gogogadgetearl . earl's thoughts

2007.11.07

  • most of you probably don't know this, but for quite a few years now, i've been protecting your email addresses from spambots -- well...those of you who have registered and commented anyway...

    a long time ago i was reading about how easy it was to scan a page and "harvest" all the email addresses from that page.  i thought to myself, "that sucks, i don't want spam bots getting my email address - and i bet the people who visit my site don't either."  so i did some research and discovered some javascript that will take an obfuscated email address and "unmunge" it.

    so, i've created a php function in my wordpress theme that obfuscates every email address it writes to the page and then the javascript will load in your browser, scan the page, and deobfuscate it.  for example, if your email was 'you@domain.com', then the php function would obfuscate it by replacing the punctuation and throwing in some buzz words like this: 'not_you_remove-this_at_nowhere_domain_dot_com_buzz'.  then the javascript scans the page and corrects all the email addresses by removing all the buzz words.  i have created some custom buzz words in both scripts so 99.9% of all spam bots won't be able to figure out the pattern.

    since the spambots only scan the source code, the javascript never runs in a browser, so they only harvest obfuscated and useless strings.

    i hope this makes you guys feel a little more comfortable when you leave a comment.  :-)        [1 comment]

2007.09.10

  • so i've been considering buying a BMW.  i know that statement conjures up many different impressions of me, but i'm truly only interested in the machine.  in every review i've read, BMW seems to be, literally, "the ultimate driving machine".  the "unexpected power", the "solid construction throughout", the "handling that begs for curves", and "the way the vehicle just connects the driver with the road" is all i've read about BMWs.  to add to that, everyone i know that has ever owned a BMW has always said it's the best car they've ever driven.  that speaks for itself.  so, honestly, the emblem on the front could say hyundai - as long as it's the same machine, i'd buy it.

    i'm certainly not looking at new bimmers - i'm not making that kind of money yet. :-P  i'm looking more at 2002-2005 330i sedans.  the 330i was first offered in 2001, but i'll give it a year to get all the new-model kinks worked out.  from what i can tell, very little was changed in the 330i from 2002 to 2005, so the biggest difference between those model years would be the mileage.  that doesn't concern me as long as it was maintained well -- nearly any car nowadays can get 300k miles easily if it's properly maintained.

    so all this begs the question: how do you own a BMW without looking pretentious?  like i've mentioned, i could care less about what people think about me because of my car - so how do i shed the BMW vanity?        [3 comments]

2007.09.04

  • i usually do all of my web design/coding in dreamweaver, but i've been looking for something more.  dreamweaver is a great program, i'm sure, but i've always felt like it was only "good enough".  to add to that, i don't need a WYSIWYG editor, i just need a robust text editor with a good bit of configuration options.  finding a cheaper [read: legal] solution would be nice, too.

    so, i've been checking out new text editors.  i get really picky about how my code looks, and i go to great lengths to get it looking right even while i code it (wasting a good bit of time indenting & spacing when i should just be coding).  so i've been looking for something that will soothe my OCD when i code my xml/html, css, javascript, and php - especially if it will format my code as i type.  here's a few features that i'm looking for (either natively or with some configuration):
    1. the basics: syntax highlighting, file tabs, etc.
    2. can autoclose brackets, braces, parentheses, and xml/html tags
    3. can autoindent the contents of block statements and multiline xml/html tags, then balance the braces/parent tags (as i type, not with TIDY)
    4. can autosuggest/autocomplete context-sensitive information
      1. xml/html elements & attributes (autocompleting the ="" on attributes, too)
      2. css properties & property-specific values
      3. keywords & built-in functions in whatever languages i'm using
      4. variable names (on-the-fly, so when i declare a variable, i get a drop-down suggestion for that variable name as i type it on the next line)
      5. autosuggest/autocomplete support for css, javascript, and php that is in-line with [x]html
    5. code folding
    6. code snippets/abbreviations
    7. robust customization of the display & behavior of the interface
      1. line numbers in the margin
      2. margin selection (not bookmarking or code breaks)
      3. drag-to-arrange tabs
      4. close buttons on all tabs
      5. etc...
    2 & 3 are fairly important because the more typing/formatting an editor will do for me, the the more time i can spend actually coding.  4 is crucial, i feel, because the more an editor autosuggests/autocompletes for me, the less typos i have, and the less time i spend typing the same tags, the same properties, the same functions, and the same variables...over and over.  for programmers/coders, that's huge.

