January 2001
blinking cursor erases mind.
Posted by on Tuesday, January 30, 2001
Living in the world of Napster has an unexpected side effect. The Blinking Search Effect (I'm still working on the name - email me if you have a better suggestion). You find yourself staring at the blinking cursor in the search field and draw a blank. You can find anything your greedy little heart …
a (nude) picture is worth a thousand (key) words
Posted by on Sunday, January 28, 2001
Our logs are a constant source of amusement. Here are a few words that led people to aov through the search engines: • “Odd Penis” • “I'm afraid of Americans” • “Arguments” • “Athlete advertisements” • I can't explain the “Odd Penis” but I think the “Athlete advertisements” may have …
money laundering
Posted by on Sunday, January 28, 2001
me: “I cleaned out my wallet.” • you: “Oh?” • me: “It was in my pants, in the wash.” • you: “I see.”
if only my boss was this cool
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2001
The following is from NullSoft's Developer website (maker of the wonderful WinAmp). These guys rule (rather, they “kick the llama's ass”). Amidst dot-com turmoil, they got rich on a handy little utility that works as it should. AOL-TimeWarner (warning: this is one of those incredibly annoying …
“Everybody put your monkeys in the air!”
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2001
For a general explanation of this post's title, go here. • For a specific explanation of this post's title, go here. Caution: This will require reading. • If you are entirely uninterested in the title and the entire post, go here. • Thank you.
show your appreciation.
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2001
I do not receive enough adulation from the public. Is it so much to ask that, instead of fallacy ridden emails that obliquely threaten legal action*, you send me gifts? Of course not. • My only thought has been that perhaps I am too difficult to shop for. To that end I present you with a short …
Snatch vs. Babe: Pig in the City
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2001
Snatch is, of course, the new Guy Ritchie movie (insert pre-requisite mention of Madonna here). If you've seen Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels you know what to expect. Snatch is even more frenetic, fast-paced and violent than it's predecessor, but doesn't really cover any new territory …
as far as the eye can see
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2001
The oil slick in the Galapagos is covers over 300 square kilometres. • I was trying to think of a good comparison to illustrate how large that actually is, but nothing suitable came to mind. • Picture it: 300 square kilometres!
further pleading for rock concert experiences
Posted by on Sunday, January 21, 2001
A few weeks ago, we solicited submissions of writing for an upcoming aov feature on memorable rock concert experiences. We have been working hard writing our own experiences (this statement is not true) and we would like some help. • While the standard has been set high by an astounding account …
is the Microsoft Office monopoly more dangerous than Microsoft Windows monopoly?
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2001 in
Jakob Neilsen, usability nut, offers this interesting proposition: • “ • “...the real platform these days is Office and that Microsoft's monopoly at this new level is of more concern than what they do with Windows...” • ” • To a degree, this is true. Most common business documents use the …
WARNING: Flagrant photo-editing software abuse follows.
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2001
KirbyFerguson (.com) has abused his photo-editing skills and turned what he calls a “dream” in to a horrible nightmare for all of us. • In another flagrant abuse of the tools at his disposal, Kirby may have inadvertently created some prize winning work.
the King is dead. Long live the King.
Posted by on Friday, January 19, 2001
I, being frightfully young, criminally immature and not possesing cable television, cannot say that I knew Al Waxman's work well. It came as somewhat of a surprise to me then, that I should be at all affected by his death. For this turn of events, credit should go to one Kent Bruyneel. Read his …
show yourselves! cowards!
Posted by on Friday, January 19, 2001
Check out this great thread on IslandEdition.com.
radiohead's short-run Kid A booklet
Posted by on Thursday, January 18, 2001 in
For those who were not fortunate enough to get one of the early pressings of radiohead's Kid A, I have posted the contents of the booklet that was included (in accordance with the very lose copyright notice on their website: (“NO COPYRIGHT UNLESS YOU INTEND TO MAKE A PROFIT. IN WHICH CASE, PLEASE …
Jeeves, how do I bluntside the awning?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 9 comments
The chain of events took place as follows: • A co-worker gets a computer game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (warning, this links to a totally x-treme website - mountain dew big-slams recommended), for Christmas. • He leaves it at the office. • My life deteriorates into a blur of late nights full …
aov does xml
Posted by on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 in
First, let us get some acronym* definitions out of the way: • aov - acts of volition • XML - Extensible Markup Language • RDF - Resource Description Framework • RSS - RDF Site Summary • With that out of the way, aov has setup an RSS channel. RSS is an XML application based on the World …
you want humility? Boy did you come to the wrong place.
