/IE7/ is a project that teaches IE6 CSS properly using a JavaScript library. This should also make :before and :after work in combination with content: - not entirely unimportant for HTML-free rounded corners or HTML-free link identification through symbols ...
Archive 31.3.2005 - 11.4.2005
Found in Netzbuch: Cameropedia - a wiki with camera information.
Simulation of :before with content: in IE6
The IE6 just can't handle :before when you want to insert content into the page via content: in the CSS. Quite annoying if you use it. The IE7 project that I wrote about in the previous article doesn't work reliably for me either - for example, under a Citrix server it won't execute it, probably because some security settings are missing there. Strange. Anyway, I looked at the problem myself and found a fairly compact solution, at least for my specific version of the problem: I just want to place icons before a link.
For this, links have one of three classes or no class: class="zu" defines a collapsed navigation element, class="auf" an expanded one, class="ohne" a link that should not be specially beautified, and all other links get a standard icon.
For this, I simply attach the following code at the bottom of the file just before the /body:
var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
for (var i=0; i
I then wrap the whole thing in a conditional comment for IE so that it is only executed by this. That's it. Simple and effective. Disabled JavaScript is not critical in my case, as without JavaScript on the system (it's a business solution with high interactivity) nothing will run anyway in the future - Ajax needs JavaScript as a component ...
delicious:days is a visually stunning food blog from Munich.
Lickr: Flickr, without the Flash
For those of us who don't like Flash in the browser but still occasionally click on Flickr links out of curiosity, you know the feeling: you feel cheated because no image appears. And you wonder what the Flash is actually for, after all, you just want to display a lousy image ...
The solution for us anti-Flashers: Lickr: Flickr, without the Flash - a Greasemonkey script that rewrites the Flash stuff before display into a normal HTML+JavaScript story that works perfectly in Firefox without Flash. And finally, you can admire all those stupid pictures.
My Firefox Extensions
New meme at Pepilog: Post Firefox extensions. Well, ListZilla makes it quite easy, here are mine:
- [Adblock][1] 0.5.2.039
- [Bookmarks Synchronizer][2] 1.0.1
- [BugMeNot][3] 0.6.2 (somehow it seems not to work)
- [Conkeror][4] 0.18
- [Disable Targets For Downloads][5] 0.8
- [Google Pagerank Status][6] 0.9.4
- [Greasemonkey][7] 0.2.3
- [Html Validator (based on Tidy)][8] 0.5.6
- [JustBlogIt][9] 0.2
- [ListZilla][10] 0.5.1
- [Live HTTP Headers][11] 0.10
- [mozcc][12] 1.0.0
- [QuickTabPrefToggle][13] 0.0.4
- [Resizeable Textarea][14] 0.1a
- [SessionSaver .2][15] 0.2.1.025
Multimap - nice toy
Found at Call it YASBLOG: Multimap allows zooming into a map down to a scale of 1:5000 - you can see where I live at the link, in case someone wants to nuke me from orbit
Ok, not as technically cool as Google Maps, but it works with German addresses. Very practical when you want to give someone an exact location - just set a link to the map.
However, I'm not sure if linking is allowed. Their terms of use state the following:
The reproduction, copying, downloading, storage, recording, broadcasting, retransmission and distribution of any of the maps and digital data shown on this site is not permitted without prior written consent of Multimap.com.
Hmm. Links are also digital data and therefore I should not use the link that was generated for me below the map without written permission ...
I like that the Charivari Puppet Theater is included in the map - few Münster residents know about it ...
SISC - Second Interpreter of Scheme Code
SISC Scheme is a very complete Scheme interpreter and compiler written in Java. Particularly interesting: there is a continuation-based web framework for it.
Other interesting features include good integration into the Java world through the Java-Scheme interface. In principle, all libraries from the Java world are also available in Scheme.
SISC Scheme also supports SLIB (an extension library for Scheme with many useful modules) and various SRFIs (Scheme Requests for Implementation - the formal way to extend the Scheme language with standard modules).
The Studs MVC Framework is a port and extension of the Java Struts Framework to PHP. In doing so, frameworks initially map a J2EE-like basic structure for servlets in PHP. To me, that naturally sounds like fighting the devil with Beelzebub.
