September 16, 2004
Comments?
I don't know if blog comments will survive the onslaught of spam but there is this site here that has a few good ideas on how to reduce the chances you will be spammed.
Note, I said reduce but not eliminate comment spam. Right now, the only way to do that is to close comments. As such, one of things I'm doing is closing comments that are five days or older. So you have that many days to leave a comment on a particular post before it closes.
By the way, I just want to emphasize that you can leave comments here without using TypeKey. However, I have TypeKey enabled if you wish to use it but that is completely optional.
Other than that, I don't have any other comments today.
Aloha!
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September 15, 2004
Miracle Workers
For years, people have been trying to create emulators that don't suck. So far, as far as I know, no one has succeeded. Wired has an article saying someone has created an emulator that will run software developed for any platform to run on any other, without noticeable speed degradation.
If this is true, it would be a miracle. But. I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I have some hot beach front property for sale. Cheap. No worries about neighbors. No need for a hot water heater or night lighting. Priced to move.
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Honest Differences
Speaking of miracles. I find it a miracle that so many self-described typography experts have come out of the slime saying it was impossible for the CBS documents to have been created by a typewriter in 1972.
With all due respect to them, I have to question their conclusion because it cannot be supported by the evidence. That is, to say the documents could only have been done in Microsoft Word is to draw a conclusion no expert would make.
There is uncertainty in all things. At best, an expert can give a probability. But to say with metaphysical certitude (apologies to The McLaughlin Group) that a document is written by a certain person 30 years ago is not as easy task. In fact, using the faulty methodology used by some, almost any typewritten document could look like any other document.
Now, let me be clear, I don't know if the documents in question are forgeries or not. But remember, the Forces of Evil don't care if they are real either. What they want to do is spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. All I can say about that is: Mission Accomplished.
Now that some more thoughtful people have weighed in, like PC Magazine in an article here, or another source here, there is some doubt about the doubters.
Again, I don't know if the documents are forgeries, but given the evidence that pundits have been using and methods used, neither can they.
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Tipped Off
Speaking of things that aren't. A tip for a restaurant is not legally required. I know this seems obvious to most people, but one restaurant owner learned this when he had a customer arrested for not leaving a large enough tip. According to the story (see the follow-up here), this restaurant requires an 18 percent "gratuity" when serving large parties.
Said customer didn't feel the service received warranted such a large tip and left only 12 percent. The owner, enraged by the small tip, called the police and had the customer arrested.
Upon further reflection, the customer was released without charges as it is not a legal requirement to tip. In other news, restaurants start adding mandatory service charges for treating customers with disrespect.
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Phising for the Phoolish
I suppose it was only a matter of time before the first Gmail phishing attempt went out. This post here has an example of what appears to be an attempt to harvest Gmail logins and passwords disguised as a way of getting additional Gmail invites.
No word yet on when the pundits will start matching fonts to MS Word and saying it came from the Kerry campaign.
Aloha!
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September 14, 2004
Open Hunting
You may have noticed that comments have been re-enabled. I don't know how long it will be until the spam bots find this site (yes, I have MT-Blacklist installed) and start spamming it again but until then, your comments are welcome.
Note that when you click on the comments link what you see will vary depending on your browser. It appears the MovableType folks wrote code that is interpreted differently by the major browsers. For Opera and Firefox I see a link that says "If you have a TypeKey identity, you can sign in to use it here."
But if I follow that link, and use my TypeKey identity to try to login I get an error messaging saying "The site you're trying to comment on has not signed up for this feature. Please inform the site owner." Heck if I know how to sign up since I have already inputed my TypeKey Token but I guess I'm supposed to do something else? I dunno.
If you are using IE, you probably won't see the link so it doesn't matter. But if you are using Opera or Firefox (and you should), ignore that link and just fill out the comment form.
UPDATE: I seem to have it figured out. In TypeKey, where it asks for the address of your applications it seems to mean where do you have, for example, mt.cgi installed. For some reason, I thought they were asking where the index.html file was (which in my installation are two different places).
