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Sticking it to the man -- Browser styleAs many of you know, I'm the primary developer of the UI controls of the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit -- That is to say, I've written most of the code that makes them tick, and I do almost all of the styling. Credit where credit is due of course, my coworkers have also contributed to the UI controls (and two thumbs up when they do).
Anyway, as part of the UI controls, we often encouter various CSS bugs and other oditities in the various browsers that we support. Right now we support IE6, IE7, IE8, FF1.5, FF2, FF3, FF3.5, Chrome 1 and Chrome 2. Yes, we don't support Opera, although I hope that we someday do. Some browsers have more quirks than others (IE6, IE7, I'm looking at you!), while the newer browsers have less bugs.. Unfortunately, when they do, they are often harder to solve and more complex in nature.
Dealing with these bugs is not always fun. Sometimes we encounter issues so strange, that it takes a long time digging around to find the real issue, and for most of the non-obvious ones there is suprisingly little information on the webs on how to solve them. All the IE6 and IE7 bugs are old, and well-documentated, but quirks in FF3 and so on are often less well-understood. At first I start out optimistically; "I'm sure we can find a work-around or other fix that will work in a few minutes". After that the slow realization that this might be a nasty one sets in; "Shoot, there is no information about this anywhere, did we do something completely wrong?". For the really nasty ones, it soon turns into a "Damn, this bug is really annoying, there is no info about it, and nothing I do seems to help". Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days.
But the best part is when I finally fix a really nasty bug. It's a liberating feeling, a feeling of sticking it to "the man" -- the digital middle finger that says "we don't need a new release of your browser, our stuff works around your bugs, sucker!". This is, of course, heavily censored as I do not want to fill my blog with profanities :-).
... and I keep coming back for more. Brain dumpBlogging would be so much easier if I could just create a brain dump and post it. No need to form coherent sentences and typing it all using a silly keyboard. Man, that would rock.
Which, coincidentally, is also the reason I haven't been updating my blog. I have plenty of interesting things I would like to discuss, talk about, blog about, or something like that.. I also have plenty of time in the evenings to write up elaborate stories (hey, what can I say, no other obligations). Yet I can't be bothered to type it all. I'm sure some brilliant and self-proclaimed Web 2.0 expert has come up for a term for this "syndrome", but I can't be arsed to go look for it.
In other news, I think having breakfast is finally starting to pay off. A couple of weeks ago I finally found something I like to eat in the morning. I'm not a big toast and/or bread and/or bagle and/or anything-else-in-the-morning-fan. But I do admit I feel less foggy during the day, especially in the afternoon. Now if only I could improve my cooking skills for dinner, I'm sure I could achieve world peace.
Also, I have a weird fascination with Twitter. On the one hand I find it interesting to read what people are doing, yet on the other hand I get annoyed like hell by all the people who post mindless retweets, tweet when they're stuck in traffic, or post ten times a week that they're at some airport somewhere around the world (we get it, you travel a lot, now go do something useful). That's the one thing I think Twitter is really missing: A way to cleanly sort this big pile of information (and incoming tweets) into categories and groups that actually matter to me, sparing me all the boring messages. I also forgot I had my phone set up for Twitter, so I was slightly surprised to see I got a bunch of SMS messages when someone sent me a direct message. I have to check my bill, see how much that joke cost me.
I was watching TV the other night, and I happen to see the latest Coke advertisement. I know it's been out for a while, so I'm sure you've seen it: the sweaty, hot (as in warm, not good looking) guy, who is thirsty beyond believe and recognizes the Coca Cola bottle in every sound, shape and other sensation you can think of on his way to some shoddy store where he buys a bottle to relieve his thirst. Coca Cola really messed this one up. They're previous ads were spot on, giving most people a real sensation of I got to drink this stuff, It's awesome. But this ad is just... Weird. I can't see how it possibly can have any effect (heck, it made me want to not drink cola).
The other day I got a TomTom, a neat little device. I know the educated readers know that I don't drive, so let me explain. My parents are coming over in two weeks (two weeks?! holy sheeze, time flies!) and they want to go places. So naturally they'll be getting a rental car. Of course, you could rent a GPS device, but it's super expensive, and I'll need one eventually anyway. So in the end it's cheaper to just buy one. I like how you can just download other language voices and so on for free.
