This is the news from 1998 for benturner.com.

You can return to the what's new page if you like.

news from 1998...

 

12M/26D/98Y: Mmm, I imagine I'll have to write a Soapbox about this Christmas...sort of as a journal entry. What with Anna being here, the cool gifts I scored (like "Thief: The Dark Project", "Grim Fandango", books by Camus and Nietzsche, an all-in-one printer), and my thoughts on current issues and the upcoming semester/year (good grade report for once!), all requiring my attention, I'm one irresponsible cat who owes you some fresh content after a period of idleness. Okay okay, I admit it; Catz 3 is a pretty addictive program and "You've Got Mail" was cute and fair in its treatment of the Internet. You can let go of my arm now. ;)

 

12M/22D/98Y: Just a few more days until Christmas. I love you, Anna! Seen those "Affiliated with Amazon.com" and similar buttons on personal sites? How pathetic. Web site owners get cash for bleeding their visitors over to the big boys. Well, just another commercial promotion you won't find here. :p

 

12M/15D/98Y: Anna's sleeping away, right now, working off her jetlag...my angel. There's some good press floating about on 1) MP3s (my thoughts on them) and 2) the Nappy Hair fiasco (again, my thoughts on it), both topoi of which are discussed in this week's issue of Newsweek. Highly recommended. It's good to see that even though the teacher who showed the Nappy Hair book to her students has taken her fresh teaching techniques elsewhere for her own safety, her former school is now working the controversial book into its curriculum, and the offended people are now admitting they didn't know the whole story before protesting. That teacher's leaving the miserable saps of parents from the former school behind. Their kids will suffer, the twits. Also, record companies are far too late in stopping the music piracy movement -- it's like software piracy, only much much worse. I hope they learn something from this. I guess a lot of the people in the media are getting what they deserve right now... Oh wait, there's Bill Clinton, being impeached by morally quicksanded U.S. representatives who blatantly ignore their constituencies... Feh, who needs out-of-touch senators anyway?

 

12M/14D/98Y: My sweetheart's off to the airport right now! There's rumors of an Apple WebMate out there, a kind of laptop version of the iMac or something. Gee, when can I get my own CyberPal and UsenetFriend? WiredBrowseP@d? For all those web folks who whimsically liken themselves to the fantasy land they call "That Cool Hyundai Backslash Dot Com Commercial", I still prefer those stupid, yet strangely hilarious and addictive Old Navy Performance Fleece commercials. =)

 

12M/13D/98Y: For every lie (or "fib"), every unpaid favor, every time what is best for me is ignored for what is best for others, I am reminded why I hate people so much. We're all self-centered, folks, and I must admit that the true test is to lose that. Merry fucking Christmas. Soapbox for November 29th on my experiences with the commercial design mentality. Ze count eez two days now...

 

12M/10D/98Y: Just 5 more days until Anna is here!! What a Christmas we have in store. Don't ask me why I thought this was worthwhile -- I just thought it's one of those things that's interesting to think about, even if it's cheesy: [ details_quiz.txt ] Oh, d'you like the new splash page? Could be temporary, maybe not. I like my sign. Also: getting paid for a small Latin translation passage. Didn't see that day coming...heh.

 

12M/07D/98Y: Soapbox for the week of September 27th, extrapolating extravagant theories for the coinciding of the new millennium with the betrayal of mankind by computers, the Y2K bug.

 

12M/06D/98Y: Another old Soapbox on my self-less acts and good intentions, which do in fact exist. New (current) Soapbox about online relationships. I'm sad right now.

 

12M/05D/98Y: Well hey! Our business won third place at the Business Fair! How about that. Wrote up an old Soapbox which discusses the Nappy Hair book scandal.

12M/02D/98Y: Operating on no sleep. Last week of classes means Hell-Week. We just had a Business Fair in my MIS class, which everyone just did a phenomenal job with. This was the first class our professor had ever taught, and she did an amazing job organizing judges to come and evaluate businesses founded by groups of about 20 students each. In retrospect, I learned a lot more than I thought I did about teamwork and the group dynamic. Our group really pulled through in the end and created a powerhouse business -- I'm proud of everyone who contributed. My web site (here's a screenshot of it -- I didn't optimize it for any browsers except IE 4.x+ since it was basically a kiosk display) for the fictional company was well-received, and I met a lot of people who were interested in the techno music I was playing during the event. Very cool. ;) All in all, it's great to see undergraduates get a chance to show everyone what they can do in business, even if there were a lot of hindrances and problems with this project. A kinder, gentler Ben. Nauseous yet?

