Review 2224

Occam’s Razor – it’s a weblog “chronicling the strange life and weird observations of Mark D. Hammill, software engineer, civil servant and political pundit”. It makes my job as a reviewer easy when the author is so up front about the description of his or her weblog. It’s even better when it’s an accurate description, and Mark’s is right on the nose.

Quick learning lesson on Occam’s Razor – it’s a philosophical principle that dates years and years back. The principle states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed. If you read through this entire weblog like I did, you’ll find that is nearly Mark’s exact life philosophy.

In Mark’s first post, he’s very straight forward about what readers can look for in this weblog: “the dictotomy of my observations compared to the way things really work gives me plenty of things to post here to the world. I doubt you will be bored.” And again, he’s hit it right on the nose. You’re not bored with this weblog at any point in time.

Occam’s Razor hit the ‘net in December 2002, so I would still consider this a fairly new weblog. With the types of entries that Mark throws out there, though, there’s sure to be a following of some sort in the building up stages. This isn’t a weblog for an audience consisting of high school kids writing about their Home Economics grade, but a weblog geared towards those who want to think about the things they read and can keep an open mind about opinions being shared.

The majority of the entries Mark makes are on the longer side. The words he uses, and the way he strings sentences together, though, make each entry read like a very short chapter in a series of a never-ending book. And in this case, that’s a very good thing.

The design of the site is very simple. I don’t love it, but I can’t hate it either. It’s impossible to hate, because Mark happens to use the font that I’m currently obsessed with – Georgia. That particular font makes everything look so nice and delicate, and so do the calm colors that are used for the layout. At the bottom of each entry, there’s a form giving the reader an option to email the entire post to anyone you want. I haven’t seen anything quite like this on a weblog before, and it’s definitely a nice addition!

If you visit this site, which I would recommend doing so, be prepared for the regular political jab at the Republican Party. And also be prepared for the occasional entertaining lesson in parenting teenage girl. Mark does a great way of relaying his stories, no matter what topic he’s addressing, to the world with this weblog and gives readers the want to continue coming back.

Occam’s Razor