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Know more about your url

Troubleshooting a dns problem? Is your site not coming up? Want to be more standards compliant? Are you setup correctly with your webhost? Who is that anonymous commenter?

These questions can be answered with these three links: AboutURL, DNS Report, and DNS Stuff. Those last two have long been in my arsenal of tricks which have helped me quickly troubleshoot client issues.

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Ban Public School!

This morning I posted that schools, some of which have already eliminated arts and foriegn language programs, are now seeking to ban games like tag that promote physical activity on the basis that these games cause physical and mental trauma to children. Michael Silence highlights a ban on pizza parties and sweets brought to our attention by A Whiff of Smiff.

Let’s cut to the chase and ban school. It is easier to have a totalitarian government when people are poorly educated. (those bottom states voted red as noted by Latte Man)

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Work at home job opportunity!

Now you too can be part of the US border patrol without ever leaving the comfort of your easy chair. Why yes! This excellent opportunity allows you to keep our country safe by using your home computer to spy on our borders and report when an illegal is crossing.

The Texas governor announced his plans for streaming the border surveillance camera footage over the internet at a meeting of police officials on Thursday.

Web users who spot an apparently illegal crossing will be able to alert the authorities by telephoning a number free of charge. [Source]

I see a completely new market for a previously distasteful Internet technology!

LIVE-SHOT is a revolutionary concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our on-line target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time. [Source]

What could go wrong?

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5 Steps to CSS Heaven

I find CSS to be much fun. I like reading other people’s options of CSS techniques. PingMag lists 5 steps that I like.

  1. http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/05/18/5-steps-to-css-heaven/
  2. Separate the positioning properties from the typographic properties
  3. Isolate single properties that you are likely to reuse a lot
  4. Try out an online CSS compressor
  5. Learn to exploit the cascading nature of CSS

I don’t necessarily agree completely or adhere to these steps but they are certainly worth reviewing. [Source]

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Who needs Prozac! Tag! You’re it.

I’ve been feeling increasingly depressed. Work stress and my general situation have just beaten me down. I have managed to keep the dizzy spells back but often it is just by luck that I’m not swirling away.

Yesterday I got off my bum and ran. It wasn’t a terribly lengthy run but it was on hills and made me wheeze like the air had suddenly shut off. Then last night I took a break and had Sarah join me for The Knoxville Juggler’s Club meeting. We had a blast and I exercised hard.

Today I feel great! The work is still there. Today’s schedule is nuts (that link won’t show it because we use 9 calendars to coordinate our family). I may have a career altering decision to make at lunch. And the wolves are still at door. But I truly feel less down!

Schools have blunted our creative education with the elimination of arts and language skills.

“We can no longer afford the arts,” yet recent studies have confirmed that public schools cannot afford to eliminate arts education because of the important contributions it makes in the cognitive development of the whole child. [Source]

Were it not for the exceptional PTA at Rocky Hill, our elementary school would not be teaching foreign language at all. Now schools are looking ot reduce physical activity, like banning tag, on the premise that these activities are not safe. They are making a huge mistake.

The principal said children playing tag suffered both physical and emotional injuries.

Exercise works to prevent depression! (without side affects)

…another treatment for depression – exercise therapy – that can be as effective as antidepressants and counselling. Several scientific studies have shown that a regular programme of exercise can help people recover from depression – lifting their mood, reducing anxiety and improving self-esteem and concentration. They have also found that taking regular exercise can help protect people against becoming depressed in the first place. [Source]

A study of male graduates at Harvard found that the relative risk of depression over a 25-year period was 27 per cent lower for men who played three hours or more of sport a week. [Source]

I think Franklin Elementary School Principal Pat Samarge has it wrong. Tag, even with its "abuses" develops our children physically and mentally. Without exercise, Samarge is contributing directly to physical problems and, as the studies have shown, Samarge is also contributing directly to the emotional abuse of depression! Of course, not playing tag doesn’t mean these children will become depressed nor does it imply that these children are being denied opportunities to exercise. It simply means that Samarge has taken away an opportunity, opened a door to potential lethargy, and eliminated a possible depression preventative.

Yummy! I had pondered creating a site to review teachers from the parent and student point of view. I am happy that it has already been done!

Side note, In case you missed "Schools Abolish Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training", click this to see the picture! "I’m OK! You’re OK! a horrible bigot."