netcropolis.org

Don't anyone mail me to say "hey moron, your CAPTCHA's broke!"

Of course, that's likely because the only people who've tried to log in have been bots, but still. Damned inconsiderate bots.

I've changed the CAPTCHA, so if you ACTUALLY wanted an account, and are not spamming pharmacology, c'mon (back) in.

Alternate title: having a plan in the first place.

So I imagine it's pretty clear that my site has "just growed", in that after my first site, a decade or so ago, in which I actually designed it and then built it by hand, the subsequent sites have all been Content Management System (CMS) based.

This has been great from a "slapping crap onto the site" perspective, but a nightmarish POS from an esthetic/personalization standpoint.

So this time I'm going to do my whole site as a Flash-based design.

*silence*

Ok, enough bitching about something I dislike, and on to something I like;

I'd kind of been ignoring "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog", until attending the "Shadow cast" (Think Rocky Horror Picture Show floorshow, for you old-timers out there) at Arisia 2010. Until then, I'd only seen the first half of the first Act.

It's really excellent. It's a great mix of ridiculous humor/plotline, actual ly really good classical story and well. It's just great. If, on the off chance that you haven't seen this, go to YouTube or iTunes right away and grab it.

They did a GREAT job on this, especially considering it was virtually no budget...the ending..man.

My daughter was unsure what to make of it, but on viewing it straight, she's been humming some of the songs tonight.

I've read that there are rumbles of a "sequel", I kind of hope not. Some things are one-shot, they come together and anything following just detracts, the ending just says "Period. Done."

"Billy? You're driving the spork into your leg."

"Huhn? So I am...Hilarious!"

In other news - I'm finally reading Discworld, yes I'm just Mr. "cutting edge", huhn?

Daring Fireball: "The print publishing industry should be so lucky to have iTunes do for them what it%u2019s done for music."(Via .)

Daring Fireball Linked List: McGraw-Hill CEO Says That Tablet Is iPhone OS Based: ""(Via Daring Fireball.)

Shuh, "McGraw-Hill content? No, I'm sorry, we don't have any McGraw-Hill content." - Steve Jobs

So, over at Wet Asphalt, Eric Rosenfield has written an article about some...concerns he had after attending Arisia 2010 and found it to be a bit more of a "Lifestyle Con" (It isn't, but that's the term he used).

After posting some thoughts on his concerns and telling a commenter there who turned out to be Eric's "partner/co-poster" on the site that he was full of shit" (oopsie :)), I found a track of thought that I'd been wondering about while I was at Arisia.

What do we want to get out of these panels?

Eric was talking about how at a West Coast con, a Dr. Who panel, for example, would have people from the show, whereas at Arisia (in this case) you basically had fans who ended up talking about their favorite episodes. Which is all cool, and I've been at panels like that, but...how does this differ from just getting a bull session going in a hallway? Is it better? Worse?

What about the one with the people from the show? A chance to ask questions about the show? Can't I just watch the DVD extras and get the same things? Read about the show on their website? How is that different?

How much of the "Is there a -name- in a panel?" interest comes from wanting to rub elbows with the celebs? Or do you get something more useful?

At the "Future of School" panel, one of the best comments an attendee made was "if you vote, this is something you can go out, right now and do that will actually have an effect." (He was talking about campaigning against standardized testing). That alone was worth having suggested that panel, so that there were other commenters, is just a bonus.

So, going forward, as I suggest MORE panels for Arisia next year, I'm going to be thinking "what do I want people to get out of this panel?"

So, it's almost time for MacWorld Expo 2010.

Over at Bynkii.com, John Welch has written why MW Expo should continue, and all of the benefits that Conferences like MacWorld offers.

This was initially in response to an article by Jim Dalrymple about how MW Expo 2010 is basically going down or gonna be a success.

It was pointed out to me that I didn't link to any options for blocking Google SideWiki.

From what I could find, there are two ways - If you know of a better one, let me know, I'd love to hear it.

The daughter complains that I mentioned that we were waiting to see her show but then didn't say how it went. (Rightly so.)

The show was really great! You could tell that they've come together as a cast, and were pretty solid! I stepped in on her later shows that weekend, and they were even more enthusiastic, which is a good sign.

If you are on the South Shore and wanna check it out: http://www.littletheatreofstoughton.org/

Daughter is in the picture on the front page, but good luck picking her out. :)

Was just reading this review (http://technologizer.com/2009/12/06/nook-review/) and was struck by a thought - I almost wonder if Apple wants to wait until any potential competitors have gotten their products "on the floor" before moving on a "Tablet" iPhone/Mac type device?