For those saddened by this news, there is a Facebook group, Bring back Ms. Dewey, with pictures and video of Ms. Dewey doing what she does best.

Ms. Dewey Lives On — But Only In Our Memories from Brent Logan.

• LESS — “LESS extends CSS with: variables, mixins, operations and nested rules. Best of all, LESS uses existing CSS syntax. This means you can rename your current .css files to .less and they’ll just work.” LESS is a compiler that runs on ruby and needs both ruby and ruby-gems installed.
• Sass — “Sass is CSS, plus nested rules, variables, mixins, and more all in a concise, readable syntax.” Sass (for Syntactically Awesome StyleSheets) is also a compiler that runs on ruby. Although its syntax is simplified, it is incompatible with CSS; CSS files will need to be modified before they can be be used with Sass.
• Scaffold — “CSS Scaffold is a framework written in PHP. … You can drop Scaffold into your site and you’ll instantly have access to all of its functionality. Constants, mixins, nested selectors, expressions caching and gzipping, [and is] extendable through plugin.” Scaffold runs on your site in your CSS directory. You modify your .htaccess file to redirect CSS requests through Scaffold.

I like the features of LESS. I wish I didn’t have to install (and learn some) ruby to get it going. That’s likely still easier than getting Scaffold installed and running.

Other CSS-related sites I discovered today:

• CSSTidy — “CSSTidy is an opensource CSS parser and optimiser. It is available as executeable file (available for Windows, Linux and OSX) which can be controlled per command line and as PHP script (both with almost the same functionality).”
• Text Sizing — “I’d had enough. ¶ Being unhappy with the current wisdom and distrustful of our browsers, I wanted to have the font sizing options laid out so i could see where they did and didn’t work. So I made 264 screenshots. ¶ This collection is posted for anyone else who is unhappy and distrustful.”
• Sane CSS Sizes — “..wherein we present a method of text sizing in CSS that actually works consistently across our browsers without offending designers.”
• List of CSS Tools — “What can be better than simple, useful and handy tools you can use “on the fly” in the development process?”

Do you use a CSS extender?

Extended CSS from Brent Logan.

5min.com

amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385504225/

collegehumor.com

thedailyshow.com

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-15-2009/dow-jones-rebounds-to-1999

dailymotion.com

funnyordie.com

video.google.com

metacafe.com

nfb.ca

scribd.com

slideshare.net

iPhone App UX Review: NY Times vs. USA Today

twitpic.com

http://twitpic.com/o79hv

xkcd.com

http://xkcd.com/341/

yfrog.com

http://img39.yfrog.com/i/kkqr.jpg/

OohEmbed Plugin Test from Brent Logan.

Somehow, I don’t think my homeowners’ association and city fathers would want me doing this in my back yard. Sure looks like fun, though.

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Hat tip: The Firearm Blog.

Anvil + Blackpowder + Spark = Flying Anvil from Brent Logan.

No HM

When we drive into Portland from Hillsboro, we see two signs apparently prohibiting “HM.” We’ve tried to guess what these signs could mean, with the most entertaining guess being that Hannah Montana isn’t welcome in Portland.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices comes to the “rescue”:

On routes where the transporting of hazardous material is prohibited, the Hazardous Material Prohibition (R14-3) sign (see Figure 2B-21) may be used.

Nope, that’s not as much fun. :-p

No Hannah Montana from Brent Logan.

“Happy Birthday!” continues to be Jamison’s preferred greeting, even a year later. It’s Jamison’s emotional dipstick for me. If I’m feeling good, he knows I’ll respond with “Merry Christmas!” and I’ll get an, “Ooooooooh!” in return. Games dads and sons play. :-)

Today, though, there’s one important difference: it actually is Jamison’s birthday. So the roles got reversed. I wished Jamison a happy birthday and got “Merry Christmas!” in response. A hug completed the exchange. I expect we’ll repeat this multiple times throughout the day.

