Feed Frenzy

I switched my feed to Feedburner yesterday, mostly because I'd heard a lot about the site and wanted an excuse to check it out. If you are already subscribed to the RSS or Atom feed, I'd appreciate it if you would re-subscribe by clicking the big orange icon here (for those of you with Firefox 2 or some other kind of in-browser subscription) or changing the feed URL to http://www.feedburner.com/ if you prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. [Ed. Note: I'm changing my feed name RSN, so don't follow any of those instructions if you have not already. I'll update this with a link to the relevant post as soon as the switchover is complete.] And if you're still reading my blog by actually coming to the site... well, why? I can give you step-by-step instructions on how to set up Google Reader if you'd like. About half my readership wouldn't be here if I hadn't already converted them. In other bloggish news, I've got my first frequent commenter. Of course, around here two comments means you are downright eloquent, ant fortunately it doesn't take much to excite me. (It was the best-est Cwissmass ever!") Anyway, Chasmyn pointed out:

Stinking 2.0.1 won't work on my Mac...but I followed your other instructions. We shall see.

I should have mentioned that the config.trim_on_minimize may not have any effect on a Mac. Then again, you usually don't have to worry nearly so much about memory leaks under OSX as you do with Windows, so it's kind of a wash. Restarting the browser is still a good bet, however, and I can find the session restore extension for Firefox 1.5 if you're interested. I'm curious why the new build doesn't work for you, however. If you want to go for a comment hat-trick, let me know the details. Also, let me know if you ever got a feed set up for your blog.

Fast Firefox Fix Found

[Ed. Note: I know this looks like a pure geek entry and therefore something that you can skip, but if you browse with Firefox it's worth the time, trust me. And if you don't, like, what is your damage?] It's no secret that Firefox is a memory-leak hydra: every time the development team fixes one, two more spring up to take it's place. Build a large enough application and you're guaranteed to drop a few pointers here and there, and once you add in a Javascript engine, Chrome interfaces and a half-dozen or more extensions you might as well throw in the towel on your leak analyzer. This is the one area that Internet Explorer will always surpass Firefox. When you package most of your functionality as an integral part of the OS, your memory leaks are either found quickly or so deeply buried that you'd have to move Jimmy Hoffa to find them. On the other hand, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 leaks like a sieve, but it's the most helpful development environment I've ever seen. Perhaps memory leaks are found due to usefulness the way security flaws stem from popularity. That theory would conveniently explain the balance of bugs in Microsoft's OS code. But I digress. There are some people (whose initials may be BMW) that will tell you that the best solution for this problem is to never install Firefox on a Microsoft OS. These are usually the same sort of people who still prefer vi to a text editor. Personally I'm not one to give up functionality for the sake of form, but what can a resource-constrained power-surfer do? Well, the traditional method of freeing up resources lost to a leak is to restart the application. Back in the old days (like, three months ago) this was a major pain, involving bookmarking or finishing any open tabs, logging in to sites again and losing any form data that you might have entered on any open pages. Of course, there were extensions to fix any of those problems, but often they were a cause of the very problems you were trying to fix. Thankfully, Firefox 2 fixed all that. I don't even want to know that you haven't updated yet, just go do it now. I'll wait. Anyway, Firefox 2 includes a crash recovery mode that can restore your entire session, usually without reloading the pages. Of course, this doesn't happen when you voluntarily close the browser, but you can see it in action when you install an extension. In fact, I suggest you check it out right now. Go install the Restarter extension from from the add-ons site. Once you've clicked the Install button (after the standard five-second penance), the Extension Manager will open to show the progress. Installing this tiny extension will probably take less time than the install delay. Once it's done, notice the Restart button? Click it. Go ahead, I'm patient. That served two purposes. First, you have now seen the session restore function at work. Until now, the only way to trigger that as a user was after installing an extension. However, the tiny little extension that you just installed added an item to your File menu. At the bottom, just above Exit, there is now a Restart Firefox option. This will do exactly what the Restart button just did for you, so you can try this whenever the browser seems to have gotten bloated and slow. This is far more convenient than a restart used to be, and it is guaranteed to free up any leaked memory, but it's still not always convenient. It's like rebooting the computer, almost guaranteed to fix the problem but sometimes like chasing a fly with a baseball bat. However, I found a potentially more useful tweak today in a post on Cybernet, which I found via Lifehacker's Best of April 2006. Here's what to do:

1. Highlight the words config.trim_on_minimize and copy them to the clipboard.
2. Open a new tab and type about:config in the address bar. This will display a page of Firefox's internal configuration values.
3. Right-click anywhere on the page and select New -> Boolean from the context menu.
4. Paste the copied text from above into the input box that appears and hit enter. Yes, you can type it if you'd prefer, I just found cut-and-paste more convenient.
5. Select true as the value and click the OK button, then go to the File menu and click that new Restart Firefox option we just added.

So what did this accomplish? Well, now Firefox will unload most of itself from memory each time you minimize it. In my experiments, it went down to between 7M and 8M, from it's average of 40M to 50M (too many extensions loaded). Your results may (and probably will) vary, but from what I've been able to determine, at least some leaked memory is regained after you maximize the application. At the very least, you can free up a big chunk of system resources while you're doing something else without having to close the browser. This is a must for any serial tab abuser like myself, as well as anyone running on an ancient and/or overloaded system. I'm looking at you, Kare-Bear... just follow the instructions, you'll thank me later.

