|
 
|
Tuesday, July 31, 2001Shifting Sands@ 12 am | PermaLinkI've got all of my HTML content over to the new web site: http://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/~rosso/ and now I'm trying to get the cgi scripts working as well. I'm working away at all this, and then I get a note that all the cgi access at bad-seed.org is going away. Bah! Dammit, this has been a busy couple of weeks. Oh and did I mention that the 2nd row tickets at the gorge actually turned out to be *against the barrier* seats in front of Martin?
Friday, July 27, 2001Happy Mode Day!@ 02 pm | PermaLinkConcert today, yay! Mode today, yay! No more v2 today, yay! Now maybe I can get back on track with my work-life.
Wednesday, July 25, 2001Arriving at the AirPort@ 10 am | PermaLinkAfter Amy got a new desk and we got a new bookshelf, I splurged and got an Apple AirPort Base Station. I've got it all hooked up pretty well and now I don't have to use my G3 as the full time router. The strangest thing right now is that I'm not using the Wireless capabilities at all, I'm simply using it as a router with a modem. Later on we can use it as a router with an ethernet jack for DSL or cable modem. The whole wireless aspect is a bit moot right now, as Amy is the only one with a laptop and it rarely moves from her desk as it is. The Airport card for her Powerbook is $99 and I can get a Wireless PC Card/PCI Adapter for the G3. Then all the blue CAT-5 cables lying around can be rolled up and stored away and the router can be tucked away in a corner. I've noted a real theme in my purchases recently: Wireless router, Wireless VidCam, and a pair of Wireless 2-way Radio communicators. However, it should be noted that the 2-ways were on sale at GI Joes for $30, and came with a $20 rebate... How could I pass that up? Oh and Amy mentioned that she wants a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. I think I know just the one to get. Maybe we'll have to get two.
Sunday, July 22, 2001FPO is Down for a while@ 10 am | PermaLinkUntil I make alternate arrangements, For Placement Only will be offline for a while. Previously, that same day...Great Article on Home Network Connections@ 10 am | PermaLinkTidBITS just ran this great article on things to do when you have a personal dedicated net connection for your home. The second article at the bottom of the page goes into great detail regarding backup plans that are geared toward personal connections that need to have backup plans. Great stuff. Oh, and HomeGrocer might return... Previously, that same day...WebCam@ 01 am | PermaLinkBought more batteries. WebCam is back for a bit, but I still need to figure a few things out before it's full time. Number one is getting a way to have a nine volt battery be replaced with an AC adapter that I can plug into the wall. Any suggestions? Let me know.
Friday, July 20, 2001Incredibly Frightening Thought@ 10 am | PermaLinkHere's something to scare you. This seriously freaks me out just thinking about it... Imagine a headline that reads: "Microsoft buys Verisign/Network Solutions" Previously, that same day...FPO is Down@ 07 am | PermaLinkMy main personal Web site, For Placement Only, is down. Gone? Maybe. Though really, I deserve it. The account was bound to disappear sometime. It was given to me by a friend a few years ago, but it was sold and traded to a few different hands since then. Now the machne that it was on is gone, or at least, not responding to pings and traceroutes don't even get into the organiation's LAN. So it takes down the Wiki, and my Web Tools sections and my Web Dev articles and such. I only upload things that I've worked on locally, so I can reconstruct the site, but it's a pain in the ass, to be sure. I might have to break down and actually buy some space on a server. Damn, and just when I had so many cool things coming online... Previously, that same day...Pager Notes Collection #1@ 07 am | PermaLinkOther things for my pager to be able to do: get URL, send Lynx rendering. (p) Motion is dissonance. (p) My hypocrisy amazes me. (p)I'm having a drink with the guy I replaced. We'll see how it goes. [...] It actually went pretty well. I'm pleased, and it was a good thing. (p) http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~moose/sigs.html Mmmmm... Blueberries...
