Composed - Alzubra

Ha!

2005-05-18T23:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't posted at my new blog in a good while now, being that I'm too lazy to launch iBlog (there's some sort of mental block involved with me and running computer programs). So why not mess with people's heads and post here? I get two or three visitors a day here on average, according to the site stats.

That reminds me . . .

Update the links, people! The site is now at http://www.alzubra.com.

New Site Location

2004-09-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

I'm officially opening my new web site. The archives aren't all there yet (are they ever?), and I still haven't moved my writing and personal sections over, but the new site has the past two weeks' worth of entries loaded and will have all the new entries available, too.

Alzubra.com should start pointing to the new site location shortly, depending on how long it takes for the name servers to update. But for now, use this link to visit the new Composed.

And Algorithms Choose Poor Style, Too

2004-09-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

This article compares how Yahoo News and Google News operate. The main difference, of course, is that Yahoo uses humans to produce its page while Google uses algorithms. Google's methods result in some very strange quirks that go beyond the occasional wrong picture with the article (I believe when Ronald Reagan died, Google News served up a picture of him in "Bedtime for Bonzo" alongside the story on its page). However, since the article is from the Online Journalism Review, the site that employs journalists rather than those-cursed-machines-that-want-to-steal-our-jobs naturally wins out, so take some of it with a grain of salt. Still, Google may want to be a bit more selective in choosing the sources it deems "news."

OJR article: Balancing Act: How News Portals Serve Up Political Stories

Good Old Internet Addiction

2004-09-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

The Australian: Survey finds 'web withdrawal' [September 24, 2004]: "Nearly half of US Internet users say they could not go without the Web for more than two weeks, with many suffering 'withdrawal' symptoms while offline, according to a recent survey."

Even today the suspicions surrounding the Internet as something "new" haven't died. I will say for myself that when our Internet at home died for several days, it didn't bother me. On the other hand, when I couldn't connect at school, I was intensely frustrated.

The difference, you see, is that while I was at home, I had lots of other people around to interact with and keep me engaged. At school, except when I was out with my parents those few days, I was by myself, unpacking. As I see it, it's really a social thing.

Hi-Larious

2004-09-24T01:27:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Britney's Tangled Wedding: A Primer: "For its part, People has defended the ceremony heavily documented in its pages as the 'real deal.'

'That is the next bump in the story that you're going to see: The wedding is fake. It's really not,' Jess Cagle, People senior editor, said Wednesday on CBS's Early Show.

Bitter rival Us begs to differ.

'Dan Rather was defending his George Bush (news - web sites) story a week ago. Where is Dan Rather today?' Baker asks. 'Granted, this is Britney Spears and not the President.'"

What's funnier: Britney's "spiritual" publicity stunt or just how seriously gossip "journalists" take their work?

Windows Warning

2004-09-23T15:51:00.000-05:00

Code to exploit Windows graphics flaw now public | CNET News.com: "Code to exploit Windows graphics flaw now public

A sample program hit the Internet on Wednesday, showing by example how malicious coders could compromise Windows computers by using a flaw in the handling of a widespread graphics format by Microsoft's software.

Security professionals expect the release of the program to herald a new round of attacks by viruses and Trojan horses incorporating the code to circumvent security on Windows computers that have not been updated. The flaw, in the way Microsoft's software processes JPEG graphics, could allow a program to take control of a victim's computer when the user opens a JPEG file."

Also, note this:

"Microsoft: To secure IE, upgrade to XP

If you're one of about 200 million people using older versions of Windows and you want the latest security enhancements to Internet Explorer, get your credit card ready.

Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2. The upgrade to XP from any previous Windows versions is $99 when ordered from Microsoft. Starting from scratch, the operating system costs $199."

That means if you're using Internet Explorer on Windows 98 or Windows Me, no more browser updates for you. No more patches against the many exploits that can take control of your computer or just make pests of themselves through IE; no more updates to keep pace with the development of Web standards (i.e., pages are going to start looking funny to you after a while).

So if you don't have Windows XP or a Mac, now would be an especially good time to download the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Update Your Bookmarks

2004-09-22T01:22:00.000-05:00

This is a very early warning. I'm planning to move my site here to another server in the not-too-distant future. Blogger's just too much of a pain these days. I don't have the new static address yet, but rest assured that this site's domain name will stay the same: http://www.alzubra.com. It's just that in a few weeks or so, using colleenfischer.blogspot.com instead won't get you to my musings. If you are already using alzubra.com to get here, don't worry about the impending change since it doesn't affect you. If you're not using alzubra.com to get here, consider switching to that now. It's never going to change on you.

Paranoia Is Justified

2004-09-22T01:12:00.000-05:00

I hate the new Blogger interface still. It just ate my entry.

But here's the link. Until Tuesday, I'd never seen a pair of tongs like this in my life, but that day I saw them in the flesh and then again online a few hours later.

http://nytimes.com/2004/09/22/dining/22MOZZ.html?8hpib

My mind's working furiously on an explanation and approaching burnout.

A Small Voice

2004-09-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

This is going to sound like heresy to some in the geek community, but I actually prefer the special editions of the Star Wars movies.

I think the CGI added in was done quite well (minus the weird Jabba the Hutt in the first film, but apparently that's been improved on DVD) and made the movies look subtly better.

Changing a good chunk of the end of "Return of the Jedi," including the ditiching the original music and adding views of other celebrations, didn't hurt certainly. It softens the "teddy-bear picnic" aura.

This may be most controversial, but I think it's better now that Greedo shoots first. Every time I saw the original, I could never figure out what happened in that scene. Why did Han shoot? Believe it or not, it doesn't fit with his character trajectory for him to be a cold-blooded murderer. Were he to turn out to be an agent of the Empire in disguise, then him simply murdering Greedo would have made sense as a foreshadowing device. But otherwise, it's just inconsistent with the rest of the film since Han's character is essentially good. Murder ain't cool, kiddies.

I understand the concerns of film preservationists who want to save the originals simply for the sake of history. But clinging to editions that just aren't quite as good otherwise smacks of stubbornness to me. True, I never saw the originals in the theater, only the special editions (hey, I was maybe a year old when the third one arrived), and so I don't have a sentimental attachment, but for pity's sake, it's a movie, and a blockbuster-style one at that. It's not like he's tampering with the Bible -- but then, that seems to upset people a lot less.

CNN.com - Five major changes in the 'Star Wars' DVD - Sep 20, 2004

A View From the Plex

2004-09-20T23:50:00.000-05:00

I think today I will declare myself officially "moved in" here at the Foster-Walker Complex. I arrived on Saturday, true, but not until this Monday night did I finally finish unpacking, organizing and decorating. My room's looking pretty good, and I've even managed to plug everything in without seeking out a new power strip.

My room here is a lot more cheerful than either of my rooms in PARC (especially the first-floor one, which was perpetually dreary from the necessity of keeping my curtains closed all the time) and also my room last year. It's also a good bit bigger. I didn't think so when I first arrived, but now that I've gotten rid of all the boxes and reevaluated, this room seems to be about the size of a large PARC single. Appropriate for a senior such as myself, I think.

The Plex is stocked with much nicer bedroom furniture than what was given to us in PARC, too. The bedframe is even kind of cute and modern-looking. The desk, bookshelf and dresser have a faux-granite finish on their tops, which makes the place look more slick. The wardrobe/closet is rather handsome looking, too, when compared with the scuffed-up, dinky wardrobes we had in PARC. Plus, my room has its own air-conditioning unit with its own thermostat, so I control my room's temperature.

Everything in here's brighter, too, since the room comes with overhead lighting and a floor lamp. Add in my own extra-bright floor lamp and it's sunny all the time here. Definitely a welcome change. My room also features an exposed brick wall, which adds a good deal of character (and thankfully breaks up the clinical whiteness of the walls).

Not having a suite common room right outside my door made unpacking a bit more inconvenient. I've spent the past couple of days tripping over boxes and items not yet put away. Putting stuff in the hallway here isn't a great option since the halls are legendarily narrow. However, there's more quiet time without the common room there, which is nice when one wants to sleep or read.

The worst thing I've found so far here is the bathrooms. They have a horrible design. Four singles share each bathroom, and each bathroom has a toilet, two sinks and a shower. But I haven't mentioned the worst part. That is: There are no stalls. If someone needs to use the toilet or shower, they have to lock the bathroom door. That means no one else can use the other facilities at the same time. It's really inefficient, and I'm just hoping that there only being four of us will make it easier to deal with.

Another downside to Plex is the lack of kitchenettes on every floor. I hear there's a kitchenette in the basement, but I've yet to locate it. I'm hoping we'll hear more about where all the building's facilities are at tomorrow's floor meeting.

On the other hand, the laundry facilities here are vastly superior to PARC's. There's about 15 washers available (albeit, some seem to be broken) and a number of huge commercial dryers that actually work. When I did laundry on Sunday, there wasn't even a line. There's seats in the laundry room, so some people appear more inclined to wait downstairs for their laundry than PARCers ever were.

