Of our feline residents, Kat is the smarter.

Unfortunately, he apparently wasn’t smart enough to tell the difference between a cast iron doorstop and a real cat. It took him about five minutes to get close, while in the meantime, any noise would cause him to levitate straight up and then back, as if he was about to be attacked by the ferocious creature.
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The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle

Although I’ve read other books by Peter S. Beagle, I had not read The Last Unicorn before. It’s mentioned as a classic, and I kept bering disbelief that I had never read it. So I finally picked up a copy and read the book.

Read More about The Last Unicorn

Don’t forget to vote Saturday the 25th on the bond issue.

ADDENDUM the First:
Disappointing.

Unsurprising, but disappointing never the less. How we expect to pay our bills in the future is beyond me, but then my fellow state residents have already shown themselves more than willing to vote against their self interest, as is evidenced by the last presidential eletion.

And as coal companies continue to dump their pension plans, state finances are not going to get better, as those who spend their lives working are now left with no retirement, and are going to require more and more support by the state. (You think are Medicaid bills are bad NOW…)

I just don’t understand how people can be so short-sighted.

Another case of mad cow in the US. Reassuring words from the government.

“This animal was blocked from entering the food supply because of the firewalls we have in place. Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef,” he (Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns ) said.

However…

The animal was a “downer,” meaning it was unable to walk. Such animals are banned from the food supply.

What is unsaid here is that only downers are pulled from the food supply. Only cows that are visibly ill are tested.

Which means that if a cow is not visibly ill, it enters the food supply. It becomes burgers and steaks for humans, while the more “non-traditional” parts are rendered into animal food.

And people wonder why I don’t eat mammals…

One in 10 UK websites fail to work properly on the open source Firefox web browser, a study shows.

Some 100 leading consumer sites were assessed by web-testing firm SciVisum.

It astounds me–yet doesn’t surprise me–that businesses would fail to meet web compliance standards. I mean, can you imagine a business that failed to allow 10% of potential customers through the door? Yet by failing to employ web standards, that is precisely what these businesses are doing.

I can’t understand how someone who is being paid good money to design web pages can fail to meet web compliance. It’s sheer stupidity–unfortunately it’s a rather common stupidity.

I teach the two sets of web design course we offer. One series of courses on HTML, and the other series on Dreamweaver, and something that I emphasize repeatedly in every class is to check a website in multiple browsers before posting. I’m sure that people get sick of hearing me say it, but it seems that it really can’t be said enough.

You have people sitting in their offices creating pages in Front Page that load great in Internet Explorer over a T1 line, and then never bother checking to see how the page loads in other circumstances, such as using Safari on a Mac, or using like Mozilla or Opera, or accessing the page over a dial-up connection.

When I teach my classes I emphasize all of these things, and also that the whole point of the Internet is that it should not matter what computer you are using, or what browser you are using, the page should be accessible to everyone.

Of course I also emphasize content over style, and strongly advise avoiding flash and javascript, so it’s quite clear I’m in the minority.

Some of this may be due to the fact that I work for a university in a rural state. Many of those accessing our websites will be coming in over a dial-up connection, most likely using an old computer, because that is what is available to most residents. (You may think I’m exaggerating, but last time I was in my mom’s 5th grade classroom, the majority of the computers there were using Windows 95 and 98.)

But these dial-up connection, old computer consumers are the very people who should be the very people Internet Commerce should be targeting. If you live in a small town, then the Internet may be the only way to access a variety of goods. Even living in Morgantown, which is pretty cosmopolitan for WV, there is a limited selection of goods available in local stores compared to what I can find elsewhere, and so I make a lot of purchases over the Internet. I find it unlikely I’m a rarity.

By failing to meet compliance standards, these web designers are not just ignoring, but actively excluding a number of potential customers.

How stupid is that?

ADDENDUM The First:
What say we change that title from garbled nonsense to English?

New design day here and on the main page.

If you don’t already know about it, check out Freecycle.

We live on a busy street, and have had success with placing things on the curb with a “FREE” sign, but not everyone has that option. Plus it’s good to know where things are going.

Players may now only wear cabbage by presenting a doctor’s note in advance.
…
Mr Park said he was glad he helped to clarify a rule, but that he was planning to stop using cabbage anyway.

It never fails to amaze me how ten years of dance classes were completely ineffective at giving me any sense of grace.

Walking to the mailbox I managed to stumble and fall into the road (luckily not into traffic) bashing the side of my bad kneee in the process (a knee made bad by another bout of sheer clumsiness and stupidity in college). Then carrying laundry upstairs I manged to smash a toe under the door. Not broken, but there’s going to be a bruise. Only when I went to change my pants did I realize that my knee is already swollen and bruised from the fall.

So I sit in the living room, legs propped up on the sofa; Ice pack on my knee.

And to add insult to injury, I just realized that the book I picked up to read–which is quite good so far–is part of a trilogy, and I only have books one and two.

BAH!

So my request for the day: If I ever come across a wish granting fairy, remind me to ask for grace as one of my wishes. Or at least a reduction in clumsiness.

This is just neat. Make sure you click on the links to see the pictures.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Birthday West Virginia!

You don’t look your age at all!

My cousin Math graduates from high school this week. Because the graduation is Tuesday afternoon, they held a graduation party Saturday for him, for those of us (most of us) who couldn’t make it down for graduation.

So… family pictures abound, including pictures of Math and his siblings, and pictures of my grandmother. Because everyone else had left by then, Michael is taking the group picture, so he isn’t in it. (I may need to invest in a tripod, for situations like this when there is nowhere to perch the camera and use the self-timer.)

Today’s OED Word of the Day:

selkie

[SEL-kee] a mythical sea creature that resembles a seal when it is in the water but is able to take on human form when on land. A Scottish term, it comes from selch, a word for a seal, and it can also be spelled silkie or selky.

The OED only sends out big and unusual words, so I was quite pleased to see a word I actually know!