Skip to: site menu | section menu | main content NonStop Chatter Blogging about whatever I feel like Home About Privacy Policy Disclaimer Syndicate Subscribe in a reader Categories Blogging Geek Humor Life Money News Politics Random Reviews eBook Reviews Movie Reviews Product Reviews Television Reviews Website Reviews Shopping Sponsored Posts Technology World Archives July 2008 April 2008 March 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 Subscribe Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Back to top « Got a Song Stuck in My Head Do You Backup Your Computer? » How to Handle Middle of the Night Wrong Numbers My husband and I got a call on his cell phone in the middle of the night the other night. Some probably drunk guy asking for Jill. Very insistent that he had the right number. So insistent that he called back, twice. Not something that is greatly appreciated after 3 in the morning. My husband was telling me that he thought he should have just told the guy that clearly “Jill” had dissed him. But I like my answer better. I told him he should have turned to me, and said it so the guy could hear it: “Hey, your name Jill?” I think we could have played that one up a little, if we’d just been awake enough.                       This entry was posted by The Chatterbox on
Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
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Skip to: site menu | section menu | main content NonStop Chatter Blogging about whatever I feel like Home About Privacy Policy Disclaimer Syndicate Subscribe in a reader Categories Blogging Geek Humor Life Money News Politics Random Reviews eBook Reviews Movie Reviews Product Reviews Television Reviews Website Reviews Shopping Sponsored Posts Technology World Archives July 2008 April 2008 March 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 Subscribe Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Back to top « How to Handle Middle of the Night Wrong Numbers Spaceport America Making Progress » Do You Backup Your Computer? I bought a Maxtor One Touch 4 500 G external hard drive recently, and finally got around to hooking it up to the computer the other day. After all, what’s the point of having an external hard drive if you don’t take advantage. So far, so good, although the Amazon reviews do make me nervous. I hadn’t seen them before purchase, as this was a fairly spontaneous one - got it for $100. And I have noticed an occasional issue with it losing connectivity with my computer for a moment or two, which is an issue I see in the Amazon reviews. But I’m trying to keep my hopes up. At a touch it is a touch warmer than I would like it to be as well, judging from how my computer feels. What I do like is how fast it goes. It really does that job well, at least. And looking through the external hard drives on Amazon , it appears that most brands have issues pretty regularly. I guess I have to hope I got a good one. Fortunately, I’m not relying on this critter 100%. I back up my computer to my husband’s computer and vice versa periodically. Just the My Documents section, not a full system backup or anything. We figure odds are we won’t have two computer failures at the same time. The catch to the OneTouch is also that it doesn’t have a function to back up the entire computer. You do have to get a separate utility for that. I’ve been looking at that option, but I do have a good warranty on this computer (and taken advantage of it in the past!), and the discs to the programs I’ve installed on my own, so I think I’m in pretty good shape.                       This entry was posted by The Chatterbox on
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
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Skip to: site menu | section menu | main content NonStop Chatter Blogging about whatever I feel like Home About Privacy Policy Disclaimer Syndicate Subscribe in a reader Categories Blogging Geek Humor Life Money News Politics Random Reviews eBook Reviews Movie Reviews Product Reviews Television Reviews Website Reviews Shopping Sponsored Posts Technology World Archives July 2008 April 2008 March 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 Subscribe Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Back to top « Do You Backup Your Computer? Fun Features I Want in a GPS » Spaceport America Making Progress I’m quite delighted to have read that Sierra County, New Mexico has approved a 1/4 of 1 percent gross receipts tax increase to fund the building of Spaceport America. They’re working on getting all the other approvals they need to operate the spaceport, as well as a deal with Virgin Galactic. There’s just something about seeing commercial space travel make progress that’s really exciting to me. I figure it comes of having a space-crazed father and reading quite a bit of science fiction.                       This entry was posted by The Chatterbox on
Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 4:10 am
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Solo Signal Demystifying Web Site Development for Business-Minded People Home About Subscribe Contact Sitemap Basics of Web Usability July 24, 2007 | Filed Under Accessibility , Web Site Development , General In my previous article Why Web Accessibility Matters I touched on why having and designing an accessible web site made good business sense. In this article, I would like to continue into the area of web usability. What is web usability? Web usability has multiple meanings depending to whom you are talking. Some people think it is just making a site work, at any cost. Yet others feel that usability is closely tied into accessibility, and I also feel that this the best practice. If you have a usable site, then the chances are really good that it is accessible. Why? In the backbone of the coding, chances are that the site will be using valid XHTML and CSS . This in and of itself helps to create a site that is usable. Let’s take a look at a definition by Usability.gov : Usability measures the quality of a user’s experience when interacting with a product or system—whether a Web site, a software application, mobile technology, or any user-operated device. In general, usability refers to how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals and how satisfied they are with that process. Usability, as defined by Joseph Dumas and Janice (Ginny) Redish, means that people who use the product can do so quickly and easily to accomplish their tasks. Usability may also consider such factors as cost-effectiveness and usefulness.  What defines a usable site? Now that we have a basic definition of usability, let’s take a look at some considerations that will make your site more usable. There are multiple ways to make a site usable and a lot of them depend on factors of what type of site you have (blog, ecommerce, etc.), your audience (casual web surfer or expert), and what your site is conveying (its purpose). Use clear and consistent Navigation One of the problems that I have encountered and I’m sure that you have too, is not knowing where the navigation system is going to take you to. And once you get someplace in the site, where exactly are you? One of the best ideas is to have a clear and consistent navigation system that stands out on the page. The reason is you want to make sure that your visitors know where the navigation system is for your site, whether it be in the upper part of the site and horizontal, or running down either side.  Another aspect of clear and concise navigation is the use of breadcrumbs, or another method of letting users see where they are, and what pages they have taken to get there. You’ve seen them on sites before, and they resemble something like this: Home » About » Thanks for finding me! This allows for users that have maybe followed a link to the final page to backtrack easily without having to “go home” and start over again. Statistics have shown that most users scan pages for the content they are looking for within 15 seconds, and if they don’t find it, the go back to the previous page, or leave your site. Not good if you want to sell a service or product. Sitemaps are another good method of ensuring an easy method of users to quickly find what they are looking for. One big plus of sitemaps is if they are correctly written, it helps with Search Engine Optimization as the spiders from Google and other sites can quickly follow those links to the main content of each page and article. Not to bad for killing two birds with one page, eh? Make it easy to read This one gets real tricky, but since you have an accessible site already up and running, it should be pretty easy. You want to make sure that your text is easy to read and resizable. Several factors affect both of these issues: Don’t use pixels to define font size as they are not able to be resized. Underline only links and use italics and bold for emphasis. Ensure there is enough contrast between the background and the text. Use plenty of whitespace throughout the site. Use proper markup, such as headings, paragraphs and lists to make it easier to define the content. Space out your content - don’t write a 15 page paragraph, and adjust line height as necessary. Remember that the purpose of your site is to convey information and if that information is hard to read or search, you have lost your audience. I’m sure that each of you have been to a site that the text was too small, or crammed together and hard to read. Or to another site where you couldn’t tell if an image was a link or just an image. Some of the best sites are simple and concise with their presentation of their product or services. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the main Google page, or Amazon.com . Their sites are pretty simple and help you look for what you are after. Keep Searching One of the biggest usable tips is to have a site search feature for your site. If the user has an idea of what they want to find, but aren’t sure where to find it on your site, then they will leave. The site search is invaluable for your business or personal site, especially if it has more than just a few pages. The site search takes the guess work out of how you have your site organized and where you might have put that valuable piece of information that the user is looking to find. This allows the user to come to your home page, type in a few keywords, and have the relevant results returned to them in a timely and efficient manner. Don’t make me Scroll! One of my biggest pet peeves is to have to scroll the page I am viewing left and right to read the content. I’m not talking so much about extra side bars for advertisements or additional information as I am the main content of a page. What I am talking about is the main content of the page. This also relates to making the content readable in simple format. Limit how wide your content is on your page and don’t make it go all the way across the screen. Trust me, your viewers eyes will appreciate this. Watch your colors Color is an important visual aspect to any good web design, but it can easily be abused. We all love looking at nicely designed sites, but the colors that are chosen for any site have to be done so carefully. One of the factors we have to consider is that you want certain things to stand out without being confusing. For example, you want consistency in the colors of your headings so that the users know they are going into another section of the content. Your links should look like links, and that should be consistent throughout the site. Don’t underline anything that is not a link to add emphasis, use bold or italics to do this.  Another usability and accessibility factor dealing with colors is that some users could have color deficits, such as color blindness or difficulty distinguishing slight hue and tint variations of a certain color. You want strong contrast with your colors, especially with the background color of your areas. Testing, testing… The final usability factor deals with the testing of your site. Often times sites are put together for Internet Explorer, which is not the optimum testing platform. IE 7 is now catching up with Web Standards, so it isn’t too bad of a browser to test and design for. However, designing a site to look right is best if designed in Firefox, Opera or Safari browsers as their rendering of sites is often times most correct. Testing of your site in multiple browsers will ensure that the most users can see and use your site as you intend it to be used and seen. Validation of your site is a good idea also. It will help you catch errors that can lead to problems with the code, usability and accessibility for your users. You can start with the validation process for your site by using the W3C Validation Service and the best part is that it is free! If you are using Cascading Style Sheets for your site (you are making an accessible site, aren’t you?), then you can use the CSS Validation Service from the W3C also. It’s a wrap I hope you have enjoyed reading some of the tips and ideas on creating an accessible and usable site. This article only scratches the surface however on these topics. If you want to learn more about these topics, please contact me or check out some of these links as a good start. High Rankings Web Site Usability Tips Mike Cherim’s Green Beast Blog Usability.gov Usability Makes Business Sense - article Jakob Nielson on Usability - useit.com Like This Article? Subscribe to the RSS Feed Related articles: Why Web Accessibility Matters Introducing Guest Blogger Elliott Cross SEO Tip: Please Don’t Click Here Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Tagged: accessibility , business logic , elliott cross , seo , structure , tips , usability , w3c , web standards Comments One Response to “Basics of Web Usability”

