Mark Isn't A Geek

No, Scott Adams isn’t a misogynist (or a creationist)

2011-12-01T12:48:00.001+13:00

Note: This post doesn’t condone the views in either of the blog posts by Scott Adams that are referenced within – instead, I’m pointing out that neither does Scott Adams. Curious? Read more below.

I’d also recommend, if you haven’t come across this debacle before, reading this post in full before clicking on the links, as it contains quite a bit of context that the links lack.

Scott Adams seems to be in the news semi-regularly for possessing controversial views. I was somewhat aware of him being accused of being a creationist (or anti-evolutionist, whichever description floats your boat), but accusations of sexism/misogynism recently came across my radar (via Tumblr), based on a (taken down) blog post by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert (which he reposted at the bottom of this blog post.) Naturally, being both a feminist and exceedingly curious, I decided to dig deeper, to see if there was a larger story.

As it turns out, there was. And, as it turns out, while Adams isn’t a misogynist, he sure could have learnt a thing or two about communication.

Lesson One: On The Internet, Everything Must Be Marked

First, it turns out that Adams often posts controversial stuff, not just the two times mentioned. And he does this not because he believes it, but he thinks it’d be interesting for the readers of his blog to debate about it in the comments.

Here’s the relevant comment on the above website:

Scott Adams:

The entire piece is an anti-male-rights piece.

The regular readers of my blog understand that I routinely build arguments for whatever side of an issue is hardest to defend. Then they wrestle with it in the comments. When the piece is moved from the context of the blog, the message is changed by the new context. On the Men’s Rights blogs, it’s seen as an attack on men. On this blog it’s seen as an attack on women. The readers of my own blog email me to say, “What’s the big deal?”

Add selective quoting, which further changes the message, and layer on some poor reading comprehension and you get this zoo, which, as a student of human nature, I have been enjoying. The whole thing is fascinating.

The problem is often people come across blog posts without being regular readers of the blog. If you view merely the single post, the context is stripped away. Even just scanning the recent blog posts might not give you this impression.

If you use your blog for both serious and non-serious posts, the non-serious posts must be marked as such because the very nature of the Internet means that most posts can, and will be viewed outside of the context of your blog, and thus will be mistaken for actual opinion.

Luckily, this is one lesson Adams seems to have learnt. From a more recent post:

Warning: This blog is written for a rational audience that likes to have fun wrestling with unique or controversial points of view. It is written in a style that can easily be confused as advocacy or opinion. It is not intended to change anyone's beliefs or actions. If you quote from this post or link to it, which you are welcome to do, please take responsibility for whatever happens if you mismatch the audience and the content.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to apply retroactively. I know it’s a lot of work, but I’d go back through and mark all previous posts that are similar with the same message.

Lesson Two: Be Clear The First Time (And Every Time)

So, as I mentioned above, Scott Adams himself began posting in the comments section of the site I linked. The problem is, the comment I posted was about the ninth that he wrote.

At first, he starts talking about the author of the post (and various others) lacking reading comprehension – but it’s hard to know what he’s talking about without the context he’s describing. In a later comment, he hints at what he’s on about:

umami:

Scott Adams also doesn’t believe in evolution.

Good to know that his lack of critical thinking skills go right across the board.

Scott Adams:

That’s another example of poor reading comprehension. I’ve often stated that evolution qualifies as a scientific fact. The confusion comes from my writings on how we perceive reality.

I’m also rumored on the Internet to be a creationist, an Obama lover, and nearly dead from a debilitating disease. (All false, by the way.) And according to my Wikipedia page, I’ve won some awards that I’ve never heard of.

Believing what you read is always risky.

Now, I think he didn’t initially post his explanation because he thought it was obvious, but only posted it when it became clear that it was not to the commenters of that blog. When something is obvious to you, it’s often frustrating when other people don’t see it, but the best thing to do is to communicate as clearly as possible what you mean the first time, even if you think it’s obvious.

If Adams had posted the post first, he would have short-circuited a lot of the complaining about ‘reading comprehension’ (but more on that below), especially that by people who just found his first post and leapt to the Reply box.