This last weekend, Ashley and Heather came home from college for Jamison’s birthday. To celebrate, we went out to eat, opened presents, and had ice cream cake. Tonight, Jamison and I will go to guitar group. Good times!

Happy Birthday, Jamison! from Brent Logan.

Don’t you want to forward this video to someone who just did something stupid?

I remember a law professor who told me this exact thing after I attempted to answer one of his questions. Well, not exactly. I believe his exact words were, “Mr. Logan, that was certainly a baroque answer.” Somehow, it felt the same. I didn’t volunteer in that class for quite a while.

How often do we shut other people down with similar results?

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Strangely enough, I became this professor’s unofficial IT support guy and helped him check cites for a revised version of his casebook. I asked him to be a reference for my first law job. Life is funny that way.

I Award You No Points from Brent Logan.

My Payment

I donated blood again today — fifth time this year. In exchange, I got a sticker. Next time I also get a one-gallon pin. Sounds fair to me.

The picture above shows my total “payment” this year. See you back here in 56 days.

I Sell My Blood For Stickers and Pins from Brent Logan.

President Obama

President Obama wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

I must admit I initially didn’t see what Obama did to deserve this award, especially in the first ten days of his presidency. After all, the nomination deadline was February 1, 2009. Then I did a little research. According to the Timeline of the Presidency of Barack Obama, In the first ten days of his presidency, Obama accomplished the following:

• January 20 – Minutes after the administration of the Oath of Office, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issues an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending. In one of his first official acts, President Obama issues a proclamation declaring January 20, 2009 a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Obama enacts a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per year, as well as announces stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to raise the ethical standards of the White House.
• January 21 – Obama revokes Executive Order 13233, which had been initiated by the Bush administration to limit access to the records of former presidents. At 7:35 EST on January 21, Obama retakes the Presidential Oath of Office, again administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, before four print journalists. Obama issues instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to “adopt a presumption in favor” of Freedom of Information Act requests, reversing earlier policy set by former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
• January 22 – President Obama signs an executive order announcing the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within a year, and signs a prohibition on using torture and other illegal coercive techniques, such as waterboarding, during interrogations and detentions, requiring the Army field manual to be used as a guide. He issues an executive order entitled “Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel”, governing the limitations on hiring of employees by the executive branch to qualified individuals only, and placing very tight restrictions on lobbying in the White House.
• January 23 – Obama ends the funding ban for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, also known as the “gag rule” or the Mexico City Policy. He orders the first two Predator airstrikes of his presidency. (See Airstrikes in Pakistan).
• January 24 – Obama produces his first weekly Saturday morning video address available on whitehouse.gov and YouTube, (like those released during his transition period) a policy compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats.
• January 26 – Obama signs his first two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, directing the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and the allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard. That night he gives his first formal interview as president to Al Arabiya.
• January 28 – Obama makes his first visit to The Pentagon as President, meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• January 29 – Obama signs his first bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which promotes fair pay regardless of sex, race, or age. Lilly Ledbetter, the plaintiff in the employment discrimination case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. joined Barack and Michelle Obama at the signing ceremony.
• January 30 – Obama signs a presidential memorandum launching the Middle Class Working Families Task Force to be led by Vice President Joe Biden.
• January 31 – Obama speaks at the Alfalfa Club annual banquet.

It’s all clear now.

Congratulations, President Obama!

Update: It was pointed out to me on Facebook that the selection committee can consider more than accomplishments up to the date of nomination. During February and March, the committee created a short list. So, rather than ten days, the committee was able to consider Obama’s accomplishments up to March 31 — ten whole weeks!

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Visit the Timeline of the Presidency of Barack Obama on Wikipedia for references, and maybe even more reasons for this auspicious award, as the entry continues to be updated.

President Obama Wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize from Brent Logan.

• Like a fishing competition. Catch and release only.
• Like a vegetarian going big game hunting. Just another trophy for the wall, ultimately unsatisfying.
• Like a scene from A Few Good Men. “You can’t handle the truth.”
• Familiar?

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjoro/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

On Searching for Truth from Brent Logan.