Tags from Terms
Jonathan Luster has released his Y! Terms Extraction Plugin for WordPress. It uses the Yahoo services to extract relevant keywords from a posting text and presents them as Technorati tags in the post. If anyone tries this out: I would be interested to know how well it works with German texts.
By the way, I would also be interested to know when blogg.de offers an API. I mean, it's about time to catch up with the features of Technorati and Yahoo, right?
Berliner Symphoniker to be disbanded - Helicopters against graffiti artists are fine, but there's no money for the Berliner Symphoniker. Why culture, it's nonsense, people might even enjoy it ...
Resizable Textarea
Found at fx3.org: resizeable Textarea, a plugin that allows you to resize a text field in Firefox forms if it's too small. This is very practical for someone who frequently works with web interfaces of CMS or databases.
Using SLR Lenses on the Leica M
News from the God of Camera Lens Cross-Adapters: an adapter from SLR bayonet to Leica M with rangefinder coupling. Crazy: you focus with the adapter and read the distance from the adapter and transfer this distance setting identically to the SLR lens. So only a half coupling, but better than nothing.
Okay, I wouldn't want to focus a 100/2.0 from Zeiss on my M at full aperture, but for the usual suspects this whole thing could be quite practical. You save the purchase of a rather expensive Leica lens in some cases.
On the other hand, the adapter costs $325, which is a bit much just to use such exotic combinations. And in some cases it's simply better to get the cheaper Voigtländer lenses.
The idea is just so crazy that it's good again.
XFN Graph graphically displays link relationships that are provided with XFN attributes.
Schily will pursue sprayers with helicopters - now he has completely flipped out. Because we have way too much money and must throw it out the window for such nonsense.
VIA releases EPIA driver - might interest Jutta - the entire X area and the special chips are so far quite poorly documented and supported.
Data Protection Experts: Anonymity on the Internet a Legally Guaranteed Right
A reaction from Kiel to the accusations from Hesse that the anonymization service JAP would promote crime:
"We will continue to defend ourselves unequivocally when would-be internet police without any sign of technical understanding discredit data protection as protection for criminals in a populist manner."
Will this still sound the same after the formation of the grand coalition?
FeedWordPress is a plugin that turns a WordPress installation into a planet site: essentially a public aggregator, except that the entries go into a WordPress database.
Jamba facing problems in the USA?
Don Alphonso explains why Jamba might not exist soon. Because if the lawsuit in the USA is successful, it could not only wipe out Jamster, but also have an impact on Jamba. In a way, it would be something if Jamba was torn apart by lawyers ...
The page for Ural and Dnepr drivers - you can find things like this when you search for old (programmer) colleagues on the net. Well, Marc has always had a weakness for crazy vehicles.
Police Fear Anonymity and Cryptography on the Internet
The police fear anonymity and cryptography on the internet - and therefore, for example, rail against state-funded anonymization services. However, this is simply the usual conflict of technology: the application can happen in two ways. No one talks about the reasons why anonymization services and encryption systems are quite legitimately used; only criminal use is the topic. Should we ban hammers and sickles, after all, you can kill people with both.
What is worrying about this development is that the use of cryptography will probably be restricted - or as it is called in modern German: regulated - in the short or long term. And at some point, the situation will arise where encrypted emails are already considered suspicious. Suspicion is no longer needed to spy on someone. And what is more obvious than to assume illegality of someone who encrypts their emails?
Every society must deal with abuse of the system and abuse of society - and with those who completely fall out of societal norms. This is annoying and in many cases even tragic - but cannot be changed. However, the problem is not solved by putting the entire society under general suspicion. Ultimately, what remains is a society that is no longer worth living in and preserving because everything is based on surveillance and denunciation. Restricting the rights of ordinary citizens does not result in a single fewer criminal - rather more, because more and more citizens will resist the regulations (and according to the definition of people like Otto Orwell, are then simply criminals).
What is completely ignored here, in my opinion, is the point that crime does not only consist of the perhaps technically difficult-to-access encrypted channel - there must always also be effects outside. Child pornography is not only traded on the internet - it is also produced at some point. Organized crime does not only organize the exchange of PGP keys on the internet - it organizes human smuggling, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, and who knows what else. Every crime therefore always has facets that take place quite openly and recognizably in society. Investigations are primarily carried out in this area to this day - the eavesdropping has not yet brought reproducibly better results than those already achieved through normal investigations. On the contrary: the eavesdropping, dragnet searches, and similar approaches have all failed, especially when considering the immense personnel deployments (and thus costs) of these actions. And no, the genetic sample was not decisive even in the Moshammermord case.
