A Bloy and his Blog

Two years ago when I got to the end of “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” the sixth book in the popular series, I was most annoyed. It was the first book in the series that didn’t stand out as a complete story on its own. It ended sadly and abruptly and left me hungry for the rest of the story. I couldn’t believe I had to wait for the next book to find out what happens.

I thanked ArmlessBear for not giving any spoilers away, and I won’t here either. But I just finished reading the final book in the saga, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and I was not disappointed.

read the rest of: Thoughts on Harry Potter

A couple of useful links for web developers…

XRAY is a brilliant little bookmarklet. Just click it, and then click on any element in the web page you’re viewing. XRAY will show you information on class, ID, inheritance hierarchy, position, size, margins, padding, etc.

XRAY works with Firefox, Safari, Camino, and Mozilla. Found via Zeldman.

Better Writing Through Design from A List Apart makes a case for focusing on the written word, and gives tips on writing better copy for your website.

Great web design reflects the way we interact, and the primary vehicle for that interaction remains text. We share, we chat, we comment, we tag, and we do it all via the written word.

I just returned from camping at Wisconsin’s Northern Highland State Forest.

read the rest of: Camping “up north”

While I was in northern Wisconsin last week there were all kinds of monarch butterflies flying about.

read the rest of: Monarchs

Boxer, the newest release from The National, is one of those albums where the melodies linger in your brain long after the music has stopped playing. Maybe it’s the lead singer’s, soothing baritone, maybe it’s the dreamy, atmospheric sound the band has. “Green Gloves” is a perfect example of both.

read the rest of: Boxer by The National

This is too funny: Was the Death Star attack an inside job?

“Why was the rebel pilot who supposedly destroyed the Death Star reported to be on the Death Star days, maybe hours, prior to its destruction? Why was he allowed to escape, and why were several individuals dressed in Stormtrooper uniforms seen helping him?”

“Why would Lord Vader, one of the highest ranking members of the Imperial Government, suddenly decide to fly away from the Death Star in the middle of a battle? Did he know something that the rest of the Imperial Navy didn’t?”

“How could a single missile destroy a battle station the size of a moon? …analysis of the tape of the last moments of the Death Star show numerous small explosions along its surface, prior to it exploding completely! Why does all evidence indicate that strategically placed explosives, not a single missile, is what destroyed the Death Star?”

Read more at Uncomfortable Questions about the Death Star Attack.

“BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.”

Here are my five blogs — all recent discoveries.

• Dennis McCann: Travelin’ Man - Travel writer from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who covers Wisconsin and Midwest destinations.
• Digital Photography School - Tips, techniques, and tricks for digital photographers.
• iLibrarian - News and resources on Library 2.0 and the information revolution. Written by Ellyssa Kroski.
• That Truncheon Thing - A music blog that includes reviews, links to free MP3’s, and my favorite posts, the classic bootleg series.
• And finally, The Generator Blog - Links to sites that let you generate all kinds of images, text, and other fun stuff.

The sun peeked out from the clouds in the middle of a rainstorm late this afternoon.

See the tips of the trees in the bottom right corner? Autumn is coming…

I’ve been to five concerts of the band Wilco, and every time I see them, they never disappoint. Perhaps my fondness for their music clouds my judgment, but with each concert I go to, they seem to get better and better. Last night, I was at Madison’s Overture Center where Wilco performed an outstanding show to a sold-out theater.

The band touched on every album from their career last night, playing more tunes from their back catalog than I expected. Some of the best songs of the night were older ones: “Too Far Apart” from their first album, A.M., and “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” from Being There. I also enjoyed the songs from my favorite Wilco disc, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” “War On War,” and “Jesus, Etc.”

read the rest of: Wilco’s live shows keep getting better

Avast! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. So shiver me timbers.

If ye mateys will be plunderin’ and pillagin’ and on ye computers, better to use the ergonomic keyboard for pirates, than to suffer the fate of the scurvy dogs with the dreaded carpel tunnel syndrome.

Arrrrrrrrrr!