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The much-anticipated release of Firefox 1.5 is available now.

I have watched my stats reveal, as my traffic has risen, that many of you are still using Microsoft Internet Explorer. I have reservations about this, but there is little I can do except to direct you to a more secure browser, and a happier web browsing experience.

The benefit to you, Dear Constant Reader, is a more secure browser, a lighter, faster browser, and a more enriching browsing experience — especially if you use Windows (Mac users… you have Safari AND Firefox… I’m jealous to a point, as I use both OSs). And.. you can add the features you want — not the features that someone else thinks you (and others) could use.

If you don’t yet use Firefox, you’re missing out! Go download it now. Install it. Give it a day or two. You won’t go back, I promise.

One word of note to those of you that already use Firefox, and you have installed extensions: not all of them will work with the new release, but… <whisper>Firefox is smart, see? And it looks at your extensions and themes, and asks if you want to upgrade those that are compatible with v1.5… all you have to do is click “OK” and you’re done! How sweet, no?</whisper>

I can think of two advertising taglines applicable here: “Just Do It”; “You’ll Be Glad You Did.”

(Cross-posted at Blogcritics.)

Today is Black Tuesday for me.

Jimm Lasser at Speak Up wrote most eloquently about what it is like to lose your job, so I won’t even try at this moment to match his grace; let’s just leave it at the point where I’m still deciding what to do for the next couple of days.

And how to break the news to my bride.

She’ll divorce me for sure.

This is not to say that everything was perfect at Optiem — it’s never perfect anywhere you go — but I did like my job. Sure, I had a personal issue take command of my time a little while back, and I found it difficult to concentrate, but I had made what I thought were significant strides in reclaiming my head space.

Evidently, not enough.

So it goes.

Anyway, I had fun, learned a ton, and met many truly neat people. I hope my next go-round is better.

So, I’m back on the market again, this time with more experience and a better picture of what the web world has in store. I’ll update my résumé, start gathering company information, start talking more deeply with my network, and get started on getting a new job; just because I’m out at one place doesn’t mean that my taste for the work is dulled.

So if you know a company in the Northeast Ohio area that needs a Standards-based web developer with the best CSS skills, damned good Photoshop skills, PHP, MySQL, several panoramic photography packages on both Windows and Macintosh, excellent writing skills, MS Office, public speaking, and more, please let me know — and let them know I’m available.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas.

We had to cancel a highly-anticipated trip to Niagara Falls this weekend because of the weather.

What ticks me off about it is that the weather wasn’t that bad; the fear-mongerers at the local TV stations that pose as weather authorities kept us in town. And they were able to do it all in the name of ratings and advertising revenues. I should’ve known better. (”Bad weather’s a-comin’! Be afraid! Be very afraid!”)

So today we went to the outlet mall at Grove City, PA for a little Christmas shopping. My other half is Super Shopper, able to find extreme deals at rock-bottom prices in almost any store in the US. But not today. This is not to say that she didn’t find any bargains; just not as many — or as good — as she usually can. (In other words, she got skunked.)

I am not Super Shopper — by any means. But I did end up buying two pairs of Rockport shoes for less than $80, one of which is Gore-Tex lined with a lug sole for winter weather. Not bad at all.

But my real bargain came at the end of the day: I found an Oxo corkscrew, retail price $24.95 (which the outlet store sells for $22), clearance priced at $9.98. When I got to the register, it was half off, bringing the price down to a cool $4.98 plus tax.

Which just goes to show that every once in a while, even a blind squirrel can find a nut.

As you may have noticed, I have returned my site to its original form from last week’s OSU-inspired design variant. (I was considering a new style sheet for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t have the time. Maybe Christmas. Stay tuned.)

It was a little loud, I’ll be the first to admit, but for Michigan week, I’ll take it loud; in fact, the louder the better (Go Bucks!).

But during all the hype, the trash talk, and more, I failed to note here one very prominent (in my mind, at least) technical aspect of the web site for The Ohio State University: it’s Standards-based.

Yup! In all of that hype, I actually took the time to open the hood and look underneath, and to my chagrin, I didn’t find a single table used for layout. Not one. Nada. I wish I could say that for the Woody Hayes site I cited, but you can’t win ‘em all, ya know? Besides, what do you want from MSM? (”Standards? We don’t need no stinkin’ standards!” — Yeah, right!)

So I looked up the design specs page, and found they have 4 templates for creating content on the OSU web site: 1 column full-width, 2 columns - right main, 2 columns - left main, and three columns (center main, two flanking). The style sheets are right there for download, too.

Last I visited the site, about a year ago, it had a different design. I like the new design: it’s simpler, cleaner, and a lot easier to navigate. It’s reasonably fast for a content-managed site, too. Just goes to show what determined, eager people can do when they put their heads together. What’s even more remarkable, when you consider just how many people at Ohio State create content (department heads, college deans, their underlings, and more) for that site: with such a large school, you’d think there’d be more errors; I have yet to see anything beyond a simple typo!

Not bad work, not bad at all…

So: a tip of the cap is due to Ted Hattemer for an excellent job in placing The Ohio State University at the top of the heap for standards-based collegiate web sites. Job well done, Ted!

I’ve created a style sheet for Sage, styled (tastefully) in my favorite Scarlet and Gray.

