Williamo’s Blog.

Update: Thanks for the comments and visits, everyone!

For those of you seeing strange and unreasonably large font sizes in Firefox 3 on Ubuntu 8.04, try setting the “layout.css.dpi” (via about:config) to 72 or 96. Either of those values should set all fonts to a reasonable size.

Ubuntu Forums, via tumblr.wolffmyren.com

This is very convenient timing, as I’m just about to work with a JavaScript date parser, however, very unfortunate behavior…

‘2008-09-01′ was coming out of that regex as [ '2008-09-01', '2008', '09', '01' ], so no problem there.

parseInt(’2008′) == 2008, good.

parseInt(’09′) == …

If you guessed 9, you fail. No, it’s zero. See, Javascript supports octal numbers. Any number starting with a zero is octal, even if it can’t be an actual octal number. In certain languages, like Perl, trying to use a non-octal number as an octal number results in an error. In other languages, like Javascript, it silently fails.

So, thank you Javascript, for teaching me something I didn’t know about you… and making me hate your quirks all the more.

Thank you, Javascript - The Daily WTF

Wall-Who?, originally uploaded by Kiel Bryant.

This is awesome. One of the original design specs for Johnny 5 in the Short Circuit series.

DJ Q-bert’s Wave Twisters

I can pretty much guarantee that this is the craziest shit you will ever see. Yep.

Cool time lapse. =)

Great article from LifeHacker (and very useful, as I’m just about to set one up myself) about how to set up your own Subversion server:

Subversion is open source version control software used primarily by developers that keeps every revision of important, frequently changing files. However, Subversion can be useful for many different purposes, whether you’re a web developer or a novelist - especially if you like to work in plain text.

Think of Subversion as a wiki-like repository for your files. Each time you make a change to a file or group of files that you’re happy with, you can commit those changes to your Subversion repository. If you don’t like where the changes got you, Subversion can compare your current version with any previously-committed version and pick out the best of the best so you never have to worry about finding your way back to a good or working version of a file.

In this first of my two-part Subversion series, I’ll show you how to set up and run your own Subversion server. Next week, we’ll get into the nitty gritty of using Subversion.

(via Hack Attack: How to set up a personal home Subversion server)

Right on the heels of my post about Unnecessary Quotation Marks comes this gem from Receding Hairline:

Grammar nazis are so last century. Welcome, friends, to the brave new world of the typography nazi. Below are ten mistakes that everyone makes, an explanation of why each is wrong, and details on how to fix them. At least, you’ll see how to fix them on the Mac; under Windows, you’ll need to dig through tables of Alt characters. Have fun. (If you decide it’s time to be more accurate with your type on the Mac, get PopChar.)

Such typographic faux pas are not as potentially dangerous as grammatical fuckups – there’s little chance that using a period instead of an interpunct will obscure or confuse your meaning – but they are nevertheless wrong, at least for the time being. The large-type heading for each section contains an example of a typographic mistake; if you can see what’s wrong in each one before reading the explanation below, give yourself a pat on the back. Then examine your life priorities.

One last disclaimer before we get started: by ‘mistakes everyone makes’, I include my lazy-assed self and exclude you if you’re a professional typographer. Or just someone who care about the little things in this amoral pit of a world…

(via Receding Hairline)

Super Mario Bros Theme With R/C Car and Bottles

Wow. Just wow.

OPENSTEP at 2560×1600 on a Mac Pro, originally uploaded by blakespot.

From Blakespot:

I got it running under Parallels. I mean to pick this back up and play around more with it on the Mac Pro, take more screenshots, etc.

More:

http://www.maconintel.com/news.php?article=179

(Found at photobasement.com)

This makes my day. I cannot express strongly enough how much using quotation marks for emphasis pisses me off. It’s right up there with cold ketchup (don’t get me started on that).

To my delight, it seems that someone else shares this hatred (or humor) of unnecessary quotation marks: http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

Pretty funny stuff there.

Fascinating and creepy article about being trapped in an elevator for 41 hours:

The control panel made a beep, and White waited a moment, expecting a voice to give information or instructions, but none came. He pressed the intercom button, but there was no response. He hit it again, and then began pacing around the elevator. Time passed, although he was not sure how much, because he had no watch or cell phone. He occupied himself with thoughts of remaining calm and decided that he’d better not do anything drastic, because, whatever the malfunction, he thought it unwise to jostle the car. As the emergency bell rang and rang, he began to fear that it might somehow start a fire. Recently, there had been a small fire in the building, rendering the elevators unusable. He began hearing unlikely oscillations in the ringing: aural hallucinations. Before long, he began to contemplate death.

(via disembedded.wordpress.com)

From Newsweek.com:

A mock-up of the Kaplan SAT Prep DS, under development by Aspyr Media

Oh, Brain Age: what have you wrought?

Later today, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions (a division of Kaplan, which is in turn owned by Newsweek’s own parent company, The Washington Post Company) will announce that it is partnering with Aspyr Media to develop an as-yet-untitled SAT test prep game for the Nintendo DS. Versions for Windows-based PCs and Macs are also in development. According to Aspyr co-founder Ted Staloch, Aspyr reached out to Kaplan Test Prep last summer to see if the two companies might be able to work together on a game that would hit the sweet spot of Brain Age fans and students studying for the SAT. "This is not a study break," Staloch told us last week during a phone interview. "This is a way to prepare for the test."

Staloch and Kaplan’s director of pre-college programs Kristen Campbell were reticent to share many details, as the game is still early in development. Campbell did say that part of the appeal to Kaplan was the ability to reach young people through videogames, just as it has done via iTunes and manga. "The reality is that for a lot of students, the way they study has changed," says Campbell. "This is a great way to supplement our tutoring or classroom programs."

(via Scoop: Kaplan Teams Up With Aspyr Media to Create an SAT Test Prep Game For the Nintendo DS)

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show Ep. 4 - Pamous Movie Star

This…is awesome. =)

, originally uploaded by brfuk.

From Digital Photography School:

It’s amazing how the smallest things can have such a massive impact upon a photo (both in a positive and negative way).
One such small thing that can both enhance and detract from an image is the ’sunspot’ (or lens flare). Shoot into the sun on a sunny day (or into bright lights) and you’re sure to get them in your images at some point or another..

Positioned well and in the right type of photo they can actually add something to the shot - giving it a more informal and paparazzi feel (in fact some photo editing software help you add sunspots to create this feel).

However in many instances sunspots or lens flare can be a distracting element - a problem that all but ruins an otherwise great shot. Of course you can try editing them out later, but it’s probably best to eliminate them before they happen. Here’s a few techniques to try…

Gnarls Barkley Crazy Theremin Jam

This video is an experiment to see how rapidly the theremin can be injected into the world’s collective consciousness. It’s amazing that not everyone knows what a theremin is. It was one of the first electronic musical instruments ever made and it was invented in 1919. Are Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse from Gnarls Barkley really theremin players? There’s only one way to find out!