Archive.
Thursday, January 31, 2002 Link
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Since this particular meme hasn't quite died out yet, and I'm pretty sure that a great many of you out there are nearly beside yourselves with ardent curiosity anyway, I'll be right up front and tell you that I'm a lightcycle, baby. End of line.
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 Link
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Well, it appears that I managed to get my entries for the BD4D + Foundation Skate Deck Design Competition submitted just in the nick of time. I'm in the clear, dear. Now what's your excuse?
If you're currently patching together or even considering using different style sheet iterations based on the ilk of browser, this short blurb by Scott Andrew regarding his experience with CSS-only design and Netscape 4.x may be of interest. It certainly started me to rethink a couple of previous site design considerations. Via glish
Tuesday, January 29, 2002 Link
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Live from the Adobe user to user forums, it's a fine selection of InDesign 2.0 user interface quibbles. This just goes to prove that no matter how good a product is, or how positive the reviews are, you can always find something to complain about. Don't you just love being an understanding, rational consumer these days?
Another sunny day, another sunny browser update. This time it's a minor bug fix release for the latest flavour of your friendly, neighborhood iCab.
Monday, January 28, 2002 Link
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Waferbaby is still looking for several hundred capable humanoid life forms to fill in the gaping holes in his massive thousand panel fusion. Hey buddy, don't look at me... I've done my part. Now it's time for you to scoot your mouse around, go clickety-click, and add your name to the roster. Go on now, git!
Sunday, January 27, 2002 Link
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I really need to get around to changing the rest of this site over to CSS. Oy.
Testing. Testing. One, two, three... "You are now a Blogger Pro subscriber. May you use your new powers for good and not evil." Hot diggity damn.
Fark. I normally have nothing but good stories to tell about my ISP. Actually, I have no stories to tell about my ISP, because my DSL connection just works. No complaints. No outages. Therefore, no stories. However, thing are apt to change. Cadvision apparently started upgrading firmware on their primary routers this morning. Not "early before the sun rises so as not to disrupt any user accounts" morning. But "middle of a Sunday when you like to do a bit of recreational surfing" morning. While I certainly appreciate the forthwith scheduling of their system maintenence, perhaps letting their customers know about these sorts of intermittencies ahead of time would be a nice touch. In fact, aren't router upgrades by law supposed to occur in the dead of the night? I'm almost positive it says so in Internet Service Provision for Dummies.
Saturday, January 26, 2002 Link
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Hrm. It appears that Mike has redesigned and gone to great lengths to make himself even harder to reach out and touch. What up wid dat, mon frère?
Friday, January 25, 2002 Link
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Ah yes, it appears that iCab, the odd but lovable out of town cousin from the Mac browser family, has managed to reach version 2.7 and is now available for your downloading pleasure. At first glance, it looks like the update consists mostly cosmetic tidies and interface function tweaks. Indeed, it's probably worth a look see anyway.
A worldly observation, if I may. I just completed the purchase and transfer of a domain name using an American escrow service, from a company based in Russia, that had originally registered the name with a registrar that calls Canada home. It all just makes me feel so... so global.
Thursday, January 24, 2002 Link
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I found it very interesting that a copy of the Adobe InDesign 2.0 upgrade arrived on my doorstep the very same day as Quark finally got around to announcing the availability of their latest software debacle. Mere coincidence or divine intervention? My synapses are all atwitter over the covert marketing possibilities.
This fascinating story about how a stolen iMac was recovered using Timbuktu and AppleScript is making the rounds quite a bit today. If you've already read this, my apologies in advance. I just can't pass up the opportunity to spread the love. I absolutely get knocked on my can when I read about computers and their owners solving problems in bizarre circumstances. Via Mr. Barret
If you can read this, then everything is ok again. Contrary to popular belief, the internet does not necessarily adhere to the principle of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Case in point? My lovingly pieced together software router froze up last night around 2:00 am, and for some stupid reason (on my part, not anyone else's...), it's the only machine that doesn't currently have an automatic reboot system. I'm working on that. Honest. It's my belief that these occasional outages happen for a reason. They're to reminder you that there are other things besides computers and networking and software and digital content to enjoy and fuss over. Now... back to my coffee.
