Archive for March, 2007

The Algebra of Defeat

[ music | The Clash – Should I Stay or Go Now ]

The Algebra of Defeat

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Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Finale (no spoilers)

[ music | Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower ]

No spoilers here. I just have to say there has never been a better TV show. We’ve just entered Act 3 of a three part epic. The past several episodes have had some serious foreshadowing, but as usual, it never plays out as you expect. There’s little point in trying to figure out where the show is going, because, much like life, it’s not entirely linear. Just because it looked a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the way it is, it just means our assumptions were wrong. Or in the case of this show, our preconceptions are being challenged in a whole new way, a way that TV rarely dares to try. It’s not trickery, it’s not deus ex machina, it’s a genuine method of engaging the audience in a new way. We keep trying to project our experiences on these people because in so many ways they’re so like us, but that’s just a hook to help the writers show us a new point of view.

Keep it up. I can’t wait to see how Act 3 ends. I know it’ll be worth it.

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Trolls don’t just live under bridges.

[ music | Badly Drawn Boy – Pissing In The Wind ]

MozillaZine’s forums are nearly worthless these days. I know of moderators that have been complaining about other mods for ages, but now they’ve taken to new lows. Today, Daifne has seen fit to mouth off and scurrilously accuse the wife of a lead developer of trying to scam people out of personal data. Basically, the egos on some of these people would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.

For the sake of this discussion, we’re going to ignore how Lucy was the prime mover on the “Bookmarks missing after installing Firefox 2” problem when FF2 was first released. Why? Well, because Daifne did. Either out of ignorance, or because she was too lazy to check up on a person before accusing them of nefarious activities, she put her foot squarely in her mouth, with her sidekick “malliz” there to keep the foot embedded. When learning identities later, Daifne didn’t bother to do anything like apologize or even acknowledge a mistake, she instead decided to defame and insult Mike Connor.

And yes, after watching the forums at MozillaZine go downhill for years, I had enough. I made a statement. I stand by it. There are too many trollish moderators at MozillaZine. And it’s sad.

At least Lucy was able to still help the user. Not that it mattered to the mods.

P.S. Wow, ok, well, they’re still at it. Daifne? Can you hear me honey? You’re a troll. And I’m not the only one who is saying so. (Please don’t post, just read unless you’re going to be constructive)

P.P.S. Ok, Dartman? You can go to hell too.

P.P.P.S. Wow. Mega kudos to Alex Bishop for this post. He said everything I was thinking in a far more cogent manner than I did off the cuff. Bravo.

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Rumbles about The Rumbling Edge

[ music | Dave Brubeck – Unsquare Dance ]

Now, first off, I think The Rumbling Edge is a nice blog that does a great job of covering Thunderbird related updates, much like The Burning Edge does for Firefox related changes. However, considering it is being hosted by MozillaZine, I think it’s a little top-heavy about ads. Here’s an illustrated screencap of the first screen, or “above the fold”, what you see before you scroll down. My screen is 800 pixels high, and I’ve cut out most of the chrome in the screenshot. The numbers below deal just with the content pane, also. Red is ads, green is content, blue is “chrome” like the title and RSS feed link, and the grey is whitespace.

Rumbling Edge Illustration

Now, roughly 43% of that is whitespace. 46% is ad space or revenue-generating links such as the ones to download Firefox, etc. 6% is actual content, namely links to recent builds, and the download counter. I’m being generous with the term “content” here by defining it as useful updated information. Lastly, 5% is the title and tagline, and the RSS feed link. Even adding that into content, 46% of the above-the-fold area is ads, 11% is content. There is more ad-spade than whitespace. Further down there are two separate Paypal donation buttons. I’m all for making money off your work, but this is a little offensive. I have ads here, but none of it blocks content, and you don’t have to scroll to get to the content. I only hope some of that ad revenue is going back to MozillaZine.

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Fatal Journey

[ music | Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self Destruct ]

Fatal Journey indeed, it’s killed 6,000 people so far.

Atlanta Bush Crash

The original is here but it may be changed by the time you see it. My copy is not edited

Update:My god, ABC has the same disorder. Maybe it’s TRUE!

Screenshot

Looks like bushes are crashing everywhere.

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