    obviously, i haven't found all of those features in one editor yet - that list asks a lot.  however, i have discovered a highly configurable editor called scite.  scite comes through great with 1, 4d, 5, 6, and 7a & b.  2 & 3 can be accomplished with some intermediate scripting & configuration (i believe), but 4 will take some advanced scripting & configuration to implement.  so why do i like it?  for all of it's options.  there are so many ways to configure scite, it'll make your head spin.  and it has a pretty robust extension system, too.  i think it has tons of potential.

    unfortunately, one of the major drawbacks of scite is that i can hardly find any community for it.  there are no scite forums, few readily-available plugins/extensions, and practically no advanced documentation/examples for APIs and scripting.  i've sent a message to the project owner over at sourceforge.net, offering to host a forum for scite/scintilla.  we'll see if he responds.

    in the meantime, i'm going to be teaching myself more about scite thru trial and error.

    if anyone knows of an editor that meets most/all of my feature requests above, PLEASE tell me about it.  if you don't want to register to leave a comment, then at least email me.  thanx!!        [2 comments]

2007.07.25

  • so, i got a little aggravated just a few weeks ago when i mis-typed a URL and instead of getting a DNS error page, i got a Charter search page!!  needless to say, i was not happy about it.  i then learned in the Charter ToS, that any non-encrypted information, including the web pages i navigate to and even the search terms i type into google, can be aggregated and "shared with" (sold to) "charter affiliates and business partners".  how about them apples?

    now get this:
    http://vancouver.cs.washington.edu/

    i think i'm going to start encrypting everything i view/send on the interwebs.  /sigh        [2 comments]

2007.07.16

  • man, i think wikipedia has infected my brain.  i've been catching up on a book that i read halfway through but haven't touched in the last 2 years.  and every time i come across a name of a person, place, or object that i recognize, but don't fully remember, i just wish it were a link that i could click on to read a full article about it.  man, that would be helpful.

    sheesh...i guess i'm a lost cause...  :-)        [4 comments]

2007.06.29

  • so i'm contemplating a creative commons license for this site.  the more i read up on creative commons, the more i realize that full, legal copyright is ridiculous and doesn't reflect my actual desires for the content on this site.  i'm considering the attribution-noncommercial-sharealike license, but i'm open to suggestions if you can thoughtfully explain why.        [4 comments]

2007.06.22

  • you know who frustrates me to no end?  bill o'reilly.  his blatant disregard for rationality is sickening.  he embodies everything i dislike about america: ignorance, arrogance, stubbornness, self-righteousness, condescension, closed-mindedness...i can't *stand* it!  [don't get me wrong, i love america -- but you have to admit, most of the said traits are fairly rampant in our society.]

    and the worst part is when guests on his show start sharing facts or rational logic that contradict his point-of-view, he starts yelling at them, calling them names, and sometimes even has their mics cut off -- as if to prevent his viewers from being tainted by "truth".  wtf??

    i can't wait until i've reached the point where i can laugh about how sad this guy is, but right now, i would really just like to stab him in the face...you know, in the most "turn-the-other-cheek"-way possible.  ::sigh::  :-/        [2 comments]

2007.05.08

  • ok, so here's my thoughts on music...

    i love, love, any kind of music that the artist pours themselves into.  not something that was written that they perform...something that seeps straight from their soul into their instrument.  where they don't just play an instrument, they translate their love, anger, joy, and pain into beautiful sounds.  i pine for music like that.  perfect examples of artists that treat their music as such: fiona apple, muse, stevie ray vaughn (his rendition of little wing is in my top 3 songs of all time), tool, jimi hendrix, peter gabriel, jeff buckley, and a few others.