In any case, I'm still having problems but I will note them by browser below:
For IE, if your security settings are high, you may not see the link to TypeKey for logging in. I tried changing my seetings by adding www.seto.org to my trusted sites and got the login link. But when I tried to login all I got was a blank screen. I'm not sure what other settings I need to change but if you get logged in, let me know.
For Firefox, it works without problems. 'Nuff said.
For Opera, I get the link but when I get logged in I get a blank page. I assume, like IE, the security settings are blocking things but I can't say for sure. More later if I get it figured out.
As noted before, you don't need to use TypeKey to login but it's there if you want/are able to use it.
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Firefox Hunting
Speaking of browsers, Firefox Preview Release 1.0 is supposedly out. I say supposedly because, as of this writing, following the link they have to download the file ends in a 404. My guess is they released it then found a show stopper and pulled the file. I assume they will put the file back in due time but remember the PR is considered betaware so don't use it in a production environment without testing it first.
Or it could be something completely else. Whichever.
UPDATE: I was able to get in and download the file. All seems to be okay but if you wait a week or so the first Release Candidate will be out.
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Mourning Constitutional
Speaking yesterday of forgeries... The experts that outed the CBS documents have now determined that the US Constitution is a forgery (see the unequivocal evidence here). This is a slam dunk. Clearly this is a forged document. Hence, how can we believe anything written there? I speak especially about the amendments therein. Surely there are questions.
Surely the framers meant to include religion in government.
And free speech? Who needs free speech. Everything should be copyrighted for 10,000 years, or as long as Jack Valenti is alive (whichever comes first).
And unreasonable searches? There's no such things as an unreasonable search. All searches are reasonable to the "authorities". Perhaps not the person being searched, but then, they're guilty so who cares about them.
And indictments by grand juries of their peers? Or juries at all. Why bother. Just lock people up. For any reason, for any length of time (see the Imperial Patriot Act).
And a speedy trial (see Patriot Act above)? Just arrest the person and throw away the keys. No need for inefficient niceties like due process and transparent government.
And, of course, slavery. What was wrong with that? Talk about a sweet business model! Talk about low cost manufacturing. You don't get any lower than free!
What a country!
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Hot Time in Hilo?
Speaking of volcanoes. Okay, so I wasn't talking about volcanoes but Mauna Loa on the Big Island is acting up again. But I can't get too excited about it, even if Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world, because its happened before and is a natural hazard of living next to a volcano.
The scientists there use very accurate GPS monitors to track the movement of the ground (because it's easier to track than magma underground) to infer what is happening below the surface.
In addition, seismic activity has recently picked up but it is too soon to say when there will be an eruption. Even when it does, and it will at some point, it typically takes about nine to 10 months for the lava to flow from the caldera down to inhabited areas (and it's been about 3,500 years since it reached the ocean).
Having said that, you probably don't want to be in the way of molten lava. And while there have been efforts to divert flows away from structures, the results have generally have been inconclusive at best (although there was some success in Iceland).
In any case, when it does start flowing, it is one of natures wonders to see. The glow from the lava can be seen for miles.
Aloha!
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September 13, 2004
It's Up to You
We live in dangerous times, made more dangerous by some who would do anything because the ends justify the means.
As you may have noticed, I've stayed out of saying much about politics since my post on the 'silly season.' At that time, I said this is the time when you will hear lies, damned lies, and statistics. And sure enough, that's exactly what has happened.
I realize producing a cloud of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, so as to confuse people and get them to either vote in a way they wouldn't otherwise, or not vote at all, is the point of this exercise.
But if we believe the lies, if we don't use our common sense, then democracy fails (Greek words demos, meaning "the people," and kratia, meaning power, rule).
It fails because government would no longer be of the people, by the people, and for the people.
It fails because power would no longer be in the hands of the citizens.
It fails because we would become servants, not free citizens.
Instead, power would be in the bloody hands of an elite who believe they know what's best for them (and don't give a rat's behind about you).
As we enter the last week of primary voting here in Hawai'i, (the general election will be in November) I expect things to get even worse. But there is still time. I challenge all of you to think about what is being said by both sides. Then carefully examine what each is actually doing.
Do they claim one thing, but do another? If so, don't believe what they say.
Do they work towards inclusion? That is, empowering all citizens? If not, don't believe what they say.
