Author: James McNally

Govanuh Ahnuld?

I surfed around this morning looking for reactions from some of my California friends to last night’s debate among gubernatorial candidates, but found none. I have to wonder if they’ll even vote. Even though I’m far from the action, I had to tune in to watch, since it’s Arnold’s only scheduled faceoff with his opponents. For the most part, it wasn’t much of a real debate.

The only fireworks were between Arianna Huffington and Arnold. She rightly went after him from the beginning, sensing that he’s really just an empty suit. He was unimpressive. He carped on and on about the current government, and spouted a few generic platitudes (“we need to fix the economy”, “we need to attract more business”, “we need to take care of kids”) but had absolutely no solutions. I hope I’m not the only one who can see that.

I was most impressed with Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, who never even got to talk about environmental issues. Far from being a one-issue, “hippy” party, the Greens actually had some sensible positions on most issues. Only his lack of government experience would really hold him back. And although I disagree with almost all of his positions, Republican Tom McClintock was equally impressive. He held clear positions and articulated them carefully, without attacking anyone. I think he’s in the race because he’s annoyed that Arnold isn’t a “real” candidate. I respect his integrity.

So, although Gary Coleman wasn’t there, I found the debate interesting, though a real debate format would have been better (ie. no foreknowledge of the questions, letting each candidate state his/her position and then face rebuttals from the other candidates). Good luck, Californians!

Wine Site Whines

In the course of my research for work, I’ve visited a lot of web sites of winemakers and importers. Quite a few of them really stink. Lots of them are ugly, and some of them just don’t work well, especially if you use a Mac.

On the site for Michele Chiarlo, who make very fine wines, the left navigation menu is built with Java (no, not Javascript, but Java). Though it works in Windows, on a Mac using Safari it shows up with a large red X.

Elena Walch, another great winemaker, has a system of Javascript menus that wreak havoc. Again using Safari (and Firebird), I can roll over the menus, but as soon as the submenus appear (under Wines, for instance), they disappear if you try to select something. I was able to use Opera to navigate to them, but it was still awkward (I had to click on Wines, which seemed to make the menus remain on screen long enough to be clicked).

What gives, webfolk? The site I’m designing will not work this way. I was actually intending to avoid Javascript entirely, but it is in use for the tasting notes (which are pop-ups). I almost don’t care if the site is ugly, as long as it works correctly in every browser.

BeeBeeEsses

My first exposure to the online community was back in the ’80s, using my 1200 baud modem to dial into the many local BBSes (bulletin board systems). It was great to discover that a fellow named Jason Scott is not only compiling a master list of BBSes; he’s actually making a documentary about them.

There’s even a list of Toronto-area BBSes from the 1980s, and I remember several of these. The one I was most active on, though, isn’t listed. The Powder Keg was focussed on creative writing, and a bunch of us actually got together a few times for parties and readings, probably around 1990-1991. I’d be interested to know if there was anyone out there who remembers this community? I’d like to add it to the list, but I don’t think I have enough details. I recall a couple of people who were active on the board (Ian Firla, Darren Wershler-Henry), but don’t know who the sysadmin was, the years of operation, or even the dialup number.

Hopefully, this entry will serve as Google bait for anyone interested.

Old Home Movies

I spent an hour this morning looking at an old videotape I have. It’s a compilation of a bunch of home movies from 1992-1995. It was fun to see some of the trips I took with my friends back then. There’s stuff from a trip to Montreal in the summer of 1992, and then of a trip to Chicago in the summer of 1993. The number of Seinfeld references we make is astounding, and the soundtrack is also interesting: Stereo MC’s, Tragically Hip, Indigo Girls, Matthew Sweet.

Then there’s stuff from my trip to Ireland in 1995 with Brent. We took the camera into some pubs and just put it on the floor so we could tape the traditional music. So even though there are just long stretches of black screen, the music is phenomenal.

The funniest thing on the tape, though, is our New Year’s 1992 celebration. There’s a bit of Brent, surreptitiously filmed singing along to “McDonald’s Girl” by the Barenaked Ladies. Priceless. Now I just have to get the stuff off tape and onto a more permanent medium.