Sunday, May 13, 2012

Internet browsing with a tablet.

Well meaning webdesigners are yet again messing it up. They have started designing the webpages specially for mobile devices like Iphones, Ipads, Android phones and tablets. This they have done in blatant disregard of the hard work done by the designers of said equipment to make standard web content look good on these devices.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Flash Player

Why does every stupid webpage use Flash Player? Isn't the internet bad enough without using buggy software that opens up backdoors for enterprising virus writers? Come to think of it, I know the answer to the first question. Lazyness.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Living in fear.

When did we all start living in fear. There are number of comments on posts on the web now where people are saying that they spend lot of money on security systems so that their apartment will not be broken into. They are ready to spend the income from whole day at work, almost 5% of their income, on security system but they are not ready to spend 8 hours a month doing neighborhood watch. I've even seen an article that women drivers should get special parking lots, right next to the handicapped parking, in parking buildings. Not because women are bad drivers, but because women have been attacked and raped in parking buildings.
There will always be crime, break ins and rape (don't forget that men are sometimes raped too). The only time and place you can be save from break ins and rape is when you're living alone in a bunker with door made of couple of tons of steel and concrete and there is no key to that door. There, on the other hand, you can worry about germs coming to kill you.
The thing is not to live in fear. Enjoy live. Conquer your fears. Don't let security peddlers play with you. Security system is not likely to prevent break ins. It attracts thieves because it announces to them that there is something valuable inside. Own stuff that will not cost you much to replace, that will discourage thieves. Give freely to the needy, so they will feel less need to steal. If you want to fight crime don't buy security system, join (or organize) a neighborhood watch program. There are 3 types of crimes. Money (including thefts and drugs), vandalism (including graffiti) and passion (including wife beating and rape). Good neighborhood watch reduces the first 2. Common sense reduces the third one. If your mate beats you don't forgive, tell him/her to leave, then tell the neighborhood watch to watch out for the person.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Computer monitors.

Current generation of computer monitors are useless as computer monitors. Well, unless you only use your computer to watch movies but I use my TV for that purpose. The newer monitors are in proportions of 16:10 instead of the older more square proportions of 4:3. If you use your computer to work on, the new monitors are too low and too wide. They are so low that the toolbars on the top and status bars on the bottom take up large portion of the screen. If you're writing a document in Word, the monitors are so wide that a large portion of the monitor on each side of the document is empty. I calculate that just under half the monitor is used for nothing. I have been trying to find a new high quality computer monitor in the old proportions of 4:3 but I'm having no luck.

Italian drivers

Italian drivers are a special breed. If you can drive there, you can drive anywhere,,, with the possible exception of India. In Italy they don't follow the lines on the road. They don't look at the markings as some boundaries they need to follow. The Italian drivers don't even look at the markings as guidelines. They simply look at lane-markers and road signs as road decorations, there only for the simple purpose of breaking up the monotony of the road and confuse foreigners.
For Italian drivers the purpose of 2 clearly marked lanes on the roads surface is to have 3 rows of cars in those 2 lanes, and scooters weaving in and out of the rows. The purpose of 3 clearly marked lanes on the roads surface is to have 2 rows of cars in those 3 lanes, and of course 2 lines of cars parked in the outside of the outside lanes. Of course they also have scooters weaving in and out of the 2 rows of cars.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Theft protection.

I find it alarming how people are ready to spend lots of money on theft protections, and how frightened people are in their lives.
I hardly keep anything in my house that is worth stealing, I try to wear things out before I replace them. My TV cost less than 400€ more than a year ago. Although the picture quality is fine it does not have 3D so savvy burglar would hardly bother with it. My laptop is over 5 years old, I'd be glad for an excuse to replace it. If it was stolen the biggest loss would be the information on it, but the important stuff is backed up. My Ipod was bought on sale when a new generation came out. I don't even insure my stuff, saving me enough money to buy replacement items should the need arise.
Think about it this way. If the whole family goes together on a vacation, leaving the home easy target for thiefs, then what you value most is with you on the vacation. The rest is just easily replaceable stuff.
Considering how people often express the thought that it isn't the things that are stolen, but the invasion of (and damage to) their homes that they are afraid of. I find it strange that the neighbourhood watches are so difficult to maintain.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Guns and Airplanes

