Monthly Archives: June 2004

Proprietary formats stink

Chris Phillips over at Curb Cut Learning has a rant, which I agree with, that HTML is better than PDF for accessibility. In fact, I go further than he does, HTML is already good enough for most people. Maybe professional … Continue reading

Posted in Webmastering | Comments Off on Proprietary formats stink

Plucky little space robots

In contrast to yesterday’s entry, let’s mention the Cassini space probe. The Cassini-Huygens Mission is already returning great data from Saturn and its moons and in a few days will assume parking orbit for four years worth of exploring! Let’s … Continue reading

Posted in Science and Engineering | Comments Off on Plucky little space robots

Why I am not impressed with SpaceShipOne

Short Answer: It’s only suborbital. It’s just an exotic, jet-powered joyride for rich people. Long answer: Look, if purely private funding built something like a space elevator, then I’d be impressed, then I’d say NASA, ESA and the RKA need … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on Why I am not impressed with SpaceShipOne

Bioengineering is faster and cheaper than terraforming

My news aggregator handed me a Slashdot article about terraforming Mars and other planets. One of the points raised was that terraforming, while possible, would be very slow and expensive, taking thousands of years before a stable biosphere was achieved. … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on Bioengineering is faster and cheaper than terraforming

The End of Work?

We’ve all seen it. These processes have been facts of life ever since the Industrial Revolution began. One could argue that it all started with agriculture and domestication. We were doomed as soon as we developed language and harnessed fire. … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on The End of Work?

Disaster Movies and the Electric Power Grid

So let’s assume it’s the End Times, the Wrath of Gods has descended upon us heavily in the form of flesh-eating ghouls rampaging in the streets. The question is asked, “If zombies attack, how long before the power grid fails?” … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Comments Off on Disaster Movies and the Electric Power Grid

SpamBayes is great!

The amount of spam I get through my business account, which is exposed to spambots, is fairly small, about 37 spam a day. The amount of spam I get through my personal account, which is hidden yet visible in a … Continue reading

Posted in Security and Privacy | Comments Off on SpamBayes is great!

Cognitive Disabilites Shortchanged?

So my news aggregator captured an essay from Juicy Studios about how people with learning and cognitive disabilities got shortchanged by the WAI. After reading it, I have to say that Mr. Leitch is a little too confrontational. It is … Continue reading

Posted in Webmastering | Comments Off on Cognitive Disabilites Shortchanged?

Where I stand in the political spectrum

Often I have a hard time explaining my politics to people. Or more factually, I’d rather avoid explaining my politics to people because I often find some point where I disagree with them. Or more exactly, I often find that … Continue reading

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

A wide ranging set of links

By way of Stephen’s Web comes Quality Tips for Webmasters, a short list of simple yet powerful ways to improve your site accessibility, usability and ease of maintenance. Neat, energy efficient gadgets (by way of Metafilter.) From the starving, yet … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments Off on A wide ranging set of links