software, web sites, people

[Kragen Sitaker]

I just upgraded to Mozilla 1.0, which is very nice; it has the
following advantages over other web browsers I've used:
- tabs: I can have many web pages open in the same windows, with tabs
  at the top to cycle through them.  Mozilla 0.9.5 had these, too, but
  they had one fatal problem: Ctrl+W would close the whole window with
  all its tabs, not just the web page I was looking at.  However, in
  0.9.5, I could use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch from tab to
  tab, which I can't do here.  (Maybe there's a keyboard shortcut, but
  I haven't found it.)  It's hard to explain how much of a difference
  tabs make.  I'll never go back to a browser without tabs!
- sane middle-button handling: clicking on a link with the middle button
  opens it in a new window by default, but I immediately set it to open in
  a new tab, behind the page I'm looking at.  So if there are five
  interesting links in the middle of an article I'm reading, I can
  open them in new tabs without interrupting what I'm reading at the
  moment, then read them in the new tabs without having to wait for
  them to load.
- speed: it's the fastest GUI browser I've used, including recent
  versions of IE, although ELinks is still faster
- nice fonts: some titles in 0.9.5 were really blocky, due to crappiness of
  fonts I have installed; now they all look nice
- prettier chrome: the buttons and colors are relatively tastefully
  designed and the space is well used.
- option for no popups: turning off
  Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Scripts & Windows->Allow web pages
  to->Open unrequested windows prevents pop-up and pop-under ads from
  to->happening, ever.
- no banner ads (or almost none): when I see a banner ad, I right-click on it
  and a menu pops up.  I select "block images from this server" from the menu
  and I never see that banner ad, or any other ads from the same agency,
  before.  If there are actual images you wanted, you can right-click on
  one and select "Unblock images from this server".
- more space for bookmarks: I have a bunch of bookmarks that show up on my
  toolbar, just above the page I'm reading; I can fit more of them with this
  version of Mozilla than with other browsers I've tried

However, it crashes when I use Ctrl+Tab to try to navigate through
tabs as is my wont, and then it switches back to the ugly old buttons
when I restart it.

I'm also enjoying http://barrapunto.com/, a Spanish-language
Slashdot-like site.  It turns out my Spanish is good enough to
understand most of it, although not nearly as easily as I can
understand English, and if I continue to read it, my Spanish will only
get better.

All of this makes me proud to have been part of the Web for such a
long time; it has transformed computers from Microsoft's conception,
in which they were ugly, frustrating devices that condescend to be
used by individuals, into something completely different --- things of
beauty that unite the world's people, defend our collective rights to
free speech and independent investigation of truth, and give us
control over our own lives.

Microsoft has been forced to accommodate the Web, of course, modeling
its new OS user interfaces after Web pages so they aren't so hideously
ugly.  But the Microsoft conception of a computer still haunts its
users.

I spoke to my aunt Friday night.  She was frustrated that installing,
say, a mouse driver, would install other bundled software that would,
say, change the way her computer played CDs.  And she was frustrated
that Outlook would crash whenever she tried to open a particular email
--- "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut
down."  And, like many people, she finds it unpleasant to be told
illegal things are happening in her computer!

Scary stuff is happening; Microsoft wants to ship something called
Palladium which could make it illegal to try to interoperate with
their software or recover your documents from your computer and could
enable Microsoft or your computer manufacturer to undetectably watch
everything you do on your computer, and also automatically command all
Palladium-enabled computers in the world to destroy all copies of
documents from your machine if, for example, you were found to be
violating copyright.  Americans are worried about the dehumanizing
effects of human cloning; they should wake the hell up and worry about
Palladium instead.

India and Pakistan are still uncomfortably close to nuclear war.

27% of programmers in China are writing Linux applications now, and
66% plan to do so within the year, according to InfoWorld.  Half a
million people have downloaded Mozilla 1.0 from the main site in the
last month and who knows how many from elsewhere.

I'm scanning my new 30GB disk for flawed spots, using a different IDE
adapter than last time, just in case the problems I saw then were due
to the IDE adapter.  The badblocks scanner has found quite a few so
far.  I hope the drive isn't actually broken.

I calculated that, given the right software, you could build a 51"
ten-megapixel display made of nine monitors and nine computers for
about $1500.  That's buying all name-brand parts new and wiring them
together yourself.  I wonder if this kind of setup would be useful.
I'm often frustrated by not being able to see much stuff on my screen
at once.

Today I got two copies of a magazine named ";login:" in an envelope in
the mail, because I'd written an article that had been included in
this issue.  I was pleased.  I also got email from the editor of
another magazine who was happy with the first draft of an article I'd
written for them, which makes me happy --- I wasn't terribly happy
with that draft myself.  But I guess my standards are pretty high.

I'm puzzled about what to do with my life.  I have many possibilities
before me, many mutually exclusive:
- continue as a contract programmer in Silicon Valley
  - try to do lots more for-pay work to increase my options
  - try to limit my for-pay work so as to commit more time to working
    on important problems (political organizing, better computer user
    interfaces, better tools for thinking (approaching a memex)
- get a job
- spend time with Toastmasters to get better at public speaking (the
  last time a TV camera interviewed me, it was kind of a bust: classic
  deer-in-the-headlights kind of stuff)
- finish my undergraduate degree (in what?)
  - to go to law school
  - just to be able to take advantage of having an undergraduate degree
  - because I'm frequently frustrated with my ignorance of 
    economics, history, Spanish, Greek, Latin, Chinese, modern
    computer hardware design, and global geopolitics, among other
    things.

I'm grateful to live in the world's greatest city; I'm constantly
delighted by my fiancee; I'm fortunate to be healthy and have
sufficient income; I'm happy to have a wonderful, loving group of
fascinating friends; I have a comfortable house, although it is very
small.  And I now mass 91kg, smaller than I've been since 1996.  (The
stock markets seem to be following the same trajectory.  If I start
getting fat again, will they go back up?)

Still, I'm unhappy with a lot of things about my life.  

I'm fighting mild depression, which keeps me from getting as much done
as I need to (and this stupid Palladium/DMCA garbage isn't helping me
get less depressed!).

I'm frustrated with my ignorance of many things, as mentioned above
under "undergraduate".

I'm not doing as much contract work as I'd like --- simply because I'm
not able to organize my time well enough to do any more than I am
already doing.  Relatedly, I don't really have enough money.

Selling my Dayton house is proceeding very slowly.  Once it sells,
I'll need to come up with a couple thousand dollars up front; but
until then, it costs me about $20 a day to pay the mortgage interest.

I was on a mild daily exercise program for a month earlier this year,
but I'd let it slide for ten weeks until today, when I picked it back
up again.  

My daily routine is still too chaotic, which is strongly related to my
lack of money, exercise, and house sales.

I have many friends I'd like to spend more time with, but between
depression and poorly-organized time, I don't seem to spend much time
with them.  Email-only-accessible friends are even worse.

My web pages are disorganized, outdated, and hard to navigate.

The world has many serious problems I have the skills to work on, but
I don't seem to spend much time working on them.

I seem to be quite hard on material objects such as laptop computers.
This is costing me a lot of money, money I don't really want to spend.
My nice new laptop that I bought in February --- about five months ago
--- has developed a crack in the lid.  My car, as explained below,
eventually had quite a lot of things wrong with it.  And nearly all of
my clothes are ripped.  A lot of this is probably due to the standard
absent-professor-itis kind of problems.


My friend Sunah suggests making a time budget; that might help a lot
with getting paid work done, cleaning up my web site, getting exercise
done, and getting my Dayton house sold.

On another note, a few weeks ago, Beatrice and I donated my old Ford
to a local fire department, which has used it for training and then
sold it for scrap.  It had eventually developed enough problems that
it was better to junk it than to try to fix it.  Here's a list of 37
problems I knew of on May 12th.  Some readers will find it quite
amusing.

- torn CV boot on right front axle --- requires axle replacement
- broken driver-side front automatic seatbelt
- broken turn-signal lever --- doesn't hold, doesn't cancel, doesn't work at
  all if not moved in a funky way
- two leaky rear tires
- broken taillight
- leaks oil from valve cover gasket, which needs replacing
- transmission is too loud --- I suspect problems caused during Marilyn's 1992
  move towing a trailer across the Rockies
- transmission sometimes doesn't shift (especially upshifting after
  gearshift having been in a low gear) soon enough
- engine too loud --- I suspect the pipe connecting it to the catalytic 
  converter has developed a big hole or come loose.  Was fixed in early 
  2001, broke again.
- air conditioner doesn't work at all, hasn't worked since 1997
- ventilation fan for passenger compartment (for air conditioner, heater, or
  just ventilation) no longer turns on --- suspect electrical problem
- buttons on climate control panel stick, have since Coca-Cola spill in 1994
- windshield has chip from gravel since trip to Evansville, IN, in 1999; not
  forming a spreading crack
- left windshield wiper blade needs replacing
- most hubcaps missing
- left front tirewell bashed in, scrapes tire during sharp turns,
  causing some (mostly mild) tire damage
- driver's side front electric lock no longer works; that door must be locked
  and unlocked manually
- driver's side rear electric lock is becoming flaky
- passenger-side front automatic seatbelt doesn't always work
- driver's side overhead reading light is broken
- gaskets around doors used to leak --- they don't leak anymore, but the 
  problem probably has just hidden itself
- door interior panels are missing many screws
- power steering pump leaks and needs to be replaced
- radio display is broken since we left the windows open in the rain in 1994
- radio seems to get unusually hot when car is on
- rear seat upholstery has a cut in it
- seat upholstery is dirty
- one speaker (left front?) is badly attenuated
- all speakers sound awful due to age; the stuff that connects the cone to
  the frame (is it called "webbing"?) probably wore out
- screw jack for changing tires was destroyed when I tried to use it to jack
  up a 1960s American car (weighing probably twice as much as the
  Tempo) to put the wheel back on in 1999 or 2000
- windshield has millions of hairline scratches from windshield wipers, 
  resulting in streaks of light appearing to run from wipers to streetlights
  when driving at night
- keeps destroying alternators; has destroyed three since 1995.  Presently has
  a working alternator.
- tire wells have begun to rust
- cosmetic damage to paint job from low-energy collisions in several places
- clearcoat on top of car has almost completely flaked off; other layers of
  paint are beginning to follow suit
- occasional mysterious smells of burning plastic or rubber during highway 
  driving
- belts squeak a bit; replacing them usually helps for a year or so

Beatrice and I have been picking blackberries in preparation for our
wedding next year; we plan to distribute small jars of blackberry jam
to our wedding guests in honor of her childhood home, where many
blackberry bushes grow and which is therefore known as Blackberry
Farm.

-- 
<kragen@pobox.com>       Kragen Sitaker     <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
We have always been quite clear that Win95 and Win98 are not the systems to 
use if you are in a hostile security environment.  -- Paul Leach
The Internet is hostile.                -- Paul Leach <paulle@microsoft.com>