The Spirit Of Christmas Passed (doing about 80MPH)

I went out for a little last-minute gift shopping today, mostly because it's a personal tradition of self-torture. I'd already found the items I was trying to purchase on-line, in preparation for the my inevitable annual frustration tantrum during this trip, but it didn't happen. Neither the traffic nor the tempers were up to par this year, and even the Santas seemed to be smiling. Perhaps global warming has thawed the hearts of my fellow citizens. Maybe it's because X-Eve is on a Sunday this year, so everybody got their shopping done early. Then again, maybe the shit is going to hit the fan when the malls try to close at six o'clock tonight. I might get that Riot At The Galleria Playset that I wanted so much after all. Of course, I'm not going to let all this happiness and nice weather touch my Seasonal Affective Disorder. I used to really love this season, all the gift-giving and decorating and crap. I'm not really sure what happened, but it seems like these days I can no longer afford the cost of The Perfect Gift or the time for Holiday Cheer. You know what they say about Christmas... lotta suicides. From one of my favorite bloggers, Violet Blue:

Damn this nauseatingly familial season. I bought little foil bows for no reason at all. I think I will stick them on my cat. And maybe my tits. [...] Maybe if I find more eel porn it will put me out of my misery before tomorrow.

From The M&M Army of djwudi

Of course, family stuff isn't until tomorrow. And even then, not my family, which makes it slightly more embarrassing but an equivalent amount more uncomfortable. This will be the third or fourth year that The Brat and I go to Ghan's parents' for dinner, for no better reason than they're willing to have us and it's slightly more social than, say, drinking anti-freeze. It's ironic that I spent years skipping out on my family however I could, only to be trapped into a family gathering to which I don't belong. At least The Brat can get drunk and flirt with Ghan's dad. Mostly I either sit uncomfortably at the table playing with the trains or whatever that were attached to the customary M&Ms, or standing uncomfortably on the porch smoking by myself. On the plus side, at least her dad is a good cook. As long as they don't try to serve me a duck while telling me it's turkey, it is less intolerable than my Parental X-Dinner used to be (Me at 8: "If this is turkey then you found the smallest, greasiest turkey ever, Mom." Mom: "Just eat it and shut up."). I think that family gatherings are mostly about showing up and smiling politely, and maturity has brought me those abilities if little else. Eventually however, the rich food, nervousness and boredom inexorably clamp down on my abdomen. The smile will become weaker, and then even the showing up starts to fade. Usually at that point, I leave The Brat with Topher and Ghan to continue her drunkening while I beg off the further festivities to get back to online poker. There I discover the True Spirit Of Christmas in the generosity of those poor souls, probably stuck on some relative's computer, drunk and trying to give away their stocking stuffer subsidies playing 60% of their hands on the $2/$4 6-max tables. Ah yes... it's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Maybe I'll watch NORAD's Santa-tracker to see if the Russians can scramble their MIGs in time this year. Boxing Day just can't come soon enough for me.

So-oh-oh Urgent... Emergency!

So it's official, I'm on the 15-day Disabled List with a rotator cuff injury. Like a pitcher afraid of the play-offs, I have now managed to acquire a soft-tissue injury immediately preceding three of the our four moves. I have no real clue how bad it is yet, as I'm unable to get in to see an orthopedist until January 4. I imagine I'll get an MRI at that point and find out whether I've torn it or just strained it. Of course, with any luck it will no longer by sore by that point, which will answer the question without forcing me to removing my tongue stud. I've always sort of had a problem with going to the emergency room, unless I thought I was likely to be admitted. It seems to me that ER staff have exactly two types of patients to deal with: whiny little bitches and people who are dying. Neither of those are categories in which I particularly wish to be placed. I may have found a good solution to this dilemna by visiting the St. Anthony's Urgent Care Center. I had never been to one of these nearly-an-emergency rooms before, but it seems far less stressful than an ER. Inside of 30 minutes I was signed up, processed, talked to the doc, and out the door with a sling and two scripts. Of course, actual mileage may vary, as this was a Sunday afternoon and I may have been the only patient. Still, it's worth remembering as an alternative to waiting three weeks for a appointment with my Primary Care Physician.

Rock Star

Rock Star You scored 98%!

You damn rock star. You know all the basics, and if you got any wrong, I bet it was that stupid Traveling Wilburys question. Your friends are probably intimidated by your knowledge of classic rock and envy your impressive collection. When a classic rock song comes on the radio, you can probably identify it before the vocals kick in most of the time. You probably get good scores on the "maiden name of Clapton's mom" tests, too.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on notes

Link: The BASIC classic rock Test written by allmydays on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Fun quiz, but I may just think that because I was 100% certain of almost every answer. For the record, I did not get the damned Wilbury's question wrong. I couldn't put "watergate does not bother me / does your conscience bother you?" to a beat at all, and it just sounded too political for Skynyrd.

The "Blogging In My Blog..." Joke... Again

Also Available In White And Black

The Cassette Generator is one of the coolest toys ever. I'm going to put one of these up in the title bar if I can figure out how to make it look good. On a separate note, is there a downside to that I'm not seeing? I haven't had a lawyer look at the TOS or anything, but it sounds like free anonymous image hosting for an indefinite period of time. Maybe not where I'm going to put my personal photo albums, but it might be the best solution for stuff like this.

You Can't Judge A Site By It's Layout*

If you think the old template hurt your eyes, how do you think I felt? I had to look at it several orders of magnitude more than you, I assure you. The new template is based on Jellyfish by Jason Sutter. And when I say "based on" I obviously mean "nearly identical to", at least for the moment. I don't imagine that will last for long, however.

^*However, you can often tell how much it will cost to see the really hot photos.

Google Feeds My Neuroses

Just a random bit of Google weirdness that left me wondering who exactly was getting high last night.

Results of Google search for flickr+feed+viewer (Wednesday 2006-12-06 c.11:00pm CST) How did this patent application become the top result?

This is the patent application in question. It does not contains 'flickr', 'feed' or 'viewer'. The URL is a doozy, you'll have to scroll to see it all.

Results of Google search for flickr+feed+viewer (Wednesday 2006-12-07 c.11:00pm CST). The next day it's gone. But...

While this is on 'flickr' and it does have a 'feed', still no 'viewer'. And not exactly relevant either.

