Yahoo obfuscation Dec 14, 2005
Obfuscation - The activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered.

I like Yahoo.  And based on Google's frequent downtime (at least for me ... maybe it's a work-related thing), I've been using Yahoo more and more.  In the recent past I used Yahoo for mail, and in the far distant past it was my homepage.  And Yahoo's been in the news lately for buying cool internet things like Konfabulator, Flickr, and del.icio.us. 

But I have one major problem with Yahoo:  Their links are very obfuscated.  For example:  link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4.  You can't really figure out anything meaningful from these links except that they're all somehow part of Yahoo.  The first one changes the default search to search for addresses and places, the second one goes to a movie trailer for King Kong, the third goes to Yahoo movies, and the fourth is a news story about King Kong.  Only the first one gives some sort of indication of where it's taking you.  But it's still overly complicated.  What's that long string of letters and numbers?  It turns out that the second one also tells you something about where it's taking you, but that part comes after about a half-mile of letters, numbers, and symbols. 

I'm a big fan of keeping things simple.  I think it's an essential part of a good user interface.  I like when you can figure out where a certain link is taking you.  For example, if you click on this, you know it'll take you to Google Local.  Or even if you click on this, you can probably figure out that you're searching Google Images for "dave" and the language is English.  Better yet, if you click on this, you know that it'll take you to a post called "puke" on my site from July 25, 2005. 

So, Mr. Yahoo, take my advice and make your site simpler.  It'll make me happy.  And as we all know, this is all about me. #technology
Pulp Fiction wallet Dec 14, 2005
Remember that part from Pulp Fiction where the robber asks Samuel L. Jackson, "Which one is your wallet?"  Badmofowallets.com sells those same exact wallets.  Caution:  This site uses very bad language, of which I am not a proponent.  But it's really funny. #entertainment
Neatorama Dec 14, 2005
Neatorama is a cool website that has links to interesting things found on the web.  Similar to Boing Boing.  It's where I found Freelink skates and Mentos in soda. #technology
Mentos in soda Dec 14, 2005
This weird science guy Steve Spangler does this experiment where he adds Mentos to a bottle of soda.  The resulting explosive jet is what he described as "the Bellagio".  I know what I'm trying when I get home. #technology
Freeline Skates (1) Dec 14, 2005
Freeline Skates are like a skateboard without the board.  Only the wheels.  "To ride up hill, just twist your body from side to side and turn your feet in and out accordingly."  The videos make these things look amazing. #technology