Regulating network technologies will not prevent their use for criminal purposes - it will only make legal use more difficult or stigmatize it. Someone who smuggles people certainly has far fewer scruples about violating cryptography laws than someone who only uses cryptography because they don't like the idea of the state reading everything.
Source management system BitKeeper now commercial only - for me, the choice of BitKeeper was a stupid idea anyway. And the argument that the other alternatives were not far enough at that time does not hold - then one would have simply continued working with CVS and waited until SVN or other alternatives were far enough.
Sun criticizes the GPL
Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), once again criticizes the GPL and praises his own company as the biggest promoter of Open Source. Indirectly, Schwartz accuses other Open Source companies of lying.
At some point, this court jester must become embarrassing for the company.
TheMonadReader is intended to become a regular publication about Haskell. The first issue is linked. The whole thing is supposed to be less formal than classic scientific journals, so it could definitely become interesting. There is also an article about Pugs (Perl6 in Haskell) in the first issue.
Ego-Surfing
When you find an actor who shares your name, you naturally hope that they are someone who stars in action movies, plays cool roles, maybe even does something serious and important - basically someone who wouldn't be embarrassing to mention. Well, shit happens.
Public Law Nonsense
The fact that WDR offers its radio programs as streams only in RealAudio or Windows Media format - nothing with reasonably open formats like MP3 - is weak. Very weak. I don't like it when my GEZ fees are used to install even more spyware on my computer and to promote the use of these formats through public broadcasting ...
Online Magazine and Journalistic Honesty
News - Bombenstimmung im WWW - someone is upset here that George Orwell didn't censor the entire internet right away because there are so many bomb-making instructions on the net. If you read the article more closely, you will find a gem like this:
His company, a Hamburg-based internet filter provider, discovered a shocking record during the regular update of their blocking systems.
Well, so an online magazine has done nothing more than give a filter company free advertising and disguise it as a journalistic contribution. And then simply use the link to the filter manufacturer as a source - of course, filter manufacturers are always so neutral in their assessment of the net ...
Since the online magazine has an editorial staff according to the imprint, they probably think they fall under the category "professional journalists". Well, in that case, I would rather take a stack of bad blogs as reading material than such a stealth advertising heap ...
Pugs - pugscode is a Perl6 implementation in Haskell. Even crazier: the entire project is primarily coordinated in an IRC chat and the collaborative work is done with SubEthaEdit. Is this already Nirvana?
Judgment in the case of the music industry against heise online
The judgment in the case of the music industry against heise online is available in writing - and the judges once again prove their incompetence on the internet:
In the opinion of the Munich judges, heise online has deliberately provided assistance in an unauthorized act by setting the link to the company's homepage and is therefore liable as an accomplice according to § 830 BGB like the manufacturer itself. The fact that a download of the software is only possible with two further clicks does not contradict this. The decisive factor is solely that the readers of the report are directed directly to the website via the link set. It is also irrelevant that readers can find the product via a search engine as well. By setting the link, finding the product is made "inconveniently easier" and the risk of infringing on legal rights is significantly increased.
I consider myself - and a large part of the German internet user base - quite capable of finding a product at least as quickly with a search engine and a manufacturer name as well as a product name as with a manufacturer link (depending on the manufacturer's presence, the way via search engine can even be more efficient).
Ok, if the judges explicitly want to exclude themselves from this circle of minimally competent users, fine. But I consider a judgment that presupposes such incompetence in users as a personal insult.
That they did not throw press freedom overboard as well can almost be seen as a stroke of luck in this case ...
Jehovah's Witnesses: Soon a Church in NRW? - what nonsense. I'm already annoyed that this other sect - the Catholic Church - is recognized as a church and thus state-subsidized, but with the Jehovah's Witnesses it really stops. They are not just misogynistic and rigidly hierarchical like the Catholic Church, their structure is even more based on the suppression of the individual. But irrational nonsense is in high demand.
The Scientific American had an extremely bitter April Fools' joke: Okay, We Give Up -- We feel so ashamed. But I can somehow understand.
Papal Pontificate: Criticism from Politics and the Church - the critical voices should not be drowned out by all the papal eulogies that are currently rustling through the forests of pages ...