I'm not sure why this sort of thing fascinates/annoys me so greatly. Some part of my brain wants more weird data points like this, thinking that if it had enough outliers I would understand Google's algorithm or something. Of course, if I could correlate that many data points I probably wouldn't need a search engine as much. Then again, this could be an artifact of someone gaming the algorithm. Maybe some private Google-bomb or black-hat SEO is trying to screw with the search term Flickr? Or maybe Google is messing with the term internally now that Yahoo owns them. I need to find the Google-equivalent of Fox Mulder to investigate this for me. Anyone have any wild theories?

Tiltmore Hotel Photos

There comes a time in every blogger's life when it's time to grow up and write your first I'm-About-To-Buy-A-House post. I told a couple of people that I'd have these images posted Wednesday night, but I had underestimated my ability to take really terrible interior photos. These Google queries have lead me to believe that both the Madness and CSN titles have been way overdone for this particular flavor of personal blog post. Instead I went with the more obscure Six Flags reference. in honor of the slightly queasy angles I managed to capture in most of these photos. I hope the clever captioning and a little of Picasa's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button makes up for the two day wait and possibility of induced vertigo.

House Inspection Blog Photos 2006.11.29

A few notes to myself for the next time I go through the house-buying process:

• Borrow decent camera, take pictures after finishing coffee
• Pre-approved to sign paperwork in reverse
• Make more money
• "Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer to call it threatening to reveal the results of my inspection unless you drop the price or fix stuff."
• Set closing date for wife's birthday (anniversary or Valentine's Day would work as well) to save shopping time.
• [Updated 2006-12-01 10:35pm] Never let emotions affect your dealing with barracuda, lasagna, and realtors.
• [Updated 2006-12-01 11:15pm] Don't tell anyone you're pregnant before the second trimester.
• [Updated 2006-12-07 11:37pm] That was a metaphor, people. I was merely implying that the deal could still fall apart. So far as I know, we are closing 2006-12-20 and no one is pregnant.

As this process is on-going, I reserve the right to add or remove items from this list.

That's Me, Dressed As A Slutty Blogger

The back-side in the costume is The Brat, almost dressed as Slutty Red Riding Hood. The was of course pre-hood as well as pre-lace-up.

My costume is actually supposed to be Hugh Hefner, although I brought it up as a joke. "I don't want to have to wear anything more complicated than pajamas," I told The Brat. "And Arthur Dent is played out. I think it's gotta be Hef."

It was really just a one-off, an attempt to dodge the question, but once she ordered the silk pajamas and silk robe, what was I supposed to say.

Next year perhaps I'll be James Bond so I can get a nice tux. Or maybe Adam Ant in his Dandy Highwayman or Prince Charming phase. That is, if I don't just go as Alfred Hitchcock, as seen here.

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They should have shopped at Girls's Costume Warehouse

The woman in the party store looked skeptically at the picture of the model wearing the witch costume. "Don't you think it's a little... revealing?" she asked. Her larger friend stifled a laugh. "Sure, but you can pull it off." I stifled a laugh as I passed, as well. "I could pull that off," I told them. "We're not at Fredericks', y'know. It's Halloween, ladies; you can't just be a witch, you have to be a slutty witch."

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I'ts taken me far too long to put this together. AW (not Adam Weishaupt) got his pics to me a day or so after the party, and I had the album on the web with his kind permission within a few days. I'm not sure if the quality is due to the camera (phone AW?), the lighting or the inebriation of the photographer, but I was just glad to have some shots.

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Topher got some really good shots early in the party, but discovered quickly that a drunken banana with Mickey Mouse hands should not be handling expensive photographic equipment. It took him a while to get them up in a Flickr set, but I can't complain because it took me longer to post this.

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I wish I had some Amazing Tales Of The Party, but I spent so much time mixing (and tasting) drinks that much of the party is a blur to me, and all the good stories were things that happened outside the kitchen. I'm also not aware of any other photos, so if you have any leave a comment or email me at owenj23 at gmail dot com. I'd love to post or link to them. Thanks to everyone for coming, it was a great time, and we hope to see you again on NYE whenever we next have a party.

For now I'll leave you with this picture that I found on an MSDN blog to which I've lost the link. This is my suggested costume for BMW next Halloween, if he doesn't want to be The Whiny Baby again.

HOW-TO: Make BlackBerry Internet Service Work With GMail (again)