Anyway, I better stop rambling now. Laters.
Mind your queue.Having recently become somewhat a fan of his columns and documentaries (especially about messy people), here's one of the best columns I think you should read... and still totally true. The standard "thriller" / "action" soundtrack -- What is it?As heard in the Hitman (2007) Soundtrack, the new Prototype teaser (which looks awesome, btw), and many many more movies and games.. What is it? It must be some standard piece of audio, perhaps from a classical piece? I don't know. Maybe someone can shed some light on it. It's been bugging me for a while now >_>
Edit: The tune in question starts around 0:50 in the Prototype trailer. Plane/helicopter crashes?What's up with all those plane/helicopter crashes the past month or so? I've never heard of so many going down in a short period of time.
.. and that's just off the top of my head. Is this just getting more media exposure, or? Edit: One more for the list -- An F-22 fighter jet just went down. A post before heading to Las VegasSo here's a quick post before I head off to Las Vegas tomorrow. I'll be attending Mix -- If you're going and see me, or want to meet up, let me know (leave a comment or send me an e-mail). Anyway, before I go to the land of the free (ahem), I thought I'd post some random observations I made over the past few months that I've been here in Canada.
WhiteYet again, everything is white.
 Stuff I want to do....
..... Oh, and go to work. PhotosynthPhotosynth is awesome. I think I'm going to create a synth (hm, I wonder if that's going to be a verb.. "I'll go synth it") of the surroundings of my apartment building. Bring back "Be Right Back"!I'm all for simplicity. But, with all these kinds of adjustments, one can also overdo it. I feel this has been the case for the new Windows Live Messenger 9.0. In this new release the various statusses have been simplified to just four: Available, Away, Busy and Hidden. While this makes sense (after all, you're away when you're out to lunch and you're busy when you're making a phone call), I feel this is missing the be right back status.
To me, Away has always indicated being away for a longer period of time -- Say about an hour or so. Busy doesn't cover it (I mean, sure, you could be busy going to the toilet, but ...). So, now, whenever I'm away for only a few minutes I have to either edit my name ("Siebe - BRB"), change my status and make everyone think I'm going away for a longer period of time, or tell everyone I'm talking to that I'll only be away for a few minutes.
I want be right back back... and I know I'm not the only one. Second weekend here, eh?Hmm. The second weekend here is almost up. So far everything is going well. My manager and our lead test (I think?) came up to Richmond last Friday. Good fun. Got some good information on the stuff we're going to do over the next few months (which should be totally kick-ass, by the way). Afterwars we had dinner with the four of us (3 + another tester of our team up here in Richmond). Got an XBOX yesterday. *Awessommee*. In case you're wondering, it's the Elite version... which isn't even that much more expensive, and has the benefit of a bigger HDD which comes in handy when installing games to the HDD (to speed up loading and so on), and has the HDMI output. I was blown away by the graphics of Gears of War 2 on the flatscreen TV here in my apartment (so far I had only been playing on an oldish TV!). The XBOX itself came with Lego: Indiana Jones as well as Kung Fu Panda, and I got GoW2 along with it. I'll buy some more games from the Microsoft company store, where stuff is way cheaper. So far I've unlocked little over half of the KFP achievements, and a couple of LIJ ones. Good stuff. First day of workJust got home from the first day of "work". Mostly it was listening to presentations, listening to HR telling us all kinds of stuff, and setting up machines and installing software. I havent been able to log in to the network yet, though ... Turns out that my account is currently disabled, most likely because it is currently being renamed (because I was a vendor for the past few months I already had an account).
Oh, and in case you're wondering (I doubt you are :-P) I didn't have to take the bus or a Microsoft Connector, because another new employee came to pick me up. Turns out we both did a few internships in Redmond, and he arrived over the weekend. We met up yesterday for a few drinks, as well, which was pretty cool.
There's nothing much else to tell, really. The day was okay, a little bit boring at times, but I'm also excited to start with the new job. Tomorrow and the rest of the week should be more interesting, as soon I get access to the network and get everything set up. Details, details, detailsI like details. I like knowing details. In a few days I'll be making the move from the Netherlands to Canada. No small feat, if you ask me. It's a complete culture change, and (hopefully) for a short while I'll have to manage everything on my own. Language fortunately is no barrier -- I consider myself quite fluent in English.
