Posted about e-sheep’s Thin Ice; it’s actually part of a series called ‘our leader speaks’. Really worth the clicks, really well put.

Accordian Guy: BLOGS SAVE LIVES (What happened to me and the new girl (or, “The girl who cried Webmaster”)

Don’t mind the dust, it should clear as I work on things. Thought I’d put it up along with a writeup of some stuff I’ve been twiddling with.

I’ve been putting off forever on writing an extended treatise on the weaknesses of CSS, ie why people do find working with CSS to be so painful. While that drags longer treatise drags on, one of the tangents it sent me exploring was on the nature of why there were no mechanisms for even simple gridbags type layouts in CSS2 (whereas it was almost intuitive with table layouts). There are no less than 25 Three Column Layouts currently listed in the css-d wiki. Almost all of them have weaknesses/bugs.

Considering that the majority of web sites were constructed with gridbags in mind, it seems almost inconceivable that this issue hadn’t been addressed over the course of creating CSS (a second revision no less). Well, maybe not, considering some of the other fundamental flaws built in… A digression for another day.

This thinking about tables, of course, led me to the obvious. The CSS2 table box model of course, specifies table layouts. Via the display property, one can use table mechanics for semantically neutral container elements. While for some, it may not seem much of an aesthetic improvement, but there are several properties that directly address CSS weaknesses, including:

• Widths – not specified to the Viewport, calculated against minimum content width
• Vertical Alignment – not great, but at least everything you had w/ tables
• Collapsing Border Model

Of course, in the course of preparing this, it occurred that I should probably check how it works in some browsers. A quick check shows that it doesn’t work for IE/PC. [check on laptop – IE/Mac, Safari, Opera] According to the spec, the display property is optional and may be ignored by HTML UA’s.

Using the table box model doesn’t solve the fundamental weaknesses in property specification, block relation, or flow control, but if you’re using a user agent that supports display assignment, it may be a worthwhile avenue to persue as a stopgap.

Linux IA Website – a site dedicated to Linux on Internet Appliances, which includes custom Midori Linux images for the Gateway Connected Touchpad and other IA’s.

Grr, currently MIA CDs: Desaparecidos – Read Music Speak Spanish, Subset – Overpass

Recently reading: TBOGG, digby’s Hullabaloo, Eschaton, soundbitten. Enough for now, I’m getting too depressed.

Tom the Dancing Bug: Can you spot the double taxation?

The Shape of World War IV, By Number

• 89: Percentage of Americans who rely on television as their first source of news during war in Iraq.
• 92: Between Sept. 14, 2002 and Feb. 7, 2003, percentage of news stories airing on NBC, ABC and CBS that originated directly from White House, Pentagon or State Department.
• 236,202: The number of times Osama bin Laden was mentioned in international media reports between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11, 2002.
• 57, 667: The number of times Osama bin Laden was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2002 and today.
• 66,648: The number of times Saddam Hussein was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11, 2002.
• 225,147: The number of times Saddam Hussein was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2002 and today.

Written to JohnKerry.com:

Hi, my motivation in writing in was primarily to say how heartening it is (as a jaded young American) to see a politician stand up for what’s right with regards to the war. It seems that the majority of our leadership has been effectively cowed, giving up both their voice and better judgement on the issue.

A secondary reason for writing, is to hopefully get some informaiton on Kerry’s views and/or commitment to protecting civil liberties in these troubled times. Already we’ve seen the Patriot Act circumventing basic rights for dozens directly affecting American citizens being held illegally, and casting a dark pall on the political climate in numerous other areas. With DSEA-2003 (Patriot II) being proposed, and granting even more far-reaching powers circumventing our Constitution and Bill of Rights, the future is dim.

I have no illusions that, regardless of whatever reasoning for the incursion in Iraq, that it will result in a greater terrorist threat, and unfortunately, a corresponding threat to the very liberties that our leaders and militaries have onstensibly sworn to protect.

How strong is Kerry’s commitment on this issue?