[Ed. Note - A few people have pointed out that Google just released a Gmail client for mobiles, and BlackBerry is one of the supported devices. I just installed this morning, and yeah, it totally rocks. While it may actually be faster and easier to view and reply to messages via the app, it can't replace the satisfying chirp my BB gives when a message comes in. For that, the instructions below are still useful.] While I'm not sure what the official stance of RIM is, let alone other carriers, it became apparent through multiple rounds of calls with T-Mobile "Customer Care" that they are no longer required to Care when their Customer's Gmail stops being picked up by BlackBerry Internet Service. Phrases like "it might help if" and "it's about 50/50" and "we do not guarantee service" were mixed liberally with "it works on mine" and "I use it all the time." Armed with this knowledge, as well as a fierce determination honed by hours of hold music, hang-ups, and one threatened arrest, I found my own solution. The following procedure has been tested on my device, and on the device of one guy I found on BlackBerry Forums who was having the same problem. I'm planning on posting a link to this in a few places, so if you try it for yourself let me know the results. Step 1 Log in to My T-Mobile (or, well, your T-Mobile to be precise). Click the "Set Up BlackBerry Internet Email" and click it. From there you will be presented with a list of all your email addresses. You'll need to click that little trash-can icon next to each of them, or at least each that is not working. NOTE: You'll lose any filters you have set up, so you may want to make a note of them for later. Step 2 On your BlackBerry, go to Options->Advanced Options->Service Book. (I think the menu location is different for this on older models. Anyone know?) Delete the service books for all email accounts (you'll recognize them by your email address followed by [CMIME]). Yes, even the entries for the ones that are still working. On the Pearl, this is accomplished by highlighting the entry, pushing the menu button, and selecting delete. YMMV. Step 3 Meanwhile, Back On The Web: Log in to your Gmail account and click "Settings" in the upper right corner. Select the "Forwarding And POP" tab. In the "POP Download" section, select the radio button labeled "Disable POP" and then click Save Changes. There, you're done. You've now guaranteed that you will never receive Gmail on your BlackBerry. Oh wait... that's not where we were going, was it. *sigh* Step 4 Now we're on the comeback trail. Go back to your T-Mobile account (I hope you're using Firefox, or at least IE7's tabs) and click the "Service Books" link on the left. Click the little pink button to "Send Service Books" to your phone. This will ensure that any accounts you have no deleted get set up on the BlackBerry correctly, and seems to be an important step in this process. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times says, "If you follow only one step this tutorial, Step 4 is the one to follow." Step 5 Back to Gmail again. I hope you're still in Settings->Forwarding and POP, as it is time to turn POP back on. Select the radio button that says "Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on" and click Save Changes. It seems to be important that you select this option, rather than "all mail", even if you really really want your old mail on your device. Trust me, it's gone. It's just gone. Answer it from the Gmail app and move on with your life. Step 6 And hopefully the last one. On the T-Mobile site, go back to Email Accounts. Click "Setup Account" and enter your Gmail address (including the '@gmail.com') and password (twice). A quick click on the Next button and you should be done. For all their talk of not supporting Gmail, they obviously know the IP for the POP server (which they claim does not exist). You should get an activation message on your BlackBerry within a few minutes. If you do not, delete and resend your service books once again - for instructions see Step 2 and Step 3 above. That bit seemed necessary for me, but not for the other user who tried it, so again let me know if you follow these steps what happens for you. So there it is. As I said, let me know if you try this, what the results are, and if I missed or mis-stated. If you're having similar problems but do not use T-Mobile, I suspect that similar steps may work for you, but you'll obviously have to figure out your provider's interface yourself. I have no idea yet how often this process might have to be repeated. I've tried everything I could think of to re-break my Gmail POP access and have not yet had any luck, so I still can't guess what caused the problem initially or when it might recur. Any further data on this would be appreciated.

Midnight In The Garden Of Pumpkin And Squash

It's still nearly three hours until The Great Pumpkin should be arriving, but as always it's getting cold, and boring, and a little bit lonely here in the pumpkin patch. I've been having blog troubles recently, not so much with writing as with not writing. Well, and finishing... that's kind of a bitch too. I wish there was some way I could publish a post in beta. Of course, with no readers it doesn't much matter what I post, let alone whether I post. On the other hand, I kind of expect that sooner or later, I'll pick up a few regulars. I can't possibly be the only person who uses Google Reader to stalk my friends and idols... and if I am the only one, I'm about half-way through writing a primer on setting it up for yourself. I can't be expected to finish any of these things until at least this weekend, however, as I have to stop writing every 10 to 15 minutes so I can play with my new toy. The Pearl is pretty -- too damned pretty, according to this article by Jack Kapica in The Globe And Mail, which suggests that if I was a Real Man I'd buy a RAZR. And perhaps he's right, because I haven't shaved in days. Not to mention the fact that some very sexy, very rich little girls have been shot while holding lately. However, I think this picture of my k-rad case mod should prove that I'm at least a Real Nerd. It seems that my new toy is so much smaller than the old one that it slides right past the sensor. However, through painstaking moments of looking around on my desk, I discovered that the cap from a Sanford Uni-Gel Medium (seen here in stylish red Crimson Dash) is the perfect size to trigger the sensor. And they thought they could make me buy a new case? I feel all MacGyver, like I should send this in to the MAKE blog or something. Probably soon, before the Pearl slides out of this oversized case and I never see it again. I had written a review of Performancing v1.3, which is a Firefox extension designed to make blogging easier. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of using the software to review itself and once it became aware that my opinion was somewhat luke-warm it promptly deleted the post. Prior to hating it with a passion, however, I truly didn't think it was all bad. My problems are almost certainly because I'm using Blogger beta, and a dev build of Performancing that was designed to work with the beta but has not been fully tested. I'll probably check it out again once the Blogger changes stabilize.

The Emergency Blogcast System

This is only a test. Just got my new phone, a BlackBerry Pearl, and it's like learning to type all over again. I like the feel of the keys though. Still trying to decide whether I do better with two thumbs or two index fingers. I have at least eliminated the pinky-nose combination. I'm also trying to set up Blogger for posts from my phone. Not yet sure how successful that's likely to be but if you're reading this it must have worked acceptably. [EdNote: Not as well as I'd hoped, but at least the Message-To-Blog system seems to work. More on getting Blogger Mobile set up if and when I am successful.] Tomorrow I'll try to put up a few links to party pics from last night. Tonight I'm busy trying to fold my way through a HORSE tournament on Full Tilt poker. We're about to hit 60/120 7-stud and I have less than 9 BB's so I'll probably be in bed soon.

Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry.

LiveBlogging The Firefox 2.0 Release

Word is that Firefox 2.0 is due to be released sometime this afternoon. Who the hell releases their software in the afternoon anyway? Are you going for that crucial after-school download market there or what? Anyway, I'm planning on playing with it as much as possible today, and I'm going to try posting results as I'm able throughout the day. Why? Hmm... nothing better to do?

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9:45am For those of us saddled with day jobs at which we can fake-work by testing new software, it appears that the Firefox team really ought to change how they build URLs if they want to keep their software to themselves through the morning. You can go download it from the ftp site if you're a little clever.

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9:51am My two favorite extensions, the plug-in for del.icio.us and the Tabrowser extension, are not compatible with the new version. Le sigh... I know a lot of Tabbed Browsing was included in the new version, I'll have to find my key functions in the options panel.

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10:00am God I love the internets. It seems that David Findlay (whoever that is) has been kind enough to solve my problem for me. I haven't tested it yet, but this blog post gives details on how to get the del.icio.us extension working in Firefox 2.

