Noscope

Firefox 1.5 Mini-Review 7 Comments

November 30th, 2005 firefox, software

Just today, Firefox web-browser version 1.5 launched from the brand new Mozilla Corporation.

As always the browser is a delight to use and the new version includes numerous nice features apart from usability and interface cleanups here and there. Among the most noteworthy features is the new Clear Private Data feature, and the much improved software/extension update mechanism. Also, a long-standing link overflow bug has been fixed, which means (among other things) that Google Adsense ads will no longer be scrollable.

On the downside, most extensions need to be updated to work with the new version. Finally, to make Firefox menus work better on the default Windows XP “Luna” skin, Firefox developers changed the menu appearance. While it’s easy to switch it back to the old style, I’m more stumped at the fact that the Firefox interface is built using CSS stylesheets…

All things aside, Firefox 1.5 is currently the best browser available for the Windows platform.

Mixed Case URLs for Wordpress: Anyone? 16 Comments

November 30th, 2005 voxpop, wordpress

I’ve noticed a trend on the web lately. I’ve seen several websites (digg, for instance), that use very elaborate URL designs. Now can someone tell me why can’t Wordpress do this? There’s a post slug field that should do what I tell it to, but it lowercases and “sanitizes” what I write.

Instead of the usual

noscope.com/journal/2005/11/mixed-case-urls

why not an elaborate style:

noscope.com/journal/Mixed_Case_URLs_for_Wordpress:_Anyone

it seems pretty simple, not?

Execution #1000 12 Comments

November 29th, 2005 ethics, idiocy, politics

Tomorrow, the 30th of November, Robin Lovitt will be executed. This marks the 1000th execution since the re-instatement of capital punishment in the U.S. Why not do what you can to protest this cruel and unusual punishment?

Update: The death sentence has been commuted to life in prison. Now if only they could abolish the mistake that is capital punishment altogether.

Codename: “Curveball” 7 Comments

November 21st, 2005 idiocy, politics

Sometimes I’m wondering if people still remember the reasons why the second Iraq war was started. Especially when I see articles where Bush once again defends his stance on WMDs in Iraq.

This article also details a report on the basis for the war and goes on to say that the military “intelligence” that reported mobile bioweapons labs came from an Iraqi defector known as “Curveball” in the intelligence community. Yes, Curveball. There you have it. Mobile bioweapons labs, and ties to Al Qaeda. It seemed like a joke to me then and still does. I wonder if more people get the joke now.

Header Update 24 Comments

November 19th, 2005 noscope

I made a small change to the header on Noscope. Do a rollover, it’ll say “Show all images in this series (installment)?”. A click will take you directly to the full installment from where the header image is taken from. I think this’ll increase transparency as to what that header is actually doing there. By the way, alternatives to the link text are welcome.

Toggle, Cookied Comment

November 13th, 2005 javascript, noscope

I have added small “Toggle” links next to items in the sidebar. Your preference is saved in a cookie. Thanks, JS Toggle Boxes!

Your Comments Plugin for Wordpress 2 Comments

November 12th, 2005 plugins, wordpress

My good friend Jonas has written a new Wordpress “Recent Comments” type plugin, with a twist. Your Comments presents the latest comments to weblog posts, from your perspective. Incidentally, this is very close to what I was asking for in my recent article on keeping old stuff fresh. I’m going to try out the plugin, but with a different design. Update: See frontpage.

FlashObject 17 Comments

November 2nd, 2005 flash, javascript

I have updated all the Flash used on Noscope to use FlashObject by Geoff Stearns. It’s lovely, simple, easy to use, and failsafe: Kudos! Hopefully it should solve problems people had with the Flash 8 content I’ve been using here and there. (Oh, and November installment is on the way… the forest header is a teaser).