It's also nice having two dining halls and a convenience store just downstairs. It'd be nicer if they had smaller tables and more food variety like Allison Hall, but you take what you can get. Besides, with all the grab-and-go food and organic frozen dinners available in the C-store down there, I don't ever have to actually eat in the dining hall if I don't want to.

And hey, it's very nice to have both mailboxes and a mailroom in the building.

When I feel more up to it, I'll take some pictures with my web cam of the new room. Then you can feel outraged on PARC's behalf -- though I imagine we never got such nice stuff because of our propensity for breaking the walls.

Firefox Test Drive

2004-09-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

Firefox 0.10 (that's "point ten," believe it or not) is quite nice. I just tested it out, and it has a lovely new bookmark bar gradient. It gives me high hopes for what they might accomplish in the final Mac release (which will come after the final Windows release because after they finish the guts of the browser, they're planning to work on Mac-version cosmetic issues). Also, the Live Bookmarks are nifty. If you've never investigated RSS, Atom or site feeds (there's a link to mine on the sidebar), Live Bookmarks are a way Firefox puts this headline service to use. Basically, if you were to create a "live bookmark" to my site in Firefox, it would look like a folder, and if you looked inside the folder menu, you'd see links to all my latest diary entries. You could see if I'd updated without having to actually visit my page. It works for a lot of sites. Pretty neat, no?

It Does Have To Be Pointed Out

2004-09-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

Why is the new HereAndNow so very ugly? I didn't think it could necessarily get worse, but indeed it has. When they were talking redesign, I figured we'd be getting something new, not an uglier "refinement" of what was already there.

I'm not knocking the quality of any behind-the-scenes, non-design coding may be in place now to make the site function, but really, I think even I could have done better with the layout.

HereAndNow - Northwestern University Student Home Page

Trying a New Program

2004-09-15T18:32:00.000-05:00

I'm giving a program called MacJournal a try right now. It's supposed to be able to update Blogger web sites now, so we'll see what happens when I hit post.

On another note, I discovered when checking my site stats today that more than half of the people visiting this site use a Mozilla-based browser. While the stat sites seem to be bunching Safari in with either the Mozilla or IE stats, it's still quite impressive.

New Firefox

2004-09-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

Firefox 1.0 Preview Release was released yesterday (another birthday present, I suppose!). It's not the final version of the browser's first release (which makes me wonder why they're trying to promote downloads so much now), but check it out if you want to see what's coming in 1.0. It's certainly the best Firefox release yet, and if you're using Mozilla or Netscape, you might want to check it out now. It's a good bit easier to use.

A Weak Debate

2004-09-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

This is unusually interesting.

Pat Buchanan is on "The Daily Show" right now, and he and Jon Stewart are debating who should bear more responsibility for the war in Iraq, which, unexpectedly enough, Buchanan opposes. (In fact, he was on the show shilling for a book he's written explaining why he feels this war is, to quote him tonight, possibly "the worst blunder of the past 40 years.")

Buchanan, naturally, followed up his initial condemnation of the war by saying we should be asking ourselves "why John Kerry voted for it." He went so far as to actually commend Ted Kennedy for having the guts to stand up and speak against the resolution authorizing the president to begin the attack. Stewart's response added up to "why blame the people on the bus more than the bus driver?" -- why single out one person of 100 to blame for the war?

But what's interesting about the whole conversation is how obvious are their struggles to find ways to defend their candidates. Stewart rightly asked Buchanan who he'd be voting for, and while Buchanan pointed out he didn't live in a swing state and thus the decision was already made, he gave the impression he'd be voting for Bush. He tried then to speak up for the president, blaming the Iraq war decision on the "neo-conservatives" within the administration who advised the president to go to war. The president, he said, at least "believed in" what he was doing.

But the question remains -- is the president the strong leader Buchanan says he is if he can be pushed around by his advisers this way? Buchanan's clearly in a bind -- he can't say he believes the president made this blunder, but it sounds just about as bad to say the president can't stand up for what Buchanan wants to believe he believes in. But with the alternative candidate being even farther away from his views, he clearly has to convince himself he wants four more years, albeit with these nefarious advisers "fired" (fat chance).

Stewart has the same sort of problems defending Kerry. Kerry didn't speak up against the war until the tide of public opinion started to turn against it. Buchanan makes the point that Kerry apparently said he would still have voted for the resolution, even knowing all we know today about the reasons for war being crap. Stewart tried to posit that the Senate didn't know Bush would use the authorization to go to war necessarily -- but even he said he figured the game was up as soon as the resolution passed. Essentially, Stewart can't find any reason for Kerry having voted as he did, at least not a reason that would sound any good and give reason to support Kerry. And saying we shouldn't blame Kerry for voting for war when he was only one of many is a crummy excuse, no matter how true it is he's not the sole reason it passed. And if it's true that Kerry still stands by his vote (I'm not sure I heard that right), it makes it awfully hard to build a case for the man regretting his actions and having grown wiser from experience.

The whole exchange illustrates well how dissatisfactory both candidates are in this election. The media goes on and on about how polarized the electorate is, but it seems the polarizing factor is not how much each side likes its own candidate but how much it hates the opposition's. It goes to show what a squirmy position every person who has some beliefs outside the center has been placed in.

I noticed it while I was at the Register, too, since it's a libertarian paper. The far right and the far left have a middle ground this time around, it seems, on at least this particular issue of Iraq. They oppose it for different reasons, I'm sure, but nonetheless, they both oppose it. But in digging in their heels against the same issue, they've ended up choosing different sides. It's something to think about.

As an aside, here's what Buchanan had to say about not running for president again: "The people have spoken to Pat Buchanan's political career," he said, laughing.

Fighting with Flying Bullets

2004-09-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

"It's hard to pick the best thing to happen in the war on terrorism, but this is certainly up there. ... It's a yellow-alert world out there, and we need yellow-alert weapons. ... Look at Iraq -- the population there all have assault weapons, and they've been successful in holding off a much larger occupying force. I think there's something we could all learn from this model!"

-- Stephen Colbert (quoted loosely -- it is TV, after all), explaining the benefits of the ban on assault weapons expiring, on "The Daily Show."

Two and two

2004-09-14T19:29:00.000-05:00

Two books, two shoes, two new movies, two sides to a jacket.

Two cakes, two times two candles.

Must be something going on around here.

And That Would Be Today, By the Way

2004-09-11T17:51:00.000-05:00

Patriot Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Some greeting card companies have released Patriot Day cards, causing controversy among some. However, many companies such as Hallmark do not offer cards specifically for Patriot Day."

Scary

2004-09-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

The New York Times > National > Old Fans Still Bubble Along to Lawrence Welk: "Like many of the assembled, she remembered watching the show with her parents or grandparents, and was now trying to indoctrinate her grandchildren. This was her first Welknotes gathering, but she felt she knew everyone already.

' 'Lawrence Welk' is the only good show that's ever been on,' she said, with a certainty that was characteristic of the group. 'We're trying to tell all the little kids how important this is. There's not another clean show. All I watch is the news, which isn't good now.'"

Apparently, this is also what draws the elderly folks online. Sorry, grandkids.

It's Rarely Good to Be Proved a Psychic

2004-09-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

From today's MacHome HotTips newsletter:

AIRPORT CARD QUANDARY REVISITED
Q: How can I go wireless with my iBook? Apple no longer sells the standard AirPort Card--just AirPort Extreme--so what do I do? What all do I need and about what should I expect to pay? My school is wireless and if I can add wireless capability, it would be a big help. -- Marcia Boone

A: You're right -- Apple is no longer selling the original AirPort Card. This has left thousands of would-be-wireless users out in the cold. There are some USB-based alternatives such as D-Link's Wireless USB Adapter ($45; http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=175/ ) that will do the job. Still, the AirPort Card remains the single best way to go wireless with an iBook. Unfortunately, the only sure source for the standard AirPort Card is eBay, where they're now going for about $100-$125. This is a heavy premium to pay for the card--it had been selling for $79 before its discontinuation--but you may find that you have little choice in the matter.

I've been expecting this ever since Apple first introduced the AirPort Card. Apple has a reputation for creating proprietary cards and connectors that fit its design philosophy but leave users out in the cold when that philosophy changes. AirPort was exactly that: It was not a PC Card, like most other wireless cards for notebooks, and so it was only available from Apple. The slot, the only card expansion slot in iBooks, can't be used for anything else.

Computers equipped with regular AirPort (802.11b) slots were still being sold by Apple not all that long ago. Only a year ago, I know you could such Macs new. Where does this leave all the people who bought those computers figuring they might upgrade to a wireless card withing the three to five years they expected to use the computer? For some, their computers' warranties haven't even expired, and the machine is already more than obsolete.

Of course, Apple isn't offering computers so behind the times now. All its computers are capable of faster wireless, peripheral and computing speeds than those older iBooks. But that's not necessarily better, since its current wireless connectivity solution is yet another proprietary card, and the kicker is that it's a different size than the original AirPort cards, which means they don't fit in the slots built into slightly older Macs. Now, if you had a PC notebook or even a PowerBook and Netgear or some other company discontinued the 11-mbps wireless card you were planning to buy, you could buy Netgear's 56-mbps card instead without a problem (except maybe for the bigger hit to your wallet). It would still work.