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10:27am It looks like you probably want to read David Findlay's post before you upgrade rather than after. I was unable to get it working post-install, and it looks like I may have to do some real work before I can try again. OTOH, if all it takes is a minor text edit to make it work, maybe the del.icio.us folks will get it working pretty quickly. I'd check their site before I went to too much trouble if I were you.

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10:47am I miss my Tabbrowser extension. I have yet to find a way to get the search bar to open searches in a new tab.

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10:56am You can configure Firefox 2 to automatically subscribe to feeds using Google Reader. Sweet. Check under Tools->Options->Feeds->Subscribe To Feed Using. Other pre-loaded options include Bloglines and My Yahoo, but I'm sure someone will figure out how to put everyone's personal favorites in there soon. Really, though, I'm pretty sure your personal favorite should be Google.

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11:49am History->Recently Closed Tabs. Idiot protection for my occasional bouts of hyper-aggressive resource-releasing.

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11:56am Firefox Build Engineer J. Paul Reed on why no one should do what I'm doing. Take it from me, kids, downloading pre-release software is neither safe nor a good idea. But it does beat hell out of real work.

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1:13pm Just back from lunch, and David (do I know you, David?) has left a comment saying that the del.icio.us extension mod that I posted before worked for him, both at work and at home. It's possible that I was just impatient, as it apparently does not activate the first time you restart but does by the second restart. Whatever you do, it should be noted that clicking the uninstall button is not a good idea under any circumstances if you want to get it to work later. Trust me.

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1:32pm Cool new feature: there's a Restart Firefox button after you install an extension. I used to have an extension installed that did this, but it stopped working due to some versioning problem with the Firefox 1.5.0.x Extension Manager. I may yet add it anyway, if the trickery I'm trying now works out.

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1:37pm Been using the new version for hours now, and I just noticed the form spell-checker. Of course, I noticed it because it believes that I misspelled "versioning" above, but I'll give it a pass because it's a neat feature. Apparently I could, if it bugged me enough, right click on this (or any) text box and turn spell-checking off for that control. I wonder if there's a way to add words to the dictionary?

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1:40pm Super-cool. The "Restart Firefox" button re-opens any tabs. Didn't check if it will re-open multiple windows as well, but I bet it does. Oh, and my XPI hack seems to have worked to re-install the del.icio.us extension. I'll write it up in a minute, once I've tested a bit more.

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2:49pm The Restart Firefox extension I mentioned earlier installs just fine, despite the fact that the minversion and maxversion properties in the install.rdf file are both set to 1.4. It didn't work under 1.5.0.*, and I really don't understand why it would work now. Any help?

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2:52 pm It works even better than before, too. Just like the "Restart Firefox" button in the extension manager, it re-opens tabs. Again I'm too lazy to test with multiple windows.

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3:32 pm Just posted the instructions for modifying the del.icio.us XPI in a separate entry. Not sure, but it looks like they may have already taken care of this in their posted install. I'm leaving work now, but more later once I start breaking shit at home.

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7:24pm Take a few hours off and the whole world changes. The good news is, the release is now official, so you can disregard any earlier whinings warnings you received about pre-release software and download it now. The other good news is that updates came out for del.icio.us, Tabbrowser Preferences and Greasemonkey to keep them compatible with 2.0. I doubt that any of these updates did much more than update the maxversion property as I described, at least they are now official.

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7:49pm I guess it kind of looks like I was wasting my time earlier trying to update them myself, but that wasn't really the point. I did learn a lot about how extensions are put together, and I got a comment from someone I don't even know. I did have two extensions installed that have not yet been updated for 2.0. The openselectedlinks extension didn't update, but I just uninstalled since my primary use for it has been supplanted since I found DownThemAll! (which did update). Feedview is a really cool little extension that formats the display of an RSS feed, but I went ahead and uninstalled it so I could see the supposed improvements in FF2's RSS display.

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7:59pm Firefox relaunched their Recommended Extensions Add-Ons page along with the new version, and TechCrunch compares the new 20 to the old 11 to find the winners and losers. I've been waiting for 2.0 to come out to publish my own recommended list, so expect to see that as soon as I can remember to start calling them Add-Ons instead of extensions.

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9:37pm I just installed a nice little extension called TinyMenu which (with a little bit of work) let me entirely eliminate one of the standard toolbars from my life. I got the details from the LifeHacker Download of the Day article, you probably should too.

HOW-TO: Modify an extension to install under Firefox 2.0

The following steps have been tested on the del.icio.us Firefox extension. I read in this post by David Findlay that the extension seemed to work fine in Firefox 2.0 despite it's maxversion property. I attempted to follow the steps therein, but was too impatient and failed to wait for the second restart before giving up and uninstalling. Due to my massive del.icio.us addiction, however, I had to invest a bit more effort. Creating XPI Installer Modules on the Mozilla Developers Center was extremely helpful, and a little guesswork led to the following procedure. Step 1: Download the XPI file by right-clicking on the link (usually a big button that says something like "Install Now") and selecting "Save Link As..." Step 2: XPI files are (conveniently) nothing more than specifically ordered ZIP files it turns out, so you can open them with just about any compression utility. I use IZArc out of habit and because it's free, but most any would do. You might even be able to do it from Windows without any special software if you want to badly enough. Whatever your preference is, right click on the XPI in explorer and use "Open With..." to view the contents of the file. Step 3: In the root directory will be a file named install.rdf. If your compression utility allows you to edit files in-place within the XPI, open it up from there. Otherwise, extract the file and open it with any text editor. I'm a big fan of EditPad Lite because (again) it's free and knows how to deal with *nix carriage returns, but even notepad.exe will do fine for this. Step 4: Find the line that says something like 1.5.0.* or and change the value to "2.0.*". Step 5: If you had to extract the file to edit it, go back into the archive and delete install.rdf, then add your modified file. If you made your changes in-place, you can just save the file. Step 6: If there is a folder labeled META-INF in the XPI, delete it. This contains the signature information for the extension, but it will no longer match since you made changes. However, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to trust this particular unsigned XPI, since you just unsigned it. Step 7: Do whatever you need to do to make sure changes to the XPI are saved, then close your compression utility. Step 8: Right click on the XPI file, select "Open With...", then choose Firefox from the list. Click the Install button, Restart Firefox, and you're good to go. Hope this works for everyone, it seems like a fairly easy procedure. Of course, you should keep in mind that some extensions are marked incompatible for a reason. Don't do this at all if you're not comfortable crashing Firefox completely, potentially losing all of your settings, probably suffering premature balness and possibly going to hell.