Here’s a quote from his blog post responding to the matter (in context, clearly addressing his audience):

Regular readers of my blog know that the goal of my writing is to be interesting and nothing else. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, largely because I don't believe humans can be influenced by exposure to better arguments, even if I had some. But I do think people benefit by exposure to ideas that are different from whatever they are hearing, even when the ideas are worse. That's my niche: something different. That approach springs from my observation that brains are like investment portfolios, where diversification is generally a good strategy. I'm not trying to move you to my point of view; I'm trying to add diversity to your portfolio of thoughts. In the short term, I hope it's stimulating enough to be entertaining. Long term, the best ideas probably come from people who have the broadest exposure to different views.

Contrast my style of blogging to the most common styles, which include advocacy for some interest group or another, punditry, advice, and information. Now imagine moving my writing from the context of this blog to the context of an advocacy blog. You can see the problem. Men thought I was attacking men, and women thought I was attacking women. The message changed when the context changed. I saw that developing, so I took down the post.

He doesn’t explicitly state that the things he blogs about aren’t necessarily what he agrees with, or that he “build[s] arguments for whatever side of an issue is hardest to defend”, and because of that, except to his regular readers, this explanation falls flat. As a result, many blogs, which only looked at the initial post by the feminist websites and not the comments (or only enough of the comments to convince themselves he was backpedalling), took this post as making excuses, as opposed to an explanation. If he had stated these two important things, then the context is there for everyone (and not just his regular audience) be seen.

Of course, many people would still attempt to rationalise their acquired belief that Scott Adams is a misogynist. It’s a natural response to attacks on notions they believe – most people subconsciously interpret attacks on their beliefs as attacks on them, on their trustworthyness. But doing the above will at least convince more people, especially the ones that read a post or the initial comments of one and think they have all the context to understand it, or those who might have been on the fence until they felt as if they’d been insulted.

A Note About Reading Comprehension

A lot of people misunderstand the meaning of “reading comprehension” – they think it’s the ability to comprehend the text. And while that may be the literal interpretation of the two words, that’s not the meaning of the term.

Rather, reading comprehension is the ability to understand the text in context. When Adams is saying the commenters lack ‘reading comprehension’, he means that they are failing to place the text within the context of his blog (which makes controversial posts so that the commenters can argue about them).

Unfortunately, people who either don’t know the meaning of term or think they have all the context take this as a fancy way of saying ‘UR DUM’, which merely makes them more entrenched in their belief that they understand quite perfectly, thank you very much.

Conclusion

As I hope to have shown, Adams clearly doesn’t believe the stuff he’s accused of believing – but he poorly communicated his explanations, and could have been a lot clearer about the whole thing. Let this be a lesson to anyone finding themselves in the middle of a debacle like this one.

Splitting Up The Blog

2011-11-25T17:58:00.001+13:00

For a while now, this blog has served a few different “masters” in terms of focus – I’ve basically used it to talk about whatever I want to talk about. But for the last few months, I’ve been thinking about splitting it up into different blogs, each with a different focus.

And now, it’s done. The blogs are:

Mark Is Not A Geek: This blog, which will remain my ‘personal’ blog, for amusing anecdotes and non-tech-related articles.
Opinionated Mark: For articles/rants discussing my opinion on various tech-related stuff.
Another Line of Code: Programming-related articles and advice.
MarkKB’s Software Blog: Articles and announcements related to the software I develop.

This split will allow people to follow the stuff that they want, without having to sift through the stuff they don’t want. It’ll also be a lot easier for me to organise. (It will also pressure me to blog more often, since I hate seeing five-month-old blogs at the top of the page. ^^; )

I’ve already moved the old posts across, but there’s still a bit of work to do – I still have to redirect the old posts to the new ones, and import the comments. I’ll also have to redesign the blogs so they all fit nicely together (and fit with my website), and also update the link the website header (although those two I’m going to do with the next design update of my website, which will be ready next year.)

Finally, if you just want to follow the whole lot, I’ll be posting links in my Tumblr blog, MarkKB’s Thoughts and Stuff.