Thursday, July 19, 2001Flying My Time Machine@ 12 pm | PermaLinkI feel like I'm hurtling through this week without a single point to stop and catch my breath. I'm helping out with WebVisions, going to developers' group meetings, and playing with a new toy. Ah yes the new toy. It's a Wireless Cam. Imagine your ordinary Lo-rez web cam, except with a wireless transmitter. It's powered by a 9 volt battery, so you can put it anywhere you want and get a web cam set up. The cam is available online for $80 (it's a 'C Video Camera' from TrendMasters. (I would link to their site, but it sucks.)) However, the Software Etc. over at Clackamas Town Center has them for $30. Like I said, they're low rez, but for a toy to play with, it's very cool. Good thing Bob loaned me an old ATI video card that has an RCA Video In that can bring in the signal. Thanks Bob! Yes I will try to set up a WebCam, but the modem connection is only good for intermittent access, not a dedicated video feed.
Sunday, July 15, 2001Stable Wiki@ 07 pm | PermaLinkI've uploaded and configured a new set of Wiki software to use as the discussion board for Dwelling. This should be the last revision. The new system doens't use a central database, it actually uses a bunch of pseudo-pages in a directory. It's pretty slick and as robust as a file system, which is a good thing. As well, it uses a template based display system, so I can make modifications to the layout of *all* of the pages without having to encode each page in perl. I think "Read and write comments" doesn't really work all that well as a link name. I think I'll change it to simply "Discussion Board". Previously, that same day...eHomeLife Stores@ 10 am | PermaLinkFirst, you should know that Amy and I found a great store the other weekend, which had a desk that we both liked, but that Amy felt was more my style. The store is Home Life, which turns out to be a spin off from Sears, whoduthunk? So we decide to think about the desk before getting it. Then I read this article at the Business Journal: HomeLife Furniture closes doors. They shut down immediately! We can't get the desk, though the site says they might liquidate the inventory of each store. A little more research finds this article: What It's Like to Work at . . . HomeLife Furniture. Turns out that they were a Win2k shop thru and thru... Now I'm not one to jump to conclusions, but...
Thursday, July 12, 2001Focus, Focus, Focus@ 04 pm | PermaLinkSometimes it becomes truely difficult to get and stay focused on a project, or a set of projects. I need to stop, take a deep breath, write down everything that I have to do and then tackle them. It matters less that I tackle them in some particular order than it matters that I get to them at all. Breathe. Breathe deeply.
Wednesday, July 11, 2001Three flows of RSS@ 10 pm | PermaLinkI've taken the work that I did a couple days ago and brought it up to date. One of the issues I was having troubles with was the fact that the flow format (RSS .9) was more outdated than I remembered. I've now got three total channels: a .9 version, a .91 version and a .92 version. They don't differ much, but they all validate correctly. Now, perhaps, my.userland.com's channel number 55 will rise again! Oh and I got a start on the docs for the Greymatter HOWTO for RSS. To be published later.
Monday, July 9, 2001The Holy Grail of Blogging@ 10 pm | PermaLinkI'm almost there, in fact I'm just over the biggest hurdle. Blogging via e-mail. I've got the e-mail pick up system working, cron job and all. It can grab mail out of a remote POP3 account and store it in a local text file. Now I've just got to have it strip out the headers and any sigs. Then, toss them into the journaling script. This, combined with wireless e-mail from my two-way pager will allow my to babble on at short lengths anytime the thought hits me. This ought to be much less than terribly uninteresting to many of you!
It's interesting, I finally got the RSS feed working for Dwelling again. I used to have the feed flowing for a lot of sites when I was still using my custom-built journal script. Now I'm limited to simply displaying the current and the next oldest entry, but I've added a full link to the archives, and the syndication system is fully automated, something I never got around to with my old version. The new feed is much more smooth, and i can eventually share it with the other Greymatter users. Just gotta write up some docs, I guess.
