Comments on: Book ‘Em, Zhdano

By: Kip W

Kip W — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:40:01 +0000

I’m seeing tooltips over some links now, and I’m pleased with the kindness of people I don’t know. Thanks, folks! Now for those joiks at YouTube.

By: Simba B

Simba B — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:42:05 +0000

I haven’t programmed for Internet Explorer in years, but I do remember that IE preferred “alt” tags for tool tips. But ‘title’ I do believe is an Internet standard so at least the latest iterations of Internet Exploder should support it.

Look back through programming references for old versions of IE if you ever want some laughs. Watch as Microsoft comically misunderstands the underlying concepts of HTML and where it was headed at the time (JavaScript, the DOM, and eventually XHTML).

By: Righteous Bubba

Righteous Bubba — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:57:12 +0000

Here’s another thought: click on what Gavin gives you or no seconds of gruel.

By: tigrismus

tigrismus — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:57:05 +0000

Kip, if you use Firefox, I highly recommend InterClue for all your link checking-out-without-clicking needs. Not that including a title isn’t a great idea, it is, and I’ll try to remember to use it.

By: Kip W

Kip W — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:52:29 +0000

Here's a thought about blind links. I'm way less likely to click on something that doesn't tell me what it is (and how I wish YouTube links would offer a clue in their names). When you make a link, right after the link name in quotation marks, you can proceed to say

title = "explanation of link"

and then when your readers hover the mouse over the link, a little clue of your choice pops up in just the dearest little box. Like this! (I hope... it's not showing up in preview, but I will try to have faith that it will work. If not, well, then I'll post again and again, getting increasingly upset in the process.)

By: Bitter Scribe

Bitter Scribe — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:23:35 +0000

Bush won in 2004 because the coattails of 9/11 were just barely long enough.

I dearly love my boss at work, but she can charitably be described as a “low-information voter.” She agonized between Bush and Kerry up to the last minute, but went for Bush because he made her feel “more secure.”

And of course, it didn’t help that Kerry was such a stiff. I voted for the man and his heart’s in the right place, but he can be a real pill sometimes.

By: Mo's Bike Shop

Mo's Bike Shop — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:09:28 +0000

My favorite scandal…

Government-Funded Gay Hookers at the Watergate.

That was a good one.

By: Leon Trotsky, Exile-in-Mexico

Leon Trotsky, Exile-in-Mexico — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:00:08 +0000

And furthermore: By his exhalted standards, doesn’t Clinton’s 2 terms make him one of America’s best Presidents? Heh, heh, heh!

I’d suggest that FDR’s three terms, plus Truman’s term equals GREATEST U.S. PRESIDENT PERIOD.

By: honus

honus — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:10:48 +0000

As I recall, Bush’s popularity was sagging badly before 9/11; among other things, the economy was going bad after the tech bubble burst, and he’d bungled and lost the senate majority by alienating Jim Jeffords; shortly to come were the Enron scandals and the Worldcom bankruptcy. Without the huge boost he got from the country uniting around him after 9/11, and after starting the war of retribution, he likely would have been a one term president.
He never realized, as most of the country eventually did, that it was he that was lucky that the country would unite behind him after the attack, and not that the country was fortunate to have him.

By: another dan riehl

another dan riehl — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:56:34 +0000

But can’t you see that *you* can’t make new resolution for me – *I* have to make the resolution myself! Huh? Huh who’s the fool now??

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:23:02 +0000

Shorter?

The Buttmissile doth scream across yon sky.

Super post! A++++ Highly recommended! (Internet traditions. I am aware.)

By: Gavin M.

Gavin M. — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:51:41 +0000

Oh, P-Zizzy is a big celebrity now, ever since the communion wafer controversy. We should just be thankful that we knew him back in the nabe.

By: Smut Clyde

Smut Clyde — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:47:33 +0000

He constructs very lawyerly arguments, shifting things here and there until things achieve a sort of strict, germaphobic internal consistency.
This style has the advantage of not lending itself well to Shorterising, so instead we are treated to a lengthy exegesis / improvisation. Huzzah!

By: Smut Clyde

Smut Clyde — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:45:49 +0000

Corrected again, by God!
This kind of responsiveness to feedback is why we comment here. The other day I was over at Pharyngula, correcting PZ Myers on his spelling of “déshabillée”, and did he acknowledge it? Did he bogroll.

By: Gavin M.

Gavin M. — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:43:11 +0000

I am still marvelling at Hindraker’s argument that the less than half of US voters who preferred Bush in 2004 must have been right — after all, they could not very well have succumbed to mass hypnosis, could they?? — while the 70% of poll respondents who currently despise Bush must be wrong, and the victims of some sort of mass hypnosis.

He constructs very lawyerly arguments, shifting things here and there until things achieve a sort of strict, germaphobic internal consistency. It’s like he’s trying to create a perfect, self-referential description of the universe as he would like it to be — as though he imagines that by arguing in the manner of an attorney to a judge, he can convince the universe to be a certain way.

What’s, you know, perennially striking is that he doesn’t seem to pay much attention at all to whether his assertions match up with the actual, objective world. Reality-as-it-is just seems like a vexing distraction to him…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:23:54 +0000

Scandal free ?

A gay male prostitute on the WH press corps is what ? Part of Bush’s legacy ?

By: Smut Clyde

Smut Clyde — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:19:14 +0000

I am still marvelling at Hindraker’s argument that the less than half of US voters who preferred Bush in 2004 must have been right — after all, they could not very well have succumbed to mass hypnosis, could they?? — while the 70% of poll respondents who currently despise Bush must be wrong, and the victims of some sort of mass hypnosis.
I imagine him citing the case of State vs. Chewbacca as a precedent.

By: Gavin M.

Gavin M. — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:12:24 +0000

Sorry, Gavin, still wrong; we insist on the “diæreses” spelling. “Diareses” are where Gollum records the events of his day.

Corrected again, by God!

By: Rene ala Carte

Rene ala Carte — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:10:01 +0000

Scandal free?

My favorite scandal, not the biggest, but my favorite, was the guy who was domestic policy adviser in the White House who was returning items to Target or switching price tags or something like that. They took him out in handcuffs as I recall.

These guys were scandalous in small ways, and in big ways (Hank Paulson).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:06:59 +0000

the federal response to Katrina was both the largest and the fastest response to any natural disaster in world history.

How can he write that with a straight face ?!?!?

What an asswipe!