February 2003 Archives

I heard a strange report on NPR yesterday, and have been Googling for more details. Apparently, a significant portion of Red Cross blood supplies were quarantined earlier this year when strange white clumps began forming in stored blood. At first, the FDA thought it must have something to do with the storage bags, but that possibility has now been ruled out. The FDA is currently looking into the handling and processing of blood. The news of previously unobserved substances forming in blood gives me the creeps; maybe it just reminds me of a disturbing science fiction novel I read way back when.

Microsoft seems to have gotten a bit overprotective in the Non-disclosure Agreement imposed at their latest workshop for reviewers.

Beloved children's show host Fred Rogers passed away this morning. He was one of the good guys, and will be sorely missed.

Normally, I have nothing against Applebee's.

There are some who crusade against national franchise restaurants, writing them off as mediocre and uninspired, and the Applebee's chain seems to be one of their favorite targets. Whatver. As far as I'm concerned, they generally have some tasty dishes, competent service, and reasonable prices; plus, there's a franchise right up the frontage road from my office. I won't claim that it's great food, but it's good enough when I want a convenient meal by myself.

Just the same, I'm not looking forward to the horror that Applebee's is preparing to release upon an unsuspecting public: Their new "Cajun" menu.

In the momentary quest for pseudo-content to play around with the new MT install, I bring you yet another inane personality test.

Which OS are You?

[via Plurp XP]

An interesting article on introverted personalities tries to explain them to the more extroverted.

Extroverts are easy for introverts to understand, because extroverts spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluble, and frequently inescapable, interaction with other people. They are as inscrutable as puppy dogs. But the street does not run both ways. Extroverts have little or no grasp of introversion. They assume that company, especially their own, is always welcome. They cannot imagine why someone would need to be alone; indeed, they often take umbrage at the suggestion.

[via Medley]

Somewhere along the line, the stylesheet reference in the default MT templates was changed from 'styles.css' to 'styles-site.css'. Think it should work now.

I've been upgrading my Movable Type installation to the latest version, and trying to update my templates, and, well... Something seems to have gone through the looking glass. I'm sure I'll get it fixed sooner or later.

A couple of weeks ago, it appeared that Microsoft made a deliberate effort to discourage users of the Opera web browser. Opera users going to the MSN web site were presented with a broken style sheet, sent only in response to browsers identifying themselves as Opera. Since Opera handles the default (Internet Explorer) style sheet without a hitch, it's hard to see this response as anything other than deliberate sabotage.

Now it appears that Opera has struck back by translating MSN pages into a rare dialect of Swedish — one familiar to fans of The Muppet Show.

"Hergee berger snooger bork," says Mary Lambert, product line manager desktop, Opera Software. "This is a joke. However, we are trying to make an important point. The MSN site is sending Opera users what appear to be intentionally distorted pages. The Bork edition illustrates how browsers could also distort content, as the Bork edition does. The real point here is that the success of the Web depends on software and Web site developers behaving well and rising above corporate rivalry."

Traditionally, of course, Swedish chef jokes have been a staple of Usenet. [via The Reg].

If there's one thing I learned by watching the domesticated primates (humans) at the zoo today, it's that kids can get just as excited about the animals' excrement as about the animals themselves.

I got out and went to the St. Louis Zoo today. This is the first time I've done much with my digital camera; I nearly filled up a 128MB CF card. Now I need a program as easy to use as Movable Type for managing online photo galleries. Anyway, whether I can find a script or not, I'll probably try to put up a few more pictures this week.

I doubt this is news to anyone who might read this, but it appears that the space shuttle Columbia has been destroyed. There doesn't seem to be much hope for the crew, but...

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
— Robert A. Heinlein, The Green Hills of Earth