Do they put freedom and personal responsibility before safety? If not, don't believe what they say.
And most importantly, don't vote for them. It's up to you. You decide.
Aloha!
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September 10, 2004
Is That a Longjohn in Your Silver?
Talk like a pirate day is Sept 19 so mark it on your calendars. Now. Before you forget. I'll wait.
Arrr. Now that you're back you bilge rats, let me run you through with me trusty cutlass.
Almost There
It looks like Firefox 1.0PR will be out sometime early next week
Bill O'Reilly Fingers Mike Hunt
Fox's Bill O'Reilly responded to a letter from a person by the name of Jack Mehoffer. As Fark.com puts it, he'll soon be getting some letters from Mike Hunt and Heywood Jablowme.
Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!
September 09, 2004
Short Takes
Fellow Daynoter Dave Markowitz has a nice essay on the Assault Weapons Ban or go to this site here if you want more information.
Personally, I don't think taking away the freedom to own whichever firearm I want has made the world one bit safer so I don't care if this sunsets. In fact, I wouldn't loose any sleep if the Patriot Act also left the building.
I've also finally gotten around to remembering that Dr. Keyboard has put up a passel of posts for your dining enjoyment.
Taxing Times
For those two people out there who are interested in government accounting comes this article from the National Review that tries to explain why out national debt is actually tens of trillions of dollars more than the Administration is willing to say it is.
It's called cash accounting and massively distorts the true economic consequences of increasing spending while reducing revenues. Whichever accounting system is used, the debts will still come due. In fact, some of the debts are already here and is mounting.
But I guess it's not something that is important to most people (until your taxes go up).
MT to WP to MT
First up, version 3.11 of MovableType (hereinafter MT) is out. It fixes a bunch of installation bugs and other things found in version 3.1. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, the instructions don't say how to install the upgrade over a 3.1 installation.
Having now used both WordPress (hereinafter WP) and MT, I think I can do a short comparison. WP's install is much more robust and easier to do. This is not surprising given rival MT has a business designed to do the installations. Hence, MT has an economic incentive to make the install as difficult as possible so you will pay them to do it for you. WP has no such incentive so their install runs smoothly.
Once installed, WP appears to be less polished then MT. WP apparently assumes you will do all your writing in their GUI. Hence, as a feature, their interface automatically inserts line breaks. Unfortunately, if you use another editor to prepare your posts, and then copy the results into WP, it will insert line breaks where it chooses. Even if that is in the middle of a tag. Inserting a <br> tag within another tag disables the tag. This is not a Good Thing. MT has an option to disable this function but, as far as I can see, WP does not.
In addition, plugins written for WP are still in the early stages of development (as is WP itself). So, you should not be surprised if changes in WP break certain plugins or if the plugins themselves don't work. For example, a port of MT-Blacklist (an anti-comment spam plugin) for WP doesn't work. Another plugin, one to automatically close comments after a certain number of days, actually closes the database to all changes (making it impossible to login or out of WP nor to add any new comments at all).
I assume these kinds of problems will be corrected and that WP will become more polished and usable. Until then, I'll continue to use MT.
Aloha!
September 08, 2004
MovingBack
I’m in the process of re-installing MovableType 3.1. I think I know why the install didn’t work the first five times I did it. It wasn’t the permissions nor the paths. The 500 error I got was because the Perl scripts couldn’t find the files they were trying to execute. Why? Because I had set my FTP program (WS_FTP) to convert all file names to lower case letters. I do this because I standardize all file names that way to be consistent.
In a Unix based operating system like FreeBSD, case is important. I don’t want to jinx things so I’ll say no more until I have MT up and running.
Please remember to bookmark my current.html page as that will always point to the current post. Thanks for your understanding.
Aloha!
September 07, 2004
Tread Lightly and Carry a Metal Detector
If the government comes to your house saying they want to borrow your land for military exercises and that they will clean up the land afterward - run, run for your life. The military needs to be ready for the missions set before them. One way towards that goal is to practice using “live” ammunition. The problem with using things that go boom is sometimes they don’t. That is, the artillery or mortar shells sometimes don’t explode and instead embed themselves in the ground. Hence, when it comes time to clean up the land and return it to the owner, well, all I can say is don’t tread too heavily upon the land.