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} catch(err) {} Log In Register Miami Music, Art, Events, and Counter-Culture Magazine Home Art Counter-Culture Events Music REVMiami What We’ve Done Who Are We? Big City Breakdown Friends of REVMiami Subscribe Awesome New Republic Album Review: Rational Geographic Vol. One By Steven Ric gave me a copy of Awesome New Republic ’s new release, Rational Geographic Vol. One . I was anxious to play it because the cover art was eerily eye catching and the title is a clever play on words. When I popped the disc in, I was taken on an electronic joy ride. Rational Geographic Vol. One is the first disc released in a series of three through the Honor Roll Music label.  The album was recorded by the band in Honor Roll Music’s 4,000 SqFt studio in Miami’s developing Upper East Side. Vol. One is a seven-track nugget that opens with National Insecurity , a twenty second piano and vocal introduction, reminiscent of Vaudevillian story telling. The track hints to the theme of the disc as the evolution of our nation. The introduction ends and leads you directly into Rotary Clone without missing a beat. The electronic composition of the second track has a Miami Bass vibe while MJ belts out lyrics replete with social commentary touching on pharmaceutical addictions and maybe even the mortgage crisis, “I feel like a visitor in my house, I feel like an animal in my home”. The hit on the album has to be Birthday ; it’s an upbeat sexy love song where the lead character is hot and bothered by the driving of a gentleman friend. MJ shows off his vocal range and gives Justin Timberlake a run for his money with his funky falsetto. The song is very catchy with a driving beat, simple but steady bass riff, and a driven keyboard accent to the vocals. There is a climax point in Birthday , when rejecting his mama MJ builds up the chorus “….All you gotta do is love me up YEAHOHH” he hits his highest note, which leads B-Rob into a keyboard solo that soon links up with a nasty guitar (like an Iron Maiden guitar solo) to reach a crescendo then crashes into panning techno waves and fade out into the chorus. *Please read my interview with B-Rob to hear more about this song.* Another favorite of mine is Digital World. It starts off as a folksy ballad which opens up with a harmonica, acoustic guitar, and MJ’s clean voice. Returning with the album’s theme MJ ponders the fall of civilization due to technology. The song changes gears picking up a nice beat, some keys and naturally it becomes more digital. Both this song and Dances When remind me of a funked up more electric Tears for Fears for some reason, which is great because I find my self singing along. Magic City is a hyped up window into the future with a Devo-esque arrangement, surrounded by dirty syth-tones. In Magic Ci ty MJ flexes his Spanish skill, “Ciudad de magia porque no puedo montar puedo montar en la noche?” . The closing track Force Field portrays the lead character facing a paranoid delusion for increased security. He decides the only option for survival is to install a force field . Force Field leaves the listener wanting more and searching for a resolution to the story, which will have to wait till July for the release of Rational Geographic Vol. Two . But for now you can go tho ANR ’s website and download Vol. One for free. Awesome New Republic’s Birthday Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here . You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. AudioPlayer.embed("audioplayer_1", {titles:"Birthday",artists:"Awesome%20New%20Republic",soundFile:"aHR0cDovL3d3dy5yZXZtaWFtaS5jb20vd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMDkvMDUvMDMtYmlydGhkYXkubXAzA"}); LINKS Awesome New Republic’s website (www.anrmiami.com) Awesome New Republic’s myspace (www.myspace.com/awesomenewrepublic) Honor Roll Music website (www.honorrollmusic.com) Tags: Awesome New Republic This entry was posted
on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Counter-Culture , Music .
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...all it is is a technology thing.  A comb in the......the human spirit and soul.  Technology tries to combat that with...

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} catch(err) {} Log In Register Miami Music, Art, Events, and Counter-Culture Magazine Home Art Counter-Culture Events Music REVMiami What We’ve Done Who Are We? Big City Breakdown Friends of REVMiami Subscribe Interview with Mark from The Ark Band: A Peak into Rastafari By Ric This is an excerpt from an interview with  The Ark Band ’s lead singer Mark .  Over the course of the hour interview he talked about his various projects in Columbus, Ohio - like his website, www.colleone.com , playing with The Ark Band, being an immigrant from Senegal, but most importantly, Rastafarianism. The interview started with us talking about The Ark Band’s founders, brothers Eustace and Terry Bobb , then leads into Reggae music and Rastafarianism. Again, big thanks to The Ark Band , and their agent Sam Maher . Mark: Eustace drops his locks and they drag on the floor.  That is the dedication.  They’ve had several different lineups, but The Ark Band IS Eustace and Terry Bobb, the St. Lucian Rithmn Twins . Ric:   And as a [band] that’s where you want two brothers playing together [in the rythmn section]. M:   Drums and bass. Reggae music is a music from the ancient time.  You see, when the slaves first came to America, they were taught God from the White Man’s perspective.  