I'm more embittered I guess because I've seen it happen many times. Of course, I already have a wireless card in my iBook, so I'm safe (assuming it doesn't stop working, especially since the warranty's expiring). But in our first Mac, a Performa desktop, we had a "communications" slot, which was the only internal expansion slot available. You needed a special Apple communications card to use it, which I believe was just an internal modem. However, by the time I discovered this slot, you couldn't buy cards for it anymore (except used ones). And we had an external modem anyway. But what if Apple had just given us a standard expansion-card slot rather than this wacky one? I'm sure we could have found something to put in that would have extended the life or usefulness of that computer. Much like giving iBook users a PC Card slot would have been more advantageous than giving them a proprietary slot and then discontinuing the only thing they can put in it.

If Apple's going to continue to offer proprietary wireless solutions, they ought to do the right thing and install the hardware into every notebook it sells. Even Intel doesn't require you to buy a separate card to take advantage of antennas built into Centrino notebooks.

Enough Said

2004-09-07T23:23:00.000-05:00

Andy Ihnatko's YellowText: "During my adult life I've spend more than one afternoon standing in front of a school assembly talking about being a per-fesshional writer, and the message is always the same: the one skill you'll acquire in school that's absolutely, unquestionably worth honing are your writing skills. There is no career in which you won't have a big leg up if you're the best communicator in the room. The average person just plain can't write worth a damn, I tell them, and if they don't believe me, they should just wait until they get into college and are forced to write a paper as part of a group."

From the Mouths of Babes

2004-08-31T23:36:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Scott and I went out to dinner with my Aunt Patti and surprise guest Grace. Eating out with Grace is an experience, to say the least. When we placed our orders, she piped up decisively to the waitress when it came to be her turn that she wanted a cup of soup like mine in addition to the grilled cheese sandwich our aunt ordered for her.

When the soup arrived, Grace was thrilled: It had big mushrooms in it! Grace, though only four, has a decided preference for foods most kids would turn up their noses at, such as any and all meats, seafood (including straight-up imitation crab), cheeses and veggies like mushrooms and black olives. Also, the only beverages she likes are plain water and Arby's Jamocha shakes. However, she doesn't like bread much -- go figure.

Anyway, after eating her soup mostly with her fingers for a while, she noticed that Scott had not ordered a cup as well.

"Scottie, why didn't you get any soup?" she asked.

We told her that he'd gotten a salad instead. But a salad just didn't cut the mustard for Grace.

"But don't you want something delicious to eat while you're on this date?" she asked. And then she took a big spoonful of her soup and stuck it in Scott's mouth.

"How romantic," I said.

So Shines a Good Deed in a Naughty World

2004-08-28T23:14:00.000-05:00

Heard Friday in the t-shirts section of Steve and Barry's, from a teenage boy speaking to his friends:

"These shirts aren't funny. They make fun of women."

Sad

2004-08-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

Now PETA is planning an ad campaign featuring a picture of Ronald Reagan with the claim that "Animal fats DOUBLE your risk of Alzheimer's." Only problem? They don't, at least as far as scientists know. It's an unsubstantiated claim -- as Alzheimer's researcher Dr. Gary Small says in Newsweek, diet may play a role, but there's no proof animal fats double your risk. Nancy Reagan, of course, is very upset about her husband's image being so abused. A question for PETA: Is vegetarianism such a poor cause that you have to scare people into it with lies?

Failure

2004-08-23T18:01:00.000-05:00

What a deceptive headline AND lead. Not until the fifth paragraph do we learn that the boos were not for Paul Hamm, in the midst of controversy over his all-around gold, but for the poor score the judges gave four-time gold medalist Alexei Nemov, who preceded Hamm. That's a horrible bit of misleading the reader, stirring up controversy where none exists. Isn't the truth enough in this case?

And as for the South Koreans, they don't deserve to get any gold medal for the all-around at this point. Yes, their gymnast was scored wrong on the high bar. But you know what? Gymnastics has rules about protesting scoring errors. Had anyone bothered to check the scoreboard and make a protest before the competition ended, the South Korean team could have rectified the mistake and given their gymnast the score he deserved and, possibly, the gold medal. But someone (presumably, the team coach) was not on the job, and it's not at all sportsmanlike to try to change the rules you agreed to going in to get the gold for yourself. The judges may have made an error, but the team did, too. And lest we forget, dozens of other gymnasts left the competition with squat -- not a bronze medal, even one that appeared to disgust its winner even the night of.

Paul Hamm Waits Out Boos Then Wins Silver

The Healthy Diet of Swimmers

2004-08-20T22:40:00.000-05:00

NBCOlympics.com: "With the announcement, Phelps is finished swimming at these Games. And he didn't hesitate when asked what he would like to do after competing in 17 races over the last seven days.

'It's McDonald's time,' he said. 'Time to have some fries and some Big Macs maybe. Definitely an apple pie for sure.'"

It's the Little Things

2004-08-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

How eight pixels cost Microsoft millions: "Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between 'not specified,' 'male' or 'bitch,' because of an unfortunate error in translation."

Despite this particularly boneheaded example, the article is also notable for how it shows how Microsoft ends up a victim of exceedingly touchy geographic disputes. Who'd have thought people cared quite this much about maps (especially after having gone through most of my school career with maps showing us the vast U.S.S.R.).

Holy Crap

2004-08-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com: "He cruised to the Olympic arena, his iPod plugged into his ears. A few hours later, after his sneeze on the pommel horse, he went from first place to 12th with only two events left. It was a huge choke. Somewhere, Scott Norwood looked up Hamm's phone number in Milwaukee for consolation.

But then something curious happened: Hamm stepped up to the parallel bars, jostled and spun, landed as softly as if he'd jumped off a curb, and pumped his fist in the air."

That was the most amazing comeback I've ever seen (if you saw his vault into the judges, I'm sure you agree). Congratulations to Paul.

Hiatus

2004-08-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

Just to keep anyone wondering clued in, our internet service has been out since Thursday night. We're currently going online only sporadically using AOL's dial-up service (it's the only service you're bound to have connection software for when you can't download anything). Adelphia did not repair our service when a technician came out today, so we're just hoping they'll find a way to fix it tomorrow.

Unofficial Works

2004-08-12T11:13:00.000-05:00

I can almost use the new Blogger interface in the Camino unofficial build. I still seem unable to use Compose mode, but Edit HTML mode seems to work all right. It's definitely an improvement to be able to switch modes at all.

Happy Days Are Here Again

2004-08-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

BBC NEWS | Health: "Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed.

An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater."

Foxy

2004-08-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

Much better than the previous update. Firefox on Mac is starting to look good enough to give Camino a run for its money again. Camino not working with Blogger now is definitely hurting the browser in my view. But still, this family competition is unfortunate.

But you know, Firefox 1.0 is scheduled for release on Sept. 14 -- which just so happenes to be somebody's 22nd birthday! (Of course, not for Mac, though.)

Technical Jiggery Pokery: Mac Firefox Icon Update

Software Search

2004-08-06T01:49:00.000-05:00

I'd like to create a cookbook of sorts. Not really an original cookbook but more like a collection of all the recipes I like. I've been doing this in part by recording my own recipes, recipes I find online and a few cookbook recipes in a number of Word files, with the idea that I could print them out and put them in a binder eventually. However, I don't like the idea of printing them because it would require a great deal of paper and ink, something I can't justify without at least having a laser printer (per page, it's immensely cheaper than an ink jet and produces better-looking results with text to boot).

I'd like to find a way to store them more efficiently on my computer. Using Word files makes the recipes more difficult to search (there's no table of contents generated, and different categories of food are in different files), plus Word is a pain to use for formatting. Probably because I don't do it right. I've never learned how the styles system in the program works (I never had to worry about them in other word processors), and for some reason it's exceedingly intrusive in Word, sometimes reformatting something for me based on a style I used for that kind of heading when I first created the document but later thought better of. I'm sure there's some AutoComplete feature I could turn off to fix this but I've never dedicated the time to look for it since it's really only annoying (or noticeable) in these particular documents.

I tried using a database before I started using Word. I created a template for entering recipes in AppleWorks' database module, and I put in a few recipes. While this system had the advantage of being sortable, it suffered from formatting issues. Pasting stuff in from web sites would retain the site formatting rather than conforming to the look of the database. Plus, recipes (and especially, ingredient lists) often were too long to fit in the text fields I had created. (I don't remember if you could even scroll through them -- but who wants to scroll with a list of ingredients, anyway?)

I've also tried using Blogger to record recipes, but Blogger doesn't allow you to assign categories like Movable Type does, so it's like pasting everything into one long Word document. Being able to sort by date isn't helpful for a cookbook. Movable Type isn't an option, as it requires a server that gives you special CGI access, which you generally have to pay for.

