Slashdot Redesign
May 30, 2006 | 4 Comments
Last month Slashdot held a very open-ended competition for a redesign of the long overdue layout. I had initially thought I’d enter but laziness took the best of me and I never completed my design. The winner was Alex Bendicken who created a pretty clean and snazzy design. CmdrTaco estimates that the new design will go live in a couple of days…say goodbye to the eyesore that was the circa 1990’s layout.
The winner of the contest will be receiving a sweet laptop (valued at up to $4000) plus the bragging rights of redesigning one of the world’s most popular tech/geek blogs. Good times. Over the course of the contest I had been hoping Peter Lada’s design would win out, but Alex’s is just as snazzy (with fewer frills) so I’m happy.
School Punishes Student For Blogging From Home
May 25, 2006 | 6 Comments
Schools across the country are cracking down on student computer use; blocking social sites and proxy servers. Many schools are perfectly within their right to prevent teenagers from frequenting sites like MySpace, Facebook and Xanga while using school hardware. In all actuality, there is no real need for students to be on such social sites at school when it could impede on studying and perhaps pose a danger to the student (internet predators).
Do schools try to reach to far? This article seems to think so, as there is another school - Plainfield School District in Illinois - attempting to reach into the homes of its students and lay the smack down.
A 17-year-old student who posted on his blog site that he was being bullied and threatened by the Plainfield School District will face an expulsion hearing this week, a local attorney said.
Back in November, Pope John XXIII Regional Highschool decided to stretch their rights a little far and reach into the home of their students, threatening suspension to anyone that failed to delete their accounts on various social networking sites. My post - School Bans Social Websites - discusses this school’s attempt at control and has been met with a huge onslaught of student irritation.
Students are generally unhappy with this type of control - as well as the simple blocking of sites that many schools are doing - and are reacting in the only way they can…with their voice. They comment on my blog expressing their opinions (I’ve had 119 comments on that blog post as of this posting and they are still rolling in), they complain on their social sites, they blog. The 17 in this article blogged the following on May 2 (without mentioning the school the student wrote):
“I feel threatened by you, I cant even have a public Web page with out you bullying me and telling me what has to be removed. Where is this freedom of speech that this government is sworn to uphold? … Did you ever stop to think this will start a community backlash? The kids at Columbine did what the did because they were bullied. … In my opinion you are the real threat here. None of us ever put in our xanga’s that they were going to kill or bring harm to any one. We voiced our opinions. You are the real threat here. you are depriving us of our right to learn. now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.”
What are the school districts thinking? It is the parents job to police student’s internet usage at home, NOT the school’s. It doesn’t matter if the school doesn’t like the sites students visit or if a student says something bad about his school…they may be kids but don’t they get some level of free speech? The article states:
Superintendent John Harper, who cannot comment on student cases, said the district will take action if it believes there is a safety issue. Meanwhile a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union said school districts must be careful not to discipline students on matters that occur outside school. The student’s attorney believes Plainfield School District is overstepping its boundaries.
“The district is going to take away the student’s education for exercising his freedom of speech,” said attorney Carl Buck. “I feel like they are trying to control his freedom of speech. … He is saying, ‘You can’t bully people and we have a right to object and you can’t throw people out of school for voicing their opinions.’”
Schools simply need to wake up and smell the coffee. Block social sites at school if its impeding on school work, but don’t threaten and punish the kids for doing things at home. Educate them on the dangers of the internet and educate the families on the need for some policing of internet usage at home. I want schools to teach my kids (when I have them), not parent them.
In closing, here’s a line from the article sums up my opinions:
“It is not a crime to write things on the Internet – though we find them offensive, troubling and disheartening, it is not a crime[.]“
Firebug 0.4 Released. Can Web Development Be Any Sexier?
May 24, 2006 | 6 Comments
One of my must have extensions for firefox has a new version out! Firebug, if you don’t already know, is an Ajax/layout/javascript troubleshooter and is extremely well developed. In version 0.4, Firebug steps beyond the bounds of being a troubleshooter and can now be considered a full fledged debugger. Its new features include:
- JavaScript Debugger
- Stack Traces with JavaScript Errors
- Debug JavaScript Errors
- Logging levels and assertions
- printf-like String formatting
For more info, check out the release notes!
(note: I found out about this on Ajaxian)
Ghost Rider
May 23, 2006 | 9 Comments
The Ghost Rider teaser trailer is finally out. Even though I’m excited about the idea of a Ghost Rider movie, I’m still a bit iffy on the casting. Nicholas Cage is the Ghost Rider…Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but he seems odd in that role.