Posted by on Monday, January 15, 2001
Genius causes both adulation and envy. It also causes confusion and indifferce* in those who are simply too slow, whose brains are too atrophied and stunted** to accept anything they haven't already seen. • We are familiar with love. We receive it in quantities which would make you blush …
science: 1 - cruel world: 0
Posted by on Saturday, January 13, 2001
This isn't typical aov-style material, but this invention is extraordinary (view the video on this page).
a tale of cats, philosophers, and SUVs
Posted by on Saturday, January 13, 2001 in
aov’s favourite philosophy professor, Tony Couture, to whom we owe a lot of our genius, has had quite a misadventure. • Click for larger image • (131Kb) • As featured in The Guardian newspaper, Tony’s unreasonably large Sport Utility Vehicle went off the road near Shediac. While Tony seems …
no rails will be ‘jibbed’ this day
Posted by on Friday, January 12, 2001
Two of my co-workers took the day off to go snowboarding today (we are web designers after all). After getting out of bed especially early and a embarking on a tumultuous drive we arrived at the hill. Alone. The hill was closed. • Well, we weren't totally alone. There was a staff lady in the …
Linkin' Logs from 37signals
Posted by on Thursday, January 11, 2001
We are honoured to be in such good company on the Linkin' Logs page at 37signals.com (which has been recently “refined” and looks great).
tell us about your transcendent rock concert über-experience
Posted by on Wednesday, January 10, 2001
thegeniuses@actsofvolition.com have had the good fortune of witnessing a handful of fine rock concerts. You never forget seeing a flaming log hurtled into the crowd at a Greenday concert, or Sloan and Thrush Hermit levelling the UPEI Barn on the One Chord to Another tour, or Billy Pumpkin and crew …
hey, lady. Lady!
Posted by on Sunday, January 7, 2001
I am currently looking out my window, watching a woman shovel out her car. She is carefully shovelling the snow from behind her car, and dumping it behind mine. Now she is being joined by a helpful neighbour who is also burying my car. • I'd be out there helping her too. I would. Except I can't …
A discussion of ‘skins’ strangly free of sexual innuendo.
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2001
Prompted by a post on KirbyFerguson.com about Winamp, I will now rant about skins: • For those of you that don't know, “skins” is a term used to describe a program that can have many different appearances (colors, shapes, etc.). Winamp is the ultimate ‘skinable’ program. It pioneered the …
In the news today: something bad has happened to somebody, somewhere.
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2001
I have noted to those around me on occasion that I find it interesting that “the news” has never been pertinent to my life in any way. With the simple exception of the local weather (which is inevitable anyway), no news story on the radio, from the newspaper, or on television has ever pertained to …
bovine balladeers.
Posted by on Friday, January 5, 2001
Check out this ad from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. • Quicktime Version (1Mb) • MPEG Version (1.5Mb) • AVI Version (7.1Mb) • I'm not a big wearer of cow skin, or any type of animal pelt, but I can't see this changing my mind much. Sure, if cows sang maybe I wouldn't eat …
five books.
Posted by on Friday, January 5, 2001
Just in time for Christmas - my top five books of 2000.* • At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien • Wherein very strange things happen, such as the characters within a story within a story incapacitating the story's author so as to be able to lead their own lives. Almost as strange as it is good …
some discouraging words followed by some encouraging images
Posted by on Thursday, January 4, 2001
The dark side: • Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s • Ten Worst Corporations of 2000 • The bright side: • explodingdog.com (don't worry, it's not exploding dogs, it's great illustrations)
e-commerce is out. u-commerce is in.
Posted by on Thursday, January 4, 2001
Earlier in the year I was talking with a co-working about the hype surrounding e-commerce and the more recent m-commerce (“mobile commerce” - cell phones, PDAs, etc.). I put forth a proposition that soon enough, we'll be able to buy anything we want in the context in which it arises. For example …
vanity domains galore
Posted by on Wednesday, January 3, 2001
Registering your-own-name.com is something we've all thought about it. I think matt even tried once, but was too late. • Kirby Ferguson, formerly of IslandEdition.com fame, will now be referred to as KirbyFerguson.com. • Keep an eye on the site over the next while.
What owns you?
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2001
The phone rings at my house. On the first ring everyone in their separate rooms and separate activities goes silent. Will someone answer it? It rings a second time. You could hear a pin drop as everyone holds their breath waiting to hear footsteps marching to answer. By the third ring it's obvious …
faith restored (in humanity)
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2001
happy New Year ( a semi-drunken New Year's message).
Posted by on Monday, January 1, 2001
For some reason it seemed important to write this at the time (4:45am). • The Barn was only midly interesting. The person I was hoping to see most did not show. The Groove Gurus were incredible (especially their lead singer) and had a much smaller audience than they desrved. • The party …