As I attempted to log in to my Yahoo! account on Thursday morning, I was shocked to find out that my account had been deactivated overnight. The reason that I'm posting this is to let people know that it can happen to you! Also, Yahoo!'s customer service is horrible. I could not find a 1-800 number anywhere on their site, so I called their long-distance number three different times to talk to different people and finally gave up. Their solution was to e-mail reportabuse@yahoo-inc.com; I don't think I will ever hear back from them. I've used Yahoo! services heavily over the years and am very disappointed that they would let a customer's data be lost so easily.

1. All of our Flickr photos would be kaput!
2. Yahoo! won't even tell me what happened. I can only assume that point 1 would be true. This is the other problem; Yahoo! will not respond to my e-mails to them about this.
3. Does Pro count for anything? I've invested $47.99 into two years of Flickr, as well as $19.99 for Yahoo! Mail Plus. If Yahoo! decided that my Flickr account should be deleted, would they tell me why? Would I have as hard of a time finding out what happened as I have with my current Yahoo! fiasco? Would they consider me more of a valued customer because I paid for a Pro account… and consequentially strive to let me know ASAP what happened? The one thing I was able to do when my Yahoo! account died was get the Mail Plus fee credited back to me, pro-rated. (Yes, I should have stopped paying Mail Plus a long time ago and gone with an e-mail that comes free with my web hosting service, but I never got around to it.)

I have filed a BBB complaint and posted to several Flickr groups (I couldn't find a relevant Yahoo! message board). As I mentioned, there have been heated discussions about Yahoo! acquiring Flickr, but I haven't heard anyone mention a case like mine. From Flickr Central, the yahoo | flickr login options (Aug15) post was pretty popular. Wired magazine helped get the word out with their Flickr Fans to Yahoo: Flick Off! (Aug29) article. I've also posted the complaint Yahoo deactivates accounts without warning on both the Flick off and Flickr Central discussion groups at Flickr.com. Additionally, I posted Accessing Flickr photos if Yahoo! account is deactivated? on Flickr Help. So far (as of Tuesday afternoon), the Flickr Central post has gotten the most response.

Here is my Better Business Bureau complaint (private information replaced with [J. J.]).

On Thursday, Oct. 27, I could not log in to my Yahoo! account. Upon
entering my verification information, I was able to determine that my
account was deactivated. This took me completely by surprise! I 
looked through their Terms of Service and could not identify anything
that I had done which would match up with reasons for termination 
(see http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ sections 6 and 13). I 
immediately submitted a comment through the contact form on their 
website. To make a long story short, I've called and e-mailed several
times in the past four days, but I'm tired of getting unsatisfactory
responses. The e-mail chain below gives a complete history. I have 
not received a response since the last e-mail on Friday. (FYI, I was 
using the [J. J.] e-mail at the time; now that I've had a few days to
contemplate which e-mail I want to use, I've decided on my current 
[J. J.] address.) Thanks for everything you do and your consideration
in this complaint!

- [J. J.]
- Yahoo! customer

[J. J.] wrote:
To: 
Subject: Re: Feedback - unexpected deactivation (KMM47250153V18034L0KM)
From: 
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:12:01 +0200


I've made three phone calls to Yahoo! to make sure I'm doing the right
thing. My Mail Plus payment is apparently being refunded, so I'm at
least happy about that.

Could you please give me more information about why my account has been
deactivated? I've read Section 6 of the TOS and can't see where I've
violated any of the policies listed. Once again, this is my primary
e-mail account, so I'd like to get it resolved ASAP. Can you also tell
me why users are not getting an "account inactive" notice when they try
to send an e-mail to [J. J.]?

--- [J. J.] wrote:

> To: Yahoo! Account Services
> 
> Subject: Re: Feedback - unexpected deactivation
> (KMM47250153V18034L0KM)
> From: 
> Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 20:22:01 +0200
> 
> 
> I thought I'd mention up front that I pay a yearly
> fee for POP access to
> this Yahoo! Mail account. If nothing else can be
> done with the account,
> I would at least expect a pro-rated refund for the
> remaining months
> that I paid up front. 
> 
> Zepfanman.com files wrote:
> > As I mentioned in my original request, I got a
> notice that my "account
> > has been deactivated" after I couldn't log in. My
> yahoo address is my
> > primary e-mail account, so I would appreciate a
> quick reply!
> >
> > 1. Yahoo! ID: zepfanman
> > 2. Date of birth (mm-dd-yyyy): [J. J.]

