DudeAsInCool

I saw a useful series of articles on how to make a website for your band on MSN. Here is the first one: Sample Design Project -- The Band May 27, 2004 | 41 Comments So I’ve had this idea for awhile. I’ve wanted to do another Web design example project, this time for a fictional band. I really want to show that it’s possible to make a killer band site that looks cool and is very easy to use as well. As I’ve talked about before (somewhere in my People-centric Web post), it’s pretty rare for these kind of sites to be usable. I’ve been waiting to start on this until a few projects clear up and summer was here. Well, summer is almost here and my projects are almost cleared up. I’m planning on taking the summer mostly off from freelancing to have a little fun and relax a bit. You all know I love design so I figure it’s about time to start my little fictional band project. This time I want to do it a bit different and I thought one thing I could do is let my readers in on the fun. A Little Background The first thing I figured would be good to do is to document the project from start to finish as it happens, as opposed to putting it up and talking about it after it was done. Then, last week, while watching all the comments come in about Design Eye For The Usability Guy, I started realizing how helpful that project was to folks and how involved so many people were with the discussion. This was something new to me. I’ve been talking about design and usability for quite awhile and it’s only recently it seems like these things are becoming a hot topic when talked about together. I think that is awesome and exactly what I’d hoped to accomplish with this design example project. So, my brain started going and I thought, “what if I asked my readers to become a bit more involved during the project? What if I helped them shape this project a bit so they could get more out of it?” Sounded like a good idea to me. So I came up with some ideas that should help y’all get a bit more involved, if you choose, as well as maybe help all of us learn a bit more in the process. The Deal As of right now I’ve done nothing but formulate the basic framework of this project. That and of course write up this post to explain it all. Here is how I think it could work: With your help (if you want) we create a back-story for this band. This will give me something to begin with and throw a bit of creative energy into the project. I’ll provide a little bit to get us started, and will take any ideas that come my way to create a scenario. Once we’ve “made the band” and created a back-story I’ll kick off the design process, just as I would with a “real” client. Obviously there will be differences, but I’ll try and make it as real as possible. I will explain everything, and note where this might differ from a real project. At this point all of you get to play the part of the band, well, in a way. I’ll post once a week, on Thursday, and talk about what I’ve done. You’ll have the opportunity to comment, ask questions, offer feedback or whatever. In this way you’ll help shape the direction of the project, and hopefully, we’ll all learn a lot. Once the project is done we’ll do a big post-mortem, talk about the project, the final design and whether or not I met the goals we laid out for this design. So, there you have it. It might be a wacky idea, but you know, I learn so much from reading about and discussing other people’s projects and processes that I can’t help but think it’ll be very educational. Lot’s of fun too! Plus I hope to finally show how a cool band site can be usable! I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile. I hope to kick it off with the brainstorming phase next Thursday — so if you want to play, check back then! What do you think? Am I off my rocker? Any questions? There is still much to be worked out and I’d love to have your input. For more info and comments on this project, visit: http://64.4.16.250:80/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang...fpCCVbafpL9g%2f

BEIJING - China's Internet population grew 28 percent over the past year to 87 million, while use of broadband and online commerce is soaring, according to a government report. China now has 31 million subscribers to broadband high-speed lines, an increase of 79 percent over the past six months, the China Internet Network Information Center said on its Web site. The country aggressively promotes Internet use for business and education, despite an average annual income of less than $1,000 per person. At the same time, the government tries to crush attempts to use the Internet to spread criticism of communist rule, imprisoning activists for posting political material online. Censors monitor domestic Web sites and block access to foreign sites deemed subversive or obscene. According to the Network Information Center, more than half of Chinese Internet users plan to start shopping online in the coming year. The finding could give Internet retailers a morale boost as they struggle to fulfill early projections that China's 1.3 billion people would offer a huge online marketplace. Growth of online commerce has been held back by China's lack of credit cards and poor delivery services. But entrepreneurs are developing new methods for online payment, and distribution is improving. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=...net_1&printer=1

The problem is perception - Im concerned many European's anti-American bias comes from political matters, and ironically, Im in agreement on a lot of the same issues. But when they start lumping American and all Americans on all issues, then I have a BIG problem. It seems to me that if people want a better world, they are not going to get it by spreading hate and mistrust. It's wrong any way you want to slice it

Greed sums it up...

