No Mod Required

I really like the idea, especially for "skinnable" apps and sites. We have a few ongoing concerns here that would immediately benefit from an @variables declaration after the reset section. Coding certain large changes, of course, would also be greatly simplified. Count me as a +1.

Initially, I do wonder about rendering performance since there are issues with IE's CSS Expressions and this seems like it could run into similar issues- then again I'm not a browser developer, so what the hell do I know?

Since the release of CSS Level 2 Recommendation ten years ago in may 1998, the Web authors' community has been requesting a way of defining variables in CSS. Variables allow to define stylesheet-wide values identified by a token and usable in all CSS declarations. If a value is often used in a stylesheet - a common example is the value of the color or background-color properties - it's then easy to update the whole stylesheet statically or dynamically modifying just one variable instead of modifying all style rules applying the property/value pair. We expect CSS Variables to receive a very positive feedback from both the Web authors' community and browser vendors.

CSS Variables

Being the cycling nerd that I am I added the Lance Armstrong one, but there are a ton of great new themes.

Here's the Livestrong one in action:

Some on-topic options:

Os Gemeos:

Shepard Fairey:

Check out the whole list:

iGoogle Artist Themes

Check it out.

Invesra | Invest in your Future

The company is called Invesra. It's a financial services startup with backing from Village Ventures. I did a quick site for them to get their new brand* out the door for the FinovateStartup even in San Francisco this week. They've got a great team** and an interesting product so it's been a pleasure helping them out during a crunch period. As it always does, working with a startup makes me miss those startup days myself.

Then I think back to what working for two at once was like (Boston's Weekly Dig and Advisortech) and I like the agency life just that little bit more

*Tom O'Keefe's excellent work

**My lovely and talented girlfriend is Director of User Experience

I've been trying to figure out who the Web 2.0 bubble's Henry Blodget is* over the past few days and then along comes Fake Steve Jobs to remind me that Blodget himself has a chance to keep the crown. The following quote is brilliant stuff:

Folks, if you're working at any of these "digital startups" you really don't need Henry Blodget's Silicon Alley Insider index to tell you what your options are worth right now. I'll tell you the answer right now. They're worth nothing. That's for most of you anyway. Because one day very soon this whole crazy mess is going to blow up and you'll be looking for work at Starbucks again, just like you were after the last bubble burst.

My advice? Print out this crazy list and pin it to your wall and wait for the crash. Then you'll have a wonderful keepsake by which to remember Bubble 2.0.

Because if there's any sure sign that the end is near, it's the fact that Henry Blodget is publishing an index with ridiculously high valuations for companies that don't actually make products and don't have revenues. What drives this ridiculous man? Why the obsessive need to hype and tout? Is he not satisfied to have played a starring role in the greatest financial mess of our lifetime? Now he needs to do it again? It's like a real-life version of Groundhog Day. Or one of those rings of hell in Dante's Inferno where people are condemned to keep performing the same sinful acts over and over again into eternity.

Read the rest:

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Alley Insider creates Bubble 2.0 keepsake

*since we've clearly transitioned into a world that parallels the "irrational exuberance" of the late 90s. I knew something bizarre was afoot when Facebook's "$15,000,000″ valuation was actually swallowed wholesale by people who should know better. That feeling has been furthered by the idea that it's a good thing for apps like Twitter just grow and grow and grow only to "figure out how to make money later." I like Twitter a lot and am impressed by Facebook's core application and API, but I look at these and other services and just don't see big $$. At the end of the day, real money (cash flow) is what's going to keep this euphoric wave going. Without some real cash for some of these services, things have the potential to go south in a big way and if they do people are going to be hurting again. We went through that once already and I'd like to see this valley be a little less painful than the last time we were in a downturn. I survived the early part of this decade and came out stronger (unlike many people I was able to stay in the industry during that period,) but that doesn't mean I want to go through that again any time soon.