> > 3. ZIP/Postal Code: [J. J.]
> > 4. Country: USA
> > 5. Alternate (non-Yahoo!) email address that we
> currently list: [J. J.] (although I
> prefer to be contacted at this address,
> [J. J.]
> > 6. Your new alternate email address, if it needs
> to be updated (please
> > note that this cannot be a Yahoo! Mail address):
> [J. J.]
> > 7. Secret Question and Answer: [J. J.]
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Account Services wrote:
> Hello,
> Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
> 
> Your feedback has reached an area of Customer
> Care dedicated to login and registration questions
> and problems. If you are currently able to sign in
> to your account but have a question specific to a
> particular Yahoo! service, please return to our help
> site at:
> 
> http://help.yahoo.com
> 
> and click on the appropriate Yahoo! service to
> get help or access a feedback form.
> 
> This is an automated message that has been sent
> to provide you with information about the most
> common login and registration questions. If your
> answer is not included in this email, please follow
> the instructions at the end of this message and your
> request will be reviewed by a Customer Care
> representative.
> 
> Within this email, you will find information that
> will help you:
> 
> I. SIGN IN USING YOUR EXISTING PASSWORD
> II. REQUEST A NEW PASSWORD IF NECESSARY
> III. SEARCH FOR YOUR YAHOO! ID
> IV. UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD QUESTION AND SECRET
> ANSWER
> V. REMOVE YOUR YAHOO! ACCOUNT
> 
> I. SIGN IN USING YOUR EXISTING PASSWORD
> 
> Because your password is personal and private to
> your account, Yahoo! Customer Care does not have
> access to this information. For this reason, we are
> unable to verify your current password, reset your
> password or determine why your previous password is
> now invalid. However, the following are common
> causes of 'invalid password' errors. Please review
> this information prior to requesting a new password
> as explained below.
> 
> 1. Passwords are case-sensitive, meaning that
> PASSWORD, PaSsWoRd, and password are not equivalent.
> Please keep this in mind when entering your
> password. If your 'Caps Lock' key is depressed or
> your 'Caps Lock'
> indicator is lit, you may be typing in all
> capital letters.
> 
> 2. If you have recently changed your password or
> received a new password, please allow our system a
> period of 24 hours to recognize this
> updated login information.
> 
> 3. Please note that 'Invalid ID' and 'Invalid
> Password' have different meanings. If you receive
> an 'Invalid ID' message, you have entered an ID that
> is not recognized on our system. Please confirm the
> spelling of
> your Yahoo! ID.
> 
> II. REQUEST A NEW PASSWORD IF NECESSARY
> 
> If you are unable to login to your Yahoo! account
> due to an 'Invalid Password' error and the
> information contained at
> 
> 
> http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/edit/edit-10.html
> 
> does not assist you, you will need to request a
> new password. Please remember that Customer Care
> may not reset your password, remind you of your
> current password or provide any additional
> information regarding your current login problem.
> 
> To request a new password:
> 
> 1. Return to the Sign-in page:
> 
> http://login.yahoo.com
> 
> 2. Click the 'Forget your ID or password?' link
> 3. Confirm your identity by entering your date of
> birth, zip or postal code and country
> 4. Enter your Yahoo! ID in the 'Forgot your
> password?' box on the left side of the screen
> 5. Click the 'Get New Password' button
> 
> If you would like to have your new password
> displayed on the screen and your account has a
> Password Challenge Question, please type your answer
> in the appropriate box and click 'Display New
> Password.'
> 
> If your account does not contain a Challenge
> Question or you prefer to have your new password
> delivered via email, please click the 'Email New
> Password' button. A new password will be emailed to
> the alternate (non-Yahoo!) address we have on file
> for your account.
> 
> III. SEARCH FOR YOUR YAHOO! ID
> 
> To search for your Yahoo! ID:
> 
> 1. Return to the Sign-in page:
> 
> http://login.yahoo.com
> 
> 2. Click the 'Forget your ID or password?' link
> 3. Confirm your identity by entering your date of
> birth, zip or postal code and country
