Monthly Archives: May 2005

Open Letter to WordPress Plugin Authors

Posted on May 25, 2005 by Kelson

Please, when developing your plugins, be sure to always use the full opening tag for PHP:

<?php code goes here ?>

On some servers—maybe even your own—you can shorten this to just the opening <?. The following line in php.ini will disable this “feature,” and many web server administrators do so to simplify things like generating XML with PHP:

short_open_tag = Off

When this option is set, PHP will ignore <? and assume it’s simply part of the template… along with all the code following it. If you’re lucky, it means a bunch of PHP code gets sent to the web browser. If you’re not lucky, it results in invalid syntax, and PHP grinds to a halt, spitting out a blank page and a PHP Parse Error.

So please make sure you always use the full opening tag so that your plugin will be compatible with everyone’s system. If you run your own server, set that option in php.ini so that if you miss one, you can catch it before you post it.

Posted in Computers/Internet | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Updating Netscape—the old-fashioned way

Posted on May 24, 2005 by Kelson

People have justifiably criticized Firefox’s update system. It’s nowhere near what anyone wanted for 1.0, and it’s apparently a priority for 1.1. But for all its faults, at least they managed not to release a browser with publicly-known security vulnerabilities* to immense fanfare, then release a fixed version a day later—without any fanfare I could see—the way “Netscape” did.

Six days later, my copy of “Netscape” 8 still hasn’t noticed that there’s a critical security update available, even when I tell it to check. Fortunately I’m not using it for everyday browsing, since I just grabbed it out of curiosity. I finally gave up and downloaded 8.0.1, just in case I forgot about it later.

*Just as Netscape 6-7 were based on Mozilla, Netscape 8 is based on Firefox. Netscape 8.0 was based on Firefox 1.0.3, which contained a pair of security bugs that had already been fixed in Firefox 1.0.4. Given that the holes were widely publicized on May 7, Mozilla released a fix on May 12, and AOL released Netscape 8.0.1 on May 20, I don’t see why they couldn’t have incorporated the fix for the May 19 release.

Posted in Annoyances, Browsers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“Alicia” Returns

Posted on May 24, 2005 by Kelson

Remember the guy who noticed the same model in a ton of spam and started stringing the ads together into An Unsolicited Commercial Love Story?

In the past week I’ve noticed the same model showing up in ad banners on various sites, particularly IMDB and Comics.com—some of them using the same stock photos. (And someone should tell Comics.com that they’re being extremely rude by not only bypassing attempts to block pop-ups, but popping up two windows per visit. Stick with the banners, willya?)

Incidentally, the mystery model was eventually spotted eating lunch in a cafe in Auckland by a reader of cockeyed.com, and she added her own comments to the story.

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Elephants in the Web 1: Opera

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Kelson

[Opera Logo]There’s a saying about the elephant in the room that no one will talk about. Everyone knows it’s there, but by some unspoken rule no one will mention it. I’ve noticed that when web browsers are compared, there’s one thing Opera supporters tend to ignore or downplay: Opera’s business model.

Internet Explorer and Safari are bundled with their respective operating systems, and so they’re perceived as free. Firefox is free in both the gratis and libre senses of the word. Opera, however, is ad-supported by default and will disable the ads if you pay for it.

You can use Opera without paying money, but you’re still paying it in attention (a persistent chunk of space dedicated to advertising), so in comparison to the other three leading browsers, it’s perceived as being less free. Think of it in terms of television.

So the perception of cost looks like this:

  • IE, Safari, Firefox (commercial-free TV)
  • Ad-supported Opera (network TV)
  • Paid-for Opera (cable or satellite)

Most people really do prefer free without ads to free with ads or paid subscriptions. Why else is skipping commercials one of Tivo’s most popular features?

I’m certain this impacts marketshare, and it definitely impacts media coverage. Just look at CNET’s recent IE vs. the world review. Opera 8 gets high marks for features, but what’s the summary? “Despite a ton of great technology in Opera, few consumers will be likely to pay for the app. ” Whether you think the review is otherwise fair or not, the business model clearly lowered it several notches on the reviewer’s scale.

Next: Firefox’s blind spot.

Disclaimer: I’m a regular Firefox user these days, but I’ve also paid to register Opera since version 3.5 was current back in 1999. I used Opera as my main web browser on Windows back when Netscape 4 was aging and Mozilla hadn’t yet stabilized enough to replace it.

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Super-Spawn: Titans

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Kelson

A thought: the original Teen Titans are beating the Justice League when it comes to passing on their super-genes. Leaving out possible-future stories and backstories, it comes down to just Aquaman of the core group, and Green Arrow as the most prominent member outside the “Big 7.”

As for the original 5 Teen Titans (now in their mid-twenties):

Speedy – now Arsenal, has a preschool-aged daughter, Lian (by way of international super-villain Cheshire).
Wonder Girl – now Troia, had a son Robert with her husband, but both were killed in a car crash.
Aqualad – now Tempest, has an infant son Cerdian with his wife Dolphin.
Kid Flash – now Flash, nearly had twins, but a villain beat his wife Linda so badly she not only miscarried, but lost the ability to have any more children. Update Nov. 2005: Time travel altered the attack, and Linda gave birth to healthy twins (who have yet to be named in print).
Robin – now Nightwing, no kids.

And of course if you do add in future stories, all five had children in Kingdom Come… who came back to visit the present-day mainstream DCU in “Who Is Troia?” in 2001.

Admittedly the mortality rate is high, but the 60% 80% birth rate certainly beats the core League’s 14%.

Posted in Comics | Tagged | 16 Comments

The Star Wars Audience

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Kelson

I don’t know if it was the show time we picked or just a matter of who sits where in the theater (we were about halfway back), but the largest demographic group in the audience when we watched Revenge of the Sith was not teenage boys, thirty-something men, families with kids, or twenty-something couples, though there were plenty of all of those. It was teenage girls. And they weren’t tagging along with dates or with families. They were out with their friends on a Friday night, willing to pre-order tickets and wait in line for an hour, looking for people they knew and chatting on their cell phones during the interminable bad-music-and-advertisement pre-show.

This was hardly a geek-only audience. If anything shows that a sci-fi movie has hit the mainstream, it’s the presence of thirteen-year-old girls with Hello Kitty blankets in the audience.

Posted in Star Wars | Tagged | 2 Comments

So sincere, it’s touching

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Kelson

An actual quote from a mortgage spam:

Sincerely,

Random Name

Posted in Spam | Leave a comment

Covering the Astonishing Titans

Posted on May 21, 2005 by Kelson

There’s an interesting similarity between the covers of the latest issues of Teen Titans and Astonishing X-Men.

Professor X and Superboy

For those who may be wondering why Superboy is bald: he’s a clone of Superman, but Earth’s cloning technology isn’t up to creating a 100% Kryptonian. So they used human DNA as well to create a hybrid. Early in this series he discovered the human donor was Lex Luthor. He’s been a bit… conflicted about that discovery.

Posted in Comics | 3 Comments

Star Wars: Meditations on the Sarlacc pit

Posted on May 21, 2005 by Katie

A collection of comments, thoughts and images, some highly spoilerish and not all of them canon.

1. I framed through the end of the Vader vs. Obi-Wan battle in A New Hope after being a bit confused by it last night. Watch closely, and you’ll notice two things. First, Vader’s lightsaber appears to go through Obi-Wan’s, about an inch above the hilt. This I can pin on imperfect special effects and then get on with my life. However, the second thing is that Obi-Wan’s robes start collapsing before the lightsaber even touches him. Kelson, watching it, said, “Does Vader even connect with a body?” I don’t think he does. Which looks like a very plausible solution to the disappearing-Jedi conundrum: if Obi-Wan wasn’t actually killed in action, then all evidence points to non-violent death being the only way to disappear.

2. This time through A New Hope, I had the strange experience of mentally hearing a parallel voice track for Vader, with Hayden Christensen speaking many of his lines. I don’t know how much of this is my own overactive brain (fueled by coffee and Honey Smacks, no less) and how much is a reflection on the acting/directing/writing, but it’s very cool.

Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Star Wars | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Star Wars – Third time’s the charm

Posted on May 21, 2005 by Kelson

We went out to see Star Wars: Episode III last night. And for once, we weren’t disappointed. This is the kind of movie the last two should have been. There was a feeling of urgency throughout this movie that wasn’t present until the first battle of the clone army in Attack of the Clones. A lot of it does depend on having seen the original trilogy, particularly where Anakin/Luke parallels appear… but I have to say, the final shot was absolutely perfect.

We re-watched the previous two movies and the Clone Wars cartoon over the last few weeks, and having seen the entire trilogy, I look at it this way: Lucas gave us 4 hours and 20 minutes of prologue to Revenge of the Sith. That’s all Episodes I and II are: Palpatine setting up his dominoes and getting everything ready to trigger his ascension to Emperor and elimination of the Jedi.

We had already planned to pick up the original trilogy this week or next, and finish the entire series by the end of the month. On the way home I remarked, “You know, I’m not completely insane, so I won’t suggest watching Episode IV now.” Katie replied, “Actually, I was thinking about it.” We ended up watching Star Wars: A New Hope (second-worst title in the series, but it gets a pass since it was tacked on in re-release) starting at 11:00.

It’s strange. The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones didn’t really change my perspective on Darth Vader much, aside from wanting to add “Now this is pod racing!” to the Death Star trench. Having actually seen the transformation, I really do see Vader differently. Probably closer to the way Luke sees him in Return of the Jedi. Especially in the first movie, where Tarkin is pulling all the strings and Vader is more of an enforcer than a leader, he really seems like someone who is doing what he has to do, like Londo in Babylon 5. Katie said that he’s gotten used to power, and is unwilling to give it up.

One of the great things about the prequel trilogies is seeing the Jedi in their prime, at least as far as their martial arts are concerned. The climactic duel between Obi-Wan and Vader above the volcanoes of Mustafar is no exception. Unfortunately, going from this movie to the original makes the rematch on the Death Star look pathetic by comparison.

Oh, yes: Ewan McGregor is seriously channeling Alec Guinness in this movie.

On to spoilers. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Star Wars | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments