Soapbox Archive
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7/12/06
Bonus 'Drome
Check out a Palindromic appearance in the real world, a line-unit 'Drome from the political arena: Link
3/3/06
Posted by The Webmaster
Six months was probably long enough to keep up a poll that generated zero votes.
But this is a good time to note that Palindromania turned a year old a couple of weeks ago. Although the mass e-mail alerting Palindromania's legions of readers to its existence went out on Feb. 28, 2005, the site was up and running, in some form, as early as Feb. 10. (And, I should note, the archive stretches back to the germinal stage of the idea: Jan. 21. Though I would not suggest that the site, having been conceived, was alive then.)
The site received approximately 1,400 hits last year. Unfortunately the stat logs aren't good enough (nor was I diligent enough) to see how many unique visitors that actually translates into. The site gets a surprising amount of foot traffic, especially from the Open Directory listing (and mirrors); as such, I don't believe there are all that many who make it a regular part of their surfing.
In the following year, I hope to put forward an ambitious (read: laid-back) plan to overhaul and improve the Web site:
- • More content. For a year, the Other section has been promising Palindromey goodness; we've failed to deliver. Goal: At least one more item crossed off.
- • The look. When I look at the site, the word "clunky" comes to mind. Though I don't really support the current trend of tiny fonts and compressed navbars, I hope to streamline the site somewhat with less padding, smaller navigation elements and perhaps more sans serif fonts. These cosmetic changes won't compromise the ease-of-use of the site.
- • If it can be managed, the conversion of the mythic Palindrome spreadsheet into HTML, or perhaps a MySQL database (with search function!). This would require learning the Java to deal with such a database, so HTML is far more likely. What's the best way to search/replace those commas effectively...?
We hope to do more with Palindromania (some) than we've done in the past year (precious little) and make it an enjoyable experience for you, the visitor. Have a suggestion? Just e-mail me.
9/7/05
We pause at this point to give you the opportunity to vote in our reader poll:
Who is the bigger blowhard: Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh?
We recognize that this is a tough one, but give it the good old college try. You may vote thru the "Contact the Palindromist" link at left. Results will be posted soon.
Extreme "no government is good government" types like O'Reilly have simply gotta go. Speaking of which, be sure to catch Thomas Friedman's column in The New York Times for 9/7/05, "Osama and Katrina," especially his skewering of Grover Norquist and Bush/Cheney re: government, taxes, services, etc.
3/26/05
To paraphrase from Sports Illustrated: Here are further signs that the apocalypse is nigh upon us. And in honor of the March 24 Palindrome of the Day, I give you this link to an AP article regarding the refusal of many Imax theatres to show science related films because they may mention the "E" word or suggest that there may have been anything sciencewise going on as life developed on this planet. Most are in the South, which figures. It is unbelievable that, for example, the Fort Worth Museum of Natural History is caving in to this crap. Read it and weep. You may need to register first, but I believe that is easy (and free).
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Film-IMAX-Evolution.html
2/28/05
This launch of this site is dedicated to the memory of my father, Winfred S. Emmons Jr., who would have been 85 three weeks ago. He was the greatest fan of my palindromic work, never failing to guffaw in his unique way. He, a true linguist, pushed me into mathematics, and palindromes are the closest I have ever come to treading into his domain. Although not a computer person by any stretch of the imagination, I think he would have enjoyed the site if someone had shown it to him.
2/10/05
Happy birthday to me. I turned 29 today.
