Archive for August 2006
Interestingly enough,
The words “intesteriboolint-symmerunabilifanstrech” are a good test of CSS. Some just shove them up the content column.
From the two that survived most of what my filtering criteria are (aka the “It was logical at the time” test of whether I could say that as an excuse when somebody later asks me “what were you thinking”), one lost, but only because it killed my title. (I mean, c’mon.)
So, without much ado, the new template is Simpla.
The Magoo effect
Just went over the last post, and noticed that the font size in this template is so very, very small. I realise that, while I have no problem with it, most people I know do. Which would make it very generous of you, if you have read any posts in this blog with the previous template.
I’m currently debating between two, Simpla 1.01 and Thirteen 1.0 (which is still thirteen. Thirteen one’s are still thirteen.)
Look, up in the sky.
Just finished watching “Sky High“. Two things. One, on every level, this is the best visualisation of a Superhero comic book. In the attempt to replicate the comics in a live-action movie, Sky High became the best Superhero movie I’ve ever seen.
On the other hand, guys, the twist? You radio’d it from a mile. And the part about “even a sidekick is a hero” and the cliche about all the sidekick’s esoteric power becomes crucial? It was so forced. The kid that glows lights the tunnel? Like that was needed. I would bet my life on that the Guinnea-Pig girl will be needed. The Flower-Girl (BTW, kudos on that nature vs tech angle. Loved it) was Superhero material from the word “go”, it was so much not surprising, although the “peace-loving girl becomes she-tigress” cliche was very well handled, i.e. once the Septlet hit her, she had the basic demand on “protecting myself”, so in that sense it was “Big Mistake” on the Septlet part. But still, so exhausted. (edit: either that, or I’m reading much too many comic-books)
Other than that, spot-on.
The world’s most unsuccessfuly successful OS
Once again, Ubuntu has been poised as the most successful GNU/Linux Distro in the world, at least according to the 15,000 participating voters, and a good thing too, since other than them, it seems that no one else takes Ubuntu, or indeed any Debian-based OS seriously.
Take Gaim, probably the best multi-protocol Instant Messaging system, for example. The download pages have, besides the source code, an RPM package (for Red-Hat based distros) and a Windows package.
Granted, there is always someone to do the dirty work, but it doesn’t solve anything. This isn’t just one case, mind you, I believe almost every major application who does offer pre-compiled distro-specific packages have no .deb in their download page. There are the exceptions, but those are, as I just mentioned, exceptions.
It’s not just Ubuntu, btw. A quick look at DistroWatch’s top 10 (the de-facto “popularity chart”) shows that 5 out the 10 distros are Debian-based (Ubuntu, MEPIS, Damn Small, Debian and Knoppix), 4 are RPM-based and one (Gentoo) is installing software by compiling source-code.
I realise that the leading commercial distros use rpm (mainly Red Hat/Fedora, Novell’s SUSE/OpenSUSE and Mandriva), but that’s still no excuse. Although it might be interesting to notice that most of those have a Windows install file and even a Mac OS X one. Is it me, or are those software makers cater to commercial and proprietary OS rather than to the Bread-and-butter GNU/Linux distros like Debian, Slackware and others?
I can’t stop linking!
This isn’t going to make any sense whatsoever, but it’s intentional that way.
Just learned that classical Star Trek episodes are about to get some CG (computer graphics) face lifting. If this isn’t worth the Spider Jerusalem award, then I don’t know what. Don’t evny the poor sod who’s going to do that. He should either have a very thick skin, or a secret identity. Hopefully one that doesn’t need a headless Shakespeare statue to change. At any rate, it can’t be as bad as being the annual Madden NFL cover pro-football player. Or designing what is either the world’s most convulted system, or the best use of high-tech irony I’ve ever seen.
Oh, and it’s the late, but great, Jack Kirby’s birthday, the man who, like B.B. Kind could either draw, or write, but not both at the same time. I still think Jason Blood looks like Peter Parker.
My take on Penny Arcade Adventures, Penny Arcage Game Expo (PAX) and Penny Arcade in General
Go here.
Read comic (any of them, doesn’t matter).
Look for punchline.
Look harder.
Now tell me how the hell do they make all that money from such a stale, unfunny, intelligeble piece of dump?
You can find this post by searching for “intesteriboolint-symmerunabilifanstrech”
Web usability guru, Jacob Nielsen drops the latest word from his proverbial mountain, saying one should use “old words” in his site (meaning tried and true terms, not quoting the Canterbury Tales), to enable users to reach it via search. Being innovative (read “smart aleck”) with your wording will ensure you won’t get that. While this spiel is great slap in the face of the ever-evident “marketingsprecht”, it still doesn’t explain how do I do that, when search terms for my blog includes stuff like “ubuntonista”.
