posts brought to you by the category “soap”
Das eez kaput! Sometime around 2002 I spaced the entire database table that mapped individual entries to categories. Such is life. What follows is a random sampling of entries that were associated with the category. Over time, the entries will be updated and then it will be even more confusing. Wander around, though, it's still a fun way to find stuff.
Norman Walsh : Threading Essays
Matt Vella : WWW::Bugzilla.pm
Sweet. Even the thought of never having to look at the default query page on a bugzilla install makes me happy.Handles submission/update of bugzilla bugs via WWW::Mechanize.
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Simon Wistow on Meals Ready to Eat
You could tip the non dairy whitener over flames to make pretty green fireballs - this was obviously not great if you were trying to conceal your position but then you wouldn't be lighting a fire anyway.
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Margaret Atwood : "Give me your tired, your poor, you sang, and for a while you meant it."
Sean Burke has set up an RSS feed for "Recently released RFCs"
...you know, in case you felt like you
needed a few more acronyms in your life.
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www.webserviceoftheday.com
refers to
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The random pseudodictionary.com word of the day is : schwaked chair
A chair with uneven legs. When you sit in one, you rock from side to side
ex. "I really hate this schwaked chair!"
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The random pseudodictionary.com word of the day is : clink
Noun: A clickable link. Hypertext link. Verb: The act of clicking a hypertext link.
ex. The page needs a clink to pseudodictionary. Clink to visit pseudodictionary.see also : clink dict-ified
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The random pseudodictionary.com word of the day is : hockey hair
Short on top, long in the back. Not unlike a mullet.
ex. Cute, but he's got an ugly case of hockey hair.
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www.spamradio.com
This one is not exactly new but it is both
a great example of why the Internet is so much fun and an actual
example that
this
is possible. Now if I could only figure out how to get it set up and
running with
this
(and
this
) and
this
...
refers to
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Did the Earth move?
I don't have any issues with how my comments
were reported, but just for thoroughness' sake, this is the unedited
version of what I said. If nothing else, it will give credit where it
is due for the zippy quote at the end of the article...
When asked to elaborate on that last bit :
meta
Oh look, I'm in USA Today
singing into a hair dryer. It's nice to
know that
The Firm
, without which this moment would never have happened, wasn't all for
not. I'm not usually one for Christmas cards but this might be too good
to pass up...
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Petr Cimprich : XML::Directory.pm 0.93
I mention this because I chipped in and
helped to
modularize the DTD
, enabling you to "extend the list of allowable elements using
parameter entities, so that extended XML files can be still validated.
... [F]or instance, a directory of .dbk files, might be munged for
<articleinfo> data which would be included in the output. The
output could then be cached and munged again later using another SAX
filter or XSLT."
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Using XML-Topic Map on a PDA
"Palm Navigator is a shareware program that is
designed to help import an XML/Topic-Map onto a PDA (Personal Digital
Assistant), and to enable navigation, jumping from one topic to another
as easily as Web surfing. Palm Navigator is fully compliant with the ISO
Topic Maps standard (ISO/IEC 13250) which enables exchanges between Web
sites."
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Barrie Slaymaker : "Here are some observations [on the XML Pipeline Definition Language]
to be taken with a grain of salt."
Slaymaker is the author the
XML::SAX::Machines
package. see also :
A preliminary stab at Flow-Based Programming
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Pinging through Teddy
The random pseudodictionary.com word of the day is : bodgieman
Someone who can 'fix' anything, given the right amount of inappropriate materiél and sufficient amounts of boundless enthusiasm. Balanced only by stunning incompetence.
ex. Alice: "Looks like the asbetos nozzle on my favourite flamethrower has broken off." Bob: "Never mind, I'll call on bodgieman. Chuck! Over here!" Chuck: "Hmm. I'll Sellotape (Scotchtape) it back together. No problem." All: "Bodgieman can fix anything with Sellotape!"
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"One of our pet peeves here at As It Happens
is the misuse of the apostrophe. We have spoken
with people involved in the righteous struggle to enforce proper
apostrophe usage. Last week we got a glimpse into the lives of those
noble warriors. It came to us in the form of a series of letters between
the members of the American Apostrophe Association, and the lawyer for
the Albertsons grocery store chain."