You gotta understand; the White Man’s perspective talking to a slave, I don’t particularly need to go into that.  From the White Man’s perspective teaching the slave about his creator.  And not the White Man’s creator, but the slave’s creator, and I and I know it’s the same creator, right?  Remember… the White Man teaching, right? He said that late at night they got a picture, like [the keys] would be a great example.  Late at night, no electricity, so all this shit [pointing towards hotels in the area] was dark.  Imagine yourself back in the 1800’s, 1700’s, late 1600’s, then you come forward to 1940.  Come forward to the corronation of Haile Selassie  (Emporer of Ethiopia from 1930-1974, who Rastafarians believe was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ). [ Note: After having Steve read this over, he made note that this paragraph is confusing.  I think what Mark was trying to say is to imagine yourself back in a time when everything was dark - not only the land but in the metaphorical sense of enlightenment.  At least not until Haile Selassie in 1940. ] Now 1940, all of this was starting to light, not like this, but little structures.  But in this time segregation was alive and kicking.  Just like how herb is illegal, at that time black skin is illegal.  Just like we’re paranoid to walk around and be found with ganja on us, because they have a whole list that they throw under that label - child endangerment, driving under the influence, whatever the fuck down the line. If you had a child with a white girl it would be considered child endangerment, fine.  If you’re with a white girl that’s a crime, fine.  Some of them were death without trial - lynchings.  And so on and so forth.  So that kind of justice, which we’re still under now because of the herb, that kind of injustice is something we’ve been dealing with forever and ever. But that reggae music, drums and bass.  We’re talking about The Ark Band.  It’s *thump thump* *thump thump* - you put your hand on your heart, that’s reggae music.  The heartbeat of life. At the end of the day it’s when the lights have gone out, the slave owners have all gone to sleep… remember I’m from Freetown in West Africa; so all the history of American racism is not as big a deal in Africa, as I’ve come to understand as I’ve gotten older here.  So as all those guys have gone to sleep, and the African has to call on God, because they find themselves, like the song In The Rivers of Babylon, “how can we sing in a strange land?”  And out comes reggae music.  Back then it wasn’t called reggae, or niabingi, or rasta, we have to figure every element of what rasta is today. We let our locks grow.  It’s not that it’s dirty, all it is is a technology thing.  A comb in the 1800’s in a big technology.  So for anybody of African decent, if you leave your hair alone your locks will grow unless somebody cuts them. See that’s all there is.  Herb is the same thing.  Jah provides.  There’s a part that herb plays to feed the human spirit and soul.  technology tries to combat that with alcohol because you can’t manufacture herb but you can manufactor alcohol.  But it’s a miscategorization of even subjects.  You’re comparing apples and oranges.  Herb isn’t about giddiness and happiness like getting drunk on a friday night.  Herb is like your water.  That’s how herb fits in.  If your thirsty, if your soul is thirsty you need to be able to feed your spirit with the right food, so Jah provided that. That’s all reggae music is.  That truth, which is the truth from the heart, which has nothing to do with any formal education.  It’s a truth that existed before man even knew himself.  You know?  Like when you’re in the womb, Jah is already there for you.  You eat everyday as a baby before you come out into the world as we know it.  Before you’re even conscious of yourself that you exist.  You’re already alive, kicking, and eating.  Just like Bob sings, three little birds pitched by my doorstep, singing street songs, melodies pure and true, sing, don’t worry about a thing.  It’s because it’s a universal truth under the umbrella of Rastafari. See it’s not a universal truth for Babylon.  First there’s gotta be an acceptance of rastafari through the herb. Cause that’s where it starts, that’s what gives you that connection and that consciousness to feel - it’s not something you hear - it’s something you feel.  Reggae music is that only medium that has kept that truth alive.  No journal, no book, no magazine, nothing.  Except reggae music. Right now we’re in a time and space with wikipeida.  So if you wikipedia Reggae music you find Rastafari.  It’s like a heart beat.  It’s why you see white people get up and dance, children get up and dance.  It’s a gift from the almeighty, and Bob Marley was chosen.  