Month: December 2004

The Long Tail Phenomenom

2004-12-22 / spierzchala / 4 Comments

The Long Tail has been the latest phenom here in the blogosphere. Its discussion of the choice freedom released by online retailers and distributors should be no surprise to anyone who has been online for more than 2 weeks.

My experience with this Long Tail goes back to the Christmas in 1998 when I bought a copy of Christmas in Connecticut (the original, not the schlocky re-make) from Amazon. Paid duty and shipping to have it sent to Canada. Very few of my peers had ever heard of it, and the only taped copy was an old Betmax version pulled from TV years before.

The whole reason that the Internet retail channel was touted in the first place was for just the reason that Chris Anderson has “discovered” in the Long Tail: all-the-time access to everything in market niche X. So why is the blogosphere heralding this as a new discovery? It has been with us since the beginning. But when someone “invented” a term for it, it is a new idea that needs to be discussed.

It is the original idea behind the commercial Internet. It is not news.

Next story please.

Back up — NEW IP

2004-12-21 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Ok, the GrabPERF and Pierzchala.com servers are back on the Net, with new IPs. You may not be able to get to them for a while, due to DNS propagation.

Whatever Comcast did better be worth it.

Sigh

2004-12-21 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Looks like the link to my home network is down. Ugh.

Guess I will have to do some work now.

Samantha reports that the tv is out and there are multiple Comcast trucks patrolling the neighbourhood. Looks like a severe knockdown.

English as a Second Spelling

2004-12-21 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

The Blog Herald has a great discussion on blogging to a world-wide English-speaking audience (Choosing your English: the choice for new bloggers).

As a Canadian living in the US, my spellings have slid more towards the English(US) side of the spectrum in the last five years. This has been a matter of survival when dealing with annoying spell-checkers and US businesses (some of which claim to have a world view).

After reading the article, I think that I will make more of an effort to use my native spellings, and preserve what I learned growing up.

Browser Share

2004-12-20 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Ok, I am with Eric on this one. I do not give one iota about designing to a specific browser. I know what I use, and my pages look good in that browser. I also know that the browser I use is very standards compliant. And it’s too bad if other browsers cannot play that game.

Standards, in HTTP and web-rendering languages, exist for a reason. I shake my head that we have to bow to something that not only is partially standards compliant, but based on technology that is creaky at best.

Design to the standards, and eventually everyone will have to bow to the accepted standard.

Kamloops? You said Kamloops?

2004-12-20 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Ok, as far as Internet hotspots, I have never tagged Kamloops as one of the biggies.

But, as Darren Barefoot passed along, they are the first city in Canada to get city-wide wifi.

Nice place…but, not for me.

Browser Stat Flood

2004-12-20 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Ok, in a weird little way, the subtext of the browser wars has started to re-surface in the blogosphere. Everyone is getting into the browser distribution mix.

Including me.

Check out the Browser Percentage Stats for this blog and for the GrabPERF Server.

Thanks to Tim Bray for re-starting this mess.

Blog Hit Count Graph Up

2004-12-19 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Remember that little piece of tracking code I cranked out on Friday afternoon (December 17, 2004)? The real-time graph of the hit-count is up. Not a huge number, but it just shows that with a little PHP and a MySQL database, you can achieve a lot in very little time.

What is a Damnation Hound?

2004-12-19 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Ok, here is a picture of the World-Famous Damnation Hound.

Yes, Wiggles is a cross between a dalmatian and a bassett hound. We have this thing for freaky dogs, and she is one of the best.

They say the weather outside will be frightful…

2004-12-19 / spierzchala / 0 Comments

Expecting snow overnight…like in the 3-7 inches variety. Very cool.

However, as Samantha pointed out, she has yet to have a white Christmas in her life!

Now, surely you are wondering how a woman who is Canadian cannot have had a white Christmas. Well, her entire life has been spent on the Wet Coast, so she has never seen snow on that special day.

Last year, like the Red Sox, we thought it was a sure thing. I mean, Christmas in Massachusetts? Come on, how could you miss?

On Christmas Day, I was wearing shorts and the boys were riding their bikes. It was 55F and sunny. Ugh.

So, the bribe of snow tonight looks potentially like what we need…until I read that it will be 45F and rain later in the week.

Here’s hoping for next year…?