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Over the past month a couple of folks have asked me to explain what "objected-oriented" actually meant, and I suggested they take a look at Making Sense of Java by Bruce Simpson. The book is now a few years old, but still a useful introduction for anyone who wants to get a better sense of Internet technologies and the programming process. My copy is now making the rounds among various e-commerce clients, content creators, and publishers.
architexturez: "hacking and cracking the architectural code... Architexturez is keen on perceptions that are perceived to be outside of the prevailing status quo in understanding architecture and its institutions. It's task is in Mapping and Knowing the outside of conventional channels of professionalism and academia. Architexturez uses information mining technologies as well as human networking to do so."
"CyberArmy is a group of netizens who believe in a deregulated Internet, which is free from external control. We believe in providing tools to assist others who believe in a free Internet - we support Open Source. We campaign against those who abuse the free nature of the Internet. We believe that spammers, child pornographers, web based scammers, and malicious hackers are enemies of the Internet. We believe that the Internet can be self-regulated, and that we, as equipped and knowledgable netizens, can control and suppress abusers of the Internet, with legal methods, by consolidating together as a united CyberArmy."
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) Web editors, like Microsoft's FrontPage, have a justifiably bad reputation: among other problems, they tend to produce heavy, badly formed HTML, and often won't let you clean it up. I am happy to report that Macromedia may have finally gotten it right with Dreamweaver, which may be the first WYS editor to balance page formatting with page structure. The software allows the page designer complete control over code in a fully WYS environment. The HTML you give Dreamweaver will be the HTML it uses. Yes, it comes with commands that will correct your HTML, but any such correction will be based on the criteria you choose, and can be enabled or disabled at your discretion.
This month's featured selection at Something Weird Video: The Sinful Dwarf. How could anyone ever resist a film with this title?
Webmonkey for Kids: "Ready to make your own Web site and send your weird ideas out into the world? Then you're in the right place. The Basics and Learning HTML will help you get started, explaining how the Web works and how to go about creating your first Web page. Once you've got that mastered, learn how to spice things up with Graphics and Gizmos, and arrange everything just how you like it in Layout."
Anti-DMCA Website: "This site is the result of many people's anger toward the DMCA, Corporations, loss of Constitutional Rights, the WTO and the buying of America and her laws... The [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] is being used to silence researchers, computer scientists and critics. Corporations are using it against the public. People are in Jail. A Princeton Professor was threatened... Sen. Hollings plans to introduce DMCA sequel: The SSSCA... They talk about a Digital Pearl Harbour, yet essentially dump Intellectual Napalm on the Security Industry."
The Magonia Database: A Century of UFO Landings (1868-1968) compiled by Jacques Vallee.
With Beyond the Mat going into wide-scale release sometime in 2000, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows is easily the most important commentary on professional wrestling in the 1990s. This excellent documentary follows wrestler Bret "Hitman" Hart during his last few months within the WWF, his home for fifteen years, and the blurry line between real and fictional heroism. The great strength of Paul Jay's film is its ability to legitimize wrestling as an art form while at the same time exposing its culture of sleaze and manipulation. A must see for anyone who wants to know more about wrestling.
Dynamic HTML Guru: "The purpose of the Guru site is to help you explore new possibilities in DHTML development and introduce you to a world that can challenge your ability to tell a story or provide an atmosphere to display information without bounds." Includes examples, code, and graphics from the book DHTML Magic
Addicted to upgrades, yes, but sometimes it isn't really worth it. Case in point: Microsoft Word 2000, and a feature that has become even more problematic: saving as HTML. Word 97 had the reputation of producing poor HTML which could not be "round-tripped" back into Word. Word 2000 addresses this by saving HTML with very significant XML and CSS mark-up that preserves all document formatting, metadata and structure. The disadvantage of this is that for usual Web publishing Word HTML files are far heavier than is really necessary, filled with information you may not want or need to share, and XML tags which actually do not do anything. An optional HTML export filter that can be downloaded from the Microsoft site produces somewhat cleaner code, but is only a half-measure: Word should allow the user to choose HTML that is compatible with older 3.0 browsers, even if formatting is lost.
First Monday: "First Monday is one of the first peer-reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet... First Monday publishes original articles about the Internet and the Global Information Infrastructure. First Monday has: followed the political and regulatory regimes affecting the Internet; examined the use of the Internet, by analyzing economic, technical, and social factors; reviewed research and development of Internet software and hardware; studied the use of Internet in specific communities; reported on standards; and, discussed the content of the Internet."
To paraphrase Herb Kunze, people are usually shocked to discover that I am a pro wrestling fan. But whether you love or hate North America's oldest surviving performance genre, you will learn something from director Paul Jay's documentary Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows. It can easily be called the most importance work about the pro wrestling of the 1990s. It is an exceptional documentary that follows wrestler Bret "Hitman" Hart during his last few months within the WWF, his home for fifteen years, and the blurry line between real and fictional heroism. The great strength of Paul Jay's documentary is its ability to legitimize wrestling as a real art form, while at the same time exposing its century-old culture of sleaze and manipulation.
Microsoft's Accessibility and Disabilities Site: "Learn about built-in accessibility features in Microsoft products that you can adjust to meet your needs and preferences."
Weblog resources FAQ by Jorn Barger (of Robot Wisdom): John answers questions about what is a weblog, how is a weblog different from an online journal, and whether or not webloggers are journalists.
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