I also tried Blosxom a bit. Blosxom is a blogging system as well, built with Mac OS X in mind (although it works on other systems). It has the clever idea that rather than using a database system (like SQL) to sort your entries, it can use the ultimate database system -- your hard drive's file system. Basically, this means you save your entries into folders based on how you want them sorted into categories (Blosxom can pick up the date from the file itself). Blosxom uses information in the blog's URL then to determine which folders of files to display. However, since it does this all with text-file entries, it's not great for recipes. Unlike Blogger, Blosxom doesn't convert line breaks out of the box. Thus, to get a hard return, you have to type the HTML for "line break." Hand coding HTML isn't much fun when your blogging or creating a database.

I have Windows cookbook software. Fat lot of good it does me now. If I looked, I might find some OS 9 cookbook software in the basement. Rather, OS 7.5. Too old and slow to be useful. OS X cookbook programs seem to run about $20 and seem mostly to have questionable designs or, at best, to be self-running FileMaker databases. I'm considering iBlog or BlogWave Studio, but one seems buggy and the other seems to require .Mac. And both cost money anyway.

What to do?

Bread With a Side of Bread

2004-08-06T00:49:00.000-05:00

Tom Felton.com: "What is my favourite food?
I like plain food with no spices or herbs or onions! Favourite foods are cream crackers, chocolate ice cream without any bits, pepperoni pizzas without onions, chicken, mum's Shepherd's Pie, Tesco's frozen plain sausages, pancakes and of course chocolate!"

Poor Draco. It must be such a boring (and stereotypically British) life to eat only bland foods. He's what, 16 now? 15, maybe? Surely his tastebuds have mellowed since he last ate an onion. He's probably never tried a caramelized onion, either. Onions have to be the sweetest vegetable out there when treated right.

And of course, his several raptures about Emma Watson on the site are cute.

Hi-Larious

2004-08-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

The Onion | CIA Asks Bush To Discontinue Blog: "'I know so many people, but I'm way too busy to keep in touch with all of them,' Bush said. 'Whether I'm talking about our strategies in Gitmo or my dogs down in Crawford, the blog is an easy way to let everyone know what's been up with me. If I've just had a really good lunch at a new restaurant, or something funny happens in a briefing from the NSA, I want to let my friends and family know about it.'"

Taking Back the Web

2004-08-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

If you'd like to show your support for Firefox (and encourage others to download it), why not add one of their promotional buttons to your site?

Ramblings, I Guess

2004-08-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

I just updated my Friendster profile, how about that? I haven't really used the service at all since I signed up, and I'm of little use to my Friendster connections really unless they want to meet me in particular since I seem to have few friends who don't already know each other anyway. Oh well. I mostly updated it now so that my usable web site address was posted in it rather than the bloggedup dead one.

Although, I recently discovered that I still have a bloggedup account, even if they deleted my site. Last I visited, they had stopped taking new accounts, including new paid accounts. I figure that those with paid accounts there will find their sites are not long for this world (despite the company's promises to the contrary -- can these people really be trusted?), and perhaps as evidence of my point, should you visit their home page at the moment, you'll find they've all but disappeared. However, back when I last visited, I attempted to log in to see if I could, and lo and behold, the site still recognized me. My web space is still gone, but apparently I still have the ability to raise support tickets. Why I would, I don't know.

Everyone should take this opportunity now to make sure that their bookmark for my site says "http://www.alzubra.com" rather than "http://colleenfischer.blogspot.com" -- not that I'm planning on jumping ship soon, but when I do put down the cash for my own hosting service, I'd hate for everyone to not know where to find my site, especially if I continue to use Blogger only via FTP. If I start sending my entries that way, then this blogspot page could very well disappear suddenly.

On the other hand, Blogger doesn't work in my browser now, so maybe I won't be using it. We'll see.

So Who's With Me?

2004-08-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

Who else thinks "Kerry Edwards" is a better name than either "John Kerry" or "John Edwards," from a purely aesthetic point of view?

Hehe

2004-08-01T14:51:00.000-05:00

Little Yurt on the Steppe: "By 1984, the Contras and I controlled exactly the same number of villages in Nicaragua. It took $150 million in U.S. aid for the Contras to enjoy that success, whereas I was but an infant operating exclusively out of my California nursery with only childproof toys and limited motor skills."

The 24th Century Catches Up to the 20th

2004-07-31T00:17:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching Star Trek: Nemesis, and I saw in one of the DVD's deleted scenes that the chairs on the Enterprise's bridge are finally receiving an upgrade long-awaited by those poor crew members constantly being thrown around the ship (and in some cases, into space): seat belts.

All I Can Say Is, "Huh?"

2004-07-29T23:43:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - 'Jap Road' to Be Renamed 'Boondocks Road': "'Everyone in this area, even newcomers that haven't even been to the Boondocks, have heard of the Boondocks,' he said."

However, the Boondocks they've all heard of is a fried-catfish restaurant that closed a decade ago, not the comic strip. In fact, the article here doesn't even mention the oft-controversial comic strip, which deals frequently with ... racial issues.

Also, they say the big reason these residents of a street in Texas voted for naming their road Boondocks over giving it the name of the family in whose "honor" the road was originally named was that many of them couldn't pronounce it. That name was "Mayumi," and presumably the name was written in its original Japanese character set on the ballot since it so threw the residents. Unless, of course, what they really couldn't pronounce was "Japanese."

Why in the world are they all so found of a decade-closed fried-catfish shack, anyway? Yuck.

macCMN0.8

2004-07-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

I found this article on Mozillazine. Under a heading of "Small Glitches":

Taming the Beast: The Solution to Mozilla's Hidden Marketing Problem: "In only winFF0.9.2 the FREE SUPPORT link on the sidebar jumps down. (I tried to fix it, but the 'fix' then made winIE6 and winOpera7.52 jumpy.)"

I won't get into what I think positively or negatively of this person's idea of what is best for the end user in the mozilla.org design, but I will just note what I found amusing about this: Though the name is buried in browser-geekese, this "small glitch" specifically affects the browser his new layout is supposedly designed to sell -- and seeing a web site render incorrectly in what may be the first page new users see when launching Firefox is not exactly a selling point for the browser.

The author notes that these and the other glitches are "only small cosmetic problems that most people would not even notice, affecting only a tiny population." Perhaps it's unintentional, but it sure says something about his design's potential to grow the user base ... or not grow it, rather.

Hehe. I don't intend to criticize the intent of the article. I am merely having a little fun.

The 411

2004-07-26T21:36:00.000-05:00

sarah. word.: "California is a huge, vast state with a wide range of climates, terrains, flora, fauna, and most certainly lifestyles, all of which go through some sort of metamorphosis along the 101. Yes, I just said 'the 101.' If you're from California, you'll understand."

I have to say, this California propensity is the one I find the strangest. On my first visit, it took me a couple of days to figure out what the heck everyone was talking about all the time. It's a small difference, but it's highly disorienting when you've never heard it before.

Lies Your Teacher Told You

2004-07-26T19:39:00.000-05:00

It's sad how many myths we still learn in school. Who besides me spent time in high-school biology grimacing while touching a cotton swab soaked in quinine to their tongue to show how it tasted "more bitter" on the back of the tongue than the front?

"[Linda Bartoshuk of Yale] and other scientists have proved that you can taste salty, sweet, sour, and bitter everywhere on the tongue where there are taste buds. 'Your brain doesn't care where taste is coming from in your mouth,' Bartoshuk says. 'And researchers have known this for thirty years.' "

Sometimes it seems like much of my early education was a waste as I had to spend so many years unlearning all those "facts."

Tabula Googla

2004-07-24T00:24:00.000-05:00

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > Microsoft May Sell Slate, a Pioneer in Web Magazines: "According to company executives, Microsoft is considering a sale of Slate because the model of creating a Web magazine of cultural criticism and political analysis to attract visitors to its MSN Network has little business salience in an age dominated by search applications. And the site's small size limits its ability to contribute meaningfully to Microsoft's revenues."

While I may agree with the company's other contention, the Slate might flourish more under another owner with goals more in line with that of a content producer, I am getting a bit fed up with the much-hyped idea that this is "an age dominated by search applications."

If everyone on the Internet decides to become a purveyor of search, what will there be to search for, anyway?

And search is hardly that exciting. Sure, we all run a Google search a few times a day, I'm sure. But who really goes from site to site looking for the best search results? Seach is so utilitarian. The top pages for any term between sites are likely to be remarkable only for their similarity.

If you need basic evidence of the similarity between search sites, see the new MSN search.

At any rate, I hope the hype blows over soon so we can all focus again on what matters most: raising our Google Page Ranks.

Will It Work?

2004-07-22T23:28:00.000-05:00

Wired News: Bono Moves to Preempt Thieves: "Irish rockers U2 will release their recently stolen album on Apple's iTunes music store if it shows up online, according to a report in the London Daily Telegraph.

An advance copy of U2's brand new album, which is not due in stores until November, was stolen last week at a photo shoot in the south of France."

Jealous

2004-07-21T15:38:00.000-05:00

CNET.com - Kill the iPod: "With all the attention the Apple iPod's been
getting lately, it looks like the inventor of the
Walkman is getting jealous. Twenty-five years
after Sony debuted its first music player, see how the portable audio pioneer is trying to win back your love."

