good will towards all

I found this hilarious link parodying Full Of eXcrement News about the tsunami coverage over at Chasing Daisy.

Google, meanwhile has set up a page with links to many good organizations worth helping out.

May the New Year bring peace on earth and goodwill towards all.

three photographers

Keith at Good Reputation Sleeping pulled a quote from the New York Times Magazine section and it sent me running to read the article. Of course this blockquote from his pull quote is what I will pin to my door at work.

…the camera is less an extension of the eye than of the subconscious mind, with all of its riches and all of its snares. They showed that photographic truth is never literal, is often tangled up with artifice and always speaks to the emotions before addressing the intellect. - Luc Sante

NO to torture

Thanks to Mary over at Knock Knock for supplying a link to The Center for Constitutional Rights in which we can let the congress know our feelings about torture and the man (or should I say plumber?) who advocates torture.

from Slate:

His prevailing legal principle appears to be to deliver whatever the client wants, whenever the client wants it. And one of the questions we need to contemplate is whether that’s the kind of lawyer we want for the next attorney general.

Like me, she appears to be amazed at the lack of outrage about this push for torture. Her entry is labled Wake Up.

who is yoo?

Michael Isikoff writes in Newsweek about a memo written to Alberto Gonzalez that basically says that bush is a king.

The memo, written by Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, argues that there are effectively “no limits” on the president’s authority to wage war—a sweeping assertion of executive power that some constitutional scholars say goes considerably beyond any that had previously been articulated by the department.

After reading just the first part of this story, I wanted to know who this guy, John Yoo, is. So I did a Google search. The first thing I read was a PBS interview done (I think) in 1999. The interview focused mostly on Yoo’s position on affirmative action and Propostion 209 in California. Next I read an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal entitled “Terrorist Have No Geneva Rights”.

Without forgetting that Alberto Gonzalez gets the memos he wants (and is therefore ultimately responsible), note that John Yoo is also a dangerous man. Mark my words, Yoo will show up in the news again.

NOT stylin’

ARRGGGHHHH!!!! Okay, so now I know that the styles.css file is rewritten each time I post. (I wish I was able to get typepad users forum at home). Oh well, I’ve learned more about CSS coding.

stylin’

I decided I wanted to make blockquotes a different color. I also decided that I wanted to accent the colored box they would be in, with a border. Prior to doing this, I had to do some research. I went to the World Wide Consortium or W3C where I found this tutorial. I also found a bunch of free tutorials at W3C Schools. After being loaded with just enough knowledge to do some damage, I went to my file folder under the Control Panels tab at Typepad.

I found the styles.css file in the folder and copied it. After doing a search for blockquote, I found this bit of information:

.content blockquote {	line-height: 150%;	}

So all I had to do, to style my blockquotes would be to work with this bit of code. First thing I did was make a back up copy of the original file. Then I started work on the dupe. I wanted to add color to the blockquote so I added this:

.content blockquote {	line-height: 150%;	background-color: #E8CD8C;	}

Next, I wanted to alter the text style (to distinguish it even more). After reading the tutorials, I discovered that padding would also help, and for the final touch I thought I would add a border, but rather than border the entire quote, just on the left side. All of this lead to this final bit of code:

.content blockquote {

line-height: 150%;
	background-color: #E8CD8C;
	font-style: italic;
	padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em;
	border-left: solid border;

}pre>

Here is what it should look like:

However, I found out that for some reason, Firefox and Internet Explorer display it like this:

Apparently, they don't display borders... oh well, for now.

Diary from Baghdad

I’ve been reading a blog called Diary from Baghdad since the late summer. It is supposed to be written by an Iraqi woman who shares her views on what is happening in Iraq and her day to day life. Given the nature of the internet, there is no way of knowing if she is who she says she is, but I find the writing enlightening. In her most recent entry she talks about the upcoming elections:

For me I think the elections should be delayed for a while till the security situation gets better, now it is impossible for the people to go for voting in many places, even in Baghdad. there is still car bombs almost everyday, many people will be afraid to go for voting. The places for voting can not be fully secured and one can’t be sure that it is safe. how can you make an elections in this way.

In an earlier entry she explains some interesting information about how people are named.

In Iraq it’s a little different. You call him/her with the first name but after getting married and have a child you call him with his/her son/daughter name but you put the word Abu which means ‘Father of’ like Abu Ali means father of Ali and if he has a daughter you call him Abu Zainab for example. For mothers you put the word Um before the name of the child which means ‘mother of’. It’s done to show more respect than using his/her first name especially for old people. I know many people by their Abu or Um and I don’t know their real names, because they don’t use them any more.

So, if you get a chance, you might like the read.

favicon added

Well, that was easier than I thought.

I just added a favicon to this site today. The favicon is the little picture that sits next to the web address at the top of the browser page. I reacquainted myself with the idea while browsing the TypePad Users Forum (which I still am having problems connecting to, but that’s another story). I had considered it when I first got my account but forgot about it as I dealt with my newbie TypePad issues.

Anyway, this icon is only temporary. I just wanted to see how simple/hard it would be to do. I’ll work on a better icon and replace the one that is there.

With TypePad running the buy one get one free offer, I am examining my current use of the service and trying to decide if it is worth stepping up to the Plus Service or maintaining my present Basic service. I started the account in March of this year (2004) and started out blogging occasionally. At this point I’m blogging more often… but is it worth double what I’m paying now?

I’d like to playaround with the design and templates since I’ve been reading up on CSS, but I also have the choice of finding a hosting service and stitching my own site together. So many things to consider. I have until March to decide, so for right now, I’ll just enjoy my favicon.

ps
If you don’t see the favicon, it’s probably because your browser doesn’t support it. Take my word for it,… no big deal.;)

update

I’ve replaced the temporary icon with this new one . I promise this is the last time I’ll be changing it for a while.

red state of mind

I can’t believe it. I’m willing to face the shortcomings and shortsightedness of those living in the red state of mind, but not my home town of New York City. I was browsing over at The Republic of T. when I came across this article culled from the New York Times.

I knew the NY Post was a bad influence, but I had no idea. Click the image to enlarge and see the monkey er… I mean monkeys larger.

the incredibles and the not so

I saw a wonderful movie this week. The Incredibles. I know there are a whole bunch of people who don’t particularly like animations, but you’ll really enjoy this one… really!!! I really loved the whole James Bond venue when they are on the island and fashion designer, Edna is hilarious. This movie supplied a much needed lightening up. See it and enjoy yourself.

Meanwhile…

If you should run into any right wingers who have pulled their heads out of the sand long enough to screech that the soldier who asked rumsfeld a difficult question was coached by a reporter, you might want to ask them what role the reporter played in getting all the other soldiers to applaud the question enthusiastically.