Seedless Grapes and Watermelons...
... now all we need is Popcorn without the annoying pieces that get stuck between your teeth.
Is anyone working on this problem?
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July 29, 2003
July 28, 2003
Google Toolbar 2.0 Beta
Want Popup ad blocking in Internet Explorer? Try the new version 2.0 Google Toolbar (still in beta, but hasn't caused me any trouble). It also supports form AutoFill. Now I don't have to manually enter the following information into download forms any more:
Name: Hubba Bubba
Email: hubba@bubba.com
Address: 123 My Street
City: Beverly Hills
State: CA
Zip Code: 90210
The Google Toolbar does it for me!
Incidentally, a quick office poll suggests that data collected from online forms must be heavily skewed toward Beverly Hills, California. 90210 is probably the only zip code that most non-Americans know from memory.
EventID.NET
The Microsoft Knowledge Base is next to useless, by the way, but EventID.Net has saved my backside many many times.
Oh, and KBAlertz now has RSS feeds. Just click the 
icon on the corresponding alert page.
Why Can't Error Message Boxes Contain "Copyable" Text?
I've always been frustrated that Windows error message boxes don't contain "copyable" text. Very often, when I get an error message I want to Google it to find a solution. I can't count the number of times I've scribbled the message down, or hand-typed the message into a search engine or the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Well, apparently I should have just tried hitting the old <Ctrl>-C key combo. Someone said (can't remember where I read it) this will copy the message box text to the Windows clipboard. I haven't gotten an error message since I found about this, but I hope it works. Let me know if it works for you.
Update: I just tried it on the message box that w.bloggar gives me after a successful posting. Here's what it puts to the clipboard. Cool!
--------------------------- w.bloggar --------------------------- Posted with Success! Post ID: 130 --------------------------- OK ---------------------------
[Listening to: Violet Burning - Lovesick (from This Is The Moment)]
Don't Put It In Your Ears
I saw this warning on a container of Silly Putty at Toys 'R Us:
"Not meant to be used as ear plugs."
Duh!
July 26, 2003
Steve Clarke #5
While fixing broken links on the site, I came across my posting on Googling for "Steve Clarke". At the time, my name didn't show up in Google at all. As of today, I'm Steve Clarke #5 in Google -- all due to a few months of blogging.
Blog Moved
I've moved my Movable Type installation (the software behind my blog) to a new server. It was on one of our Windows web hosting servers, but now it's on one of our Ensim-based Linux servers. MT is written in perl, so I was having some quirky behaviour getting some functions on the Windows box. Now it feels at home -- and I like the chance to occasionally have an excuse to do some Linux command line.
Anyway, there are some broken links because the archive numbers don't all match up when I imported from the old server. I'm going through checking for broken links now. If you find anything unusual, please let me know.
July 24, 2003
Backslidden
I've already confessed to my wife, but I did also commit to being held publicly accountable.
I visited Slashdot once on Wednesday and once today (ok, twice). I swear I only read the headings though.
I stand before my loyal reader tonight begging your forgiveness. It won't happen again -- I hope.
July 23, 2003
Googleized Yahoo!
July 22, 2003
"Would You Like a Muffin or Doughnut with That?"
Tim Horton's has introduced a new policy of having their employees follow up a coffee-only drive-through order with the question "Would you like a muffin or doughnut with that?" This is really annoying for several reasons:
Please put an end to this policy Tim's (and, yes, I have emailed them on this).
Update 07/23/03: I received an email response this morning from Scott Knox of Tim Horton's Operations Services basically saying most people don't mind their "suggestive selling policy" and that it's a "helpful way to expand their knowledge of our products". He did not acknowledge that anyone else has ever voiced this concern before or that they might at least give the policy some consideration. Am I alone in being bothered by this? Has anyone out there actually bought a muffin or doughnut when asked; or at least appreciated being reminded?
Looks Like I'm Not Alone - Quit Slashdot.org Today! Website
Looks like I'm not the only person with a Slashdot problem. Cwiddy pointed out the Quit Slashdot.org Today! site in the comments section of my Goodbye Slashdot article earlier today.
The site is a bit outdated -- it doesn't mention RSS Aggregation as the ultimate alternative to Slashdot -- but the points it makes are still relevant today.
It also reminded me of a Slashdot random story generator that I had forgotten about. Oh, and I just remembered Suck.com's Slashdot parody from 1999 as well.
Ok, I'll try not to talk about /. any more. See, I haven't visited it, but I still can't stop talking about it...
Deep Thoughts
I've always loved "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey", from Saturday Night Live. A few years ago I collected a bunch of them from all over the web and compiled them into a database to display them randomly on a website. Below are a few of my favorites. For more, see this site.