I’d be interested if you think splitting my blog is a good or bad idea, so if you have an opinion, sound off in the comments below.

Until next time!

--MarkKB

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite has now launched!

2011-10-30T08:53:00.001+13:00

… what? It’s still October!

Okay, YALaSFS is now up! Right now there’s not a lot of articles, but I plan to do updates every three to four months (and not teeny tiny updates either.) So, I’ll see you again around February, eh?

You can visit YALaSFS at http://lasfansite.atspace.me/. We’ve also got a forum and a Facebook page, so be sure to check those out as well!

If you’re a Lilo & Stitch fan and have a website, be sure to sign our fan database!

--MarkKB

Gibraltar Installer 1.0 Build 06 has been released

2011-10-19T09:54:00.001+13:00

Gibraltar Installer 1.0 Build 06 is now up on my website!

Now you might be wondering, ‘geez, what took so long? The last release was in 2009!’ Well, the truth is, this build’s been done since January 2010 (I’ve even been using it for my other software), and I kept on putting off documenting the new config settings because I’d thought it’d take a long time, and then I forgot I hadn’t released it, and then a few days ago I remembered and decided to bite the bullet. And so, here we are!

(I’m really sorry about this, guys, and I’ll try not to be so silly next time. ^^; )

Build 06 introduces themes, adds support for sections (if you want the user to be able to configure what parts of the software to install), adds support for importing .reg files, adds support for restarting after install, as well as a little UI fit-and-finish and a bit of bug-whacking.

Don’t forget to submit bug reports so I can, well, fix any bugs! To do so, go to http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/bugs/ and click “Submit bug report”. Make sure you fill in as much detail as possible, please.

Gibraltar Installer home page
Gibraltar Installer download page
What's new in Build 06

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite: The Whats and What-Nots

2011-10-04T15:24:00.001+13:00

OK, hopefully you’ve read the announcement of the relaunch of Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite (if not, clicky the link – it has screenshots!) What I hope to do with this post is explain what I hope to achieve with the website.

So… what is YALaSFS?

You’ve probably grasped by now that Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite is meant to be, first and foremost, an encyclopaedia of all things Lilo & Stitch-related. It’s not comprehensive right now, but I hope to build it up to that point over time.

It’s also an archive of interactions of The Powers That Be (aka the creators of Lilo & Stitch) with fans – forum threads, emails, etc. – so that interested people can read them long after they’ve disappeared.

Last but not least, it’s a forum and a community. I used to be a part of quite a few Lilo & Stitch forums myself, and they’ve all since been abandoned. I liked being part of those communities, so it’s my hope that by providing a website people will want to visit, I can also foster a community of enthusiastic fans bonded by similar tastes around it, and one that will last much longer than those that came before.

Who is this site aimed at? Well, fans, obviously, but I want it to be specifically a resource that fanwork (fanfic, fanart, etc.) creators will use when crafting their works of fiction. With that in mind, I hope to eventually have a lot of detail in it that will be useful for those people. It’s not there yet (I’d prefer to have an incomplete website than none at all, and I’m sure others would agree) but it’s definitely on the roadmap.

What Isn’t YALaSFS?

I made a conscious decision when relaunching YALaSFS that it would not be a wiki, and I would be the primary author of the articles on the main website.

There are several reasons why it won’t be a wiki, involving lack of hierarchy, little editorialisation, the ease of vandalism and a lack of stability. Admittedly, it’s also somewhat about control – I’d like the website to have a certain tone, and there are some topics I won’t be covering.

It’s also an opportunity to do a lot of research, and that’s something that really appeals to me – and I don’t always like it when things are handed to me and all I have to do is rubber-stamp them.

That said, eventually people will be able to contribute in some way to the website (although it will be moderated), and major contributions will be credited.

What’s In The Future

I’ve already talked a bit about the future, but here are some major things that I hope to do:

Expanded Universe mini-encyclopaedia

One thing I’m thinking of for the future is an Expanded Universes section, where prominent fanauthors can put up mini-encyclopaedias of their own universes.

