Monday - December 20, 1999
Good Morning! It's Monday. Some of the daynoters appear to be getting ready to start their holiday vacations. So is that why Brian hasn't updated his site yet? Hmmm. He and Bob are usually two of the more reliable of the gang as far as updating. Oh well, I'll be here.
Speaking of Bob, his Saturday post (No, I don't know if it was done in the evening) talked about reading an article in a magazine which indicated that the only variable that had a positive correlation with a reduction in crime was Roe v. Wade. Actually, even though I haven't read the article, I think what they and Bob are saying is that the only thing that reliably correlates with the crime rate is the age of the perpetrator. This confirms several studies I've read here at work which have said the same thing (about the age, not about Roe). Unfortunately, it seems to be some kind of secret to the regular press and Congress because I see all kinds of articles in the newspapers about how one program or another is supposedly the reason for the decline in the crime rates while not saying one word about the fact the population is aging and are not being replaced as fast as it once was during the baby boom years (which itself, is a subject of much study in this area).
But the thing to remember is that it is age that is the correlate here. Not the "war" on drugs. Not gun control. Not more nonsense laws which reduce our freedom for a "little-bit of safety." Not social-economic level. Not where you live. Not race. Not income. Not the length of prison terms. But age. Reduce the number of males in the subject age group and crime will probably* also go down. So let's stop wasting time and money on programs which do not work and put it into family planning.
I realize this is not a long term solution because even if we did this, we would reach an equilibrium at some sort whereby our birth rates would optimally equal our death rates. At that point, we would need to decide if, whatever the level of crime was at that point, was acceptable to society. If it wasn't, we would need to find some other way of reducing crime.
* I put an asterisk above because we should also remember the cardinal rule of correlations. "Correlation does not necessarily imply causation." So tread carefully in your use of the above.
The weather was nice and sunny in the morning and the afternoon yesterday. Around noon, it got a little cloudy but not enough that I couldn't work on my tan. On the beach. While watching the sand bunnies shaking their tails. Big Smile (and don't mention this to SWCNBD).
Well, it's almost the end of the year and I need to start some cleaning around here myself (there does seem to be a lot more cat hair in the keyboard then there should be - not that there should be any. I wonder if that cat is running around here again. Must be the new MS mouse). And I'll start Real Soon Now. :>
Quick update. Opera, as predicted here earlier, has officially released version 3.61. It's a 1.27MB download. That's right, 1.27MB. You can get it here.
***** Noon Update
*****
I forgot to welcome our cousins from across the pond this
morning. My copy of the esteemed (or is it just steamed) Dr.
Keyboard's emailing for this week hit my inbox and with it a
mention of the Daynotes.com domain. If you are reading this,
then congratulations for almost making it to the end of the
list.
On the other hand, if you've gotten this far, you really must have too much time on your hands! So as not to waste any more of it, I will say only that I live in Hawai'i and am not a writer of computer books. Or any other kinds of books for that matter. I don't even work in the computer industry per se. Hence, my comments and interests range from the America's Cup yacht race in New Zealand to how well the local state University of Hawai'i US-style football team is doing. Sprinkled in-between those comments will be stuff about computers but it may not be the main topic for most of posts. So if you enjoy a tale or two, then pull up your chair and enjoy the Misc. Ramblings of Daniel Kaohuokalani Seto.
Aloha!
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Tuesday - December 21, 1999
Everyone around here seems to be on vacation so its getting a little lonely around here. Of course, there's always the virtual cat to play with.
Mozilla, AKA Navigator 5.0 is still on hold pending the resolution of four priority three bugs (as of 7:00am HST). Hopefully, these will be cleared soon and they can get this build on the wire. As usual, they are late again.[Build 12 released Dec. 21, 1999-ed.]
As reported in Bo's (I think) posting earlier, tonight [or is it tomorrow night? Reports in the newspapers have different dates. You decide.] is the night for the brightest and biggest full moon in 133 years. This is a result of this being a full moon, the winter solstice, and the moon's closest approach to the Earth in its monthly orbit.
