I beg of you, name the freakin’ thing Atom so we can get on with it!

I mean really… come on!

Unless you live in California, you can’t vote in the recall election. If there is one. I think they have to vote on that. (And besides, Asa isn’t running.)

And if you think voting for the next President of the United States will have some effect on things, well, ok, I guess you can believe that…

But right here, in our midst, is a way for you to voice your opinion, and have it heard! Yes people, it’s time for NameFinalVote!

RSS enclosures in AmphetaDesk? Sure, why not… It doesn’t actually do an automagical download when you sleep, but I don’t really need that feature anyway. What it does do is display the enclosure link along with the description, allowing you to get the enclosure easily. About 15 minutes of early morning hacking produces a new version of the minigr skin for AmphetaDesk. (See screenshot)

My co-worker (who is forced to worship at the alter of Microsoft and support Windows servers) alerted me to the fact that Windows counts it’s uptime in seconds. Meaning that while my Linux box tells me something like this: up 27 days. A Windows box, were it able to stay up more than a day, would display something like: The system uptime is 86400 seconds. He thinks this is because Microsoft doesn’t expect their boxes to be up more than a few minutes anyway…

But just in case you actually manage to keep your Windows box up and running for more than a few minutes, and don’t want to have to use the Event Viewer just to see the uptime, you can try this perl script: uptime.pl

All kidding aside, I do manage to keep my Windows box running for days at a time, and once a week I reboot it when I get sick of seeing system error dialogs…

How freaking useful? The List-o-matic creates and formats menus using valid HTML and CSS.

It’s a must see tool.

And it’s proof that ASP isn’t completely useless!

WaiZilla is a way cool project:

WaiZilla will hopefully be an Open Source implementation of an accessibility validation tool. Open source meaning it doesn’t cost 99 dollars.

The project is underway using XUL for its implementation meaning that it will work on Windows, Linux and Mac with no alteration.

More info at the WaiZilla blog, until waizilla.com is functional…

I still don’t understand how some people choose to do web development with IE… Testing? Sure, but development?

It’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy

If you’re a CLI junkie using Mac OS X, do yourself a favor and quit using Terminal.app. Replace it with iTerm! iTerm 0.7.7 was recently released. Tabbed terminals, my friends… it’s the only way to command!

If you consume milk, this should frighten you, Sour Grapes Over Milk Labeling touches on what is done to many dairy cows. Even the ones who are not given shots of some mad-scientist created hormones are routinely injected with drugs, and fed a diet of crap. Cows that produce organic milk are fed only organic food, and graze on land that has not been treated with chemicals. If given the choice, would you drink the milk, or eat the meat from a cow that was raised on chemically laden food, and is routinely shot full of drugs, or would you prefer the goods from a cow that was treated well, and raised free of such abuse?

Personally, we get only organic milk, often right from the farm. The farm thing isn’t an option for everyone, but you can find organic milk in a number of stores. (Someday, when you own a share of a cow, getting good milk will be easier.)

Farmer Bunting is hopeful though:

Meanwhile, Bunting believes the way to remain a dairy farmer and keep his sanity as well as the family farm is to sell milk products like yogurt and curd directly to customers rather than through stores. He will soon apply for a license from the state to do so.

“The price of milk is so ridiculously low you simply can’t wholesale your milk,” he said.

If Farmer Bunting were an organic farmer, I’d wish him luck. I know some states make getting a license difficult for the organic farmers because they want the milk to go through the government machine known as ‘processing’ so they can see some of the profits…

(Note: There’s a chance that I’m not 100% correct on all of this. Usually I am, but I thought I should add a disclaimer this time…)

A quick followup to Spam King: Julius Caeser. Reader Jonathan Louie suggests that the unrelated text might be in there to throw off Bayesian email filters. though he doesn’t think that the strategy will work, based on what he knows of Bayesian filters…

In case you were wondering, I’d suggest that In the Beginning: A video on Weblogs History be retitled to “In the Beginning: A video on Blogger History” as it seems to suggest that the fine folks at Blogger somehow invented weblogging.

While Blogger helped popularize weblogging/blogging. I don’t think they invented it. Don’t worry, I take the same view of Apple. I’m fully aware they did not invent GUI computing, but they certainly popularized it.

(And people wonder why Dave freaks out so often…)

Remember when I saw something strange in the plain text of an HTML email message? Sure you do… It’s happened again.