 

11M/29D/98Y: Had an abbreviated Thanksgiving. Back into the fray, back into the world of everyone wanting something from you. :) Got no energy right now, so forcing a few Soapboxes from this empty noggin wouldn't be good. Seen the Half-Life box? Dhabih Eng did some of the cover art. Check out his site. His work's amazing. And I think he's younger than me, the bastard.

 

11M/25D/98Y: Woo! Soon, I'll get a break from my school/work slutdom so I'll be able to concentrate on the site for a few days. No new content from Ben = hypocritical. Some people eat Thanksgiving dinner, some watch the big game. Me? I sit in a dark room and work on a web site. Half-Life, from beginning to the very end, is superb. First time I've been addicted to a game in awhile. Buy it.

 

11M/20D/98Y: Nothing really new, except that it's almost Thanksgiving and work & school are killing me. I have to say that Half-Life's absolutely the strongest first-person shooter to date, only lacking the legacy of id Software in its name. Awesome weapons, AI, levels, multiplay, and so on. Only problem is some of the levels are too Super Mario Brothers-ish -- look, Luigi, I can jump from pipe to pipe! Grim Fandango is another fine choice, perhaps transfusing some of the style and personality back into adventure games. Anyone installed Litestep yet?

 

11M/15D/98Y: T-minus one month until Anna! Soapbox posted for the week of October 25th, covering my thoughts on trusting me. Another Soapbox posted for this week, November 15th, is a short story I wrote about a man whose body betrayed him in his pursuit of happiness.

 

11M/10D/98Y: I'm still here, just been busy. I've got Thanksgiving coming up soon, though. Hell yeah! And Anna's coming for Christmas. Could one ask for a better present? Definitely not. I think I need a mood that expresses more happiness than yellow currently does, for events like these. :) Need to write more Soapboxes, but I have some projects and homework which take higher priority. Sit tight.

 

11M/05D/98Y: In the CD player: Fatboy Slim's "You've Come a Long Way, Baby", Morcheeba's "Big Calm", Portishead's "Dummy", Lords of Acid's "Voodoo-U", and Filter's "Short Bus". Okay, folks, let's take bets! How many of YOUR favorite personal site authors will buy domain names as Christmas presents for OTHER personal site authors? "Ooh, you got me 'overthehill-yupster.com'? Thank you SO much!" Secondary bet is how many essays people will write about their new domain names. ;)

 

11M/04D/98Y: Usually I don't provide info about software updates, but hey, it's Photoshop! Adobe's released Photoshop 5.0.2, an upgrade which fixes a lot of those annoying type problems which drove me nuts. Here's Adobe's description of the upgrade. Download: Windows, Mac. Governor of Minnesota, Jesse "The Body" Ventura? Former wrestler in politics? Works for me these days. :p

 

11M/03D/98Y: News flash: The American Heritage College Dictionary staff has revised the controversial spelling of the word "team". Read more about it here.

 

11M/02D/98Y: And just when your faith in politics begins to renew itself, elections come upon you. I'd like to thank John Sharp, John Cornyn, Paul Hobby, and Richard Raymond personally for making the election environment in Texas hostile; thank you, you assholes! You've turned off potential voters with your mudslinging.

 

11M/1D/98Y: Soapbox for the week of July 26, 1998, on information piracy and the Internet and why things will have to change dramatically.

 

10M/31D/98Y: Happy Halloween. The U.S. celebrates the "Annual One-Week Love Affair With Outer Space" holiday with John Glenn's triumphant journey into space. Whee. We should be on Mars by now, folks... In other news, the Soapbox for next week has been posted, centering in on sex and breakups, sort of.