I think I should start counting how many times Cnet's home page runs the headline "Kill the iPod" or "iPod Killers." They seem to be obsessed with ridding the world of Apple's music player. Probably, being the PC-centric site they are, they can't understand the idea of consumer electronics as fashion accessories. It doesn't quite enter their editorial consciousness that looks could outshine typical PC characteristics such as "cheap" and "inexpensive." And "doesn't cost as much."

With something like the iPod, where the market is not business but rather individuals, the strategy of a typical PC maker doesn't work. Believe it or not, people actually like having to pay more for certain items. It conveys the idea of the item being premium and thus more worth having. It's a marketing thing more than anything. Apple could obviously make plenty of money off each iPod sold even if it priced it more in the range of the similarly sized player from Dell, but it probably wouldn't be nearly so popular if cost so much less.

It's like Weber grills -- stores are actually forbidden to offer sale prices on Weber gas grills because it would reduce the value of the brand in the eyes of the consumer. I believe iPods cannot be discounted as well (except for when Apple offers them as a bonus for buying a Mac).

But anyway, I find it somewhat amusing now how many times Cnet has declared the iPod dead. Somehow, I don't think the new Walkman, which doesn't really look all that different from all the other iPod wannabes, will make any significant impact on the market. Sure, the Walkman brand was cool once -- but that was a couple decades and a couple media formats ago.

Oh Yeah, and You'll Get a Little Brother, Too

2004-07-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Britain Loosens Rules on Embryo Screening: "After a months-long review and a meeting Wednesday, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said it would let couples with a sick child test embryos conceived during fertility treatment and pick one to implant in the uterus that matched the older child's tissue type. ...

Joe and Julie Fletcher, of County Down in Northern Ireland, toasted the decision with champagne."

Putting aside for a minute the whole "eugenics slippery slope," can we think here about what this is going to do to the state of mind of the child born only to provide tissues to save the older sibling's life? While some might become convinced that they're deserving of great importance as a lifesaver, "lifesaver" is a very one-dimesional raison d'etre. Won't these kids feel rather used? I mean, people are sensitive enough when they hear their birth was "an accident" -- how would you like living with the knowledge that you were born not because your parents wanted you but because your parents wanted your older sibling twice over?

What a mess of family issues. I foresee therapy.

Choice Words from Jane Austen

2004-07-20T23:48:00.000-05:00

These are taken from Mansfield Park, a book I've generally been disappointed with, simply because I dislike the heroine and hero, though I've started to wonder if there is in fact yet another level at work in this book I've been missing.

At any rate, this particular quote made my eyebrows shoot for the heavens:

"In a review of the two houses, as they appeared to her before the end of a week, Fanny was tempted to apply to them Dr. Johnson's celebrated judgment as to matrimony and celibacy, and say, that though Mansfield Park might have some pains, Portsmouth could have no pleasures."

In the Details

2004-07-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

So is Gmail no longer a beta? Because I can no longer report bugs or make "suggestions." There's still a "beta" in the logo, but the whole "helping out" portion of the beta seems to be kaput.

Understanding

2004-07-19T00:25:00.000-05:00

R.E.M. (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Although 'Out of Time' is sometimes thought of as a sugary pop record, and contains some of the band's biggest radio hits, it also includes such emotional, contemplative tracks as 'Belong,' 'Half A World Away' and 'Country Feedback' (which Michael Stipe acknowledges as his favorite R.E.M. song ever)"

I'm listening to the song right now, and I can most distinctly hear the genesis of Reveal and Up. Somebody page Bill Berry.

"Classics"

2004-07-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

Apple has released the 9/11 Commission hearings as audiobooks at the iTunes Music Store. And they're free to download, too. We're talking the testimony of the heavy-hitters here -- Condi, Colin, Rummy, and more.

Just fire up iTunes, click on the Music Store link, click on Audiobooks, and there's a graphical link to the commission hearings right on the front page there.

Screen Haze

2004-07-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

It's crazy how much sharper and punchier my screen looks now that I've switched it from thousands of colors to millions of colors. I don't know how it ended up set for thousands in the first place, but suddenly whites are whiter, my crazy Camino/Firefox graphics problem is gone, and pictures that I thought looked worse than I remembered them being when I created them look right again.

That still doesn't make the new Blogger work in Camino. One thing at a time, I guess.

The New Blogger, Part Deux

2004-07-18T00:33:00.000-05:00

This isn't going to be a terribly interesting entry as it is merely a proof of concept. If you're reading it, I've successfully posted from Firefox to my web site using the new rich-text Blogger entry interface. If you're not reading this, then by golly, you're psychic! Alert the media!

Glory Be

2004-07-17T22:06:00.000-05:00

Sony Pictures Television - JEOPARDY!: "Ken Jennings became the undefeated JEOPARDY! champion for the 33RD time, bringing in another $50,000 during the Friday, July 16TH edition. Ken's jackpot stands at $1,100,460."

He's a software engineer from Salt Lake City, and he's playing like the Little Engine that Could. Back in the $600,000s or so, he was already the hero of all the geeks on Slashdot. He's also vowed to give 10 percent of his winnings to the Mormon Church.

What is "blessed by God," Alex?

The Fallout Continues

2004-07-17T17:30:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - 'NY Times' Admits 'Mistakes' in Iraq War Editorials: "The New York Times said on its editorial page this morning that it was time to be 'candid' about its 'mistakes' during the run-up to the war.

Saying it had been a part of 'groupthink,' the paper in a highly unusual editorial titled 'A Pause for Hindsight' admitted it had not questioned the existence of WMD in Iraq before the war strongly enough, partly because it 'did not listen carefully' to those who raised those doubts. And, the editorial added, it 'should have been more aggressive in helping our readers understand that there was always a possibility that no large stockpiles existed.'"

Updates, updates

2004-07-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or does anyone else find themselves unable to type in the text area of the snazzy new Blogger rich-text interface? (I'm typing this entry in via the BlogThis! bookmarklet.)

I got a summer job today, finally. I'll be working at Steve & Barry's starting Thursday. For those unfamiliar with it, they sell extremely cheap clothes, most with a university theme. They just opened a new store in the Chicago area, actually, so they might even have some Northwestern gear there. They don't in the Erie store, although they did have some at the Buffalo store. Go figure.

I'll be making above minimum, which is nice, and they want me to work for the holiday season, too. So I guess I'll have a good bit of money, considering.

I'm still sick. My cold has travelled from my throat to my nose and chest, however. It's not worse, since I really detest sore throats, but it is requiring a lot more tissues.

I've been making good use of our new Netflix account this summer. So far, I've rented PBS's Seabiscuit mini-documentary, Something's Gotta Give, It Happened One Night and Bend It Like Beckham, which we watched tonight. All were pretty good.

I have two coupons for buy one, get one free soft pretzels!

Drumsticks

2004-07-14T00:06:00.000-05:00

You know an article has reached a crest of snobbery when it invokes the French:

The New York Times > Dining & Wine > The Minimalist: Crossing Over to the Dark Side: "'I've always loved the dark meat,' said Michel Richard, the chef at Citronelle in Washington, 'but at the restaurant it's tough to sell, so we wind up featuring white meat, usually with truffles or porcini to make it taste like something. In France, of course, most people think dark meat is better.'"

I'm sorry, but I find chicken thighs to be slimy rather than delicious.

More Crime on Campus

2004-07-13T13:24:00.000-05:00

ATTEMPTED ARMED ROBBERY, Breaking News, Northwestern University: "A Northwestern University female student was the victim of an attempted armed robbery just west of campus Monday (July 12).

The victim was stopped by a man at about 10 p.m. in the 900 block of Simpson Street near her home. The offender displayed a handgun and tried to take the woman’s purse. The victim was able to escape and run to her apartment. The victim was not hurt in the attack and declined medical treatment.

The offender fled in an alley in the 2100 block of Maple Avenue. The offender was described as a male black, about 30 years of age, approximately 5 feet 5 inches in height, and wearing a green cap. Evanston Police and University Police searched the area, but were unable to find the suspect."

I'm glad I'm not living off campus next year. Sheesh.

Millennium Park Is Done

2004-07-13T11:31:00.000-05:00

Actually, reading this article caused me to draw comparisons between Mayor Daley and Ramses the Great. Maybe Mayor Daley is corrupt -- what Chicago politician isn't, honestly? And maybe Ramses was the pharaoh who refused to "let my people go."

But like Ramses and Abu Simbel, I think more people will remember the mayor for Navy Pier, Millennium Park and other civic projects (or bulldozing Meigs Field in the middle of the night -- that's my perpetual favorite) than for whatever problems he might have caused.

You have to remember, people like these are the kings of spin -- Ramses most famous "victory," after all, was a battle he'd lost.

The New York Times > National > Letter From Chicago: A Prized Project, a Mayor and Persistent Criticism

Scratchy Throat

2004-07-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

I thought I was cured early on this evening, but it appears my cold will last for more than two days. Too bad, especially since I've been sleeping for about 24 out of the last 48 hours to try to get over it. It's an irritating cold, since it's only postnasal drip and some fatigue. I feel like I shouldn't really be sick since I'm hardly suffering.

I am suffering a bit from this heat. Well, this humidity. You'd think the humidity would help my throat.