To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
- Jack Handey
You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who make people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
- Jack Handey
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
- Jack Handey
If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong, though. It's Hambone.
- Jack Handey
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
- Jack Handey
I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas.
- Jack Handey
If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.
- Jack Handey
When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
- Jack Handey
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.
- Jack Handey
Goodbye Slashdot
Ok, it's official. I'm not visiting Slashdot any more. I've commented on Slashdot on several occasions here. One entry was even titled "How To Break Your Slashdot Addiction"
I've been reading Slashdot for a long time -- I actually own a Slashdot t-shirt circa Comdex '99 in Las Vegas (now used for painting, I think). But over the past few months, I think CmdrTaco and his cohorts (man those sites are creepy) have basically finally caught on to the formula that spewing random anti-Microsoft crap gets them a whole pile of traffic. They don't have to say anything that contains value, accuracy, fairness, truth (and so they don't) to get traffic to the site.
I guess it was the utterly braindead Can .NET Really Scale? posting that finally put me over the edge. See Rory's comments on that item. Ian White's statement that "I don't read slashdot anymore, its way to anti-MS for me, and precious little else." finally gave me the courage to make the break.
Anyway, I'm wasting entirely too much emotional energy on thinking and talking to anyone who'll listen (thanks Jared) about stuff I see there. The only reason I still visit is to pick up miscellaneous interesting tidbits, but my RSS aggregator now guarantees that I always get my interesting tidbits several days before Slashdot gets around to posting them.
As of this morning, I figured I had two choices on how to deal with Slashdot:
I chose the latter. I've removed my RSS feed, browser link, and DQSD alias. I'll post here if I fall back into my addiction. I need a few people to agree to hold me accountable for my actions -- maybe we can help each other just say "no". Post a comment if you need help too -- admitting is the first step to recovery.
So long Slashdot...
[Listening to: The 77s - Woody (from Pray Naked)]
July 21, 2003
Efficiency
I love this quote from Philip Rieck's weblog entry on evolutionary vs. revolutionary programming language changes:
"For efficiency, we should all use the same language and tools" sounds like a manager I once had. I responded "For efficiency, we should all solve the same problems and develop the same applications, too."
July 20, 2003
Souped Up Hyundais and Hockey Cards on Bicycle Spokes
July 18, 2003
Jesus Doll
My 5 Cents (CAD) Worth on the RSS/Atom Debate
Tim Marman posted the entry that finally drew my 5 cent comment that's been brewing ever since the controversy on RSS vs. Echo (now Atom) started. It seems like the people arguing are forgetting the value proposition of XML. They are thinking with the mindset of difficult to decipher and implement standards of ancient history (i.e. 5 years ago).
The whole point of XML is that it makes it relatively trivial to implement, consume, and translate content. Clemens Vasters pointed out that he had an Atom feed created in fewer than 2 hours. This seems to be the common refrain -- trivial implementation time. There are already several RSS converters that make it very easy to convert any feed. I would be worried if switching formats, or providing alternate formats required significant effort, but it's stinking XML, and really, really simple XML at that.
Am I missing something deeper? This doesn't seem like rocket science.
Anyway, the dust seems to be settling. Half the reason I've been so quiet on my blog through July has been that I was starting to really get disgusted with the blogging world because of the crap that was flying.
Linux for Tablet PC??
This is hilarious. Peter Rysavy links to an article on Linux for Tablet PCs. The funny part is imagining that someone would purchase a Tablet PC and ditch Windows XP Tablet Edition for a Linux distribution who's top 3 (and seemingly only) tablet-friendly features are:
The official Linux motto should be "Me Too!"
July 17, 2003
For Janice
How's this for our next Laundry Room? [via Larkware News]
Lorem Ipsum Generator
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec faucibus cursus urna. Phasellus eu lorem et sapien aliquam ultricies. Aliquam condimentum. Nunc erat. Pellentesque condimentum ipsum at enim. Nam suscipit nunc non erat. Nam volutpat, quam in porta aliquam, augue sapien adipiscing quam, ac consequat ipsum pede a magna. Sed sed leo. Cras porta, est adipiscing fringilla rhoncus, dui felis venenatis magna, et tempor lectus orci non purus. Aliquam quis massa et purus ornare imperdiet. Morbi volutpat odio vestibulum lacus. Morbi tempor ipsum ut sapien. Curabitur eros turpis, lacinia et, porttitor ut, rutrum ac, mauris.
Pellentesque pede. Aliquam gravida. Nam viverra pulvinar odio. Nam ut odio in odio sollicitudin convallis. Maecenas interdum suscipit neque. Curabitur dictum commodo elit. Mauris ac ipsum. Etiam fringilla velit ac turpis. Phasellus sed ligula. Nullam cursus dolor at arcu. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Ever have a need to insert dummy text like above into, say, a design comp? I just discovered a site that will generate as many paragraphs of latin fluff as you want. You can specify the number of paragraphs, words, bytes, or lists and it'll spit it out for you.
