I decide to attend the opera with Raisinets and bonbons: related news

Why are you a designer?

I am a designer because I wanted to solve problems in a beautiful way. I started out focusing purely on the way things worked - solving problems with my code. But as I created more and more pages I realized that the best solutions were the ones that connected with the customers. And the ones that connected were the designs that looked the best (or maybe it's that the ones that looked the best connected most with the customers...). At any rate, I realized then that I couldn't just focus on how a Web page solved a problem, I had to focus on the design as well. Now, I think of myself as a Web designer/developer. I build Web solutions that look great and serve a purpose. The Design O'Blog has a number of other reasons why people are designers. Why are you a designer?

Poll: What type of computer do you use to design Web pages?

It seems like I switch what type of computer I use to do Web design about every 2 years. I was using a desktop for everything, but then I got my MacBook Pro, and now I do everything on my laptop. I still have my desktop, but it doesn't get turned on too often. The benefits of a laptop include that I can work in the same room as my infant son (well, now that he's mobile it's harder...). I have decided, however that I'm saving for a Mac Pro - a desktop. I figure that by the time I've saved the money to afford it, Jaryth will be in school (hopefully, preschool, not college) so I'll be able to work out of my office more often. The ability to upgrade and a faster processor are a huge draw for me - especially when I have 6 graphic intensive programs open at once, usually with multiple documents open in each.

I'm on a quest for the ultimate Web page editor

I've been looking for the best Web page editor for years now. When I started designing Web pages, Web page editors didn't exist. I used vi or Notepad or SimpleText (now TextEdit) and was amazed that I could even read the stuff I was writing, let alone have it make Web pages. Then I learned about a tool with a name that inspired me - "Dreamweaver". Isn't that what I wanted to do? Weave my dreams into reality? Of course, my boss had a different idea and bought me the program "FrontPage". I couldn't afford Dreamweaver on my own, and after 10 minutes of using FrontPage (version 1), I was back to writing HTML in my text editors. But since then, I've started looking for the best of the best Web editors. In that quest I've downloaded and evaluated over 130 Web editors on Windows, Macintosh, and even Linux.

Poll: Have you ever written anything in XML?

I started working with XML about 7 years ago, and as I go on I find myself doing more and more with XML documents than I ever thought I would. I write two RSS feeds from scratch (as well as maintain several feeds through blogs and other automation), all of my About.com documents are written in XML, and I'm starting to dabble in XML data to drive Ajax Web applications. When I wrote my first XML article, I barely scratched the surface of what was possible. Even now, I feel like I'm missing more than I'm grasping. Have you written anything in XML?

Hands-on with Picasa for the Mac

I'm a somewhat dissatisfied owner of a new MacBook. One of the things I was looking forward to with the computer was the vaunted easy photo management I kept hearing about. But I found the Mac's free photo management app, iPhoto, frustrating to use, compared to the product I had become accustomed to on Windows: Google's Picasa. I didn't like the fact that I had to manually import photos into the product--even photos already on my Mac--and that the import process made duplicates of my photos when I did so. I much prefer Picasa, which simply scans your computer's directories and shows you the photos it finds on your disks.

I decide to attend the opera, with Raisinets and bonbons.

Cheap seats: Fans at a movie theater in Burbank, Calif., await the start of a New York Metropolitan Opera performance that will be broadcast on the big screen. The ‘Met Live in HD’ series is in its third year of operation. (Joshua Sudock/Special to The Christian Science Monitor)