When viewing the message as HTML, it’s some crap about mortgage rates, but when viewed as plain text, you get this little bit from free papers on Julius Caeser:

Caesar knew that the Republicans believed rumours about him wanting the throne.19 He also realised the dislike of them towards him: “How can I doubt that I am heartedly disliked, when Cicero sits waiting and cannot visit me at his convenience? Yet if ever there was a good natured man, it was he… I am perfectly sure that he detests me.” 20 In order to dispel the rumours…

It’s as if people who don’t use HMTL email are being discriminated against. I mean, what if I want to fire my boss, or want some enlarged body part(s)? I’ll never even be given the opportunity. Instead I have to learn something educational about P.T. Barnum, or Julius Caeser. Sheesh!

A small update to the minigr skin for AmphetaDesk. Changed a link, and added 1/2 a line of code, which is really pure hackery, and will be fixed up properly when the next version comes out. (Right Morbus?)

As for my request about IM clients, I’ve been told to look at Proteus and Miranda. (Proteus is for Mac OS X, and Miranda is for Windows.)

I should have mentioned this the other day, in the same place I mentioned TexEdit. There’s an app called Text Reader. What does it do? Well, you open a text file, and it can read it aloud, or save it to an AIFF file. (Saving to an MP3 might happen in the future.) There’s AppleScript ways to do similar things, but this is a bit easier for most people.

Now, onto what I need. I need a command line application that can convert AIFF files to MP3 files, without the presence of QuickTime Pro. I’m sure there’s some open-source app out there that’ll do this and will compile on OS X right? If you know, please let me know.

In a certain workgroup I happen to be involved in, we’ve implemented IM using AIM. So while I personally would like to see our own Jabber server implemented (you know, security, control, and what not) for now AIM will do. The presence part of IM is something I find very interesting…

On to clients! For Mac OS X I use Fire, but for you poor Windows bastards there’s always Trillian. I’ve not personally used any version of Trillian, but I’ve heard a few people say that Trillian Pro is quite good. As for my own Windows box, I thought I’d try out Gaim. Gaim has a Windows port, which includes the GTK+bits, so it’s not a difficult install, and the features seem fine. (Again, I’m not an IM guru, so don’t take my opinion too strongly.) Gaim will do fine for those rare times when my Mac is unavailable.

Are there any other AIM/IM clients for Windows I should check out? (Open-source is preferred) Let me know…

Next on the to do list: perl aimbots

I missed the most recent Tea event, which is not surprising, since I live 1/2 way across the country from the normal Tea meeting place. While I’m most famous as the inventor of TML (the Tea Markup Language) few people know that I’m also working on the Tea::Reader module for Perl, as well as mod_tea for Apache, and some time next year plan to release Teanux, a version of Linux aimed at people who attend the Tea events… (Note that I have no affiliation with the Tea Scripting Language.)

Oh, how I wish it worked with Mac OS X… The Plusdeck PC Audio Deck, that is. See, years ago I would make tapes using my Mac and TexEdit, which had the ability to read aloud text files. I’d make tapes for the car, and listen while driving to and from work. Nowadays things are a little different, but I still make tapes (less frequently) but now they might include MP3’s. Heck, there’s even apps out there that will convert text files to MP3’s, so it’s gotten better over the years.

Still, just like 1980, I’m forced to execute some command on a computer, while fiddling with a tape deck connected by some cables… Sure my G4 is a bit faster than my old Apple ][+, but the basic concept hasn’t changed much. I’ve had the idea of jamming a cassette deck in a drive slot for years now, so it’s cool to see someone has finally done it.

Now as soon as someone makes it work in a Mac (at an affordable price) I’ll be positively giddy…

Over at Adobe Studio’s System Requirements page they say:

Need to update your browser?

Get Internet Explorer update

Get Netscape Navigator update

And then provide a link so you can download Netscape 4.x because, you know, downloading a version of a browser that’s closing in on it’s sixth birthday is somehow updating your browser.

If you’re using one of those fancy operating systems like Mac OS 10.1 (or higher) they suggest using Internet Explorer 5.1, an old version of a browser that they stopped development of recently…

Of course since they also say:

Adobe Studio assumes full-screen browser use on a 1024×768 display with 16-bit and above color depth. It is also assumed that JavaScript is turned on and that cookies are enabled. A persistent Internet connection, such as DSL, cable modem, or T1 line, is recommended.

Those are a lot of assumptions… So draw your own conclusions about their recommendations… Maybe we shouldn’t worry, perhaps the all-new Adobe Studio Web Site will address all of these issues. (I certainly hope so.)

Well, I did my part. I thought I should help out my dad, provide him with a web browser that was more standards compliant, more powerful, had less bugs, and less security holes. So the other day we installed Firebird, so that he can use that instead of MSIE if he so desires. The number one feature to discuss was pop-up blocking. We also covered tabbed browsing briefly, as well as going over bookmarks and a quick run through the preferences.

