Downloaded the new cut of Firefox at work today (very old, RAM-challenged box).

Took a long time (five minutes?) to fully install, but right now, very happy.

Nothing bad has happened, and one good thing has happened: It’s more stable.

I run Firefox pretty hard on my (work) 512k, 5-year-old system, and I usually have 3-5 (Firefox) restarts per day. In particular, when McAfee updates (daily), it chokes Firefox.

Since installation, no crashes – slight slowdown on the McAfee update.

Some small changes (porn mode, certificate notification in location bar and so on) in this release, but nothing really big (to me).

I downloaded hoping for stability, and I thinks I gots same.

Update 7/1/2009: Approximately two (biz) days since installation; no crashes/restarts. Often got CPU challenged, but recovered. So far, good update.

Update 7/2/2009: Still no crashes. Worst issue is a little hang (sometimes) when typing in a URL.

Update 7/14/2009: Finally sorta died; restarted. I went from 2-5 crashes a day to one in two weeks. Again, I run browsers hard — on crappy computers — but that’s a HUGE improvement. Kudos to the Firefox team.

I’m behind the curve here, but Kodak (not surprisingly) has decided to end Kodachrome production. The company announced the end of the product line June 22, 2009. Depending on how people hoard the film, the last rolls of the rich-color products will be sold sometime in the fall.

End of an era.

Come on – how many other products have a pop song^* written about them?

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

— Paul Simon, “Kodachrome” from the album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon

I took this picture in England in 1979 – 30 years ago! (Yes, this was the 42th slide roll I shot!) And the color is still strong, better than the Ektachromes I shot there. (Pic looks crappier than the original; I just held it in my fingers and hand-held a digital pic of same – balance off; the rose is vibrant and bright.)

I loved Kodachrome – slow (ISO 25 and 64 – I think Kodak tried a 100 which didn’t catch), but the colors were brilliant. Especially for people and anything with rich color (esp. warm tones), Kodachrome kicked ass. And the fade resistance (for slides) is second to none. Only Agfa slide films (again, warmer) are even close to the same. Kodak Ektachrome and Fujichrome (both better with greens/blues respectively) just don’t age as well. Agfa was much grainier, however (really only to the experienced eye, however).

I haven’t shot film (slides) for years, so it’s not that big a loss to me: I’m digital now.

But the memories linger…momma don’t take my Kodachrome away…

^* Two others that come to mind are Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” (slang for some kind of tranquilizer, I believe), and Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie” (name/nickname for some cheap wine).

A neighbor of ours, a couple of houses down (don’t know him/her) had some live band in their garage this (Saturday) night.

Not a problem.

They weren’t that good, but – to be fair – the garage is a few houses away and faces away from our house.

It was still fun to try to identify what they were playing. Judging from what they played (that we could identify), the group is older (50 or so years old). Here are the covers (artists) they played that we could identify:

• Tom Petty
• Pink Floyd
• Van Morrison
• Grateful Dead
• Jimmy Buffett
• Janis Joplin

This is the burbs; this is about as exciting as it gets!

Update: Better subject line? — Name that tune!

WATCHING:
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood

I really enjoyed this movie.

Slow? Yes.

But it had to sort of be the same, otherwise you wouldn’t buy the connections that are made.

I like Clint Eastwood a lot; I like his non-“Dirty Harry” more than the Dirty Harry movies, but he’s always good.

All movies

Crappy summer so far – lot’s lots of rain – but whatever.

This week is supposed to be little rain/mainly sunny.

So let’s hope the veggies we planted finally take!

I can’t even recall where I first read this, but someone wrote that you can get a pretty good read on a person by just asking a half-dozen or so A or B questions. The first example I ran across was sorta a way to get a big-picture handle on an individual. I honestly can’t remember the questions, but they were along the lines of the following:

• Republican or Democrat?
• Religious or not?
• Get news from newpaper or TV?
• Member of organizations, or not much of a joiner?

The idea was that the person answering had to pick A or B – whichever was closest (For Question #1 – If you’re an Independent, are you a conservative Independent [Republican] or liberal Independent [Democrat]). And that there’s no wrong answer; it’s just that the handful of responses starts to paint a picture of how you’ll fit in. Questions should not be factual (Madison was the 2nd president or Jefferson was the 2nd president.)

