Posts from — July 2004

I did a major update on my web task system tonight. It’s a whole lot more complete now, though there’s still more to be done. I did a much needed redesign of the navigation system, finished the month calendar (it’s good!), and added support for holidays (including importing ICAL files that list holidays). Here’s a view of what the calendar view looks like. If you’d like to try the system out, or you’re interested in using it yourself, let me know.

I’ll make the source code available to anyone (it’s all in php), but I’m thinking about getting a hosting provider and having people pay a nominal fee ($1/mo?) to split the bill if they want to use it. If anyone’s seriously interested, let me know.

Blake Ross asked the Mozilla community to post honest reviews of firefox at download.com, aiming to go from 79 reviews to 1000. It’s at 998 right now, and I posted mine.
Firefox on download.com

There’s talk of suspending the election in the case of a terrorist attack at election time. Not sure what I think of it. I can’t see how a terrorist attack would sway my vote, but it’s probably best to hold elections when they’d be the focus.

This is really good conversation about web standards and the future of the web with mozilla’s Brendan Eich and several experts. The big issue: web standards haven’t improved since IE got a 90% market share (not that it’s caused by that, I’m just using that to cite a time), and the W3C is basically ignoring the reality of the internet, working largely on vertical markets (cell phones, intranets, etc). I definitely recommend it if you develop for the web. Other topics include security, market share, etc.

It would be really cool if the web could start improving again. 5 years of stagnation is really bad, there’s so much more that the web could do.

Dave Kopel has put together an excellent piece about Fahrenheit 9/11. This is really what I’ve been looking for. He got the whole quotes from things Moore only took a few phrases, looked up facts that Moore conveniently left out, etc. There’s some explanation that’s shaky and somewhat attack-ish, but most of this is very well written and defended.

An interesting look at how the Mozilla Firefox team handled the recent security flaw found in firefox. No browser will be perfectly secure, but this timeline shows how effectively they work to get a fix out to the public.

While I’m at it, if you use Windows and Firefox, make sure you’re using the latest version.

I’m relentless…

Unless you are computer-savvy enough to run windows update regularly and recognize a hoax when you see one, you’re being irresponsible to use Internet Explorer. Slate has an EXCELLENT, non-nerdy article explaining why. Very well done article. Please follow this advice.. if not for your own sake, for the poor nerd who you’ll consult when you break your computer.

Download Firefox for Windows
The installation is easy an can be completed by regular users. If you need help, I’d be happy to lend a hand.

Stop reading my crappy writing and do it.

Thought: I should write a php script that returns an offensive image only to IE users, based upon their user-agent.

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time thinking about what I want to do after graduation next May. Odds are that I’ll take advantage of the presidential scholarship, and stay at Lehigh for another year. Things that I’m considering or have considered:
* Go work somewhere
* Get a master’s degree in computer science somewhere else
* Get a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering
* Get a master’s degree in computer science at Lehigh

I’m considering the last two most strongly at this point. I met with professor Korth (chair of the CSE dept) this morning for some input. He basically suggested I pursue the master’s in CS, since I don’t have nearly as much passion for computer engineering (just a curiosity at this point… it’s a black art to me). We also talked for a while about the possibility of getting PhD, something I hadn’t really considered before. I guess I’m still not sure what I think of the idea, but it does interest me. I think that if I found something and someone that interested me enough, I’d like it, but it’s a whole lot of school.
Then again, I have a lifetime left to spend working.
Thoughts are appreciated any time.

Hey! North Korean dictator Kim Jong II is not just a great leader, but also a great golfer, according to the government run North Korean press. A NY Times article points out the Asian leader’s astounding talent:

–
Mr. Kim took up the game in 1994, and on his very first outing at the Pyongyang course he eagled the opening hole, according to the North Korean media. He then proceeded to ace five holes (or 11, according to some reports) on the way to shooting a 34 – or 38 under par. (The lowest recorded score in P.G.A. history is 59, and that has been attained only three times: by Al Geiberger in 1977, Chip Beck in 1991 and David Duval in 1999.)

Mr. Kim’s score was so low that some disbelievers (though not in North Korea) at first suggested that it must have been for nine holes, not 18, but the 18-hole total was later verified not only by the club pro but by 17 bodyguards who accompanied the dictator on his round.
–

I hear Momar Kadafi plays a mean game of croquet, too.

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 with Peyton (who works at the Department of Justice) last night. I haven’t formed a complete opinion on it yet, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking and reading about it. Jeff Jarvis wrote the best commentary I’ve seen so far about the movie. It basically says exactly what I was going to write here, but I’ll say some stuff anyway.

The movie consists of several “points” that Moore makes, all vaguely related to the last 3.5 years. It starts out with a look at the 2000 election. He ignores articles that suggest Bush won even with a full recount. That’s not a link to Fox News, that story was all over the place. I’m not suggesting here that the story I just linked to is more accurate than the ones Moore used for his argument, I’m saying it wasn’t even brought up. The audience is supposed to go through the movie with the perception that Bush stole the presidency. Even Al Gore isn’t complaining about that anymore.

Anyway, this same problem plagues the entire movie. Moore shows the audience selective elements of the truth in order to describe his conspiracy theory view of the administration. In all the discussion about Iraq, I don’t think he showed Saddam Hussein more than once. The one time he was show, it was in a meeting with Donald Rumsfeld when we supported Iraq in the war vs. Iran. Instead of showing Saddam’s rule, he shows kids playing in playgrounds as a depiction of pre-war Iraq. Come on. That’s practically insulting the audience’s intelligence.

Another thing that takes away from Moore’s points is his juvenile attacks. Yeah, John Ashcroft can’t sing, and it’s funny to watch, but to mix that in with serious criticism strikes me as inappropriate, especially as something often referred to as a documentary.

The first half of the film is pretty good. It feels like a documentary… there’s investigative journalism, and Moore does uncover some interesting connections between the Bushes and Saudis (especially the Bin Ladens). I believe most of what he said, but based upon what he did with most of the movie, I have to assume he’s not (intentionally) lying, he’s just omitting anything that doesn’t build his thesis. But what is his thesis?

I’m pretty sure there isn’t an explicit one. He shows that Bush stole the election, has Saudi connections, is an ineffective leader, and conjured a war with Iraq at the cost of American and innocent Iraqi lives. But he doesn’t connect the dots. Moore leaves many points unsaid but blatantly hinted at (Bush was protecting the Bin Ladens, Iraq was invaded for business opportunity, etc).

I haven’t been able to judge the movie as a whole… it informed me about some things I didn’t know, but I don’t feel it changed my attitude at all. I’d still maintain that this movie would be 100x better if it at least pretended to be searching for answers instead of telling me answers. Just like Bowling for Columbine… sure, he edited “creatively” and bent some facts to show certain things, but I felt like I was learning things along with him. This time I felt like I was being sold something.