Well, roughly a week later, it's time to decide whether Opera or Mozilla Firefox will be my next gateway to the Information Superhighway.
Opera has the advantage of having more features and some of the being very innovative, e.g. Multiple Document Interface, Mouse Gestures, keyboard shortcuts galore, etc., though some are unnecessary, e.g. Mail, Chat. With respect to the MDI, Opera is much more committed to tabbed browsing than Firefox opening windows by default in a new tab. It's also the faster browser and offers more options and customizability.
Firefox has the advantage of using less HD space and most importantly rendering websites better. Firefox will display Gmail and Yahoo! Mail correctly, while Opera is not even supported by Gmail and has some issues with Yahoo! Mail's pulldown menus area.
Conclusion: Opera is in most respects the superior browser and it's default appearance looks better. However, the website rendering is an issue. Thus, Firefox should win out. Opera has one chance to redeem itself. I may have set Opera to spoof as IE (though Gmail doesn't seem fooled by that, so I'm not sure). If changing that setting to Opera does not make Yahoo! Mail display correctly, Firefox wins, at least until Opera 8 comes out.
Friday, July 30, 2004
Friday, July 23, 2004
Coons!
The title links to a story about Dr. Stephen Hawkings conceding defeat in a 30-year old theory. (NY Times, so free registration required.) I can't believe I first read this news from the Major League Baseball website. Google News somehow chose that as the headlining article for this news.
Finally, the "shiny object" that is blogging dimmed in comparison to something else, as evidenced by the almost 2 week hiatus in blogging. I didn't even read other people's blogs in the past week. I've been drawn to newer things for most of my life. In the absence of newer things, I've reverted to older things I haven't touched in a while. This is not true for everything, of course. Objects with sentimental value can't be replaced, but among things that can be, the newer object has a distinct advantage.
In this case, the new "shiny objects" have been Shaolin Soccer, subtitles, and gaming. Each of these have consumed evenings that might have led to web surfing and blogging. Amazing that I've only watched Shaolin Soccer now. A passable plot, but mostly it's about special effects or martial arts, and those are done fairly well. But, I still have several other more critically acclaimed Asian movies that I want to see, notably Infernal Affairs, Hero, and the second half of My Sassy Girl.
Not watching these movies, not listening to any Chinese songs, I far away from my cultural heritage that places me. This query is probably from hanging around too many FOBs in the past 4 years, compared to no FOBs before. But, I do question how much cultural awareness I've gained. In an undergraduate survey I took recently, the questions stressed cultural awareness as a major goal of college. I have to say it hasn't done much in that respect. Probably cause I'm an engineer, which as a major shies away from those humanity questions for quantitative results and is dominated by Chinese. That is to say there is little cultural diversity among my immediate peers.
And now for something completely different...
Today, I've opened my home computer as a battleground in the Browser Wars, and the sides that were allowed to make formal declarations of battle on this computer were Opera 7.53 and Mozilla Firefox 0.9.2. Internet Explorer has been deemed insufficient to participate, but like a good third party, it gets to hang around and do the things that the others don't want to do. The previous winner was Opera, being the fastest of browsers, though I didn't yet see Firefox, or Phoenix then, as an option yet, being so immature. The battle should end in a week, and we'll see who rises from the ashes (and that does not suggest Firefox has been predisposed to win).
Finally, the "shiny object" that is blogging dimmed in comparison to something else, as evidenced by the almost 2 week hiatus in blogging. I didn't even read other people's blogs in the past week. I've been drawn to newer things for most of my life. In the absence of newer things, I've reverted to older things I haven't touched in a while. This is not true for everything, of course. Objects with sentimental value can't be replaced, but among things that can be, the newer object has a distinct advantage.
In this case, the new "shiny objects" have been Shaolin Soccer, subtitles, and gaming. Each of these have consumed evenings that might have led to web surfing and blogging. Amazing that I've only watched Shaolin Soccer now. A passable plot, but mostly it's about special effects or martial arts, and those are done fairly well. But, I still have several other more critically acclaimed Asian movies that I want to see, notably Infernal Affairs, Hero, and the second half of My Sassy Girl.
Not watching these movies, not listening to any Chinese songs, I far away from my cultural heritage that places me. This query is probably from hanging around too many FOBs in the past 4 years, compared to no FOBs before. But, I do question how much cultural awareness I've gained. In an undergraduate survey I took recently, the questions stressed cultural awareness as a major goal of college. I have to say it hasn't done much in that respect. Probably cause I'm an engineer, which as a major shies away from those humanity questions for quantitative results and is dominated by Chinese. That is to say there is little cultural diversity among my immediate peers.
