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Derek's Journal Writing Organized By Topic
(An out of date experiment)

Updated 27 Mar 2003

Once my weblog here turned two years old in late 2002, I realized it was too big to browse or search effectively, so I tried breaking down my entries into topics, as I arbitrarily decided them. I started categorizing at the beginning of December 2002, then stopped again in March because it was too much work. But you might find some of this categorization useful anyway.

Current listed topics are:

articles & other works | editing | language | this site | net design | music | photo | digicams | wireless | gadgets & techie | mac stuff | copyright | family & friends | furniture & stuff | environment | iraq war | news & trivia | travel & holidays | weather

Like my journal, they are organized from newest to oldest, but within their categories.

My Published Articles and Other Works

• One of my articles has been republished (Mar 2003)
• Douglas College has also asked me to come speak about Web sites (Mar 2003)
• I'll be speaking to a class at SFU next month about the Web and editing (Mar 2003)
  
  
• I'm working on an editors' conference Web site (Feb 2003)
• Audio transcript of my Web site talk (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Thanks to those who came to my presentation (Jan 2003)
• Slides for my talk (Jan 2003)
• Reminder about my EAC presentation (Jan 2003)
• Advance blurb for my January 15 presentation on building Web sites (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Fast changes in wireless networking (Dec 2002)

Writing, Editing, and Publishing

• Finding work as an editor (special bonus: Al Gore) (Mar 2003)
• The Zebra Sarasa: new champion of cheap gel-ink pens (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Some online style guides and tables of proofreaders' marks (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Two open-source online encyclopedias: which will win? (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Worst product manuals of 2002 (and 2001) (Dec 2002)
• How to make a Web design book much better (and much shorter) (Dec 2002)

Language and Communication

• We need a word for Japanese-style western animation (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Still more bashing of PowerPoint, but not by me (Jan 2003)
• I'm not the only one with PowerPoint on the brain (Jan 2003)
• Trying to find different models for visual aids at presentations (Jan 2003)
• George Orwell helps you avoid writing badly (Jan 2003)
• Microsoft PowerPoint makes for bad presentations (Jan 2003)
• Why I'll never be a translator (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Speech is for dialog, not presenting information (Dec 2002)

Working on This Site and My Business

• Updates to some of the oldest parts of this site (Mar 2003)
• Penmachine.com, like my youngest daughter, is now three (Mar 2003)
• Take a look at my eyebrow (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Updating the EAC, drumming, and topics parts of this site (Feb 2003)
  
  
• How does my income from writing, editing, music, and computer work break down? (Jan 2003)
• Two things this site needs, plus Clay Shirky (Jan 2003)
• 20,000 visits is small, but not that small (Jan 2003)
• I've revamped the archives and set up a Creative Commons license (Jan 2003)
• Is 20,000 visitors a lot or a little? (Jan 2003)
• Creating this topic page for my journal (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Subscribing to my RSS feed (Dec 2002)
• Converting this site to XHTML 1.0 (Dec 2002)

The Internet, Usability, Web and Software Design

• Why would Office Depot do that? (Mar 2003)
• Different search engines have different talents (Mar 2003)
• GeoURL gives a Web site a real physical location (Mar 2003)
• Forcing Blogger to work with browsers it doesn't like (Mar 2003)
• Things I like about other people's weblog sites (Mar 2003)
• Outlook Express and Windows 98: a conflicted family (Mar 2003)
• De-tyrannizing e-mail (Mar 2003)
• Spam:legit ratio in today's e-mail? 34:2. (Mar 2003)
• Writing for ESL readers helps native English readers too (Mar 2003)
• One company ditches all Microsoft software to save money (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Selling out is not wrong, especially for Blogger (Feb 2003)
• Computer bulletin board systems (BBSs) turn 25 (Feb 2003)
• Open computer file formats mean we can always get at our stuff (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Google isn't perfect, AOL may be doomed (plus rocket video, car-racing musicians, and a power-line hanger) (Jan 2003)
• Companies should use weblogs for their home pages (Jan 2003)
• My 1993 essay about the Internet (Jan 2003)
• Good search results don't help if your site isn't useful to people (Jan 2003)
• The bare bones way to submit your Web site to search engines (Jan 2003)
• Support Salon.com by subscribing -- few like them are left (Jan 2003)
• The fifth anniversary of Netscape's open-source gamble (Jan 2003)
• To make a good Web site, you have to find it interesting yourself (Jan 2003)
• Useful links for people new to building Web sites (Jan 2003)
• Geek humour with a very limited audience (Jan 2003)
• Cool HTML reference info from VisiBone (Jan 2003)
• Textpattern, an upcoming weblogging tool (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Dean Allen's Textile utility (Dec 2002)
• Knowing only your own world of software (and other things) (Dec 2002)
• Most people get a lot less spam than I do (Dec 2002)
• E-mail as we know it has to die (Dec 2002)

