nation’s most conservative federal appeals court, the Richmond-based 4th Circuit. In 1999, Williams wrote the 4th Circuit opinion that would have paved the way for overturning the landmark 1966 decision in Miranda that outlines the rights read to criminal suspects. The Supreme Court voted 7-2 to let it stand.

—MAURA CORRIGAN, 57: The Michigan Supreme Court justice is a walking billboard for the conservative mantra of judicial restraint — the notion that judges should stick to interpreting the law and not making it. Her resume includes a number of firsts, among them: first woman to serve as chief assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, first woman to serve as chief judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals.

—MAUREEN MAHONEY, 50: Often described as the female version of Chief Justice John Roberts, Mahoney, a lawyer in private practice, clerked for the late Justice William Rehnquist, served as deputy solicitor general under Kenneth Starr and has argued cases before the Supreme Court. Mahoney might upset conservatives with one of her major court wins, the landmark University of Michigan Law School case defending affirmative action.

1674 Democrats demand a moderate

Now that Hurricane Harriet has passed out to sea, Democrats are regrouping and saying they hope Bush selects a moderate. Like Ruth Bader Ginsberg perhaps? Did they demand that Clinton nominate a moderate? George Bush really isn't much of a conservative except on abortion, and if he thinks he can save a few babies in the next 30 years by successfully nominating a pro-life judge, I say, it's worth a try. I doubt that the laws will ever be turned back, but some of those babies just might grow up to be president some day, or help pay your Medicare bill and Social Security.

Update: Now about all that caving in to the extreme right wing: Jeff Goldstein writes--"Question: how many “bases” does the President have, exactly? I mean, for years we’ve been hearing from Democrats and the legacy media how James Dobson, Hugh Hewitt, the evangelicals, et al, are Bush’s “right wing” conservative base—but these are the very people who, in addition to GOP party pragmatists, by and large were most supportive of the Miers nomination.

And yet today, all I’m hearing is that Bush caved to his “extremist” “right wing base.” "
HT Sister Told Jah

I wondered about that, too. So are there right-wing-secularist like Ann Coulter and George Will who were having hissy fits about Harriet, and right-wing-religious like Dobson and Hewitt? Or are the Democrats just mad because now they'll have to have a real debate about issues involving the court.

1673 How many ways can you say, Be Prepared?

Can you believe those Florida whiners? Or the American tourists in Cancun who think the U.S. military or FEMA should rescue them from shelters? Hello! How many days warning did you folks get? Six or seven? Some complainers are out-of-state. I know a very bright, well-educated, professional Columbus woman stuck in Florida, who just assumed she’d hop on a flight right after the hurricane. I guess she thought they’d leave all those jets just sitting on the run way waiting for her. She had plenty of time to get out before Wilma--in fact, had to change her ticket to stay.

And the media is playing right into it. Last night ABC Evening News was tsk-tsking because 72 hours after hurricane Wilma passed through there were long lines of people waiting for food and water and ice. I rarely ever buy food in quantity, but even at our house with what I have on hand from week to week, we could eat nicely for three days. I’d rather go without ice than stand in line for 7 hours in hopes of getting some. Where are their brains?

If I knew a hurricane was coming to my neighborhood, I would leave. However, since they sometimes don’t go where expected, I’d have my charcoal grill ready, my bathtub filled with water (actually, I don't have one, but most people do) and several filled ice chests in reserve. I’d have flashlights and candles, a lot of cash on hand, and a gasoline powered chain saw. I’d have sandwiches made up ahead of time, and if I had a lot of food in the freezer, I’d use it up or cook it the week before the hurricane hit land.

Responsibility. Common sense. Ingenuity. Planning. Foresight. Backbone. These are what are in short supply in some people’s homes--first, second and third responders have none to give away.

Doyle is a Floridian and she thinks the same and so does Florida Cracker.