[Listening to: Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine (from Blue Sky Mining)]
July 16, 2003
Windows Server 2003 Gains on Linux
[Mads Haugbø Nissen] Windows Server 2003 Gains on Linux
I've been using Netcraft for years to probe web servers for the OS and HTTP server info. Their information is regarded as quite accurate. Oh, and I just noticed they have a RSS feed. Subscribed.
Oh again, I noticed the article on 2 million hosts running FreeBSD. This reminds me that I love FreeBSD (think /usr/ports). I personally tolerate Linux, but don't particularly like it. Though we primarily use Microsoft OSes, when we do use Open Source, we generally install Red Hat Linux. I've been trying to get our admins to switch to FreeBSD, but we have too much invested in Linux now. I guess it's either .dll hell or RPM hell for the foreseeable future. :)
Thinking
Order the Visual Studio .NET Posters
I mentioned last month that Microsoft had the Visual Studio .NET posters available for download. I haven't had time to figure out how to get them printed on poster size print, but I did find out that they can be ordered directly from Microsoft for $18 CAD. I went ahead and ordered because I'm sure it would cost more than $18 in printing and my time to have them printed locally.
The Top 10 Ways to be a more courteous cell phone user
Steve Makofsky (a.k.a. The Furrygoat Experience) links to the AT&T Wireless "Top 10 Ways to be a more courteous cell phone user".
I have to say I very, very rarely have my cell phone out of "vibrate" mode, and even more rarely actually take a phone call when I'm with another person -- only if I think it might be an emergency. I hate the telephone with such a deep loathing that even a cell phone is just marginally tolerable - so keeping my calls short isn't generally a problem. :)
Messenger is destroying grammar
Oh no! I just had a scary moment. In typing my last post, I had to stop and ask my wife if the "I" in "I'd" is supposed to be capitalized. It looked right when I typed "i'm". I can only attribute that brain cramp to getting much too used to conversing in all lowercase while using Messenger. The sad thing is, I do a very good job of avoiding annoying shorthand in IM conversations like "ppl" and "l8tr".
What's written language going to look like in another 20 years?
MSN Messenger 6.0 Final Release
MSN Messenger 6.0 final release is out. Get it here.
Oddly it isn't posted on the actual messenger.msn.com site yet. I got the link from the Microsoft Download Center RSS feed provided by Thundermain.com. Another reason I really love RSS -- I find out about almost everything before most people know about it. I can't count how much cool and useful stuff that I've gotten off this feed alone -- stuff that I'd never find unless I was drilling down deep within various product sites on Microsoft.com.
Update: http://messenger.msn.com now has the official 6.0 download. Use this one if you need extra help in downloading and installing software (i.e. you're not a geek).
If you think your boss is bad...
...try working for yourself. [neopoleon]
:)
[Listening to: Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet (from Sultans of Swing)]
summaries.com
I discovered Summaries.com a few days ago and was very intrigued by the concept:
"Summaries.Com e-mails subscribers an 8-page executive summary of a new business book every week."
One of my single biggest frustrations in life is that there's not enough time on Earth to read everything I want to read, nor is there enough strength in my eyes or brain. Another problem is that I can't scan books - I'm terrified that if I skip over even a single paragraph I'll miss an important piece of info.
I signed up for a 4 week trial. This should get me closer to my goal to absorb as much information as humanly possible.
[Listening to: Mark Knopfler - Speedway At Nazareth(from Sailing To Philadelphia)]
July 15, 2003
But Why?
My brain is hurting from explaining the universe to a 3 year old. Ever since Christopher turned 3 he's been incessantly asking "Why?" I've explained things down to the sub-atomic level without ending the chain of "whys" and finally resorted to just saying that the sky is pink this evening because there's pink ink in the sky -- but he's not satisified with that answer either. :)
The Capelin Are In
We went to Middle Cove beach last evening with a group from the church. We had a difficult time getting onto the beach because of the traffic jam caused by the number of people coming to catch the swarms of capelin that come in every year around this time. Eventually we got a good parking spot close to the beach entrance and had a great time roasting things and having a sing-along on the beach. We have a group from British Columbia visiting to do some music with different city churches, so they brought along the guitar and fiddle and had the entire beach hopping.
If you aren't familiar with Newfoundland you should come and visit. We'll teach you all about capelin and why our "beaches" don't actually have sand - more like big pebbles. Oh, and nobody actually swims at the beach. And, yes, people do eat these capelin. (There's a bit of capelin information available here.)
Here are a few pictures, including one of Christopher proudly holding a capelin.