Music and Bands

• I don't wear earplugs all the time (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Wear earplugs, or lose some hearing as I have (Feb 2003)
• More explanations of Grammy award categories (Feb 2003)
• Why record and album of the year differ (Feb 2003)
• The Dixie Chicks should work with Dr. Dre (Feb 2003)
• The now-famous daughter of Ravi Shankar (Feb 2003)
• Joe Williams, the greatest voice (Feb 2003)
  
  
• My favourite rock drummers (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Playing the mysterious Heritage Valley in Abbotsford (Dec 2002)
• The end of Midnight Oil after 25 years (Dec 2002)

Photography and Images

• Many cool photographs of airliners (Mar 2003)
  
  
• A sunset view of Burrard Inlet from the Barnet Highway (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Lovely photographs from Mountain Light (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Artful images taken from orbit (Dec 2002)
• Long series of stitched-together photos of California (Dec 2002)

Digital Cameras

• Digital camera makers go crazy with new models (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Megapixels are a bad way to measure digicam resolution (Jan 2003)
  
  
• CNET's top digital camera picks match mine (sort of) (Dec 2002)
• Best digicams for the office (Dec 2002)

Wireless Communications

• Finding wireless hotspots (Mar 2003)
  
  
• The death of warchalking is a good thing (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Buy this book before setting up a wireless network (Dec 2002)
• Radio spectrum should no longer be regulated (Dec 2002)

Gadgets and General Techie Stuff

• Adam Osborne dies (Mar 2003)
• Tons of information about batteries (Mar 2003)
• Tracking a package poses efficiency questions (Mar 2003)
• Drill meeker to redeem krill, says red killer me, Dr. Eel Milker (Mar 2003)
• Contiki, a whole operating system in a 42 K file (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Good and bad things in technology this week (Feb 2003)
• Many promising new technologies are very small (Feb 2003)
• Watch a man use a computer mouse, and be amazed (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Soon, someone will sell the one billionth personal computer (Jan 2003)
• Complex, interrelated systems fail in nasty ways (or, why even proper backups don't work) (Jan 2003)
  
  
• A great list of techie books you might like (Dec 2002)
• Buy this book before setting up a wireless network (Dec 2002)
• Fast CD-ROM drives could shatter discs rather violently (Dec 2002)
• Leonardo da Vinci sabotaged his own designs (Dec 2002)
• Super-cool, wildly unaffordable display screens (Dec 2002)
• Laptop stands and the best headphones (Dec 2002)
• A few gadget gift ideas for Christmas 2002 (Dec 2002)
• Radio spectrum should no longer be regulated (Dec 2002)

Mac Software and Hardware

• Apple realizes that Sherlock is not all it was cracked up to be (Mar 2003)
• LaunchBar is a great little program (Mar 2003)
• Derek finally buys a laptop, but it's old (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Faxes and the old Mac OS are now obsolete technologies (Jan 2003)
• Safari Enhancer lets Apple's new browser work with stubborn Web sites (Jan 2003)
• Why almost 50% of today's DayPop Top 40 is about Apple Computer (Jan 2003)
• Apple's new Safari Web browser, a PowerBook ad, and the London Underground (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Proteus multi-instant messaging client (Dec 2002)
• Installing Mac OS X on old G3 Macs without erasing everything (Dec 2002)
• Creating a transparent iBook (Dec 2002)
• Searchling floating search window (Dec 2002)