1672 Laura Bush's new education push

A story in USAToday covered Laura Bush's new focus on programs to rescue young boys. At one point in the interview where the descreasing enrollment of young men in college is brought up, she says:

"I think we need to examine the way we're teaching children from elementary school. Are we asking boys to sit still when they really want to jump around? Is it because boys have fewer and fewer role models because such a large percentage of elementary teachers are women? I suspect those are the reasons."

About 25 years ago I attended one of the gazillion workshops of my career and remember a speaker who believed that young boys do better in spatial and abstract reasoning than girls because they DO NOT have male teachers and thus from an early age have to try to figure out by guessing and making mistakes, just exactly what those lady teachers want. This fine tunes the brain, apparently. Little girls, just have to imitate and follow the rules. That's the only place I've ever heard that idea, and it may be crazy, but there are many more male teachers in the lower grades than there used to be, and boys aren't doing as well.

The theory probably doesn't apply to private, single gender schools where other factors like wealth and education level of parents come in to play.

1671 Ah Judy, we hardly knew ye

There are some key phrases in the memo from Bill Keller, New York Times, to Jim Romanesko (journalism industry news and forum, published by The Poynter Institute) absolving himself and the Times of any credit or blame in the WMD stories preceding and during the Bush administration, or in defending Judith Miller. This message is so full of “shoulda, coulda, woulda,” I’d be embarrassed to have it out there where reasonable people can see it. I've selected a few phrases, and added some of my own under the breath comments. I don't think I could have gotten away with this many excuses in my job. Could you?

what I should have done differently

I wish I had chosen my words more carefully

we wish we had made different decisions

the clarity of hindsight

I wish we had dealt with the controversy over our coverage of WMD as soon as I became executive editor.

It felt somehow unsavory to begin a tenure by attacking our predecessors

a huge new job

get the paper fully back to normal [after the last big scandal of lack of oversite]

I feared the WMD issue could become a crippling distraction [it wasn‘t on my radar because we all believed it]

[it was] a year before we got around to really dealing with the controversy [WMD]

published a long editors’ note acknowledging the prewar journalistic lapses [does not list these lapses]

we intensified aggressive reporting aimed at exposing the way bad or manipulated intelligence had fed the drive to war [does list these points, but now we know why all the negative reporting]

By waiting a year to own up to our mistakes, we allowed the anger inside and outside the paper to fester [this is soooo touchy feely]

we fostered an impression that The Times put a higher premium on protecting its reporters than on coming clean with its readers. [well, you’ve certainly corrected that one, haven’t you, by hanging Miller out there]

If we had lanced the WMD boil earlier [but you didn’t know it was a boil--your paper supported WMD stories, especially during Clinton years]

wish that when I learned Judy Miller had been subpoenaed [what is your usual routine when a reporter is subpoenaed?]

and [wish I’d] followed up with some reporting of my own

under other circumstances it might have been fine [what would those circumstances be?]

I missed what should have been significant alarm bells [finally, some admission of guilt]

I should have wondered why I was learning this from the special counsel [but I didn’t]

This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper [but I didn’t]

I’m pretty sure I would have concluded [but we’ll never know, will we]

we were facing an insidious new menace in these blanket waivers [huh?]

But if I had known the details of Judy’s entanglement [I try never to ask reporters about their sources or truth of the stories]

I’d have been more careful in how the paper articulated its defense

[there should be] a contract between the paper and its reporters [long list learned in journalism school]

how we deal with the inherent conflict of writing about ourselves [as I’m doing now, badly]

rival publications are unconstrained [everybody’s doing it, especially that mean right wing]

I don’t yet see a clear-cut answer to this dilemma [but please, I don’t want to be fired like the last guy]

1670 Kindergartner's free speech

Can a kindergartner's poster be hung on the bulletin board of the school if he depicts Jesus? Well, after 6 years, the court of appeals has sent it back to a lower court for another look at free speech.

"Antonio Peck, who attended Catherine McNamara Elementary School in Baldwinsville, N.Y., as a kindergarten student during the 1999-2000 school year, included an image of Jesus and other religious elements in a poster created in fulfillment of a homework assignment on the environment.