And now for something completely different...
Today, I've opened my home computer as a battleground in the Browser Wars, and the sides that were allowed to make formal declarations of battle on this computer were Opera 7.53 and Mozilla Firefox 0.9.2. Internet Explorer has been deemed insufficient to participate, but like a good third party, it gets to hang around and do the things that the others don't want to do. The previous winner was Opera, being the fastest of browsers, though I didn't yet see Firefox, or Phoenix then, as an option yet, being so immature. The battle should end in a week, and we'll see who rises from the ashes (and that does not suggest Firefox has been predisposed to win).
Saturday, July 10, 2004
I see pizza and pasta
Yesterday, I had lunch at the newly open U.C. Pizza & Pasta on Shattuck. And I will probably not go there again, certainly not for a long time. They have many kinks to work out like making sure they're computer systems have the current prices. (I got charged $5.79 for a special that should have been $4.99; but when I pointed it out, the guy gave me a dollar back.) Also, the servers are slow, perhaps due to inexperience: a friend of mine went there during the peak of lunch and waited an hour and a half for his order. They have a nice idea as far as splitting up take-out and dine-in orders, but it's unclear that there is a difference unless your particularly pay attention the signs. I feel these confusions will be smoothed out over time. However, this does repress the sogginess of the bottom bun of my cheeseburger and the greasiness of my fries. Nor does it compensate for the pasta being a dollar or two more expensive than LaVal's. Thus, I wouldn't recommend the place, definitely not until they figure out what they're doing, and even then, I would approach with caution.
In other news, went to game night last night at James' apartment and had a blast playing games and watching Operation Condor and an episode of The Simpsons. Decided my next computer will be an Apple Powerbook, probably the 12 inch. Essentially, as far as design it came down to Apple, IBM, and Panasonic. IBM's design comes at a premium and Panasonic, though perhaps worth it, at a greater premium. Essentially, for a similarly configured Apple, IBM, and Panasonic (specifically 512MB RAM, at least 40GB HD, and wireless card), the Apple is the cheapest, at least with Apple's education discount. Still waiting for the bank account to top a very secure amount (i.e. enough for a day of tornadoes and hurricane, well maybe a severe thunderstorm).
Decided to go to Las Vegas with some of my Berkeley friends on the July 30th weekend. It's unfortunate we don't have any more long weekends before school starts again. But it'll probably be the last time I see all these people together as a group, but the interaction will hopefully be fun.
In other news, went to game night last night at James' apartment and had a blast playing games and watching Operation Condor and an episode of The Simpsons. Decided my next computer will be an Apple Powerbook, probably the 12 inch. Essentially, as far as design it came down to Apple, IBM, and Panasonic. IBM's design comes at a premium and Panasonic, though perhaps worth it, at a greater premium. Essentially, for a similarly configured Apple, IBM, and Panasonic (specifically 512MB RAM, at least 40GB HD, and wireless card), the Apple is the cheapest, at least with Apple's education discount. Still waiting for the bank account to top a very secure amount (i.e. enough for a day of tornadoes and hurricane, well maybe a severe thunderstorm).
Decided to go to Las Vegas with some of my Berkeley friends on the July 30th weekend. It's unfortunate we don't have any more long weekends before school starts again. But it'll probably be the last time I see all these people together as a group, but the interaction will hopefully be fun.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Playing through
I've not been to PGA. No, not a golf tournament. Paramount's Great America. We started in the afternoon, so we only got to four rides. In part because there seemed to be an exorbitant amount of cutting in the line at Invertigo (or maybe it was just the VIP people, who got to line up at the front), which caused us to miss some popular rides like Top Gun.
But the main reason we were there was to catch the 3rd of July fireworks. My guess is that Great America didn't want to try to compete with SF's fireworks tomorrow. Overall the fireworks were okay; they can't really compare to Disneyland's. Initially, they were horrible since they stopped after 10 minutes. They must have encountered technical problems, since it started up 5 minutes later. The entire show wasn't that bad, though the music could have been louder (perhaps we were just at the wrong place, and listening to sound directly from the amphitheater and not from in-park speakers, if they used those.)
The current plans for my video project call for 4 people stuck in an elevator that has lost power (project is now renamed to Elevator Project). The number may vary depending upon script writing issues. But the first step has been trying to create characters. Temporary names have been chosen for these people. But the more important process of characterizing these people has begun. And thanks to a tip, I've been looking at the Myers-Briggs personality topology (i.e. the Introvert/Extrovert, Sensing/iNtuitive, Feeling/Thinking, and Judging/Perceiving).
