Seems like you're on your way to becoming 'Salon, the (un)lovable loser.'

There's no longer a direct link to the current comic from the front page, but at least I can click on Salon Personals! Plus, whatever Java/Flash goodies you have going on, they don't work with Safari. Indeed, where is Godman when you need him.

Ah, I see the reason for forcing us to click twice from the main page to read an article. Even paid-up premium subscribers get the added benefit of Google news links, and click-through revenue. I also see that AP stories will get shuffled up onto the top center section of the main page--this time it's a list of the top earning college presidents. If Google and items directly from the AP are going to get equal billing with Salon's original content, what's the point of Salon?

The mobile site is looking increasingly good. There are no AP news feeds there, but in truth those are available just about anywhere.

I've been using the redesigned site off and on since the beta was opened. At first I was pretty excited about it, since it looked bold, and the old site was feeling a bit dated. And indeed, there are a few design elements I like, for instance creating a sense of 'above the fold' versus 'below the fold' for high-impact pieces and the various departments, respectively. Moreover, I think it's also useful for each department to have its own section on the main page so I can find the last 4 or so stories in it at a glance.

However, I, like the other letter writers here, am finding the redesign difficult to use. Besides the often mentioned 'visual clutter,' there are two points that I think significantly reduce usability. The first is there is no obvious chronological order. There doesn't seem to be any way to tell which stories are new and which are a few days old. In fact, days old stories seem to pop up on the top section randomly, or shift positions in irregular intervals. I think this is the biggest problem with the new site...forcing readers to sift through days or week old content to find the new stuff. My second dislike is the fact that I have to click twice from the front page to read all of a given piece. Let's say I click on the title of Andrew Leonard's newest post. That takes me to a sub-page that has the first few paragraphs of his most recent stories. From there, to finish reading the rest of the story whose title I've already clicked, I have to click the 'Continue Reading' link and figure out where I stopped reading. Didn't I already indicate I wanted to read the story? Not clever, not at all.

So, I don't know if there is just a code that has to be broken to understand the new design, or if maybe previous readers are right in it being partly to mask an obvious drop in new content. But I do know that it's not nearly as usable as the previous design.

You have my sincerest condolences for your mother's passing.

And yet again, my appreciation for a well thought out column. Let me just say that it continues to be refreshing for a specialist in a technical field to explain its complexities without watering them down to the point of gibberish.

@ jaster, You might try wearing some tights or at least really tight socks/leggings when you fly. That'll help keep your circulation strong even on a long flight. As for the lack of feeling in your lower extremities, I would suggest it's a poor seat cushining or maybe your legs are too long for the seat bottom. You might experiment with a foam pad or, if you're tall, bring something to extend the seat bottom a few inches. You might find that extra support helpful. At the very least, there are some simple exercises and stretches that you can do in your seat that will probably alleviate some of your discomfort.

I dunno. Because of where I live, I end up taking long distance bus or high-speed rail trips a few times a month. Particularly when I'm already a bit tired, I experience many of those same symptoms described by most of the 'depressurize-ers'. And looking around at the most dozed and drooling people around me, I'm in no way special. I wonder if anyone has every tried to correlate the effects of sensory deprivation with those symptoms experienced by air travelers.

Humans lack a functioning vomeronasal organ, a specialized organ in the respiratory track of most mammals responsible for detecting pheromones. Without that function, humans along with other old-world primates are unable to process pheromones per se. Fortunately for us, our outsized brains can still take subtle olfactory cues and decide if they are attractive. There is, of course, no accounting for taste. Luckily for Dial their pheromonal soap may still find a market in the captive breeding programs of new-world apes. They may not be human, but hey...a buck is a buck.

I read this piece of revisionist drivel. Shame on me.

It was published in Salon, Shame on you.

The state's Republican leadership should have been pressuring Sanford to step down last week when it emerged that he irresponsibly left his state, and the country, secretly to continue an ongoing tryst in Argentina. Of course now that he's outed himself as a serial philanderer, and robbed himself of any sympathetic cloak, those Republicans that were crying along with Sanford are now calling for his head. Good for them, but they are still a week late.