Copyright and Information Sharing

• The Memory Hole helps us not to forget (Mar 2003)
• Strange results from 5000+ MP3s on "shuffle" (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Clay Shirky describes how the music industry must change (Feb 2003)
• Why everything on this site (unless it belongs to someone else) is free to read and share (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Reasons why (and why not) to work for free (Jan 2003)
• The online music market is horribly broken (Jan 2003)
• Open information is more important than open-source software (Jan 2003)
• Converting CDs and cleaning contacts can take a long time (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Discovering Norah Jones via radio and Gnutella (Dec 2002)
• Creative Commons is a great idea (Dec 2002)
• How AOL could save itself, but won't (Dec 2002)

Parenting, Family, and Friends

• Coming close to disability (Mar 2003)
• My natural sleep schedule is 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. (Mar 2003)
  
  
• My brain is full of things to do, as usual (Feb 2003)
• Am I an introvert or an extrovert? Or neither? (Feb 2003)
• When naps become a curse (Feb 2003)
• Being a nerd in school (Feb 2003)
• Should you look different when you turn five? (Feb 2003)
• My daughter's perspective on moving out at age five (Feb 2003)
• Q&A: How do I juggle the conflicting roles in my life? (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Why raising young children is so stressful (Jan 2003)
• Happy third birthday to my youngest daughter (Jan 2003)
• Watch the beard come off (Jan 2003)
• My favourite photo of my two daughters (Jan 2003)
• Kids' entertainers dress poorly (Jan 2003)
• Should I shave off my beard? (Jan 2003)
• Q&A: The tradeoffs of parenthood really aren't (Jan 2003)
  
  
• One daughter secretly cuts her younger sister's hair (Dec 2002)

Furniture, Clothing, and Footwear

• Emotions come from where things are, not what they are (Jan 2003)
  
  
• One year with Blundstone boots (Dec 2002)
• The Jerker desk cult (Dec 2002)

Environment

• The tiny DaimlerChrysler car available only in Europe (Dec 2002)
• Ten simple ways for you to help make the planet better (Dec 2002)

War in Iraq

• Command Post: an excellent war news weblog (Mar 2003)
• The New Yorker makes a good point, in a most annoying manner (Mar 2003)
• A big list of online war coverage (Mar 2003)
• Could fuel economy be the solution? (Mar 2003)
• Squandering America's overseas goodwill (Mar 2003)
  
  
• War in Iraq might be wrong, but France is arguing badly anyway (Feb 2003)
• The only time The O'Reilly Factor was worth watching (Feb 2003)

Interesting News Items and Trivia

• A good long interview with Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell (Mar 2003)
• Hey Jo records some overheard conversations (Mar 2003)
  
  
• Why are backcountry skiiers almost all white people? (Feb 2003)
• Editorial cartoonists drop the ball on Columbia (Feb 2003)
• I watched a space shuttle land once (Feb 2003)
• How meaningful are fatality statistics like the ones I discussed yesterday? (Feb 2003)
• Stats show astronauts have the most dangerous job (Feb 2003)
• Try to figure out which is the most Canadian thing (Feb 2003)
• Remembering Columbia on the launch pad in 1981 (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Too drunk to drive, drinking less than half of what Premier Campbell did (Jan 2003)
• Vancouver has changed more than almost anywhere, and has good food (Jan 2003)
• Why it's good that drunk driver and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell didn't resign, though he should have (Jan 2003)
• Where does capitalism go when there's too much capital? (Jan 2003)
• The first Photoshopped e-mail joke photo about Gordon Campbell's drunk driving arrest (Jan 2003)
  
  
• We use racial stereotypes to make snap decisions (Dec 2002)

Travel, Holidays, and Other Events

• Seattle praises Portland and Vancouver while beating up on itself (Feb 2003)
• Photos of fantasy ocean hotels in the Maldives (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Why U.S. and Canadian Thanksgivings are in different months (Jan 2003)
  
  
• Merry Christmas 2002 (Dec 2002)

Weather

• My favourite sound in the world (Mar 2003)
  
  
• The climate varies around greater Vancouver, so maybe stay south of the city (Feb 2003)
  
  
• Darn: the snow melted (Dec 2002)
• Snowing again (Dec 2002)
• Snowing on Christmas Eve (Dec 2002)

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