Start Your Engines
Marc Andreessen said it best when he said; “In a fight between a bear and an alligator, what determines the victor is the terrain.” So it will be interesting to see who wins this race between NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in the 2004 Race of Champions in France.
Aloha!
September 03, 2004
Breaking Through
I use HTML-Kit as my HTML editor mostly because of a plug-in called Tidy (recently updated, fixing some bugs that have bothered me for years. The download is separate from HTML-Kit.). This plugin does an HTML syntax check and automatically brings, as much as possible, the HTML into compliance with the W3C standards.
While HTML-Kit is not designed to accommodate entire websites, it does a pretty good job of editing one page at a time and worked just fine with MovableType.
Now that I’m using WordPress, I see that it (WordPress) takes the output from HTML-Kit and inserts a <BR> tag at every line break. This does nasty things to the HTML. I found out how nasty when I imported my MT posts into WordPress. For now, you can take a look at some of the old posts that I imported from MT and see broken links and other strange artifacts caused by this behavior. If anyone has any ideas on how to do my editing in HTML-Kit and then copy the text into WordPress without having additional line breaks but in let me know.
I think the best thing to do is delete the MT posts and just link to the static files which MT created. As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of static files as they will always be there no matter what happens to the database itself (which is not the case with WordPress).
I’ve hand edited a few of the old pages but have decided that it’s not worth my time to go through the hundreds of old posts to correct these problems. If anyone knows of a good solution let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to eventually delete the imported posts and just link to the MT archives.
Music to Tin Brains
Microsoft has launched their iTunes-like music store (see it here). It’s not much to look at and certainly is not as user friendly as iTunes but I guess it’s a start.
Having said that, the same artists that aren’t available on iTunes (e.g., the Beatles and Led Zeppelin) aren’t on MSN either. In addition, MSN is charging the same as iTunes. So, other than downloading in a different format, MSN seems to be on the short side of the ledger.
It seems to me that if MSN wants to get a larger share of the business, in an environment in which they are not the leader, they have two choices: sell at a lower price or provide a better user experience (Did he just say “user experience"? -ed.). Since MSN has historically done everything except lower prices (removing functionality, yes. Prices, no.), they had better get going on re-doing the interface.
For example, they provide a short clip of a song so you can preview it before deciding to buy. Only, they don’t make it obvious how to hear it. Even when you click on the song, nothing appears to be happening even though the clip is in fact being downloaded. They need to give the customer some visual feedback that indeed, something is happening (especially on slow dial-up accounts).
Oh, by the way, depending on what browser you are using, you may in fact get no response when you click on a song. I tried using Firefox and Opera and couldn’t get either to work but using MS IE did (after I added the URL as a trusted site).
Another example: you shouldn’t have to scroll around the screen to find navigation links. They have some links at the bottom of the page that go to complete listings of, for example, the most popular songs and new albums. This means you have to scroll down to use them (unless you are running on a screen resolution higher than the 1280 X 1024 I’m running). This assumes, of course, you hang around long enough to discover the links. Many people won’t because they don’t have the time to waste.
In addition, upon clicking one the links, IE blew up. After restarting I tried to see how I was supposed to create an account. I figured I would try “My Account.” I clicked on it and was taken to page saying I had scripting disabled so I had to go through a different process by clicking on a button marked “Continue.” So I clicked on the button and was taken to what looked like a login screen. It asked for my email address and below it was a box for something. I assume it was for my password but there wasn’t anything saying one way or another. Since it looked like my Hotmail/.Net Passport would work (they had a small .Net/Passport graphic) I tried that. Nope, no joy. In fact, since all there was on page was the two boxes, plus a small check box I’m not sure how I’m supposed to setup an account. Trying to click on “Buy” just took me to the same place.
On the bottom of the home page was a link to Customer Service so I tried that. From there was a link to creating an account. Okay, but what I see there isn’t what I see when I try to create an account. I assume again it’s because I have IE running with no “features” enabled. I checked out the system requirements page and found I must enable cookies, ActiveX controls, navigation across domains, and accept the installation of something called MSN Music Assistant (requires that something called “Background Intelligent Transfer Service” is enabled). And, of course, you would need to be logged in with Administrative rights to allow the background installation of MSN Music Assistant.