The Dresden DollsLive 2006-10-21 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant

I have to admit, I don't like being punctual. I can do it, but it causes unacceptable levels of stress in my life. Honestly, I'd rather just show up fashionably late. When it comes to shows with opening acts, I've seldom regretted this. A local band called Big Fun (probably the same group that did "Suicide - Don't Try It" in the movie Heathers) taught me this almost 20 years ago now, opening up for Men Without Hats at Mississippi Nights. [Date?] Maybe if I'd have even heard of The Red House Painters things would have been different, but "Australian experimental electronic" had entirely to many vowels in it for my taste. If I'd thought things through, however, I'd have known that The Dresden Dolls might very well put together a show worth some punctuality pains. Instead, I realized this as we walked in the door and Amanda Palmer was thanking the pole-dancers and Something Elvis (does anyone remember what she said?) that had just left the stage. We didn't miss much of the main event, at least, as The Dolls were just starting their second song as we took our seats. I can't tell you what they were playing, although I remember it being one of my favorites from the first album. However, I spent those first few songs mesmerized by the girl doing chalk drawings at the farthest point stage right. It wasn't her art, which reminded me entirely too much of the goth-chick drawings from coffee houses past. (I've never been able to appreciate goth-chick art, poetry, music, etc. properly... or at least not properly enough to have closed the deal with many goth-chicks.) It wasn't her dancing, which was a kind of back-turned booty-shake at best. It wasn't even her body, which was nothing to sneeze at unless perhaps she had a cold or something. But the combination of three - the way the drawing took shape as her arm moved with the melody and her hips swayed to the beat - was a pretty impressive performance piece. By the end of the show, she was doing chalk drawings on people's backs, which was substantially less visible but extremely cool nevertheless. The Dresden Dolls were of course amazing as always. This is only the second time I've seen them live, both times at The Pageant, and I was again astounded by the energy that two people on a mostly-empty stage can create. Their shows remind me of the way it felt seeing some classic punk bands waybackwhen, like Black Flag with less anger and more sex. Of course, there's anger as well - with two percussionists on stage, how could there not be - but it's always delivered with a wink and a nod, sometimes literally. I don't know what kind of personal relationship Amanda and Brian have, and perhaps I don't want to. The fantasies speculations inspired by the Backstabber videos are far too much fun to be ruined by mere realities. However, I find it amazing that there can be that much sexual tension between two people on a stage ten yards apart behind musical instruments in front of 1500 people, regardless of the personal dynamics that make it happen. I wish I was the sort of person that could run down the entire set-list from memory, or even find it online, but the best I can do is the few recollections that Topher and I managed to cobble together 24 hours later. I think we may have come in during "Girl Anachronism" - can't be certain, but it was played and I didn't pay much attention, so that makes sense. There was a great version of Missed Me pretty early, which really got the crowd going, and a sing-along "Coin-Operated Boy." Brian repeatedly silenced Amanda during the "I want a..." skip-repeat bit and used his sticks to conduct the audience as a chorus. There's something pretty hot about a few hundred girls singing that over and over again. I had a curious moment of deja vu when they launched into their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," both because they had played it when I saw them previously and because I had just seen The Flaming Lips cover it the last time I was at The Pageant. I think my preference for slightly skewed covers leans me towards The Lips' version in a fair fight, but The Dresden Dolls are unsurprisingly more faithful to the original and they tore shit up. They closed with several songs from the new album, including (at least) "Dirty Business" and "First Orgasm," and walked off to a (nigh-guaranteed) thunderous standing ovation. They made us pound on things for four or five minutes before they came back for the (contractually-obligated) encore, but they rewarded us with a guy with a guitar and a green gown. I was a little bit worried when he was introduced as a member (leader?) of the opening band - "guy with guitar and green gown in Australian experiemental electronic outfit" is a lot of alliteration for aspiring anchormen perched in precarious positions - but they totally blew away the rest of the show by breaking out Tears For Fears' "Mad World." I remember buying that album not too much after it came out, 1983 or 1984, probably because I heard Les Aaron play "Mad World" on WMRY. Ah, to be young and have no taste again. There was another song after this, then they closed the encore with "Half-Jack." Or so I'm told, the cover of "Mad World" left me feeling an odd combination of drained and filled. I decided that I needed a quick trip to the restroom so I would at least feel merely drained.

Zombie Hordes Invade St. Louis

I consider myself an ally of The Zombie Squad if not an actual member - nothing against them, I'm just not much of a joiner. I feel that I need to preserve my freedom in case there is ever a need for a lunatic fringe in the zombie awareness community, as I truthfully excel at paranoid conspiracy theories over actual preparation and honest work. This should not be taken to imply, however, that I do not admire their work. For instance, I'm a big fan of orange drink and cookies, which is why I always love a good blood drive. However, I'm not sure that I'll be able to donate on Nov 4; I had my tongue pierced in Februarya and I don't know how long that causes me to be disqualified. For these reasons (and perhaps because one Halloween per year is never enough dress-up for me) I'm planning on joining their Zombie Mob down in The Loop this Saturday. Yes, that's October 21, and yes, we have tickets to The Dresden Dolls show later that evening. But I can always change if I need to, and I'm not sure I don't like the idea of going to a concert dressed as a zombie. There's also going to be a Zombie Pub Crawl later that night, so if I don't feel drunk enough by the end of the show I might try to catch up with that. I've been looking at the Zombie Costume article on Halloween365 and the Zombies Invade San Francisco! Flickr photoset for ideas, and I think I've finally settled on throwing together a "zombie surgeon" costume tomorrow evening/Saturday afternoon. Lauren on Halloween365 was making the point that any clothes could be used:

When the Zompocalypse comes, zombies will be created that were ready for cheerleading practice, attending a business meeting, and especially while working in a medical facility of any kind.