The graphics look decent and its bound to be pretty action packed, lets hope the story holds its own. I’m a huge fan of the superhero genre and the movies that have been coming out recently have been pleasantly good. My fingers are crossed on this one.
Now, its important to note that there are two trailers that were released…the international and the US version. The international one is by far the better of the two as the US version is missing: a run from the cops, a shot of Eva Mendes’ butt, and some extra melted objects. Zach seem to think its based on strict limitations to the trailer to keep it within the appropriate Trailer rating. Ah well…at least US version has text. Whoop-de-doo.
The scheduled release date for the US is February 16th, 2007. A little late to be a Valentine’s Day present for my wife…but I’ll see what I can do.
CSS Declaration Grabber Regular Expression
May 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I use the same tools for development as Zach over at NoSheep. EditPlus is a sexy editor with all its FTP goodness, and packaged along with it are a number of syntax definitions for various languages as well as regular expressions for grabbing function declarations for those languages. Whats so cool about EditPlus and those regular expressions is: when you hit CTRL+F11 a handy window pops up with all the function definitions so you can click and jump to them quickly.
Sadly, EditPlus does not provide the the declaration regular expression for CSS by default...Most likely because CSS does not have any functions. Well, I live in CSS files while developing web UIs and as most people know, the CSS declarations can be hell to find. So, if you find yourself in the same place and don't want to bother with an easy regular expression...here's mine:
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^[\t]*[a-zA-Z0-9\.# -_:@]+[\t]*\{.*[\t]*$
ZOMG Pwnt
May 18, 2006 | 2 Comments
Thank you. That is all.
Finally. A Cool Looking Human Clone.
May 16, 2006 | 6 Comments
After the success of cloning Dolly The Sheep, I am pleased to announce that scientists have finally perfected the Human clone. Check out the perfection as my clones check my tomato-mushroom-and-basil quiche, fetch me a cup of water, put bread in the breadbox, and place utensils in the dishwasher...all while I snapped their photo. All I can say is that my wife is one happy woman. Here are my clones:
Multimedia - Quizzes
May 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment
To help you along with the Final Preparation, here are the quizzes that we've done this semester:
Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 3, and Quiz 4
ITS Team Building Through Battle
May 7, 2006 | 7 Comments
Many thanks to Al, Erich, and Cliff for setting up another successfull ITS Paintball trip! Five ITS members participated - Alan Baker, Cliff Pearson, Erich Beyrent, Ted Wisniewski, and Me - along with Erich's brother Geoff and my wife, Abby. The trip down was swell and our first few games were small (consisting of just the 7 of us). Teams were split up initially as such:
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Team Fluffy Bunny: Me, Abby, Geoff and Cliff |
Team Squishy n00bs: Al, Ted, Erich |
I must say that Team Fluffy Bunny rocked the house until both teams were merged into one as more players joined in. A total of 19 games were played in 7 hours. I ended up sucking majorly halfway through the day getting no more than 2 kills a game (and often 0!).
Of all the players, though, Cliff shined through as the 1337 pwnz0r making all the n00bs cry in pain with his mad paintball skills. The rest of us did well (kill counts coming soon, perhaps), although Al, Ted, and Erich tended to last the longest in the later games...jerks.
We worked together, we killed together, and we died together...heck, there was a bit of team-killing going on to help us along with the dying part :) All in all, the day was a blast! We're hoping for more numbers the next go-round...if you haven't tried the sport, give it a go. Its an adrenaline rush...and; you get to rain paint down on your friends until they beg for mercy. What more could you ask for?
Luckily my wife was there to document some of the games with her spiffy new camera. Check out the gallery here. Here's a few sweet samples:
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Global Warming Causes Pirate Population Decrease
May 2, 2006 | 14 Comments
According to the following chart from Venganza, I am sad to say that we are seeing a steady decrease in the number of pirates in relation to the temperature. It seems these powerful pillars of society are unable to take the heat on the high seas, driving their numbers down.
Fighting global warming could change all that. Here are a few tips to increasing pirate populations in your area:
- Speak with/write to the government to increase the awareness of global warming (a.k.a. pirate population reduction...or PPR).
- Use fuel efficient vehicles.
- Drive smart, drive less.
- Buy energy efficient appliances.
- Replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
- Weatherize your home or apartment.
- Choose renewable energy.
- Find gold and bury it all over the world.
