tech.thingoid

Right upfront let me say that I’m a regular Firefox user and have been since before version 1.0. Like any software it’s not perfect but it suits my purposes.

I’m not a big fan of evangelism or hyperbole, so when a page called “Firefox Myths” entered my radar recently, I was very interested.

Then sadly disappointed. Rather than a balanced analysis of some of the folklore surrounding Firefox, it is merely a stream of weak arguments against imaginary “myths” supported by misquoting or deliberate misreading of sources.

I’m not even going to reference the page. If you really want to find it, I’m sure you can. It’s by someone called Andrew K on a site that seems to have a lot of other stuff about Windows 2000 and XP.

Happily in doing some reading for this response I found a balanced view (which is what I was looking for), so instead I suggest you look at the Firefox Myths written by David Hammond (more…)

Here’s my Markdown/PHP Markdown cheat sheet or syntax summary. (more…)

Ah, the New England Journal of Medicine.

I always found it a thumping good read, in the sense that the bound copies in the medical library made a very pleasing thump when dropped from a height onto a reading desk.

Anyway, how about this little item? Apparently a doctor - a fellow in allergy and immunology, no less - used Google to diagnose a difficult case.

And the search engine got it right:

“How did you make that diagnosis?” asked the professor. Came the reply, “Well, I had the skin-biopsy report, and I had a chart of the immunologic tests. So I entered the salient features into Google, and it popped right up.”

Personally I’d like to think that there was still some professional input and judgement used by the doctor here. Even so, as the correspondent rightly observed, William Osler must be turning over in his grave.

(And yes, I did use Google to find that link on Osler…)

VicRoads has got some “On-line interactive bicycle maps of Victoria“.

Their web page says:

This mapping system provides up to date information on the location of completed bicycle routes throughout the state. The maps include details of the off-road path network and the on-road lane network in Melbourne and in regional Victoria as well as the Rail Trail network in regional Victoria. (more…)

When I print off a web page I like to have the URL printed with it, and the date of printing is often handy also. Well it must be the New Year or the summer heat or being away from work for mumble-mumble months but for the life of me I just couldn’t make it work in Firefox or Safari this morning.

It turns out that the solution was right there in front of me all the time. (more…)