Speaking of what’s in the news, today’s Age features a series of photos of two senior staff from AWB acting like complete dickheads while “doing business” in Iraq. No doubt the Cole Royal Commission will reveal what really went on, and I reckon this is the least of their problems, but these guys could have done well to heed my long-standing view on photography in the digital age Read the rest of this entry »
If I may get diatribal for a moment, there are a few things that have turned up in the last day or so that need comment: IE7 bugs, the ‘Kama Sutra’ worm, and Firefox upgrades. Read the rest of this entry »
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 Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s my Markdown/PHP Markdown cheat sheet or syntax summary. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Learning to program your computer? Wondering why should I learn to program a computer? Trying to teach computer programming? For some time I’ve been trying to find the words to explain things like:
While I ponder this further, here are some thoughts from others along the same lines - maybe you will find some inspiration in their words. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a collection of twenty programs that you might want to try. Are they “the best”? Well, that all depends on what your priorities are but they are all pretty good. Read the rest of this entry »
The value of tags is enhanced by using them consistently and extensively. Here’s three rules of thumb I use for tags on del.icio.us Read the rest of this entry »
Maybe del.icio.us is a bit plain for your palate, maybe you want a bit of variety — there are several alternatives Read the rest of this entry »
Do your favourites play favourite with only one browser? Maybe it’s time you made your bookmarks more social.
Social bookmarking, sometimes called link blogging, is a relatively new online idea that allows you to store your bookmarks online. So you can use the same set of bookmarks in any browser, on any computer, wherever there is an Internet connection. Read the rest of this entry »
Advice on handling email chain letters and hoaxes
I recently received an email from a very reliable contact that said simply “Some good tips!” with a file attached called PoliceTips.doc. The document was a list of eight “tips” for keeping yourself safe in public places, and the strong suggestion is that they were issued by the police.
Before I finished reading the document, I had diagnosed it as a hoax and a chain letter. Here’s how I did it. Read the rest of this entry »