Thoughts From Eric Archive

Found on zeldman.com: photographs by Christopher Casciano of the World Trade Center attack from the New Jersey shore.  All 72 images are more than worthy of examination, as they give a much-needed sense of scale to the attack’s effects, but for sheer impact it’s hard to beat pictures 8, 16, and 31.  Some of the images there are better, in a certain sense, than anything I’ve seen in the mainstream press.  It wasn’t until I looked through Mr. Casciano’s pictures that I really, truly understood just how huge the twin towers were, and how much of a blow it must have been to see them fall and disappear in a massive grey cloud of dust and smoke and ash.

• Tuesday, 18 September 2001 was published on Tuesday, September 18th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

The complexspiral demo is now online.

• Tuesday, 18 September 2001 (redux) was published on Tuesday, September 18th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the CSS category.
• There have been no replies.

We’re home and safe.  We feel a little guilty that we’re relieved to have made it home when thousands of people will never come home again, but there it is: you cling to what you know and can control, and try your best to move on and accept the rest.  And to be thankful for what you do have, and for those close to you.

When everything happened, we were in Mountain View, CA, where I was visiting the Netscape campus.  Kat was going to fly down to Los Angeles on Tuesday, but obviously that didn’t happen.  We were supposed to fly back home on Saturday, but the flight was cancelled, so we ended up taking the Sunday night redeye and arrived at about 6:30am EDT this morning.  Tired and weary, we crawled into bed and grabbed a few hours of sleep in our own bed.  We even let Gravity sleep with us, which we usually don’t permit, chiefly for allergenic reasons.  (Also because she manages to occupy an incredible amount of space for so small a cat.)

I’ve already had a few inquiries about the complexspiral demo I debuted at Web2001, and I assure you that it is coming soon!  I want to do a little touch-up work, as well as document browser support and bugs, before unveiling it.  I hope to get to that tomorrow, as I’ve dug my way out from under my e-mail and newsgroup backlogs in near-record time and should be back into the work groove by tomorrow morning.

• Monday, 17 September 2001 was published on Monday, September 17th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

Kat’s father made it home to Long Island last night, having walked about fifty blocks uptown before managing to get off the island.  One of Kat’s college friends was also very near the WTC when it was hit, and made it out physically unharmed.  So far, despite Kat’s strong NYC ties, we’ve been lucky: so far as we’re aware, nobody she knows was injured or killed.  We’re safe, everyone we know is safe; I don’t know about you, but for me, Thanksgiving has started a little early this year, even as I mourn the loss we’ve suffered as a people.

• Wednesday, 12 September 2001 was published on Wednesday, September 12th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

Kat and I have just heard that her father, whose office is very close to where the World Trade Center used to stand, was not harmed but is still somewhere on Manhattan Island. Apparently he saw everything, which I don’t think I can imagine.  Or, more likely, I just don’t want to.

Our hearts, in the moments when they can feel at all, go out to those who have lost loved ones today.

• Tuesday, 11 September 2001 14:28:00 PDT was published on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

My God.

• Tuesday, 11 September 2001 12:19:00 PDT was published on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Personal category.
• There have been no replies.

As I crawl back into update mode—last week was Web2001, where I presented quite a bit and met lots of cool folks (and got my picture taken by Heather Champ).  I also got Jeffrey Zeldman’s Taking Your Talent to the Web signed by the man himself, and then discovered that I’m mentioned in the acknowledgments.

Random thought drawn from the show: although I don’t think tables are an evil design tool, I do think they’ve poisoned and limited our ideas of what is possible in Web design.  There is another structure that can be described as a collection of cells: a prison.  It’s time for designers to break out.

If you’re dropping by to see if the complexspiral demo is live yet—no, it isn’t, but it will be soon!  I’ll be doing my best to get it and the material from my talks online in the next week or two.  I beg your patience while I get myself reoriented to life without five simultaneous high-pressure short-schedule projects.  While you’re waiting, you can get an update on nanotech use in military and civilian products from CNN.com and the Associated Press.  Thank you—please pull around to the first window.

• Monday, 10 September 2001 was published on Monday, September 10th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the CSS category.
• There have been no replies.

I was going to fill everyone in on events for July, which was not bereft of them.  Unfortunately, my right arms hurts so much (for no apparent reason) that I can barely type, so the update will have to wait.  In the meantime, please enjoy a comical musing on the joy that is upgrading to Windows XP, as well as a perfect example of how automated banner-ad routines can get you into big, big trouble.

• Friday, 3 August 2001 was published on Friday, August 3rd, 2001.
• It was assigned to the General category.
• There have been no replies.