    one thing that really bugs me about modern music, though, is the fact that it is so focused on lyrics and less on the music.  don't get me wrong, i understand and fully respect good lyrics and the need to use different words and unique language to get a point across...however, the majority of modern music has become more "poetry set against instruments" and less "true music".  seriously, when was the last time you heard a truly great guitar or piano solo?  i challenge any of you to find me a guitar solo that lasts more than 2 minutes (par for classic rock) on any album that went gold in the last 5 years.  i'm betting that's going to be a tougher challenge than most people would imagine...

    i know the lyrics to less than a fraction of the music i listen to.  to me, the voice of the lead singer is just another instrument...and i'm fine with that.  they could be singing about little pink ponies or how to change a tire for all i care, i just want the notes, the chords, the harmonies, and the dissonance to unchain my mind, my heart, and my soul.  that's what music is to me.  :-)        [8 comments]

2007.03.06

  • you know what really freakin' annoys me?  i have my google preferences set to open my search results in a new window.  so when i do a search i click on the first link, it opens in a new window...great!  i go back to the search results window and i click on another link - but that link opens up in the same new window as the first - essentially negating the fact that i opened the first link in a new window.  ARRRRRGH!!  why do you do this to me google?

    I especially hate it when i'm using firefox [99% of the time].  i'll have a window open with a google search for one topic and a new tab opened for one of the results.  I'll open up a second window, do a google search for second topic, click a link, and the same new tab for the first result - in the other window - will change to the page that i clicked on in the second google search.  W-T-F google??        [7 comments]

2007.02.14

  • well, i almost saw $250 [or more] go down the drain in an instant last night.  i recently ordered a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 4600+ to upgrade my current machine at home.  it came in the mail yesterday, and i decided to install it (along with a new cooler).  the old cooler [stock] was stuck to the old processor [AMD Athlon 64 3200+] -- it could still slide side-to-side [due to the thermal grease], but it wouldn't lift on any side.  i ended up [accidentally] removing the old cooler and the old processor in one fell swoop - without unlocking the processor slot.  owell, no pins broke off in there.  so i unlocked the slot, installed the new proc, locked the slot, installed the new cooler, and turned the machine on.  just after the POST screen, the machine informed me that the new CPU wasn't recognized by my motherboard's current BIOS.  oops - i forgot to update the BIOS.  ::sigh::  so i remove the new cooler, and then try to remove the new processor as carefully as possible.  well, i didn't do it carefully enough...because i dropped it...from about 2 feet...back into the case.  CRAP!!  i pick it back up and realize that i bent a good ~15 pins.  CRAPx2!!  at least 8 of them were bent more than 45 degrees.  ::sigh::  well, with nothing left to lose, i decided to get a toothpick to try to un-bend them.  it worked, and now the new proc is in my machine running seemingly fine.  ::whew::  who knows how long it will last...but it's working for now, so i can't complain.  :-)

    yeah, n00b sauce.        [3 comments]

2007.02.08

  • for no particular reason, i've decided to list my top 5 tv comedies.  if you enjoy my sense of humor, you'll definitely enjoy these shows...

    5. family guy: yes, it only made #5.  i used to place it at #1, but lately i've been less than impressed with it.  i don't know if my tastes have changed, or if seth macfarlane's wit is running dry - or both - but the newer episodes just seem obligatory.  formula: setup line + random flashback + [pop culture reference | slightly shocking action/statement | unexpected/retarded action by peter], rinse, repeat...pepper with stewie and brian singing.  going back and watching the older episodes, it's nearly the same thing.  i still love it; it's still in my top 5; but it's growing old.

    4. futurama: a wholly under-appreciated genius of comedy.  the funny thing about it is that i don't really know why.  i can't pinpoint what makes it so funny.  maybe it's because the show doesn't follow a formula [that i've noticed], or maybe it's bender's relentless "that's what she said" in the spanish fry episode, or maybe it's the constant homages to star trek - i dunno.  i do know, however, that i really love this show.

