Author: Dave Shevett

A wandering geek. Toys, shiny things, pursuits and distractions.

Another great idea on ‘solar’ power

Saw this one over on GizMag…

Want cheap, green electricity? The Australians have a simple answer. First, build a 20,000-acre greenhouse to trap and heat air. Then build a colossal tower 1 km (.62 miles) tall in the middle of it. The warm air from the greenhouse will rise through the tower as it would through a chimney, turning turbines and generating enough electricity to power 200,000 Australian homes. It may sound like science fiction, but the project is on track to get approved by the Australian government. If completed, the $800 million solar tower will be the tallest man-made structure in the world.

Time Magazine had it in their 2002 ‘Best Inventions’ category.
$800 million, powers 200,000 Australian homes, and uses up no fuels, and has very little maintenance. AND the greenhouses can be used for other things – all they have to be is hot. I’ll take it!

Summer, 1999.

In 1999, my dad rented a house out on Fire Island, and invited the family to come out for a week or so. Zach was less than a year old, and I hadn’t seen my sister in quite a while. They came out, and we all spent a week together on the island.

It was an important time for our family. Many of us thought it was the last time we’d see Dad – we knew his health wasn’t that great, and wondered if this was his way of saying goodbye. In some ways it was, but he slugged it out another 2 years, including another week out at the house the next summer.

This visit was rough because Zach was so young and needed 100% of both Cat and my’s attention, and it was ALMIGHTY hot there – that summer-in-New-England humidity-laden-heat that makes it impossible to sleep well, let alone with a clingy toddler.

I remember when I was there, we actually ended up leaving early (after 3-4 days) because of the sand, heat, and the bugs, and I don’t remember anything particularly inspiring about it. But looking back now, it was an opportunity to get a picture like this one, an option we don’t have anymore.

In the front is me with Rosie, my dad’s dog.

In the back, from left to right, are:

My dad died about 4 years ago now. I think about him all the time.

Music rhythm button smacked but hard.

I swear Stevie Wonder is one of the least acknowledged masters of modern music. Radioparadise just served up his beautiful mix of soul and gospel “As“. The pattern of… well, it’s not really a refrain. It’s a series of 12 measures sung gospel style with a female chorus, backing Stevie. The pattern just settles right onto you and you can’t help but start dancing to it…
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky
Until the ocean covers every mountain high
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream
Until the day is night and night becomes the day
Until the trees and seas up, up and fly away
Until the day that 8x8x8x8 is 4
Until the day that is the day that are no more
Until the day the earth starts turning right to left
Until the earth just for the sun denies itself
Until dear Mother Nature says her work is through
Until the day that you are me and I am you
Loving you…

Just dead on the spot for me tonight. Thank you RP!
Full lyrics are here.

Google toy du jour

Go to google, or, if you’re in Firefox, just click or select the Google search field. Type ‘define: something’ – something can be anything you’re trying to look up.
Google returns with a (usually fairly accurate) guess about the definition of that word, based on other lookups.
Since I’ve gotten totally annoyed with sites like Dictionary.com and the like (which regularly take 20 seconds just to come up with the input form), this is a great shortcut.

Yet another reason to abandon IE.

I spent another chunk of today (probably inappropriately) doing more tuning on the blog. This was inspired by a few articles I was reading on Google AdSense tuning, as well as some other tweaks I wanted to do with the page layout.
This turned into a fairly major series of fixes, including finally replacing the top banner with an appropriate background graphic. Doing so uncovered a problem with the ‘date’ tabs that I have over each days postings, so that image needed to be re-rendered.
Please do take a chance to visit it and let me know what you think.
I use The Gimp for all my graphic editing, and while it has a somewhat arcane interface, it’s undeniably a powerful tool. I re-rendered the tab (6 ways from sunday actually, but that’s another story), and posted it.
The problem is that the graphic used for the tabs is a PNG file, a vastly superior file format to GIF and JPG, but one not well supported by IE. Why not? This is still a mystery – it’s not like Microsoft hasn’t been informed of the problem since IE 5.5, but I digress.
Apparently, there is no fix for a transparent background on a PNG file, particularly when embedded in a stylesheet. I’ve decided that most of the readers coming to PG probably are using something more capable than IE, and if they’re not, the page does render, there’s just an odd shadow near the tab itself.
For a demonstration of the PNG fault in IE, here is a set of pages that walk through the problem with transparency support in IE.
I’m still waiting for a realistic reason people are still using IE over Firefox.

Ambient Dashboard – now THIS is cool

As mentioned on Boingboing, Ambient Devices makes a nifty retro-esque system for displaying realtime data in a traditional ‘analog needle’ mode.
The ‘Dashboard‘ consists of 3 analog meters with replacable backdrops. It receives it’s data via FM subcarrier, configured via a web browser. You can go to their site and tell your unit what you’d like to display. Current stock market values? Temperature outside? Amount of traffic to your website today? All of these can be represented in realtime.
The Wireless Weblog has a full review of the unit, including information on the subscription service and everything. Just plain neato.
[Edit 11:58am – Sorry bout that, bad tag in the image. Fixed. -dbs]

Web Developer Firefox Plugin

I do a fair amount of ‘web development’, meaning I tend to write things that are viewable via a web browser. Whether they’re posted on my blog, or on other sites I sometimes maintain, generally my preferred ‘user interface’ is a web browser.
I’ve been using a plugin for quite a while called “Web Developer Extension“. It’s a set of tools that integrates tightly with Firefox and lets you do all the things a web developer needs to do to make sure his or her application is displaying properly.
The most useful feature I’ve found is ‘Outline block elements’ and ‘Display ID and Class Detail’ – these functions change your displayed page and draw lines around all your block level elements (such as ‘div’ and ‘table’ and ‘span’), and can also label them with what class and ID they are.
When dealing with multiple nested CSS elements, this sort of display can save HOURS trying to track down what element belongs to what container, particularly when working with content management systems like Movable Type.
The plugin is non-intrusive, and is only triggered when you select it off the menu. I can’t imagine doing web development without it.

CSS noodling, PHP coding, and other geek fun.

I’ve just arisen from my death-like existence for the past 2 days, and it appears I’ve just about shaken off the evil cold that has had me in it’s grips since Sunday night. I wasn’t even able to read email for more than 5 minutes without getting woozy. Talk about tragic.
So, in a burst of “I’M BACK!” I’ve done a bunch of LONG needed updates to Planet-Geek and the MT Comments Counter:

  • Fixed the Comments preview function so it actually renders properly.
  • Revamped the color scheme in the individual archive view – so comments and their authors are no longer in that weird green tint. Not sure what I was thinking there.
  • CSS layout on individual archives and the main page were blocked wrong so it was very easy to have the ‘links’ sidebar disappear, relegated to the bottom of the page. This should be fixed so that sidebar will only move if you make your browser VERY narrow (comments on this please, I’m only evaluating with Firefox).
  • We still don’t have TypeKey support enabled, but we’re still working on it! Anyone who has suggestions on how to get it working properly in MT 3.14 I’d love to hear it.
  • On the MTC counter, I’ve changed from a single-image stream function to generating the graphic totally on the fly. This allows multiple-digit displays for very comment-heavy postings, as well as removing the need for a directory full of graphic images.

A good few hours of noodling. Check it out, let me know if anything needs tweaking, or if things just Look Terrible [tm].

So, let me get this straight.

In 1997, 2 years after the Republicans gained control of the house, they changed a key rule in how the ethics committee could start an investigation of a house member. The rule change was that if 50% of the committee requested a probe, then it would happen. That change was so that a single party could not ‘block’ the investigation of someone in another party.
Sounds good, right? Almost makes sense.
But Tom Delay just changed the rules again. NOW it takes a majority. This rule was put in place when, shockingly, the 10 member committee voted 3 times in 2004 to admonish DeLay, and talk of a probe into more ethics violations by him was rumored. DeLay took decisive action:

After the 10-member committee admonished DeLay three times in 2004 and talk of a possible probe by the committee grew, Republican leadership in the House changed a central rule. The committee can now launch an investigation only if a majority of members support the idea.

