the art of writing is discovering what you believe
I’m just not a fan of IIS 6.0 (Internet Information Services- Microsoft’s web server) because administration is overly complex. Gimme Apache and PHP any day. But this is a huge company so open source won’t cut it.
I thought those days were behind us? The only big company around here that I can see insisting on IIS and SQL Server is the one that makes them both.
I closed comments on all entries created prior to June 30 of last year. This was partly an exercise in using MySQL to manipulate multiple entries (in this case, 963 of them).
UPDATE `mt_entry` SET `entry_allow_comments`=2 WHERE `entry_created_on` <= "2003-06-30:00:00:00"
[Posted with ecto]
But he’s a pretty distant second . . .
1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%) Click here for info
2. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT – Democrat (79%) Click here for info
3. Sharpton, Reverend Al – Democrat (77%) Click here for info
4. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH – Democrat (76%) Click here for info
5. Edwards, Senator John, NC – Democrat (71%) Click here for info
6. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR – Democrat (69%) Click here for info
7. Kerry, Senator John, MA – Democrat (67%) Click here for info
8. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO – Democrat (65%) Click here for info
9. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT – Democrat (45%) Click here for info
10. Libertarian Candidate (29%) Click here for info
11. Phillips, Howard – Constitution (12%) Click here for info
12. Bush, President George W. – Republican (9%) Click here for info
(I only linked to my top three contenders: go take the test yourself and see how you do.)
[Posted with ecto]
Continue reading “apparently, I’m a Dean backer . . .”
I have been playing this for a few days now with no discernable improvement: I found a really informative tutorial and felt like I had learned a little about the dynamics of the game. But trying my hand at the game here (admittedly, I am playing against a computer, so perhaps my expectations need to be tempered), I’m still able to lose by the number of points on the board. It’s as if I never placed a single stone.
I realize where my main problem is: I have not yet figured out how to see at a glance (or even a prolonged stare) how the territory breaks out. So I have no idea how badly I’m doing until the game is over and scored. I’m getting a little better at it, but I think that’s the hardest part: if there was some way to have the breakdown of territorial control highlighted for beginners (this client software doesn’t support, nor does any other I’ve seen: probably not anything any moderately intelligent person needs), I would find it immensely useful.
Ah, well, I’ll persevere and see if I learn any more.
Posted with ecto
Christmas gift today: my first trip to Benaroya Hall to see one of the true masterworks . . .
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Alexandra Deshorties, soprano
Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano
Clifton Forbis, tenor
Clayton Brainerd, baritone
Seattle Symphony Chorale
Seattle SymphonyWagner: Siegfried Idyll
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Choral
First day of Winter Break from school: a trip over to Carkeek Park yielded some nice sights, of which these are worth sharing.
The alt tags are as close as I’ll get to captioning these.
The Seattle Times: Pacific Northwest Magazine
As of 11:04 p.m. tonight, the longest night of the year, we are talking nearly 16 hours of darkness.
The pictures that accompany this article are magical: take a look.
Tim Bray doesn’t feel quite the same way about the quality of light up here, though I’m just 3° south . . .
Educated Guesswork: December 2003 Archives
Why don’t we just tax gasoline more?
Interesting ideas, and as usual, Eric musters a lot of good information in support of his position.
But as discussed in an earlier thread, I’d like to see the whole idea of car taxes rethought.
We tax two things: the privilege to drive on public roads and the gas it takes to do that. As we see in every state, it seems, these two levers are never pulled in concert. We play with the gas tax (or the CAFE standards) or we monkey with license fees (license plates, car tabs: usage varies by state). In some cases, like Washington and California, the license fees are cut to the bone.
I agree that per-gallon taxes (essentially usage fees) are regressive: you drive more, you pay more, especially if you drive an older, less efficient car. And while I agree that a per-gallon tax makes a lot of sense, I still think we should connect the license fee and the usage fee as part of the overall funding of our transportation system. That’s why I suggested in the referenced post that we institute a per-gallon tax/usage fee based on curb weight. If the increased axle loads of these increasingly enormous SUVs is wrecking the roads, their owners should pay a proportionally larger share of the upkeep: long-haul truckers are familiar with this already.
The bottom line is that there should be a more direct link in the taxpayer’s mind between the
the price for access to some good and the decisions they make that set that price.
Movable Type’s Spam Hole | Metafilter
Movable Type 2.64 contains a major vulnerability to spammers. The spam hole, which exists in all versions of the program downloaded before November 26, centers around the mt-send-entry.cgi script, which can be co-opted by spammers who then use your domain and resources to do their dirty work. Users are encouraged to download and install the new “secured” version of mt-send-entry.cgi or to remove the file from their installation altogether. (If it is not being used, it can be safely deleted without affecting other MT functionality.) The question does arise though, with literally tens of thousands of MT users affected by this vulnerability, why didn’t anyone at Six Apart think that this news warranted an announcement anywhere beyond the Movable Type news blog?
A lively thread ensued at MetaFilter, but the bottomline for me is, a. they asked me to sign up to a mailing list which would be where I would expect to see information like this and b. I also donated to SixApart which I would hope counted as some kind of vote of confidence (in addition to using their stuff for almost 2 years) and that should entitle me to a “heads up” when something like this comes up.
Color me annoyed.
From the Desk of David Pogue: Customer-Service Cluelessness
Either there’s a plague of cluelessness sweeping the country’s customer-service systems, or a sinister, sneaky sort of thievery is going on. The worst part is that there’s no satisfaction in catching the culprits and calling them on it—because your time is worth something, too, and you don’t get any reimbursement for that.
I favor the “sinister, sneaky sort of thievery” argument.
Downsized packaging is nothing new: coffee companies introduced the 13 oz. pound years ago, and candy bars and bleach are among the many products that have converted to more diminutive sizes. Despite the downsizing furor, Mayfield expects to sell the same number of 56 oz. units this year as it sold 64 oz. cartons last year.
Give ’em an inch, and they think they’re a ruler, as my officemate said earlier this week. They’ll take whatever they can get away with. In the old days, when you watched the merchant fill your container, there was no way he could get away with this. But now, they figure it’s a “take it or leave it” proposition: do you take it or leave it?