Recently in Web Interest Category

My favorite web comic now has cool merchandise. I'm definitely getting a signed print for my favorite person this Christmas.

Can't remember my favorite web comic, here is a hint.

If you stalk me close enough you probably are looking at my reading list on google reader.

For the rest of you, here are a few web links.

A Village Voice article entitled "The Fall of the House of Rubashkin" the perils of the kosher meat business - who knew?

Raymond Chen's technique for getting people to leave a meeting room when their meeting runs over. I tend to just hover at the door until people get nervous.

As an inverate recycler of boxes, I always give gifts in the incorrect box. The box might say Nordstroms, but the contents say Home Depot. Anyway, these fake boxes from the Onion are too funny.

Backup tapes are worth a lot more than you might think.

Although I embrace social media and blogging, I have a hard time not being skeptical when people spout off about how blogs change everything. Sometime you see something that makes you think twice. Check out this video on Iranian bloggers.
Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo.

How did I miss the fact that the url for "First Monday" had moved? I guess having google around means not having to remember where stuff went.

Anyway if you are interested in thinking harder about what social networks mean, check out "Whose space is MySpace? A content analyis of MySpace profiles"

The power of the web and networks have always been in the power of it's links. It took years for google to come along and truly understand that power and harness it. Now we have a new set of links. It's not the link between web pages rather the links between individuals. We're connected on a massive scale through applications like facebook, myspace, friendster, and tools too numerous to count. I haven't yet seen much of an application that really uses the links for a really interesting purpose. LinkedIn I suppose has found a purpose in it's ability to allow people to network professionally. I suppose that is useful, but it is just a way to automate the traditional roledex.

I'm looking for something much more interesting than a big rolodex.

I am betting people are working on this really hard. I keep hearing rumblings that this election features operatives who have sliced and diced the electorate into small and elaborate tribes - wouldn't surprise me if facebook and myspace were part of the inputs.

I'm still not entirely sure what the real application is.

But I am thinking about it ...

It is probably painfully obvious that the links in the social world - they aren't the hyper variety. They are "friends" in the facebook/myspace sense of the word.

This brings me to another topic.

What does it mean to be friends on a social networking site?

People have already written on this topic. Check out this First Monday's articleFriends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites by Danah Boyd.

I don't get much time lately to play with web toys, but I've been really intrigued by the possibilities offered by the new CSS grid frameworks. I think it's a bit too soon to call these CSS files frameworks, but they offer some great possibilities.

I took apart a MovableType template and have applied on at my test blog. Check out the coolness that happens when you go to that page and click control, then use your scroll wheel. I didn't make the whole template set yet -- I haven't had much spare time lately.

Grid templates:

• Typogridphy -- I like this one since it does a really nice job of both the grid and typography.
• Blueprint -- Pretty good documentation.
• Yui Grids -- Really easy to use with some super cool automation.
• Blueprint Generator -- fill in a form and the custom CSS gets emitted. Awesome if you know what you want.

So google docs has added support for "forms" to their spreadsheets. Not only that but I can embed the form in a web page. This is pretty neat.

I'm not joking, fill out the form about and go to my spreadsheet and you can see the results for yourself.

Need help setting one up yourself? Check out the page "Creating Forms".

I finally got to play with a kindle in person. (Amy bought one for herself -- to celebrate my birthday no less!) I think I really like it. The print and fonts are really very good. I loved the ease of downloading a book and the integration with nownow, service where you can ask random questions is pretty cool as well. It's still expensive, but I can definitely say I wish I had one now.

The video is the security video of a man stuck in an elevator for 42 hours. Be sure and read the fascinating New Yorker article on this man's plight as well as a lot of interesting elevator information.

I wonder what a security cam of me would look like. It would consist of lots of trips to the coffee pot and reading email.

All my Ebay auctions are going rather well, except I not received any bids. All I am getting is questions.

Q. Will I ship the Chia Head to Australia? If so how much?

A. Yes I will. It will cost you a lot more that it is worth.

Yes, that was a real question. I quoted shipping to Australia as $35.

The tension of having -0- bidders is getting to me.

Email me with your guess for the high bid for the Chia Head. If you are the closest I will reward you with your own piece of memorabilia from my basement.

• Super creepy story - "Daddy's Girl"
• The Attractiveness Scale
• Cool refridge magnets
• Dirk - the interconnected game