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Hellmuth Michaelis : Yet another approach to the laptop multi-home problem
"For several years now, I've been using FreeBSD
on my laptop at work. Since I am often at different customer sites on any
given day, I must adjust my laptop settings according to their network,
which means a new IP address, new name server, new default gateway and so
on. Editing rc.conf, resolv.conf and friends by hand was tedious. I
needed something that was easy to set up, use, develop and maintain."
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Andy Oram : We need the courage to look beyond abstractions
Like almost everyone else, I thought Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma
was a very bad book. Despite that, I was
struck by the idea of waking up in a world where technology has so
radically changed everything you know. Like hearing that people,
trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center are using their
cell-phones to call their families.
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The dict-ified dictionary.com word of the day is Argus-eyed
| source : web1913 | Argus-eyed \Ar"gus-eyed\, a.
Extremely observant; watchful; sharp-sighted. | source : wn | argus-eyed
adj 1: having very keen vision; "quick-sighted as a cat" [syn:
{hawk-eyed}, {keen-sighted}, {lynx-eyed}, {quick-sighted}, {sharp-eyed},
{sharp-sighted}] 2: carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for
possible danger; "a policy of open-eyed awareness"; "the vigilant eye of
the town watch"; "there was a watchful dignity in the room"; "a watchful
parent with a toddler in tow" [syn: {open-eyed}, {vigilant}, {wakeful},
{watchful}]
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Benoit Marchal : Introducing XM, a poor man's content manager
"Many webmasters have turned a combination of
scripts (JSP, ASP, or PHP) and a database to help them cope with an
ever-growing site. This approach works, but it's not without faults. For
one thing, it puts a toll on the server, so the pages may load more
slowly. Also script-based Web sites are more prone to bugs or even
crashes (of course, I speak for myself; bugs do not afflict your code).
Finally, search engines are less likely to index dynamically generated
sites. Overall I have found that, while scripts and databases may make
life easier for the webmaster, they are far from optimal for the visitor.
... I propose an alternative built on XML and XSLT. Indeed it's easy to
prepare documents in DocBook or another XML vocabulary and convert them
automatically to HTML. Automatically is the operative word here. The goal
is to cut on manual processing and automate as much of the site
maintenance as possible. I like to think of it as moving from small-scale
to industrial-scale webmastering."
Most excellent!
via
more
like this
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The dict-ified dictionary.com word of the day is remonstrate
| source : web1913 | Remonstrate \Re*mon"strate\,
v. i. To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure, or
any course of proceedings; to expostulate; as, to remonstrate with a
person regarding his habits; to remonstrate against proposed taxation. It
is proper business of a divine to state cases of conscience, and to
remonstrate against any growing corruptions in practice, and especially
in principles. --Waterland. Syn: {Expostulate}, {Remonstrate}. Usage:
These words are commonly interchangeable, the principal difference being
that expostulate is now used especially to signify remonstrance by a
superior or by one in authority. A son remonstrates against the harshness
of a father; a father expostulates with his son on his waywardness.
Subjects remonstrate with their rulers; sovereigns expostulate with the
parliament or the people. | source : web1913 | Remonstrate
\Re*mon"strate\ (-str?t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Remonstrated}
(-str?*t?d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Remonstrating}.] [LL. remonstratus, p.
p. of remonstrare to remonstrate; L. pref. re- + monstrare to show. See
{Monster}.] To point out; to show clearly; to make plain or manifest;
hence, to prove; to demonstrate. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor. I will remonstrate
to you the third door. --B. Jonson. | source : wn | remonstrate v 1:
argue in protest or opposition 2: present and urge reasons in opposition
[syn: {point out}] 3: censure severely or angrily; "The mother scolded
the child for entering the stranger's car"; "The deputy ragged the Prime
Minister"; "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup";
"check" is archaic [syn: {rebuke}, {check}, {rag}, {reproof}, {lecture},
{reprimand}, {jaw}, {dress down}, {scold}, {chide}, {berate}, {bawl out},
{chew out}, {chew up}, {have words}, {lambaste}, {lambast}]
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The dict-ified dictionary.com word of the day is aright
| source : web1913 | Aright \A*right"\, adv.