Monday's Television Coverage of the DNC Monday July 26, 2004 2:16 AM By The Associated Press BOSTON (AP)- The following is a list of live prime-time coverage for the Democratic National Convention for Monday. All times are Eastern daylight. ^--- CBS: 10:00 p.m.- 11:00 p.m., coverage from the convention floor with host Dan Rather. NBC: 10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., coverage from the convention floor with host Tom Brokaw. ABC: 10:00-11:00pm, coverage from the convention floor with host Peter Jennings. FOX NEWS: 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm, You Decide 2004, coverage from the convention floor. CNN: 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm, live coverage from the convention floor with hosts Wolf Blitzer, Aaron Brown, Jeff Greenfield, Larry King, Bill Schneider and Judy Woodruff. PBS: 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, coverage will include roundtable discussion and coverage from the convention floor. C-SPAN: 4:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., gavel-to-gavel coverage from the convention floor. ^--- Here are the list of speakers for Monday. The Democrats have not released a schedule. ^--- David Alston, Vietnam swift boat crewmate of John Kerry Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. Former President Carter Former President Clinton Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. Former Vice President Al Gore Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla. Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., joined by all Democratic women senators Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-Ohio Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas

Where the f*ck do assholes like this come from? I cant imagine people even devising such a notion... Sick.

:reallymad:

Whitby student suspended for jaywalking Girl, 17, told her actions posed a 'safety issue' Mar 11, 2004 David Blumenfeld, Staff Writer More from this author WHITBY -- A Grade 12 student at Anderson Collegiate was given a one-day suspension by the vice-principal for allegedly jaywalking after school. Kelly Simo, 17, said the streetlights at Anderson and Crawforth streets, a block north of the school, were yellow and then turned red when she was halfway through the intersection as she walked home Feb. 4. "The next morning when I went to school, she called me down to the office...and (said), 'I have to suspend you for jaywalking,'" Kelly said, adding vice principal Pauline Langmaid insisted the light was red when she went across the street. She was told to stay home on Friday, Feb. 6. She complied with the suspension, but her mother is battling the school over what she calls a "ludicrous" decision. Kelly, a Girl Guide since the age of five, said she was bewildered by Ms. Langmaid's accusation of misconduct. She noted the alleged incident occurred off school property and outside of regular school hours. She said she wasn't even offered a warning. Jackie Simo, the girl's mother, said Ms. Langmaid told her it was a "safety issue" and the school would have to set an example for its junior students. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding. There are kids in (schools) with drugs, weapons, alcohol, violence...but you're suspending her because she crossed the light?' said Ms. Simo. "What I was told was the school day does not end until my daughter is in the house. I laughed and said, 'So if my daughter gets hit by a car, is mugged, raped...assaulted, is the school going to accept responsibility because she has not walked in (my) door?'" "What I was told was, 'Let's not get carried away...' "The whole thing is absolutely ludicrous. This is a kid they suspended because she crossed (on) a yellow light." Ms. Simo said immediately after she met with the vice principal she went to the Durham District School Board to meet with the school's trustees. She said she was told she could not appeal the decision because it was a single-day suspension, but was assured it would not stay on Kelly's permanent record. Nevertheless, Ms. Simo said she has contacted a human rights lawyer to get it reversed. "I'm not letting this go. I will fight this to the end because no student should be punished for crossing a light on their own time," she said. "There's enough stress in my daughter's life - trying to get through Grade 12 and into college - to have this thrown at her. She was absolutely devastated. This is a kid that's never been in trouble before." Speaking on behalf of Anderson Collegiate, principal John Morrison insisted schools are "very reasonable in the way they approach things." "Let's just leave it at that," he said. "I'm not going to speak about individual student suspensions or anything along those lines. If this mother has an issue, she needs to continue to speak to us about it." Mr. Morrison said the school followed the Education Act in regards to the matter, which allows for suspensions for incidents taking place outside of regular school hours or off school property, however jaywalking is not listed as an infraction. If anything, Kelly said maybe a detention could have been issued. "But not pulling me out of school all day long and making me miss my classes," she said. http://www.durhamregion.com/dr/youth/news/...p-2009322c.html

