So I'm browsing the new layout of the site (which isn't done yet, I know). And I notice I'm getting javascript errors on my individual archives. Geez. I know I had solved this before. So about half an hour later it dawns on me that I've added a search form to my site. As a result, the comments form isn't the first form on the site. It's now the second.
Sorry for the late notice, but comments will be out of order for the time being. I'd suspect that it won't be more than an hour, and will post an update to this entry when they're back online.
Update: Looks like the comments are functional again. Sorry for any problems you may have encountered.
Seems like there are times when I get on these projects that never end. It wouldn't be so bad if there were at least some progress now and again. Luckily I have Dilbert to comfort me: My project has no progress and no hope for progress.
Appeared in a Dilbert strip published 2004.11.17.
Recently some researchers from the University of California (Berkeley) decided that we are drowning in data. According to their estimates, 800 megabytes of information is produced each year for every person on the planet.
What I'd like to know is how they figure this out. Is this an average? For instance, I'd imagine that your Bill Gates is responsible for a different amount of data than your average Iraqi. Doesn't mean anything is wrong with that Iraqi (or with Gates), but it just seems out of whack. Surely your average Quaker would have a lot less data than Mark Cuban, right? Those people producing the high end must really be overloading it to pick up the slack for those at the bottom of the scale.
Last week, I mentioned the new Google Deskbar. The Deskbar is cool. But astute reader baz mentioned Dave's Quick Search Deskbar as his choice. I have to say I agree. As cool as Google is, and as nice an interface as their Deskbar provides, DQSD has it beat by a mile. I can't even begin to list the features of this product. Make sure you stop by their page to check out everything that it can do.
A couple of throwback quizzes this week. First, an 80s rock quiz. I scored a pretty pathetic 49 in a quick run-through. Don't know that I would have done any better had I taken my time. Some pretty obscure references. Strangely enough, I nailed the one that "nobody gets" and picked up four points. Sweet.
What the heck, let's keep it corny with this quiz. That's right. Now you can find out which member of the Vilage People you most resemble. Amazingly, I am the Indian: You are the Indian. You feel a strong connection to the earth and nature. You are expressive, spiritual, and sensual. To you, life is about enjoying and giving thanks for the pleasures that the world has to offer. All in all, not too bad.
See you next week.
I'll be heading out tonight for two nights well away from the computer, so I won't be posting the Weakly until Sunday afternoon sometime. Sorry for the delay, enjoy your weekend, I'll see you then!
Earlier this week, Dave Winer was talking about his new categories being hierarchic and not flat. That's cool. I can only assume that the comparison is to the standard Movable Type installation, as it uses a flat category system. Perhaps other systems do this as well.
I've actually been using David Raynes' very cool SubCategories plugin for MT for a while now. For instance, if you visit my Movable Type category, you'll see entries not only from that category, but also from my plugins, which I've configured as having the Movable Type category as a parent.
I haven't compared feature-to-feature or anything, but using my setup now, I can include items for a parent category and its children or a items for a single subcategory pretty easily, and that would lead me to believe that Dave's claim of being the first isn't exactly correct.
Of course, he didn't really claim what was a first, either. Since the preceding sentence mentioned that this was his first use of categories at all, then by implementing them, that is a first. Perhaps it is also the first use of hierarchic categories in Radio/Manila as well. But I don't think it's a first for weblogging in general.
In the comments of The Angler Fish, Peter asked about the "black (fish) that school" (in Finding Nemo). I'm not certain of which fish he speaks, but if he's talking about the fish that form shapes together such as an arrow, a lobster and a boat, then those appear to be Moon Fish.
A couple of weeks ago, Creative Loafing columnist Tara Servatius slammed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) for their handling of an incident in which a student repeatedly was threatened and attacked by other students. Even after the student's parents went to CMS, the behavior continued.
For more than two years, I've felt that any small coalition of people, be it two or twenty, can wreak havoc if they are willing to die for their cause. It used to be that hijacking meant robbery. The culprits wanted something in return for setting the plane down safely again. That's not the case now. When someone is willing to die for their cause, there isn't a lot that you can do to stop them.
The ones who would give up their boxcutters in line are generally the ones who wouldn't bring them anyway. If they did, it was an oversight and they'd likely never use them. As long as someone is willing to die for their beliefs, then any weapon at all - keys, pens, even a plastic fork - can be used to threaten someone. Taking away corkscrews or nail files isn't going to help that.
True safety comes from the realization that you aren't going to let that happen. Take a look at flight 93. Apparently the people aboard weren't going to let their craft be used as a weapon, and they did something about it - even though the TSA didn't take away the boxcutters of the hijackers. These passengers died in the process, but the hijackers didn't win.
An example like this illustrates that there will be instances where people are going to die in the pursuit of liberty. The answer is not to take away more liberties, but to revel in the idea that liberty is a pursuit for which we should be willing to die. Nothing is more sacred, yet we are content to hide that liberty under a bushel instead of wearing it proudly. And all the while, people still die in its name. Where is the sense in that?
Sorry for the lack of entries. I've been working on a new project. Hopefully have that out of the way shortly and be back to my bubbly old self before long...
Saturday, I mentioned the new Google Deskbar. One of the cool features about the Deskbar is that it has an integrated option for adding customized searches.
For instance, say you regularly search the Internet Movie Database. You could type www.imdb.com in your browser window and perform your search. You could even leave an open window to the IMDB so you could jump over to it when necessary. Or you could set up a customized search in the Deskbar.
