Amen

I say amen to the fact that the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its findings this month. Why? Because now we have an official declaration that the globe is warming and that we have seen the enemy. It’s done, the self-flagellation has been administered and we can move on. This is a serious issue and deserves profound national and global debate.

In moving on there has been a rash of interesting articles that must have been awaiting the epiphany. One of my favorites was in Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria. The crux is that we are not going to significantly affect greenhouse gases for decades—this also seems to be “scientifically settled”. This raises the question of how we should prioritize this mammoth problem.

First, the reduction of greenhouse gas and particulate emissions is in our best interests even if such a reduction has no affect on global climate change. Think of the impact of such a reduction on disease and foreign energy dependence. We can make large improvements through conservation and the use of existing technology—no need to wait for break-throughs or burden ourselves with the Kyoto Protocol. Instead we need national leadership. We need the vision and courage that JFK displayed with his sixties space initiative. Only directed toward clean air, protection of water and the efficient production and use of energy. We, as a nation, can do it if inspired and guided.

Secondly, Zakaria noted that the sea level could rise as much as two feet before the end of this century. If we believe this to be a probable event, we would be wise to consider consistent national policies. For example, should government spending encourage continued growth and development of those coastal areas likely to be inundated? We did this with New Orleans and suffered the consequences of the inevitable statistical event that ends in monumental tragedy.

Technorati Tags:conservation, global warming, climate change

CSS – A Way to Design and Manage Web Pages

I got a Christmas present this year that keeps on giving—“CSS The Missing Manual” by David Sawyer McFarland. It’s for the beginner and it’s well done, understandable, easy to read and contains workable design suggestions. I just completed it and have applied the concepts on several projects. Here’s some background.

Browsers present the sights and sounds of the World Wide Web on your computer. You are probably using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Safari or Mozilla’s Firefox. You instruct a browser to display your web page by sending it a set of HTML-related instructions. These instructions can be manually composed or can be composed by WYSIWYG applications. These applications make the task easier and more intuitive. Examples are Microsoft’s FrontPage and Adobe’s Dreamweaver.

Traditionally, all of the content (text, data and images) and the appearance (fonts, colors, placements, etc.) was coded into the HTML. Content and the control of appearance are separated when using CSS. Good practice dictates that the HTML contain only the content and than the CSS controls the appearance of the web page. There are compelling reasons for doing this:

A change in style, e.g. changing a color or font, involves changes in specific areas of the CSS. Otherwise, each item affected would need to be found and changed in the HTML.
Web pages designed for one browser can look different, sometimes disturbingly, in other browsers. Since this is a matter of appearance, style sheets can be composed and called upon for particular browsers. This is one method of rendering the appearance of a web page the same in various browsers.

Most people prefer using WYSIWYG methods of designing web pages. WordPress and XStandard are examples of WYSIWYG applications that use the HTML and CSS method for the design. Once a page is designed by one of these editors, style sheets can easily be edited or added to make overall style changes or to make adaptations for various browsers.

If you’re interested in this concept, I recommend the book.

Technorati Tags:CSS, Web Page Design, HTML, Browsers

I’m an Optimist

I remember when Newt Gingrich was the focal point for the Republicans overthrowing a corrupt Democratic congress. He communicated his visions with the voters through the Contract with America. The contract was a team effort and drew from one of Reagan’s SOTU addresses and The Heritage Foundation policy ideas. Gingrich, though was the major communicator. It’s argued that election polling indicated that only 30% of the voters were aware of the contract but when you think of the big chunk that vote straight, 30% is massive.

What followed were the Republicans replacing the Democrats in sufficient numbers to control the House. I also remember Gingrich’s enthusiasm in settling into the job and my optimism. He was going to plod through the realization of the Contract and even lose some weight as he was doing it. He didn’t foresee the hacks, having no interest in a Contract with America, flooding in from the wings with visions of retribution, building fiefdoms and pushing pet projects. Chief among the group was the already entrenched DeLay who would eventually help bring the era Gingrich ushered in to an end.

Now we have Nancy Pelosi. Similarly, she engineered an overthrow of the corrupt Republican House. Not so similarly, however, she did it not by capturing the voters imaginations but by rallying and whipping her disarrayed democratic colleagues into line. She herded them into a united front against the administration and it was effective. The difference in implementation may prove to be important. The Democratic hacks will be driven to exact retribution, build fiefdoms and push pet projects. She just may have the leadership punch to contain the small minds and turn the debate toward our pressing issues.

I hope so and I wish her well.

Technorati Tags:Gingrich, Contract with America, Pelosi, Congress