standards-based web development and design ideas

Before deciding to post something here, tonight was a night like most nights. I was getting ready for bed, reading different news items from feeds I've stored on my Google Reader account. While doing so, Sarah asked me if I'd heard or read anything about the federal government's desire to resume using cookies on their websites after being restricted for the last 9 years.

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I wrote this over a year ago, and have been too reluctant (embarrassed?) to release it. I was going to delete it, and found that I was too weak-willed. So my character flaws have trapped me -- I'm unleashing this on the world so I don't have to think about it anymore. Sorry. -y5

Chances are, you've been to more than a few websites proudly proclaiming their Web 2.0 status. You have visited message boards or seen mailing lists full of new users interested in AJAX. And you may have begun to realize that the number of aspiring web professionals who merely ask "How do I...?" vastly outnumbers those who also ask "How should I...?" or even "When should I...?". Whether or not you understand and use concepts like graceful degradation or progressive enhancement, this page is for you.

A few days ago, I was charged with the assignment of helping to gather as much info as we could about a certain blogger, by using only information that was freely available via the web. I was amazed how much we were able to dig up.

Afterwards, I was turned on to a presentation given by private investigator Steve Rambam, titled Privacy Is Dead - Get Over It (Note that this is a two-part video). It was more than worth the ~3 hours Sarah and I spent watching it. More interesting than the content was the fact that neither of us were too surprised by what he had to say.