.blog

A while back I received a very surprising and welcome phone call from a friend with whom I had not spoken to in a very long time. As we spoke our conversation drifted from the earthly, to the divine; to science, to superstition. Somewhere along the line our conversation drifted to luck. My friend, the ever skeptical pragmatist, doesn’t believe in luck; you really make your own luck through your own effort.

Now, I am a firm believer in things unseen; one of those being luck. So we had a bit of discussion on it. I certainly feel lucky and often the feeling is related to objects that I might find (a penny facing heads up) or something that I wear (my lucky shoes). It occurs to me, that feeling lucky is more of a frame of mind or an attitude of spirit that you find your self in. Since that conversation and realization, I’ve decided to focus more on putting myself and others in that lucky attitude of spirit. How can i do this?

I try to look around for what feels good. A pen that just feels right in hand, a pendant or necklace that feels right when worn. These are lucky items. Pickup a stone that feels smooth in your palm and fits well in your pocket… that is your lucky stone. What about the pocket knife someone gave you? That’s a lucky knife. These little things that we find around that feel right can change the outlook of your entire day and shift feelings from unluckiness to luckiness, from pessimism to optimism.They put you in a lucky attitude of spirit. With that spirit, you really are making your own luck.

It is possible to spread that good fortune around. Perhaps, with a lucky token, pass it on to a friend or someone special and make sure they know what it means… It will pick up significance simply because you passed it on. Want to pass it on to a stranger? If you find a penny facing tails up… flip it. Someone else will eventually come along and find that same penny heads up, and it could change their day.

I’ve uploaded a new version of Chromium to the main site. We’re now at Version 5.0.375.127. The most notable feature you’ll see in this release is probably Sync, a feature that allows you to share your user data across computers via your google account. You can download this new version here.

I read a really good dissent today by Chief Judge Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit concerning privacy. The Ninth, has essentially said that Law Enforcement are free to bug and track citizenry via GPS. In summary he says,

I don’t think that most people in the United States would agree with the panel that someone who leaves his car parked in his driveway outside the door of his home invites people to crawl under it and attach a device that will track the vehicle’s every movement and transmit that information to total strangers. There is something creepy and un-American about such clandestine and underhanded behavior. To those of us who have lived under a totalitarian regime, there is an eerie feeling of déjà vu. This case, if any, deserves the comprehensive, mature and diverse consideration that an en banc panel can provide. We are taking a giant leap into the unknown, and the consequences for ourselves and our children may be dire and irreversible. Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we’re living in Oceania.

This is really a great read from beginning to end and makes staying informed painless (apart from agony at the loss of freedom). When it comes to civil liberties I believe that a constant vigilance on the part of an informed citizenry is the only way to maintain what we have. You can read about this on the Ninth Circuit Blog or view the dissent (in PDF format) here [PDF].

Yesterday i caught the decision by US District Judge Judge Vaughn Walker (a conservative appointee) striking down Proposition 8. It was decided that Prop 8 violated due process and the equal protection clause. Marriage and the ability to choose who you are going to marry is a fundamental civil right.

Whether or not you agree with a traditional definition of marriage you must agree that this ruling is a good thing for civil liberties. The majority of people voted to make an already exercised prerogative of a minority illegal. A legal right should not be left to the whim of public opinion. Score one for civil rights.

Download the decision from Scribd

A week or so ago I caught some news that the UN Human Rights Council has passed a new resolution banning the defamation of religion saying that defamation violates human rights. What made me take notice of this is that the story was followed shortly by another which seemed to imply that the Pope was implicate in a cover up of sexual abuse cases. These accusations against the Church and the Papacy have since been continuing news.

It strikes me that these news agencies should be mindful that defamation of religion does not only concern Islam. Any implication that the Pope was complicit in the appointment of a Pedophile Priest or participated in some covered up is now a violation of Human Rights according to this new “defamation of religion” resolution. In Catholicism, the Pope has a special position in the Faith as successor to Peter, the Prime Bishop and the Vicar of Christ (as are all Bishops). Because of this, maligning the Pope and his office clearly defames the faith of all Catholics.

If the Defamation of Religion resolution passes and stands, well.. where will freedom of speech stand again? Everyone should be concerned.

I’ve uploaded a new version of Chromium to the main site. We’re now at Version 4.1.249.1036 (build 42052). Features aside from security fixes include Browser Extensions, Browser Themes, and new Privacy Feature. You can download this new version here.

The web is not supposed to be browser centric or designed to be displayed on any specific groups of browsers. It is supposed to be protocol specific and browser / program neutral. Protocols and design specifications are produced by the Internet Engineering Task Force. These standards take the form of RFCs (Request for Comments) and document the protocols, mechanisms, and procedures we use on the net. This whole process is quite open, anyone can influence and participate in the development of these standards. Groups like the World Wide Web Consortium work in conjunction with the process to define a neutral standards-based web.

The implementation of these standards is up to the individual programmer. If one is to design a website, you are supposed to design one that meets whatever standard you choose. The standard is announced in the header information you include in your web document. For example, Youtube.com includes the following information that tells us what standard (or DOCTYPE) their content follows:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">

We should be able to display their website as long as we know how to interpret and display HTML 4.02 Transitional. This is how the Web is supposed to work.

Unfortunately, many larger companies (like Google / Youtube) seem to have forgotten this. Instead of designing a website that focus on the standards, they opt to design websites that focus on specific web browsers. If you were to view Youtube.com with a standard’s compliant web-browser (like Chromium) that isn’t in the top five list of modern powerhouses (Chrome, Safari 4, IE 8, Opera 10 or Firefox 3.6) then you’re greeted with a message telling you that your browser is unsupported. To me, this is just a reminder that Google is a company and at the end of the day it’s the bottom line that matters most not some idealistic good-guy notion of standards-compliance or open source.

A quick note. If you have not seen this movie what are you waiting for? This has to be the best film that I’ve seen in several years. I’ve seen it twice already (i never watch a movie twice) and I still get goosebumps watching the previews. It’s more than worth the ticket price.

Everyone knows that I love coffee… but that’s not the kind of Java that i’ve been into recently. I’ve been doing alot of reading and some experimentation in Java programming. I can see some of my friends and C-enthusiasts cringing behind their keyboards right now. Two projects that i’ve been really interested in are Jmonkey and Project Darkstar. They might give you a hint about what I’ve got floating in my head this holiday season.

Ok, I’m a few days late (cut me a break, it’s been how long since i’ve posted?). Did you know that this last Monday was “Cyber Monday”? According to all-knowing wikipedia

the term was coined based on research showing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. In late November 2005, the New York Times reported that “The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked.”

Millions of otherwise productive working Americans busy on their work day shopping online? Someone want to know why the economy is in trouble?