Geekery

Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.

Troy

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Prairie and I saw Troy this weekend.

That wasn’t supposed to be a comedy, was it?

So, so disappointing.

For the longest time, I didn’t think much of Brad Pitt. His acting didn’t impress me much in many of his earlier films, and he always struck me as little more than a pretty boy with long blonde hair for the ladies to drool over. Then came Fight Club, and suddenly it became clear that the man could act, and could do a damn good job of it, too. Unfortunately, with Troy, he seems to have gone back to the “pretty boy” routine. Strike a pose onscreen, look good, pout a lot, and try to let that carry the movie instead of actually acting.

I was, however, amused by the constant camera angles that highlighted a nearly naked Brad Pitt putting the very bottom of the shot just barely above where it would otherwise have been indecent. I’m not entirely sure what amused me more: that this shot was a recurring theme, or hearing Prairie beside me muttering, “Just a little bit lower….”

Also, during the big fight sequences, Achillies had one particular move that was featured in every major fight: a leap into the air, twist to the left, and stab downwards with his sword. My thought each time was that that’s got to be his hidden “power move” — left-right-left-down-A-A-B-A, and WHAM, Achilles wins again!

I think I’ve figured out why Helen was considered such a prize. Apparently — at least according to this film — she was the only blonde woman in Greece.

Other than that…bad dialogue, bad music, and overall, some pretty bad acting. A few pretty pictures, and only one halfway interesting fight (Achilles vs. Hector), but that was about the most it had going for it.

Honestly, I can’t even recommend it as a rental.

iTunes: “Ave., The” by Run-D.M.C. from the album Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983-1991 (1990, 4:07).

Attention Royce: New Thomas Covenant novels

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Stephen Donaldson’s website has a blurb up you might be interested in.

Coming Fall 2004!

The Runes of the Earth

the first of four books in …

The Last Chronicles of

Thomas Covenant

There’s also a .pdf of “chapter one of the prologue” up for download.

I still need to read the first Thomas Covenant novels. Yes, the ones you’ve been telling me to read since we met in 4th grade (or whenever you read them, I suppose). I’ll get around to it one of these days, I swear…

iTunes: “Desire” by Yello from the album Essential (1985, 3:43).

Troy in 15 Minutes

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Too, too funny: Troy in Fifteen Minutes.

Some Battlefield

AGAMEMNON: Look, there’s no reason for me to slaughter thousands of your men. You pick out your best soldier, and I pick out mine.

KING OF THESSALY: Deal. [turns to his army] SOME GUYYYYY!

THESSALIAN ARMY: SOME! GUY! SOME! GUY! SOME! GUY!

Some Guy breaks through the crowd. His neck resembles an Easter ham and his spear is the size of a telephone pole.

SOME GUY: RAAAAAAAAA!

AGAMEMNON [turning to his army]: ACHILLEEEEEES!

GREEK ARMY: . . .

AGAMEMNON: . . .

Hut of Wanton Nudity, Some Village

BOY: OMG Achilles you’re late you gotta get up Achilles OMG!

ACHILLES: Dude, I just nailed twins. Call me in the morning.

(via Boing Boing)

iTunes: “Dreamers” by Music Makers, The from the album Junior Vasquez, Vol. 2 (1998, 8:29).

If only I had a bit more under my belt

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Anil’s post about moving from New York to the Bay area for Six Apart prompted me to go take a curious look at the Six Apart jobs listings.

As much as I enjoy being something of a “jack-of-all-trades” in my computer experience — lots of experience across a wide range of fields — the downside is a lack of comprehensive knowledge in nearly any field. It’s a shame, too, because I think I’m about 80% qualified for a job at Six Apart.

Web Designer/Developer

Terms: Salaried Employee with benefits (Medical, Vision, Dental and Vacation)
Hours: Full Time
Onsite: Yes, required. (San Mateo, CA)
Reports to: Lead Designer

Description:
Six Apart (http://www.sixapart.com/), the company behind the Movable Type and TypePad weblogging systems/services, is growing and we’re looking for a Web Designer/Developer with a combination of strong HTML and CSS abilities and graphic design skills. You will be asked to design and implement elements into existing web applications and websites while maintaining existing UI branding.

The ideal candidate will be hardworking, with a willingness to learn and understands the importance of user experience and brand consistency.

An online portfolio of work is required for consideration.

Whoops, there’s one problem — I don’t exactly have an online portfolio. Only two of my current four stylesheets are mine (and one is really no stylesheet), and my only other “live” design work is the remnants of an old design on my DJ Wüdi propaganda page and a circa-1995 frames-based site for Gig’s Music Theatre left online as a memorial.