DeLay, of course, responded quickly with a rebuttal of these allegations:

DeLay has called himself the victim of “just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me” and has lashed out at Democrats for a “strategy of personal destruction.”

I think Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California, says it best:

“What bothers me is the Republicans, when things aren’t going their way, tend to try to change the rules.”

and Barney Frank continues…

“The Republican Revolution came in [and] changed the rules so that one party couldn’t block an investigation of its own member,” Frank told NBC. “And when that began to bite, they’ve changed them back again. That’s the pattern, by the way, that the Republicans have engaged in on a whole lot of things.”
Frank said he and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were reprimanded by the committee.
“The difference between us and Mr. DeLay is, I think, we changed our behavior,” he said. “Mr. DeLay changed the Ethics Committee.”

We’ve seen this over, and over, and over again. We saw it in Texas with the totally idiotic re-districting.
What does it take to bring this man, and the rest of the Republican party, under control?

Datestamp That Page!

The last few years have seen Google replace many other traditional forms as the de facto standard way of doing research. If a question comes up or a person is doing research, invariably the first thing folks do is ‘google it’.
While working on my current Java project, I’ve had to learn a ton of new technologies. Generally the way I do this is google a term or concept and pick which of the answers best seems to answer my question. This works quite well, and in general I get the information I need.
Many times however I’ll find a paper, a page, a set of answers, etc that -seem- helpful, but the problem is I don’t know when they were written. The person publishing the page simply does not datestamp the page anywhere. This is particularly maddening when dealing with a constantly evolving technology such as Linux or Java. What was ‘best practice’ or ‘the new method for doing [x]’ 5 years ago (or even 2 years ago) is no longer the appropriate process.
Too many people are publishing pages that simply don’t give a time reference.
The most recent one was when I was looking up information on Linux tablet PC drivers for a set of tablet computers I saw on eBay. That took me to LinuxSlate, a page apparently about, well, slate drivers. Duh. 🙂
No where on that page is a hint of a datestamp. When was it last updated? How recent is that information? If it’s old, then I know to continue looking around for more current documents.
So, for the greater good. if you publish documents or pages detailing in particular technical information for the greater good, fer chrissake, DATESTAMP IT. A footer saying “Last updated: 1/2/33” is all that’s needed. Really.
This has been brought to you by the Society for a More Helpful Internet.

New LJ.XML feed.

I’ve just switched my RSS feed into LJ over to the new format I’ve been working on. This may cause a huge update into LJ, but due to how LJ handles feeds, there’s nothing I can do about that.
The new footer has a dynamic counter that shows how many comments have been posted on an article in real time. If you refresh your LJ page, you’ll see the comment counter update.
I’ve also changed the text around a little bit to make it easier to read comments and add new ones.
For those reading via other aggegators, this has replaced the old RSS feed for LJ. If you want to subscribe to it, use https://planet-geek.com/lj.xml.
Feel free to let me know if you have any comments or suggestions or just plain criticisms 🙂
[Update : apparently it didn’t cause a huge cascade. I’m relieved :)]

Some comments on the Mac vs PC vs Apple debate

There was an interesting article posted on Slashdot this morning, pointing to a Windows Guru’s impressions of Mac OSX Tiger, the next version of Apple’s OS for Macs.
In the Slashdot posting, the author says:

In the article, he actually confesses that he has ‘been a Mac fan [his] entire life.’ Interesting, considering some of his criticism of Apple’s work in the past.”

I posted a reply, reproduced here for those not willing to wade into Slashdot’s comments forums – a decision I can totally understand 🙂 :

Very few people can dispute that Apple has made some of the sexiest, most interesting systems that have come down the pike. The Mac was a masterful bit of design at introduction, and even though it was looking a bit long in the tooth as MacOS 8 and MacOS 9 were coming along, you couldn’t argue that the environment set the tone for making GUI’s useable as a primary interface.
OSX is a FANTASTIC piece of software, jumping the Mac platform squarely into Unix land (where we all knew desktop systems should have been all along, right?) while also providing a wonderful desktop experience.
On the other hand, Apple the corporation has made truly painful decisions that have alienated a lot of the ‘apple fans’. The one that comes to mind was the decision to cancel the Newton, just when it was showing promise. Apple has a history of driving new technologies through to maturity, and with the Newton 2100, the platform had just gotten to the point of usefulness when it was cancelled. Did this make me less of a Mac fan? No. Did it make me less of an Apple fan? Absolutely.
I have on my desk a Mac Mini (for my mom), an old iMac (to test Safari pages), a Shuttle box running Windows XP, and my primary platform, an IBM T40 running Debian Linux. Of the 4, the most pleasant to work on is the Mac Mini. The most productive is the Linux Laptop. The best for game playing is the XP machine. The iMac is just there to look cool (as cool as purple gumdrops get).
I’m still a fan of Macs. I’m an okay fan of Apple. The OSX decision was masterful. Will I use it as my primary platform? Probably not, the price point on their proprietary hardware is still too high (Thinkpad T40 used: $800. Powerbook of similar power used: $1800, plus OSX licenses).

Insane bicyclists.


Inspired by my bikeride posting yesterday, EJbythesea pointed me at this collection of insane bike videos. I’ve watched a few of them, and in particular the drag race through NYC (linked with the image above) is insane.
On the one hand, I think these people are loopy. On the other hand, I can -totally- see the adrenalin rush from doing this. Predicting all the patterns and knowing that that bus will NOT close the gap narrower than your handlebars, and that person crossing the street WILL stop before you get there, and that car on the crossstreet WILL be gone by the time you get there.
Think I’ll go ride some more.
[Edit: there was some bad markup in this, I fixed it, but LJ may take up to an hour to update. Sorry! -dbs]

Review: Tactics Arena

Game: Tactics Arena
Language: Flash
Category: Board / Tactics
Tested on: Debian Linux + Firefox
Rating: 5 out of 5
Offered by: Tao Games (link)

Back in the good ole’ days, a couple bright lights came up with a new computer board game that was a variant of Chess. The game was called Archon and became a huge success not only due to its novelty, but also because of it’s excellent gameplay and presentation. Many folks have fond memories of playing this game for hours on end on Apple and Commodore computers.

While stumbling around looking for tonights entertainment, I found Tactics Arena. This is a Flash based game that comes in as one of the most polished and well done games I’ve seen seen in a while.

The game consists of playing pieces on a board. The pieces can move, attack, and turn, and when and what they can do depends on their piece type and when they last moved. For instance, a Cleric can cast a healing spell on all your pieces, but can’t move again for 4 turns after that. Assassins can attack everything within reach of their space, but can’t move for 2 turns afterwards. Sorceresses have a nice area-effect fireball that can be delivered at a distance, etc etc.

The gameplay is very well balanced. It becomes immediately apparent that the key to winning is understanding the full capabilities of your pieces, including their strengths and their weaknesses. An assassin does enormous damage at close range, but has very little defense. A knight can do enormous damage, but doesn’t move too fast. You get the idea.

There’s not a lot of ‘plot’ or anything. Basically the gameserver environment consists of ‘lobbies’ where folks can gather together and challenge each other to games. Players are ranked on a points system similar to Chess (a basic player starts out with 750 points). This just a layer to make the whole system more competitive. Don’t let it fool you though. The game is a great head to head, “Lets go play Tactics” with a friend game. The in-game chat is great for snarky commentary (‘I knew you were going to do that.’), but doesn’t get in the way of the game play.

The chat room(s) are about what you’d expect on an online ‘head to head’ gaming room with a distinct fantasy bent. A lot of 3l337 yammering, but don’t let that fool you. Find a set of players, pick up a table, and go play.

If you like playing chess, and like playing fantasy-oriented tactical games, then this is one you should definately take a look at.