Powered by ScribeFire.

Well, another great release of Firefox came and has already gotten 2 million downloads. AND that didn’t count the automatic updates. ITs a pretty good release, though some have their usual hang ups and bias about it. I mean, they claim that nothing was improved. Session Saving, New Look, tons of bugs fixed, improved extensions area, improved tabs, Spell check , Microsummaries, Javascript 1.7, Overhauled Search…I mean, what more could you want? That’s more added in and improved upon than IE7.

_EnD

So, I finally got into the beta program here at Blogger. I can’t say that its likeable. The new dashboard is really nice. The Layout thing is a work in progress, but I really won’t rejoice until they allow users to handcraft their own templates without having to hack away in the html editor, guessing tags and no decent image hosting.

The login stuff is really buggy, but they will probably fix that soon.

_EnD

Entitled stuff. So much random stuff going on. First of all, its in the afternoon right after a rain. These afternoon rains have been going on for almost two weeks now. Not the small stuff where, its a drizzle and nothing else. This is severe thunderstorm material, complete with power outages and plenty of lightning and thunder. It has been soggy since forever, and now fungus is growing on the ground. ITs like a rain forest now.

Second of all, going to work. And not long after, a flat tire. I spend 45 minutes to an hour changing this tire to the doughnut in the back. That was a frustrating day followed by complete craziness by my sister. Something I won’t get into but its bad believe me.

Third of all, hearing about my niece (who is 2 years younger than me…can you believe it?!) who suspects being pregnant for the second time. She just had a child that’s barely 2 years old. She can hardly take care of herself and her current child, now there is probably a second.

Not as bad right? Surely. I’ve had worse days…and I mean WORSE. Its just my luck. I have hardly any now days.

This weekend I got my hands on Windows Vista Beta 2. IT seems that Microsoft is heading in the right direction in terms of organization and ease of use. But the thing that made my nod my head to it was Aero. The GUI of Vista. They are really bringing Windows into the 21st century. Though they still need to work out the bugs. Aero tends to kill off depending on the application, and it glitches depending on how many windows are on the screen. Backtracking a little, I LOVED….you hear me…LOVED the installation process. They really made it streamlined enough to not worry about whether or not the installer will destroy your hard drive’s contents.

Though some will argue that its XP with a pretty interface. Which is debatable, because it still has remnants of XP still there. The one thing however that will get on peoples’ nerves is Networking. MS says that they overhauled it or whatever but it makes it much more difficult to tap into a network when things are all over the place. Another feature that can be annoying is the Unix like security dialogs that will pop up depending on what you are trying to do. It didn’t bother me much since I’ve played with Linux OSes for months now, but Windows stranded people will find it very annoying until they get used to the feature. Starting up the computer is a bit longer but for how much things Vista has to churn out, Its not shocking.

_HaLf-LiFe Bully

So, I heard about all of the buzz around Half-Life time and time again. But since it was a FPS, I just brushed it off. I’m not the First Person Shooter type, but a friend says that it’s all that the rage makes it out to be. Not to mention that I was VERY wary of Steam and how they wanted an internet connection for everything. But he goated me into buying the “Source Pack”. That’s what its called on Valve’s site. For about $60 bucks, you get both Half-Lifes(1 and 2), the new segment Episode 1 and 3  to 4 other mods including the  fabled “Counter Strike”. Since I bought this through Steam, its gonna take days to download it all.

_EnD

I’ve noticed a new trend among commercial sites. The Beta “thang” is in. Google and now Microsoft has a ton of beta sites now that include partially created or missing in functionality sites. They can very well get away with it because its “beta”. As in for testing, or so they say.

I’ve noticed a couple of other sites that are doing this as well though none as high profile as the search giants are doing. One thing remains however, they are realizing that their sites must be very standards compliant in order to pull of some of the things that they want. That includes Microsoft. What got me is the fact that Hotmail now supports Firefox. Things are starting to looking up in the web arena regardless of browser.

_EnD

The first time I’ve been able to properly relax in the past few days. Visiting 2 resorts and shopping takes a world stamina. Today, I get to sit back while others go and walk the mall. The last thing I need is something else to remind me of the beating my feet took in the last 72 hours.

Details of the trip involved going to both Universal Studios and Walt Disney World. The little ones enjoyed Disney World, but the rest of us enjoyed Universal Studios. There was twice as much to do, not to mention twice as many places to eat and shop, even see a movie if you wanted to. I have plenty of pictures but those will have to wait for another entry as I don’t have the resources to post them quite just yet. Most of the enjoyment has been watching relatives ride scary rides and seeing the expression on their faces. Talk about classic humor.

_EnD

Well, I was supposed to post an update about two days ago. But I’ve been having too much fun over the last couplde of days. I have plenty pictures of the park but those will have to wait a while.
I’ll try to post a more detailed post tomorrow most likely….my dogs are barking….I need a wheelchair…

_EnD

The madness has begun. This is my 3rd time heading out to Florida for vacation, and nothing ever gets done until the last minute. I got haggled and hassled about getting ready. But I just shrugged it off.

Now, I am almost done and its about two hours before we take off. We would have left earlier but the transportation is running 4 hours late. Which is sad, because they are professionals and should have their things in order. But maybe it was a failure or just traffic. I don’t know. But I am glad that he is running late or I was left behind an hour ago.

MY sister is bringing her laptop, so maybe I can do some posting at the hotel. Providing that they have free internet access. This makes me wish that I could chuck out some cash for one but sadly I can’t. But If the hotel doesn’t have this then this is probably the last entry for a week.

_EnD

IT seems that every gamer’s favorite person to hate is back. And this time causing trouble here in Louisiana. But let’s backtrack first.

Louisiana just passed some BS law that makes it a crime for “underaged” persons to purchase “Mature” games. Though, other problems still exist, they made it a priority to pass this garbage law.

Now let’s fast forward. Jack has gotten his hands into an affair that revolves around a “suspect” and a murder that “may or may not” be connected with videogame violence. They have no real proof, but they made it a point to seize his videogame collection that had the “M” rating on the cover.

Now, these laws have tried to pass in other states. But all of them have failed until now. Since Louisiana legislators are extremely corrupt, this passes easily. Now let’s see how this fairs in the courts. Only one federal law will be required to trump this, and its called the first ammendment. However, this might not be a defense for long since Congress is joining the “let’s blame video games” campaign. ITs one thing to ban these games to minors, but making them crmimnals by doing so is not right. This is gonna come back to haunt Jack Thompson and his little minions all too soon. He is gonna tred on the wrong waters one day and lose his liscense to practice law once and for all.

_EnD