10/30/2003

Apple SCUM! (updated)

So which is scummier, the scum or the scum who follow them?
One of the problems with closed source software is patching and maintenance.

Apple patches Panther but not older OS | CNET News.com

Scum. To ship security fixes in a paid upgrade only sucks rocks bigtime. I'll speak with someone about this...
[UPDATE]

Turns out the article is misleading, the issues noted are only present in 10.3. Also news from an insider is that there will be patches as they are required and reported.

10/27/2003

NetRunner!?

BC4096: Hey wilson what are you up to?
WWA2024: I'm sitting on my @$$
BC4096: Why?
WWA2024: I was running this corp and up comes this ICE, it was incredible.. I wasn't expecting a sort of Haunting Inquisition
BC4096: Nobody expects the Hauniting inquisition Wilson...

So it's that time of year again. Time for the Haunting Inquisition. An annual pilgramage of Netrunner players to my house. This was started by my good friend Frisco Del Rosario back in '97(?) and I have held it for the last 4(?) years. It looks like I may get a record turnout this year at 12 players. It's amazing that we can still get that many players together to play a game that has been discontinued for 4 years. Every year we do something a little different. This time out Frsico suggested that we crack a starter, add a Haunting Inquisition and everyone plays with the same stock of cards. Well... I added a Wilson to the runner stack just to keep with the flavor. Here are the decklists:
Corprunner
Operations: (13)
Accounts Receivable
Systematic Layoffs
Management Shakeup
Corporate Detective Agency
Netwatch Credit Voucher
Audit of Call Reccords
Scorched Earth
Annual Reviews
Effeciency Experts
Night Shift
Day Shift
Planning Consultants
Chance Observation

Nodes:(8)
Deptertment of Truth Enhancement
ESA Contract
Virus Test Site
Rescheduler
Euromarket Consortium
Setup!
Spinn Public Relations
BBS Whispering Campaign

Upgrades:(4)
Dr. Dreff
Red Herrings
Twenty-Four-Hour Surveillance
Olivia Salazar

Agenda:(11)
Tycho Extension
Hostile Takeover
Marine Arcology
Corporate Boon
Corporate Downsizing
Project Babylon
Polymer Breakthrough
Detroit Police Contract
Security Net Optimization
Corporate War
Employee Empowerment

Ice:(25)
Haunting Inquisition
Pi in the face
Banpei
Zombie
Bolter Cluster
Cerberus
Wall of Static
TKO 2.0
Mazer
Mastif
Data Wall 2.0
Canis Major
Sleeper
Quandry
Crystal Wall
Shock.r
Filter
Asp
Fetch 4.0.1
Pocket Virtual Reality
Rex
Fatal Attractor
Ice Pick Willie
Fang
Triggerman
Preps :(15)
Ice and Data's Guide to the net
Livewire's contacts
open ended mileage program
Temple microcode outlet
If you want it done right...
Score!
Hunt club BBS
Anonymous Tip
Core command: Jettison Ice
Kilroy was here
Executive Wiretaps
Edited shipping manifests
Private LDL access
Fogotten Backup Chip
Mantis, Fixer-at-Large

Hardware: (10)
Tycho Mem Chip
WeTech MemChip
Nasuko Cycle
Pandora's Deck
Raven Microyb Eagle
HQ Interface
"Green Knight" Surge Buffers
R&D Interface
Zetatech Mem Chip
Microtech Backup Drive

Programs:(22)
Krash
Codeslinger
Raptor
Worm
Baedecker's Net Map
Cockroach
Tinweasel
Loony Goon
Butcher Boy
Cyphermaster
SeeYa
Wizard's book
Smarteye
Invisibility
Jackhammer
Vewy Vewy Quiet
Hammer
Shield
Shaka
Clown
Shredder uplink Protocol
Ramming piston

Resources: (14)
Leland, Corporate Bodyguard
Karl de Veres, Corporate Stooge
Wilson Weeflerunner apprentice
Aujourd'Oui
Danshi's Second ID
Back Door to Orbital Air
Nomad Allies
Trauma Team
The Springboard
The Short Circuit
Access to Arasaka
Databroker
Short term contract
Rigged investments


I'll blog on my deck construction thoughts as I have them.

10/20/2003

I don't recall...

Yale Daily News is reporting that Californians failed to recall Davis' record when they voted. I have been saying to anyone that would listen that the recall was wrong. Not only that but there is no good reason to recall Gray Davis.

Answer one question for me; what firing offense did Gray Davis commit?

Pay for play government? Show me one politician that doesn't repay donations with favors
Buget shortfall? Did Gray pass Prop 13? Did he pocket $10 Billion? Did Gray Davis pop the internet bubble?
Energy Crisis? Talk to Pete Wilson about that deregulated boondogle

So I ask again, what firing offense did Gray Davis commit?


I don't recall...

10/16/2003

More Widgetry...

I'm too depressed about the state of affairs in the world to blog on it yet... My biggest issues are with the striking number of suicides abong US Servicemembers.

So instead I'll tinker with the layout and add another "Steal this colorscheme" to the list.

