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I thought I was going to go and do great things... and then I hit a brick wall and a half on the Rails project. Getting a little too ambitious, I guess. In happier and more encouraging news, however, I finally saw what was going to be required for the first code release, and I’ve passed that benchmark handily. Plus, a lot of the things I planned on doing (like AJAX) are considered to be icing on the cake. (Although I’ll bet the CSS styling is definitely in for them. Some pretteh will have to be applied, after all) Plugins are even advanced coursework for this particular release. As I said, I might decide to separate out some of the code... or I might not. I’ve gotten a lot of this to work as it is (actually, depending on what I end up doing, separating out the extra bits might not be that hard. Especially if I take the snapshot on the later occasion and then gradually let it fall away to what’s being asked of me. (Or I’ll just toss up what I get at that particular occasion, call it the first release, and go to work on the other ones. Who knows?)
In the absence of progress on that particular front, however, I made some other progressions. I think the flier is close to being ready for primetime, and then it’s a matter of doing up the other reports. Again, depending on the weekend’s ability and drive, I could put myself in a really good situation for the end of the semester.
So, here come the links. Tom Blanton asks us Are we safer in the dark?, referring to the general governmental policy of secrets and slowness in releasing those documents, even when legally requested. His conclusion is that we are not safer in the dark, and that there might be a little bit more light coming out of government documents as more pressure is applied by the people to get things opened.
In other political matters, even war supporters sometimes decide to make comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. In this particular case, however, the group called Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform believes that the media and anti-war groups are recycling "massive lies" from the anti-war protesters in the 1960s. Reading that piece, though, the spokesperson sounds pretty assured of himself that his pro-war ideology is obviously correct and that there was a determined effort to turn the victory of Vietnam into a defeat. To each their own opinion, and the things they use to back them up. In my own opinon, there’s a lot of mud being thrown without much to back it up.
Laughter doesn't depend on the funny, but on the social situation the laugher finds themself in, according to research done by Robert Provine and others. When low on the totem pole, even bad jokes get a laugh, because allies are helpful. But the muffin joke doesn’t work so well on the higher-ups, it appears. So since comedians are all about getting us to laugh, is it any wonder that most of us find them likable? (at least, the ones we laugh at...)
In the ice, the sculptors do great and grand things - this praying mantis certainly counts as great. Kind of reminds me of the character from the Space Coast late night show, just in the way it’s been carved and pictured.
If you’re having trouble making decisions about what you want to do, perhaps The Prioritizer can help you. Enter in up to 15 things on your to-do list, and then make selections when each object on the list is compared to each other object. It will help you rank your priorities in such a way that you figure out what you want to do first, so that you can stop procrastinating and get on with it!
Are we closer to the world where life enhancement and biotechnologies take normal humans and make them long-lived and genetically powerful? I keep getting the impression that those days are far off, but Sentient Developments, the blog of a transhumanist, takes issue with Francis Fukuyama's intention to establish a biotech regulatory agency, claiming that his efforts and ideologies will keep humanity well off the pace of enhancement and life extension.
This was coming down the pipe, in the continuing tradition of the NCAA wanting to move beyond Native American names, regalia, and figures, Chief Illiniwek was officially retired today by the University of Illinois Trustees. They will continue to use the name Fighting Illini, but the mascot and much of the material have gone away.
In the next-to-last department, Vader versus Cheney: Who will come out on top?. The Force and the lightsaber versus the shotgun and contractors. Who will win? Let the (best? worst?) man win?
The last thing for tonight is a Really Cool Thing. Actually, 20 Really Cool Things. If you’re running Firefox, that is - these are CompuerWorld's 20 Must-Have Firefox Extensions. After reading it, I actually grabbed three of the extensions they profiled, in addition to the ones I already have. (I’m surprised they don’t have FlashBlock up there, myself).
That’s the material for tonight - maybe tomorrow will make me that much more intelligent in getting everything in order. Or will just let me let other things sit while I work on other projects that need to be done. Either way, more work gets done and I feel better about myself.
In the absence of progress on that particular front, however, I made some other progressions. I think the flier is close to being ready for primetime, and then it’s a matter of doing up the other reports. Again, depending on the weekend’s ability and drive, I could put myself in a really good situation for the end of the semester.
So, here come the links. Tom Blanton asks us Are we safer in the dark?, referring to the general governmental policy of secrets and slowness in releasing those documents, even when legally requested. His conclusion is that we are not safer in the dark, and that there might be a little bit more light coming out of government documents as more pressure is applied by the people to get things opened.
In other political matters, even war supporters sometimes decide to make comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. In this particular case, however, the group called Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform believes that the media and anti-war groups are recycling "massive lies" from the anti-war protesters in the 1960s. Reading that piece, though, the spokesperson sounds pretty assured of himself that his pro-war ideology is obviously correct and that there was a determined effort to turn the victory of Vietnam into a defeat. To each their own opinion, and the things they use to back them up. In my own opinon, there’s a lot of mud being thrown without much to back it up.
Laughter doesn't depend on the funny, but on the social situation the laugher finds themself in, according to research done by Robert Provine and others. When low on the totem pole, even bad jokes get a laugh, because allies are helpful. But the muffin joke doesn’t work so well on the higher-ups, it appears. So since comedians are all about getting us to laugh, is it any wonder that most of us find them likable? (at least, the ones we laugh at...)
In the ice, the sculptors do great and grand things - this praying mantis certainly counts as great. Kind of reminds me of the character from the Space Coast late night show, just in the way it’s been carved and pictured.
If you’re having trouble making decisions about what you want to do, perhaps The Prioritizer can help you. Enter in up to 15 things on your to-do list, and then make selections when each object on the list is compared to each other object. It will help you rank your priorities in such a way that you figure out what you want to do first, so that you can stop procrastinating and get on with it!
Are we closer to the world where life enhancement and biotechnologies take normal humans and make them long-lived and genetically powerful? I keep getting the impression that those days are far off, but Sentient Developments, the blog of a transhumanist, takes issue with Francis Fukuyama's intention to establish a biotech regulatory agency, claiming that his efforts and ideologies will keep humanity well off the pace of enhancement and life extension.
This was coming down the pipe, in the continuing tradition of the NCAA wanting to move beyond Native American names, regalia, and figures, Chief Illiniwek was officially retired today by the University of Illinois Trustees. They will continue to use the name Fighting Illini, but the mascot and much of the material have gone away.
In the next-to-last department, Vader versus Cheney: Who will come out on top?. The Force and the lightsaber versus the shotgun and contractors. Who will win? Let the (best? worst?) man win?
The last thing for tonight is a Really Cool Thing. Actually, 20 Really Cool Things. If you’re running Firefox, that is - these are CompuerWorld's 20 Must-Have Firefox Extensions. After reading it, I actually grabbed three of the extensions they profiled, in addition to the ones I already have. (I’m surprised they don’t have FlashBlock up there, myself).
That’s the material for tonight - maybe tomorrow will make me that much more intelligent in getting everything in order. Or will just let me let other things sit while I work on other projects that need to be done. Either way, more work gets done and I feel better about myself.