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July 14, 2003
Nielsen Says "PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption"
I said on May 28th that I didn't particularly like PDF documents. Jacob Nielsen's latest Alertbox summarizes some of the reasons that resonate with me. Here's his summary:
"Summary:
Users get lost inside PDF files, which are typically big, linear text blobs that are optimized for print and unpleasant to read and navigate online. PDF is good for printing, but that's it. Don't use it for online presentation."
One of my biggest online pet peeves is clicking a link and failing to recognize that it's a link to a PDF file. I use the time that it takes for Acrobat to load inside my browser (and rudely seize all running IE windows) to slap myself several hundred times for being so stupid.
New Wireless Units and Rack
I was doing my usual Music Stop (St. John's) visit on Saturday and spotted a great deal on an Audio Technica ATW-R73 receiver and R73 transmitter pack. They had recently upgraded all their rental wireless units and were selling off the used rental gear. I had my old Audio Technica wireless unit stolen over a year ago and had been reimbursed the cost of the unit, but hadn't yet replaced it. So I picked up two of these for $199.00 CAD each.
They supplied the rack kit and the joiner plate, but no screws for attaching them. After checking at Canadian Tire and Kent for a suitable set of screws (which I knew would be a long shot) I remembered that I had an old Yamaha cassette deck in my basement that I was using for soldering practice (don't ask). I figured it might have some suitable screws that I could scavenge. Bingo!
Anyway, today I bought an SKB Roto Rack 4U rackmount case, mounted the two wireless units and transferred my Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200 compressor to it. Now I have two wireless and two compressor channels ready to roll with the rest of my guitar gear.
All I need now is that Line6 POD Pro rackmount on my wishlist to fill up the remaining 2U spaces.
Dave's Quick Search Deskbar
If you consider yourself a power user, get it.
"Dave's Quick Search Deskbar is a tiny textbox that Dave Bau designed for search hounds with weary mouse-fingers. Unlike the Google Toolbar, this little deskbar lets you launch searches without starting a web browser first, directly from your Windows Explorer Taskbar."
I tried it out a year ago, but didn't take the time to learn enough about it. It probably wasn't as flexible then as well. There is a bit of learning to get up to speed (not much, but a little). Now I find myself using it to launch applications and other stuff that I used to have to do all kinds of mouse-clicking to do. Some examples of aliases that I've configured:
Oh, and the [WindowsKey][S] key combo jumps you to the search bar.
If you have any cool aliases, please share them in the comments below or email or message me. I'm working on a couple of custom searches now - including Canada Post package tracking.
[Listening to: Mark Knopfler - I'm the Fool (from Golden Heart)]
Posting Drought
Looks like I haven't been blogging enough to keep more than one article on the main page - the side bar is doing some odd wrapping. Here's another post to see if I can clean up the look of the index page. :)
[Listening to: Mark Knopfler - Cannibals (from Golden Heart)]
Rest of the World Wakes Up to Windows XP's Quality
From Paul Thurrott's WinInfo site:
A year and a half after Windows XP shipped, the OS is finally getting the respect it deserves. According to the most recent "PC Magazine" annual reader survey, PC service and reliability have improved this year, thanks mostly to XP. "XP has brought consumers the stability of Microsoft's corporate operating systems, Windows NT, and 2000, replacing the relatively volatile Windows 95, 98, and Me," the report reads. "If an OS performs better, so does the hardware it controls ... This year, 44 percent of the [17,000] rated desktop PCs run Windows XP. And the users of Win XP machines are considerably happier with their desktops than respondents running other versions of Windows." The report reveals that XP crashes less often than other Windows versions, too: 37 percent of respondents who use XP have never had a crash, compared with just 7 percent of respondents who use Windows 98. And although OSs such as Linux and Mac OS X got high-reliability grades, too, those OSs are barely used, the report notes: "Fewer than 1 percent of the desktop PCs in the survey are running Linux, and fewer than 2 percent are running Mac OS." As far as XP's quality goes, am I the only person who honestly isn't surprised by this news?
No Paul, you aren't the only one. I've never found Windows to be unstable, but then again I've never had Windows 95, 98, or ME installed on any computer i've owned. I've been using some variation of the NT-kernel-based operating system since 1994, having used Windows NT 3.5, 3.51, 4.0, then Windows 2000 and now Windows XP.
Anyone who complains about Microsoft software and stability has probably only ever used Windows 9x. If I used one of those operating systems I'd probably hate Microsoft with a burning passion too - or at least run Linux as my primary OS (well, I guess the two aren't mutually exclusive).
[Listening to: Mark Knopfler - Je Suis Désolé (from Golden Heart)]
July 01, 2003
What's New - July 1, 2003
I've been a bit slow on the blogging lately. This will likely continue for a while.
Meanwhile, here are a few things that are new with me in the last week or so: