Personal - I'm alive

If anyone cares. I've been working on UI. I'll show you when it's done so you can tell me how eggheaded it is.

Tech - Rich vs. Web client

Software development and management guru Joel Spolsky has just expressed (wonderfully, as usual), everything I've been talking about in recent months to anyone who'd stand still long enough. I feel vindicated. Firefox, HTML, .NET as crap. I didn't even know WinForms wasn't compatible with Avalon, but that just made it obvious. Web Applications are not jus the future - they are the current best answer.

Commentary - Stating the obvious

Mark Pilgrim has read a dumb book and wonders whether people are really that stupid. Well, here's a newsflash: since he's smarter than average, he's bound to find stuff aimed at people on the opposite side of the IQ spectrum more than a little dull. We all know that, because we're all smarter than average. Depending on how often I venture outside my usual techy-highbrow circles, I often find myself momentarily shocked at how some of these people can successfully function in society. The important thing to remember is: the future of our genome is up to us.

HP Fandom - PoA movie

I've seen it. 1. I still don't like how Ron is constantly shown as a coward and inferior to Harry in every way. The way he's always in the infirmary while Harry is off groping Hermione in the woods - he might just become a Death Eater. Though she does touch his hand and cry on his shoulder... 2. I don't remember any of that H/H in the book. But I have to admit - jailbait!Emma is quite fetching. Also, all this "only the smartest witch of her time can be a match to wonderful super hero Harry, who is the most powerful wizard of his time" makes some twisted kind of sense. 3. Sirius/Remus is now canon. 4. I don't like this Dumbledore. Or the old one, for that matter. 5. The time theme is interesting, I don't know if it has a special meaning. 6. I don't mind most of what they've changed, but every time I noticed it hurt a little. 7. It is much too difficult to understand without prior knowledge of the book. The people who were with me in the audience didn't get it. 8. Is Sirius' speech about the people we love never leaving us, even when they die, a kind of forshadowing? 9. I need to watch it two or three more times. But I'll wait to see it at home. 10. It was so condensed. How can they fit the fourth or fifth book in a movie???

Personal - Life Assessment Quiz

via Mark Pilgrim. Since Blogger doesn't yet feature military grade security I'll just let you guess how bad it is.

This Blog - XFN friendly

XFN is semantic markup for social relations on XHTML. Or something like that. Anyway, my bookmarks (on the left) now use it. Since those links are dynamically created in the client, you can't spider this page for that data, but at least now my friends can get a special CSS rule. :-)

Cool - Movie: Revenge Of The Nerds

I laughed out loud at some of the scenes and lines while watching this flick. It's a classic, and I can't believe I've never seen it before. Some of the things I've actually heard/seen IRL.

What I don't understand is why it had to be pro-drugs, voyeurism, infidelity and premarital sex (though I honestly don't mind the later half as much as the first three). Also, it was too short, too cliché (for nowadays at least) and too predictable. The characters were underdeveloped "Made in China" cardboard cuts and the plot was too far fetched (not to sound trite, but "fiction, unlike real life, has to make sense").

To sum it up: Some of the lines are part of public consciousness, but don't feel compelled to waste 90 minutes of your life, unless you're a nerd and have nothing better to do.

Thanks for minding my well rounded education, Lou, but it didn’t make me feel better. :-(

Web Tech - Training IE

Dean Edwards is God. IE7 is the only way I can imagine ever using IE again. It is evil because it makes an excuse for not switching, but it is a still bloody brilliant piece of work. I’ve seen and mentioned (and even used) his work before, but this latest update is just “wow”. If I ever figure out how to use it on blogspot, this blog will be re-designed. And of course, the FFDB interface will heavily depend on it.

HP Fandom/Web Tech - PhoenixSong.net redesign

I'm a markup Nazi, I say that upfront. I obsessively view source. I abhor Office-html. Mismatched angle brackets make me cringe. I know users don't care. Because of Tag Soup and Explorer's lenity, all user agents render, more or less in the best way possible almost any content, even the foulest things mangled by not too smart regular _expressions (100 points to the house of the first person who spots the reference).

But looking at this new design, I want to cry. What is that panel on the right? Why must I increase the font size to be able to read John's excellent fic? Why can't I increase the font size in the most popular browser on the web (considering the probable number of geeky Mozilla or Opera users in fandom, close to 99.9% of readers are M$IE users)?

Edit: Ooh, "for print" version. Now I'm satisfied. :-)