Categories
History

Why don’t we remember Pearl Harbor

In St. Louis Today, Harry Levins writes:

As a general rule, newspapers stop running anniversary stories after 50 years.

The thinking holds that past 50 years, few readers even remember the event, much less took part in it. Past a half-century, journalists cede the field to historians.

World War II was an exception. Because that war dragged on for so long (45 months) and because it put so many Americans in uniform (16 million, or more than 10 percent of the population), it imprinted itself in the American soul, as only the Civil War had before it.

Both WWII and the Civil War involved the entire nation over a long stretch of time. And although nobody alive in America today remembers Shiloh or Gettysburg, enough Americans remember WWII to nudge newspapers away from the 50-year rule.

Thanks in part to the emotions stirred by Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation” and to the movie “Saving Pvt. Ryan,” newspapers in the 1990s ran 60th-anniversary stories on the big WWII battles.

But that attention to WWII is fading fast, as is the generation that fought the war.

Come next June 6, some elderly reader will call the paper to grouse that his paper makes absolutely no mention of the fact that it’s the 63rd anniversary of the day in 1944 that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Chances are that the grumpy reader will be making his complaint to an editor who was born after President Dwight D. Eisenhower left the White House in 1961.

Categories
Legal, Laws, and Regs

Tis the season

I thought that now would be a good time to recommend two legal weblogs associated with consumer law, credit, and bankruptcy:

Consumer Law & Policy Blog

Credit Slips

We focus so much on DRM and copyright in weblogs that we forget that consumer law probably has far more impact on us, and far less public exposure.

Another related weblog is Ross’ Arbitration Blog, which covers the growing proliferation of mandatory arbitration clauses, and lack of accountability in the arbitration process. In particular he points to a LA Times article on arbitration that discusses some of the concerns associated with the increasing use of arbitration for any non-criminal court activity. (Sorry, free registration required for this article.)

A more pungent discussion on the current state of arbitration can be found in the article: Arbitration and the Godless Bloodsuckers, by a former state supreme justice of West Virginia. Richard Neely really lets loose with both barrels. PDF of actual article and be forewarned, it’s a large document.

Categories
Just Shelley

Why I’m writing more on Missouri

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Dave Winer writes that Daylife is in business. I vaguely remembered hearing something about it once, and then remembered, “Oh, yeah. That’s that Jarvis thing.” To make sure it was that Jarvis thing, I looked it up online and discovered this phenomenally self-referential post at Valleywag, that perfectly explains why I now write more about Missouri and other things.

As ParenthetiGal wonderfully puts it, that was the most satisfying comment-sex i’ve ever witnessed on valleywag. thanks boys!.

Damn! And here I was hoping to get a job with The Man.

update

Ut Oh! Someone forgot to sacrifice to the Mikey!

update

I must provide a disclosure on Daylife: I submitted a resume when the company was hiring people, was consequently sneered at and treated with disdain.

As homey as that left me feeling (“Hey! It’s just like being on Techmeme!”), I can’t say I have the most positive feelings about any one damn person involved with this really useless site that took a year and half to create.

Categories
JavaScript

Best practices don’t win points

Roger Johansson sharpens his teeth and tears into Ajax/JavaScript/Web application developers with You cannot rely on JavaScript being available. Period. He poses a questions:

I have a question for people who label themselves as JavaScript developers: Have you forgotten about, never heard of, or never cared about the terms progressive enhancement, graceful degradation, and Hijax? If the answer is yes, then please tell me why.

I would also like to know whether you actually consider disregarding those best practice methods to be compatible with modern, responsible, and professional JavaScripting.

Following the question, Roger lists out several popular web sites with a description of what happens when script is blocked. I’m not surprised at Bloglines, but wouldn’t have expected Blogger to depend on JavaScript for login. That’s very limiting.

As to his question, this is a time of flash and sizzle, and anyone who programs cautiously, worrying about such things as graceful degradation or accessibility, is going to be left behind. There is a frantic need to prove that JavaScript and Ajax and the whole genre of tools is cooler than cool. This is a time of competition for eyeballs, and grabbing market shares, and wow factors, and pages so crowded with interactivity, frankly, it’s like trying to read or work with an ant hill. With angry ants.