 

10M/30D/98Y: Quick note to those people who say they could do a better job than me, or who feel the same way I do about things, REALLY... You're the critic and I'm the creator. I'm actually DOING this and you're just observing. Create your own content and don't leech.

 

10M/25D/98Y: Soapbox for the week of October 11th, detailing some material facts about my current state. Abortion doctor assassinated by pro-lifers, Vail burned down by animal rights extremists. What a future we're approaching. Check out this flagrant ripoff of graphics and web design. Pathetic that some web designers think they can get away with this.

 

10M/22D/98Y: A few weeks later, I have nothing but great things to say about Half-Life, and Trespasser is found to be one of the worst games I've ever played. Such a turn of events. And Shogo was a complete surprise -- Monolith deserves praise for their work. Trespasser, Trespasser, Trespasser -- you disappointed me. Been staying up all night doing work and studying. This is when the semester begins to drag on too much. That's one thing an Anna is for -- support through busy times.

 

10M/20D/98Y: Whine, whine. No excuses, no reasons, just fucking DO it. "I saw your act; it came and went, / As flaccid as an ex-president. / Your ideas are out of place. / It's anarchy with a friendly face. / Rebel, rebel, don't regret, / Screw 'em every chance you get."

 

10M/18D/98Y: 'Nother New 'Box. The Neo-Nazis. How come the futuristic RPG Fallout never received more press? It's an amazing game, and everything fits perfectly. The intro is a blast.

 

10M/17D/98Y: Two new Soapboxes! I figure I need to go into overdrive to catch up. <sigh> One, for this coming week, deals with my illusory persona, the other for August 30th, all about mine Anna. These comments are a little late, but...Shogo and Half Life are amazing games -- not groundbreaking, but so much frigging fun to play singleplayer.

 

10M/13D/98Y: Somehow I got added to the list of candidates on the Internet Homepages Top 100. For whoever's voting for me, thanks. (that thing must have a flawed formula for determining rank)

 

10M/12D/98Y: Is it just me, or are all the once young people on the Web becoming ultra-conservative and codgy, just DYING to be old? If I read one more essay about how television is causing illiteracy and how writing skills are the most important thing in the world for everyday communication, or how young people are destroying their minds and their futures because of their music, drugs, clothing, and apathy towards a world run by said dull old people, I'm going to puke. Young people like puce have a vitality you guys lost a long time ago. Your days are over.

 

10M/11D/98Y: Antiloop...one of the many benefits of having a Swedish girlfriend. It's techno sadly confined primarily to Scandinavia. See if you can resist getting psyched while listening to "In My Mind". And to the person who's going around signing guestbooks using my name...lay off, man. The last guestbook entry I made was sent a year or two ago. I don't fuck around with other people, and I expect others not to fuck around with me.

 

10M/09D/98Y: Martina Hingis is no longer the #1 women's tennis player in the world. Lindsay Davenport replaced her! Hingis is a great player, but...well, you know I don't like her. For the uninitiated, this means that currently, both the men's (Pete Sampras) and women's #1 players are American. Woohoo!

 

10M/08D/98Y: I paid $290 for my domain and hosting last year and all I got was this stupid Project Cool Sighting Award. Heh. Thanks for sending it my way, guys...it's much appreciated. I apologize for the mess here -- the X-Files section, for example, is horribly out of date. I wasn't really expecting that many visitors today.

 

10M/08D/98Y: Yes, UT did indeed ban my virtual host, and it refused to make much of an extra effort to help me out by allowing my SMTP server. Luckily, Digiweb is a professional unit and is helping me out. Please resend e-mail if you sent anything between the 4th and the 6th. Thanks. It's too bad this sort of thing is the norm on the 'Net these days. It's barely "our" Internet anymore. Still looking to trade this Matrox G200 for a Millennium II PCI, btw. I just know I can get this Celeron baby up to 496MHz.

 

10M/07D/98Y: 1) Anna, Anna, Anna! It's your day, baby! Everyone wish her well. 2) After testing different possible problems with several SMTP and POP servers, I think I've found the source. And I intend on yelling at my university's sysadmins, if it is indeed true that they banned my virtual host's domain because they thought it was a spammer. Dealing with useless tech support does little for patience. 3) In other news, Justin Hall got screwed over. We know where ZDTV's heart is now, though.

 

10M/06D/98Y: I don't seem to be receiving e-mail right now and I'm not sure why. I hope they don't bounce. Sorry if you sent something urgent to me -- maybe infinity@mail.utexas.edu works?

 

10M/03D/98Y: Caught up on the June 21st Soapbox, this one paying tribute to WoozleDen and my old cat. Conversation with Kitty, #1.

 

09M/30D/98Y: Even though I'm still taking heat for liking Unreal... Trespasser is said to be coming out in 1.5 weeks. Oooh... I'm there! My current fave is Rainbow 6, but its multiplayer aspects are lacking... Half-Life is garnering a lot of praise from developers who've played it, but I'm still wary of a 3D shooter from Sierra On-Line.

 

09M/28D/98Y: I inadvertently broke the submission form in the Robin Hood Hut when I switched CGI scripts. Also, the Javascript had some incorrect references. Anyway, it's all fixed and the script is even well documented for your perusal. Thanks to Sarah Norberg for pointing out this error to me. Submit away!

 

09M/28D/98Y: Are you involved in the music or music distribution industries? Do me a favor and contact me? Clan Nobody's Children makes it to another tournament playoffs, this time for the Quake 2 CTF tourney, Battle Command! In other news, thanks to everyone who's been sending me insightful, thought-provoking e-mails as of late. Helps weed out the tripe. Anna, I love you.

 

09M/24D/98Y: A bunch of new links in the link section. I had no idea I had amassed so many bookmarks over the years. My favorite right now: Inside DHTML.

 

09M/23D/98Y: Still making up missed Soapboxes. This one, written tonight, is for a June-dated Soapbox and talks about a newspaper letter written in September. Go figure. This 'Box is about the recent UT football stadium seating fiasco and one man's problem with your typical UT student.

 

09M/21D/98Y: My system has all its software reinstalled now. Surprisingly, I have had virtually no problems in my upgrade to Win98 thus far, and it did an excelsior job of detecting my hardware. I was worried, what with the horror stories posted everywhere.

 

09M/20D/98Y: New design for the Stick in the Mud Status Page. Well, Daniel and I gave it a shot: we went for 496MHz on this Celeron 266 and it made it all the way up to the desktop before it froze. That made it a lot further than we thought, considering my AGP Matrox G200 shouldn't run at 2/3 of a 124MHz bus speed. But I know if I had a PCI video card, I could operate at 496MHz easy...anyone want to trade? Btw, my video drivers got fucked up in the process so I ended up upgrading to Windows98 while I had a chance... Now I'm setting this system up. How bizarre this OS is...

 

09M/18D/98Y: Afro Squad. Hehe. New Soapbox posted on Apple elitism.

 

09M/17D/98Y: Is it just me, or are there a lot more "Server is busy" messages on the Web as of late?

 

09M/16D/98Y: Why the man be keepin' Dolemite.com down? LucasArts appears to be threatening to sue the site for its small, two-page "rhyme", "Star Whores", for infringement on Star Wars intellectual property ownership. LucasArts, you may remember, recently won in a case which claimed another company had a logo similar to LucasArts's. Puh-leese. This site fully supports the author of Dolemite.com -- if not for his First Amendment rights, then for the pictures (see Rudy Ray Moore embracing Kate Winslet in Titanic) or for the section on movie blunders. (I particularly like the one where an off-camera assistant's afro made it into the shot)

 

09M/14D/98Y: Another old Soapbox written, a mountain still left to catch up on. This August 9th one is about television and radio in Europe compared to the States. Davenport wins US Open -- huge gain for U.S. women's tennis!

 

09M/11D/98Y: Soapbox on domain name resellers. Interested in finding out what's on TV in your area tonight? Hahaha.

 

09M/09D/98Y: On the heels of the wildly creative, blockbuster movie "Blade" is the computer game, now with screenshots. Heh. UT has a deal with Microsoft: $5 for the major Microsoft titles. Mac, Linux, and UNIX users are furious. iMac is being sold on campus, too, and don't forget the "faster than any P2" line. Microsoft's not the only company with unclean hands, believe me. Final note: I've rounded out my ideas for the Soapboxes I have to make up -- I'll gradually be adding them. Sorry to not have good content posted as regularly as I've wanted. "o bioV bracuV, h de tecnh makrh." This is FUN.

 

09M/04D/98Y: Updated the software pages. I know some links may be out of date and all the info may not be completely accurate, but some sites do a poor job of explaining what options are available for their software, plus I don't know if it's worth the time to keep track of all the changes in software these days. What's important is that this area lists my favorite software choices so you can use them for guidance. Suggestions? Changes? Just e-mail me.

 

09M/03D/98Y: I've probably discussed this with some people who may read this, but this catch-up Soapbox reveals my disgust at the quality of the college applications I wrote awhile back. I could do much better now (even if I'm still just as long-winded and unfocused).

 

09M/01D/98Y: Some new links. Among them is a link to MP3.com, a site which shows a strong effort to legitimize the use of MP3s. Offers free MP3s of bands from amateurs to somewhat popular bands.

 

08M/30D/98Y: Okay, been unable to update the site for a bit since I was assembling the new system. But it's running happily at 448MHz now. Not bad for a $100 Celeron 266.

 

08M/27D/98Y: Some designer who maintains the Industry Watch section of CNN/fn has some nifty HTML and stylesheet tricks. Good for you, whoever you are.

 

8M/26D/98Y: Seen on the door of a professor's office in the classics building: the infamous "G3 twice as fast as Pentium" poster. You'll find this in your marketing 301 books in five years -- look under misleading advertising. I'm all for Apple emerging from its Dark Ages...but come on, Apple should play clean! It is, after all, the "morally correct" choice, Mac advocates say.

 

8M/25D/98Y: Old 8/16 Soapbox written. Discusses one of Intel's most talked about products: the Celeron. Could this signal Intel's decline?

 

8M/25D/98Y: Forgot to mention that I'm back in Austin. Classes begin Wednesday. I have a Celeron 266 sitting here. The heat sink attached to the top of it feels cold. And it's just sitting here at room temperature. Sweet. ;)

 

8M/24D/98Y: It's August, 1998, and I'm finally on a 56k connection. Many thanks to the tech guys at UT for installing v.90 software and to Dan for asking them to do it for us humble modem-users. 52000bps connects are nice. The latest Soapbox (for this week, actually), presents you with access to the once-hidden .plan project of 1997.

 

8M/22D/98Y: Blade, a faithful translation of the classic vampire tales we all know and love. Okay, so it's a cliched action movie with a sugary vampire coating. If the movie could've captured the spirit of the opening action sequence and bloodbath, it would've...oh nevermind. I'm usually behind you, Wes, but what happened this time?

 

8M/18D/98Y: The new Korn CD, "Follow the Leader", which was released today, comes with a free compilation CD of music by bands supported by Korn. Pitchshifter and Limp Bizkit are among the most notables. Korn's a cool band with me -- they've put video clips on their last CD, asked for consumer feedback in CD cases, and now are promoting bands that aren't lucky enough to show up on the radio and MTV (lack of exposure doesn't equal lack of quality).

 

8M/16D/98Y: Posted a Soapbox for the week of June 7th, dealing with my love for gothic literature.

 

8M/12D/98Y: The Soapbox quest of 1998 continues. The latest is all about buying a new computer, a guide designed to be helpful to anyone planning to upgrade. Oh, okay, and it sort of details my trek towards getting rid of this old clunker I have now. New links on the fave links page.

 

8M/5D/98Y: Guaranteed to make some people yawn and make others wondering why they keep coming back to read it: I've posted the July 12th Soapbox, which centers on the development of professional tennis.

 

8M/5D/98Y: Schedule is Hellish. Apologies for no updates. I'll make it up to you, I promise. SiN is simply disappointing and a BH6 mobo/333MHz combo is almost irresistible right now. :)

 

8M/2D/98Y: Back into the scorching heat of the Dallas summer. Yes, I'm back home and am preparing for many Soapbox updates -- this time, sadly, without my lady. No time spent with her is time enough. As for the Web, well, I've certainly done much to cast myself away from the mainland, but the serenity is soothing. I suppose it gives me some time to think about certain accusations of hypocrisy. :)

 

7M/3D/98Y: Hingis lost to Novotna? Eat that, critics. Leaving for Sweden in an hour. Woo! I'd give you a full itinerary of the past three hours' events, but I'm sure you get enough of that at other personal sites. Psst...try showing some opinions, web folk.

 

6M/26D/98Y: Off to Austin! Roadtrip. Too bad, Rios -- Wimbledon overrated? More like Rios the one-dimensional tennis player. Hurry, hurry, get Windows98! Wait, do you even know what's new in it? I didn't think so.

 

6M/17D/98Y: Hmm, MSIE 5.0 b1...should I get, should I get? XML, expanded DHTML, faster rendering...ooh... No idea when the Soapbox will be updated. I'm occupied at the moment. ;) Sit tight.

 

6M/12D/98Y: Anna arrives today, so updates should be scant for awhile. Not only has a one semester wait to see my girlfriend again ended, but I'm working on some kickass web design projects and I've been pleased with my results. Now all I need is one of them thar Celeron CPUs and I'm set. Not bad for a guy most web authors shit on, no? You guys still unemployed, unhappy, and unsettled? One would think lives like that could give you good content for your diaries. 'Tis not in thy stars?

 

6M/10D/98Y: Woo, just found out my summer plans: my Anna's coming for a few weeks, then we go to Europe for a month, together! Needless to say, I'm psyched for this one. Thank you for the arrangements, baby.

 

6M/5D/98Y: Hahaha, watch out, Martina Hingis... No women on the tennis tour deserve to be your rival? Was that a straight sets loss to Monica Seles? I think it was. ;) That wasn't even the French Open finals match, either.

 

6M/1D/98Y: It must be a full moon -- another rare occasion the current week's Soapbox was posted on time. You might find it interesting. It deals with Macs vs. PCs, the eternal debate. I think you'll learn a thing or two, too.

 

5M/31D/98Y: New Soapbox on dreams and visionary personalities. And for all you people who consider me an arrogant brat: I hope you contribute content to the Internet as well. Otherwise, you're not doing any benefit to the Internet by shunning me.

 

5M/30D/98Y: The representative of the BenTurner.com embassy in Dallas considers Pakistan's and India's nuclear tests a major digression in human progress. He "[feels] deeply saddened for the people in that region who are just trying to make it through."

 

5M/23D/98Y: Two things: 1) The Lakers deserve to lose the playoff series after how they played tonight. I hope the Bulls destroy the Jazz. 2) Unreal, the long-delayed "Quake-killer" might actually live up to the hype. Still waiting to get a glimpse of it. If I like it, I'll be sure to plaster my opinions all over the site.

 

5M/22D/98Y: A rant on celebrities and the media and how much I hate hearing about them talking about how hard their jobs are, in the Soapbox for the week of the 17th.

 

5M/20D/98Y: Woo! Did you think I was gone? Nope. Any attempts to snuff me out have failed. My virtual host somehow got its configuration files screwed up so benturner.com wasn't set up right all of yesterday. As much as I hate to have my site down at all, I got one free month's credit, so it was worth the trouble. ;)

 

5M/13D/98Y: Caught up on an old 'Box. It centers on commercial web design.

 

5M/10D/98Y: Get me some plane tickets. I want to travel.

 

5M/4D/98Y: This week's 'Box: classics elitists and the professors who love them.

 

5M/3D/98Y: Okay, I'll have two new Soapboxes coming up soon. I promise. It's the end of the school semester and things are a mess in every single direction. Not like I was ever known for posting these things on time... ;)

 

5M/1D/98Y: To all those people who can't find personal site authors who have kept at it...hey, baby, still going after three years! And the fun's just getting started.

 

4M/25D/98Y: Woohoo, the NBA playoffs are upon us! Oh, wait, that means more of Bill Walton. Shit.

 

4M/25D/98Y: Ben's gone and done suggested that there new hierarchical system for the World Wide Web in this week's 'Box.

