Solipsism Gradient

The Joy of Tech, one of my favorite online cartoons, blasts pop-up ads.

I agree that pop-ups and pop-unders are evil and should be abolished. Most modern browsers have options to suppress them; MSIE is the notable exception. The capability to open new windows, resize or move existing windows, or alter the window layering should be eliminated from JavaScript altogether; I can’t think of a single justifiable example. MSIE compounds its sins by blocking all activity – even quitting or clicking on the close button – until a pop-up has finished loading all its noisome payload.

Update: Illiad‘s UserFriendly expresses my sentiments very well…

Everybody – and I mean everybody – should read The Naked Face.

There seems to be much more about this on the web…

Update: Neal Stephenson’s Jipi and the Paranoid Chip also features analysis of facial expressions (and many other things). Neal’s one of my favorite writers; here are some more links to excerpts of his works. Several other great writers are featured on that page, which BTW is by Eva van Emden.

Mike Daisey, Dilettante.

Kevin Marks’ Epeus’ Epigone.

Steve White’s Plurp. Be sure to look at his Home Page, too.

ernie/the/attorney.

Ted Shelton.

Freedom to Tinker.

John Gruber’s Daring Fireball.

..here’s a great interview with Google’s product Manager Marissa Mayer.

Thanks to Cory Doctorow’s boingboing for the link.

Mitch Ratcliffe; both the Business, Technology & Investing and the Social and Political weblogs are very interesting.

Dan Gillmor’s eJournal.

I think it’s time for me to look into doing a standard-issue “blogrolling” column on the first page of this site… mostly for my own convenience in checking all these links out every day or so.

Britt Blaser’s Escapable Logic. Again, thanks to Doc Searls for the link.

Gordon Meyer’s Usable Help. Thanks to Cory Doctorow for the link.

David Weinberger’s JOHO the Blog. I can’t resist quoting A Blogger Code of UnProfessional Ethics:

My readers:

…know me. They will judge me according to context.

…are smart. They will not be misled by some stray comment I may happen to make.

…are kind. They make allowances and forgive me ahead of time.

In return:

I will speak my mind about what I care about.

I will not revise too much or too carefully: Blogging about opera is still jazz.

I will not anticipate and reply to every objection: Punctilliousness in pursuit of the appearance of propriety kills voice.

If I apologize, it will be because I have actually betrayed my readers’ trust, not because I may have, might have, or could be misread as having done so.

I pledge to keep the reading of my weblog purely optional.

Everybody even faintly interested in Copyright and intellectual property issues – which nowadays should include every Internet user – should watch Lawrence Lessig’s Blog. He’s arguing the Eldred v. Ashcroft case before the US Supreme Court.

Eldred v. Ashcroft is important even if you don’t live in the US, as most countries these days seem inclined to copycat the US stance on many issues without questioning that stance in depth. If this goes on, many everyday activities such as listening to music, writing e-mail, linking to someone’s website or watching TV may cause you to violate some law or other in some place or way you’d never think about.

As a software author I’m definitely in favor of some sort of Copyright and of a way to live for a reasonable time on the proceeds of my work. On the other hand, I think that the recent tendency to patent and protect anything and everything for an indefinite time is deplorable and should be nipped in the bud.

In this connection, I’d like to recommend Janis Ian’s website. Not only does she write great songs – she also writes great articles! Internet Debacle and its follow-up is a must for anyone who ever bought a music CD. Read the other articles too – there isn’t a dull one in the bunch.

And, of course, you must also read Courtney Love Does The Math…

For the record, I Am Not A Lawyer But My Wife Is . I’m also doing some occasional court work as an expert in intellectual property cases. It’s surprisingly interesting work.

Dori Smith’s and Tom Negrino’s Backup Brain. Dori and Tom were on the MacMania Geek Cruise, by the way.

Bill Bumgarner’s bbum’s rants, code & references.

Chris Pirillo.

More to follow… there’s lots of good stuff out there.