August 15, 2006

Safari & Opera

Still tinkering with the template. The right sidebar is rendering in a slightly different position for every single browser at the moment which is seriously ticking me off. However, it's close enough for government work, as my ninth grade science teacher used to tell us on a regular basis.

Except for Safari and Opera, where the right sidebar is down at the bottom of the bloody frigging page.

I don't suppose I have any readers who might be willing to look at the ruddy stylesheet and help me figure out what the bloody hell I'm doing wrong? I know it can be done, I've studied the stylesheets of folks who do get it to work but can't quite puzzle out what I'm doing wrong. Of course, I've not looked at any of those sites in Safari or Opera, so perhaps I'm chasing a mythical stylesheet.

At any rate, some bits will be moving up and down and from sidebar to side bar as I try to get things how I like it.

And then, of course, there'll be the inevitable skins added in later on. Like I can stop fiddling with anything.

Meanwhile, lest you forget:

Well, I'm rumblin' in this JCB.
I'm five years old and my dad's a giant sitting beside me.
And the engine rattles my bum like beserk
While we're singin, "Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work"
.
My dad's probably had a bloody hard day
But he's been good fun and bubblin' and jokin' away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
Are gettin' all impatient and angry, but we don't mind.
.
An' we're holding up the by pass ... oh
Me and my dad havin' a top laugh ... oh woah
I'm sittin' on the toolbox ... oh
And I'm so glad I'm not in school, boss
So glad I'm not in school ... oh no ...

Posted by Red Monkey at 4:06 AM | Comments (0) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

July 6, 2006

Buy the Red Monkey

Woo-hoo! Now available here on my blog (rather than taking off to another website) is both my iconic Red Monkey on a great t-shirt, and also li'l ole Xander Bear.

Now ... allow me to plug GoodStorm for a minute. Nope, they're not paying me for this plug, not giving me a discount, they don't even know I'm doing this.

I love GoodStorm . While their slogan "Capitalism Done Right," did give me a bit of pause (any time i see capitalism and right in the same phrase, I get nervous), these guys are totally awesome. The site caters to many social justice organizations ... and if you tend to some liberal thoughts, you'll find plenty of great stuff (Daily Kos has a shop). If you don't lean to the left, there's STILL plenty of goodies here. GoodStorm has sites which focus merely on awesome design as well as sites like WordPress.com.

The other half just ordered a few shirts from there, so I'll be able to comment on the quality soon, but I'm telling you ... I've not worked with an online organization so helpful and dedicated in quite some time. These guys rawk. So, check out my GoodStorm store here ... or just go to the GoodStorm website and play around a while. You'll be glad you did!

Posted by Red Monkey at 7:31 PM | Comments (2) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

July 5, 2006

Virus? We Don't Got No Stinkin' Virus!

from the BBC:

Security threats to PCs with Microsoft Windows have increased so much that computer users should consider using a Mac, says a leading security firm.

Even as a devout Mac user, I know this is a slippery slope. Most virii are written for WinDoze for two reasons: 1) it's got the biggest market share 2) Bill Gates is eVILE. If more and more of the market share does happen to go to Mac, well, the bored and/or determined virus writers, will simply learn a new OS (provided they don't already know UNIX and/or LINUX). However, it is likely to be several years before the dangerous proliferation of Mac virii are set loose ... there may yet be a nice window of time where Mac users can continue to grow in population and not have to fret quite so much about virii, trojans, worms and spyware.

But I also think with glee of that weasel-y young Bill Gates who disrupted the "software world" when he insisted on getting paid for every copy of BASIC available on the Altair 8800, one of the first "home" computers. (It was the size of a washer and dryer sitting side by side. You don't want to know how it was programmed ... trust me.) You see, at that time, the world of computers was mostly a world of sharing what you did to show off your prowess. "Hey, I can write this cool program in 273 lines." Then the next dude studies the code and the program ... and he gets it down to 240. The next guy hacks the code down to 196. And on it goes, everyone looking to add features and elegance of code to the project. It's not necessarily just about what they can make the computer do ... it's a puzzle, a complicated logic puzzle. "How can I do this?"

