Here's Lookin' at You

First the prairie dog, now the... well, whatever it is, it's dramatic.

via YesButNoButYes

Why I don't use HTML or CSS hacks

I've been teaching (X)HTML and CSS for over a decade now and I've never ever taught hacks. You know, those little bits of code that many designers use to make their pages look the same in multiple browsers. (Yes, IE is typically the problem in this situation.) Whenever asked I've explained that when you use a hack, at some time in the future the problem your "solving" with said hack is going to get fixed and then your hacked page is now broken. Don't believe me? Check out this article from ars technica about the forthcoming IE8. Here's just two bits:

Internet Explorer 8 is going to be the most standards-compliant IE yet, but it's going about it in a way that has some people scratching their heads. With Internet Explorer 8, you have a choice in standards compliance modes. Sound oxymoronic? Shouldn't there be one standards mode by default? Heck, shouldn't the only mode be standards mode? Ah, idealism.

...

When IE8 eventually ships, it will have three rendering modes, two of which are the already familiar "quirks mode" and "(not so) standards mode." In an IE team blog entry, IE Platform Architect Chris Wilson revealed a third mode that can be invoked by developers:

1. "Quirks mode" remains the same, and compatible with current content.
2. "Standards mode" remains the same as IE7, and compatible with current content.
3. If you (the page developer) really want the best standards support IE8 can give, you can get it by inserting a simple <meta> element.

This third mode will use a <meta> tag to specify that a page should use the behavior of a specific browser version. To get IE8 really-standard-this-time-we-mean-it behavior, a page will include an element like <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8" />. That says that a page should use IE8's behavior—and should use it even in IE9, IE10, or any future version. The first two modes will continue to use the doctype switch to choose between them.

Clear as mud? I thought so. (Read the whole article and it'll start to make sense, I promise.) Look, just don't use markup or style hacks. If you feel you "must" in order to get your design to work, adjust your design so that you don't have to use the hack. You'll thank me in the long run.

William Gibson: The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Interview

You can find the complete interview on RollingStone.com. Here's an excerpt.

What are the major challenges we face?

Let's go for global warming, peak oil and ubiquitous computing.

Ubiquitous computing?

Totally ubiquitous computing. One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between cyberspace and that which isn't cyberspace is going to be unimaginable. When I wrote Neuromancer in 1984, cyberspace already existed for some people, but they didn't spend all their time there. So cyberspace was there, and we were here. Now cyberspace is here for a lot of us, and there has become any state of relative nonconnectivity. There is where they don't have Wi-Fi.

In a world of superubiquitous computing, you're not gonna know when you're on or when you're off. You're always going to be on, in some sort of blended-reality state. You only think about it when something goes wrong and it goes off. And then it's a drag.

CoverItNow.com

CoverItNow is a platform for live-blogging events. Here is a test. I'm live-blogging my last hour in the office today.

My Congressman doesn't accept e-mail any more

I was on a Web site which allowed me to send what was basically a form-letter in opposition to a bill to my Congressman. I added a few lines of my own, put in my name and address and clicked send. Very simple, very easy. Well, here's the response I got:

Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting me!  It is important to hear from you about the issues facing the First District of Nebraska. 
In order to better serve you, I am redirecting all e-mail correspondence to my official website at http://fortenberry.house.gov.  This is an unattended e-mail box.  On my website you will find information regarding Constituent Services such as assistance with federal agencies, Washington D.C. tours, and flag requests.   
You will also be able to access links directly to all of the legislation that I have sponsored and cosponsored while I have been in office, as well as to my voting record as your Representative.  Additionally, my website provides resources on issues important to the First District of Nebraska such as strengthening national security, creating small business and rural economic opportunity, and promoting family life and culture.
Should you still wish to email me, please use the webform located on my website.  I sincerely appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States House of Representatives and my goal is to individually respond to each email (or letter or fax) in a timely manner.  Due to the often complex nature of the issues and the volume of mail and e-mail I receive, please allow 4-5 weeks to receive a written response to your inquiry.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact me.  Please do not hesitate to contact me again using the above link if you have additional concerns regarding a federal matter. 
Sincerely,
Jeff Fortenberry
Member of Congress

Well, isn't that special?