Posted on Mon, Jul. 26, 2004 Psychiatrist testifies in dentist's defense. State dental board holding public hearing KAREN GARLOCH Staff Writer. Charlotte Observer RALEIGH - An Atlanta psychiatrist testified Sunday she doesn't think Dr. John Hall, a Cornelius dentist accused of injecting semen into the mouths of six female patients, has a psychiatric illness or an interest in deviant sex. Dr. Tracey Irvin, of the Behavioral Medicine Institute, told a panel of the N.C. Board of Dental Examiners that she evaluated Hall for three days in November and also talked with three of his employees and reviewed dental board investigation records. "I did not feel that the information that I had supported that he had been involved with what he had been accused of," Irvin said. But she added she found Hall "very intrusive" and "overly familiar."

Wrong. I think its absolutely disgusting. You have a guy who beats cancer. Then he goes on to outperform any cyclist in history. His reward, unsubstantiated media allegations about whether he used drugs to enhance his performance. Even worse, some Germans and French even spat on him. I think crap like this is vile and against the human spirit. It's blatant hatred 'cause the guy is an American. I wouldnt be caught dead with any of these loser pigs anywhere, anytime. Also, Method, Americans arent the only athletes who have been caught taking drugs--hell, the Russians had a whole program going for many years. I'm not a big nationalist, but I refuse to see a few spoil sports be chosen to represent this country. We should be praising the individual effort, not where someone hails from.

lol - Im on a natural high

CENTRAL PARK SUMMERSTAGE REVIEW | DEVO Snappy and Smoldering in Jumpsuits and Upturned Flowerpots By JON PARELES Published: July 26, 2004 The band members wore uniforms and did some synchronized moves. Their songs had snappy little hooks and robotic drumbeats. They even started their set with an introductory video. But Devo was hardly a boy band when it played on Friday night at Central Park SummerStage, in its first public New York concert since the 1980's. Just in time for the current new-wave revival, Devo, which got started in Ohio in 1972 and released its first album in 1978, returned to prove that its songs still have some bite....Friday's concert was partly a vigorous nostalgia trip, with a set of the band's most familiar songs and Devo's members wearing their matching yellow jumpsuits and red "energy dome" hats, which look like inverted flowerpots. Two New York bands that draw on new wave shared the bill: Stellastarr, which juggled the styles of the Cars, Talking Heads and the Cure, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whose set squandered its momentum on stubbornly midtempo songs. But at least the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' singer, Karen O, had just the outfit for the occasion, an outdoor concert punctuated by rain. She arrived in a transparent poncho over a fluorescent-patterned one-piece bathing suit. You can read the full review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/arts/mus...PARE.html?8hpib

My bet is the allegations are false and will be proven untrue. And when that happens, you wont hear the press apologize for their false remarks..