Tuesday, January 22, 2002 Link
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And there you have it. Proving once and for all that these fair wordsmithing talents are not those of some one hit wonder, my latest prosaic donation to the pseudodictionary has been published for all to admire. For those of you who missed it the first time around, here's my previous contribution.
The grantcam is now broadcasting from the new digs. Big whoop, eh?
Monday, January 21, 2002 Link
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I know you were all wondering about this. What on earth did he name his hard drives in his new computer? Well, after much personal deliberation and careful contextual research of pop culture, I settled on Shadrack and Snimm. For those of you who did not hear the bell ring, Shadrack and Snimm are two of the alternative names offered to the homonominal characters in the Dr. Suess classic, Too Many Daves. Shadrack and Snimm. Yep, I like them too. And it appears that I made up a new word for the pseudodictionary while I was at it.
Today is my first official day on the new job. Actually, that's not quite correct. In truth, I've been technically on the job since the beginning of January, but today marks the first day that I've been physically at the job. As in "not working from home" on the job. As in "sitting in an office downtown" on the job. Desk. Computer. Phone. Stapler. All that sort of stuff. I got the walk through of the accepted coffee brewing process. I requested a purchase order for a few sundry reference books. I installed some necessary, yet still evil, office productivity software. I may even be able to start designing something once all of this incidental work is finished. Of course, it is only Monday morning. My schedule may end up taking on a life of its own, despite all good intentions.
Sunday, January 20, 2002 Link
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Have you been sensing an eerie quietness today? Well, it's probably because the mail server has been down since about four o'clock this afternoon. Rest assured that I have contacted the other Grant, and he'll give the box a kick as soon as he returns from wherever the heck he is right now. By the way, there's no point clicking on that previous link. His site is served off the same machine, so it's down for the count as well. On the bright side, I did get around to automating the back ups for this here web server over the weekend. So if any of you discount hostees happen to toast your local hard drive, at least we'll be able to dig up a reasonably fresh-smelling copy of your site. Now I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy... how about you?
Great jumping piles of convoluted file system goodness. Every single day is new adventure with the Qube. Tonight, I finally managed to figure out where Webalizer was depositing all of the daily server statistics. I knew that they had to be somewhere within reach of the web server, but I never imagined that they'd be buried so deep in the mud. Of course, now it's quite obvious to me why the stuff is there and not out in plain view. But you know, a link off the admin pages would have been a nice touch. Jeepers.
Saturday, January 19, 2002 Link
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Damn. Something is just starting to sink in. I now have a real computer to use at the office. I now have licensed copies of the software in need to perform required tasks at the office. I now have a voluminous coffee cup perched cheerfully on the desk at the office. I guess that starting Monday I need to actually go into the office on a regular basis. Damn.
Friday, January 18, 2002 Link
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And yes, Mac OS X is installed by default on my new G4. Look out world.
Craig Linton takes a quick, pointed look at the usability of Mac OS X, specifically targeting aspects of everyone's favorite interface whipping boys, the dock and the window widget. All well and good you might say. But then he gets all crazy and starts into offering viable solutions on making them better. What the hell's gotten into that boy? Apparently, a fine helping of common sense. I especially enjoyed his suggestion on how to make minimized documents more distinctive by tagging them with small, associated application icons. Via myapplemenu
Thursday, January 17, 2002 Link
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As much as I laud Digital Vision for the pixelated chutzpah of their new Infinity series of royalty-free, layered Photoshop-format stock images, their claim that they are the first to offer such a product is just so much balderdash. Back when layers were actually listed as a new feature in Photoshop, the design team that I managed at Image Club created a set of layered images to go with a limited edition, thematically cohesive collection. That was back in 1995. This spunky little product was called Hoopla! Disc and it featured, among other digitized tidbits, clumps of tasty clip art, several personable typefaces, and snippets of inebriated audio - all capturing the flavour of local Calgary artist and friend, Dean Stanton. I'll be the first to choke out the fact that our layered images possessed nowhere near the artistic aplomb or interpretive ferocity that the current Digital Vision products do. But hell, when you're first out the door, it doesn't necessarily matter how your hair looks. I just want to make sure that everyone has their facts straight.