    3. the office: this show is so great because it emphasizes the subtle humor in life.  my sense of humor is weird.  i don't really laugh at the guy that got hit in the nuts with a football, i laugh at the fact that there are now 3 other guys on the ground with him laughing their heads off.  that's why i love this show.  you don't really laugh at michael's hijinks, you laugh at the other people's reactions.  it's not the joke that's so funny, it's the fallout.  i love it.  it was hilarious to see dwight discovering that all of his office supplies were in the vending machine, but it was even funnier to see that his way of retrieving them was to pull some change out of his pocket.  golden.  :-)

    2.  scrubs: if there were any show that describes what goes on in my head on a day-to-day basis, this would be the show.  all the random daydreams, all the recurring jokes that just never go away, all the blatant honesty - that's my life.  the only difference is that i work in a cubicle and they work in a hospital...and my life doesn't involve all the sex scenes, either [i'm married].  otherwise, if you ever wanted to experience what it's like to be earl for a day, watch scrubs.

    1. arrested development: the most brilliant of all tv comedies.  too bad fox cancelled it.  [side note: i'm going to just start watching all the shows fox cancels.]  you can still catch reruns on G4 and i'm sure you can find a torrent for all 3 seasons - but it's dead now.  the producers have made it obvious that, despite the critical acclaim and high DVD sales, they're not going to return to production.  it's a shame, the show had some of the most brilliant writing i've seen on any show...ever.  i've never seen such organization and comedic creativity.  the writers were able to create 2 completely separate hilarious situations, then have those situations meet near the end to create a totally new hilarious situation that is even funnier than the first 2 put together.  i would give an example, but the writers were so careful to create the setup for each situation, it would ruin the hilarity if i tried to condense it here.  you should just see for yourself.  you won't be disappointed.        [0 comments]

2006.11.21

  • as you guys probably noticed, i was gone all last week.  i was in tampa, florida for microsoft project server 2003 training.  tampa was fun, but boy is project web access a terrible tool.  check out these screwy permissions.  you'll notice that you can choose to neither allow nor deny them [go offline from project web access], or you can both allow and deny them [user defined 3] -- and you can save the permissions like that, no questions asked.  it's terrible.  the user defined permissions are out of order [3, xxxx, xxxx, 1, 2?], and to add to that, they are completely undocumented: we have no idea what the user defined permissions do...even microsoft's official project partners [our trianers last week] don't know what they do.  ::sigh::  even funnier is the way they shortcut-key some of their options.  you know how some controls/menus have an underlined letter that you can press alt+[letter] to access, right?  like how you can press alt+f to access the file menu [because 'f' is easy to remember for 'file']?  check these letters out.  the 'y' in 'they'?  the 'b' in 'by' [what about the 'b' in 'below' at the top of the form]?  the 't' in 'to'?  wow, those are easy to remember.  the 'b' in 'by' really reminds me of giving view permissions for managed resources.  sheesh.  to give you an idea of how inconsistent project web access is, sometimes the save/cancel buttons are on the top of the page, sometimes they are on the bottom, sometimes 'save' is labeled 'update', and sometimes there is an 'update' button in the middle of a page that doesn't really update until you click 'save' at the top/bottom of the page.  wtf??

    thank-you microsoft for giving us a tool that is more confusing than it is useful.  :-)        [0 comments]

2006.09.18

  • ok, so i lied.  a little over 2 weeks ago, i said that i'd have the new layout finished and deployed by now.  well, as you can see, i haven't.  my development has been halted by 3 things: busy at work, busy in the evenings, and sick for the past week.

    so, i haven't been able to work on the new layout much (if any at all).  don't worry, i still plan on doing it, i just haven't done it yet.  i apologize for my slow progress, and i hope that you guys understand.

    thanx!        [2 comments]

2006.06.01

  • when it comes to the next-gen console wars, i've known which one i'm going to buy for a long time now: the nintendo wii.  i knew i was going to buy it back when it was known as the revolution.  why?  because it'll be fun.  yes, i am still the same earl who has to have all the latest and greatest gadgets, but in this case, the latest [technologically] isn't necessarily the greatest.

