Better Living Through Introspection

I don’t know what to do with this. I found it, and I don’t know what to do with it. It’s impossible to make enough fun of it…and all the good jokes have already been used, I’m sure. Anyway, take a look for yourself: The Klingon Language Institute.

First, please welcome Daily Vespers to the blogging fray.

Second, Amazon is rolling out a “preview” function that takes advantage of the recent trend in user interface enhancements with javascript…that is, well-written javascript put to thoughtful use as opposed to gee-whiz effects that amount to nothing. So, if the preview function works, for example, instead of a boring old link to The Dining Room’s Experiments in Ambient Soul here, you should get a nifty pop-up with detailed purchase info, along with the ability to add it to your shopping cart — in theory, this will lead to a higher click-through rate, but that remains to be seen. Give it a spin, roll-over. (If the style of the link isn’t dotted, you’ll get the boring ol’ click through. If it is dotted, you’ll get the roll-over preview.)

I don’t know what rock I’ve been under, but I just found out that Google bought out Urchin. What the? And now they’re launching a free web analytics package, but it seems like it’s only for AdWords users? Not sure. Nevertheless, worth checking out. Will report back with findings later…

See also: Google Analytics, WebSideStory Stock Falls on Google Plans, Official Google Blog: The circle of analytics

Follow-up. Whelp…can’t learn much when you get this message on attempting to sign up: ” Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity.” Sonofa!

So, apparently, the holiday decorating craze for this year (I know, I know, I can’t believe it’s that time alread!) is inverted christmas trees.

Call me conservative, but this is quite possibly the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Okay, not the craziest. But certainly the silliest in the category “holiday decorating ideas,” wouldn’t you say? Also, just because it was once a German tradition certainly doesn’t make it right.

See also (and hear) a related story on NPR.

WARSAW, Poland - Polish archeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.

Full story via Yahoo! News