Of course, I love any sentence that starts, "When the Zompocalypse comes," but the last part made me recall the piles of scrubs Alice has brought home on the days that work gets a little messier than usual for her. I don't expect that the make-up and fake blood are going to be very expensive, and I think this part (again from Lauren) sounds fun:

So the first step is to rip up your outfit. Put your entire outfit on as you will wear it (i.e.- if you have multiple layers, don’t wear/rip them separately). Think of how you might have become a zombie to decide where/how to distress your clothing. Come up with a whole storyline to really sell your costume.

If anyone else is interested (or even reads this - see the Quick Quiz last entry) let me know. It would probably be fun - practically an RPG with props - to make a bunch of costumes at once. Of course, it pretty much has to be Friday night or Saturday around noon that we make this happen. Is there any sort of notice besides short? [Ed. Note - I didn't make it, because I'm a lamer, and because I read this "How To Look Like A Zombie" article that Jawbreaker sent me and decided it sounded like more than I could handle by myself. Turns out that Staniel was going, so if I'd cast a wider net I might have ended up there after all. It's a shame I hate bothering people so much with this "communication" bull-shit. I think maybe they should just read my blog more often.]

Template Terror, Plus A Quick Quiz

So I've been doing the place up a bit? Do you like it?

No, I don't think that I do either.

Anyway, I've been experimenting with the blogger beta template editor. It can do some pretty cool stuff, but being a web designer by profession I feel somewhat obligated to dig down into the actual XML template and see what kind of fun stuff I can accomplish. I'm calling the template I've got up now "BlacklightRoom". The idea, of course, was to emulate some of the colors comonly seen in blacklight-reactive plastics. I've held the DNS registry for blacklightroom.com for years, so it might be nice to someday have a color scheme set up for it.

It was actually a lot of fun to put this together, because while I am often a web designer by profession, it is very seldom by choice. This template is very much an anti-professional template, as no corporate schmuck would ever approve even one of the color choices (except perhaps Sprint, who uses something very close to this yellow). I also discovered during my experiments a very Web2.0 (or maybe Web1.5b) application called TypeTester, which allows you to view font style and color changes on the fly and then compose the CSS for them. Very handy for those of us frequently forced to wonder what exactly an em is.

I'm kind of curious if anyone reads my blog via the Atom feed. While I was playing with the template, I published a draft of a book report^* about 18 times, in order to ensure that the site was annoying enough. Did anyone see those? Once, or more than once? And does my template make things look any different in an RSS reader?

The idea of asking my readership questions hadn't previously occurred to me, but now that it has I have a few other questions. For starters, um... do I have a readership? So far I've been trying hard not to write for an audience, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious if I have one. I know I've sent links to this post to several people, but I haven't made a point of telling anyone so I'm left somewhat curious.

So anyway, drop a comment for me, let me know... do you have me subscribed somewhere, or maybe you're checking up on me occasionally, or you're just dropping by because I twisted your arm or something. Or maybe Google pointed you here because you were searching for "Julia Stiles Breasts On The Cover Of Cosmopolitan." Whatever, I'm curious.

^* That's foreshadowing, my friends. A valid literary technique used by Real Authors, proving that I am not in fact Just Some Hack.

Saturn, Saturn, Burning Bright

At 7:15pm, I was just waking up from a nap. True, it seemed a little odd that my alarm was going off hours after I set it, but I've been known to sleep through multiple snoozes so it wasn't out of the question. The really odd thing was that the alarm didn't seem to want to turn off. I hit snooze, then I hit it again. Then a bit harder. I fumbled around a bit for the off button. It was about then that I realized that my alarm clock was outside. And that it sounded like a car horn. This seemed really, really odd. Strange enough, in fact, to make me look out the window. I wished I hadn't. It was about this time that I figured out why Chris was running down the stairs calling the fire department. Don't blame me for the quality of the pictures in the Flickr set, as his sense of priorities is somewhat skewed and he went for the fire extinguisher before his camera. This is why you there are no images of the car when it was still cool and burn-y. I started to go downstairs, but I realized I was barefoot and had to pee. Since Chris had already grabbed the fire extinguisher I decided to use the toilet... I probably didn't have to go badly enough to really help anyway.

Your Right To Vote

The back-story goes something like this: Cisco's new marketing catch-phrase, for reasons that elude me, is "The Human Network." As part of their effort to market to the sort of high-end geek that makes decisions about high-end networking gear, they asked a bunch of high-end net.celebs to define "The Human Network." Cue boring two-paragraph explanations of how "people really make the difference" or whatever, a cute quip from David Pescovitz of boingboing fame, and the following tiny brilliancy by Make magazine's Phillip Torrone:

It's people. The Human Network is made out of people. They're making our network out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

The "official definition" in Cisco marketing materials is being selected by the only way considered scientific by 21st standards: the internet poll. As I write this, our hero Phillip is a scant few votes ahead of some guy whining about his "overworked brain." So vote now. Go ahead, I'll wait. It is not necessary to register, nor do you have to wait until November and then wake up early. In fact, vote early and often if you wish, I don't think anyone will care. This may be our last chance to make a difference, at least until we can draft Phillip Torrone as a presidential candidate for the Soylent Green Party.