I've seen these traits before but never measured what I am myself, and the result is a clear "Don't Know." Two tests produced two slightly different results. I am clearly introverted and clearly perceiving, very likely thinking, but sensing and intuitive seems to be a gray area. Perhaps, I would like to be more of an intuitive but am actually more of a sensor, so the difference comes down to what I would like to do, and thus sometimes do, and what I do if I don't think about it.
Using this personality topology, I will formulate my characters and some ideas on their relationship. Anyway, click the title if you haven't taken the test yourself. Otherwise, it's late. Errrr, early and I need some semblence of sleep.
But the main reason we were there was to catch the 3rd of July fireworks. My guess is that Great America didn't want to try to compete with SF's fireworks tomorrow. Overall the fireworks were okay; they can't really compare to Disneyland's. Initially, they were horrible since they stopped after 10 minutes. They must have encountered technical problems, since it started up 5 minutes later. The entire show wasn't that bad, though the music could have been louder (perhaps we were just at the wrong place, and listening to sound directly from the amphitheater and not from in-park speakers, if they used those.)
The current plans for my video project call for 4 people stuck in an elevator that has lost power (project is now renamed to Elevator Project). The number may vary depending upon script writing issues. But the first step has been trying to create characters. Temporary names have been chosen for these people. But the more important process of characterizing these people has begun. And thanks to a tip, I've been looking at the Myers-Briggs personality topology (i.e. the Introvert/Extrovert, Sensing/iNtuitive, Feeling/Thinking, and Judging/Perceiving).
I've seen these traits before but never measured what I am myself, and the result is a clear "Don't Know." Two tests produced two slightly different results. I am clearly introverted and clearly perceiving, very likely thinking, but sensing and intuitive seems to be a gray area. Perhaps, I would like to be more of an intuitive but am actually more of a sensor, so the difference comes down to what I would like to do, and thus sometimes do, and what I do if I don't think about it.
Using this personality topology, I will formulate my characters and some ideas on their relationship. Anyway, click the title if you haven't taken the test yourself. Otherwise, it's late. Errrr, early and I need some semblence of sleep.
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Subsize Me
In effort to conserve money, I started going to McDonald's last week for their $1 burgers. During one visit, I found the deliciousness of the McDonald's Double Cheeseburger. By this past Wednesday, I've sworn off the double cheeseburger for a while, and perhaps McDonald's, but we'll see how I feel next week. From last week to this Wednesday, I converted from 3 McChickens to 3 Double Cheeseburgers, and the result was Wednesday's lunch was the greasiest I've had in a very long time.
The next step in cost cutting measures is homemade sandwiches. There is, of course, the standard fair of putting eggs/tuna/turkey/ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes with mayonnaise or mustard on them. But I feel like something more outlandish, and something warm. I suppose I could just nuke the sandwich just before I eat it. Any suggestions? Then all I'd have to do is get to Safeway. Curses to not having a car!
A plot idea I came up with today is trapping people in an elevator after a power outage. I could trap one person in there as a frame story for the music sequences I've talked about previously. Or I could trap a few people, and either use that as a frame story for the music sequences or record their interaction. Maybe I'll cut one of the pieces, and have someone tell a story, and spend the rest of the time with the interaction.
Finished Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. There's no real plot to it, just meditations on time. A few were interesting, like "Time is local", but largely they were forgetable, such as "There is no time; there are only images." A very odd passage in 10 June 1905 ("Time cannot be measured; it is a quality.") has people who try to measure time turned to stone. Most people would probably find this book pretty pointless.
Next on the reading list is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Though I have to wait til Tuesday before I can pick it up from the library.
The next step in cost cutting measures is homemade sandwiches. There is, of course, the standard fair of putting eggs/tuna/turkey/ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes with mayonnaise or mustard on them. But I feel like something more outlandish, and something warm. I suppose I could just nuke the sandwich just before I eat it. Any suggestions? Then all I'd have to do is get to Safeway. Curses to not having a car!
A plot idea I came up with today is trapping people in an elevator after a power outage. I could trap one person in there as a frame story for the music sequences I've talked about previously. Or I could trap a few people, and either use that as a frame story for the music sequences or record their interaction. Maybe I'll cut one of the pieces, and have someone tell a story, and spend the rest of the time with the interaction.
Finished Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. There's no real plot to it, just meditations on time. A few were interesting, like "Time is local", but largely they were forgetable, such as "There is no time; there are only images." A very odd passage in 10 June 1905 ("Time cannot be measured; it is a quality.") has people who try to measure time turned to stone. Most people would probably find this book pretty pointless.
Next on the reading list is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Though I have to wait til Tuesday before I can pick it up from the library.
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