If you know me, you know I’m into web design, CSS, and the standards compliance trend. And if you’ve been to this site a few times, I hope you will have taken the time to visit the CSS Zen Garden.

To really understand CZG and all it represents, you have to notice a couple of things on that site. First, click on any number of the “Select a Design” links. Then, you have to understand that the HTML code that generates all those design pages is exactly the same. Yes. The code is exactly the same. The only thing that changes is the style sheet or CSS file. That’s the point of the page. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, imagine taking this really cool concept and wicked awesome technology to the absolute end of the WRONG end of the spectrum. Exhibit A: The Really Bad CSS Zen Garden Page.

As you can see, standards compliant CSS design is not, by default, good design. This was just a really good jab at design elitists and I had to share.

Philadelphia police arrested a group of evangelists at a gay pride event. The group possessed all the necessary city documents required for them to have a public gathering and they followed all the relevant city ordinances. Still, they were charged with inciting a riot and possession of tool of crime… a bullhorn. Wha??

The DA has said that the group directed “fightin’ words” toward the homosexuals gathered across the street. Those “fightin’ words” came verbatim from the Holy Bible. Hmm.

The evangelical group was accosted by a “militant gay rights group” called the Pink Angels, who blew whistles to drown out the scripture reading and held up their pink wing-shaped signs in an attempt to cover up the group’s banners. When the Pinkies started getting mean, the police got involved and arrested… well… the ones who had followed the procedures to get the legal right to be there, of course.

Strangely enough, the ACLU has not come to the aid of these folks who were exercising their first amendment rights. Guess they’re too busy suing “X”-mas carolers for using religious hate speech in their songs.

You can read more in this article.

A study of women in England has confirmed what I have long believed. The Information Age has quickly become the Information Overload Age. The study found that in women over 18 one of the largest causes of stress is an over abundance of cell phone calls, text messages, emails, etc.

So, before you send that next text message or pick up the phone, ask yourself, “Is this important information or am I just contributing to my good friend’s early demise from stress related illness by sending them a message just to say ‘Wassup?'”

In a related note, during the four minutes it took me to type this informationally overloaded blog entry, I received two instant messages and two emails. *sigh*

For even more information, see the complete article, if you DARE!

I just read a piece of news that gave me the shiver of a life time. I’m pretty sure I dislocated my spine. And as a public service, I’m offering you the same tidbit.

Disclaimer: If you have a heart condition, back or neck injury, are or could be pregnant, please don’t read the following news blurb.

A new commercial is set to air in Palestine which starts with the following quote.

Hi, I’m Richard Gere, and I’m speaking for the entire world.

See… I warned you. Read the complete article… IF YOU DARE!

In what will become known as the forehead slap heard ’round the world, a precious few folk in mass media have “discovered” that they have the ability to influence American culture.
…
DUH!!!
…
In all seriousness, I openly applaud Essence magazine for taking the gloves off and fighting for decency. Essence is about the only mainstream magazine marketed to black women and they’ve started a campaign against the blatant sexual degradation of woman in hip-hop music. Hurray! I hope and pray that they find huge success and that others will follow their lead.

Read the complete article here.

I just love this collection of photos from this most ancient and revered Christmas tradition. You know, the one where beleaguered parents stand in line at the mall for three hours with their stir crazy toddlers so they can pay $10 for a blurry Polaroid of their precious child screaming bloody murder on the lap of some poor schlep making $5 an hour to wear a red velvet suit that wreaks of sweat. Ahh the joys of Christmas.

(Link via Airbag.)

Society has labeled me yet again. First I was Gen X (read angst-ridden yet apathetic). Then, I was a victim of the Dot-Com Bubble (read laid-off). Then I was part of the 9-11 Fallout (read laid-off AGAIN). But now I’ve been placed in a new social classification. Problem is, this one is the truest of all.

I am part of the Tech Support Generation. Geek is sheik, google is a verb, I read more blogs than “media” news, and life is all about owning games that push my video card and owning a video card that can keep up with my games.

The true litmus test of Gen Tech is explained in this article.

…the Thanksgiving holidays. We’ll sit with our families in warm, candle-lit dining rooms eating stuffed turkey, reminiscing over old photographs, preparing holiday shopping lists and … Please. Let’s be frank. We are going home to fix our parent’s computers.

Yes, we all know it’s true. No sense hiding from the facts.

And just to make myself perfectly clear, I own that shirt, and wear it often, but no one seems to care. They ask, and I end up fixing their computer anyway.

It’s official. A New England Journal of Medicine study proves shows that talking on a cell phone while driving is just as bad as driving drunk.

The use of cellular telephones in motor vehicles is associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision during the brief period of a call.

That is to say, if you’re talking on a cell phone while driving you are four times more likely to cause an accident. The study also found that “hands free” devices do not make you any safer. The problem is not where you hands are. The problem is where your brain is.

FOUR TIMES more likely to cause an accident! That’s the same rate for someone with a 0.8 blood alcohol level.

Hey, people! STOP IT!

WBQotW #6 comes to us from an article at ananova (linked from Apropos). Madona has been listed as one of the Most Influential Jewish Americans. That’s funny enough. But dig this quote from the editor of the list:

“…she’s practicing Judaism for Christ’s sake! Well, not really for Christ’s sake…”

HA! That’s priceless.

I have a couple of email addresses that I use whenever I’m required to enter such information on a web form. I also have a nasty habit of putting my favorite stage name and old mailing addresses in these forms. My imaginary web surfing fellow is named JoBob Humperdink and he lives in Amarillo at the address I inhabited back in 1993.

I don’t know why everyone and their dog wants your email address before they let you see their news article or post a comment on their blog. Regardless, I call these my spam accounts. Inevitablly, someone will sell their collection of email addresses to the scummy underbelly of the internet and that address will begin receiving hundreds of spam messages. Thank the Lord for spam filters. On these two email addresses, the spam folders are always full.

But what’s so funny about that?

Well, I have come to enjoy spending a few minutes perusing my spam folders to see the oh so clever ways that the scummy underbelly tries to get my attention. Allow me to share a few subject lines from this weeks compost heap.

Jobob: Forget About Those Garage Bills

Your confirmation Jobob Humperdink …

Jobob Humperdink 11/10/2004-2:13:05 PM (This one is from the “IRS”. Gee that sounds important… not.)

Shop in AMARILLO

Jobob: Re-finance Today & Save

Confirmation for Jobob Humperdink

Egyptian Peanuts (Wha…?)

RE :Jobob Humperdink 1:10:19 AM 11/14/200… (Oh, now your getting clever… *roll eyes*)

Just do her! (Ah, yes. The subtlties of romance in the age of Viagra.)

Are You Overwhelmed With Credit Card Debt (Why, yes, I am. Thanks for asking. Why don’t you pour some lemon juice on my paper cut while your at it.)

Private urgent message from SunTrust Bank (Please oh please, my gentle readers, do not fall for these things!)