August 2002 Archives

I have discovered true phatness in web browsers. I use a potpourri of web browsers from Mozilla 1.0 to IE 6.0, but not Netscape (Nut-Scrape) because A., It's shit, and B., I hate Mark Andreson. Oh, and don't forget Opera too.

Well, while WanderLust'ing, I came across a site that mentioned what browsers it looked good in. One of the browsers listed was Crazy Browser. This thing is the shit.

Long story short, Crazy Browser is a freewar web browser based on IE for the Windows platform. The developers subclassed, BHO'ed, and wrapped the shit out of IE. Therefore, with IE as the core, it's still the same rendering engine that you would have if you had just launched a naked IE. Ok, so why do you want IE on 'roids? Three reasons: features, features, features!

The first and foremost feature that I like is tabbed windows. This is the same as Opera and Moz 1.0. When I'm doing hardcore development work, I tend to have a large number of IE windows running, so to be able to consolidate then into one MDI interface is extremely handy. You can also lock tabs and then close unlocked ones when things start to get really busy.

Continueing with cool features, Crazy Browser has autocompletion in the address bar. For example, if I type "chocolate" and then hit Alt-Enter, the next thing I know, I'm at http://www.google.com/search?q=chocolate. This particular feature is what allowed me to use the browser, because there's no support for the Google Toolbar, and everyone knows how I feel about the GT!

Crazy Browser also has intelligent Popup Blocking. I'm assuming it works, but I can't be too sure. Some other features include starting the browser where you left off and language translation proxy support.

The current release version is 1.0.5, which was released on 4/4/2002. According to the FAQ at the Crazy Browser site, a new version is expected sometime around September or October. As with any other browser on the market, I suggest that you try them all. Lotsa browsers for lotsa folks.

:)

So, I installed a recommened XP patch from Microsoft, something having to w/ CD-RW's. Now, granted it said it was for people having trouble, and I wasn't, I said what the heck. Can't do any harm? Right?

You would think that after all this time I would have learned my lesson. But noooooooo! Ok, so here's the skinny on what happened. The first time I went to use Nero was tonight. Nero kept telling me to insert blank media. Third times a charm? Nah, the third Maxell that went into the drive came up NG.

With Google toolbar in hand, I searched the newsgroups for other unfortunate souls. What I was able to come up with was that perhaps my CD-RW needed a firmware upgrade. This is where shit really turned downhill.

After I installed the firmware, which BTW, went w/o a hitch, the drive proceded to open and then close. Upon closing, the drive started to make a God awful racket. Long story short, a phone cord dangling below the desk was caught between the lip of the tray and the faceplate. Of course I wasn't quite sure if this noise was supposed to be happening, but as it turned out, this was not by design. So, now the fun part.

After rebooting several times, the drive started to make some really horrible sounds, much worse then the cord stuck in the door. Oh, and BTW, it also no longer worked. I journied upstairs to explain to Meg why it had now taken over an hour to dupe one CD. I told her what was going on and that I had to perform some cyber-surgery. In other words, I was goin' in.

I proceded to expose the dust filled innerds of my machine to some fresh air. I picked it up off the floor and off to the bench in the garage it went. Once on the bench, I headed right for the drive. Ya know, it's kinda neat inside there. Anyhow, when I popped the cover off, a part fell out, but luckily I was able to figure out where it went.

Since at this point the drive couldn't be more broken then I though it was, what would be the harm in applying some juice? So I powered it up! Yes, that's right, real raw dawg stuff. And ya know what? No more noise.

So I reinstalled the drive, twice. Once w/o the CD audio cable and once with. Brought that baby back downstairs, reconnected the myriad of cables, and presto change-o, a-la peanutbutter & jelly sandwiches, everything worked.

So there ya go, install software patches from XP with extreme prejudice. :)

My new best friend is George Sheperd's WinForms FAQ at SyncFusion. It's become an indespensible resource. I would recommend it to anyone of means. ;)

Don't you just love it when you have your tunes on random and a great tune comes on?

So I helped some folks setup PHPNuke tonight. They didn't realize that PHP is CaSe sensitive. Once we fixed a config value, they were in business. I just seeing people say things like "thankyou!!!!!!", "woo!!!", and "I got in!!!!!!!!!!1". This is what helping is all about.

:)

A little something from the .net Server world.

Boy, things have been busy at work. I'm developing my first full scale .net application. It's chock full of .net keywords, such as Strongly Typed DataSets, Remoting, Windows Services, Imaging, to name a few. Thank goodness I can find help on the #C# channel on EfNet. The conversion volume tends to ebb and flow, so I can usually ask or answer a question each time I switch to my IRC client.