The most stressful thing will be flying. I don't mind flying itself. Actually, I love flying. For some reason or another, my hands and feet always feel warm (I have been diagnosed with Raynaud's Disease), which I suspect is due to the slightly reduced pressure in the cabin and generally speaking a relatively high temperature. So far I've only been flying non-stop, and this will be the first time I have a stop-over... In Heathrow, of all places... and I tend to be one of the people who go "what about my baggage?"; "will I need to gather it, and then head to the next check-in?"; "do I have enough time to make it to the next boarding?"; "I don't know the layout of the airport, yikes!", and so on. I'm sure it will be alright, but right now I'm not content with it. Next time when I'm paying for the ticket, it's *so* going to be a direct flight.
At the moment I'm still waiting for the address of my temporary housing. Once I know that, I can start figuring out how I can get from my home to work the most effeciently (so far, Transit 101 from TransLink has been very helpful!). Seeing as I don't drive (no drivers license), I'll have to use public transport for now. My bike isn't coming until I find a permanent place to live (it is being shipped by the movers with my other goods). I'll go for a test drive on the bus the day after I arrive, so that there are no unexpected surprises when I try to get to work on monday.
Then I'll have to arrange a new bank account, and get a social security number (of whatever the equivalent is in Canada). I still haven't decided on which bank I want to go with though. I'm thinking about going with Royal Bank of Canada, but I'm not sure. Surprisingly enough, it's very hard to find good ratings of banks. I'm currently spoiled with an account with one of the two or three triple-A rated banks in the world (yes, even after the whole economic bloodshedding).
Once I'm settled in, I can start looking for houses/apartments. Microsoft takes care of a lot of things for me, though, which is good. One of them is helping me find a place to live. Hopefully I'll be able to get something near a shopping center/supermarket and still be able to get to work without too much of a hassle.
If you've got any tips, leave a comment :-) "Computers are like drugs"From http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000761.html:
I fear this warning came too late for me. Writing a bookFirst off, happy new year everyone.
For a while now I've been having the idea of writing a book. Being a bit of a book-lover myself (I think I averaged reading about 1 book per week in 2008), I've always wondered what it would be like to write a book myself. Although I like a wide range of subjects, it would most likely be a mix of action, mystery and mindgames. On the other hand, having a crack at writing a humorous book (ala Discworld series, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, and so on) would be cool too.
The only problem I have is preliminary writers block. I have a general idea of the story of a book, but I doubt it would ever be able to get in enough pages to call it a book. I think it would be more like one or two chapters. Perhaps I should just start by writing short stories? Complicated"This is another example of how things can get extremely complicated even though the basic idea is very simple: Once you have the simple idea working, everybody finds random special cases that force you to take your simple idea and make it more and more complicated."
Unfortunately, this is way too common. Unicode class to UnicodeCategory cheat-sheetCheatsheet of Unicode classes to the .Net Framework System.Globalization.UnicodeCategory enum names:
Po = OtherPunctuation Pf = FinalQuotePunctuation Pi = InitialQuotePunctuation Pe = ClosePunctuation Ps = OpenPunctuation Pd = DashPunctuation Pc = ConnectorPunctuation Co = PrivateUse Lu = UppercaseLetter Ll = LowercaseLetter Lt = TitleCaseLetter Lm = ModifiedCharacter Lo = OtherLetther Mn = NonSpacingMark Mc = SpacingCombiningMark Me = EnclosingMark Nd = DecimalDigitNumber Nl = LetterNumber No = OtherNumber Zs = SpaceSeparator Zl = LineSeparator Zp = ParagraphSeparator Cc = Control Cf = Format Cs = Surrogate Sm = MathSymbol Sc = CurrencySymbol Sk = ModifierSymbol So = OtherSymbol Cn = OtherNotAssigned You're welcome. Curiosity killed the catJust for kicks I visited the new website of the DHS where all non-US citizens now need to apply in order to be permitted to fly to the US. Aside from it being one of the most ridiculous rules, "evar", it has another "What the F..." issue:
Please read it carefully. I especially like the end of the blob of text, where it says "By clicking OK below...", as if I have a choice! There is no cancel button which takes me the hell out of there (redirect to DHS.gov or whatever they think is best). So by visiting the site and being prompted with that dialog, you must agree to it, without being given a chance to back out. Nasty. |
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