Matrix
BGColor0x000000
Text Color0x00aa33
Gradient Opacity70
Gradient Colorox008800

10/15/2003

More Lies from lying liars

"The Boston Globe should be concentrating on baseball" is the next quite I expect to hear from the White House. This story: Form letters from soldiers in Iraq raise eyebrows points out the "Filters" in news reporting.

Astroturfing of this nature is dispicable. I thought only Microsoft would stoop so low. But it looks like the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment commanders are just as scummy.

I won't bullshit here, I was in the military and when a commander, commissioned or otherwise suggests you sign a form letter and mail it, you do it.

You see suggestions are just short of orders. Disobeying a lawful order is cause for official action. When any suggestion comes from a superior, it has the weight of an order.

Imagine you're a 19 year old infantryman in a combat zone. The people around you depend on you for support and you depend on them in kind. Your seargent has informed you as to where, when and how you will eat, drink, sleep and shit for the last 9 months.

He approaches you with some papers and says: "I won't order you to do this..."

I am disgusted with this latest action But at least I'm not alone:
Papers Duped By U.S. Soldier Form Letters
Pentagon calls form letters a mistake
Bush's good news offensive

There is one interesting quote from a soldier over there:
'That letter is gospel truth. We were asked if we agreed with it to sign it, because we are so sick of the media telling stories that are not true and want people to know what we are doing over here,'

Soldier! Do you agree with this letter?
YES DRILL SEARGEANT!

10/11/2003

Library Blogging and Laszlo Coding

Yikes, I've been using blogger since march and his is the first time I have blogged anything from Internet Explorer.

Normally I wouldn't use this browser, but in this case I am blogging from the Half Moon Bay Public Library.

So to the point. I'm here because the 5yr old has finished his soccer game and the 9 yr old is in the midst of one as we speak. Cunha Intermediate School has no play equipment for younger kids so to keep the 5yr old occupied for the nex 60 to 90 minutes I'm here on a donated Dell attempting to blog.

I considered trying to work on adapting Oliver's Booklist Application for use on my site, but I have discovered a couple of roadblocks to my accomplishing anything more productive than rambling amilessly in one long sentance that sseems like it should have been broken by a period long ago, but for some reason continues wouthout ever really breaking any of the english rules of grammar, yet coming close on may occasions.

Where was I? Oh yes, roadblocks. I understand that the library doesn't want me misusing the facilities or the equipment. I can forgive the fact that I can't install the distributed.net client for example, but for some unknown reason, this system has had certain functions of the [Ctrl] key disabled and the right mouse button is knocked out. I can use [Ctrl] in congunction with the arrow keys to navigate, but not for editing or find. One would assume that this is to keep me from rebooting the system via the three finger salute but the fact that the key is not disabled just leads me to believe that this is merely designed to be an annoyance.

Since I can't do any development with this time, I thought I'd ramble about what could be done to make this hour useful in this environment.

Blogger has this wonderful ability to create an easy link by selecting text and clicking the link button. One thing that is missing here is the ability to set the target parameter in this dialog. Blogrolling's service has this built into the "Blogroll This" javasrcipt link. This would make life move more quickly for those of us who target eveything to "_blank" or a named frame. This dialog should also have the ability to paste, but this only bothers me today bacause of my current keyboard limitations.

Now to do some Laszlorific development I would need a more sophisticated set of tools. LzExplorer is a wonderful tool to twiddle and learn LZX but there is no persistance of the code you develop there. The HTML textarea tag is not the most functional text editor in the world but it will do in a pinch. What I really want is WebDAV turned on for myLaszlo and my directory opened up for me. Build something like LzExplorer into there, with some light file browsing, an editor and LZX preview and wholyshit we have something.

A solution to the problem of a blogger stuck on a crippled machine for two hours. I'm sure Marc Canter would find many other exciting ways to use such a thing, but I'm feeling myopic.

10/06/2003

More WidgeTips

One other interesting tip... The maximum number of links is 56. If you construct your widget with 7 tabs of 8 links each or 8 tabs of 7 links you get maximum linkage.

Steal This Widget Reloaded!

I let it sit over the weekend, but now I need to talk about the excitement brewing over the "Steal This Widget" blog gutter widget.

This little guy has been getting some traction. Sarah has a history of its development and the history of its travels are just beginning. You can now easily Steal This Widget by simply clicking on its lovely name (or go here)I've written about some of the notable sightings here before, but none of those have twiddled the advanced settings (oops I'm wrong, it looks like cogworks has set the gradient opacity to 100% for the overstated shadow look).

Here are a couple of advanced color schemes I call "Shark", "Twilight", and "Sunset":
 SharkTwilightSunset
 
SettingsSharkTwilightSunset
BG Color0x0000000x7733990xeeee88
Text Color0xffffff0xffffff0x000000
Gradient Opacity10010075
Gradient Color0x00aadd0x0033990xfd6a20




10/01/2003

Poll: White House Leak Serious

ABCNEWS.com is running a poll White House Leak Serious. So it looks as if most people actually think thi sleak is important enough to appoint a special council.

Why does this matter more than fabricating reasons to send the US into a war that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of dollars?