Why does DeviantArt have to be so slow. I'm thinking of asking them if they'd like a mirror. I made a cool background w/ Tux and I want to upload it, but I used another "Deviant's" work, so I need to give him credit, but finding it is painful to say the least. I mean I do understand that it is a free service, but if your going to provide a service, provide the service. Urgh! It's killing me.

Brain Dump Complete. :)

Very funny: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html

I just wrote an article on mod_rewite. Check it out here.

I just remembered, well my Amex bill reminded me, that I registered jerseybloggers.com. I gotta get on that.

I just executed:

find . -type d -maxdepth 1 -name "*" -exec tar cvfz ../src/{}.tar.gz {} \;

The problem is I always have to close my eyes before I hit enter. This is a relatively innocuous statement, but I have found that with Linux, you never know what's going to happen.

So, I don't remember if I mentioned, but i updated my Debian GNU/Linux box to ext3 on the primary partition. I'm getting a little tired of the power going out every time we have an electrical storm. I live in a brand new development; we shouldn't have such unreliable power. And come to think of it, PSE&G's monthly statement seems to come the very realiably. Hmm, I guess it's priorities.

Now I'm in the process of jockeying data around so I can resize the primary partition down so I can create a reiserFS partition, and then build LVM on top of it. I've received mixed signals from the guru's on the subject, but I does appear as if I should have my drive chopped up a bit more than it is. So, I figure I'll move /var and /home off to sep partitions, and then have / too. The split of the primary data partition will be the responsibility of LVM.

On a slighty different note, I'm still actively seeking part time consulting work. My business site is www.codenoevil.com. Anyone should be able to glean from that what type of work I am currently involved in. Also, my qualifications can be found by viewing my resume. If this doesn't apply to you, but you know of someone who it does, please pass my name along. Thanks.

:)

I just upgrade to ext3 on the primary partition on my Linux box. the howto is here.

I have been coding a server app in .net for a wk and a half now. I can tell you one thing, I love it as much as I hate it. It's the same as this quote:

``The great thing about mod_rewrite is it gives you all the configurability and flexibility of Sendmail. The downside to mod_rewrite is that it gives you all the configurability and flexibility of Sendmail.''
-- Brian Behlendorf
Apache Group

I feel this way about the .net Framework too. I have remoting setup, and let me tell you that this is some cool stuff. I've always been facinated by telecommunications, so this is a blast for me. Perhaps I'll get myself some ASP hosting so I can put some remoting objects out there for people to muck with.

BTW--
The tattoo is still doing well. It starting to set in. I took the towel to it for the first time and some flaked off. I ran to Meg to ask if this was normal, of which she reassured me that this way S.O.P. for a tattoo. I still really like it. I'm in the midst of d/l'ing Win2K SP3, so I'm bloggin' away.

So what else is happening? Um, oh, Meg's friend Kim finally had her baby. She was almost a wk overdue. Samantha Love was 7lbs 11oz. I hear she's cute. My neice is giving my sister a run for her money. She's not the silent type, nor does she sleep. I'm sure she'll be fine; seven months from now!

Oh oh, I have to tell you, I'm getting a new cell phone! An Ericsson t68m. Now, this baby is sweet. It has Bluetooth, which will allow me to use a wireless headset. Now, the best part about it, is it can be upgraded to the same software as the t68i. Then it will be rockin'! I'll let ya know how it goes.

:)

You may or not believe this, but Saturday night I got a tattoo. It's my daughter's name, and it's on my left arm, just below the shoulder. Ok, so what possesed me to do such a thing? Let me tell you, this was no spur of the moment thing. Meg and I had discussed this for quite some time.

Meg had asked me to get her name a while back and I was still very anti-tattoo at the time. But just like Meg said on Saturday, w/ J in our lives, we know love like nothing else, and I can never get enough of her. Now I'll carry her along with me all the time, and not just in my heart, but on my person too.

I would imagine that at this point, you'd like to see it, so here's a pic:

I kinda think it looks a little East L.A., but that's part of it's charm.

Yes, I did show my pussy side. It didn't hurst as much as I had anticipated, but for some reason, I got very light headed, and Meg said I was white as a ghost. The dude doing piercing said, "Todd, you better check your boy in the chair." I did come close to loosing it when the piercer took out a banana. I had Meg make sure he didn't eat it.

I didn't get much sleep and the next moring when I removed the bandage, I was sick to my stomach all over again. Safe to say, I'm fine now. The artist's, and I mean artist, name is Todd Vargas. Some of his work can be found here. Him and I are going to discuss his own site. My sister lived the prerequesit number of years in the East Village to design in the dark. If you can imagine, it took him longer to draw it out, then to actually do the tattoo.