What You’ll Be Doing:

  • Design and implement elements into existing web applications and websites while maintaining existing UI branding
  • Work with other members of the Six Apart team to develop solutions to a variety of design-related projects
  • Work with the Six Apart team to help evolve Six Apart’s weblogging products based on user experience and market demands

I think I’m good on all of those. I don’t have any “official” design experience, really, but it’s something I’ve tinkered with from time to time in everything from my websites to a few custom FileMaker Pro databases at my old print shop in Anchorage to redesigning an internal Xerox/Microsoft website for the MSCopy printshop (which, unfortunately, had its plug pulled by the Powers That Be when they decided to move to a .NET based solution rather than a Java based solution), and I’ve generally received good remarks on how things end up being put together.

Requirements:

  • Strong knowledge of basic design principles: page layout, typography, color theory as it applies to the web

Two out of three I think I’m okay on: page layout (dating back to my days as Layout Editor for my High School yearbook) and typography (again, no real training, but I think I’ve got a decent feel for it — though at the same time, I’m sure I could learn a lot). Color theory, though…as is evidenced by my last few site designs, to paraphrase Henry Ford, I’ll do any color you like, so long as it’s grey. ;)

  • Expert-level experience in coding HTML and CSS is required

Hmm. I’d rate myself as extremely good, possibly even approaching expert with my HTML skills. CSS, though, I’m still very much learning, and it would be foolish for me to try to pass myself off as an expert.

  • Mastery and understanding of Web standards a requirement
  • Proven design skills for developing web interfaces with a focus on user experience

The first one, I can pretty confidently say I’m solid on. The design skills…as I mentioned above, I’m untrained, but have generally received compliments.

  • Thorough knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, Powerpoint

I’ve been dabbling in Photoshop for years, but that’s it. Illustrator I can muddle my way through simple stuff, but bezier curves have always confused me. PowerPoint I had to fight with when I was working at MSCopy, and was never very fond of it. With all three, though, I’m pretty confident that I could dramatically increase my skill level if I was using them on a regular basis — I just wouldn’t be coming in with the highest level of expertise.

  • Excellent organizational and communication skills, works well with a team
  • Independent problem solving skills; flexibility to meet tight deadlines
  • The ideal candidate will possess excellent attention to detail and a positive attitude and strong interpersonal skills

I have no doubts about my abilities here. Over a decade of customer service in high-volume, quick-turnaround print shops requires all of those points, and I’ve always gotten consistently good remarks during my personnel reviews. At least there’s something I can be confident about! ;)

Desired Skills:

  • Experience in JavaScript and DHTML a plus
  • Knowledge of Flash is a plus
  • Working knowledge of CVS a plus
  • Familiarity with weblogs a plus

Ouch. Of those four, the only one I can rightfully claim is the last one. The first three — sorry, but those are just not in my skill set. As with my comments above regarding Photoshop, Illustrator, and PowerPoint, I’m fairly confident that given the opportunity, I could come up to speed fairly quickly, but I’d definitely be coming in on the ground level, if that.

Contact Information:

Please apply with cover letter (plain text) and résumé to jobs@sixapart.com.

Please include a resume and link to online portfolio and/or recent work. If providing list of sites that you have worked on, you must include an explanation about your role on that project. Online portfolios are preferred.

Please also include salary requirements.

Much as I’d love to apply, I’m afraid that my limitations — which I try to be aware of and realistic about, without exaggerating them to the point of talking myself out of good opportunities — are enough of a hindrance that I’d easily fall by the wayside to other, more experienced applicants.

A shame, too. While I was also swept up in the recent licensing controversy, I’ve been using either MovableType or TypePad for two and a half years now (since Dec. 21st, 2003, in fact), have no intentions of leaving TypePad anytime soon, and have generally liked what I’ve seen of the folks at Six Apart. Heck, they even put up with me triggering TypePad’s first Slashdotting! From everything I’ve seen, the chance to work with the Six Apart crew could be quite enjoyable, certainly a lot more so than my current job, and quite possibly well worth uprooting myself and moving down the West Coast a bit to the Bay area.

Ah, well. For now, I suppose I’ll just keep tinkering around, and see if I can’t increase the sphere of my “jack-of-all-trades” knowledge to include some more of the skills listed above that I’m lacking. Maybe they’ll still be hiring in a year or so…

Bad code! No biscuit!

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Codepoet, while discussing ways to quickly edit and preview HTML and CSS code, pointed out a program called HyperEdit, which contains a “live preview” pane to show the rendered code as you type it out. It sounded interesting, so I went to check it out…and cringed.

One of the first things on the page is this screenshot:

HyperEdit screenshot

First — the <center> tag, which is deprecated in current HTML.

Next — the <font> tag — also deprecated.

Next — the use of <i>Fast.</i> rather than the more semantically correct <em>Fast.</em>.

Last — the two closing tags that are both missing their final > character.

Sorry, guys, but if I’m seeing four cringeworthy examples of bad HTML code within the first couple seconds of visiting your page, you could have a program that makes BBEdit look like Microsoft FrontPage and I wouldn’t be able to take it seriously.

But maybe that’s just me.

iTunes: “Tourniquet (Prosthetic Dance)” by Marilyn Manson from the album Remix and Repent (1997, 4:10).

Mac OS X vulnerability

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News broke across the ‘net over the past day or so that there is a verifiable, serious security threat under Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) involving Safari (or any other web browser) and the Help viewer application.

What’s going on is that Mac OS X maps different “helper applications” to handle different protocols as you surf around the internet. A ‘net address that begins with http:// is handled by Safari (or your default web browser), an address that begins with ftp:// is handled by the Finder’s built-in FTP, and so on.

By default, the help:// protocol is handed off to Apple’s Help application, which (no big surprise here) is a viewer for documentation for OS X applications. Some documentation is stored locally on your hard drive, but Apple wanted to make it easy for updates to the documentation to be added, so Help also has the ability to fetch documents over the ‘net — essentially, it’s a stripped-down web browser. And that’s where the vulnerability kicks in.

While Safari has built-in controls to prevent malicious attacks, the Help viewer does not. It is able to run scripts that are fed to it, and can do so with the full user permissions of whichever user is logged in to the machine at the moment.

In this rather disturbing example of the exploit, the web page makes a help:// call, which launches the Help application. Help is then directed to an Applescript which is fed the terminal command ‘du‘ (disk usage, I believe), which presents a scrolling list of all the files on your hard drive inside a terminal window. Now, this is just an example, so it’s harmless — but if the Applescript or the terminal command had been more malicious in nature, some serious damage could have been done.

Luckily, the fix for this is quite simple:

  1. In Safari, go to Safari > Preferences…. In the “General” settings pane, uncheck “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.”
  2. Download and install the ~~More Internet Preference Pane~~ [RCDefaultApp preference pane]{.underline}.
  3. Open your System Preferences (Apple Menu > System Preferences…) and go to the ~~More Internet~~ RCDefaultApp{.underline} preference pane (it should be at the very bottom of the System Preferences window).
  4. Scroll down the protocol list and click on the ‘help’ protocol, then ~~change that to an application other than Safari or Help — many people are recommending changing it to the Chess game application, as it’s harmless and will provide a distinct visual clue that something has happened~~ [set it to ‘\<disabled>’. Do the same for the ‘disk’ and ‘disks’ protcols]{.underline}.
  5. There is no step 5. You’re done!

(via lots and lots of people)

Update: John Gruber recommends another application for the same approach, as MoreInternet doesn’t show the disk:// and disks:// protocols that can also be used for this attack.

iTunes: “Coda” by Webley, Jason from the album Only Just Beginning (2004, 10:10).

Spitting Image returning?

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One of the best discoveries I made when visiting England during the mid-80’s (sometime around 1985 or ’86, I think) was Spitting Image, a BBC political satire show using latex puppet caricatures of political figures. Hilarious stuff, and something that never really caught on in the states — for most people in the US, their only exposure to the Spitting Image puppets was in the video for Genesis’ “Land of Confusion“.

The BBC Comedy Guide has a good summary of the show:

In Spitting Image, famous characters in British and international life were re-created in the form of latex puppets, which – in the manner of newspaper political cartoons – grossly exaggerated that person’s most obvious facial or personality characteristic. Given voices by top-line impressionists and vocal caricaturists, the puppets were manipulated by a team of skilled handlers to act out the quantity of wickedly witty sketches that comprised each edition of the show. Essentially, then, viewing Spitting Image was not only like watching your favourite or most despised public figures taking part in topical comedy skits but also seeing and hearing them in a dialogue free of the omnipresent facade of PR gloss and occasional deceit – revealing, perhaps, the true personality underneath, or at the very least, a wicked, exaggerated guess at same. In this fashion, many hundreds – perhaps even a thousand – of people in the news, or faces just plain familiar to TV viewers, spanning the years 1984-96, were lampooned by Spitting Image. (To have been a Spitting Image target was deemed an honour by many.)

Now it looks like Spitting Image may be coming back!

Spitting Image producer John Lloyd is in talks with ITV in a bid to bring the satirical series back to the channel.

Mr Lloyd was an original producer of the show, which lampooned politicians and celebrities using latex puppets.

ITV confirmed having “early stage talks” with Mr Lloyd over the show, which originally ran from 1984 to 1996.

The article doesn’t mention whether the original puppetmakers Fluck and Law will be overseeing the puppet construction process or not, though as many of the original puppets were auctioned off in 2000 when Roger Law moved to Australia, that may be doubtful.

Another interesting tidbit I learned while reading about this: one of the voice actors for Spitting Image was Chris Barrie, known primarily to me as Rimmer in Red Dwarf.

iTunes: “Maestro, The” by Beastie Boys, The from the album Check Your Head (1992, 2:52).

Surf like it’s 1994!

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This may be the last CSS-related post for a while — though I’m considering a writeup of how I implemented the stylesheet switcher into my TypePad setup, so there may be more yet to come. We’ll see. In the meantime…

I got an e-mail from a reader who still uses a 640×480 resolution monitor. Because the new designs use a fixed layout width rather than the fluid layout that my old single-column layout used, he was running into an issue with his browser where the webpage was cut off by about 40 pixels on the right and left hand sides, rendering the site somewhat unintelligible.

As that’s hardly the effect I was going for, I’ve added a fourth stylesheet to the switcher: Old School. Basically, this stylesheet is actually no stylesheet at all. Because this strips all presentational code from the site and leaves only the structural markup of the HTML code, it’s not very “pretty” by today’s standards, but is gauranteed to work in any browser on any platform — all the way back to NSCA Mosaic, should anyone still be using that!

I’ve also designated the “Old School” stylesheet as the “handheld” stylesheet for the site, so that handheld users should (if their handheld browser works correctly) get that unstyled version of the site rather than having to cope with a layout designed for a more standard viewing portal.

It’s all about the content, baby. :)

iTunes: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana from the album Nevermind (1991, 5:01).

Shades of Gattaca

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More and more, I think that in the coming years, the movie Gattaca may be seen as far more prescient than it was recognized as at the time it came out. Today’s example, for instance:

A Nobel Prize winning scientist has called on the British government to introduce legislation to [prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s genetic make-up][bq1], the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

[…]

Medical advances and the sequencing of the human genome have led to concerns that genetic testing could be used by insurance companies and employers to discriminate against people with an increased risk of developing certain diseases.

It’s only a matter of time before the “haves” and the “have-nots” are determined by what’s in their genes, I fear.

Manly Pink #2

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There’s now a second pink-toned stylesheet available for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Shari Hes (who actually sent it to me last week, but it needed a few slight tweaks to get it to behave under Internet Explorer).

I’ve also implemented A List Apart’s stylesheet switcher, so now you can choose which style of pink you like best — or, if the pink is a bit much for you, I’ve also put the “old-school” all-greys design in the switcher. Just cast your eyes over to the sidebar, and pick a style, any style: thanks to the magic of CSS, JavaScript, and cookies, whatever style you choose will stick with you for as long as you like. Sure, this is nothing new around the web, but it’s the first time I’ve done it, so I’m kind of excited.

In a geeky sort of way. :)

One of my favorite bits, really, is that down in the footer at the bottom of each page the contributing CSS author’s name will automatically switch depending on which stylesheet is loaded. Not that complex to do, really (just playing with span tags and display: inline; or display: none; properties), but a nice little touch.

I’ve also (finally) added a print stylesheet back into the mix. I have no real idea if anyone ever bothers to print anything from my site or not, but just on the off chance they did, it’ll be a lot more bearable now than it was (the screen stylesheets crammed everything into a really tiny column in the middle of the page…pretty icky).

Admittedly, I’m still missing a stylesheet for handheld browsers, which Kirsten requested a couple months ago. Since I don’t have a handheld to test on, I’m not sure just how small of a screen to code for, and I’m half tempted to just create a “no style” stylesheet for handhelds. Go old school! ;) Not entirely sure if that’s the best approach or not, though, so until I figure out the best approach there, that feature is still missing in action.

And that’s it for the current round of design fun. I think I’m done for a little bit.

I think.

iTunes: “Violin Concerto for Violin in E Major, BWV1042, I. Allegro” by Rees, Jonathan/Scottish Ensemble from the album Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Violin Concertos (1998, 7:43).