Geekery

Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.

My MovableType/TypePad History

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On October 2, 2001, Ben and Mena Trott gave an interview regarding their newly announced weblogging program, MovableType.

On October 8, 2001, MovableType v1.00 was released to the public.

On December 21, 2001, I started using MovableType for my weblog. This would have been v1.31 at the time.

On April 23, 2003, TypePad was announced and the TypePad site went live with some teaser info on the new service.

On June 24, 2003, TypePad beta testing was announced. I, along with many other people, applied for a spot in the next round of testing.

On July 7, 2003, I was notified that I had a new toy to play with. ;)

The point to all this? No point at all, really. Just kind of cool knowing that I’ve been doing my small part to help the Trotts take over the world almost since the beginning. Not quite from the very beginning, but pretty durn close.

Ah, the memories…

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Robert Scoble:

Kookaburra asks “will Longhorn eat RAM?”

My “official Microsoft approved answer”: too early to talk about minimum or recommended requirements. We probably won’t talk about minimum requirements until right before launch.

The answer I give my friends after they get me drunk: “yes.”

The rest of his answer is worth reading, where he explains his answer a bit more in depth, without running afoul of the Powers That Be at Microsoft. Still, this got me thinking about how much I miss the days when computers weren’t as powerful as they are now. Not because I’d like to go back to the days of 286’s and Motorola 68000 processors (ick), but because the limited resources forced programmers to weigh features against bloat, to code for small sizes as well as functionality, and so on.

The first computer I owned was a Mac Classic, with 1Mb RAM (that’s not a typo — one megabyte) and no internal hard drive. My senior year of high school, I did all my papers on that machine. I had two 1.4Mb floppys: one with System 6.0.7 to boot the computer, and one that had Microsoft Word v4 and every paper I wrote that school year.

Let me stress that: one floppy. Microsoft Word and every paper I wrote in a school year.

I miss that.

You know, as it stands right now, I won’t buy Microsoft Word. But if they could dig into their archives, pull out the source code for Word v4 for Mac and update it to run on Mac OS X, I’d pop down cash for that in a heartbeat. Best damn word processor I ever used, mainly because it was a word processor, not a over-priced, over-featured, kludgy, pain in the ass piece of bloatware with every conceivable feature tossed in merely because it could be.

But that’s just me.

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

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Y’know, I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but after seeing the trailer for Spy Kids 3 before Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend, I kind of want to see it. I’m certainly not expecting it to be good, but it sure looks like it could be some great campy fun.

I mean, come on — Robert Rodriguez directing; a cast that includes Antonio Banderas, Ricardo Montalban, Sly Stallone, and Salma Hayek; and to top it all off, over-the-top 3-D special effects? Even if it’s absolutely horrid, it could be a blast to see in the theater.

Guess one of these days I’m going to have to rent the first two Spy Kids movies to catch up on the story…

TrackBack spam? Grrrr…

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Well, here’s a first (for me, at least) — I just got TrackBack spam. One of the posts on my other site — this one, to be precise — just got a TrackBack ping (which I’ve just deleted) with no information other than a URL pointing to, of all places, the Thessaloniki Port Authority (http://www.thpa.gr/ — I’m not giving them the Googlejuice of a live link).

Bad enough that they used TrackBack to spam me, but the Thessaloniki Port Authority? That’s just wierd. And on a computer-related humor post, too. Just bizarre.

TPBETA 1505

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TPBETA 1505

My own little concept for marking my spot as a TypePad beta tester. A small badge, with ‘TPBETA’ on the left, and ‘1505’ on the right. 1505 is the ID number for my TP blog — obviously, the older the blog, the lower the ID number will be. Just another idea to toss into the mix of ideas running around right now. ;)

On the off chance anyone wants to duplicate this, I used the Kalsey Button Maker with the following settings:

  • Outer border: 666666
  • Inner border: ffffff
  • Bar position: 50 pixels from left
  • Left box:
    • Text: tpbeta
    • Background: 006699
    • Text color: ffffff
    • Text start: 5 pixels from left
  • Right box:
    • Text: 1505
    • Background: dddddd
    • Text color: 000000
    • Text start: 4 pixels from the bar

Update (prompted by Grumpy’s comment): You can find your blog ID# by logging into your TypePad admin page, going to your weblog editing screen, and checking the address bar of your browser. The end of the URL will look something like blog_id=1505 — there you go!

Sixteen Legs ;)

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Alfred Molina as Doc Ock

The first pic (that I’ve heard of, at least) of the villain in next summer’s Spider Man sequel — Doctor Octopus — hit the ‘net yesterday. Looks quite promising, from the one shot that’s up, I definitely like the design (though the arms do seem to bear a definite resemblance to the arms of the ‘squidies’ in the Matrix films).

Even better to find out, though, was that Tobey is still on board as Spidey, Sam Raimi is directing again, and Doc Ock is being played by Alfred Molina. USA Today has the details:

Alfred Molina, who has done wrong in everything from Chocolat to Dudley Do-Right, is the man bearing those malevolent arms.

“Alfred happens to be a great actor who has some of the qualities of a loved character,” says director Sam Raimi, who returns for a second spin with the web-slinging superhero reprised by Tobey Maguire and due next July 2. “Doc Ock had to have a commanding presence and intelligence,” Raimi says. “He’s got the look of a bodybuilder from 1954.”

Molina fit the bill as well as the costume, which includes dark goggles and a swept-forward hairdo.

“I’m told he’s one of the more popular villains,” says Molina, 50, who occasionally flipped through the comics as a kid. “It would have been foolish to have said no.” Originally a humanitarian, the doctor conducts an experiment that goes horribly awry and accidentally fuses a quartet of huge squid limbs to his spine.