So basically, in order to "better serve" me, I'm forced to go to a particular Web site in order to voice my opinion and not be able to participate in e-mail campaigns without having to take several extra steps. Thanks Jeff.

Growing Up Online

Last night's episode of PBS' Frontline was all about kids and the Net.

In Growing Up Online, FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the very public private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about how the Internet is transforming childhood. "The Internet and the digital world was something that belonged to adults, and now it's something that really is the province of teenagers, " says C.J. Pascoe, a postdoctoral scholar with the University of California, Berkeley's Digital Youth Research project.

I've only watched excerpts so far but the whole program is available online on Frontline Web site. The best quote from the show I believe is "We have to look at our kids less like victims and more like participants."

LibraryThing does series

LibraryThing has added a new feature appropriately named "Series". Reading the announcement brought me back to my bookselling days when I created a notebook where each page contained a list of all the books in a series in publication order for all those customers who asked "which one is next?" Well, now the ability to to this is in LibraryThing.

To create a series, bring up the page for a book in the series and scroll down to the "Common Knowledge" area. Find the "Series (with order)" field and fill in the name of the series and the appropriate number in parenthesis. For example "The Monster Trilogy (1)". Do this for each of the books in the series. When you're all done, users can click on the series name on the book's page and get to a page dedicated to that series.

LibraryThing also allows for creating "multiple series" that a book can be associated with. Their example is the "publication order" vs. the "chronological order" for the Narnia books. [Note: I always read series in publication order. It's the way the author wrote them and as a result later books, although they may occur earlier in time, will assume you've read the earlier/later-in-time books and make more sense.)

Hitler explains Second Life

Blogging in Kearney

Hello from Kearney, NE. I'm currently having my students write their first blog post. This afternoon we'll be editing Wikipedia and creating our own wikis.

No matter what you've heard, don't buy Blu-ray... Yet.

I've got a HD-DVD player and a handful of movies for it. I didn't want to take sides but I got it refurbished (i.e. cheap) so who was I to argue. However, recent reports makes it look like Blu-ray may just win this format war. But don't let that cause you to run out and get a Blu-ray player just yet. Why not? Well, they're not forward compatible!

So here's how it's going to work: current players are Profile 1.0, and can play future hi-def discs but no bonus stuff. Profile 1.1 discs will include additional bonus material that won't play on 1.0 players—these discs will have a "Bonus View" sticker. Come October, Profile 2 capability will come to the market, which includes Internet activity, but only on Profile 2.0 players—these discs will have a "BD Live" sticker.

There is one notable exception: the Playstation 3. So, if you're going to get one of those, you won't have the above-described problem. If you want a stand-alone Blu-ray player, don't even think of getting one before Christmas.

Cemetery Dance

I've been having some fun with a tripod and image-editing software. Here's the best result so far. (Others are available via flickr.)

dan le sac VS scroobius pip

"Thou Shalt always Kill"

My dad's on TV, with the county sheriff!

Well, turns out it's not as bad as it sounds. He's promoting a event on the history of the Sheriff department. (My dad's the president of the town Historical Society.)

Little Brother is coming!

Get this widget!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

2007 Reading Statistics

Now that 2007 is over I can post all the stats I kept regarding my reading habits of the past 365 days. In 2007 I kept more detailed records so I'm just just relating "here's the number of books I read". The stats for 2007 are:

• Number of books read: 150, of those...
• Print books: 81
• Printed pages: 25826
• eBooks: 3
• Audiobooks: 52
• Fiction: 126
• Non Fiction: 24
• Graphic Novels: 14
• Male authors: 147
• Female authors: 16

A few notes on these numbers. The total number of authors will be higher than the total number of books since some books had multiple authors. These numbers do not include magazines and non-fiction articles. Also, I consider audiobooks "reading" though they can't be included in the page count.

Lastly, I'm totally surprised at the very low number of female authors that make up my reading habits. It isn't intentional but this is the first year I've tracked author gender so I don't know if it's typical or not.

Here's to a book-filled 2008!

Update 2 Jan 2008: The nubmers have been fixed.