guff

Linka Dinka Doo

Let’s all sing!*

Books about Perl and cold beer in the kitchen;
Cheap buys on hardware and time out for bitchin’;
They Might Be Giants and maybe the Kinks;
And hey, here’s a few of my favorite links.

Jakob Nielsen’s site (Usability and Web Design)
The Internet is like a scatological exam for a woman who swallowed her diamonds: you may come across a brilliant gem or two, but look at all the crap you have to dig through first. Whether a site is a jewel or… less so, there’s nothing worse than designing a lousy one. No, that’s not quite correct. Having it talked about disparagingly by Jakob Nielsen is definitely crappier. Just one thing Jakob: drop the turquoise-colored table cell.

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online
Bartleby’s is the online reference I suggest to everyone. They offer a large number of searchable sources, from American Heritage Dictionary to Bartlett’s Quotations, from Robert’s Rules to Gray’s Anatomy. Need a look in Bulfinch’s Mythology? They got it. King James Bible? That too. Sanger, Shakespeare, Sophocles? Yep, uh huh, certainly. And it’s all free.

The End of Free
Regardless of places like the last link, free stuff on the Net is like a species on the way to extinction. Here’s where I watch them vanish.

Project Gutenberg (PJB Software’s easy access links)
I’m a reader. To have free, electronic access to the vast potential library of out-of-copyright works leaves me — well, leaves me reading. There is also an official Project Gutenberg site to check on.

Bits of Net What Are Good
BONWAG is sort of an overblown Weblog, though not really. And it offers the feeling of an Internet portal, yet it’s nothing like one. My point is, this is what a family Web site should look like. I think. Anyway, it’s my favorite!

Law for Kids – Magic 8 Ball
So why the last link is one to a virtual Magic 8 Ball? Because I love Magic 8 Ball! So much so I’ve written Magic 8 Ball chatbots. But mainly it’s that I’m perplexed by why Magic 8 Ball is on the Law For Kids Web site. Is this how the judicial system goes about its decisions? The Magic 8 Ball says… “Seek professional help!”

Ah, thank you Magic 8 Ball.

*Sung to the tune of My Favorite Things, written by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers. I prefer to steal from the best.