I’m not explaining it all that well, but I think you get the concept. And I’m sure personality tests have such concepts; it’s been some time since I’ve taken a personality test (and failed, as I don’t have one…).

I’ve read about this concept several times since, and it’s interesting. Not exactly an in-depth assessment of an individual, but kind of a quick way to gauge someone that goes beyond a first impression or judging a book by its cover.

I got to thinking about the same for programmers – my current profession. Handful of A or B questions can give you a pretty good idea about how well a developer will fit into the current development environment. For example:

• Microsoft or open source?
• Compiled or scripted?
• (If open source): mySql or Postgres?
• Test as you go along or at the end?
• Rough out project then fill in the blanks or pretty much fill in detail as you go along?
• Few/no comments or many/overload of comments?
• Live editing in production or no live production edits?
• Documentation or not?
• CVS (or equivalent backup) or not?

What about for your profession? What are some of the questions?

While I’m pro-choice, I can definitely understand the invective/issues the pro-life crowd have with doctors who perform abortions (especially late-term abortions).

To the pro-lifers, abortion is murder.

But it’s OK to murder the doctors who perform abortions? (In this case, Kansas physician Dr. George Tiller)

Huh?

(Please note, I’m not in any way implying that all/most pro-lifers will find this murder a good thing. But – in at least the gunman’s eyes – this doctor was murdered because he murdered. Where does the cycle stop??)

Oh, the rhetoric is already starting. Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, led protests against George Tiller’s late-term abortion clinic in Wichita in 1991.

George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller’s killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.

— Randall Terry, George Tiller was a Mass-Murderer, says Randall Terry — We Grieve That he Did Not Have Time to Properly Prepare his Soul to Face God. ChristianNewsWire.com

There’s a lot to digest/comment on here, but let’s point to the less obvious: Tiller was killed in his church as he entered/was participating in/exiting the service (I don’t know which). How is murdering a man – even a so-called murderer – in his church “peacefully protest[ing] them at … even their churches.” (Emphasis added.)

Shooting someone = peaceful protest.

Houston, we have a problem…

Sure, a case can be made for Google doing evil, but, hell, they are smart (in an evil way??).

Today, at the Google I|O conference, the company announced Web Elements. Web widgets, let’s say, but don’t require a Google key, API access and so on.

Brilliant.

I embedded search on my site in about 15 seconds (took way longer to republish my site via Blogger…a Google property…when is Google going to update same???).

Awesome. Search now in the rail. For my site only. Wow. This type of “widget” is going to be embedded everywhere, which benefits Google, as well as “everywhere.”

The other (to me) killer Element (beyond search) plays off Google Maps – embed a fully functional Google Map with a few lines of code.

When I went to Maine last year, I blogged about same after the fact, and included a (Google static) map of Maine. I.e. that I screen-shotted off Google Maps, re-sized in Photoshop blah blah. Here’s the result.

The fully functional Google Map of the same area is the graphic in this entry. Your choice…

Image the possibilities….

I’m sorry, but I just added – with about 30 seconds worth of work – full site search and Google Map integration for a particular site.

This is a game-changer. Honest.

The Google Maps have some limitations, but they’ll evolve.

Trust me. Game Changer.

Updates

• Map embed works in Firefox; issues with IE(7). Cache? I think it’s a Google issue (double-click on Maine icon, go to Brazil or Netherlands. WTF?)
• Long story short, I had the wrong doctype in the file. And a Google Engineer worked with me to get it fixed. That said, I’m still leery of using the Web Elements – I have to be on a page with the correct DOCTYPE, or it won’t work in (currently) the most popular browser out there. Works in all the others (Mac/Windoze), including IE6 on Windoze. While the DOCTYPE fix did fix the issue…seems like an implementation issue, so I’m guessing I won’t be using the Map Web Element. Too bad; I really liked this tool….

I’ve said this a zillion times to many, but computers or cars are great…until they break. Then it’s (often) hell. I.e. a pain in the ass to fix.

Add to list: lawnmowers. This weekend, the linkage from the handle to the drive-wheel power broke. Awkward mowing session (and I have the blisters to support this claim).