I watched "Something's Gotta Give" tonight. I wish I had the discipline to be "90 percent hard work, 10 percent talent." Having my writing be proportionately the opposite makes for very little progress. I wish I could write well and consistently.

Full of It

2004-07-12T17:42:00.000-05:00

Bush's new reason for going to war in Iraq? That Saddam had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction and could have given that knowledge to terrorists.

A little vague? Under this definition, we should also have bombed the heck out of North Korea and Libya, right? Oh, and lest we forget, Pakistan, India, Israel, Russia, the states formerly of the USSR, China, France, Britain, the United States . . . oh, wait.

He apparently said eight times in a speech today too that "America is safer" because of the Iraq war. You know what? I remember a bit of legal wisdom from back when I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" -- the more you repeat yourself, the less convincing you sound. It basically comes off like you're trying to convince yourself of what you're saying. Even Sport knew Tom was better off just saying "No," rather than "No, sir, I did not, never."

Reagan Rip-off

2004-07-11T18:45:00.000-05:00

Seen the ads for the Reagan commemorative silver dollar? It costs $29.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. But lest we forget -- a dollar, even with a mass-produced image of the 40th president sprayed on it, is worth nothing more than a dollar as currency. So the main material making up this "collectible" costs the company $1. With the economics of mass production, it's doubtful that the painting on the coins and the shipping materials add much to the cost. I would guess the company could still make a profit from these babies if sold for only the cost of shipping. Of course, why do that when you can get every "patriotic American," as the commercial says, to buy up to five for $30 a pop? I'm sure Reagan himself would have been proud.

Bangkok's Feeling Lucky

2004-07-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - World Photos - Reuters:

"A Thai waiter wears a condom over his head while serving a cocktail as a patron looks on at the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant in Bangkok on July 8, 2004. ..."

Just As Good As Flossing ... Or Not

2004-07-09T21:51:00.000-05:00

Seen the new Listerine commercial? Seems they've finally got themselves a study showing rinsing twice a day with their mouthwash is just as effective as flossing. But if you read the fine print at the bottom of the screen, you'll notice some interesting advice:

"Floss daily."

And all things considered, flossing once a day is infinitely less painful than subjecting one's mouth to Listerine at all.

All the Money in the World

2004-07-09T17:34:00.000-05:00

... and the guy can't buy himself a decent haircut? Or maybe some laser eye surgery?

Bill Gates and Philippe Starck

Support Firefox

2004-07-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

If you have a moment this weekend and have ever used Firefox, head over to Download.com to post a review of the alternabrowser. The Mozilla Organization is pushing right now to get 1,000 reviews in order to ascend the ranks at the popular software site by becoming one of the most-reviewed products there.

So far, they're about halfway to their goal. It's a community project, like the browser itself, and nobody is reaping profits from all the evangelism -- well, except in terms of sanity. In fact, supporting Firefox is taking a blow against the corporate behemoths, so you can even go ahead and pat yourself on the back for being an upstanding person.

adot's notblog*: take action

Some (Questionably) Tasty Sponsored Links

2004-07-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Google Search: bacon:

Bacon at eBay
Low Priced Bacon
Huge Selection! (aff)
ebay.com

For Switchers

2004-07-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article on extensions for Mozilla Firefox, which give the pared-down browser extra functionality. Some include a button to open a problem page in Internet Explorer and a button to automatically fill in a working name and password for any site that requires registration to read its articles (so you don't have to register yourself).

Also, note on the second page the description of the Googlebar -- if the integrated Google search bar in Firefox doesn't match the IE Google tool bar enough for you (I certainly don't miss the other features myself, but whatever), this extension actually installs a replica of the Google tool bar in Firefox.

Wired News: Building a Better Mozilla

Commercial Close to Home

2004-07-08T01:11:00.000-05:00

Seen the commercial for M&M Cookie Bars? With a little boy tearing up a package of them, throwing the bars in his backpack and the wrappers on his obedient dog, and then yelling to mom that the dog had eaten the (insert brand name here)?

The boy's dog is a black Lab called Oscar. Our dog is a half-black Lab named Oscar. And blaming Oscar for eating the cookies would be all too believable. The only part that's unbelievable is the obedience.

Strange But True

2004-07-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

Princess Grace of Monaco died on Sept. 14, 1982 -- the day I was born.

Grace Kelly

Phishing

2004-07-05T20:07:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail purporting to be from U.S. Bank, Northwestern's new banking partner. The subject line is "Critical Changes to your Account Access." It appears to have been sent to a whole bunch of Northwestern e-mail addresses, probably in hopes of taking advantage of students who don't know better and who think this must have to do with the campus' switch from LaSalle to U.S. Bank.

However, this clearly bears the marks of a scam to get your account information. No bank would ask you via e-mail for identifying information, and no Northwestern student accounts are being automatically shifted to U.S. Bank -- if you use LaSalle, you'll be stuck with them until you actually go to the bank and close the account yourself. And even then, you'll have to go to U.S. Bank to open an account with them before you are considered a "U.S. Bank accountholder."

To avoid identity theft, delete this e-mail if you get it. Do not follow the link within. And pass this info on to anyone who asks.

More Glad I Don't Use Windows Anymore Every Day

2004-07-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

Microsoft's patchwork mess | Perspectives | CNET News.com: "So, in exasperation, I entered 'Download.Ject' into the keywords search field. Presumably, when I hit go, this will take me to the download I'm looking for. But still nothing.

Microsoft had no comment at the time this story was published about why the statement refers to a download that can't be found. But it did offer a link that leads directly to the download. Unfortunately, following this link reveals yet another problem.

Instead of mentioning Download.Ject or 'keystroke logging' (some keywords that users will want to see in order to know that they've reached the right place), the heading on the page appeals to software developers instead. It says 'Critical Update for Microsoft Data Access Components - Disable ADODB.Stream object from Internet Explorer (KB870669).' The more recognizable keywords aren't mentioned in the description of the update either."

I don't use the OS anymore, but most of my relatives do, and they expect me to fix their broken Windows a lot. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that sort of crap -- viruses, keystroke loggers, adware, etc. -- on a daily basis. And the attacks seem to have become progressively worse and more difficult to head off lately, which makes me feel rather nervous about using any Windows computer to access the Internet.

And I know most Windows users don't realize the dangers or understand why they have so many pop-ups all the time. Especially at my internship, I've seen how clueless most people are about computers still. If I were in charge of information technology at a company, there's no way I'd let the employees loose in Internet Explorer. It'd just be asking for headaches.

I mean, how much productivity could you reclaim by forcing employees to give up IE? A lot of computer down time at work was from the masses of spyware and Trojan horses that had to be removed.

Widgets or Gadgets?

2004-07-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Apple might have saved itself a lot of grief had the marketing folks stuck with the name used for Dashboard applets in the program itself. I do hope they stick with "gadgets" in the long run myself, not only because I'm fond of that word but because I'm used to referring to buttons and drop-down menus as "widgets."

Apple OS X Tiger preview - Dashboard

There was a good article linked to on Slashdot today, too, that explained that why the front-end user interaction for Dashboard appears mostly the same as Konfabulator, the back-end engineering is different. Basically, the point was that since Dashboard's applets are powered by WebCore, Apple didn't have any reason to buy out Konfabulator, which is essentially a platform for running applets. They already had a platform, a different, OS-specific platform (whereas Konfabulator can be cross-platform), so buying the Konfabulator code would have brought them nothing they could use. The widget interfaces were not part of Konfabulator, and the idea of applets was not unique to that platform.

What really hurts for the developer is not any injustice by Apple but the fact that the new feature will render his separate program superfluous. It's hard to feel pain at something abstract, after all.

Look Both Ways

2004-07-03T00:11:00.000-05:00

Konfabulator, Dashboard controversy flows out of WWDC: "Rose and business partner Perry Clarke have been working on a longer term plan for Konfabulator that includes an upcoming release for the Windows platform. While Rose, a longtime Mac developer, said he wasn't ready to leave development of Macintosh products, he wonders where the incentive is for developers on the Mac platform."

Said as if Microsoft wouldn't do the exact same thing to him if he developed something cool for Windows. Whatever.

The article on the whole is rather poor journalism. As I've learned myself through reading about this controversy in several sources since it first broke, there's more to the story than meets the eye. As a journalist, this reporter should have investigated more into Apple's claims that widgets were long part of OS X and NextStep, explaining what that meant rather than just letting the statement stand.

And it certainly wouldn't have hurt to have gotten quotes from more than the developer and another journalist's story.

The Official Warning

2004-07-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

To see the Homeland Security Department's warning against using Internet Explorer, follow this link:

US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#713878.

A Good Reason

2004-07-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

From today's "The Boondocks," on the benefits for Democrats of kidnapping Ralph Nader:

"I think you're kidnapping the wrong people."

"Yeah, but Republicans carry guns ..."

Pun Alert

2004-07-01T11:25:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Spacecraft Sends Back Images of Saturn: "'I can tell you it feels awfully good to be in orbit around the lord of the rings,' JPL Director and Cassini radar team member Charles Elachi said."

Stop Using IE Now!