BCCI blamed for polarising cricket world

'˼i§÷cúz ý‰ÆW"™žl`=;sð¯5~ìÍR¢Î'#³Bô„éT«ÿ–sßûÕiâÌ÷�ˆ´ð잆—VÙT—\g¼Ow_ÒÇR·Ÿ·ên’¹cý'ü¼�Å…¥¬{˜PéÈ+�ÃLGY‡9.§F™ée5[ÓŠ·òUdIùÖ*™ÕÂÒr°¥vì,£8ä* Z@oMÈ{ˆ7­MÓŠn¢éýdÖÄïÔ¢ÅKõÐ)×pôéÚ-�À A:ÙgRªF¦\T/[ÝÂ
¹ú“š(Á£ÑÔ|NµÂSõá:Û ¿?]ã’Õ+SßOâòP\nâX�Fíóç⃭±†ÀiS˜YŽi÷Ý°Î/^[ÐŒú,Š×óønÔŸ®EL-‡t¨/Üþ‘ü�ù8ù™ÇKO»f=–õjI£A4÷€? ¼XRºQì}þœ•õDÚr”;ÎÑ•Äárg(ZGP0XXç�j�¦¨é·eŸݸWç/^ð±—ÿÅÿ»,œ‚g¸ÓÈ‹¸nº��qʬo—àÔ$”A¸†%pnœO³ÚÝŧÑáö*�ð[;õø¸+„z†Þ4w …žö‚dwâlm�¹÷ÊeNŒ+¤Ì&[nl8ã……ç"$žc¯º=qà‚ùÌy™åª:`¹DôOsH’výRs°�å_Ü{˜žáÌ:HIžR…:)¾ioZú•šp4A�ÖãRßÔMAøª[ÙÌåtèxjË�ó$~œ'ñã<‰çIü8OâÇy?ΓøqžÄwž„Zþ{2™ÌÔ ™¹<þxþኼ=z÷ú—£×§ ;Ûãæ”�ÔË�ÇiÖHó´|dÔ¿Àóñ1þGŒö[×we¼×î2?òW‹åÿ¸aîˆíi©i~¾ =ÑÌ7ΰ¶>ˆP�0‹©jë½ßó`2',™³Ì©d¹ìS—$çúXtÄi>‰5Ç{ÄæPÕ¨™l1Ï ¥Ó1F‚ Θ™[¯z�BYmƒ<ÿ�‹p¤æÈøét‰Ù»" —8âPTçÌ]1·`z^‰¼�=T´Mâìïï•Ô‘}äÈ÷‰êT’ˆIÝb1–.

ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Pancakes With Julia Murney

Hey, everyone! It's 2009 and I'm feelin' fine. And by "fine," I mean a terrible case of vertigo brought on by blocked Eustachian tubes. I started feeling it Saturday, and took a decongestant, which I thought would relieve it by Sunday morning. No. Then I took two Dramamine to get rid of the dizziness, which did nothing for the dizziness but caused me to take a four-hour nap in the middle of the day. The last time I slept that many hours during an afternoon was when I saw a matinee of Nicholas Nickleby. Settle down, Charles Dickens estate, I never actually saw that show.

I decide to attend the opera, with Raisinets and bonbons.

Live performances of the New York Metropolitan Opera are beamed into movie theaters across the country, offering audiences ways to experience high culture at low prices. But is it the same as live or is it just Memorex?

The Microsoftie Who Embraced the Dark Side (Open Source)

"One day it just hit me -- I should quit. There were no big reasons, only a lot of little ones. I had just launched v1 of the client and server side of Spot, and while it contained sophisticated technologies, I didn't really believe it would take off in the marketplace. I had gained lots of knowledge yet only understood the Microsoft world. I had made some good money, but I had no time to enjoy it. Though my boss was happy with me, I was losing motivation to just keep doing the same thing I had been doing for over a decade. I looked around the company and saw a lot of ancient codebases and unprofitable ventures.

Where Did My Firewall Disappear?

OK, I just got this HPdv6000 laptop, and it came with Norton, and I replaced it with Avast, and it has Windows XP. I now have a little shield saying that I don’t have a firewall, and when I go to turn it on Windows says that the security center cannot turn it on. So I click turn on manually, and I get the message that Windows firewall is not using the recomended settings to protect my computer. I try to click on update settings and get a message that Windows Firewall was unable to make the requested updates. Now what do I do? I have no firewall! Thanks, Chris

Google Measures The Readability--Yikes!--of What You Write

Last night I was typing using Google Docs at home, and when I used the Word Count tool, I discovered some metrics that I didn’t know about: scores to show me how “readable� my prose was. As I scrolled down the screen that popped up when I simply wanted to see how many words I’d written, I discovered not only the average length of my sentences and words, but also what grade level could understand what I wrote, as well as the ease to which they would absorb it, and what my “automated readiblity index� was—at least for that first draft I’d banged out.

Getting Started With Part-Time Development Work?

fortapocalypse writes "I'm getting paid a good salary as a Java developer and the hours are great. It is also very stable, which means something in today's economy, especially with a family to feed. However, I'm very unmotivated both because of the work that I do, which is boring, and because the organization I work for is highly political, disorganized, and lacks accountability. I've done what I could to try to change things at work and have pretty much given up on that. I want to go out on my own, either starting my own company or just working as a contractor doing Java development, but I'm not sure of the best way to get started, and my family needs the stability of my current job. I'd really like to start out part-time at 5-15 hours a week to use it as supplemental income (which my family could really use at the moment), but I really

Clyne to concentrate on bank's backyard

A m d a o r e t r a w r e t e e a "s m t i g b i u l a i s" t h g o p e e a h p e a e t r l n u s h s o i i n s a i n l u t a i B n 's u t a i n h e e e u i e o a e r l i t n e t f x h p o l m.

I wanted to say Thank You

I am an American and today is Thanksgiving for us. And I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to all of you - my readers. I have been working on the HTML/Web Design site for About.com since 1997, and I have had a great time. In that time, I've covered topics as diverse as using an HTML validator (my first article to go live on this site), HTML codes (currently my most popular tool on the site), meta refresh tags (my most popular article of all time), XML (I took over that site in 1999), and Web design (which I started writing about in 2003), and so much more. It's been great, and I really appreciate all of you taking the time to read my site, and all of you who take even more time and link to my pages or let other people know about them. Thank you very much!

Holiday Blogging

Having been home - well, away from Bishop’s - since December 12th, I’m looking forward to getting back to BU. The weeks away have been nice and relaxing, with the Lawson family heading to San Andres on vacation for a week in December. Our week-long trip was nice and relaxing, and I had a chance to catch up on sleep and reading. While I find the reading I do at school thought-provoking, I find I have very little time to read for pleasure. Among the books IÂ enjoyed down south were Rory Stewart’s Prince of the Marshes, Michael Ross’ The Volunteer, and BU Alum Alex Paterson’s My Life at the Bar and Beyond.

" Tracey Emin: There was someone else in the house...

I've been up since six o'clock this morning and my day started reasonably optimistically. Not me – I didn't start off optimistic, but the early components of my day had very nice, comforting qualities. I like the darkness in the mornings, it's a completely different kind of darkness to night, I feel less afraid. Having a fear of the dark is something that I promised myself to resolve. I talked to a doctor about it recently, he gave me the lowdown on melatonin levels, depression, exhaustion and nausea – all effects created by too much light, as well as too little. I'm in the too much light category. My fear of the dark means I have to sleep with the light on, admittedly a low level of light, and strangely enough, glowing primeval through an orange lampshade, orange light being almost tolerable to sleep with, as subconsciously the orang

I purchased this box set yesterday at Best Buy. I got it for $44.99. Not too bad of a...

I purchased this box set yesterday at Best Buy. I got it for $44.99. Not too bad of a price. This makes four(4) copies of my favorite film of all time. I have it on VHS/ DVD~Original/ DVD~Restored/ DVD~Blu Ray~Ultimate Set. If they come out with another version, I am sure that I will purchase it also! Some argue about which film is the best one of all time. In my humble opinion, "CASABLANCA" is the tops! Hands down. I won''t start talking about those that come close to "Casablanca". That would open up a whole new can of cinematic worms.lol. Trust me. This is the one. Thanks, Papa Larry H

Turn Your iPod Touch Into An iPhone

I am a bit behind in the game. A year or so has passed (I think) since the iPhone hit the stores. To date, I still have not gotten my hands on one. Oh I have played with this baby lovingly but I don’t have one to call my own. I was actually thinking of getting myself the iPhone as a Christmas present. I have had my doubts, to be honest. I have a perfectly good phone and I don’t need a new one. But hey, it’s an iPhone! End of the discussion.

3 questions to ask before foreclosure

I have a first mortgage with IndyMac, and a second with National City. I am working with a HUD counselor. HUD sent paperwork off to both lenders, and I talked to them yesterday, and basically they won't budge. National City told me that on the 25th of this month I will be 90 days, or 120 days over. I think that's what she said, and that they will then do a "charge off" and that they can either take other property I own or garnish my wages. I need to know what to do, and what they can legally do. I guess I will have to file a bankruptcy, and let my home foreclose. Please help me sort some of this out.

I do, I do, I do, I do...

They only missed out 1949 because John was stationed in Bermuda with the Royal Navy, reports The Sun.

Books I wish I'd read in 2008

It's time for my traditional roundup of the books I wish I'd read this year. It was a brilliant literary year, packed with exciting new publications that I really wish I'd got around to reading. Right now, in my in-tray are new books about Joseph Beuys and Ian Hamilton Finlay – although, to be precise, the Beuys book, "Coyote" (Thames and Hudson), is a lovely-looking reprint of a photo-diary originally published in the 1970s by Caroline Tisdall of the great shaman's encounter with a live coyote in a New York art gallery. The nice thing about picture books is that you can enjoy them without actually having to read them, and I like the look of this one. But will I give it close study? Only time will tell.

Interesting Computer Science Jobs?

mattskent writes "I'm currently a junior in college working towards my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. As such, I'm starting to look pretty seriously at jobs in the IT/Computer Science field. I've spent plenty of time working entry-level IT jobs doing various kinds of help desk type work, and so most of the exposure I've had to the field is related to support of other people's computers. I enjoy helping other people out, but I'd rather not be plugging things in and restarting computers the rest of my life. Although the possibility is growing on me, I don't think I would particularly love to write code all day for a living either. What are some interesting jobs that you've had or heard of that I could look into fresh out of college with a Computer Science degree?"

Search took 1.10 seconds.