Sunday, July 8, 2001Ten Dollars@ 05 pm | PermaLinkAlexander Hamilton really got it good this time 'round. Take a look at the $10 bill. The new one, not the old one. That's a really great portrait. I'm not saying that he looked like that, I'm just saying that if my face was on a greenback, I'd want it to look at least as good as his. Previously, that same day...The LAN also Rises@ 04 pm | PermaLinkPerhaps, the LAN before time... or more appropo: Stranger in a Strange LAN The Ethernet hub that I bought for $30 a few weeks ago is starting to actually be used now. Just minutes ago, I started everything up: My G3, Amy's PBG4, and her old Performa 6400. All of them are at this moment connected through the Local Area Network to the net. It wasn't too difficult, though I know I'm walking more of a tightrope here than building a real bridge. Each of the two client machines (the 6400 and the PB) are getting their packets through the modem in my G3. I'm using Sustainable Softworks IPNetRouter to toss around all the packets. I'm no network wonk, so 90% of the options in IPNetRouter are nearly greek to me, leaving me to have to suffice with the autoconfig utility, which worked flawlessly, really. As nice as it is, I'd rather have a more complete grasp of what I'm doing. But for now, I don't need to. Of course there are some problems with this as a long term solution, but for the short term, I'm going to bask in the glory of a mixed 10/100-base T ethernet LAN that has shared 56k Internet access. Kinda rolls off the tongue real nice, eh?
Friday, July 6, 2001XHTML Thoughts@ 02 pm | PermaLinkGot this e-mail today and thought it would make an interesting topic here. RH wrote: What is your take on XHTML? From the stuff I've read, XHTML is a good idea when more browsers support it. Someone today ought to develop to HTML 4.01, especially if you rely on the WYSIWYG tools for HTML authoring. Is this true? I suppose there are tools that would allow you to develop in XHTML and convert it to CSS and HTML 4.01? The vast majority of XHTML is backwards compatible with HTML4. It simply has some minor tweaks that older browsers won't really recognize. Webreview has had some great article. Search their site for XHTML, and be sure to read: http://www.webreview.com/2001/03_02/designers/index01a.shtml The question isn't one of "is now the right time to deploy XHTML," because that question's basically moot. Nearly all browsers can support XHTML. The real question is what does XHTML provide in terms of value from the development side of things, or the user side of things. That's a whole different question. RH: If I understand what you are saying, about the relationship between browser and specification, then the browser is a better target to "develop to" rather than developing to a particular specification. A question of HTML 4. vs XHTML 1 is more a question of what your application is, your client needs, development environment needs, etc. Is this a true statement in your opinion? Close, but what I'm really getting at is not a choice between standards and environment, but between two different standards. By all means, code to the standard, whether it's XHTML 1.0, HTML 4.0 or HTML 3.2 all of which are viable standards at this point. (Hell I'd even go with HTML2.0 if I thought the need was there.) I wouldn't try to code to the browsers. Browsers are a moving target. Unless you like redeveloping your site (or at least your JavaScript and CSS) every 6 to 12 months, stick with the standards, because that's what the newer browsers will support. In this way, you're building for the browsers to support you, rather than the other way around. Is this choice of coding to a standard, not the environment a hard and fast rule? Of course not. You do have to be cognizant of the the users' browsers. But don't let the browser lead you, because you will always be playing catch-up.
Thursday, July 5, 2001WikiRestart@ 11 pm | PermaLinkI had to reset the Wiki. It's now a clean, blank slate. I'm guessing that something went wrong with the Database. I've got an idea for a work around, but for now it's just easier to wipe it clean. Everyone should still feel that it's okay to post and read and write on the Wiki.
Tuesday, July 3, 2001Sox@ 10 pm | PermaLinkI must have more socks than one person is legally allowed to own.
Sunday, July 1, 2001Notice@ 03 pm | PermaLinkJust a note to David Douglas High School: Make sure you know what you're saying when your sign says: DD
Cheerleaders carwash! Someone who doesn't know that DD stands for David Douglas HS might get the wrong, if amusing, impression.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
July 2001
|
Part of the OrderSomewhereChaos family of sites
|
|
