A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

When you find yourself part of an invading force in a foreign land fighting patriots, it's time for a reality check on your world view.

— Paul Merrell (9 May 2012)

A Plea for Clipboard-Enabled Error Messages

Custom is a powerful force among homo sapiens. We often learn by imitating what others have done. But all too often, custom ignores better solutions that became feasible only after the custom was well entrenched.

In my studied opinion, that is the case with error messages for the user that are generated by nearly(?) all software that employ a graphical user interface ("GUI"). The format of error messages has been obsolete since the advent of the World Wide Web ("the Web").

Were I Emperor of the World … version 1 Million-Plus

When confronted with global politics, I frequently lapse into a daydream about awakening one morning to find myself suddenly Emperor of Earth … with omnipotent powers. My first task, obviously, is to decide, what shall I do next? I've never had the same answer twice (which undoubtedly says something about my ability to reason)

But tonight a a thought worthy of notation bubbled to the surface in response to that question:

About That Bald Spot ...

It's not a bald spot, it's a solar panel for a sex-machine.

 — Cory Doctorow, Metacrap: Putting the Torch to Seven Straw-Men of the Meta-Utopia v. 1.3 (26 August 2001), § 2.7, http://www.well.com/~doctorow/metacrap.htm#2.7 (visited 10 May 2012).

Originally published 10 May 2012; updated to add tag on 25 August 2014.

About The Relatively Free Press blog

This blog's title pays an old man's homage to a young man's never-realized goal of founding The North-Central Idaho Relatively Free Press.

In that vision, the relative freedom of the newspaper flowed from its acceptance of revenue only from subscribers and for publication of legal notices. Which may explain a lot about why the goal was never realized.

But in the present milieu, not even subscribers are required if you have a working computer and a decent internet connection. I've got both, so the dream of a news publication beholden to no commercial bias can finally be realized, especially now that I am retired with a fully-vested retirement income.