Godwin's Law

Oh. My. God.

I misunderstood that conversation between Giles and Ethan, right? Right? Didn't I?

I don't like criticism -- isn't everything I do perfect? -- but it's a free country (or at least, it should be).

Over the past week or so I've gotten some criticisms on Why Web Journals Suck, primarily on the aspect of whether one should use serif or sans-serif fonts for screen text. I remain firmly in the serif camp, but Lance of Glassdog.Com believes that sans-serif is better.

For my part, my screen font is Times New Roman and I find it highly readable. Of course, maybe I just have a better screen than most, who knows. Lance has his reasons for using sans-serif, and I have mine for reading serif. This is a "difference of opinion" that may or may not be settled over several hours of intensive user testing.

However, I insist critiquers be coherent or at least explain their points.

I went through Spies' weekly "Referrer List" and discovered some unusual referrers to Why Web Journals Suck. The weirdest one was John from the Garden Center, in which he says (waaaaaaaaaay at the bottom):

1 + 1 = 0.

Read why the Web sucks. He's got a few valid points.

Then read why Web Journaling sucks. She has a few valid points, too.

Put together, they have as much credibility and imagination as a rock. Zero.

Uh huh. Sure. First of all, Ceej ain't a "he". And how do we go from having valid points to the credibility and imagination of a rock? (Ceej told me she's honored to be called a rock by such a dimwit.)

We may find the answers to this in his rant above this, in which he says that, "The First Criminals are now the most investigated politician co-presidents." Where to start?

Let's see...they might be the most investigated, but investigation does not equal guilt -- otherwise the years and millions we've poured into Whitewater might have actually come up with something concrete.

And there haven't been that many "politician co-presidents," have there?

I think there's lots of criticisms to be made of the Clintons et al. But you lose me when you start referring to the First Lady as "Hitlery." Maybe it's just me.

Frontline, as always, kicked butt on the Whitewater issue. (If PBS doesn't do, nobody else is gonna, people.) In one hour they explained the whole Whitewater thing, where the questions are, and why nothing has been or is likely to be proved. Hillary (note the two "l"s, John of the Garden Center) is most likely in it as far as she can go, but "it" must be pretty darn intangible. After all, the finest minds in our Congress haven't managed to nail anything down.

It's crazy -- all this insanity out of Washington is all about money. At the very least, it should be money to line one's own pockets, but no, it's money to buy TV time. There needs to be not only campaign finance reform, but campaign reform -- I think a nice 2 month election cycle would be nice. Forget this stupid (and pre-determined) primary system: the one-eighth of the US in California does not appreciate their decisions being made by New Hampshire, 'kay? 8 weeks of debates and commercials and then we have the election with tons of candidates to choose from. Maybe with a run-off if it's not clear enough.

Here's my other suggestion, a corollary to Godwin's Law:

Godwin's Law: As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Diane's Political Corollary to Godwin's Law: As a Congressional investigation grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving "coverups" or "smoking guns" approaches one.

Of course, I just realized that John of the Garden Center invoked Godwin's Law with his little rant.

Today Darin and I go to visit a Lasik surgeon for a preliminary visit. Whee! Reportedly this guy wants patients to wear glasses for 3 to 6 weeks before the surgery. I hope my new eyeglasses come in already. (Superthin lenses! Yay!)

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Ran 3 miles at the gym yesterday afternoon.