Meg and I were pretty insistant that we didn't want any canned stencil. I want to be able to say, this is a Todd Vargas, not some anonymous picture on the wall artist. BTW, Todd came as a recommendation from Tyson. Tyson must be in LA because his cars are covered. I'll show it to him when he gets back.

:)

The Register just reported a security exploit in the Google toolbar (of which I am a user). As noted, the toolbar has an auto-update feature, so everyone will get patched automatically. If you want to make sure, GreyMagic (the security firm who discovered this) has a page setup that shows the exploits, and how to check if your brower is vulnerable.

Links:

Register article: Dangers of the Google tool bar exposed

GreyMagic: GreyMagic Security Advisory GM#001-MC

Nate has provided me with most excellent Phatness. Turns out MS has provided a plug-in to the .net IDE for creating XP themes. I'm hoping this will allow for themes that do not require running those stupid addon programs like ThemeXP (or whatever its called). Anyhow, here's the link:

Creating a Visual Studio .NET Add-In to Provide Windows XP Theme Support

:)

Another Nate special:

You are 38% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

I mentioned the other day that I was bored w/ PHPNuke for the www.codenoevil.com. I was looking at MX System. It's a portal based around phpBB. Let me know what you think.

I've got a serious jones for toys! I must get some wireless LAN action goin' on so I can make use of the Jornada my dad gave me last holiday season. I was going to follow an article I saw on a remote control app for an mp3 player, in Java. Also, I figure I'll wip up a Linux 802.11 Access Point too.

Also, I had a hankering for a new Linux box w/ an ATA RAID setup. I'm getting some moldy hardware from my dad, which is fine for Linux :). His tech guy says they have plenty of 1.6GB drives lying around. The 3ware 7000 series ATA RAID card is around $300, but I can get RAID 5 across four IDE drives. Certainly a savings over SCSI, and since I have no mission critical apps running in the garage, what's a little ATA RAID going to do?

Oh, so my biggest prob is the fact that I _must_ replace my desktop. Yes, mattingly did get a needed memory improvement, but it is sorely lacking HD space, and proc speed. It ain't even 1GHz (cue laughter). Ooh, before I forget, my boss said he was given the OK to buy me a new machine. Now, before I go yelling Bling! Bling!, he's still vacelating on the dual flat panel config. Whatever for, I have no idea \o/. So, thanks to Nate, I'm throwing every reason why you would want that at him. Wish me luck.

I ripped a bunch of new CD's over the last wk or so. Drop me a line, and I'll clue ya in as to where you can browse the cache ;). So, what else? J's awesome. Meg has a sinus headache, bummer.

Tyson gave me the name of a tattoo artist, and I spoke with him Saturday night. He works nights at a place on 6th Ave btw 3rd and 4th (next to the Taco Bell). Todd Vargas, the tattoo guy, works from 8p to 2a (4a on the wkends), so Meg and I are going to go next Saturday night. It's going to be J's name, but stylilistic suggestions are always welcome. I saw a picture of Todd showing off a tat he did on Busta Rhymes, so he must be good.

--end drivel

I feel like my arm has been severed. We're experiencing bad thunderstorms, and power fluxes, so my Linux box, aptly name "Jordyn", is shutdown. What is a compter junky to do?

So I'm listening to Dick's Picks Vol. 10, and I get to what has to be my favorite Grateful Dead tune, Eyes of The World, and I started wondering about the lyrics. A quick Google search took me to The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics: a Web Site that actually had the lyrics annotated. How awesome is that? When I hear the song, all I can think about is J. She's the eyes of my world. It's just shame that J will never go to a Dead show. Ooh, before I forget, I bought J a Jerry Garcia doll from Gund. Gund made only 100K of them. I found a good blurb on them at N&J Collectibles. Oh, and incase you didn't know, our dog Jerry, um, I think you can gather where the name came from. :)

Ok, quiz of the day, What Jedi Are You. This is mine:

Which Jedi Knight are you? go to:the quiz!


You're anakin. Congratulations.
You are the one who is destined to
bring balance to the force, Whatever the hell that means. Until
that time comes, however, you're happy
just being a really annoying and angsty teenager. Yeah, you might
end up being all kinds of awesome
once you're Darth Vader, but just cool it for now- you're likely
to make many more enemies being the
shithole Hayden Christiansen portrays you as.

BTW, don't blame me, that was generated HTML from the quiz site.