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blogchalk, 7-11

blogChalking is a neat idea. Of course syndic8 had their meta-data thingy for location long ago… I wish the syndic8 way of doing things caught on, as it would probably open up more possibilities in the future… oh well… here it goes (with appropriate tweaks): Google! DayPop! Etc! This is my blogchalk: English, Perl, United States, Wisconsin, Oconomowoc, Fowler Park!

It’s Big Gulp Day! Do you know why?

I started to draw up plans for the MacKiosk, I’m a little worried about portability and the size/weight aspects of it. Ah, no one said designing and building a kiosk would be easy…

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Web standards and browsers, MacKiosk

In A few valid points, they ask if developers really do develop for Windows/IE only. I can say that yes, they do. The lazy developers, and the ones that just don’t care about the web. I’ve worked with a company where the head cheese said that they should develop everything for Windows/IE since that is what most people used. I pointed out that he was doing work for a publishing company with many Macs, and many users who did not use IE. He didn’t get it. One of his employess wrote code, tested it on Windows/IE and declared it good to go. I then would test it under Netscape, Mozilla, etc. on the Mac, and on Windows, and find the problems. Argh… It’s lazy people who don’t care about the web who are ruining it for the rest of us…

Oh, as for me, I use Mozilla 98% of the time nowadays. I happen to like it very much. I like it better than IE without a doubt. One of the IS guys at work was amazed at the control Mozilla gave him when he first started using it. I’m sure most other IE users would feel the same.

I’ve been working on my MacKiosk thing. It’s an Apple Workgroup Server 80 that will be used for slide shows of digital photos, and possibly as a CD player (sorry, no MP3’s on this box) as well. I think I’ve got the software figured out, and I might build some sort of case for it. I hope to have it ready to go in the next two weeks. More details to come… Want more? try Finding New Uses For Old Macs, or if you have a business, there’s other uses

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July 4th Activities

Whew, well, the last week has been chaotic. We spent July 4th at Naga-Waukee Park on Nagawicka Lake, and I spent most of that time on a boat, getting terribly sunburned, attempting to waterski, and being flung off of an innertube at high speeds. Yes, we have some photos… We had visitors from Michigan there, my female’s half-brother and half-sister, and all of their kids. I’ve never met them, and the female hasn’t seen them in more than 10 years. It was a nice reunion thing. It’s a shame we can’t see them more often.

Anyway, as stated, I burned myself beyond any sunburn I can remember getting. My arms are still sore. I did put on sunscreen, but I think once I hit the water and got dragged behind the boat, it wore off… My advice to you is: wear sunscreen, and re-apply it frequently. Especially if you sit in an office 95% of the summer…

After we beat the heck out of ourselves on the lake, we headed out to Hartford for the fireworks. I looked for the dork but had no luck. I attempted to take photos of the fireworks, as did Emma…

We also saw a (small) parade near our house Saturday. I got photos of that too of course…

And if that wasn’t enough, I took the kids to Bender Beach yesterday. I kept expecting a robot to sneak up behind me and say “Bite my shiny metal ass!” but it didn’t happen…

P.S. Open source software is good…

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Robots, Giants, punkrock, Gallery

We watched (part of) The Iron Giant last night. It was cool. The funny thing is, I had heard it was good (I know Kottke is a fan) and every time we went to the place where you rent movies (that I won’t name) I’d suggest to Emma that we get it. She always said no, thinking I was trying to trick her or something. Ha! She loved it…

I just wanted to warn you that I will be discussing Robot Monster soon…

Speaking of Emma, as proud as I am for her loving Star Wars (Maddy loves it too) I was almost over the top of the proudness scale when we were driving last week and she started to sing along with a Common Rider song. If you know me, and you know about Common Rider, you probably understand…

Do you see a section on the side of this page titled ‘imagery’? It used to just be random little images I’d put there. Now it’s a random photo from the RasterGallery! on each reload. Some 30 odd lines of perl is involved. Perhaps I’ll throw it in src later…

Now it’s time for a special message: Happy Birthday Mom!

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Dead PC… again, More photos, Zim

Well, when I came into the office today it seems my Windows box had died again. It last died in May 2001, so next time someone tells you that Windows PC’s are cheaper than Macs, remind them how reliable they are. Oh, in related news, the Apple Workgroup Server 80 (which is more than 7 years old) is doing fine running Mac OS 8.1 now, and Moto is now the kids’ game machine at home.

Mark hits home run today in advising people to not open new browser windows, but should have gone a step further, noting how this functionality is built into almost every modern day browser… (I’ve mentioned this before – how many times?)

I had forgotten what an incredible show Invader Zim was, I remember hearing a while back that it had been cancelled, but was quite happy to see on Friday night. (I’m still not sure if it’s officially cancelled or returning…) Gir seems to have some good stuff… If you need some sound files look here… If you just want to search Google for Invader Zim, that’s a good idea too…

We took the girls to see Lilo and Stitch Saturday. I was all set to not like it, since it’s a Disney film, and I don’t like Disney for various reasons… Anyway, it was pretty cool, I mean, if you’re a kid and all… It’s got aliens in it, so that helped quite a bit. Still, it’s no Pixar masterpiece… (No link? Like I said, I don’t care for Disney…)

More Gallery goodness…