Month: February 2009

TOC the book…soon to be made into a movie

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date February 12, 2009

Writings from the TOC (Tools of Change) conference this last week have been made into a free eBook at O’Reilly. I’ve already downloaded it to my Kindle, and others have downloaded it to their Stanza application, but you can read it as a PDF on your computer. Heck, you can print it if you’re feeling contrary. A description of the TOC and a link to the book, via TeleRead.

You don’t have to provide a credit card, but you do have to provide your mailing address, as you are going through O’Reilly’s check out system. I used St. Louis at first, which caused the system to cough, gasp, and fall fainting to the ground.

FYI systems people: it is St. Louis. It is not Saint Louis. We are across the Missouri river from St. Charles, not Saint Charles. We’re north of St. Genevieve, not Saint Genevieve. Forget what Google Maps has, we’re St. Louis.

Signed Shelley “there is a second ‘e’ in my name” Powers. Who lives in St. Louis.

Money

The recursive how-to

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date February 12, 2009

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

How self sufficient do you want to be?

For instance, you can make your own homemade cleaner with a mix of castile soap, vinegar, baking soda, and water, but you don’t have to stop there. You can also make your own castile soap with a mixture of olive and lavender oils, water, and lye. But again, you don’t have to stop there, either. You can also make your own homemade lye.

When you break down the majority of home products, most can be made with a few simple, inexpensive components, easily obtained at the grocery store, or online in bulk. Not only will you know exactly what goes into a product you use to clean your home, but you’ll also ensure the products you use are safe for the environment, as well as being very inexpensive.

When you do look at recipes for household products, don’t just stop at the top level. Use your search skills and see how many of the ingredients can also be made at home. You might be surprised at what you find.

So I ask again: how self sufficient do you want to be? About the only limit to most do-it-yourself projects is whether you have access to a water barrel.

Technology Weblogging

Recent Views upgrade

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date February 11, 2009

The recent upgrade for the Views module seems to have broken my recent comments view.

I’ll fix it when I can, but in the meantime, thanks, I am aware that there is a problem with comments in the sidebar.

update Problem has already been identified, and patch uploaded, but in the meantime, made the manual update.

Connecting

Kindle customers discussions demoted

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date February 11, 2009

One interesting change at the Kindle site at Amazon based on the new reader is that the Kindle customer discussion forum, which originally was a top submenu item, has now been demoted to the vague bottom reaches of the web page.

Where the discussion forums originally focused on the wonder of the Kindle, recent discussions have been more critical of the device, the book prices, and Amazon’s lack of support for book formats like ePub. Pesky Kindle owners tend to speak their mind.

Amazon has just discovered what many other companies are discovering: integrating social networking is like failed love, amazingly wonderful at first, but eventually evolving into an urge to gnaw your own arm off in order to escape.

PS: Kindle owners, there’s always the KindleBoards.

SVG Web

Gracefully upgrading

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date February 10, 2009

I am reminded in comments of Steve Champeon’s progressive enhancement, which I actually did cover in my book, “Adding Ajax”. My apologies to Steve for seeming to subvert his subversion of all browsers look the same. I tend to think of Steve’s progressive enhancement in light of the use of JavaScript, but it is also focused at design, too. And, I am embarrassed to admit, I forgot about the concept when I started to write up what I’ve done with my site designs. Blame it on enthusiasm, or advancing age—take your pick.

However, if the concept is so popular with web designers, I have to wonder why every time I mention the use of SVG in web design, I’m met with “Oh, but not every browser supports SVG”? Perhaps IE has become, over time, a handy excuse for not trying something new.

Regardless, the idea of starting plain, and upgrading gracefully did originate with Steve.