From this, as far as I can tell, MSN wants you to run only IE and only with very little security enabled. I’m not going to go into a long rant about just how insecure IE is and how even CERT recently took the unprecedented step of recommending people think about using, as one of several possible steps towards higher security, another browser. But if MSN wants any money out of me, they better try creating a site that is standards compliant and doesn’t require me to use insecure procedures to access it.
I then tried downloading Microsoft’s new Media Player 10. It’s a 12MB download and took a little less than 20 seconds to download. After installing, it appears using the Media Player is a much better way of listening to music on the MSN site. But, when I tried to buy some music, I ended up at the same page with the two boxes that I saw before. And as before, I was not able to create an account. Sigh.
The only good thing I can say about the MSN site is that I heard a couple new songs that I wanted so I fired up iTunes and bought them there.
Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!
September 02, 2004
In The Beginning, Part 2
I’ve tried fixing whatever is broken in MT 3.1 but have not been successful. So I decided to temporarily load something else so I could at least get a post out.
So, what I’ve installed is Wordpress. I could not believe it when they said their install would take only five minutes and I was right. It took less. Not only doesn’t it matter what directory you install the application, you don’t have to worry about permissions or paths. All you have to do is know your database configuration (username, database name, password, and if needed - hostname) and that’s it.
The install ran without problems and here we are.
Having said that, “here” is looking a little sparse and I still need to figure out how to display links but that will come. Of course, I’m still worried that it dynamically creates pages so if the database ever becomes corrupted, lost, or hit by aliens joy riding on a Saturday night all will be lost.
Oh well, I gotta go…
Aloha!
Let There Be Color
I’ve found a site with many different WordPress themes. Alex King has done a great job of creating some of his own and gathering the best from others in one place. If you are using WordPress and are interested in changing the look of your site, by all means visit Mr. King’s site.
I’m starting with one called “Blue Fade” that I will, over time, edit to match my own taste.
September 01, 2004
Movin' On Up
MovableType 3.1 is out. The long awaited update to version 2.6x includes the choice between static or dynamic page functionality, sub-categories, post scheduling, and other new features. As usual, the thundering herds will probably be at the trough (although its a small 1.7MB file so it won't take long to get once you're there). Note, you have to be registered (free) but it will probably be worth it to do so. I know I will heading off to download it right after I finish uploading this post. Note also that the free version includes no support and is set-up for one author and no more than three weblogs. If you need more power (Scotty, we...need...more...power!) you have to pay $69.95 for the five author unlimited weblogs version.
Going Round in Circles
Not that I'm going to rush out and buy a high definition TV set but I've begun to research what's out there and what's around the corner. One of the things that I find interesting is the swing back to projection TVs.
I think it was the early 1970s or so when the first large screen consumer TVs came out (e.g., the Henry Kloss designed Advent VideoBeam TV) and all of them were projection models. At the time, these things were huge and most had three light sources (one each for red, green, and blue) that were carefully aimed and focused at special, highly reflective white screens.
So now comes electronics giant Sony to turn projection TV on its head with a black screen. The Sony screen supposedly adsorbs all light except pure red, green, or blue. The theory about this is to absorb the random ambient light that most rooms have, especially during a sunny day, and reflect back only the light from the projector. Hence, contrast should be improved giving deeper, richer colors even with high ambient light.
Whether this screen technology actually works I can't say. But if it does, it would bring us back full circle.
Say What?
Speaking of circles, one has to wonder about the management at Friendster. They recently fired an employee for, apparently, blogging (see this site for additional links) that they had switched from JSP to PHP. If this is true, and I don't have any reason to doubt it, you have to wonder what closet they keep their brains in because they surely aren't walking around with them.
Even if you take it at face value, it's not like you can't tell they've switched to PHP since the extensions on their pages changed. So if a cluefull person knows of the change, can you still claim it is a trade secret? I...don't...think...so.
In any case, if you are a member of Friendster, you may want to re-evaluate your use of that service and take a look at one of their competitors (see this site that lists a few alternatives).
Aloha!