 

4M/19D/98Y: I wrote the Soapbox for two weeks ago. It discusses those rare breeds of sick people who think every little thing makes a difference.

 

4M/14D/98Y: I think special praise should go out to the team behind the new wave of Volkswagen commercials. Electronica in the background, a stark contrast between the white background and the new sporty Volkswagen, and some impressive, yet simple effects to reinforce the theme. I like it. A lot. And I've been moved by the different three of them I've seen. Are there more?

 

4M/12D/98Y: Skipped a week in the Soapbox, but I will make it up at some point. This week's 'Box is up, dealing with the pretty frigging big thing I mentioned earlier.

 

4M/9D/98Y: Not sure when I'll have this week's Soapbox up. I'm really busy with various projects. Just remember, if you choke on a big project, heed Nike and sing your chant... "I am Tiger Woods."

 

4M/7D/98Y: I just landed something pretty frigging big. This is the materialization I spoke of in the 'Box, methinks.

 

4M/5D/98Y: Finally a new 'Box, "De Familiaritate Scientiaque." Now to work on the next Soapbox, which is supposed to be up today...<sheepish>

 

4M/4D/98Y: Anna's home! And I still need to do last week's Soapbox. Sorry for any who are waiting... Began a new story in Robin Hood's hut -- tell me if there are any complications with the JavaScript.

 

4M/1D/98Y: I've decided to start writing diary entries in the Soapbox in the style of Hemingway. The Texas Rangers have a pennant-winning team this year. The editor of UT's newspaper was arrested for stealing 7,000 copies of the paper because they contained McDonald's Monopoly pieces. Classics enrollment is making a comeback. Women will no longer leave men as bumbling masses of insecurity. Men will no longer delight in being bumbling masses of insecurity. Sex is evil. The Southern Baptist Convention is right on. Otho was wise. And my summer with Anna is very close now. Right. <sigh>

 

3M/26D/98Y: New yadda yadda to read... Men, women, sex, love, everything.

 

3M/22D/98Y: Mine Anna's out of town. Is it any wonder my mood is blue...? <pine>

 

3M/22D/98Y: New Soapbox. How are personal sites going to survive? Also updated my essay, The Puddle, because the old one was just unbearable to read.

 

3M/18D/98Y: Okay, I fixed the Javascript once and for all, dammit. I installed Navigator 3.01 again and found that older versions of Javascript and the Big Two browsers do not like SCRIPT tags inside large and/or embedded tables. This was no easy bug to track down. It must've been tracked down, though, because there were no problems in either Navigator 4.04 or Internet Explorer 4.01. And all these so-called design experts claim standards are a waste of time. I can't even use JavaScript to serve up multiple versions of a page for different browsers because no one follows standards. Brilliant, guys, brilliant. Photoshop does not an expert make.

 

3M/17D/98Y: Tired of personal sites that are never updated? So am I! People with nothing to say run dry pretty quickly. But not here: two and a half years and still going! BenTurner.com ain't a quitter.

 

3M/<cough>/98Y: The Soapbox is a little late. This week's discusses various cease and desist cases which have occurred on the Internet as of late. In particular, the mobilization of the Netizens against Fruit of the Loom.

 

3M/12D/98Y: Some new links added to the links page. For what it's worth, the reason I still list commercial sites is because there aren't enough personal sites interesting enough to promote.

 

3M/11D/98Y: Fixed a Javascript incompatibility on the main menu page. Ever try fixing Javascript for older browsers? Sanford Wallace has an easier time improving his image.

 

3M/4D/98Y: Microsoft is the subject of this week's Soapbox. Come on, you know you hate them. Just hope I don't ask you why. ;) And Anna, congratulations! You definitely know what for. I'm so proud of you, sweetheart!

2M/28D/98Y: Okay, the Nobody's Children area is now redesigned. Woohoo, this site is looking a lot better as a whole, don't you think?

 

2M/28D/98Y: I'm not really adding anything, per se, but you've probably noticed I've been doing a lot of renovating to the site. Next redesign is for the clan Nobody's Children area. Since my Quake clan is moving up to the higher echelon of Capture The Flag, our site is getting more visitors and a good impression must be made. The Robin Hood and X-Files areas are still horribly, horribly lacking in representation of my current skills.