[Pref. a- + right.] Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without
mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. | source : wn | aright adv :
in a correct manner; "he guessed right" [syn: {correctly}, {right}] [ant:
{incorrectly}, {incorrectly}]
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The dict-ified dictionary.com word of the day is cudgel
| source : web1913 | Cudgel \Cudg"el\, v. t.
[imp. & p. p. {Cudgeled} or {Cudgelled} (-?ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
{Cudgeling} or {cudgelling}.] To beat with a cudgel. An he here, I would
cudgel him like a dog. --Shak. {To cudgel one's brains}, to exercise
one's wits. | source : web1913 | Cudgel \Cudg"el\ (k?j"?l), n. [OE.
kuggel; cf. G. keule club (with a round end), kugel ball, or perh. W.
cogyl cudgel, or D. cudse, kuds, cudgel.] A staff used in cudgel play,
shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any
heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel
and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. --Bunyan. {Cudgel
play}, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. {To cross the cudgels},
to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice
of cudgel players, who lay one cudgel over another when the contest is
ended. {To take up cudgels for}, to engage in a contest in behalf of
(some one or something). | source : wn | cudgel n : used as a weapon v :
strike with a cudgel
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Saturday Night : "I'm standing on a dock in San Mateo, California, with a Canadian scientist
who has found an intriguing mathematical
connection between: 1) how the skin cells of a frog decide whether or not
to grow hair; and, 2) how to create a new system of air-traffic control
so that planes can fly closer together. She is interested in the first
question because she believes it will help us find an answer to the
second, which will let us understand air traffic, and prevent accidents
in our increasingly crowded skies." see also :
Claire Tomlin's homepage
.
Why is that so many science geeks seem to
think that putting zipped post-script versions of their papers online is
somehow a good, and proper, use of the web?
refers to
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Jason McIntosh : The Comics Markup Language Resource Page
"In a nutshell, ComicsML attempts to give online
comics a way to describe their own content, and in so doing expand their
visibility, flexibility, and accessibility in a number of ways."
Well, I guess it's a start but it leaves
quite a bit to be desired. For starters the DTD does not define a
<soundeffect> tag but does include a
<bang>
tag (as in "!") which is about all you need to know that this was written
by a computer geek. Then there's the bit about not being able to define
layout, arguing that most comics don't need it. This is not unlike saying
that most web pages don't need layout since they're just text. Arguably,
you could use stylesheets but I think that most artists would tell you
that the formatting and layout of the comic is an integral part of the
storytelling and not up for debate. Can you really imagine "reading" work
by people like Dave McKean or Dave Sim with a W3C stylesheet? On the
other hand, it might be fun to start syndicating weblogs using CML...
Meanwhile, Dave Sim has
expanded on
thoughts first ventured in the Reads series
prompting Gail Simone to write
Dave Sim's Guide to Getting Chicks
"I dare you to keep reading. Go on. Bet you'll give out before I do. Most people begin bleeding from the eyes somewhere around the section where I use quotes from my own fictional character in my own comic book as evidence to support my convictions."via glitterdammerung
refers to
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Weblogs, Theory and Practice
This is a very casual and unscientific project to
keep a record of the various writings on and about weblogs. Generally,
I've tried to exclude the semi-annual flamewars that break out
surrounding The One True Weblog.
refers to
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M.J. Milloy
"This ignorance is profound, and stretches from
popular music, to television, to literature, to movies - Quebec culture
is a vast terra incognita to the Canadian mind, so foreign that Canadians
don't even notice their ignorance. How else to explain why no eyebrows
are raised when two English-language, Toronto-based newspapers are
fighting over the title of "Canada's National Newspaper"? Last time I
checked, they weren't published in French, and no one was readng them in
Abitibi." But, whatthefuck, who needs culture when you've got
the Aquibus, Peel Pub, Holy Joe's and strip clubs
, right? I can tell you that Disneyland with sex is the real reason I
moved back to Montreal, but then real Disneysex would be even better,
wouldn't it? (via
mikel
)
refers to
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NY Times : Voyeur-Cams Come to Home Furnishings
"But like many shoppers, I suspect, I was more
intrigued by other shoppers' preferences to gain insight into what I
might want to buy. I am the kind of person who will not order a meal
until I have surreptitiously eyed diners at the tables to see which
entrees they have chosen. In retail, as in restaurants, another
consumer's interest adds value to any purchase I am considering."