> 4. Enter your email address in the 'Forgot your
> Yahoo! ID?' box on the right side of the screen
> 5. Click the 'Find Yahoo! ID' button
> 
> The address you enter as item No. 5 must be the
> same address (non-Yahoo!) that you entered during
> registration with Yahoo!. The search results will
> be emailed to the same address. If you did not
> provide an email address or you no longer have
> access to the account, you will be unable to receive
> the search results. Please see below if you need to
> update this address.
> 
> IV. UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD QUESTION AND SECRET
> ANSWER
> 
> You may update your Password Challenge Question
> and Secret Answer only if you can provide the answer
> to your current question. To protect the security
> and privacy of Yahoo! accounts, we will provide
> login help only
> when a correct answer to your current question is
> provided.
> 
> To update your Password Question/Secret Answer,
> please send the following information from the
> Yahoo! account for which you want the
> Question/Answer changed. If you do not use Yahoo!
> Mail, please send the
> information from the alternate email address
> currently listed on the account to:
> 
> my-login-request@yahoo-inc.com
> and write "Re: Password Question and Secret
> Answer" in the Subject line.
> 
> 1. Yahoo! ID
> 2. Date of birth (mm-dd-yyyy)
> 3. ZIP/Postal Code
> 4. Country
> 5. Alternate email address
> 6. Your current Password Question and Secret
> Answer
> 7. Your requested Password Question and Secret
> Answer.
> 
> Please Note: The punctuation, spelling, and
> spacing of your new Secret Answer are very
> important. We will copy the Secret Answer exactly
> as it
> appears in your email.
> 
> V. TO REMOVE YOUR ACCOUNT
> To remove your Yahoo! account, please log in to
> the account you wish to delete and visit:
> 
> https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user
> 
> Read the on-screen instructions carefully, as
> important information regarding your request will be
> included. Please complete this process only if you
> are certain that you would like to remove your
> entire Yahoo!
> account, including any personalized features and
> information such as address books, emails, profiles,
> and messenger access.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> If you did not find your answer in this message
> or need further assistance, please reply to this
> email and provide the information requested below
> along with a description of the problem you're
> having. Without all of this information, we may be
> unable to process your request:
> 
> 1. Yahoo! ID 2. Date of birth (mm-dd-yyyy) 3.
> ZIP/Postal Code
> 4. Country
> 5. Alternate (non-Yahoo!) email address that we
> currently list
> 6. Your new alternate email address, if it needs
> to be updated (please note that this cannot be a
> Yahoo! Mail address)
> 7. Secret Question and Answer
> 
> Note: In order to ensure your email is sent to
> the correct department, please do not change the
> subject line. Doing so may delay your email from
> reaching a Customer Care representative.
> 
> 
> Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer
> Care.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> 
> Yahoo! Customer Care
> 
> For assistance with all Yahoo! services, please
> visit:
> 
> http://help.yahoo.com/
> 
> New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - better than ever!
> 
> 
> 
> Original Message Follows:
> ------------------------
> 
> Mail-Id: 1130417939-6809
> 
> Yahoo! ID: zepfanman
> 
> Question: Other
> 
> Type your feedback here:
> My account was unexpectedly deactivated today. I
> really hope that means that all the time and loyalty
> I've invested in Yahoo! products has not been
> totally lost. Please let me know ASAP what happened
> to my account. [J. J.] is my primary e-
> mail account!
> 
> While Viewing:
> http://search2.cc.dcn.yahoo.com/cct_search.php?ui_mode=answer&prior_
transaction_id=659968&action_code=5&highlight_info=16778611,34,46&
turl=http%3A%2F%2Fhelp.yahoo.com%2Fhelp%2Fus%2Fedit%2Fedit-23.html&
answer_id=8393025 [or just use yahooerr.notlong.com]
> 
> Yahoo ID: unknown : no amt link
> Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0;
> Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
> REMOTE_ADDR: 65.xxx.xxx.xx
> REMOTE_HOST: unknown
> Date Originated: Thursday October 27, 2005 -
> 05:58:59
> -------