My uncle then said he had some computer problem, a pop-up that just wouldn’t go away. I wrote http://mozilla.org/ on a scrap of paper for him with some simple instructions to download and install Firebird.

For the next family gathering, I should just bring along a few CD’s with the most recent Firebird release on them. (I did give a CD to my dad, which included Thunderbird… maybe next time we’ll get into that.)

I was in Maryland most of the week… here’s what I got from it…

I flew out to Maryland. This was my first time flying since that whole September 11th thing, so I never got to deal with the security stuff before. This is what I learned. Metal is bad. Don’t carry metal. I had to remove my shoes, just to be safe. Next time I’m wearing the All Stars. Since the security guy told me I have a “military style” belt, I’m better off taking that off too. (In case you’re wondering, I got my “military style” belt at the GAP.) All in all the flight went well, and while people told me I’d get a fresh baked cookie, I actually got a “snack” that seemed to consist mainly of hydrogenated oils with some almonds, raisins, and cereal bits mixed in. I deposited it into a trashcan later on.

My destination was College Park, fittingly, it’s a college town, though the part I saw didn’t seem to be. I did manage to walk to MOM’s (My Organic Market) to load up on food that wasn’t full of hydrogenated oils, so that was good. Crossing Route 1 is not a simple task though, College Park is not a walking-friendly place. Even worse was when I tried to walk to IKEA. My rationale was this, I can see IKEA from the hotel, I can certainly walk there. I should have paid attention to my previous lesson, College Park is not a walking-friendly place. Still, I’m an adventurer, I’m an explorer, onward! 15 seconds into my walk, it started to rain. 30 seconds into my walk I was soaked, still I pressed on. I managed to cross on street, and ended up near Home Depot. Well, it was Home Depot, but there were two other gigantic stores attached to it. I had to walk around all three of them. I then found myself trapped behind Home Depot, and faced a very long walk to get around a fence. I choose the alternative, going over the fence… and into the thorny bushes. I was wearning shorts. I was also still soaking wet. Finally I made it to IKEA. I managed to get lost in IKEA, but eventually found the way out. And after all that, I still managed to convince myself that walking to MOM’s again would be a good idea. (Clif Bars were on sale!) I should have called Mr. Genehack and asked for a ride, but I’m stupid. What have we learned? It ain’t easy being organic.

I also went to Tea at Franklin’s as the guest of CarlaZone’s proprietor. There is no tea at Tea. There are interesting people at Tea. There’s a guy who works for… well, I can’t tell you. What does he do? He can’t tell us. Crazy stuff… If you’re intested in Tea, you can read more about Tea. I drank too much soda at Tea and it made my poor non-soda stomach hurt too much the next day. As we’ve already learned… It ain’t easy being organic.

The flight back was not very exciting, except that I swear that I saw a man on the wing of the plane!!!

I got to sit through a presentation the other day. You know, those things produced in PowerPoint. (Well, most people use PowerPoint, sadly…) Anyway, as I got to thinking about all of the PowerPoint presentations I’ve seen over the years, I realized, they always appear to use the standard rectangular format, using all of the width and height of the slide, nothing more that a replica of a piece of horizonal paper glued to the wall. Hasn’t anyone ever created a presentation designed around a square slide, or perhaps a circle or oval, or for some real credibility, in letterbox format?

Just think how impressed you’d be when a guest sets up their laptop, projector, and starts telling you all about their great solutions while staring at slides in wide screen. Wow… I can’t wait!

Sure, the Harleys came to town, as you may have heard. And yes, we saw many of these Harley Davidson motorbikes and the people who ride upon them. They invaded the state. It didn’t bother me too much really, we even watched the parade that started in Bullfrog Junction and ended near our house. And while the Elton thing was amusing, what we saw on Sunday might have been the highlight. We saw two guys riding together on a Harley. I know what you’re thinking, but the guy on the back was definitely not gay. I know this for sure. How do I know this? Because on the back of his t-shirt he taped a sign that said “I’m not gay. I got hit by a car.” And sure enough, he seemed to have some sort of bandages on his arms, and one arm seemed twisted as he held onto the back fender, though this might have just been so he didn’t have to put his arm around his “buddy” as is common when two people ride a motorcycle together. So as we’re driving and discussing this non-gay fellow, we notice the odd haircut he has, sort of shaved in a weird fashion, and then we notice the big scar on his head. Presumably from the accident where the car hit him, and probably totalled his own Harley. Proof he was not-gay. So the next time you see someone you think might be gay, check to see if there is a scar on their head, or ask them if they got hit by a car…

Phil Ringnalda discovers the D.I.Y. spirit of 1980’s Punk Rock…