(via Chaos Theory)

TPS Syndrome

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Am I suffering from TPS: TypePad Snobbery? You know it, baby! ;)

Common symptoms discovered so far:

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

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Okay, so I finally got a chance to go see Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday. When I first started hearing about it, I was pretty skeptical — a movie based on a Disney theme park ride? Interest was reawakened once I started hearing the cast list (Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush). Then, it finally came out, and was getting good reviews. Wow, did Disney manage to do something right without Pixar‘s help?

They did indeed. PotC:CotBP is an absolute blast, start to finish. From the wonderfully understated opening credits (a rarity these days — nothing but the title of the film is shown) and spooky opening sequence to set up the story, right through to the end credits, I was grinning all the way through.

One of the things I was very pleasantly surprised to find was that in contrast to the ride itself, which has been toned down over the years due (in one sequence, lusty pirates chasing nubile young women are now hungry pirates chasing women carrying plates of food), the movie didn’t flinch at all from innuendo, violence, and flat-out pirate fun. Swashbuckling swordfights, cursed treasure, cannon fire on the open seas, plunging necklines, it’s all there — and, of course, what would a pirate movie be without someone walking the plank?

The plot, while bearing little overt resemblance to the classic theme park ride, works well as a way to create an enjoyable movie while allowing the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to slip in references to memorable scenes in the original ride. Wench chasing abounds as the pirates sail in and invade the port, cannonballs flying and swords slashing, as other pirates locked in a cell vainly try to coax the keys from a pooch sitting just out of reach.

Depp’s portrayal of Cap’n Jack Sparrow was an absolute treat, as was Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa, commanding the pirate galleon The Black Pearl itself. While I didn’t think Orlando Bloom as Will Turner particularly stood out, he definitely didn’t do a bad job, and Keira Knightley did a fine job as Elizabeth Swann (and she’s not bad eye candy, either!). I was also pleasantly surprised to see Jonathan Pryce pop up as Elizabeth’s father, Gov. Swann — I’ve enjoyed seeing him in things since I first noticed him in Brazil and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

The effects were, as far as I’m concerned, near-perfect. The cursed pirates, who appear normal unless seen in direct moonlight, when they appear as rotted skeletons, were simply amazing to see. Shots where the characters walked from shadow to moonlight and back into shadow, alternately concealing and revealing their true forms, were flawless. Even in the most trying of sequences — during a furious swordfight, running and leaping all over the screen, moving in and out of moonlight — it looked dead-on. Excellent work.

And the fights! Finally, I got a movie that addressed one of my main complaints about most modern fight sequences: that they’re too fast and cut too choppily to be of any real interest whatsoever. I never ended up grumbling to myself that I couldn’t tell what was going on during the movie, and the staging and coreography were equally impressive. Easily my favorite fight happens early in the film, as Jack Sparrow blunders into Will Turner’s smithy. Both Depp and Bloom obviously have fun with the sequence, and while there are definitely moments that defy credibility, none of them stretch it to the point of breaking. This may very well be my favorite swordfight since the fight between Inigo and The Man in Black in The Princess Bride — high praise indeed!

All in all, an absolute thrill ride of a movie. Highly recommended indeed.

Live Comment Previews

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The ‘Live Comment Preview’ hack that I use on The Long Letter has now been implemented here on Eclecticism. If you know what I’m talking about, then we’re good to go. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then click on the “Comments” link to any post, type something in the comment box, and look just below the comment box. It’s a nifty trick. ;)

I originally picked this up from ScriptyGoddess, with help from Phillip. Geeky tech details on my implementation here follow.

All this is is a nice little JavaScript addition to the page. I don’t believe that this will constitute a security risk, but I’m no expert, so use at your own risk. ;) Obviously, if you do want to use this on your site, you’ll need to have access to your templates.

In the header of the individual entry template, just after the already included JavaScript bits, I added the following code:

<script type="text/javascript">
 var newline = /n/g;
 function ReloadTextDiv() {
  var NewText = document.getElementById("text").value;
  NewText = NewText.replace(newline, "<br />");
  var DivElement = document.getElementById("TextDisplay");
  DivElement.innerHTML = NewText;
  }
</script>

Then, in the body of the template, just after the closing </div> tag following the preview and submit buttons, but before the </form> tag, I added the following:

<br />
<h2>Live Comment Preview:</h2>
<span id="TextDisplay">Note: if you're comfortable with HTML, feel free to use it in your comments. If not, just type away. Single returns will be automatically converted into linebreaks (&lt;br /&gt;), double returns will be converted into paragraph breaks (&lt;p&gt;). This text will disappear as soon as you start typing.</span>

Lastly, in the textarea tag that defines where the comment text is entered in by a visitor, I added a onkeyup="ReloadTextDiv();" declaration. The full textarea tag should look as follows:

<textarea tabindex="4" id="text" name="text" rows="10" style="width: 80%;" onkeyup="ReloadTextDiv();">

What all this does is actually simple enough. As a visitor enters their comment into the comment box, each time they release a key the onkeyup function calls the ReloadTextDiv JavaScript snippet that I added. This function loads any text inside the comment box (identified by its ID of "text"), replaces any carriage returns with <br /> tags so that line breaks appear correctly, then writes the output into the element identified as "TextDisplay" — in this case, between the span tags I added after the submit and preview buttons.

If you find this useful, feel free to use it in your own pages. While I wouldn’t refuse credit, it really does belong to ScriptyGoddess and Phillip. Enjoy!

The skyline is back

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One minor change to the site design here — I moved my shot of the Seattle skyline that I use over at The Long Letter to this weblog also. Even when that’s the only change, replacing that garish green with the black and white skyline gives a very different feel to the page. I like it. It’s a return to the cool blue/grey combination that I keep returning to.

Bright neon lime green just wasn’t “me”, anyway. ;)