Talking Heads Half-Time

What would it look like if David Byrne had replaced Jerry, Chris and Tina with a marching band and cheerleaders? Probably a little bit like this rehearsal, filmed before a show he did with The Extra Action Marching Band at the Fillmore East in SF. Performance art has certainly come a long way since Laurie Anderson doing Duets On Ice... So this is my first random image that has nothing to do with the post and serves only to distract from my poorly prepared text. Do you like it?

The Pearl Ratio

I'm going to leave it up to you to guess. Did I find this NSFW link while I was: (a) searching for examples of The Golden Ratio. (b) searching for examples of cumshots. (c) looking through old Fleshbot posts in the new Google Reader. [Ed. Note - I'm not sure if this got un-published somehow or if I never actually hit publish. Although I thought I sent someone a link to it. Hmm. Oh well, not a big deal but I figured I might as well restore it to it's natural past glory.]

Shawn Of The Wasps

I feel like I'm in some kind of insectoid zombie movie right now. About an hour ago, I spotted the first one. More accurately, I heard him bumping up against the ceiling, levitating silently and aimlessly like the flying dead. Of course, you can never find just the right weapon in these circumstances, and this was no exception, but I did find some Ant & Roach Raid. How different can they really be, I reasoned? By the time I returned upstairs, there was another one, this one crawling along the inside of a window screen. Knowing an easy target when I see one, I went for the new one first. Luckily for me, there was no breeze to disperse the stream; he took off quickly, looking around stupidly for his attacker before he dropped suddenly. I lost him for a few moments, as I was busy fleeing for the far side of the room, but my faithful companion Max (Ah-aah... defender of the universe) kept watch over him until I could return with the Feb 2006 issue of CMJ New Music Monthly and finish the job. I found the poor creature twitching pathetically on a blanket, but I could afford him no mercy, as his stinger could mean my death. I dispatched him with grim efficiency, swatting over and over until his very thorax was nearly removed from his abdomen. Still, one entymological horror remained, and in my bloodlust I had lost track of him. A few moments of scanning the room revealed the worst: there he was above my computer desk, in the very area that had been my former stronghold. He flitted about the light as if to say, "Now you must come to me, Hyoo-min!" I retreated to the windows, where I had killed the first creature, but there was no safety to be found there. Two more of The Stinging Brethren were crawling on the outside of the screen, trying to find entry. I treated them to a cursory stream from my weapon and returned to the task at hand. I now understood that my only option was to attack. I screamed, a bloodcurdling attack cry made of equal parts fear and hatred, and I launched myself at the yellow-jacketed horror. I held my can of chemical death ahead of me like a talisman, but in the open air around the light the Raid was far more dilute, and being designed for far more stationary targets it failed in its promise of instant annihilation. I quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valour and executed a guarded retreat. The wasp attempted to follow, but my attack did not leave him uninjured. He hovered menacingly before he began to drift towards me, then suddenly took a wrong turn and flew three feet into the wall. He fell, but was back up again in moments, rising from behind the desk like a spectre of insectoid vengeance. But then, just as a wail of desperation and horror was crawling up my throat, the neuro-tomxin finally took hold. A sudden paralysis gripped his wings, and he fell from the air like a coyote suddenly reminded of the law of gravity. Max and I searched the area thoroughly, but no body was ever recovered. The nightmare was over, but the horror lives on. I now sit here at my computer writing this, nearly directly below the last known location of

Kamikaze Katamari

If you've never played Katamari Damacy, or if you think that comics should do better than stick figure theatre, then don't bother to go read the latest XKCD.

Blogging About Stuff Because I Think It's Cool

Brian Ibbott of Coverville managed to score an interview with Tim Delaughter of The Polyphonic Spree, and it's finally up in Episode 246. I haven't listened to it yet, but I imagine it's pretty cool. If it's not, don't blame me. No particular reason for posting this, but I was going to email it to a few people (you know who you are) when I decided that I could possible use this blog thing for something other than checking out the cool new Blogger interface.

You Can't Take It With You

Is it just me, or is there something fundamentally wrong about bringing food to a restaurant? It's like asking for a doggie bag at a buffet. There are no big signs saying, "All You Can Eat While You're Actually Here At The Restaurant," it's just sort of assumed. If it's somebody's birthday and you think they should have chocolate cake, go to one of those places with clapping people who wear funny hats and don't sing "Happy Birthday" the way I learned it for fear of copyright infringement. Don't wheel in your own dessert cart at the neighborhood grill because you don't like their selection of post-meal treats, it's just going to be embarrassing to everyone involved. Particularly your husband.

Panic In Detroit

Things are going well at the new job. I'm still entirely useless, but now I'm panicking about it every third day rather than every other day. Today was the first day I didn't wear The Black Shoes. I went out on a limb and decided it would be okay to wear my grey tennis shoes after the lead developer came in wearing sandals yesterday. It was remarked upon in a meeting by management, but only to say that, during our big important meeting with The Suits From BigComCo next week, it was okay for developers to "show their personality a little in their dress." Whatever that means, I think I'm still going to wear The Black Shoes.

Day One - Still Tired From The Move

Am I testing out the new Blogger interface? Am I starting a new blog? Who can tell these days... Although I have to admit, spiffy new interface. Today was the 36th anniversary of my birth, and I spent it off-loading bookmarks to my del.icio.us account so I could get them off of my menu. And adding blogs to my Google Reader, I should point out. I don't really remember how I expected to spend my 36th birthday, but this wasn't it. On the other hand, it will be 13 more years before I am a perfect square age. And I may well die before I am again an age which is the product of two squares. I do want to mention that, while I didn't have much of a drinking binge or a kick-ass party for my birthday, I still have the coolest friends around. Among the auto paraphenalia that my wife gave me was a visor CD wallet... inside were about fifteen mix CDs made by various friends. I haven't listened to any of them yet, but I can't wait. At least the next few weeks of driving to work won't be boring.