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Michael Swaine
"The fact that Dave pointed me to the text in the
link to the page raises some interesting questions about just what Tim
Berners-Lee had in mind when he gave us this incredible hypertext system.
The sentence "I've added a scripting news page." is surely just a
statement of fact that I don't think Dave or anyone could object to. Dave
doesn't, apparently, object to my having a page that tracks scripting
news, but just to my naming it "scripting news," by which he apparently
means this link. Does turning two of the words into a link change it into
an encroachment on Dave's turf?"
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Meta
As if things around these parts hadn't been slow
enough already, they might just stop this weekend. After a year of
dawdling and fiddling, I am finally going to upgrade the software that
runs this site. It may or may not have all the bells and whistles of
other fancy weblog sites, but I get to say "I made this" and I wrote it
back in the bad old days when the big kids were still struggling with
their ftp clients. I would like nothing more than to release the source
but for reasons too involved to get into, it probably won't happen.
Sorry; maybe I'll post some screenshots. In the meantime, I'm going to
stop typing for a while...
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painting monkey girl
"This is worth the hassle of fetching the
plug-in, please see
this
URL
and select 20th Century."
refers to
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The Comics Journal : Superman Opens Can of Copyright Worms
"Due to the split between the trademark and the
copyright, if the Siegels decided to publish their own new Superman
works, they might have to find a way to do it without using Superman's
image, costume or logo."
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Tell me about the first time you bought gasoline.
"A growing number of CEOs have become convinced
that they cannot sell their brand of deodorant, or deli meat, or
automobile until they first explore the Jungian substrata of four-wheel
drive; unlock the discourse codes of female power sweating; or
deconstruct the sexual politics of bologna."
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BBC : World's biggest flower blooms
"Last Monday, delighted botanists discovered that
it had developed a 106 cm flower bud. On Wednesday, when the specimen was
put on display to the public, the bud had reached a height of 125 cm, and
it is still growing." see also :
Fairchild Tropical Gardens
for more pictures (beautiful!) and this page from
the Botanischer
Gardens
that will need to be bablefish-ed if you don't read German.
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Komar and Melamid on Canada
"If these paintings are anything like what
Canadians most want and hate to look at, then our avant-garde is in
trouble. Like nations all around the world, we said we preferred softly
traditional paintings of outdoor scenes -- so a gently rolling landscape
is what we got. (The only people to prefer abstraction over realism, it
seems, are the Dutch.)"
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David Bunnell on boring crap
"Asked by UpsideToday.com to provide
documentation that the above chargse are true, the BoringCrap.com
founders declared that it 'doesn't matter if it's true, what matters is
that kids will believe it's true.'"
refers to
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Cool! I just got my BeOS 4.5 CD in the mail
I hope that it is more stable than r4. I honestly
felt like I was using MacOS 7.5.x some days.
refers to
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wtf?
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dude, where's my car
This document uses CSS kung-fu and a small amount of JavaScript for rendering its contents. Efforts have been made to separate the form from the content so if you are viewing this in a text-based browser it shouldn't be an issue.
On the other hand it may look funny if you are viewing it in a browser with incomplete CSS and/or JavaScript implementations. Internet Explorer 6 comes to mind.
It's not that I don't love you. However, my time is limited and I no longer feel very good about spending it working around any one browser's inconsistencies with little, or no, confidence that they will ever be fixed or otherwise made more inconsistent at some later date.
On the other hand, if something is down-right unreadable please let me know and I will endeavour to fix it.
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yes, we have no bananas
This page may not validate. It's not that I don't care, it's just that I'm not aware of it yet. Part of the reason that I rewrote the entire back-end for managing this site is that the old stuff made it too easy for these kinds of mistakes to slip through the cracks.
See also : W3C::LogValidator.pm
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it's the software, stupid