If you happen to be a Flickr/Yahoo! employee, I would appreciate any help that you can give. I will keep this page updated if I get any responses! You can remember this link a little more easily as http://ycomplaint.notlong.com

UPDATE (Nov1 evening): First, let me say that my account has been completely restored (all data still intact; not even any bounced e-mails while the account was incogneto). I'd also like to say thanks to three Flickr staffers, Ana, Terrence, and Heather for addressing the poop. I'm curious if they were the ones who helped discover that there were some Yahoo accounts deactivated in error a few days ago. Has Yahoo! Customer Care (YCC) been ignoring my constant pleas and it finally took a fellow (Flickr) employee to wake them up to the problem? If YCC was aware of the issue earlier, why couldn't they reply and let me know they were working on it? These other Yahoo customers and I should be awarded punitive damages! I need a lawyer ;-)

Ahh, but the story isn't over. I'm on a destroy-big-business kick, so why not see if I can get my related issues addressed? Here is my latest e-mail correspondence, this time replying to Flickr since YCC has been completely unresponsive. Notice the response, only 15 minutes after I submitted through their website contact form! Thank you again, Flickr support; teach YCC something, please.

My contact form submission to Flickr, sent around 3:30:
My Yahoo! account was deactivated on Thursday. I 
have tried to contact Yahoo! by e-mail and phone 
several times, but haven't gotten any helpful 
responses. Fortunately, I had not tied my Flickr 
account in with my Y! account yet (mainly as a 
precaution against something like this happening.) 
I have posted the details of this problem on my 
blog, as well as on Flickr Central and Flickr 
Help. I did want to contact you directly, though, 
since the Flickr team has had a better customer 
service record than Yahoo!  This is now day 6 and 
I have not heard anything back from Yahoo! Details
at http://zepfanman.com/archives/000100.php
---------------

Flickr Support  	Tue, Nov 1, 2005 at 3:45 PM
Reply-To: case41117@support.flickr.com
To: [J. J.]
I'm very sorry to hear this.  I don't know exactly what's
going on over there, but apparently there were some Yahoo
accounts deactivated in error a few days ago.  We've
contacted Yahoo Customer Care on behalf of several Flickr
users who lost access to their Flickr accounts as well and
they've responded that they will fix the error on their end
and restore all accounts that were deactivated in error.
This should happen sometime later today.  Let me know if
you still can't sign in to your Yahoo account tomorrow and
perhaps I candig a little deeper.

Regards,
Ana
---------------

Flickr Support  	Tue, Nov 1, 2005 at 5:41 PM
Reply-To: case41117@support.flickr.com
To: [J. J.]

Hello,

I was able to reactivate your "zepfanman" Yahoo account.
Sorry abount the inconvience the last couple days.
If you have any more problems, please let us know.

Thanks!
-Terrence
Flickr staff
---------------

From: J. J. 
Date: Nov 1, 2005 11:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Flickr Case 41117] Re: Flickr Help 
Mail from [J. J.]
To: case41117@support.flickr.com

I really appreciate all the help the Flickr team
has provided on this issue. My specific case is 
not your problem, but you've gone beyond the call 
of duty to help your customers out. I do have two 
further requests, though.

(1) Can you get someone from Yahoo Customer Care 
(YCC) to contact me with some closure to these 
issues (a toll-free line, if possible; and not 
someone who will flippantly tell me to e-mail 
reportabuse@yahoo-inc.com)? I still have had ZERO 
response from YCC, and I would like to be able to 
walk away from this with renewed confidence in 
Yahoo!'s services. I don't think this is too much 
to ask; I'm seriously thinking about taking legal 
action if I can't simply communicate with someone 
who can actually do something about the problems 
I've experienced. If you need further reference, 
the phone calls I made last week were case 2543985
and case 2544149. The YCC case is
KMM47250153V18034L0KM.