The student reportedly was expressing his belief that God was the only way to save the environment."

I suppose the school administrators thought the next step would be forced teaching of Creationism, if a 5 year old thought God could save an errant human race from self-destructing.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan remanded the case back to a federal district court Monday [Oct. 17] for further consideration, so I suppose this could end up someday in the Supreme Court, or by the time little Tony graduates from college. WorldNetDaily

The boy's counsel said: ""The school humiliated Antonio when the teacher folded his poster in half so that the cutout drawing of Jesus could not be seen. To allow a kindergarten poster to be displayed for a few hours on a cafeteria wall, along with 80 other student posters, is far from an establishment of religion.

"To censor the poster solely because some might perceive a portion of it to be religious is an egregious violation of the Constitution." " NewsMax

"In the Peck vs. Baldwinsville School District case, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals joined with the ninth and eleventh Circuit Courts who hold the view that discrimination--even in the public school setting--is unconstitutional.

Conversely, the first and tenth Circuit Courts opine that discrimination in the public school context is permissible.

This split in opinion could land Antonio in the Supreme Court--something which Staver says he would be all for." Catholic News Agency

The child must be white, male, a non-immigrant and non-handicapped, because I didn't see anything about this in the MSM. If you did, just correct me with the link.

1669 Falling behind in math

At Carnival of Education this week I noticed an item on teaching math, always my weak area. But I was happy to see they did it right in the old days, even if I didn't catch on.

". . . in Japan, Singapore and Russia, they do teach math differently. They teach it correctly. They teach content. They teach skills and facts as a foundation upon which understanding will be built. They teach like they used to in the U.S." Kitchen Table Math

Math wasn't required when I went to college, so I took an evening class at OSU in the mid-70s. New math was really BIG then, but fortunately a high school math teacher was teaching the class. I squeaked through with an A- I think.

1668 Where are you safer?

This tidbit comes from Dane Bramage's blog, and I can't verify its source. But it is an interesting thought.

"If you consider that there have been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000.

The rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000. That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capitol, which has 20 some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq."

Actually, many of the deaths of our military in Iraq have been caused by accidents, not firearms or bombs. This is probably going around in forwarded e-mail and just hasn't caught up to me yet.

1667 What do the Democrats need to do

to take back the Congress, the Presidency and the Courts? Well, a few weeks ago all you needed to do was type in “Democrats need. . .” into Google and you’d find that Democrats were longing, begging even, for some good, strong ideas, values and concepts. But that’s all changed during the Fall of 2005. Bush has stumbled badly and his base is discouraged. And it’s this, not ideas or programs, that has energized the Democrats. It’s really pathetic--from both parties--isn’t it? The Democrats still have no ideas, but they’re smelling blood, and they know how soft and wimpy the Republican voters are. The President of big, bold ideas cracks up when he should be going for the gold. He should be rallying the troops and giving us one of the best courts in the history of the nation. Here’s what one Dem wrote (probably last November):

“I disagree with most of the President’s agenda. As a Democrat that’s no surprise. But I am jealous of Republicans. They have a leader taking bold steps domestically and internationally. Where is the Democratic leader with big ideas? Why am I stuck with candidates who, when faced with these issues, lamely come up with lock-boxes, school uniforms and foreign consultations?” Chris Burke. Raw story. Can’t find a date on this column (I think it is defunct), but it appears to be late November 2004.

Most of these Google headlines are from Democrats like Helen Thomas, Ted Kennedy, Carville, and liberal MSM columnists. A few are from blogs; very few from Republicans.

Do Democrats Need Their Own Gingrich?

The Democrats Need a Spiritual Left

Democrats Need Changes on Abortion

Democrats Need to Support Major Paul Hackett (Iraq war vet)

Do Democrats Need the South?