Americans have this belief that owning a gun will keep them from being robbed. Own a gun for self protection and stuff like that. Then why are they not allowed to take their guns on airplanes in USA? Isn't that a bit of double standard? I would think that if everyone aboard a plane were allowed to have a gun, a terrorist who would try to hijack the plane would just get shot.

Adele and music theft

The music industry has been in decline for the last 10-15 years or so. Sales have been going down and the the big recording companies in the music industry have been blaming illegal downloads (downloads of copyrighted material). Interestingly enough, this decline has been in sync with more and more "manufactured bands" from the big recording companies. Bands where they got someone with a pretty face, or faces, to front the "band" and playing songs written by others. This decline has also synced with lot of other stuff competing for young peoples money. It's enough to mention GSM phones, texting and computer games, to give people idea of what I'm talking about. That stuff costs money and the young people simply can't buy everything they want, something has to remain unbought.
Where does Adele come into it? Well, here we have young woman, only 19 when she started recording her first album, who writes and sings her own songs. She sounds different from the "manufactured bands", she looks different from the "manufactured bands" (more girl next door than glamorous model) and her records sell by the truckloads.
Maybe the big recording companies have it wrong. Maybe music sales have declined, not because of downloads, but because of lack of quality and lack of talents.


Adeles information on Wikipedia

Saturday, February 11, 2012

How big is two by four construction timber?

A urban legend says that an MIT professor has asked, as a bonus question, on the first test of the year, for almost 40 years, the question; "What is the width and height of a two by four construction timber?" The legend says that the failure rate (wrong answer) for that question went over 50% in 2005 and has stayed has stayed over 50% since then. Then they ask what is wrong with the world today. :)

By the way, 2 by 4 construction lumber should be 2 inches thick and 4 inches wide but is usually slightly less, down to 1.5 by 3.5 inches.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

User Interface rants.

I hate computer upgrades. Bastard Operator From Hell tells the reasons here in quite an informing way. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/04/bofh_2011_episode_17/
But although the BOFH article is a joke, it is only funny because it is a mirror of real live. There is nothing I'm interested in doing in Word that I could not do in Version 2. And Words 2 interface was simple and user friendly.
I'll tell you here and now the secret behind Apples success. Nice looking gadgets that have simple user interface that works ALL THE TIME. The funny thing is that (probably soon to be "Saint Steve") Jobs didn't design the user interfaces, or even the gadgets. His genius was in rejecting bad designs and being willing to pay the designers until they came up with simple good working system.
Lot of new software has no buttons to click on (it is to keep the interface clean and simple). Instead there is just a text somewhere on the screen, that may get frame around it when the mouse pointer hovers above it so you finally realize that this is the button you're looking for. This is almost 2D effect and reminds me of the original Apple user interface. The same Apple interface that "Saint Steve" spent so much effort to change later in his live.
I also hate when designers ask people what features they would want in the software. People don't know what they want. "Saint Steve" never asked customers what they wanted.
Most of all I hate it when software companies change the user interface because the customers asked them for features that the customers will never use and the software companies use the opportunity to raise the price of the software because now it does much more than it used to do.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Woman

A good woman keeps her man out of trouble. But many a good woman has gotten her man into trouble. :)

Friday, February 3, 2012

Snow

It is snowing. I don't know if I ever get the change to describe my distaste for snow. The language does not contain the words I would like to use to describe snow. Cold, wet and uncomfortable, although accurate, don't convey the feelings I have. The words with feelings are not printable. I might start to make up words.

Dash, ism

With a sprinkling of pessimism or optimism, depending on my mood.