Speaking of the winter solstice, which is traditionally referred to as the start of winter, isn't this actually the beginning of the end of winter? By that I mean, if the solstice is the shortest day of the year, doesn't that mean that the next day will be longer than today? And doesn't that mean the following day will be even longer than the day before? Sure seems to me that you can not logically say it is the beginning of anything other than the beginning of the end of winter. Oh well, what does logic have to do with anything?
***** Noon Update
*****
I've been having problems accessing Steve Tucker's sight
since he switched over to the redirection page. I should note
that I use Opera 3.61 as my usual browser and am more than
willing to say that it is not necessarily compatible with
pages designed for IE or even Navigator. I should also note
that I emailed him the details of the problem on 17 December
but have not had a response (must be busy trying to get Linux
going). Having said that, note the following html:
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="2; URL="http://www.wakeolda.com/notes/1999/121299.htm"">
Note the " (which, in HTML displays as " ) after the equal sign of the URL and the trailing double quotes after the 121299.htm. These extra quotes give Opera fits. IE and Navigator apparently just ignore them but Opera, bless its heart, actually tries to read them and do something about it. So what it ends up doing is the following:
Not Found
The requested URL
/notes/"http://www.wakeolda.com/notes/1999/121999.htm"
was not found on this server.
Well, duh. Of course it's not found. In fact, in the URL window (where you type in URLs) it displays the address as:
http://www.wakeolda.com/notes/"http://www.wakeolda.com/notes/1999/121999.htm"
Now, I don't know if FrontPage generated this code or if it was just borrowed from someone elses page that already included the extra quotes or if it was just a typo (Lord knows I've done that enough times). But know that this does not conform to RFC 2068 nor any other RFC that I know of. And even though IE and Navigator are ignoring the quotes, Opera is not.
So Steve, puleeze take a look at your redirector page and delete the extra "s. Much appreciated. Good luck on getting Linux going. Even though "they" say it works well on old hardware, it actually doesn't because of the lack of driver support. So save yourself some time and find a copy of what your distribution does work on and buy new parts specifically for it. As Jamie Zawinski once said; "Linux is free only if your time has no value." Mahalo
Speaking of strange things. Dr. Pournelle's sight has, what looks like an error in what he said regarding a hostage situation. No, the hostage situation is not the strange thing (sad to say). But rather, read what he posted (I'm not sure if it was meant as a joke or not - I'm too dense to to know the difference anyway):
"News from a few minutes ago on the hostage situation at the Bonaventure Hotel where a California Trial Lawyer Association meeting is being held. The terrorists are in control and have at least 400 hostages from the conference. They are threatening to release one an hour unless their demands are met." [Emphasis added]
OK. So I can't resist. If we wait 400 hours does that mean they will release all of the hostages? Well then, no thanks. You can keep them. Sorry. I just could not resist. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! [Note: scans of CNN, the LA Times, and FoxNews did not turn up any reference to the above alleged incident.-ed]
Civic.com magazine notes that only 50% of the nations state and local 911 call centers are Y2K compliant according to a Federal report released last month. According to the article however, most centers expect to complete their work before the end of the year [CNN is reporting that compliance, according to a report released this month is now more than 95%. Hmmm. From 50% to over 95% in about one month. It could happen. By the way, Porcine Airways will start flights tomorrow]. Let's hope you are near one of the "most" centers if you need help. Have a nice day!
Well, it was only a matter of time but Connecticut is apparently the first state to create a set of guidelines for web pages that, they feel, meets the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Connecticut guidelines can be found here. It is worth your time to check them out and ask yourself whether or not your site(s) meets these guidelines. Failure to do so can open yourself up to lawsuits (which, as far as I know have not started yet but will inevitably begin at some point). Ye have been warned again.
Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - December 22, 1999
If you like to use GIMP 1.1 for Linux, and you know who you are, then you may want to try it on a Win32 platform. The installation file can be found here. The author of the port is honest enough to say that "...GIMP for Windows is not really targeted at end-users yet. Feedback welcome. It is to be expected that the program(s) crash or behave otherwise strangely." Recommended only for the adventurous. The download is about 8.6MB and the install is kind of clunky (wait through the entire install, do not cancel out even though it looks like nothing is happening). All I can say is that it installed OK on my Dell Optiplex GX1 running Win98SE. YMMV.