Wednesday, January 16, 2002 Link
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Note to self. The meticulous thinning out of household files disguised as efficient recycling is not necessarily a good thing. In the future, an attempt should be made to keep all canceled cheques for a period of no less than six months. Trust me, it'll just work out better in the long run. People will thank you for your foresight.
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Link
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My apologies for all the confusion, kids. My use of and involvement with Radio UserLand has nothing to do with streaming audio or my capabilities as a disc jockey. Although to be honest, part of me wishes it did have something to do with it.
Need something to do tomorrow morning? Why not trundle off to Menlo Park and attend the public liquidation auction of the once proud Be, Inc.? Maybe you can pick up one of them fancy eVilla kitchen sticky-note holders things. It might look good on the mantle, too. Heck, this could be your last change to nab a pair of genuine BeBoxen to use as bedside tables in the kids room. See for yourself. Here's a partial catalog of the lots going up for sale. See you around Be. It was fun while it lasted.
Monday, January 14, 2002 Link
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Using some sort of automated rubber glove inspection, the Open Relay Database decided to tag the Newted Community server as operating as an open email relay. What does this mean? Unless I can sufficiently close the relay so that the ORDB probe dogs think that everything is hunky dory again, the newted.org, newted.net, and newted.dyndns.org domains get blocked by other mail systems that hook into to the aforementioned database. So what am I doing this evening? I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to apply an unofficial pop-before-smtp-relay patch on a Cobalt Qube with nearly 700 active user accounts. Whee.
Voilà! Mac OS 9: Command-Shift-0 Puts System to Sleep
The more I futz around with InDesign, the more I ask myself: "...why on didn't I start using this ages ago?" Of course, upon listening more closely, the voice inside my head answers the question for me. "It's because you've worked on practically nothing but the freakin' web for the past five years, you doofus..." Oh, and I think I may have actually designed and implemented a reasonably flexible grid for a catalog layout on top of it all. Those who care about this (and you know who you are) will be pleased.
I've been using Radio UserLand for a couple of days now, mainly as a place to post bits of design or Mac-related news that I happen to stumble across. Before using Radio, I would jotted down a quick chicken-scratchy note on a scrap of paper or drag-and-dropped a bookmark to my desktop. Neither of these techniques led to a very efficient method of perusing these sites and articles at a later date. Radio allows me to very quickly save, annotate, and categorize these links. No more scraps of paper lost to the whim of my physical workspace (a very timely concern considering all of the software documentation that has been scattered about of late). And no more vexingly named shortcuts metaphorically littering my metaphorical desktop either. I may eventually add a permanent link to the splorp . radio site if the usefulness continues. There's no sense keeping this all to myself, right? And speaking of news that I happened to stumble across, this little note regarding the performance of Radio UserLand when using classic Mac OS and Internet Explorer explains one of the pains of ownership I've been running into. It also explains why Summary is so sluggish when I crunch server logs locally. It does not explain, however, why typing command-shift-zero puts my Mac to sleep.
Ah, it's the invigorating smell of one's expanding repertoire. With my heart pumping vigorously in my chest, and the excitement building until I could barely stand it, I lunged at the box of software. Within seconds, the package was open, it's contents splayed haphazardly across the entire surface my desk. It's once taut shrink-wrapped membrane laying discarded on the floor. What was the point of this frantic engagement? I'm learning how to use Adobe InDesign this afternoon. Wait a minute, let me rephrase that. I'm unlearning how to use PageMaker this afternoon. And Illustrator, and QuarkXPress, and ClarisWorks, and every other application I've ever used to somehow cobble together a complex multi-page document. It's none too subtle a difference.