(2) Can you clarify the whole Yahoo ID/Flickr 
integration thing with me? Doug and julian's final
posts from this evening get to the heart of what 
many Flickr customers are trying to clarify (and 
Apocaplops makes a good point, too). Again, I 
think it would be easiest to address these issues 
over the phone. I can also log on to Y! Messenger 
or AIM as rockofvictory if you'd like to 
communicate in real time about this!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/central/discuss/
113292/935098/

Thanks again for all your help. Good night, and 
God bless!

 - J. J.

FYI, I would have gotten this reply out sooner, but Comcast decided to disconnect my internet service at home today. It took two phone calls (20 minutes apiece) for them to determine that they made a mistake on their end with my account. To top things off, I got an e-mail from 1and1 (my web host) saying that I've reached my traffic quota for the month (according to my stats, I only used 75% of my October quota). I'm glad that I'm transferring everything over to Dreamhost soon!

Anyone have any legal advice or professional contacts that could help me make some progress with these complaints? I'm really fed up with poor customer service these days.

</UPDATE>

• Rock Star: INXS on Wikipedia is, as usual, my first recommended link on this fabulous free encyclopedia.
• INXS.com splash page currently shows dates for the Pretty Vegas iTunes single on October 4th, in stores on the 25th; Switch album November 29th; and January world tour. This official site has frequently updated news and features a chat section.
• Official Rock Star:INXS on MSN features message boards and blogs by participants & fans as well as music and video clips from the show.
• J.D. Fortune Official MSN Space blog updates from the man himself; I doubt there will be many more posts on his blog, though.
• Listen to Pretty Vegas here... on Sony BMG, full song available free in streaming Windows Media and RealPlayer
• The Official Rock Star: INXS Media Centre on idolforums.com is probably not official, but it's a testament to community-supplied content!
• Rockstar: INXS**Official Video Thread is a related idolforums.com thread.
• Don't forget to try JD Fortune Google News search as well as cached and indexed Google Web search pages if you're looking for specific INXS content.
• del.icio.us/tag/INXS

Below are some related links as well as a few of my feeble attempts at gaining support for this idea.

• That Club Atmosphere of 9rules Sep15
• Standards Geeks Hard to Come By? on Asterisk, Sep1
• Wiki of web dev professionals? BBR discussion from mid-August
• New Accessible Web Developers Search from The Guild of Accessible Web Designers, Aug17

It's now been about 8 days, but I think that, like 911, the American people will continue to give—just remember that the Red Cross will still be needing large donations three months from now, when things will finally start functioning again in the disaster cities. I'm tired of hearing all the complaints about how our country has responded. Instead, how about we explore our real options and determine the best way that we can help out? Taking a trip down there is only helpful if you're doing it with a program that knows what its doing!

I'm sure you've already heard too many opinions about the disaster, so without further commentary, I give you some helpful links.

I've finally started using the popular del.icio.us online bookmarking website (see my katrina tagged bookmarks, for example). I foresee Delicious (as it is informally spelled) links, Flickr photos, Feedburner subscriptions (I haven't created one yet, see Lisa's as an example), and Answers.com/Wikipedia information as the main tie-ins or tools to accomplish my site's goal as as a unifying, publicizing, WWW help center.

I'm currently budgeting for some DreamHost web space. This will take me one step closer to my vision as a professional web developer. Using free services as an amateur just won't cut it in the business world! Realistically, I'm hoping to have a much-improved Zepfanman.com by November.

It's sometimes hard for designers who come to the Web from other media to understand that that not only is their work not viewed “pixel perfect” by everyone, but that people access Web content through different media. Sometimes that media is our good friend the computer monitor; sometimes it is an Internet kiosk at the airport; sometimes a handheld computer, a projected image, or even a mobile phone. Some people find it more difficult to read from a screen and like to print out pages.

In the past, preparing for all these different media types would have been cost-prohibitive, if not impossible, as it required making different versions for different viewing devices. But, with the advent of technologies that support common standards, we can create content that can be written once only, and then styled for different media output, all through the magic of CSS.

Last fall I wrote about Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman who was sentenced by a tribal council in Pakistan to be gang-raped because of an infraction supposedly committed by her brother. Four men raped Ms. Mukhtaran, then village leaders forced her to walk home nearly naked in front of a jeering crowd of 300…. Then Ms. Mukhtaran, who believed that the best way to overcome such abuses was through better education, used her compensation money to start two schools in her village, one for boys and the other for girls. She went out of her way to enroll the children of her attackers in the schools, showing that she bore no grudges…. Then a few days ago, the Pakistani government went berserk.