Prices on video DVD players continue to plummet. The local Circuit City is advertising a no-name player for $159.99 USD. How low can they go?
Prices on hard drives also continue to drop. Office Depot is selling a 13GB Maxtor EIDE HD for $89.88 USD. Life is good.
***** Noon Update
*****
Mozilla build M12 is finally on the wire
(I'm downloading even as I write this). It's about 5.5MB and
kind of slow as a download right now. Get it
here. It's interesting to watch how this program develops
as they move two steps forward as they add features, then one
step back as they correct the bugs. As always, this is alpha
level software so expect problems running it. ±YMMV.
I forgot to mention, when I was talking about using the new MS Intellimouse Explorer and Natural Keyboard Pro that when you install the software, there is a new registration scheme. This process does not give you the option of choosing how to logon to the Internet. In other words, it assumes you use a modem. Even if you do not have one hooked-up to that PC now, or ever (which is the case with the PC here at work. There has NEVER been a modem connected to this PC and DUN has NEVER, to my recollection, been installed on it). Yet the only option given is to use a modem and to dial a 1-888 number. Sheesh. WTF. Blimey. @#$% this ^!+%. Grand Piffle. YMMV. And as Dr. Keyboard pointed out, even if the registration completes, the product code you are supposed to use when asking for assistance is something like 111-111-111-111. Double sheesh. WTF² squared and then cubed³. Merry Christmas to you too!
Speaking of strange, but possibly true contraptions (and you were, weren't you?). Take a look at this link to the SoloTrek XFV. It's sort of a later day version of a rocket pack, but using shrouded prop blades, or as they call them - ducted fans, instead of a jet. They say you get 20 miles per gallon. But, and you know what's coming next, yes, your mileage may vary.
p.s. For those of you who can't wait, I've posted my Christmas Eve message (see Friday below). As usual, there will not be a posting over the weekend and most likely, other than the special message, probably nothing more on Friday (unless something really interesting comes up). Peace.
Aloha!
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Thursday - December 23, 1999
Has anyone noticed that Dr. Keyboard has two ways of viewing his posts? The usual way is as a daynote. But if you want to look at the last seven days, you can click on a link at the top of the index and do just that! Way cool Dr. Keyboard. I've been looking at the html and can't find out how he is doing this. So, Sir Keyboard do you do some kind of copy or are you using a database and dynamically creating the output? Operators are standing by. Jolly Good Show.
As noted yesterday, I've already posted my Christmas Eve message for this year. If you would like to take a look, scroll down a bit and click on the link. Since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, there will not be any other posting.
I changed the Search Engine for this site. It now searches, in real time, the entire page instead of just the top 1024 bytes via an index. The upside is that if you are looking for something, you will probably find it. The downside is that as the number of pages that are searched increase, the time to receive your response also increases. I am told the practical limit is about 100 pages so that is not a problem yet. If and when it does, I will need to change how the engine searches.
I had to slip in an update here. Dr. Pournelle, over in his column in Intellectual Capital has some things to say about the great events of this century. One is the "...birth of anti-religion." If a discussion of religiosity, or lack thereof will offend you, do not go there. For everyone else, take a look.
By the way, while I am a registered Democrat and do see myself somewhat on the left side of the ledger, that by no means translates into someone who is anti-religion. Or anti-family. Or anti-democracy. Or anti-common sense. I hope that my Misc. Ramblings has made it clear that I abhor fuzzy thinking (although I do not consider myself to be an "intellectual" of any kind). On the other hand, we as a nation, must find the common things between us such as a reverence for God and family and that these things are not the private domain of the "Cold Warrior" right-wing. Just wanted to make that clear. Now I can get off of my soap box and get into the Christmas spirit. Peace.
May you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season.
Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - Christmas Eve - December 24, 1999
Special Christmas message here
Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)