Here’s an interesting bit of trivia I unearthed last week: in trying to prove to somebody at work that aspirin is a coal tar derivative, I found out that Bayer developed and registered the drug as a trademark in 1899. By itself, that’s not so interesting, I know. However, it turns out Bayer also discovered,… Continue reading Bayer
Month: April 2004
Weekend off
So yeah, I took the weekend off from blogging. Ran out of steam, I guess; I didn’t even read any other blogs on Saturday, I was engrossed in finishing up Kiln People. Sometimes it’s just plain nice to take a break.
Clone Wars
This is a total geek-out post. You’ve been warned. The kids and I have been watching the Clone Wars mini-series that was on Cartoon Network (we’re watching them on the computer, a few episodes at a time… it’s much more convenient that way), and enjoying it quite a bit. Hell of a clever idea, too,… Continue reading Clone Wars
Snow in April
Just looked out my back door a few minutes ago and was mildly surprised to see snow falling. I’d heard there was a chance, but you never really expect it this late in the year. Oh well, welcome to Central Oregon—you gotta wait at least until June before you can guarantee no snow.
On Politics
I make it a point to not really write about politics here, for several reasons. First, it’s a hot topic for too many people. Second, I frankly don’t feel qualified one way or another to sound off; I have opinions, sure, but before I voice those opinions, I better be able to back them up… Continue reading On Politics
Bots and JavaScript
Here’s something to think about: do any search engine bots and crawlers recognize and parse JavaScript? I haven’t heard of any (and I’m really too lazy right now to do any real research 🙂 ), but I got to thinking about this today, and there’s really no reason that they shouldn’t be able to handle… Continue reading Bots and JavaScript
Easter
Better late than never, I suppose, but here’s hoping everyone had a good Easter today. Growing up, I could never understand why Easter always fell on a different day each year, rather than like “regular” holidays like the Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving. Ironically, it was some computer programming trivia that clued me in to… Continue reading Easter
Edgefield History
This is just a little bit of history and trivia that popped into my head tonight, about McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon (just outside of Portland). The Edgefield is a 38-acre estate that features lodging, restaurants, a brewery, a vineyard and winery, a distillery, and more, dominated by a Georgian-revival style manor. It’s a fantastic,… Continue reading Edgefield History
overLIB
Pointer to a totally excellent JavaScript library for creating popups: overLIB. I’ve been using it the last few days to put together a dynamic drop-down menu for a Web project at work. And I’ve used it before to create popup context menus and tooltips. It’s simply one of the best JavaScript tools out there that… Continue reading overLIB
David Brin
Ugh, it looks like I’m taking a blogging vacation. Time to try to get back on track. Tonight, since I’m reading one of his latest books, I thought I’d provide some links and commentary on David Brin, one of my favorite science fiction authors. The book I’m reading is Kiln People, and it’s really good… Continue reading David Brin