Then, the Altair 8800 comes out, Gates, Paul Allen and Monte Davidoff figure out a programming language to make easier sense of machine language ... and instead of sharing it, they want to get paid. Now, look ... there's nothing wrong with getting paid for your time. I'm not saying that. I'm just pointing out that this was something really new to the culture of computing -- most of the guys shared what they knew so that others could better it.

BASIC was leaked ... it was shared ... it was pirated.

And we all know how darling Mr. Gates feels about pirated software. He so reminds me of L. Bob Rife at times.

At any rate ... tired of virii? Want a machine for internet and word processing and maybe a little spreadsheet? Go Mac and don't worry. Desperately need your online gaming? Go Mac and dual boot the little bugger with BootCamp and Mac OS X. Into home movies? Go Mac already!

Right now, after at least three days of fireworks past midnight, I'm just plain tired. ... laterz ... mmm ... ZZZZZzzzzz ... oh ... sleep ... that's nice.

Posted by Red Monkey at 5:35 PM | Comments (4) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

June 26, 2006

New Shop

While I've had a CafePress store for a while now (see the Shop link above), I've been hunting for a new source for t-shirts for a variety of reasons. I found GoodStorm. Seems like a better deal in many ways, but they only sell t-shirts. So ... now I have two shops. And, the premier shirt for the GoodStorm shop is:

I also have a new Red Monkey - in Jeans shirt over there as well. GoodStorm is apparently a new-ish company and still working out their offerings, but I like the fact that I can choose the quality of shirt (I picked heavy-weight for everything it was available for). Also, they have some better colour shirts than just the plain white at CafePress. I do wish there there some baseball Ts (those raglan sleeve things) and some other products, but this is a nice start. I especially like the pebble colour shirts.

I've got several more designs in mind and I'm sure I'll be putting up more there over the next several weeks.

Let me know if you order something from there and how the quality of the print is. I know I'll be ordering some of my own stuff (cuz I'm a geek that way) and testing out the quality of the products.

Posted by Red Monkey at 7:00 AM | Comments (3) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

June 25, 2006

Vampire Bear Redux

So, I attempted to put my Xander bear up on CafePress, but the design was promptly pulled down as copyright infringement on Care Bears. I heartily disagree, but CafePress can pull any design for any reason at any time. Fine.

So ... here's Angel bear ... not as cutsie, but a cool shirt anyway. :)

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:23 AM | Comments (3) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble

June 3, 2006

9rules

Holy cow, Maynard.

The 9rules Network, according to their website, highlights "the very best web content in the world, and package it in a nice bow for you to unwrap. Our members discuss a wide range of topics from interface design and technology, to business, humor, and many others."

What I've always liked about this site is that they're not a traffic exchange where you surf for credits. Instead, they bring a bunch of independent blogs together, build a community and also feature bits about the blogs on their front page or their Communities and Featured sections.

But to be perfectly honest, what completely sold me on the site was their original 9 rules for living:

1. Love what you do.
2. Never stop learning.
3. Form works with function.
4. Simple is beautiful.
5. Work hard, play hard.
6. You get what you pay for.
7. When you talk, we listen.
8. Must constantly improve.
9. Respect your inspiration.

So, now I await the Member Agreement so that I can officially become a member of an outstanding network of blogs.

To Greenr, Joe and all the others from BlogMad who made it (I haven't gotten through the whole list of nominees yet), a very heartfelt: CONGRATULATIONS.
Also, a special congratulations to Mike Rohde of rohdesign ... I discovered Mike's blog while searching for some reference material to practice my own sketching techniques and fell in love with Mike's SketchToons. So I'm doubly excited to see that he has also made the preliminary 9rules list.

Posted by Red Monkey at 11:58 AM | Comments (5) | Blog | TrackBack | Stumble