Eric J. Gruber

I read this online web design and development magazine called Vitamin. It’s good stuff, and if you’re into that type of thing, you should check it out.

One recent article was by Joshua Porter called The MySpace Problem, when “hugely successful web sites succeed while looking ugly.”

Despite that most users don’t have a clue what they’re doing in “designing” their pages, the social networking site is the biggest web site on Earth (at the moment).

And though I’m a web elitist, that’s not what bothers me the most about the web site. MySpace gives me the willies because:

1. Dateline NBC has proven that sexual predators LOVE MySpace.com and use it to their advantage - often.

2. It was designed for the 18-25 crowd, yet there are quite a few on there will full-blown profiles, friends in their buddy list and the whole nine yards that are waaaaaaaaayyyy older than that.

3. The reason the site was created in the first place - as a network so musicians could showcase their work - doesn’t do that good of a job at it, and most users end up abusing the feature and embedding some huge video clip that hijacks (freezes) your browser as soon as you get to their page.

So, for you non-musicians older than 25 years old who don’t call MySpace your home, I salute you.

Sadly, I think MySpace will continue to grow in size despite its features and not because of them.

While at the grocery store yesterday, I noticed a display for Simple Rivers products.

Completely biodegradable, these products are made in Lawrence, Kanasas, and price competively with other name-brand disposable utensils, plates and the like.

Even cooler, they’re packaged by Cottonwood, Inc., who has a special place in my book because it helps people with disabilities (like giving them jobs, such as this one).

If this stuff is important to you, check them out and give you their support (by purchasing their products). They’re online at www.simplerivers.com.