Random thoughts, organized and categorized for your consumption.
Archive for February, 2005
Smart Playlists, Voting, and Discovery
Feb 27th
An interesting phenomenon is occurring in my music library and I wonder if I’m alone in this behavior. I find that if I make smart playlists in my music and media player of the moment, then vote on the songs that appear in that playlist, then begin to weed out the songs I don’t really like all that much, that I am in fact listening to only about 10% or so of my total music library.
This gets me wondering: is the majority of music that I (and others) have actually crap or is there just no good way to relate More >
Losing Touch with Your Users
Feb 27th
In a burst of creative energy I decided to do some clean-up work around the old web site today, fixing broken modules, freshening CSS code, and the like. I occasionally try to fix the forever broken IE PNG bug known as the gray bar on this web site. In a futile attempt, I went to my trusty Google Desktop Search bar (highly recommended if you don’t have it) and typed in “IE6 PNG bug” and got back this juicy nugget:
Now, given where I work and the places I have worked I am the last More >
Wordpress Upgrade to 1.5
Feb 17th
I have finished updating this site to the latest version of WordPress, version 1.5 as of this writing. A few bumps came along for the ride, since it asks you to delete you old directory (after backup!) and then pull back in only the parts you need. It seemed a little cranky after install, but I’m slowly dropping things back in as I find them busted.
It seems a bit faster than before and the templates promise to be much easier. We shall see what new features appear as I learn more about this release.
You can get it here: WP 1.5
More >When Trips go Bad
Feb 17th
I had another trip down to LA this week and it didn’t go as well as it could have. Being me, I should have known something was up right away when…
- I got to the airport and found that I’d left some critical data at home
- Got to Hertz and they couldn’t find my reservation
- Finally got a reservation, but got a crappy Kia rental
- Made it into the LA office but was locked out because my badge doesn’t work there
- Checked into the hotel, got a 1st floor room, found out too late at night I had an ant infestation
- Got bitten by said ants
- Checked More >
First Impressions: Sony SDM-HS74P LCD monitor
Feb 6th
What can I say about this monitor? It rocks, it is certainly the best looking and brightest LCD display I’ve ever used. It handles games very well (with its fast <8ms response time) and eats so much less power than a CRT. It takes up much less desk space, is easier to move around, and looks cooler as well. I’m positively smitten with it.
I won’t waste time giving you all the specs (you can find them here if you want them) but its 1280×1024x72hz goodness, super sharp, great contrast, and stare at the sun bright. Yes, its about $600, but 19″ monitor More >
Comments Removed Again
Feb 6th
I’m giving up the fight to allow real folks to comment on this blog. It seems that no matter what I do I just can’t stop the flow of dumb marketing spam for online gaming, viagra, and other such internet institutions. So comments are now off indefinitely.
Another Case of "The Magic Smoke" Escaping
Feb 2nd
I put together my third PC, the “alternate” that I wanted to use as my server in the basement, but that I had left by the wayside for a while. In my quest to “get it done” I hurriedly slapped everything together and screwed everything back into the case. It looked good at the time, anyway.
Upon applying power I was met with the distinctive smell of cooking silicon, and a small waft of “magic smoke” slipped up past my side. Now the motherboard doesn’t even power on and I likely cooked the CPU and the motherboard. I got in a More >