Quixotic Evil

I've noticed that the last six posts have been big rants (or suggestions thereof), and I'd like to take this opportunity to do something about it.

Unfortunately I'm not in the mood: I'm having a bad day and I blame Cisco...

» Read More

Everyone with Firefox should install NoScript. It'll protect you from all manner of foul Javascript.

But as a bonus, you can go and laugh at sites like dungeonrunners.com (don't worry, it's a computer game) where half the page is rendered by JavaScript and doesn't even appear if you've got it blocked. No graceful backward compatibility, just big chunks of page completely missing when they should have been rendered on the server side and sent as finished mark-up.

I want one of these. It's not as easy to get hold of as I first thought.

» Read More

I don't normally do hardware reviews, but then this isn't a review so much as a whine.

» Read More

I'm sick of the zealotry.

» Read More

The tracking website shows date of dispatch as the 16th. It estimates delivery on the 24th. I didn't pay for faster delivery, granted, but I'd expect it to be on a two-day delivery: I effectively have a bonus week from somewhere...

I'm sick of MS Exchange.

» Read More

Those of you who are professional IT types (especially those with any hiring resposibilities, or perhaps lots of experience of getting hired), I have a question.

I'm looking for one or more IT development certifications to get. Ideally nothing too vendor-specific, although I think recognition and value might take precedence and that I'll probably end up going for MCTS then MCPD.

Any suggestions?

• Open MS Excel. Other spreadsheets might work, but you may have to customise the instructions (notes for OOo Calc after the fold).
• Enter 1 into the top-left cell. Copy it down as far as you like (use the little square on the corner of the frame around the cell when it's selected). Then copy it (just A1, not the rest of the column) across as far as you like.
• Into B2, enter the formula: =mod(A2+B1,2). This is most easily by done by selecting B2 then pressing the following keys:

  = m o d ( [Left Arrow] + [Up Arrow] , 2 ) [Return]

• Copy that formula down to the row where your '1's end, and across to the last column. Note that Excel's drag copy can only stretch in one direction at a time: use the little box to pull the formula down, then use it again to copy the new selection across.
• Select the whole sheet (Ctrl+A) and double-click on the border between any two column headers. Alternatively, with the sheet selected drag one of those borders back and forth until your cells are as wide as they are tall.
• Finally, with the whole sheet selected choose 'Conditional Formatting...' from the Format menu. Make your condition that 'cell' 'is equal to' '1' and assign a background colour.

» Read More

Lyle's brief remark on this article on the plans for a successor to HTML 4 has me thinking. The comment I was leaving was getting very long, hence a trackback.

» Read More

...that if you bisect a [regular] tetrahedron just right, the cross-section is square?

I mean, the figure seems at first glance to be all about threes, and yet if you cut it right there's a hidden square inside.

» Read More

When I asked him which wireless gear he recommended, one of my more knowledgeable friends said he'd had good experiences with Buffalo, and only bad ones with Belkin. So the other day, when I mentioned I was getting a Belkin access point on a lowest-bid-tender basis (since the Buffalo one I'd had my eye on turned out to be a wire/wireless converter rather than a true access point) he asked me to tell him how I get on.

» Read More

On my third attempt, I'm pretty sure I now have a wireless card that I can use with hostapd to add wireless goodness to my home network. As a back-up plan I also have a cheap wireless access point/repeater which could provide AP functionality to the router's spare Ethernet port (and if I don't need it, I can see if I can use it to fix my colleague's network, which is a little wide for only G).

But best of all (and the reason for the hurry on the wireless front) is a Nokia N770 internet tablet*, now quite reasonable since the N800 came out, and useful for all manner of remote-controlling, wireless testing, eBook reading, music playing and so on. And that's even before I get it out of the house (where my wireless availability is likely to be less, but may still be non-zero at times).

* I'd link the manufacturer's website, but I can't find it there...

Or at least, irony¹.

A small trip to the shop for a drink turns into an expedition for company ice-lollies when I ask the MD if he needs anything. I trek down to the store, spend some time staring at a cabinet of lollies that contains nothing like my colleagues wanted, and trek back up the hill with a random selection and the hope that each person will find something they want.

Just after I get back and we've eaten the lollies, an ice-cream van can be heard on the industrial estate. I bet he's got the one the boss asked for...

¹ No, I don't want an argument about what the word actually means. If you're the sort of person who does, you might be surprised to see how useless dictionary definitions actually are.

One of the folks around the office has just shown me the website that a local designer has made for their new business.

» Read More