Binary by Accident Archives

Dudley Moore. "The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:30:06 AM

Happy Easter! 6:29:33 AM

"My attempts to make this site more accessible have yielded an additional, unexpected byproduct: a richer understanding of the intricacies of Web design. Making your site more accessible turns out to be a classic win-win." (Courtesy: Jonathon Delacour)

I've had a lot of fun gaining that understanding. I've still got lots of fun ahead, as well.

11:21:56 AM

Unknown. "Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 11:19:08 AM

Slow day here. My brother is in visiting from Pittsburgh and we're spending the afternoon/evening playing pool. He's whooping me but good, too. 5:04:54 PM

Elsa Maxwell. "Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 9:11:32 AM

Why did I love the 6 months I spent in Germany? In no particular order:

• Good Great Beer
• The Italian restaurants that seem to be everywhere
• The Greek/Turkish restaurants that are everywhere
• Student-run bars in the dorms
• Koeln (Cologne)
• Every place I visted seem to look as beautiful as this (Pictures courtesy: Andrea Frick)

It's been 9 years, but seeing pictures like that makes it seem like yesterday.

9:46:43 PM

"It's days like this when I feel like rushing out and joining the army--the Israeli army." (Courtesy: Phil Ackley) 6:23:37 AM

Franklin P. Jones. "The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:20:47 AM

"A clueless author who doesn't know a weblog from a list of machine-culled links said..." (Courtesy: Dane Carlson) 4:22:58 PM

Jean Nidetch. "It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 6:29:12 AM

Suit seeks billions in slave reparations. (Courtesy: CNN)

I don't want to wade into the pros/cons of this suit. What interested me was:

"Nine out of 10 white respondents said the government should not make cash payments to slave descendants while 6 percent said it should.  Among black respondents, 55 percent said the government should make cash payments and 37 percent said it should not."

Let's think about this question, removing the tie to race - if you are asked if you want the government to give cash payments to you and others like you, what would you say? If you are asked if members of a group you do not belong to should be given payments, what would you say?

Exactly - what's the point of these statistics? All they do is imply a racial bias, where there isn't necessarily one.

More meat, less fluff, please.

8:52:52 PM

Mark Twain. "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 5:44:50 AM

Once again, Dane has found a link that, while seemingly obscure (at least to me), is worth its weight in gold. 4:24:26 PM

Jerome K. Jerome. "I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:14:22 AM

I've been playing with the glossary (and thinking, too). Like most shortcuts, the advantage in simplicity comes at the expense of customizability. Many of my links come with an associated "title" attribute defined - the use of the shortcut precludes being able to do that. Nothing wrong with that - it's important to understand and consider, however.

I like including a bonus for those who hover over links (your browser's ability to display the titles may vary) when I can/want. It's a great way to provide some info about the linked-to item that can help the reader decide whether or not to click.

11:21:23 PM

Why am I just learning about the Radio glossary now? 9:11:46 PM

"Oscar is the only 74 year-old man around that doesn't need Viagara to last 3 hours." - Whoopi Goldberg - Live from the Academy Awards. 8:45:10 PM

An odd hockey game

Spent the weekend in Columbus to take in a Blue Jackets hockey game. It's also a great chance to catch up with some of my good friends who live there. Maureen and I bought the tickets several months ago - before we knew how hard it might be for her to travel.

The 2-hour drive went really smoothly for her. But, she's seeing our trip in 2 weeks to watch a Tigers/Indians baseball game as her last road trip until after the baby comes.

Four things made this a rather unusual game:

1. No fights - we didn't miss them either.
2. This was only the second home game for the Blue Jackets since a 13 year old fan, Brittanie Cecil, was killed by a puck that went into the stands. Every time the puck did leave the playing area, you could actually hear everyone stop breathing. Only after everyone seemed okay did people return their attention to the game.
3. Maureen got vertigo while we went up to our seats (top row in the building). She was able to get to the seats - but was unable to stay. It took the entire first period to get her calmed down enough to get her back down. A wife-husband duo of ushers were quite helpful - they found us seats that, while only 11 rows lower, kept us from climbing, so Maureen could relax and we could enjoy the game. Secondly, they also summoned the first-aid crew who gave Maureen a general look-over, checked her blood pressure (which, even with her stressed state, still made me jealous because of how great it was), and made sure it was safe for her to stay. Very nice of them, I thought.
4. Maureen rooted for the Blue Jackets instead of her previous home team, the Washington Capitals.

Unfortunately, the result wasn't strange - the Blue Jackets lost 5-2.

8:24:14 PM

Niels Bohr. "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:32:25 AM

"Barber unhappy with Strahan's salary stance" (Courtesy: ESPN) I find it highly refreshing that the member of an exclusive club is willing to call another on the carpet for being selfish. 4:49:07 PM

Dan Quisenberry. "The future is much like the present, only longer." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:19:31 AM

A Dad's education

This morning as I sifted through the quotes in my Aggregator, I was about to forego posting one, because none of them were particularly good, in my opinion. None shouted, "Post me!" and I was about to hit the delete button. Then the one posted below sank in. I knew I'd be writing something tonight, which I haven't done in quite a while...so here I am, going in.

Only 8 scheduled weeks to go before I become a Dad for the first time. Maureen and I have been going to Childbirth Preparation class. Three weeks down - one to go. Back in the day, this was called Lamaze, but is really so much more. Only 15 minutes or so out of two hours is spent on the breathing techniques that are commonly associated with Lamaze. The rest is spent on educating the expectant Moms and Coaches (usually, but not always, the Dad) about what to expect during the late stages of pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the postpartum period.

We have a great teacher and are learning a lot. But, it's a shame how few of the people in the room knew this stuff, me included. Raising a child is tough and a mystery - things you can never "know" how to do - you do it and hope you're teaching your child right. The "easy" part is the physical act of giving birth - as someone who has always been interested in having a family, I wonder why I never learned more about it.

Part of it is that I have a tremendously weak stomach. Watching the slides and talking about the various medical procedures (c-sections, episiotomies, etc.) makes me light-headed, clammy, and nauseous. I've always been that way - can't even watch a bloody movie, including good ones like Saving Private Ryan. I've not left the classroom though - the discomfort, while serious to me, is minor compared to what the women have gone through already and must still endure.

I've been surprised at the videos though - I've been able to watch them and be fine. They were what worried me the most, and with the exception of closing my eyes for the incision during the c-section, I've been able to watch them and not feel sick.

That's Great! I'm no longer worried about being in the delivery room. My biggest fear was that right in the middle of it, when Maureen needs my help, that I'd be stone cold out on the floor. I'm actually even looking forward to it.

I'm actually giddy!

9:34:56 PM

Napoleon Bonaparte. "Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 6:26:29 AM

John Wayne. "I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 4:55:31 PM

Burningbird returned during my near-total exile from the computer. Never shy from tackling something that she wants to talk about, she's posted quite a few things about sexism. Read the comments too. 4:49:24 PM

Baltasar Gracian. "A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:21:17 AM

Being sick sucks - I'm violating Dr. Maureen's orders and checking my email, etc., but I'll be returning to bed to get this flu bug out of me. Ugh. 11:14:37 AM

Steven Wright. "It doesn't make a difference what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:17:33 AM

Kin Hubbard. "The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 6:14:55 AM

Boxes and Arrows.  "...an online magazine for Information Architects and others who focus on user experience." (Courtesy: Zeldman) 9:29:44 PM

Frank Lloyd Wright. "The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines - so they should go as far as possible from home to build their first buildings." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day)

This quote seems quite out of place in the "motivational" category. Good quote though.

Wright's Fallingwater - I'm partial to it because: a)I've been there; b)it's close to where I grew up.

6:19:19 AM

Henrik Tikkanen. "Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:18:47 AM

Here's an excellent cat picture. (Courtesy: Fark) 11:02:54 PM

Hey! When did Radio stop telling me in the Events log to get a life if I update too often? What does the event "Please notify" mean? 10:33:42 PM

I admit it - I'm easy to entertain. Quote the lyrics of Dead Eye Dick's "New Age Girl" and I'll gladly link. First heard the song years ago while driving on I-70 through Ohio one day. My radio picked up the campus radio station from Muskingum College, I think. I did a spit-take of my Mountain Dew and had a hard time keeping my car on the road. 10:12:30 PM

Tried the new Title and Link feature - it doesn't fit the way I write or feel natural for me, so I've already disabled it. However, it's nice to have choices! 9:54:01 PM

Tyson gets boxing license in D.C.

Tyson gets boxing license in D.C. Let the circus that is professional boxing begin!

9:39:49 PM

How Little Links can Make a Big Difference: "With such brutal time-economics working against personal blogs, the majority of blog posts are made up of the familiar link + quote + comment." (Courtesy: Dane Carlson)

Comment? I'm supposed to comment? ;-)

4:44:17 PM

Paul Fix. "The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:15:02 AM

Ernie Kovacs. "Television - a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:13:58 AM

On The Mark : A Busy Writers Guide to Radio Renderers
(Courtesy: Simon Fell and  Jeff Cheney) 6:18:38 AM

Fran Lebowitz. "Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:24:26 AM

Groucho Marx. "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:16:25 AM

Will Rogers. "Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth." (Courtesy: Motivational Quotes of the Day) 6:16:09 AM

Chance meeting could lead to kidney transplant. (Courtesy: Fark) Great story! 10:30:19 PM

Played my weekly basketball game tonight - best game all year, too. Playing well = getting more playing time. Getting more playing time = getting sore. "I'm much too young to feel this damn old." (Garth Brooks) 9:54:42 PM

Excellent article on web accessibility. (Courtesy: diveintomark) 4:25:02 PM

Glenn: "Google has dropped the 135,000 or so listings from my site from their index on Feb 22, the day after Brian Livingston of Infoworld published part 1 of 2 articles about my site's indexing and commercial strategy." (Courtesy: Scripting News)

What is the proper way to rank search results? The best way may be links into the page, but is ripe for abuse. Unfortunately, when Google tries to catch the possible abuses, legitimate cross-linkings will get caught.

4:23:42 PM

Bush Calls on Business Leaders to Create 500,000 Shitty Jobs by 2003. (Courtesy: The Onion) 7:29:45 AM

See, Californians aren't as weird as they're made out to be. Gary Condit lost his bid to be re-elected to Congress. 7:16:24 AM

Will Rogers. "The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 7:00:13 AM

I haven't mentioned curling in a while. Maureen and I spent Saturday watching the Scott Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Women's Championship). There are still 2 good curling events left this year: the Nokia Brier (Canadian Men's Championship) and the World Championships, being held in North Dakota this year. We'll be watching - probably doubling the CBC's normal American viewership for these events. 10:38:20 PM

I checked out the list of people subscribed to my RSS feed. Neat stuff. I never guessed that anybody was subscribing.

Hello, subscribers! :) I hope you continue to enjoy my random musings and links. I look back at my 1/23/02 post that said, "[This weblog] is acting as a reminder of what I found interesting." I never imagined others could or would be interested in that.

10:26:35 PM

Douglas Adams. "Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day)

Simply put, Douglas Adams was a genius. Have you ever checked out h2g2 - the Earth Edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? It has been online for few years and was cofounded by Adams.

6:19:00 AM

Voltaire. "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:11:36 AM

Westciv is offering a free CSS Level 2 class. There is one installment each week through the end of June. The same class, but self-paced, is available for a nominal fee. I checked out the first two installments today and enjoyed them. It's stuff I already know, but is a nice refresher. 4:54:51 PM

Dan Rather. "An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 6:11:19 AM

Dane, glad to see your site up and working again! 1:08:25 PM

Robert Frost. "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 7:45:00 AM

Mark Twain. "Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 7:44:42 AM

Once, many years ago, in a place far, far, away, during a night when too many adult beverages had been consumed, I ate vegemite. I will never do so again. A woman was involved - it wasn't worth it. I have no problem believing this tale brought to us by Victor. 10:27:06 PM

Sexism and garden gnomes. Um...no further comment necessary. 10:41:12 AM

John Benfield. "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 9:57:41 AM

I finally took the time to figure out how to make a mail-to-blog post. It helps to include the correct account/password in the set up. 9:33:17 PM

Well, Maureen suspected it, but I told her it was unlikely. She was right. Taco Bell created the fictional Steak Enthusaist magazine for commercials. (Courtesy: Fark) 7:15:44 PM

Ambrose Bierce. "Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another." (Courtesy: Quotes of the Day) 4:09:48 PM

"87% of statistics are made up on the spot." (Courtesy: Victor Zalakos) 6:40:11 AM

Jordan, I was more bemused than surprised. I don't know much (ok, anything) about Canadian politics. If the mood strikes me, I may watch the Trudeau mini-series the CBC is showing at the end of the month. Nothing like getting my information from an entertainment vehicle ;) 6:28:30 AM