Democrats Need a New Plan for Social Security

Democrats need a consensus builder for mayor

What Democrats Need to Leave Behind in Order to Win

Democrats need to start acting more like the people's party they once were

Dems need stronger narrative to win

Democrats need a twang

Democrats Don’t Need a New Message—They Need Ideas

Democrats need to come up with some ideas

Democrats Need to Hang on to Values

Democrats Need To Prepare Now For Another Social Security Push By The GOP (too bad that didn’t happen)

Is Harry Reid the leader the Democrats need?

Democrats need fire in belly to save party

Democrats need to be introspective: Kerry was a lousy candidate

Democrats need a strategy

The Democrats will need every black and Latino vote they can get

Democrats need to get over themselves on Iraq

Democrats Need to Rejoin America

1666 Mom, she's just a puppy!

My son's been telling me that about his chocolate lab Rosa for 2.5 years. I don't know what she's eating these days, but she's done wall board and bedspreads. Jelly has a great post about her dogs. Some great photos and text if you feel like scrolling. I have no idea who Jelly is, but she has a cool looking blog.

1665 This is adorable

You can create your own ad. This is really cute and if you're stuck at home with a terrible cold and have nothing to write about except Alka Seltzer Cold Plus, go to the Ad Conceptor and plug in some details. I selected "athletic shoes, plus edgy, plus over 55." A video came on of two guys trying to sell old fogies like me the idea that I needed new shoes. Pretty cute. I don't know if it will replace real ad writers, but it's good for a laugh. Now I'm going to go back and try my hand at fast food. Did you hear that McDonald's is going to start posting nutritional info on its packaging? Where's the fun in french fries if you have to read how much salt and fat they have?

1664 Full coverage

Today's apron styles are so impoverished and lacking. They really don't cover much. I hang on to the aprons my mother made for me. One is actually a remake of a skirt I wore in high school and she took it apart and made it into an apron when I got married. Waste not, want not. By the time she whipped this little number up, Mom had made many formals for her three daughters, a wedding dress, attendant dresses, suits, bedspreads, tableclothes, etc., so she didn't use a pattern.

Another one sort looks like a maternity smock and covers all the way up to the neck in a teal and white gingham check and has big pockets and snaps in the back. The apron is covered with stains from pitting cherries. The clothing it protected has long since disappeared from my closet, but it remains. Stained and fragile, but ready for a day's work if needed. The pattern, which I still have (Simplicity 6809), also has a child's option. Another is reversible--from the color scheme (gold) I suspect Mom made it in the late 60s or early 70s.

I also buy old aprons at resale shops because they are so much better than anything you can purchase new today and have no quotes about the sexy cook on the front. However, most are the hostess style, and I really prefer those with a bodice, because that's where the gravy splashes. Even when I was an adult visiting my parents, my father would remind me to put on an apron if I was doing something in the kitchen.

Anyway, I've found a wonderful vintage apron pattern site. Barb, who calls her blog "Woof Nanny" because she is a pet sitter, has many interesting scanned patterns.

1663 A dog's eye view

Jinky is in New England in the second worst weather they've ever had there. He's doing a running commentary on the trip and compares New Englanders to the people he sees in Hollywood.

"The New England humans look like a different species than the humans in Hollywood or Paris. They smell different too. They're not doused with perfume and the females don't wear as much make-up or high spikey shoes. There’s no weird, expressionless botox look here and the lady human lips don’t look like huge jelly donuts, stuffed with their own ass-fat. The human males here all look like they could build stuff. In L.A., the human males look all like manicured poodles. Even the dogs in New England are ten times bigger. And the dogs here work."

Jinky's account of the fall foliage in New England. Don't miss his story of the Rumanian orphan.

1662 Who's your daddy?

Politburo Diktat is creating a geneology of bloggers. The Commissar is asking bloggers to list

"your blogfather, or blogmother, as the case may be. Just one please - the one blog that, more than any other, inspired you to start blogging. Please don’t name Instapundit, unless you are on his blogchildren list.

Include your blog-birth-month, the month that you started blogging, if you can.

If you are reasonably certain that you have spawned any blog-children, mention them, too."

Well, like Topsy, I just growed and growed. I saw the topic of blogging on misc.writing (Usenet) and noticed several regulars were starting "blogs." MW was getting very nasty and posting there was getting difficult because of trolls and idiots. Then I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal that listed and rated five hosting sites. I noticed that blogger.com was free, and that was in my price range. I think I had occasionally come across blogs in searching the internet, but didn't know what they were. I had probably read Samizdat a few times, and because I know a little Russian knew it meant self-published. Still, I didn't know an ordinary person with little html or coding training could write a diary on the internet at no cost.

My blog-children I know, but most have miscarried after a few entries. They are either too busy, or have nothing to say. The number one characteristic of a blogger is having something to say.

1661 Storms continue up the coast

Some areas of the northeast have had over a foot of rain this month and more is on the way. I suspect the leaf peeper season hasn't been too great this fall. My son-in-law is being sent to Wilma-country in Florida (insurance adjuster) and could be gone for several weeks. He's had a really heavy load this year spending many week-ends in Cleveland helping his parents.

1660 Reasons to marry him

Eddie Renz designs blog templates and lives in Plano, TX. I got to his site by reading his mother's blog Live love laugh. He also has a blog called "Marry me," and is up to reason #77. This is reason #76, "I like to work hard and I will provide for my family, but I will never put my work before my wife and children. I was taught to put God first, Family second, and then make room for everything else." Sounds like a winner, doesn't he?

1659 Hollywood Dog

I've been on the prowl for a Chihuahua (female, puppy, brown) for my daughter. My grand-puppy died a year ago at age 18. I am sympathetic being an old softy about pets, but with my life experience, I know pets give back more than you can give, but that they are animals, not children. So I'm downloading photos and e-mailing breeders and decided to look at a Chihuahua rescue site. From there I find, Jinky, the Hollywood dog who has his own blog and was a rescue dog. In some of his photos he looks sort of Chihuahua-ish and in others I think one parent was maybe a dust mop. This site is a hoot. And it looks to me like Jinky's got a pretty good life. I think he's either got a movie or book contract.

Jinky and Mom

But now if you've finished looking at floating objects, there is a more serious part to this post. The number one killer of dogs is not disease, poisoning or hit-by-car; it is human behavior. People turn their pets out or give them to a kill-shelter when they can't handle their behavior problems, which are usually caused by poor breeding (puppy mills and backyard breeders who sell to pet stores) or neglect or abuse. The rescues (bless their hearts) have no problem placing the "adorables," who are usually young and well socialized. But the geriatric or arthritic or biters, are a real problem. Here's one story from Chihuahua Rescue of a young male rescued from a back yard breeder whose dogs were so in-bred and poorly socialized, that they're having problems finding people who want them, to no one's surprise.

Believe it or not, there is a dearth of prospective adopters who come to our kennel asking for Chihuahuas who bite, hide under furniture for days at a time and have tumors or chronic anal gland infections. However, with patience and careful screening, we do work to find qualified homes for these dogs, as we did with his brother and sister, and, finally BG. The foster home who had taken his 2 sibs, had an opening and was able to take BG and the sire of all three. In comparison of the 3 sibs, 2 of whom had been in a stellar and nurturing home environment since 8 weeks of age and BG who had been at Chihuahua Rescue since 8 weeks of age, BG was actually better adjusted! He displayed less stranger anxiety and was markedly more socialized with humans and other dogs! This is due to the loving and safe environment all dogs live in at Chihuahua Rescue, plus the exposure they recieve to caring, positive interactions with a variety of volunteers and staff. All the dogs at Chihuahua Rescue know that they are loved and cared for and we will never kill them because of a mistake made by humans.

Is Boy George looking for you?

For photos of puppy mills and backyard breeders (you'll find the results in the pet stores and at rescues) go here.