It’s this way because if you go slow, or urge caution, or back off of some of the more ‘hip’ Ajax/JavaScript effects, you’re out of the loop–not a part of the ‘with it’ kids. This all means then you don’t get the opportunities, jobs, even the pats on the head and a well done. As for those who might provide accolades to those who do use the JS best practices, well, they’re too busy in their own world focused on web design, CSS, accessibility, XHTML–conferences here, web standard get-togethers there. The only time they might notice us ‘hacks’ is when we do something they don’t like.

So Roger, the answer to your question is: when was the last time you pointed out those who support the ‘good’ practices of JavaScript?

Categories
Photography

Biting the bullet: Cleaning a camera sensor

I couldn’t put it off any longer. Today was the day.

Today is the day I finally clean my camera sensors.

I read the instructions. Actually I read the instructions 40 or 50 times, as well as verifying such with several different online sources. After that excuse waned in usefulness, it was time to just find my ‘clean space’, lock up the mirror, and do it. Not only did my D70 have enough dust bunnies to start a farm, I noticed with the recent blue sky shooting that I had–horrors–picked up a speck on the D200.

I decided to start with the D200 and the sensor brush, figuring there hasn’t been any high humidity and the speck was most likely loose dust. A sensor brush is a well constructed brush with fine, even, soft bristles. The brush is prepared by blowing compressed air across the bristles, creating a positive charge, which helps the brush to pick up dust.

After finding my space (out of bright light and air flow, remember not to breath, and blowing nose first), I made sure I had a fully charged battery in my camera. The instruction manual warned me about the consequences of the power fading while the mirror was still locked up (“broke, brake, broken, to be broken, was broken, sukkarakan, will brake, will be broken, busted”). I removed my lens, locked up the mirror, charged my sensor brush with my handy air blower, and then *swoosh* *swoosh* lightly moved it across the sensor twice.

Quickly, I then turned the power off to unlock the mirror, placed the lens back on the camera and took a couple of test photos. I used a single sheet of white paper, using the flash to create a completely white, non-featured photo, which should show any dust. I then took other photos from throughout the room–just to ensure that the blank, white page wasn’t the only image I was going to be getting from my actions.

I hooked my camera up to my computer, and opened the camera’s USB card directly in Photoshop. Success! Careful perusal of the images showed nary a pesky little bit of foreign matter.

Before I could pat myself on the back too much, though, I knew that the D70 would not be as simple to clean. It had numerous dusty spots and had been changed in areas with higher humidity and I knew that some of the dust was ‘welded’ to the sensor. This means going beyond the brush to using the sensor swab and cleaning fluid.

The sensor swab is a piece of long handled plastic, like a small, thin, spatual. It’s covered in cleaning pads that are folded on to the swab just so. To clean, one barely moistens the swab, and moves it across the sensor a couple of times, using light, firm, consistent pressure.

The kit I purchased contained all the ingredients for cleaning, including a swab already prepared. It provided step by step instructions with pictures. I looked at the pictures, held the swab, and visualized myself making light, firm, and consistent strokes. I became one with the sensor.

Om.

Having again effectively delayed the inevitable, it was bite the bullet time. I removed my D70 to my cleaning space, had all the materials ready, and removed the lens. Locking up the mirror, I very carefully inserted the brush, but froze before making contact. All my muscles had become locked. I wasn’t one with the sensor–I was one with the mirror.

Repeating my secret mantra over and over again, I gradually forced my hand down, micron by micron until I was at that sensor. And then, as the instructions specified, drew the swab across the sensor, once, twice, three times. Each time I felt as if I were drawing the swab across the ends of my nerves–or fingernails across a blackboard.

Once swabbed, I turned the camera off, unlocking the mirror, and putting back on my lens. I took a photo of my test paper and again checked it in Photoshop. No dust! At least not that I can see, and only a f22 sky shot will show for sure. I must be off to the park with both cameras to test.

Whether this has completely eliminated all problems, I don’t know, but the important point is I have finally did the act. Frankly, I would rather dig a bullet out of my thigh with a hunting knife than do this on a regular basis. I’m told, though, it gets easier over time.

(For more on sensor cleaning Copper Hill.)