Armstrong Makes Ride Into Record Books Look Easy By SAMUEL ABT Published: July 26, 2004 PARIS, July 25 - Lance Armstrong broke one of the most revered records in cycling on Sunday, rolling into Paris as the winner of the Tour de France for the sixth time. That it was also his sixth successive victory was the icing on the cake. Armstrong, the leader of the United States Postal Service team, made it look easy by going on a rampage in the final third of the three-week race. Since July 16, he finished second in one daily stage and first in five others, four of them in the Pyrenees and Alps and two of them in individual time trials. He was nearly unbeatable on the most demanding terrain of the Tour, rising from second place over all to an unapproachable lead Sunday, finishing 6 minutes 19 seconds ahead of Andreas Klöden, a German with T-Mobile. "Everything went perfectly," Armstrong said in French on the three-step victory podium. "The tactics, the training, everything. The team was the best one here." Asked if he would be back next year, Armstrong replied, "I can't see myself not being in the Tour." Pressed to say that he would defend his championship, he answered only, "We'll see." There is speculation that Armstrong, a 32-year-old Texan, is not planning to compete in the 2005 Tour but will shift his attention to other major races, partly out of respect to the four former riders whose record of five victories he broke Sunday. The difference in cycling between five and six victories is enormous, whereas six to seven is just another statistic and could be interpreted as a way of rubbing in his superiority. Armstrong spoke after what has become a standard celebration: doffing his cap to the crowd, slipping into the final yellow jersey as the race's leader, accepting two trophies and a bouquet and listening to a French military band play "The Star-Spangled Banner." He also received a congratulatory phone call from President Bush. Ivan Basso, an Italian with CSC, finished in third place, 6:40 behind Armstrong, having lost second place in a long time trial on Saturday in Besançon. Jan Ullrich of Germany, Armstrong's longtime rival and the leader of T-Mobile, was fourth, 8:50 behind. Armstrong respected custom for a champion Sunday by not seeking another stage victory. He demonstrated his status, however, by spending an early part of this 20th stage - 101 miles from Montereau to Paris - at the front of the 147 riders remaining of the 188 who set out on July 3 in Belgium. While Armstrong was in front, Jimmy Casper, a Frenchman with Cofidis who was at the bottom of the overall standing, went ahead of Armstrong, pulled a small camera out of his jersey and took a photograph of himself leading the man in the yellow jersey. Casper then retreated deep into the pack. Tom Boonen, a Belgian with Quick Step, sailed across the finish line with his arms up after the usual mass sprint on the Champs-Élysées. It was his second stage victory in this Tour. Jean-Patrick Nazon, a Frenchman with AG2R who won the finale last year, was second in Sunday's stage. Danilo Hondo, a German with Gerolsteiner, was third. Robbie McEwen, an Australian with Lotto, was fourth. Casper finished sixth. They and nearly 100 other riders were timed in 4:08:26 as a huge crowd watched on a balmy day. Armstrong finished the stage in 114th place, a safe 19 seconds behind the tumult of the mass sprint. His overall time for the 2,107-mile race was 83 hours 36 minutes 2 seconds, an average of 25.2 miles an hour. The standard of five victories was established in 1964 by Jacques Anquetil, a Frenchman. He declined to seek a sixth triumph. Eddy Merckx, a Belgian, matched the record in 1974 but failed to break it the next year when a French fan injured him with a punch in the liver. Bernard Hinault, a Frenchman, won his fifth in 1985 and was second the next year, his final Tour. Miguel Indurain, the Spaniard who won five straight Tours, faltered in the rain and cold in 1996 and retired at the end of that season. At a news conference Saturday, after he won the long race against the clock in Besançon, Armstrong said of his success: "It's a full-year commitment. That's the secret. The answer is total, full commitment and hard work." Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tour director, said that Armstrong's meticulous preparation, including long training on the race's mountains, had changed the contenders' strategy. "More and more riders have adopted Armstrong's method of reconnoitering stages and his higher standards of professionalism," Leblanc said Saturday. For Laurent Fignon of France, who won the Tour in 1983 and '84, the second time in a performance as dominating as Armstrong's, another reason was the quality of the opposition this year. "His adversaries weren't at Armstrong's level," Fignon said. One major contender, Alexandre Vinokourov, a Kazakh with T-Mobile who finished third last year, could not race in this Tour because he was badly injured two weeks before the race. Another, Tyler Hamilton, the leader of Phonak, was hurt in a crash and had to withdraw. Two Spaniards, Roberto Heras of Liberty Seguros and Iban Mayo of Euskaltel, failed to perform well and also dropped out. Another Spaniard, Joseba Beloki, who has finished second and third in the Tour, was without a team because of injuries and lack of form. Ullrich, who has won the Tour once and finished second five times was so far below his usual performance that he failed to make the victory podium for the first time. Fignon also praised the support of the United States Postal Service team and the way Armstrong used it. "He played his role perfectly," Fignon said. For Bobby Julich, an American with CSC and a former teammate of Armstrong's going back to their days on the United States national team more than a dozen years ago, the answer lies in Armstrong's physical preparation. Discussing Armstrong's second-place finish in the Tour prologue on July 3, when he finished ninth, Julich said: "I seriously have to wonder if there were any pedals left on his cranks or any cranks left on his bike. He looked as if he was just ripping 'em off. "The prologue has a lot to say about your form, the condition that you're in. That all goes into his preparation. He's put so much effort into getting that ball rolling that now it looks as if it's just rolling by itself." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/sports/o...rts/26tour.html