I’ve noticed on fanfiction sites that a lot of people try to stuff lots of information into their profile, which makes it look ugly or unwieldy, not to mention the fact that a lot of people won’t scroll down more than a few screens to get to the fics, and so a lot of good fanfics aren’t being read. And while you can put links to that stuff in your profile, the fact is not a lot of people can be bothered putting up their own websites for that kind of stuff.

Basically, with this section authors will be able to link to their page on the mini-encyclopaedia in their profile. Those people who want to read it can follow the link, while those people who are just there for the fics can go straight to them.

It’d also be helpful for people other than the main author contributing a story to a fan-universe – they can get a feel for an original character (or refresh themselves on the basics), or the events in the universe (so they can write a good story that slots in to continuity).

Editing will work like this: the author will submit a request to modify, create or delete a page, and I’ll edit it for spelling and grammar and try to approve it within the day. Not everyone will be able to have a section, to make sure that it doesn’t get too unwieldy, but I hope to have a process that is fair worked out.

Guest Editorial Articles

One thing I’d like to do is have a selected member of the community write an article on a specific topic every so often – things like tips to improve your L&S fanfiction, or a critique of a specific episode, or an essay focusing on a background character, or something like that. It’s an idea I’m toying with, but I’m not too sure if I’m going to go ahead with it.

Timeline

A final thing I would really love to do is a timeline feature. That is, a timeline of the entire franchise, filterable by character, movie/series, location and ‘universe’ (for those pesky holes in the time-space continuum.) It’s something that’ll probably come way off in the future, if at all, but it’s something I really want to have on the site.

Conclusion

I’d love to hear from you guys about my thoughts and ideas, so don’t hesitate to post a comment! And again, I look forward to working on this website – Lilo & Stitch is something close to me, so I really want to contribute something to that.

Thanks for reading!

--MarkKB

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite: It Has Returned (Almost)

2011-09-25T09:35:00.001+13:00

There may be five people in the world (if that) who know that I used to run a website called “Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite”.

Well, ‘run’ isn’t entirely accurate – more like ‘uploaded stuff once in 2006 and then never touched it again.’ Well, at least I’m sure that’s what it looked like from the outside – the truth is I’d been tinkering with it a bit since then, but I was so busy at the time I couldn’t really devote much time to it.

So, in 2009, I decided to revive and update the site, and since then I’ve been working on it on and off to make sure that it’s at least somewhat presentable when it launches in October.

That’s right, I’ll be launching the website next month! Here’s what the home page and the article for Lilo look like right now (click to enbiggen):

I hope you’ll agree that’s a heck of a lot better than the old site, right?

The new website is located at http://lasfansite.atspace.me/. Right now it’s just got a teaser page with links to the Facebook page (which you can subscribe to for updates and whatnot) and the forum (which is open, by the way).

It's also home to some artwork drawn by myself, which you can view in larger form here, if you like: ‘Moving Boxes’ on deviantART

I’m pretty excited about working on Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite in the coming months, and I hope that you guys reading will find it interesting enough. My next post will be about what I hope to achieve with the website, so stay tuned!

--MarkKB

Web analytics on MarkKB’s Web – what that means for you

2011-06-27T08:24:00.001+12:00

I’m now using Google Analytics on some parts of my website to gather data on who visits my website. This data is completely anonymous – in other words, there is no way for me to know who is visiting my website, just what you visit, as well as a few characteristics.

This data includes:

What pages you visit
How you got to this site (e.g. via a link, a web search, ect)
Your browser, its version number, and what versions of Flash and Java are installed.
Your screen resolution
The country, state, city and ISP you are browsing this site from

So, what can I do with this information? Well:

I can tell what programs and parts of the site are popular, thus allowing me to focus my attention on stuff that matters to you
I can get a good idea of what browsers the people who read this site use, so I know which browsers to test for, and thus make your browsing experience better
I know which operating systems are interested in my stuff, so I can have a good idea of which ones to support in my programs
I know where my audience comes from, and so can target them appropriately.
Let’s face it, these kinds of statistics are facinating, and it’s kinda cool to know these kinds of details. (I got a hit from Moscow the other day, and a few weeks ago someone using Windows 2000 visited the site. I mean, wow.)