 

2M/28D/98Y: I finally posted this week's Soapbox, which centers on the conflict with Iraq and the problems Hussein is creating for everyone.

 

2M/17D/98Y: Brazil banned the game "Grand Theft Auto"? Sounds like what I wrote about in this week's Soapbox, as music companies crack down on MP3s sites.

 

2M/14D/98Y: Happy Valentine's Day to mine Anna. No one else -- just her. I got around to encoding the mood music, which you can view on its accompanying explanation page.

 

2M/9D/98Y: Really pisses me off when I see all the hate towards one of the big Web browsers out there. WHY do it? Read more in the fledgling Soapbox.

 

2M/7D/98Y: Settings page got axed. Tell me if there are any left-over links to it.

 

2M/6D/98Y: Bill Gates hit with a pie, IBM works on a 1GHz chip, Netscape considers selling itself to another company, and much much more. Guess which one wasn't done with any malicious intent? ;)

 

2M/6D/98Y: Are you 'Net-savvy? Plenty of enemies online, coupled with plenty of ISP disconnections? You might be getting nuked. Yep, our favorite OS is getting ripped apart by people searching for holes in Win95's TCP/IP. Go to this page for nuke protection patches. Disregard the porn advertisement. ;) The site's just a front end for Microsoft's www.labyrinth.

 

2M/4D/98Y: Overheard..."Today we were all assigned computer-type companies to research and compete in class. You know, like Microsoft and Sun and shit like that. But I got Oracle...man, that sucked." <rofl>

 

2M/4D/98Y: Got around to posting the redesign, finally. Here you go -- enjoy. I also did work on the autobio, which hasn't been touched for years, and I redesigned the Soapbox, which has a new article in it discussing the problems with abortions, death penalties, and one word solutions. Yes, the guestbook and search scripts are gone. Like they were useful anyway.

 

2M/2D/98Y: It's my birthday. I'm twenty. Phil saw his shadow...again. Somehow I'm not amused.

 

1M/29D/98Y: Two new Soapboxes. One on a new design philosophy, the other (this week's) as a farewell to the already dead.

 

1M/19D/98Y: Ben Turner goes half popular culture analyst, half inspirational speaker. The result? Well, the result wasn't too good, more like a poor attempt at humor, but you can read it anyway.

 

1M/18D/98Y: I have two old Soapboxes to write, plus this week's. It'll take some time, as I'm still searching for ideas, as well as the energy to write them. Also, any form using the formmail script from Matt Wright is not working right now. I don't know why and my ISP insists it's not their fault. So I'll probably look for a new script to use, and hopefully I'll stop losing anything that people are sending to me.

 

1M/12D/98Y: Yeah, it's late. The Great Recovery of the Soapbox continues as the New Year begins to start powering up. This one is for the week of the 14th of December and it has to do with my wanting to achieve weightlessness in order to be successful.

 

1M/11D/98Y: Catching up on the 'Boxes. This one is about what I predict for myself in 1998 and how the Soapbox derives its title for this year. Enjoy. I will be doing just that.

 

1M/10D/98Y: Well, after being almost a month late with the next Soapbox, I wrote the one for next week a day early! Go figure... It of course explains some of my feelings after spending Christmas with the goddess herself, Anna. Here's to 1998's Soapboxes!

 

1M/8D/98Y: I'm back home now, although I wish with all my heart that I was still with Anna. I know some of you may not care, and you may be sick about it, but fuck, I deserve this and this is what love's all about. If you don't feel the same way about your significant other, then shame on you. Updates coming soon, especially in the Soapbox department. I'm afraid it's sickenly behind. :) New main page since I don't think it's easy enough to navigate. We'll zee about zat.

 

1M/1D/98Y: I thought I said this, but I guess I didn't. Since I'm here in Stockholm until the 6th, there won't be any updates until that time. Too much to do and I need a break. Congrats, Annababe, you're the first one to interrupt the schedule of the Soapbox. ;) And the only one, methinks. Damn I'm enjoying it here...<evil grin> Happy New Year everyone.