Archive for August, 2007

It’s kinda late in the day, but I want to post this quick: it’s Friday-only download, and after tonight the link’s down forever!

Drop your e-mail address in the box at MyFreeMusicFriday and you can grab Robbie Seay Band’s New Day (from the album Give Yourself Away, pictured here). There’s two more MP3s there, but this one’s my favorite from this week’s offerings.

Anybody checked out The Numbers, a recent post by Gary Langer (Director of Polling, ABC News)? He basically discredited the results of one of his own ABC polls where Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich wound up light-years ahead of the other Presidential candidates.

My personal take on polls like this is that the sorts of web enthusiasts who gravitate toward the open-source community tend to feel like Paul “gets” them more than the other Republican candidates. Those types of people are also far more likely than the average American to do their own “independent investigation” of Presidential candidates, instead of relying solely on traditional sources like newspapers, radio or television network news.

News outlets such as ABC News really do a disservice to this country’s citizens when they focus more on a candidate’s perceived chances of winning than on that candidate’s political beliefs and philosophies. This shouldn’t be a popularity contest–we’re talking about electing the nation’s President, not a high school Class President!

So here’s my suggestion to Mr. Langer: instead of these “who do you think won last night’s debate” sorts of polls, do some research and compile a list of 10-12 congressional votes, public statements or other applicable insights into each candidate’s mind, and begin a series of polls focusing on them. Inform your audience, and then poll your audience on how they feel about the information you provided.

See, then you’d be seen as responsible and mature, and you probably wouldn’t feel the urge to quote 12-year-olds in your defense.

According to ICv2 News, the G.I. Joe live-action film has a writer: Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl).

This could be a good thing. Let’s just leave Cobra-La out of it, though, okay?

Last night I read ProBlogger’s The Right Width for Your Blog, and right away went and checked Google Analytics to see what y’all are using when you come here. I was surprised (in a happy way–like birthday presents) that over 90% of the folks who visit my blog do so with monitors set to 1024×768 or higher! I’ve been designing for 800×600 for so long… for you non-techie types, it’s kinda like being surprised by a big tax refund.

So now I’m trying to figure out what I want to blow that fat rebate check on. I don’t really want to make the content area any wider–silly as it may seem, I honestly love how the 500px width makes it look sharp when I include Flickr photos in a post. So I’m wondering if I should do the 3-column thing (adding another sidebar). Maybe. I’m not really crazy about them. If I did that, it’d have to have a purpose besides having more stuff “above the fold.” Maybe I’d have the first sidebar be “this blog” stuff, and the second “other blogs and sites” stuff?

Like I said, I dunno. Do you have any suggestions?

My name is Travis Seitler, and I approve of and agree with this quote:

I do sort of like the irony in people criticizing me for being critical of people being critical. Sort of a rabbit-hole type thing. Is the one with the last word most divisive? Wheeeeee!

Source: “On Division,” The Gospel-Driven Church

Edit: Ooh, there’s more:

There is the Gospel, and there is the not-Gospel. To criticize and name those who preach and profit from the not-Gospel is not being divisive; the division began with the deception. The unity is broken not at the point of criticism, but at the point of departure from the Gospel.