Here are the summer box office winners and losers so far: Sleepers & weepers Sun Jul 25, 5:19 AM ET Peter Bart, STAFF, Variety This is the moment of summer when Hollywood takes a breath and tries to elicit some meaning from the weekend-to-weekend box office chaos. To accomplish this, the shockwaves must first be absorbed. Yes, an expensive Jerry Bruckheimer summer action movie, "King Arthur," will struggle to get past $50 million domestic, and a Spielberg summer movie, "Terminal," also proved wobbly. Yes, a teen romp called "Sleepover" actually managed to open badly and still plummet 72% its second week. And, yes, the Internet geeks weren't genuflecting either over "I, Robot" or "Catwoman" (negative geek-buzz always makes the studios nervous), but the Will Smith movie at least opened big-time at $52.2 million. The ground was also supposed to be shifting under the sequels business, but "Spidey 2" still managed to levitate itself into outer space. It was a summer of surprises for sleepers as well as tentpoles. "Dodgeball," a dopey guy flick whose script had knocked around for quite a while, shot past $100 million. "Mean Girls," meanwhile, was not only encroaching on $85 million in the U.S., but is also defying the rules of chick flicks by rolling up impressive numbers overseas. "The Notebook" continued to build strong word of mouth in that most rarified category -- a quality tear-jerker. And "Fahrenheit 9/11," the movie no distributor wanted, became the highest grossing documentary of all time. Hence, the sleeper list refuted tidy generalizations -- much to the frustration of studios eager to find a new success formula. Some movies did play true to form. The "Harry Potter (news - web sites)" franchise continued to be bountiful, and Warner Bros. did itself proud by gambling on an outside candidate, Alfonso Cuaron, to shepherd it. "Shrek 2" seemed gold-plated from its moment of inception -- it's already glided past $700 million worldwide. Almost every studio bid for "Day After Tomorrow," and it's passed $527 million globally. Some wannabe tentpoles, however, needed a major jolt from the overseas audience to achieve their expectations. "Van Helsing" grossed $120 million in the U.S., but gleaned another $150 million abroad. "Troy" did a respectable $132 million domestic, but its foreign afterburners generated an astonishing $350 million. The overseas audience, however, did not rally behind "Around the World in 80 Days" (U.S. gross: $23 million) or "The Alamo" (U.S.: $22 million). And while Buena Vista had hopes for "King Arthur" overseas, its limp performance in the U.S. will surely inhibit its impact ("King Arthur" did not employ the macho day-and-date worldwide opening pursued by "Shrek 2" or "Troy"). While the jury's still out on a few important movies (the still-to-come "Collateral," "The Village" and "Manchurian Candidate" and the just opened "Bourne Supremacy" and "Catwoman"), some tentative conclusions about summer '04 can still be advanced. Total grosses were up almost 10% over summer '03, but year-to-date numbers climbed only 6.2% and admissions were up slightly. Hence, higher ticket prices, not brilliant product, constituted the key to the lofty grosses. Indeed, were it not for Mel Gibson (news) and Michael Moore, the year would surely be a major disappointment. The two filmmakers who had the most doors slammed in their faces thus saved Hollywood's butt in 2004. What "take-away" do studio hierarchs scrape from all this? A few argue resolutely that, despite the soaring risks, the tentpoles saved the day. A few others cite the sleepers as their saviors. One CEO put it this way: "I can see why Kirk Kerkorian has decided to pack it in and focus on Las Vegas. At least he's admitting it's all about the big gamble." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...epers___weepers

There was a sci-fi show growing up called The Invaders which only lasted a year that I thought was pretty cool...so was Mission Impossible (Hmmm...best tv show ever...I would have to say The Honey Mooners, Lucille Ball, Seinfeld, Green Acres, Batman, Johnny Carson and David Letterman come to mind... But I tend to like sports and docs, so I would add Monday Night Football and Frontline...)

Sounds like you had a good time and some buttons to spare

Unlike my old conservative friend, I do believe people can change. His stance on the War on Iraq, however, has nothing to do with his former racial attitudes, so I ask you RNFS, how is he a hypocrite?

You have to cover your flanks, draw the enemy away from the action, and than attack while they least expect it... :duck hunt:

Looks good so far - Im registering.. :good job:

I know nothing about these bands. Can you fill us in and tell us which you liked best and why?

I only wish they would have recorded more...

:rotfl:

:good job:

I wouldnt give up this readily...there is a lot of money out there in loans, financial aid, and scholarships - no one should be denied the opportunity to further their education...