    think about it: when was the last time you could sit down at a console and play a game that was truly fun?  -i'm not talking about a game with excellent graphics, or a great storyline - i'm talking about a game that is just genuinely fun.  if you've ever played games like mario party, super smash brothers, or mario kart, you know what kind of fun i'm talking about.  they bring the kind of fun that you can sit down and enjoy with anyone - the guys, your wife/girlfriend, your kids - anyone.  what other games on any console have that kind of enjoyability and mass appeal?  final fantasy?  halo?  madden?  tekken?  how many of your wives/girlfriends just love to sit down and rock out on an xbox or PS2?  [i'm not saying there aren't any girls that love to do that, i'm just asking how many there are -- to my knowledge and experience, not many.]

    now, i'll hand it to sony, the PS2 was a beautiful system and had a great line of really pretty, really challenging games - final fantasy, metal gear solid, tekken, SSX - it really opened up the market to the masses.  and xbox rocked the world with halo -- i've never known so many people buy an entire console system for only 1 game.  however, what did the xbox 360 bring to the gaming market other than nicer graphics?  and while the PS3 will also be prettier and support high-definition DVDs, what did it bring to the gaming world [other than a huge price tag]?  oh, it has motion-sensing controllers too?  since when does the market leader need to rip off the competition unless the competition is really getting it right?

    i'm telling you, nintendo is getting it right.  nintendo is pioneering new ways to enjoy your games - new and old.  as long as they continue to license and manufacture genuinely fun games for anybody and everybody, i'll gladly stick with them.        [1 comment]

2006.05.23

  • ok, you guys might think i'm weird or disgusting after this, but hear me out.  what i say here just might change your sunday afternoon dumps forever.

    i might not have the cleanest floor in my bedroom, nor the cleanest house [for that matter], but when it comes to personal hygene, i'm a freak for cleanliness.  whenever i cook dinner and touch anything that leaves a residue [syrup, grease,...etc], i HAVE to wash my hands before i touch anything else -- it's like my subconscious takes over and forces me.

    so, when it comes to taking a dump, i can't stand to wipe and wipe and wipe and wipe...and not really get 100% clean.  when i heard about flushable moist wipes, i was intrigued, and i tried them.  they're wonderful.  even on the messiest dumps, you can wipe once or twice with regular toilet paper, then wipe once with these things and you're good to go!!  i love them.  i'm so spoiled with them that when i take a dump somewhere other than home, i get frustrated because i don't have them.  i've gotten to where, in the absence of the flushable moist wipes, i'll go wet a paper towel and take it into the stall with me.  it's that bad.  but it's because they're that good.

    seriously, you guys should try them.  they're worth it.        [0 comments]

2006.04.28

  • i own a 2000 nissan maxima.  it's a great car, and i love it.  it's big enough to carry plenty of passengers, practical enough for every day use, economical enough to keep me out of the poor house, and powerful enough to satisfy my testosterone.  when it comes down to quality, it's top of the line [compared to other cars from 2000] - inside and out.  since i've owned it, i've been very happy with nissan motor, and pleased to see a modern product with true quality.

    however, i went to nissan.com today and found a site that i wasn't expecting.  then i followed a link to this page and began reading.  i was surprised to see what nissan motor had done.  it's shameful to see what corporate greed can lead to.  i'm disappointed, nissan motor.

    this brings up some good questions, should you buy a lesser-quality car to support a company with better business practices?  what car company has those better business practices?  is the price we pay worth it?        [1 comment]

2006.04.16

  • so...i got a *legit* copy of windows vista beta 2 [build 5308] recently, and i decided to toy with it a little this weekend.  i dropped a 2nd hard drive in my home machine and went to town on the installation.  it installed, booted, and i played with it for a good day or two.

    i realized after restarting the machine once or twice, that it doesn't give me the option to boot into my original Windows XP installation.  no biggie, i figure i'll just disconnect the 2nd HD (with vista on it), and then it'll default to my original XP install.

