Month: February 2008

Apple Mail RSS Reader — For the Critical RSS Feeds I Can’t Afford to Miss

After the last mishap in missing the California editions of The Secret Workshop, I’ve decided to make use of Apple Mail’s built-in RSS reader for a change. See, I don’t really get the time to follow all the RSS feeds that I’d like to. So I keep on missing out on stuff. So now that It’s in my mail client, every time I check for emails I’d be able to get an update on the latest openings of The Secret Workshop…

The only caveat is, I go to bed at weird hours. And those workshops get filled up almost immediately within half of a day of a workshop location being announced. So unless I am diligent in checking my mailbox every 4 to 6 hours, I could still miss out on the next convenient location…. 🙁 This is when an iPhone would be a sweet device to have!

Pissed About My Own Forgetfulness

I’d been following the opening of The Secret Workshop in California so that I can attend one and learn more of what I can’t get from other professionals. I am not so worried about the technical stuff in Photoshop or lighting stuff — it’s the meat on how to get into the commercial and editorial industry that I am most interested in. Also the bits on how to photograph infants that will be a boost in the right direction.

But I’d been so busy with other stuff that I’d forgotten to follow up with the site and COMPLETELY missed out on the signups for San Francisco, San Diego, AND even Phenix, the next closest thing to anything California! I am so bummed! The only opening they have is in Michigan, but it’s going to be held within weeks after Grace giving birth, which means it’s probably not a good idea to leave home for four days…

Maybe I will bum around trying to get on a waiting list (if I am so lucky)…

ARGH!

Of American Politics and Possibilities

People who really know me (or are regulars of this blog) know that I often have gripes about America and its politics. For a while I didn’t understand why I’ve become so cynical of this country though I’ve spent over 14 years (!!) living here. All the hopes and aspirations I read about America just didn’t seem to exist anymore. And all I seemed to see were just the negatives and caveats of my life in America.

Then today I stumbled upon this interview of Prof. Harvey J. Kaye with Bill Moyers. The enthusiasm of Kaye on the subject of Thomas Paine is infectious and puts me in a happy place about those hopes and aspirations I had for being in America again*.

* Unfortunately, as Kaye stated in the interview, Paine’s ideas and words are now being quoted by the wrong people in the wrong contexts to do the dirty works of politicians. Or maybe I am just too naive.

Another Microsoft IE Rant

Ok, another pointless ugly rant on Microsoft IE.

Engineers who came up with the guidelines for Microsoft IE must have their heads filled with tofu… umm, wait, I like tofu. Their heads must be filled with turd. Simple standards are simply ignored or conveniently misinterpreted by the IE’s rendering engine. It makes debugging a living hell from the perspective of a web developer no matter how much time I’ve already spent doing this for a living.

And then today Microsoft went and made an offer to buy out Yahoo for a cool $44.6B? Give me a f*cking break. How about spending some of those billions on fixing the damn IE and ensure future developments of IE adhere to standards?

The World Wide Web would be a better place without Microsoft. But then again, without scums, how can we appreciate the beauty of all the other standards-adhering browsers? Nonetheless, if I ever meet the guy(s) who was in charge of defining the renderer guidelines, I might just kick him in the nuts. Idiot.

Firefox 3 Beta 2 Graphic

Just out of curiosity (and because I am a new-tech whore like that), I downloaded Firefox 3 Beta 2 to check it out. I was surprised to be greeted with its “welcome” page upon first launch. It’s got a nice retro illustration of a robot destroying some high rises.

firefox 3 Beta 2 grphics

Seems like going retro is hip again.

Some quick thoughts on Firefox 3 Beta 2 on my Mac:

1. Snappier performance;
2. Some nice visual effects (like the tabs sliding from side to side);
3. Crashes from time to time;
4. Bookmarks a little messed up; but I simply used the “manage bookmarks” feature and reverted back to a previous backup the Firefox had made when I installed the beta;
5. Many addons don’t work; I had to use

1
about:config

to add a new

1
Boolean

variable

1
extensions.checkCompatibility

and gave it a value of

1
<strong>false</strong>

so that Firefox won’t check for addon compatibilities and disable them. Some addons still won’t work, but most will likely work as advertised. Others already have un-advertised beta versions out for this beta release!

So far I like it enough to want to keep using it full time.

A Simple Pieces of Code That Mirrors Life

$someChineseClients = array(‘idiots’, ‘cheap’, ‘lazy’, ‘indecisive’, ‘noTaste’, ‘slowPay’);

if($client == $someChineseClients) {
      if($trouble > $budgetOfProject) {
            echo ‘Run away from the project like hell!’;
      }
      else {
            echo ‘I will tolerate the pain. When do we start?’;
      }
}
else {
      echo ‘Put a down payment and I am game.’;
}

Ah, joys of life as a freelance contractor…