A few things.
First, if you’re using IE on Windows XP, download this update and install it immediately. Tell all of your friends. Now. I mean it. If I catch any one of you using an old version of IE on Windows XP, only God will be able to save you.
Second, kiss Firefox on Windows bye bye. There is no reason to use Firefox on Windows XP if you can get a (mostly) standards compliant browser that also supports all of the crap web sites out there that are written for IE.
Make no mistake: I hate IE. But more than that, I hate the fact that web sites need to be hacked to work around it. IE7 isn’t perfect, but if it allows me to develop web sites without hacks, I say it’s gold.
(Update: Some web sites barf when they receive the IE7 “user agent string.” Microsoft has a User Agent String Utility 2 download that launches IE7 in a way that makes it look like IE6 to web servers. I strongly recommend downloading it if you’ve switched to IE7.)
…that Mac OS X 10.4.8 includes a CTRL-scroll zoom feature (hold down CTRL and roll your mouse wheel or do the double-touch drag if you’re on a Macbook)?
Probably not, but I’m going to guess I’m the only guy who cares. I really need a life.
Maybe when school’s out.
Hey, how’s it goin’? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? In case folks think I’ve dropped off the face of the planet or that all the love is gone, I figured I’d check in and post an update or to…or twelve…whatevuh.
Thrills and chills await you after the jump.
(more…)
You know, there was a time when the Free Software Foundation (FSF) promoted software licensed with its GPL by claiming GPL’d software could never go proprietary or otherwise be pulled from underneath you by a license change.
Ironically, that’s exactly what the FSF is doing: they’re changing their famed GPL to be business-unfriendly, and as a result corporate investment and involvement in free software development may need to be…um, “re-assessed.” The always-defiant FSF doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass.
Smooth move, FSF. Can I completely write you off as irrelevant now, or should I wait a while longer?
As I’ve probably mentioned way too many times across my multiple blogs and friendly spams (forgive me), I now have a MacBook. Naturally, my old G3 iBook pales in comparison. However, I don’t want to get rid of it because it’s still a cool machine.
Soooo… For no particular reason I decided to do the unthinkable: remove MacOS X from my de-commissioned iBook and try to install a free, open source UNIX.
At this point, folks whose eyes are glazing over and folks who are rolling their eyes at yet another UNIX on Mac story, I’m going to be merciful and let you continue with your lives without suffering the details of my journey. The rest of you, click somewhere on this page to get the rest of the story. (more…)
…is like watching the zucchini plant in our backyard die. I think it’s been dying for about a week. This installation has taken almost that much time.
It’s almost as bad as watching Windows98 install on a PC. What amazes me most is Microsoft’s definition of 20 minutes. Every Windows installation I’ve performed has been completed in 20 minutes according to Microsoft.
Those are like dog minutes: 7 for every 1.
WTF…
Those of you who glance occasionally at the stack of Flickr photos to the right of this post have undoubtedly noticed a poorly lit, creepy, Mr. Ed version of Yours Truly. I took that photo using an application called Photo Booth. This application is only available from one source: new Intel-based Macs. In my case, it’s a brand spankin’ new MacBook.
Would it be premature to say I’m in love?1 Weird perhaps, but no, not premature.
I won’t bore you with poetry or any other homage to my new Mac. Suffice it to say my old G3 iBook and my mysteriously slow G4 iMac will be getting a nice, long rest now that this screamer is in my grubby little hands.
1Give me some credit. I’m not THAT crazy. It is a very nice ‘puter, though.
Is it just me, or is Gmail severely suckin’ during daytime, weekday hours? I don’t mean kinda suckin’, I mean HOOVER suckin’. I get more daytime server errors with Gmail than any other web site that I frequent. It seems to be a recent thing as I don’t recall having these issues a month ago.
Whatevuh.
On a completely different note, this morning when I folded my laundry all of the socks in the load were nicely paired up in the laundry basket. No fishing for the other socks this morning, nope. I can’t explain it. Perhaps this is a sign that Gmail may heal soon? Who knows.
How’s that for a title?
First, the big news: I took the plunge and ordered a MacBook. It’s not my first Mac, of course. It’s actually my fourth Mac if you count the old SE/30 that I got in the mid-90s. This is definitely my first Intel Mac, though. My iBook has seen better days and is probably (just a guess) going to be unsupported soon, plus I’m entering the last year I can take advantage of student discounts, so…
Blah blah blah, justifications, justifications. I’m actually going to use it so it’s worth it. I should have it in my grubby little hands within a week or so.
With that out of the way, a boring Summer Book update:
White Teeth by Zadie Smith wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t the mind blowing read that I expected it to be. It was a very well done first book, though, and I’m not adverse to reading other Smith books, but I’ll go into the next one with slightly more down to earth expectations. White Teeth was worth the read but I don’t think it’s top shelf material. Just my unwelcome, unenlightened opinion.
Up next: McSweeney’s #16 and Samuel Johnson Is Indignant by Lydia Davis, another McSweeney’s book.
Um, yeah.
Yep, there’s some styling that needs to be done. In fact, there’s a lot of styling that needs to be done. This blog doesn’t look all that much like my last one, that’s for sure. But I think it’s good enough now to make the switch. I’ll pretty it up later.
For those who don’t want to scroll endlessly down to see the bottom line of this page, I’m running Wordpress. I plan on a 100% re-design this summer so I’m really not all that upset that this blog isn’t identical to my last one. It’s a placeholder for what’s coming later.
I decided to usher in the new era of Erik’s Blog with a blog post directly from Flickr. I’ve never been able to do this with my old blog software because I never got around to writing MetaWeblogApi support for it. Why bother? Wordpress already has it.
‘Kay, I’ll stop blathering. Enjoy… (And yes, I know old posts have styling issues and are not categorized. I can live with this.)