However, I spent way too long on the phone today with way too many so-called lawnmower-repair places describing the issue and … they not really giving me a resolution.

It’ll work out, but it’s a bit of work.

I don’t have strong feelings one way or another, but the decision by Craigslist.com to stop carrying “erotic” ads (read “prostitution”) is a sorta defining moment in the internet.

Have we (the internet) grown up? (Prostitution is illegal in the U.S.; why allow ads??)

Have we stifled free speech? (Why not go after Yellow Pages or alternative papers for the same ads???. Why is it bad/worse when it’s on the internet?) Update: 2009-05-23: Yeah, Craigslist has already fired back: An Apology Is In Order

I dunno, but it’s interesting. To me, it’s Craigslist saying that it’s not worth the hassle. They have States Attorneys all over them (legit or not).

Will this action slow prostitution? No.

Will this action slow prostitution ads on the web? No.

Will this action slow prostitution ads on the Craigslist? Nah – just shift them to other areas with code words.

Will this action make it harder for those who want to crack down on prostitution to find prostitutes advertising their services? Yes.

Our tax dollars at work…or, working the street…

And – sadly – we remove (or drive underground so it’s not easily accessible) this part of the zeitgeist. This is a part of sociology that is “poof – gone!”

And we seem to forget the Safe Harbor section (hosts not responsible for stuff folks upload, essentially) of the DMCA (or CDA – I fergit. Section 230??)

Thoughts?

This is the second in a series of articles (Step One) giving my two cents about how newspapers can dodge their obituary).

Simply put, newspapers – or any industry endangered by the internet (real estate, travel industry, booksellers, video-rental stores…and the list goes on) – need to understand two basic facts:

• Like it or not, the (near) future is online (after that, who knows?). It’s virtual, not physical.
• Embrace geeks (those technologically conversant).

I think most people (grudgingly, in many cases) understand the former, but the latter doesn’t register. Here are my thoughts on how geeks can help save newspapers.

Newspapers have to be willing to listen to – and follow – geeks.

What do I mean by this?

Example: Any outfit can take a print columnist and post that daily column on the newspaper’s/magazine’s website, but if (for example) comments are not enabled…well, that outfit missed what the web is all about.

The web is:

• Link-driven
• Community-driven
• A flat line – not an inverted pyramid. A commenter/blog author blasting one’s coverage can be as important as the original coverage.

Geeks – in this article’s content, I mean the web-savvy – get this.

And geeks get the limitations/connections. Not everyone needs to be on Twitter or FaceBook; in some cases, one or the other would be a good thing.

My advice to newspapers: Hire/listen to geeks. They will steer you away from that $5 zillion Microsoft software purchase by pointing out that X is open source and, uh, free. And it’s used by more Fortune 500 companies than the MS product blah blah.

More importantly, geeks’ll tell a company that this or that will drive more traffic (and sales/ad impressions). They’ll be wrong often; we all are. But they’ll give the non-geeks insight into what they have never even considered but is happening all around them on the web.

Dear Newspapers: Online is the current survival mode – so at least listen to the geeks, who grok the web.

Scott Rosenberg, a founder of Salon.com, had a great newspaper anecdote the other day, describing the Q&A; from a “save the newspapers!” forum:

A young journalist who’s started up a blog that focuses on the 2010 census. Today we call this a “niche site”; but it’s also what we used to [in newspaper lingo] call a beat.
— Coll, Kinsley, Bronstein kick newspapers around

Again, the geeks – this guy running this unknown site – is an expert on same. He’s a geek. He gets the web. He gets what he’s reporting on. He’s the “beat reporter.”

I think Rosenberg’s off-hand comment is brilliant and really hits home.

Newspapers: Getting a better idea of the future?

Update 5/12/2009: At least one journalism school is getting the message – Northwestern University’s Medill journalism school is hoping programmers can save newspapers (via TechCrunch).

Northwestern University’s journalism school is offering free scholarships to software developers so they can further hone their journalism skills and possibly integrate the two for a media company down the line (disclosure: I attended this journalism school). The idea of creating programmers who understand journalism is compelling and brings attention to an important trend taking place in the industry.

— Leena Rao, “Calling All Coders: Journalism Schools Want You To Save The News Industry”