You can download it here. Don’t forget the logo image, available here. Make sure that the logo image resides in the same directory as the style sheet.

Enjoy!

…I haven’t been posting much of late: I’m busy at school, studying QTVR.

I’ve uploaded an initial panorama for your viewing pleasure; Windows users will need QuickTime to view (1.57MB).

I still have a bunch of Photoshopping to do with this, which is why you’ll see spots and glare. It’s also choppy and small. The final version of this won’t have these defects.

Eventually, when I move to WordPress 1.5, I’ll have my photo page up, and images like this will live there.

Enjoy!

Via CNN, wile reporting that Camden, NJ was the least safe city in the US, I was surprised to learn that Cleveland is the 12th least safe city in America.

Here, all this time during our renaissance, I thought you could walk the city streets at night… downtown, at least…

Here’s an interesting online confessional for you, especially if your name is Pilate…

And if you ever wondered why comment spammers always misspell “nice blog,” look here. Look familiar?

And from the Monday Moaning Department at the PeeDee, we have these little tidbits:

“Why is my sewer charge 5 1/2 times what my water bill is?” - Cleveland

“It seems a shame when, at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ and, in all the catalogues for the sales, they can’t even mention his name, as if he’s nonexistent.” - Bay Village

“Lets see now, Kmart, Sears, Kohl’s, Target, to name a few, won’t let their employees say Merry Christmas, yet they make money off of us by selling Christmas trees, Christmas cards, etc.” Seven Hills

For item #1: Simple — we’ve screwed up the Federal subsidies, and now we have to pay through the nose. If you’re really worried about it, just don’t move to either Euclid or North Royalton: Euclid because the sewer system there is irrepairable (and no one will admit it); and North Royalton because they have NO Federal sewer subsidy — both cities for political reasons.

For items #2 & #3: that’s because some folks would rather sue than act like adults.

Happy Thanksgiving — a little early.

Ohio State Buckeyes 25 — “that team up North” 21.

Great game, eh?

I thought for sure that the Bucks had thrown the game away, but they endured Ted Ginn’s two fumbled punts and -32 yards in punt returns, Santonio Holmes’ celebratory dive for a touchdown that cost them 15 yards, 2 fumbles, and more, to prevail in the Big House this afternoon.

I have a feeling that coach Jim Tressel will become a much larger and more important figure than Woody Hayes ever has been for Ohio State. He’ll probably be at OSU for at least another 20 years; he’s already proven himself an able, steady coach, a good recruiter, and a fine front man. Cheers to Jim Tressel for his fine work!

To my friends and family that have made the unfortunate choice to be fans of “that team up North,” all I can say is: they played a great game. Next year, the game’s in the ‘Shoe…

The Scarlet & Gray theme will stay up for a day or two in celebration of today’s great victory…

Here’s a couple of last-minute links for your enjoyment:

The Buckeye Battle Cry

Carmen Ohio

Hang On Sloopy

I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to know who I am rooting for in tomorrow’s big game. Since this is considered one of the sports world’s biggest rivalries (in fact, ESPN thinks it’s the bigggest), I was inspired to modify my CSS file. Lovely, isn’t it?

Anyway, I just thought you might like to see something a little different for once…

In other news…

First off, I’d like to welcome the Nordonia Athletic Boosters Association to the web. I’ll give you three guesses as to who developed their web site, and the first two don’t count. If in doubt, check out the CSS file…

Also:

Google has released a Webmaster Console, which begs to eliminate all those high-cost Search Engine Optimization companies out there. Hmmm…. I’m going to try it here and report back on it…

Elsewhere:

Cerealogist Colin Andrews, noteworthy for his study of crop circles, is evidently broke and is selling his complete archives on eBay for a cool $250,000. Now, I’m not sure what you think about crop circle phenomena, but I know that there is considerable speculation about why they happen, from alien visitation to the cry of an anguished Earth.

Andrews himself has speculated about crop circles with the accuracy of someone arguing Intelligent Design over Evolution. Makes just about as much sense, too. The argument goes that since the designs are of an overwhelmingly complex geometry, there’s no possible way that humans could have created them.

Unfortunately, when you apply Occam’s Razor, which stipulates, “given two equally predictive theories, choose the simpler”, in this case, the easiest — and by far the most sensible — conclusion is that those crop circles are indeed made by people with an interesting sense of humor — and design. I’ve visited the circlemakers site — a site created by admitted crop circlemakers — at least once a year since it first went live, and I can tell you that these guys have a penchant for creating complex imagery in a crop field armed with only some plywood planks and a little rope.

“Well, there’s been evidence of crop circles dating back to the 17th century!” the alternative explanation supporters cry, “How can you say that it’s just a bunch of hoaxers?”

Simple: all these circles are is a fairly simple application of mathematics and geometry, and we’ve had the technology to do this for centuries. Just consider crop circles as the original form of graffiti. Pretty graffiti, but graffiti nonetheless.

OK, so why do these hoaxers recant their stories when people ask them if they made a particular formation? Simple: they’d be charged with some sort of criminal damaging charges and sent to jail — for what they consider to be a harmless prank.

Whichever way you look at it, I think a quarter million dollars is far too many dead presidents to spend on some photos and a lot of conflicting and contested evidence.

And, by the way, you could easily make similar pieces of artwork with a Spirograph.

Some more photos of crop circles on flickr.