Brilliant CSS application

[Xyle Scope][1] is pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted in a CSS app. Minus the little feature requests I’ve now already asked for. :)

A great tool for examination and troubleshooting, learning, and live editing and correcting. Exporting reformatted style sheets is sweet. I will finally be cracking open my legendarily tight wallet and ponying up for this one. Perhaps only my second shareware ever. The first? [CD Finder][2].

It beats Mozilla’s Web Developer because it shows pre-rendered CSS. It beats GoLive because it’s on live, post-PHP pages. Nice cascade display. Nice DOM views. It’s ginger peachy.

What is it about Germans and the great software? (I’m including [Adobe GoLive][3] in that, Jens, Lars, Veronika, et al.)

[1]: http://www.culturedcode.com/xyle/
[2]: http://www.cdfinder.de/
[3]: http://www.adobe.com/products/golive/main.html

Back in!

Somehow, between WebSTAR, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and Safari, I got locked out of this blog. It wouldn’t take my password. I couldn’t get in even through a “back door”. Ugh!

Well, it’s fixed. And I’m being more vigilant to see if I can discover what happened.

St. Paul’s dirty trick

St. Paul, Minnesota has just adopted a smoking ban. I know that’s not terribly uncommon anymore, but it sure seems cowardly. Cowardly because the folks pushing these initiatives won’t do what should plainly be the Right Thing (from their perspective) and outlaw tobacco.

Of course, they would reply that Big Tobacco is too powerful; big money lobbyists. But it sure seems there are some pretty deep pockets behind the anti-smoking folks, too. And if Big Tobacco’s lobbyists are too powerful, it’s only because they are able to sway politicians.

And if politicians are easy to sway or not able to be trusted to rise above the crass temptation of lobbyists, should we be trusting them to curtail our liberties at all?

Continue reading St. Paul’s dirty trick

Global warming? If you care, kill all the plants.

> German scientists have discovered a new source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in its impact on climate change.
>
> The culprits are plants.

[From here.][1] It makes me think we should maybe just slow down and keep improving our data before we go making any big changes. Besides, even if global warming really hits, it seems we have a good chance of making it another [55 million years][3]. That’s not too bad. :)

[1]: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060111/sc_nm/environment_methane_dc
[3]: http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/01/ancient_answers_to_current_cli.php

“Pressure Point Massage”

Today local talk radio host [Joe Soucheray][1] got his hair cut by a friend of ours, [Veronica][3]. He discussed it on-air.

[Here is the mp3.][2]
[Here’s the wav file, for those not in this century.][4]

If you have trouble with the mp3 link:

– Mac users, control-click and choose “Open in iTunes”
– PC users, right-click and choose “Save to Disk”

Note to self: It looks like WebStar messes up the mime when serving mp3s. Mimes of the world, revolt!

[1]: http://garagelogic.com/
[2]: http://www.kpmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/joes-haircut.mp3
[3]: http://www.bleachsalon.com/veronica.php
[4]: http://www.kpmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/joes-haircut2.wav

My MacWorld prediction

I had to get this “out there”. Everyone figures on seeing an Intel-based machine – maybe a laptop. And a more media-center-ish Mac. I’m throwing a Bluetooth-enable iPod in the mix, too. Seems like a no-brainer.

**UPDATE:** Shows what I know. :)

Grrr. Where is the Media Mac?! Well, anyway, [check out the newest][1] if you’re interested. Nice to see things get faster, but in general… I dunno… yawn.

[1]: http://www.apple.com

Work in a different era

As much as I like to play with technology, I often feel like I belong to a different era. I’m sure that’s in part because I only have a limited and overly positive view of times past, but I think there’s something else to it, too.

A few days ago, I went to work with one of my clients. He’s an older man who’s on the tail end of a successful career, still ambitious enough to be developing a small but growing internet business.

“Ken, my boy!” he greeted me. We worked on a number of issues and improvements concerning his web site. No stress. We were working together. I made money; he got what he needed; everyone came out better.

Afterward we went out to lunch across the street at a small restaurant and antique store. The ladies’ Red Hat Club was there chattering away. It’s a small town. Everyone seems to know, and be on good terms with, everyone else.

Continue reading Work in a different era