2004-06-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

US-CERT: Beware of IE: "The U.S. government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning Web surfers to stop using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

On the heels of last week's sophisticated malware attack that targeted a known IE flaw, US-CERT updated an earlier advisory to recommend the use of alternative browsers because of 'significant vulnerabilities' in technologies embedded in IE."

You may have heard already about the initial Homeland Security warning about the Scob attack, which installed, among other nasty things, a keylogger on your computer when you visited any of a number of well-known and oft-visited sites (such as the Kelley Blue Book site), without you knowing it. A keylogger keeps track of everything you type, and criminals can get your sensitive passwords (such as for banking sites) using them.

"It has been more than two weeks since Microsoft confirmed the existence on an "extremely critical" IE bug, which was being used to load adware/spyware and malware on PCs without user intervention but, even though the company hinted it would go outside its monthly security update cycle to issue a fix, the flaw remains unpatched."

Note: "remains unpatched"! If you haven't already, go now and download Firefox. It's small and fast, unlike the regular Mozilla and Netscape, and it will import all your Internet Explorer bookmarks and saved passwords when you install it, so moving to the new browser is painless. You'll gain tabbed browsing and built-in pop-up blocking, too, along with all the security enhancements.

Go! Now! Save yourself!

Mac OS X Tiger

2004-06-28T14:52:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or are all the snazzy new Tiger features (except for the new iChat AV, which allows multiple simultaneous video chats) basically rip-offs of well-known shareware programs, such as LaunchBar or Quicksilver (Spotlight) and Konfabulator (Dashboard)?

It seems the Konfabulator people are already irked, judging from that home page. But while these are great new features, shouldn't Apple have had the courtesy to buy the makers out? I suppose they don't have to; they've lifted ideas before (Watson vs. Sherlock, for example).

Still, when the killer new features are so obviously lifted from other sources (even when they are very worthy of OS inclusion), it's bound to strike up comparisons to Redmond's tactics.

Apple - Mac OS X - Tiger Preview

Skinned

2004-06-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

The dermatologist must be out to get me. Having been given the "Mercedes-Benz of acne treatments" (meant by him as "good" but interpreted rightly by me as "expensive"), I've been following the regimen religiously for a week or so now. And my skin has not felt such intense pain in months.

In fact, I think the last time would have been when I was last on this treatment, minus the anitbiotics.

My skin is peeling and burning. I feel like I've been sunburned, despite the fact it's barely broken 70 degrees all week. Every time I wash my face or apply moisturizer, my skin screams at me: "Stop! Stop! You're killing me!"

This had better work. If it doesn't, it's not only my skin that will be feeling pain.

August 2003 Up and Running

2004-06-24T19:51:00.000-05:00

And I'm really wishing I didn't write so much.

August 2003

Bet He Was a STUDent, Too

2004-06-23T12:02:00.000-05:00

I just channel-surfed over to TLC, which was showing one of their usual daytime schmaltz shows, this one called "Second Chance." The girl introduced herself, and then the show jumped to Chicago where the guy introduced himself as a recent grad who had found himself a job as an "analyst."

Except instead of pronouncing the first syllable as "an," he said it as a long "a."

Appropriate, no?

August 2002 Is Up

2004-06-23T00:54:00.000-05:00

You can find it here: August 2002.

McDonald's Salads

2004-06-22T23:14:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed that in all the materials promoting McDonald's new healthy, "Step With It!" adult Happy Meal campaign, the salad featured most prominently is always the Fiesta Salad? It's the subject of all the salad and Go Active meal commercials, it features prominently on the adult Happy Meal box, and it's in all the magazine ads.

It's so sneaky. They go on and on about how they're turning over a new leaf, making their menu healthier and promoting exercise. And then, while everyone's looking the other way, celebrating the new low-fat, under 300-calorie grilled-chicken "premium salads" that they introduce a new premium salad that packs 360-450 calories and has at minimum 22 grams of fat (10 saturated). And it's promoted by association as something that's good for you.

Check Out Lance Cracker Sandwiches' Slogan

2004-06-22T18:48:00.000-05:00

Snort! Hehe.

Summer

2004-06-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

There's just not much to say these days. Every day seems almost the same. I don't have a job yet (though after I decided not to go to Chicago, the NU library decided they wanted to interview me -- figures). I'm suffering from sleeping problems, so half the time I'm up all night and sleeping almost all day. It's partly jet lag from being on the second shift in California time but also partly myriad other problems I have with sleeping all the time.

Scott came to visit over the weekend, which was fun. We saw Harry Potter 3, him for the first time, and tried to go to a Bosnian festival but missed any good parts of it by arriving late. We also went to a picnic at my grandparents' house, at which they made Scott dinner way before everyone else arrived because we were expecting a call from his friends driving through to pick him up at any time. He ended up being able to stay until 3:30 p.m. Sunday, longer than expected but still not long enough to see everyone.

Otherwise, I've been working on a few projects. One is applying for jobs. One was refining this web site. I'll have to expand that to include getting the archives up and redesigning the other pages. Another is trying to spread around my Gmail invitations. I have seven of them, and while I know most of you people use Blogger and can get Gmail anyway, if anyone doesn't, let me know because it's getting harder to get a decent Gmail address all the time.

Most recently, I spent yesterday at my grandparents' fixing their computer. Windows Explorer kept crashing on them. (aside: Why did they name their file browser "Windows Explorer" and their web browser "Internet Explorer"? That causes immense confusion -- it took me a while to figure it out back when we first got a Windows computer, and to this day, when I say, "Explorer kept crashing," people think I mean IE.) Whenever it quit, their desktop would disappear -- it seems that under Windows 98, Explorer doesn't automatically relaunch. The only way to get the desktop back was to restart, but whenever you did anything after that reboot, even just emptying the Recycle Bin, the dialog box would pop up again informing us that Explorer had encountered a fatal error.

This was making it extremely difficult for me to download and install anti-virus software, since I couldn't connect to the Internet in safe mode and I couldn't do anything basically in normal mode. Then as luck would have it, a vague memory of simply ignoring those "Explorer crashed" dialog boxes and still using the computer back in the days of my buggy Windows Me notebook came back to me. I dragged the box out of the way on the screen without hitting any of its buttons, and indeed, the system continued to work as if nothing had happened. At least now they could use their computer, if I couldn't figure out how to stop this altogether.

I ran Spybot and Ad-Aware. I had run Spybot on the computer the previous day, and I thought maybe something I had removed was causing the instability, but restoring the spyware didn't help. So I trashed it all. I also ran the anti-virus program and got rid of a dozen or so viruses lurking on the machine. Still, the error message kept coming back. I hit upon the fix when I downloaded all the neglected critical updates from Microsoft's web site. One of them repaired whatever was wrong, I think; I don't know which.

So now their computer is faster for having all the muck gone and no longer crashes on start-up. I also installed Firefox so that they wouldn't get any more drive-by installations invading the computer. We'll see how well it works.

New Design! (Again!)

2004-06-18T23:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not completely new. I liked what I had, but it just wasn't perfect. I took the graphic and color scheme I had created and just shifted everything around until I found a layout I liked better. Unfortunately, that meant jettisoning the three-column look, but while that was more logically organized, it made the page look too busy.

If you're checking my site out on dial-up, I'm sorry for the wait. I used PNG graphics for the first time because the format supports more flexible transparency effects than either JPEG (it supports none) or GIF (it's all or nothing, no translucency). However, with graphics as large and complex as these, the compression doesn't make a big enough dent. Still, I didn't want to sacrifice quality. From my site stats, it appears most of my visitors use broadband anyway.

However, I have a feeling the graphics won't look quite as smashing in Internet Explorer since its PNG support is notoriously shoddy. But you should be using Firefox (which just hit version 0.9) or Camino anyway.

Who Writes This Stuff?

2004-06-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

Having caught most of "Cheaper By the Dozen" after returning home today, I have to ask, who actually thinks this stuff makes sense?

First off, Evanston is not at all the way it's shown in this movie. Clearly, the moviemakers, like most moviemakers, have never been to Evanston. Otherwise, they might know that the Big Ten team there is the Northwestern Wildcats and that no coach can save our team. Also, they might realize that Evanston is not a town full of ridiculously rich people. Some people may have money, especially if they live by the lake, but most people who would be able to afford a place like the house in the movie would find that place in Kennilworth.

And second, it's impossible to like these kids. Cute? Yeah freaking right. We're talking a bunch of spoiled brats here. In a family of that size, you'd think they wouldn't all act like stereotypical only children. Honestly, kids in a real 12-kid family would not be demanding so much attention. When they ask for the millionth time why Dad, who's coaching that fake Big Ten football team, is "never around," you just want to shake them, screaming, "Who would want to be around people bent on making my life miserable for the sake of the camera?!?" And then you'd want to point out that the Big Ten football team has basically moved into the house so that Dad can be around 24/7. Not that that makes a difference to kids so absorbed in themselves.