And one day he was sitting somewhere listening to ska and burning his spliff, hungry as a motherfucker, and he said, “Jah, these are the skills I have, what do I need to do?”  And Jah says, “slow music down and tell the world about me.” That’s all that is.  The rest is whatever.  Behind it is the truth that God is alive.  The truth of Rastafari is… like there’s always a yin and a yang.  So if there is this side there has to be that side.  The opposite end [of Rastafari] is Babylon.  She has her truth, and Rastafari has his truth.  It’s always up to interpretation.  I’ve always said it’s “my truth”, and my truth is evident as it is right now in the Florida Keys.  My truth is that God is alive.  The greatest gift is not the iphone, it’s the gift of being alive to look at an iphone. Jah first, and all things shall be added. Babylon’s greatest fear is that if you put Jah first they’ll lose interest in Babylon.  But you see all the gifts of man come from Jah.  All this technology, and us sitting up here, and I can light fire, and [the papers] say BobMarley.com, [are] all a gift from Jah. If some dude sat down one day and said, “I am hungry, these are the skills I have, what the fuck should I do?” And Jah said, “let’s build a railroad.”  And this fucker’ll do it.  And so on and so forth.  All the negative shit is from Man.  The Earth and Jah is positive all the time and it keeps rolling along and life goes on.  Negative shit is from man. The gift is there, technology.  You can use it for good or for bad.  You can use it to feed or you can use it to starve.  At this point Babylon is using it to starve.  And as long as that is going on, Babylon chokes itself to death, while Rasta grows stronger and stronger everyday. It’s a truth before any of this, it’s a truth from an ancient time. Tags: Sinking the USNS Vandenberg , The Ark Band This entry was posted
on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Counter-Culture , Music .
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Much of a muchness Home About Me I Like Links Contact me My books and how to make them Here we go… February 24, 2007 Well, here we are. Watching ‘Amelie’, listening to Gotan Project, munching on a block of Green and Blacks Maya Gold chocolate and writing my first blog entry. Just as well women are supposed to be good at multi-tasking. Story of my life really. Always been a bit of a butterfly brain, lurching from one hobby to the next, Jack (or Jill) of all trades, master of none. On the positive side, this has meant so many interests, new hobbies, and passions. One thing always leads to something else and insatiable curiosity, a thirst for knowledge and a determination to find out what I am good at, are constant driving forces. So much to learn, not enough time. This blog is an attempt to rationalize all the skills, discoveries, passions and wonders I have found along the way, I don’t expect it will be read by anyone else but it’s a good way of organizing my thoughts and bookmarking interesting things I come across. So to start, indulging two of my passions, photography and my Meade ETX telescope (and a definite inclination to techno geekiness), I managed to take this photograph of the lunar eclipse. I didn’t have the right bit of kit to do it properly but managed to improvise and get this shot which although not technically very good, I still find quite pleasing. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated) Blog Challenge — Blog Your Passion Blogrolling: Hypebot news + more cool blogs Blog writing Call of Juarez phones in another trailer Entry Filed under: Photography , Technology . . 2 Comments Add your own

Much of a muchness Home About Me I Like Links Contact me My books and how to make them About Me I live in deepest, darkest Dorset. My sons have both flown the nest and I am busy fighting the good fight against ‘Empty Nest Syndrome’. My many efforts at finding my ‘talent’ have led me to try calligraphy, bookbinding, papermaking, silk painting, embroidery, photography to name but a few. I play tennis, read voraciously and am addicted to technology, in particular my Mac Powerbook, my iPod, a Meade ETX Telescope and my Pentax digital camera – I love gadgets of all kinds. I recently trained as a Maths teacher but decided it was not for me, worked in an art gallery and am now casting around for a new career. All in all, an era of self discovery and new ventures beckons, so watch this space… I started this blog as the usual ‘ramblings and musings’ but it has developed all by itself into a bookbinding blog. As I have had quite a lot of interest in my books, I am planning a web site as some point to sell them online. I’ll keep you posted. The wonderful photograph above is by my gorgeous boyfriend, Ludwig Haskins, whose unerring eye for detail and the unexpected, can make even an old girl like me look nice! 69 Comments Add your own