Author: Tom Coates

God only knows why we’re doing this: plasticbag.org | cam.

READ THIS: This news affects a substantial portion of the creative sites on the web and should be read and digested thoroughly. News from ICANN [via Slashdot]: “There are apparently plans to reinstate the old limits on .org domains – if you aren’t a non-profit corporation, you won’t be permitted to register or keep a .org domain.” This will affect (amongst other creative sites, kottke.org, slashdot.org, haddock.org, fray.org, glassdog.org, interconnected.org and many many more. My personal response to the issue: .org domains prime home for creative sites. More from Metafilter.com.

The web stands united with love of Buffy: Derek, Lance, Prol (and me). If you are a Buffy-loving weblogger, drop me an e-mail. [Inspired by: Plastic | Buffy and Whedon Do It Again]

In which Tom pretends to be a proper weblogger, by linking to actual sites rather than drone on about the misery and angst of human existence:

First things first – I’ve been thinking of training myself to be able to write in more languages than simple mark-up like HTML. I think I’ve finally found a site that’s good enough at teaching to help me do so: W3Schools Online Web Tutorials. The site includes some stunningly useful examples, cut and paste code and intelligent commentary for everything from XHTML to WAP, DTD and SOAP.

Secondly, there’s an article at USAToday.com called ‘Internet needs immune system’, which is on the analogies drawn between computer viruses and biological viral entities and suggests a new approach to anti-virus technology. [via Tomalak’s Realm]

And finally, after tiring of Neilson’s rather earnest approach to web usability, I picked up a copy of Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think while I was in LA. I read it on the plane, and was astonished by how intelligently written and well put together it was. If you’re building any size of site either professionally or semi-professionally then you should read it. There’s more information about it here.

I am, of course, an astonishing dancer. My groin can ‘get jiggy with it’ at such a rate that I have, on occasion, experienced friction burns merely from the contact of my skin against the air. Man was not meant to dance this well, but god is it a beautiful thing to watch.

Some of you may wish to emulate my astonishing prowess in the medium of dance. Well you can’t, I’m afraid. You have to be born with a talent like mine. But if you want to improve your skills, then the place to go is DancingPaul.com. Watch as he reveals the secrets of the modern mambo through the medium of flash, and with the help of some of his less dance-enabled friends…

This is just a recommendation to anyone who is relatively new to running their own weblog – go and register yourself with Weblogs.Com – it’s my first point of call every morning and by far the best way that I know to keep up with the sites you like.

So you’re in Golden Gate Park with a camera and some friends, and Jason and Meg suddenly walk directly past you – so you grab a snapshot. Is this kinda cool, or really creepy?

I started working at timeout.com just over a week after starting this weblog, and now – nearly a year and a half later I’m about a week away from leaving it. I don’t think that ‘apprehensive’ really covers my state of mind at the moment. Certainly I’m scared of what is to come next.

I’d just like to say thanks to Ralph and Simon for respectively trying to knock some sense into me and cheer me up. Despite their valiant efforts I remain, as ever, your obedient miserable narcissist.

I don’t know when it came out, but the new edition of Naomi Klein’s No Logo is now available, and should really be required reading for everyone who is sick of being sold to all the time, or resents the human rights violations of multi-nationals in the developing world.