Saturday, January 12, 2002 Link
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As if I need another excuse to waste spend time exploring this weblogging thing, I purchased a copy of Radio UserLand 8.0 this afternoon. It's fresh off the truck and chock full of high-fibre, content publishing goodness. And like a great many other weblog-ensconced geeks out there, within seconds of downloading it I was able to create this site. Right now I've got it parked in the driveway while I'm kicking the tires and flipping switches. Later on, perhaps we'll mess around a bit under the hood. Nice job UserLand, you've got yourself a show stopper here.
Before a front page link from the CEOExpress portal started inviting the unsuspecting to my site, I had never experienced the joy of receiving so many comments from visitors that had less to do with spiral logos and more to do with my grammar. What an odd assortment of messages I've had over the past 24 hours. Not that I mind engaging in constructive banter, of course.
Friday, January 11, 2002 Link
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In most cases, I'll admit when I'm wrong. And I'm especially given to admitting that I'm wrong when the evidence outweighs my ability to obscure the details. Case in point, friend Ian shook a metaphorical finger and conveyed that today, the 11th of January, is not HAL's birthday. The twelfth day of January is. Had a bother to refer to one of my several copies of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I could have confirmed that particular mundanity. But no, a rather ill-timed brain fluff had me convinced otherwise. Regardless, my previous post has been edited for accuracy and an aversion to public humiliation. I would now like to address another issue that Ian brought to light, that being Hal's age. Ian insisted that Hal would be turning nine years old this year, not five as previously mentioned. I still hold fast to the latter, with the following excerpt from this historic press release:
"All HAL fans should note that the movie version of "2001: A Space Odyssey" says that HAL was born January 12, 1992. Clarke's original novel says January 12, 1997 however. Clarke comments that this discrepancy "may have been a fluff by one of the actors." It also would be illogical, he says, to use a 10 year old computer made in 1992 for a major space mission in 2001. But Kubrick may have changed the date from Clarke's novel so HAL's death at the end of the film would be considered more poignant."
Well, whatever. I would like to think that Mr Clarke probably has the best grip on the details of the story, but then again we are talking Kubrick here. Happy birthday HAL, wherever you are and whenever you were.
Today is January 11th. Tomorrow is HAL's fifth birthday. We should maybe have cake.
Thursday, January 10, 2002 Link
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Hello? Does anyone know what happened to Luke Tymowski's QubeQuorner site?
After deftly clearing off just enough room on the old carte de plastique, I placed an order for the Mac system that I'll be using at my new gig. And yes, if you really must know, it's a decked out quicksilver G4 tower with dual 60 GB drives and a Cinema Display. Poor me. At least that's what I'm assuming will arrive at the office within the next week or so. On Apple's order status page, I noticed that the graphics pertaining to both the "Being Assembled" and the "Being Prepped For Shipment" stages still feature an old school PowerMac G3 tower - not the aforementioned streamlined beauty. For a company that is as consumed with the design and presentation of their products as Apple is, you'd think they might have noticed of this bit of visual incongruity by now.
Microwhoring. Joe Clark grabs the concept of the text-based ad by the valve stem and proceeds to let out what little air is left in the tires of simple, unobtrusive advertising. One again, he's probably right.
Wednesday, January 09, 2002 Link
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No new features. No changes to the user interface. No tweaks to the ECMAScript parser. No additional plug-in support. But what the hell, there's still enough bug fixes under the hood to keep everybody happy. Why? Because Opera 5.0 for classic Mac OS has gone final. Yes, it still renders type smaller than it probably should, but there's apparently a good reason for that. Via dangerousmeta
Tuesday, January 08, 2002 Link
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What is the deal with "MacOS Peter's Server"? The deal is, don't start mucking about with this configuration string if you want your Mac-using clients to be able to connect to your FTP server. That's what the deal is.
