OPENING THANG
Well, I don’t know about you, but it has been a crazy week for me. Very busy at IQHQ. Which, in these tumultuous times is not something I’m going to complain about. I snuck in a couple of hours to get greymatter running for gleanings, and I think you’ll like the results.
{{you are already here, so link removed}}
Also in a strange mood around 1 am I suddenly changed the look of the front page. If I could decide I liked it, I might propagate it through the site. But I’m puzzled– I just broke my own process
DESIGN MATTERS
Interesting article about back-biting on ALA
Happily misspent some time downloading fonts from the lovely büro destruct . Be sure to check out the book pages.
A recent post on chi web set off a great exchange of sites with innovative
navigation (and unfortunately some rather snide commentary. everyone is so cranky
these days)
USABILITY MATTERS
Noel deconstructs an online bank on the CLog
and Peter attacks Style
NEWS
My sister (stylewithsubstance.com) sent me this article proclaiming the web is the best thing since sliced bread for small business.
Three e-business myths debunked
Dylan Tweney: Open secrets. (via tomalak.org)
These technical and market forces combine on the Internet to create an environment where information of the most private nature can quickly be disseminated worldwide, in seconds. In other words, “Information wants to be public.”
and even if it doesn’t want to be…
3 Charged With Giving Lucent Secrets to China
(Registration required.)
ebay is following Yahoo’s lead in banning all hate-related memorabilia
Ebay to Ban All Hate-Related Items
“The online auction site extends its policy as it makes an aggressive
push into international markets.”
read article
Razorfish Founders Quit Top Management Positions
“Mr. Maheu, who once oversaw North American operations and corporate development at Razorfish, called Mr. Dachis and Mr. Kanarick “industry pioneers and visionaries” and said the company’s goal was to “return to profitable operations and positive cash flow while successfully serving the expectations of our clients, shareholders and employees.”
read article
my commentary
http://eleganthack.wpengine.com/blog/archives/00000038.html
Why I’ll never use Blogger (via webword.com)
“For those unfamiliar with security, the FTP protocol transmits usernames and passwords in clear text modes which, means anyone on the Blogger network can easily sniff out a username and password to log into your webserver, plain and simple. I’m not saying anyone at Blogger would do so, at least I would hope not, but who’s to say that someone won’t compromise Blogger’s network in the future? Are you willing to take that chance?”
read article
I’ve heard similar things about greymatter….
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I’ve decided I don’t care if this is an urban legend or not.
“Oh my !!! Nice Kitty!!”
Put simply, Snowball is no ordinary cat, she measures 69 inches from nose to tail and weighs in at 87 lbs.
“Oh my !!! Nice Kitty!!”
Rodger Degagne, a former employee with AECL in Chalk River, may be embarking on a new career as Feline Breeder. Relaxing in his spacious home on the shores of the Ottawa River, Mr. Degagne recalls how 15 years ago he befriended two stray young cats on the old AECL research facility at Chalk River. The kittens had appeared in late summer and apparently had gotten under a security fence around the old labs abandoned since the late 50’s.
With the help of his tuna sandwich, Mr. Degagne was able to coax the kitties close enough so that he could pick them up. A self described animal lover, he did not want to place the kittens in the local Humane Society. In this largely rural area, cats of all stripes and ages largely go unwanted and are humanely disposed of after a few days.
Later that evening his wife Louise and their two children, Nicole and Kelly came to a family decision to keep the kittens, which they named Lost and Found. Lost turned out to be female and Found a male. When nature finally took it’s course, a litter of kittens was born 6 years later. One of the litter was a big white female with a unique black markings on her side and tail. Something about the kitten captured the hearts of the family and while her siblings eventually found homes elsewhere, Snowball stayed with the Degagne’s.
While Lost and Found are no longer with us, their progeny lives on. In her 9 years Snowball’s size has seemed to snowball. Put simply, Snowball is no ordinary cat, she measures 69 inches from nose to tail and weighs in at 87 lbs. She started out a big kitty and she just seemed to keep growing. She always meowed for more food and would climb up on the counter to eat food which I forgot to cover. Chicken is her favorite. “Once I left a cooked chicken on the table that I was going to use for a boat picnic, an hour later the chicken was gone”, Louise said. We knew that Snowball wasn’t your average cat when the neighbor’s
German Shepherd ran yelping away from his first encounter with her. She
just isn’t afraid of any animals. After we found a half eaten raccoon out by the garage, we decided that maybe Snowball should be kept fenced in. We soon discovered that while we can keep Snowball in the yard, we couldn’t keep raccoons from Snowball. At least it kept the food bills down Rodger laughed “Like all female cats she is very territorial, but with us she is just a big ole kitten” he said.
So what does a 87 pound cat eat? Snowball goes through about 3 lbs. of cat food a day, along with cooked chicken, supplemented with deer and moose that Rodger hunts in the fall. She likes Pike a lot, so I don’t throw them back any more. Snowball often accompanies Rodger fishing on the Ottawa, eagerly peering over the side of the boat as soon as his line goes tight.
So what do the Degagne’s attribute Snowball’s size to? Rodger says “Well, the vet thinks it could be her thyroid, but she isn’t fat, she’s just a real big cat. I think maybe her parents got into something at Chalk River that they shouldn’t have”.