    well, that didn't happen.  halfway thru the XP bootup, i get a blue screen (not the infamous BSOD, just a plain blue screen) that says, "STOP: c0000218 Unkown Hard Error".  crap.  i reconnected the vista HD, and booted back into it.  after a few google searches i realized that somehow the vista installation corrupted my XP registry.  oi.

    ironically, vista is the only working OS on my machine right now.  as a matter of fact, i'm actually typing this post in vista [screen].

    so, what's my impression of vista?  in short: vista is going to be a great OS -- the minor functionality additions, the MAJOR security and stability fixes, and all the wonderful eye candy is really going to make it well worth the buy.  however, in the beta, it's still sort of a mish-mash of new prettyness with a few old XP images and icons, surprisingly secure [running at a non-admin user level by default], iffy on stability [hey - it's a beta!], and in dire need of a performance boost [it's terribly sluggish on my AMD3200-64/1GB RAM/NVIDIA 5900XT-128MB].        [2 comments]

2006.04.12

  • the other day, i was posed a question that was very intriguing.  it's definitely worth posting to see what you guys think about it.  it comes down to the definition of homosexuality.

    ok, take a guy who has never had a homosexual thought or performed a homosexual act, however, he has the propensity for homosexuality (in thought or in action).  for example, given the opportunity to choose between a male or a female of equal attractiveness (both in physique and character), he would choose the male.  however, he has not made this choice yet, nor has he considered making this choice.  would you consider him to be homosexual?  for clarification, here's a scenario: a man considers homosexuality for the first time at age 40, and acts on it at age 50.  would you consider him to be homosexual at age 30?

    the responses here will vary based on a few factors: nature versus nurture, whether you believe that homosexuality applies only when sex is involved (or if it applies when a man loves another man like a man has a deep (non-sexual) love for his wife), and whether or not heterosexuality should be assumed.

    i know i used men in all my examples, but you can interchange that with women and the question still stands.

    now, there is no right or wrong answer here - only opinions.  so keep in mind that the responses here are opinions only and they should not be intended to offend anyone.  if you are offended by any of the comments on this post, you really should get a life.        [13 comments]

2006.04.03

  • ok, here's some more props to things that deserve it.
    • extreme makeover: home edition - this show is an excellent digression from typical television.  the news is just depressing; primetime dramas (the OC, smallville) always end with a spiteful hook (to get you to watch again next week); and comedies are emotionally shallow.  this show, however, is totally uplifting and pleasantly fulfilling.  it really proves that there is still good in the world (and on tv).
    • sears - not only do they donate clothing and appliances to extreme makeover: home edition, they have a great program to help communities, and they support our troops!!  bravo, sears.
    check these things out, they're definitely worth it.        [2 comments]

2006.02.06

  • ok, i'm not often a fan of product placements, but i'm doing this on my own free will because these products deserve it -- so i hope you guys don't see this as selling out.  anywho, i've got to give props to a few deserving products that have really impressed me.  here are 2:
    • chaco - they make sandals that are perfect for hiking/backpacking.  in all my years of backpacking and camping, i've never worn sandals that hug rocks, roots, cracks, and creeks better than my chacos.  i have a pair of Z/2 sandals with the terreno sole [which is now out of production] - and i wear them almost daily.  yes, they are expensive [$95-$120 per pair], but they can be re-strapped and re-soled for as long as you have them.  they're also made in the USA.
    • air hogs aero ace - this has got to be the most fun toy i've bought in years.  i know the 'air hogs' brand has a reputation for not flying very well [or at all], but the aero ace was designed by a british company, and, thankfully, air hogs didn't modify it much.  it's amazingly resilient, easy to fly, and dang cheap.  i bought mine from a local target for $30 + 6 AA batteries + tax [~$37] -- i think they can also be found at toys-r-us and wal-mart for similar prices.  there are 3 frequencies, so get a few friends to buy one and then fly them together -- it's more fun than you'd expect.
    there'll be more products to come.        [0 comments]

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