Ok, now you've piqued my curiosity. Amid the regular suspects proffering their wares of university diplomas, free cell phones, and various methodologies for "great growth potential", I received a peculiar unsolicited missive from a site called puppyni.com. I have to admit that I had never experienced a spam pitch involving puppies before, especially Korean puppies. In fact, Korean puppies that according to the Babelfish translation of the home page are only sold in lots. Bulk puppy sales. Now you can understand why I needed to share this before I reported it to SpamCop and summarily clicked delete. Good gravy.
Monday, January 07, 2002 Link
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For some time now, my wife and I have been noticing that on a regular basis, all of the water gets dumped out of the dispenser in our budgie cage. The dispenser didn't appear to leaking and there is really only one correct way to mount the thing on the cage, so we were at a loss for an answer. Perhaps our two precocious budgerigars were filling up their water pistols during particular late night escapades. Hmmm. Or maybe the inherent exuberance found in the melopsittacus undulatus species simply got the best of them, right in the middle of a routine thirst-quenching session. Nope, that wasn't it at all. Apparently, one of the birds tends to fall asleep on the perch right next to the dispenser. His feathers dip into the open tray of water and then act as a wick, thus siphoning all of the water out of said dispenser, across the feathers, most likely down his leg, and onto the floor of the cage. Ah, the wonders of practical fluid mechanics in action.
Enough of this already. Can we get back to work now, please?
Sunday, January 06, 2002 Link
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For goodness sake, all I'm looking for is a simple rack-mountable (read: something that's 1U in height and fits into a standard 19 inch wide equipment rack...), electronic (read: doesn't rely on some huge mechanical knob that looks like it came off a vintage Heathkit amplifier...) KVM switch (read: like magic the keyboard, video, and mouse signals all change at the same time, at the push of a button...) that accepts ADB (read: old school, baby...) peripherals. Is that really too much to ask for?
Saturday, January 05, 2002 Link
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Oops, sorry. I meant that this is the real iPad.
Amid the current storm of wild speculation, unfounded rumours, and questionable sources, Andreas Lindkvist, who just happens to be one of my fave Swedish pixel fiddlers and a Newton user to boot, presents the real iPad. Now we're talking consumer.
Damn. This has got to be one of the best product ideas I've seen in ages. The most appropriately named 5inch sells marvelicious preprinted CDR media in dozens of designs that don't completely suck. They also stock a tasteful assortment of tees, cases, and other recordable related tchotchkes, but the disc designs are what really wipe my windshield. As is well figured, this tidy little enterprise escaped over the fence from the brainfarm at Segura Inc., so that pretty much explains everything other than the fact that I had never heard of this site before. Damn.
Friday, January 04, 2002 Link
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Brilliant. Using an eight track tape as an anti-theft device.
It seems that everyone and their respective canine companion is getting into the act. Now that I think about it, it's no big headline that even old boy Dave Winer has waded hip deep into the prediction quicksand and is placing his bets on the possibility of Apple announcing something similar to the iDock. I like the wireless angle, and it's not really that much of a stretch. Now, on the other hand, some of Damien's thoughts on the subject are beginning to push more meat out of the envelope.
Thursday, January 03, 2002 Link
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I'm absolutely certain that I had lots to say, I just need to remember what it was. Althought I'm pretty darn sure it had nothing to do with all the current hype. Yeesh.
Tuesday, January 01, 2002 Link
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Just in case you couldn't quite extract the gist of the site from the name alone, XThemination has a lovely bunch of alternate themes for Mac OS X. Of course, the existence of this site isn't meant to imply that anyone is actually getting tired of Aqua. It's simply a free public service, right?
Well, hello there. So, what's new with you?
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