Government study warns of blockade by software patents
Government study warns of blockade by software patents:
The study urgently demands, in particular, a strengthening of the interoperability clause in the planned EU legal framework. Otherwise, given the still "generous" practice of the European Patent Office (EPA) in granting protection rights for computer programs, there is a risk of destabilization and partial death of the IT market in Germany and Europe.
But Clement - our super pipe of all - still claims that everything is completely made up and that we should keep the church in the village. What a charade at the expense of our own economic location.
And the German companies against software patents won't bother him much either - probably he hears nothing because his head is still up the ass of the big entrepreneurs. That puts pressure on the ear ...
Systemhaus BOG files for insolvency - I already noticed it last week. It would be a shame if the store was gone - I haven't had much to do with them (only a few minor contacts when I still had to deal with cash register systems), but BOG has existed in Münster since I've been in the industry (even a bit longer) and somehow it's part of it for me ...
Has anyone ever noticed ...
... is the Merkel pear becoming more and more similar optically? I was already unsettled by the metamorphosis of sneaker-Joschka into the Genscher sticker, but I'm starting to worry if we don't have a few stereotypes in Germany that compulsively want to be filled - no matter with whom.
Or are they Bauhaus politicians - form follows function?
Mysterious ...
Javascript Windows simulate a desktop within a webpage. You have a launch bar and small applications that must be HTML-based, which then appear in windows that the user can move, minimize, maximize, and close - basically a desktop, but within a webpage. Crazy idea.
On Biometrics, Data Retention, Science, and Censorship
Found via rabenhorst and IsoTopp: How a conference organized by the BSI deals with critical voices - they simply remove them from the planning.
The BSI is an institution under the BMI - and thus our beloved Otto Orwell. Has someone at the BSI gotten cold feet that they could upset the actual master of the house?
Epson R-D1 Review - I think I already said it, but does anyone have 3000 dollars for me?
The review of the HP Photosmart 8750 Photo Printer sounds quite good - well, the speed less so (13 minutes for an A3+ print is quite a lot), but time is my least concern when printing. And built-in networking is very nice - we have several computers to connect after all.
A Response to the Noise
A Response to the Noise is photomatt's response to the search engine spamming story. As I read through it, I once again notice how incredibly stupid decent programmers behave outside their neatly ordered computer world...
Well, he dismantled everything that was involved and eventually Google might give him back his PageRank (update: has given back) and life goes on. His explanation sounds stupid enough to be believable.
Was Danilo Hondo tested positive for doping?
"Outrage and lack of explanation" at Team Gerolsteiner, because Danilo Hondo tested positive for stimulants at the Murcia Round. Oh shit.
I hope that was a mistake or there is an explanation (medication or something similar). Otherwise, that would be pretty bad, especially for Team Gerolsteiner, which has gained quite a bit of sympathy - precisely because of its rather human appearances, it comes across much better than the T-Mobile team.
Html Validator for Firefox and Mozilla - wow. Great extension: it directly validates the displayed webpage and integrates into the source view for debugging errors. Very nice - and has been featured in several weblogs in recent days (I don't remember where I first saw it).
Lufthansa's anniversary offers bring web servers to a standstill - after suing various people because of the online demo I now wonder: is Lufthansa going to sue its marketing department?
RFC4041: Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing Area Drafts. A.... - exactly, this has been pending for a long time. We finally need to route in a morally correct way!
Security risk: Password protection for hard drives - yes, great, what a stupid idea by the manufacturers
upcoming change in PLT Scheme v300 - lambda, filter and fold out. Right. After all, Python's Guido has already demanded this.
America: Where A Bumper Sticker Gets You Banned - free speech means only being allowed to express the government's opinion. Dissent is punishable ...
Brussels heading for a showdown over data retention - yet another case where democracy and substantive concerns are simply ignored. Otto Orwell will be pleased, the citizens will have to bear the consequences. General suspicion of all EU citizens is indeed something fine, making the whole life of the investigators much easier - "in doubt for the accused" and other presumptions of innocence simply slow down too much when you are on your way to the police state ...
Call for strict regulation on organ donations
Call for strict regulation on organ donations:
Those who do not want to donate organs should not receive any in an emergency, says the President of the German Society for Internal Medicine, Manfred Weber.
He probably took the Hippopotamus Oath rather than the Hippocratic one ...
Stollwerck closes chocolate production - too bad.