Botok and Tsangpa were classified as wealthy by the Communist authorities in 1962 because they owned almost 1,000 sheep and goats. Threatened with imprisonment, they fled across the border into the Indian state of Ladakh with their three daughters and her other husband.--They told me that is not uncommon for Tibetan women to take more than one husband.

Tibetan Portrait photo caption (site menu only works in Internet Explorer browser). Phil Borges has done some amazing work devoted to the welfare of indigenous peoples across the world.

I like to research, but I'm not very good at executing. I can interpret others' opinions, but it's difficult for me to formulate my own! I've found this to be true in many areas of my life, specifically with this website and with religious issues. There are some great efforts going on across the web to standardize the way information is presented, and I'm excited about being a part of them.

I mention a grand scheme paralysis because I feel like I will never actually make any progress with the beta page. This redesign will introduce a third (or fourth, depending on how strictly you're looking at the site elements) style to Zepfanman.com. This means that I'll have three distinctly different looks floating around on my website. I never did get to converting everything to the Stage 6 look, mainly because I've been learning about the grand scheme of web design over the past year, and I don't want to commit myself to a lot of busywork that I'll just end up redoing later.

Moving more towards a religious view of this topic, I've been contributing a lot to the new TheoWiki, which I've mentioned as a component of the Ebla Forum in another blog entry. There, too, I've been trying to consolidate resources. I've also been looking for the best way to tell people about God without sounding like a dork or a dullard (hence my continued delay of the To whom God speaks Words)! People can be cruel and thoughtless, especially on issues such as homosexuality (see this sad The Wicker Chronicles journal entry, for example), church leadership, use of technology, and evangelism. The Emerging Church of our generation is struggling with Fundamentalism, and the company I work for has been trying to catch up. Even LifeWay's president, Dr. Jimmy Draper, has a blog now. I've discovered Reformissionary, Steve McCoy, and his Emerging SBC Leaders blog which has had some extensive discussion on diverse topics. For the first time in my life, I'm kind of scared about my freedom of speech (for reasons that I don't think I can go into). I guess I'm not the only one, as the new Legal Guide for Bloggers link is being passed around everywhere I go!

I'll let you check out the sites for this past week's news, but here are a few of my thoughts about all of the latest developments. I'm concerned about MS Antispyware now that OneCare is under development. Antispyware isn't even out of beta yet, so who knows where MS plans on going with it! The main doubt I have is Microsoft's ability to interoperate all of these new apps, services, and operating sytems. How well will Longhorn, Office 2006, OneNote, and OneCare work together (look out for the red BSOD)? This is the main reason I've been exploring free, open source alternatives to M$. As a final concern, I'm wondering what the Windows XP embedded people think of Eiger!

For up-to-date, one-stop-shop information about Flickr, check out this continually updated page: Quick Online Tips: The Great Flickr Tools Collection. See the tagging links on this Flickr Tools page for more information about how powerful Flickr's organizing tools are. (ClickZ has some good thoughts in How Will Tags Color the Web?. Folksonomy is another tagging term described at Asterisk.) I plan on using a lot of tags on my own Flickr site. You can see all of our wedding photos from my megwed tag, for example. I'm also tagging first names of everyone in each photo (left to right). Possibilities are endless. The Flickr forums (part of the Groups community aspect of the site) have two other good tagging entries: Tagging it up describes common tags used, Tagography mentions some creative use of tags.

Concerning Flickr's competitors, I would check out this useful DigicamGuides.com Photo sharing service comparison chart (seems to have been last updated '05Mar21, although Flickr pricing is definitely off). As a side note, Nathan Schmidt has created his own photo website which is simple but useful. His DPS Dance Outdoor Photo Shoot album showcases just a few of his impressive photos.