First there was the Mitchell Report and now there's the unquestionably sleazy accusation that he had an affair with country singer Mindy McCready that begain when McCready was 15. FIFTEEN! I don't have a high opinion of Clemens as a person or a great belief in his intellect, but this surprises me.

Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News.

Sources: Roger Clemens had 10-year fling with country star Mindy McCready

Not much to report right now, but I'm 95% of the way through my hell month. I've the party tonight (Legends of Style, 7-12 at the Boston Center for the Arts) and I've got a site to finish tomorrow and then I'm back to normal. "Normal", which in this case includes having a backlog of nearly 35 images to post to the web

Still months away from his return to competitive cycling (October 24th, for those of you keeping track), Ivan Bass today signed with Liquigas. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the deal is for one million Euros over two years. The contract is for 2009-10, but there's no news on exactly when he'll make his return to racing.

Photo of Basso, Bettini and Cancellara (c) Ken Conley kwc.org/cycling/photography/

English coverage from VeloNews:

VeloNews | Ivan Basso will return to racing on the Liquigas team | The Journal of Competitive Cycling

Italian coverage from La Gazzetta:

Basso torna con la Liquigas

More coverage from La Gazetta (an exclusive interview):

Basso: "Grazie Liquigas Rinasco e torno a vincere"

"I am reborn and return to win"

Nothing major, he just talks about why he chose Liquigas (they're an Italian team, they've been competitive, they have a grand plan for the next couple of years) and some slightly philosophical stuff- based on the question "Who, today, is the man Basso, rider and father? "

Yes, April has been on of my busiest months in years, so I haven't had time to write as much as I would like.

May will be all kinds of awesome.

In the interim, here are some links I crafted, just for you.

Meet the Web's 10 most hated people.

That one should be pretty self explanatory.

I'm loving aliens instead

Robbie Williams disappeared from view at the end of 2006. Since then, he has become obsessed with UFOs and extraterrestrials. To gather evidence, he and Jon Ronson headed deep into the Nevada desert

On December 18 2006, Robbie Williams played the last of 59 stadium shows in a row, announced he was going to spend Christmas at his home in Los Angeles, and then basically disappeared. He was hardly seen at all in 2007. He briefly checked into rehab. He spent quite a bit of time hiking and playing football (he owns a football pitch on Mulholland Drive). Then he stopped hiking and playing football. His record company, EMI, announced he had no plans to release an album in 2008. Today he unexpectedly calls me to ask if I want to go with him to the desert in Nevada to meet UFO abductees.

Cognitive Dissonance in Monkeys - The Monty Hall Problem

The Monty Hall Problem has struck again, and this time it’s not merely embarrassing mathematicians. If the calculations of a Yale economist are correct, there’s a sneaky logical fallacy in some of the most famous experiments in psychology.

Visualizing Viruses

Most people want to avoid spam and viruses, which is exactly why MIT Media Lab's grad student Alex Dragulescu spins the net's detritus into art.

9 Common Idioms That Come from Technology

Again, straightforward.

Florez wows crowd at Met with 18 high Cs - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK - Rewarding a rare encore with an even rarer standing ovation in midperformance, a rapturous Metropolitan Opera audience hailed the company's beguiling new production of Donizetti's comic gem, "La Fille du Regiment" ("The Daughter of the Regiment").

It was Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez as the lovesick Tonio who brought the crowd to its feet late in Act 1 on Monday night by sailing with ease through the nine high Cs in the aria, "Pour mon ame" — and then singing it a second time.

Listen to it as it happened.

The ovation in the middle is incredible. I've been to The Met and the idea that people would basically lose their minds like that in the middle of a performance is amazing. I would love to have been there. Thankfully he's going to be at the Met again next year in La Sonnambula, so I'll get a chance to see him do his thing live. It won't be something as remarkable as this, but it should still be pretty good

Here's a Youtube video of him performing the same aria last year:

COAST killing it:

Stylin'