And then! Let's repeat after me: Kids aren't smarter than their parents. Forget the cutesy sitcom cliches. What these kids need is a good dose of "I'm right, and you don't know what you're talking about because you are eight!" When Hilary Duff began dispensing wisdom about Dad losing control of the house from her perch reading a fashion magazine in bed, I thought my eyes would roll out of my head. Heaven forbid she get up off her fashionably attired tush and help Dad out around the house while Mom was away on her book tour -- her mere two-week book tour, for pity's sake. Same goes for Mr. Superman-on-The-WB, who only makes appearances to tell Dad how he's being neglected or to tinker with cars while shirtless. Heaven forbid he tinker with some pots on the stove to help make dinner while Mom the slave is away.

And please, domestic services aren't going to turn down potential clients because there happen to be a dozen kids in the house (though in this case, there's actually only 11 -- one has moved out). If anything, they'll just charge more. And what agency would turn down more money?

Do you know what the crowning point of this ridiculous setup is though? It's when, at the very end, after Dad's given up his dream coaching job in order to be around the house more as the ever-wise kids demand, these same kids, when informed by Mother that Father is giving up the job, start offering to give up all kinds of things so that Dad won't give up the job he loves -- the one thing they've been insisting he do throughout the film!

I don't buy it for a second.

Food From Strange Places

2004-06-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

You learn something new every day. Anyone ever wondered how cheese is made?

Rennet - Wikipedia

Hint: It involves veal.

Ewwww

2004-06-15T00:08:00.000-05:00

You don't post the billboards if they aren't needed.

Va. Tells Men: No Sex With Young Girls (washingtonpost.com)

Good Grief

2004-06-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

When did Emma Watson start looking so grown-up?

(And who put poor Daniel Radcliffe in that unfortunate outfit?)

Yahoo! News - Entertainment Photos - Reuters

Funding Wasted

2004-06-12T17:34:00.000-05:00

Why can't NASA put color cameras on their probes?

Cassini image of Saturn

Number One

2004-06-11T03:52:00.000-05:00

Somehow, I've earned the top spot on Google when searching for my name.

Unfortunately, this site's not ranked first -- it's the photos I took for my News and New Media class that are. This site ranks fifth, and way down at 10th is a photo of my high school senior class.

Advantage of a Copy Editor

2004-06-11T02:11:00.000-05:00

Scott almost beat me to the punch, but since his link seems to head to the wrong place, I'm going to share this particular wonder with the world.

"Would 'The O.C. Airport' fly?"

I saw it first, anyway. Nyah, nyah.

Incredible

2004-06-09T05:36:00.000-05:00

More Fun With Coffee

IMDB Obsession

2004-06-09T02:06:00.000-05:00

I've taken to looking stuff up on IMDB almost every day. Of course, I had to hit the site this weekend when Reagan died, and from those explorations learned wife Nancy:

"Was married to Ronald Reagan while being three months pregnant. Both Reagans are famously pro-family-values."

Go figure. And then yesterday I played the "Where are they now?" game by looking up the actors from old shows I remember from growing up. But I don't mean any old shows (why take the effort to look up what that Michael J. Fox of "Family Ties" is up to these days?) -- rather, I'm talking about the exceedingly cheesy shows, ones for which it would both surprise and impress you if the actors ever went on to do anything decent.

Naturally, the first show I looked up was one of my brothers' favorites, "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers." I believe Power Ranger action figures were the first great fistfights-between-moms-in-the-store toys of our modern age, beating even Tickle Me Elmo and Furby to the punch. Of course, few of the stars did anything beyond Power Rangers. The only one of the principles to have achieved notable success was the original Pink Ranger, but then, I'd already seen her show up on "Felicity," so no big surprise. However, some of them have racked up impressive resumes -- consisting of almost nothing beyond different iterations of "Power Rangers." Strangely enough, one of the cast members died driving somewhere on the freeway right next to the building where I work.

The thing about IMDB that's fun is there are so many links. You look up a show, click an actor's name, find they were on another dead-end show you remember, and then start looking up what happened to the actors there.

By the way, note that the girl linked to above was about 14 when she played the innocent love interest of the 26-year-old man on the linked-to kiddie show. Nasty. The things you learn . . .

Firefox Theme

2004-06-08T15:39:00.000-05:00

The Mozilla community (community? hardly seems like that with all the sniping now . . .) has gone nuts in the past few days since the announcement that Qute, the default Firefox theme on Windows (maybe Linux, too? I don't know) will be replaced with "Winstripe," which is a take on the Pinstripe theme used on Mac Firefox.

Much of the Windows Firefox community is up in arms, writing mean-spirited comments aimed at the Mozilla leadership and swearing their allegiance to Qute. We'll forget for the time being that there's no reason Qute can't continue development and be used by all who like it as an alternative theme, since that appears to be an ineffective argument. But it's also ineffective to claim new people won't choose Firefox as their default browser because they won't like Winstripe. It's not polished yet, I suppose, but it's certainly not horrendously ugly. And I doubt so many people use Internet Explorer on Windows because of its smashing design.

But what I'd like to point out is that on the Mac side of things, we've been through this a number of times. There's just not so much noise since there are fewer of us. People bellyached to no end when Camino ditched the blue toolbar icons for Safari-style (and also, Firefox Pinstripe-style) buttons. But it wasn't until people stopped saying "we hate you!" to the designers and gave some real feedback (such as, the contrast isn't great with white buttons on a white background) that the designers listened and created some lovely colored buttons. I've found the color cues make it a lot easier to hit the right button, and the graphics themselves are smooth yet not flat.

And Pinstripe on Firefox wasn't just stuck in the browser and left to sit on its laurels. Just when I was starting to think the original Pinstripe really did look quite a bit unpolished, the developers unleashed a new, very well-done version. It was breathtaking even when that first revision arrived. Clearly, someone had put in a lot of care. And then the theme turned out even better on Thunderbird. These people make terrific toolbar icons, so I am sure the Windows theme is in good hands.

As for everyone carping about how the Qute developer found out that Qute was being dumped -- well, it was going to hurt no matter how he learned about it, I'm sure. And surely he's gotten plenty of revenge for whatever hurt he feels by getting so many people to flame the Mozilla leaders. It's not at all classy.

Harry Potter Part Three

2004-06-08T04:40:00.000-05:00

I thought I should chime in and say I liked "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which I saw Saturday, breaking my two-movie string of seeing Harry movies the night they arrive. I was actually quite impressed with how the much-ballyhooed director moved the series forward out of childhood. I always thought before that the fourth book was more the beginning of the kids' adolescence, but seeing those actors on screen and how big they are makes me think perhaps they really aren't kids anymore.

I doubt many people reading besides me, who spent so many years in Catholic school, will have noticed especially the change in the uniforms. Especially notice how Hermione's oxford shirt is artfully bloused out and not quite tucked in at the back. They really nailed the teen uniform look there. Same goes for everyone else's messy-on-purpose look, the uniform of the teenage uniformed set. Much as administrators like the theory, uniforms don't in fact destroy the fashion pecking order. Boxer shorts, Villa alums?

And the scene of the Gryffindor boys sitting around eating magical candy? That reminded me powerfully of my brothers.

It definitely doesn't feel overwrought and flat like the first two did sometimes, especially after multiple viewings. They could feel on occasion like nothing more than magnificent set pieces. Strangely enough, this one made me think -- it demanded my attention, even as someone who's read the books and knows what will happen. This film is an interpretation of the book rather than the book brought to life like the last two, so it's a new experience.

My only problem with the movie is I thought the pacing was too quick. Scene changes seemed a bit too abrupt, but I suppose considering how much there was to cover, some niceties had to be sacrificed.

Low-Carb Mania

2004-06-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

I've just been reading about low-carb foods in Consumer Reports, and I think I'm finally starting to get a handle on how the diet's supposed to work. Most of it I already knew, but this explained the obsession with blood sugar. It's not changing metabolism or any of that mumbo-jumbo the books might say. It's just that when your blood sugar isn't rocketing and dropping all the time (like, say, when you knock back some Cokes), your appetite decreases. High sugar foods leave you wanting more; foods without sugar don't. And when you eat less food, you consume fewer calories and thus lose weight.

Of course, I already knew foods that skew toward the fatty and not sugary end of the scale make you feel fuller longer. And it's natural to think that if you're limited in your selection of what to eat you'll get bored and eat less for that reason, too.

But the part I always find it hard to wrap my mind around is "low-carb" processed foods. How can cake with fewer carbs but just as many calories make you lose weight? They can't in themselves. Calories in minus calories out is always how it works. So then do they fit with the idea that sticking to low-carb foods will make your appetite decrease? Maybe, but if you're choosing high-calorie but low-carb foods to eat when you are hungry, you can't possibly lose weight without something magical happening. So it might be interesting to see if the low-carb phenomenon dies out now that the food industry has jumped on the bandwagon. I mean, if the diets stop working, people will likely give them up.

But I can't say I completely understand still. If it's a proven fact that calories are what affect weight, what's the point of counting carbs if in doing so you're not eliminating high-calorie options? Now, steak can be pretty high calorie. Will steak fill you up more than low-carb cake, though? Even with the articles help, I'm not sure if I can figure out the effect of processed foods.

Processed foods are just bad in general, though. Many have trans fats, which is what I worry about most anyway.