That should be plenty to whet your whistle with for now. I regret having to let my Menalto Gallery fall by the wayside, but I was never incredibly happy with it from the beginning. While Flickr is not quite as flexible and feature-filled as Menalto's Gallery software, I think it's a lot easier to use, both for me and for site visitors. There's even a Flickr Mobile Site which has very limited capabilities (only shows three photos at a time and no tagging options) but is good for dial-up users and cell phone internet users to see the latest photos.

'05Jun8 update: Comparison to free version link updated. Aug23, link updated after being changed again!

The recommendation for me to take state route 14 instead of interstate 25 was an excellent one. I made my regular drive from Glorieta to Albuquerque this afternoon. Several staff members took me to lunch at Copa de Oro and suggested I try a more scenic route this time. This took me into the mountains on the east side of Sandia Peak. A few shots from my Treo was the best I could capture on camera....

The most inspiring part of the ride was looking at the sky above the mountains. New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment, but I'd like to add to that: Magical Skies. Take my word for it. It's hard to beat a double rainbow.

There are too many books and resources on improving your married life. I'm not looking to give you any great insights, but I will throw in my two cents - my perspective.

Our class (The YPC) has been going through a pretty good video Bible study on the Song of Solomon. There are varying allegorical and literal interpretations of the book, but it is in essence a beautiful poem celebrating the sensuality of love. Here is a short sample:

I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys.

Like a lily among the thorns,
So is my darling among the maidens.

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
So is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I took great delight and sat down,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He has brought me to his banquet hall,
And his banner over me is love.

P.S. I'm sorry that I did not come through with the To whom God speaks Words. I'll likely do it for the June entry!

Anyone know of any other major magazines with blog in the cover article?

[Via Furrygoat.]

I wish I had the know-how to redesign Zepfanman.com in one big shot, but I've still got a lot to learn before attempting that. The Z: Blog has been around for a little over a year, and I've definitely learned a lot about building accessible websites in that time. It's kind of funny that MT and Gallery, the tools that make blogging and posting pictures easier, are actually what make standardizing my site the hardest (especially Gallery). With all that said, my highest priority now is trying to make my internal links easy to remember and more permanent. Basically, this entails using Apache's mod_rewrite to remove file extensions (php, html, etc.) and create more descriptive URLs. I'll probably be updating this post with other random links related to advanced web design practices.

• W3C redirect tips (05Feb).
• URL Rewriting Guide from apache.org, although written in 97Dec.
• Search Engine-Friendly URLs (01Aug) and mod_rewrite: A Beginner's Guide to URL Rewriting (02Oct) from SitePoint.com, always a good reference site.
• Search Engine Friendly URLs with mod_rewrite on the Apache Dev Shed site, short but practical. 03Apr7.
• Generating Simple URLs for Search Engines from SearchTools.com, 03Jul.
• Basics of search engine optimisation has a great overview of other general principles, including friendly URLs. 05Feb. Johansson's URL section of the famous Developing With Web Standards publication is also very useful.
• Google search for trailing slash.
• Movable Type file rewrite describes maintaining old entries' URLs. 03Mar.
• Cruft-Free, Future-Proof URLs from The Daily Dump. 05May.
• Designing URIs from allinthehead and mezzoblue's Rewrite! have some good early-2005 thoughts for me to ponder once I've figured out the basics.
• Gallery Discussion Forums search for mod_rewrite. It looks like my gallery sofware is making it easier to name URLs in its version 2 product.

General Website Tools

.HTACCESS files useful tips and tricks from GarnetChaney.com

SimpleQuiz

A year's series of quizzes to see how people set up their XHTML and CSS using logical symantecs

URLinfo beta

Fagan Finder has produced this incredible tool that lets you perform all sorts of searches and tools based on a web address that you enter into it.

Zvon Character Search

Tool for looking up HTML character codes [via Korpela]. Added '05May16

DNS Report

Basic but useful.

Xenu's Link Sleuth

Find broken links on websites. While I've heard that there are ways to do this with .htaccess, it looks like it could be a useful tool, although I haven't tried it.

Google Tutor

A new site with a wide range of ways to use Google to the best of its abilities.

Project: New

A new site for people just getting started with standards web design. I've found HTML Dog, HTMLSource, and SitePoint to be other helpful sites in this vein.