diaspoir.net

安 大 衛

Some Blogs

  • WWdN: In Exile (Wil Wheaton)
  • Uncertain Principles
  • Crooked Timber
  • Official Google Blog
  • Wine Library TV
  • Slashdot
  • waider
  • waidesworld
  • Making Light
  • The Language Hat
  • Neil Gaiman
  • Whatever: John Scalzi
  • Charlie Stross's Diary
  • Ken MacLeod
  • Dave Langford's Ansible
  • Contrary Brin
  • Stephen Fry
  • Veronica Belmont
  • Mahalo
  • Merlin Mann
  • Kung Fu Grippe
  • Jonathan Coulton
  • David Gerrold
  • Orcinus
  • The Sideshow
  • Josh Marshall
  • Atrios (Eschaton)
  • Hullabulloo
  • 43 Folders
  • Wis[s]e Words: Ceci n'est pas un blog
  • Wil Harris
  • Boing Boing
  • Engadget
  • Gizmodo
  • LifeHacker
  • The Poor Man
  • Creative Commons

Environental Sites

  • Tree Hugger
  • Celsias
  • Real Climate

Apple News and blogs

  • Apple Hot News
  • Mac Rumors
  • Andy Ihnatko
  • TUAW
  • MacRumors
  • Apple Insider
  • Fake Steve Jobs
  • Erica Sadun iPhone developer
  • Mac OS X Hints
  • 9 to 5 Mac
  • MacWorld

Linux News

  • Linux Kernel News
  • Kernel Newbie
  • Fedora Project

Photography News and blogs

  • DPReview
  • Photo.net
  • This Week in Photography
  • TWiP Blog
  • Strobist (flash photography)
  • Stuck In Customs (HDR)
  • Pentax
  • Pentax Support
  • The Gimp
  • Photomatix
  • PhotoFocus

News and Politics

  • Google News
  • BBC News
  • South China Morning Post
  • HK Standard
  • UK Guardian
  • Your Yahoo!
  • WhiteHouse.org
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • The Onion (Even better than the real thing!)

Podcasts

  • TWiT.tv
  • MacBreak Weekly
  • This Week in Tech
  • FLOSS Weekly
  • Pixel Corps
  • Podango
  • TekZilla
  • Command-N

Web Comics

  • User Friendly by Illiad
  • Sheldon by Dave Kellett
  • Dilbert by Scott Adams
  • Doonesbury by Trudeau
  • XKCD by Randall Munroe
  • The Joy of Tech comic by nitrozac
  • PVP Online by Scott Kurtz
  • Real Life by Greg Dean
  • Questionable Content
  • Mega Tokyo
  • WonderMark by David Maliki
  • Girl Genius
  • Penny Arcade by Gabe and Tycho
  • NASA astronomy picture of the day
  • The World of Lily Wong
  • Hi Jinks Ensue
  • Three Panel Soul
  • Girls With Slingshots

Rants, Pet Hates.

I'm not much of a ranter, but sometimes...

Call that a website?

The rants below are about the annoyances with other peoples websites.

Website Optimized for Frames - Is it? Is it really optimized? Or were you just too lazy to learn how to lay something out without frames? And if it doesn't feeping well work without frames, there's *still* no need to be insulting to Lynx users. Hey pal, maybe I'm using Lynx to avoid your 400k graphical menus, those tedious animated gifs and that picture of you!

This site looks best at 1024x768 - but it looks like a putrid heap of vomit at any other resolution really and doesn't look all that good at the target res. The web is about CONTENT, not javascript menus or flash navigation. Design your site to look good on a variety of platforms, browsers and window sizes/colour depths.

Camera Mistakes

Using on camera flash to illuminate things three miles away - More of a subtle rant this. One of the most photographed sites in Hong Kong is probably the view across the harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui.

The image above is my rendition of this view. This isn't anything special or very difficult to photograph. I think that was taken with a little tripod - probably a few seconds exposure, and a 28mm or 35mm wide angle. Most point and shoot cameras go down to that width. Your little point and shoot will do this if you stand it on a wall and press the shutter. but only if you turn that little on-board flash off first. If you use the flash, you'll illuminate about 12 feet in front of that camera and the background will be completely black.

Manners and the Internet

Flaming - I'm convinced that the real purpose of the internet is to allow teenage boys to spew vitriol all over the world. What is it about discussion boards that brings out the screaming abuse and ad hominem attacks?

Seriously, trolling notice boards. What's the point? Does it make you happy to know that you're annoying people? I've seen one troll complain that everyone's so nasty to her, she has to stick around and inflict her inane blethering on the board. That sounds like a seriously psychological problem to me. You need to be in a situation where you're asking people to attack you and then you claim it upsets you? Why don't you leave? It sounds like the sort of person who gets into an abusive relationship and won't leave because all of her self-esteem is associated with the wanker who's beating her up.

If everyone has a different point of view from you, maybe there's a chance you're wrong? If you come out with statements like "99% of vegetarians are homicidal maniacs", you've got no right to object to being flamed to a crisp.

Office Politics

Just why is it that, when put in a situation where everyone is supposed to be on the same side, some people try and walk all over their colleagues? You're trying to get your work done and get home to your family while some slimy, useless toerag is spreading lies behind your back or spending all his day sucking up to the boss. A link .

This Section

About Me

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