So, this is mostly good for you guys, as well as good for me (and my ego! :D)

Another thing: right now, there are only a few places where I’m monitoring this stuff, but over the next few months I hope to roll it out across the website.

And finally: If you do not wish to be tracked in this manner, you can use Google’s opt-out addon to stop Google Analytics scripts from running.

Why the devs Peter Bright wrote about are wrong (and why Peter Bright is right about what to do about it)

2011-06-15T02:41:00.001+12:00

Earlier this week, Peter Bright wrote a passionate piece about developers seemingly being up in arms about two sentences in the Windows 8 tablet demo from D9. (This follows two similar, albeit less detailed, pieces: one from Mary Jo Foley and the other from Paul Thurrott.) Those sentences, spoken by Microsoft VP Julie Larson-Green, are as follows:

“So this application[, an immersive weather application,] is written with our new developer platform, which is based on HTML 5 and JavaScript. People can write new applications for Windows using the things they are doing already on the Internet.”

Apparently, some developers have taken this to mean that the only way to write immersive apps is through HTML 5 and JavaScript. Peter Bright thinks this interpretation is completely rational. I disagree, and in fact I’m going to come right out and say it – anyone who got that from that statement is making a rather large logical leap.

It’s Called A Non-Sequitur For A Reason

These are the facts presented in the above sentences:

The weather app is an immersive application.
HTML5/JavaScript is the base for a new development platform from Microsoft.
The weather app uses the HTML5/JavaScript-based platform.
People can now use their experience from HTML5/JavaScript to write Windows 8 programs.

It doesn’t follow from this at all that HTML5/JavaScript will be the only medium for development, merely that you will be able to write an immersive app in HTML5/JavaScript. It may be the only option, but it’s rather ridiculous to assume such from the above statements.

It appears that the argument is as follows:

All HTML5/JavaScript apps shown at the demo are immersive apps
I want to develop Program X as an immersive app
Therefore I will have to develop Program X in HTML5/JavaScript

This is a logical fallacy known as the ‘fallacy of the undistributed middle’. In this case, the ‘undistributed middle’ is that ‘all immersive apps are HTML5/JavaScript apps’, which is at this point unsubstantiated.

Evidence, Shmevidence

First off, the Weather, Piano and Stocks apps were the only apps explicitly mentioned to be HTML5/JavaScript. None of the other apps demoed were described in this manner.

Secondly, we know Internet Explorer is an immersive app, and we know that it’s written in unmanaged C++. Unless they are suggesting Microsoft will be using private APIs for IE9 (a move that is A) unprecedented in Windows history and b) would surely get antitrust investigators on their tail lickity-split), or that IE9’s immersive mode is an HTML application (also unlikely), then I somewhat doubt that HTML5/JavaScript will be the only way to develop immersive apps.

There’s Nothing Stopping You Anyway

Let’s face it – ‘immersive’ apps are full-screen apps with touch controls. Are developers really suggesting that it will be impossible to write such an application for Windows 8?

Windows 7 added touch APIs. These will still exist in Windows 8. And it’s trivial to create a full-screen application with large text, buttons and whatnot – and since Metro is a design language, not an API, as long as it behaves like Metro, it is, for all intents and purposes, Metro. The fact of the matter, then, is that it’s silly to state that you can’t make an application for Windows 8 that you can do right now using existing APIs.

If it turns out you need to code in HTML5/JavaScript for live tiles, then a stub application will most likely be a cinch to make. I mean, people already do basically the same thing for Gadgets anyway, and Live Tiles are essentially Gadgets that launch programs.

So even if the developer’s fears are justified, they’d still be able to easily make an ‘immersive’ app, even if it’s not using any special API to do so.

But that’s a huge ‘if’, and one that seems incredible, to say the very least.

Nothing Is Being Said Because Nothing Needs To Be Said

At least, that was my initial reaction to the article, and that was probably Microsoft’s thinking as well. I would have argued that any developer who took “here’s an immersive app, and oh, it’s developed in HTML5/JavaScript” and got out of it “HTML5/JavaScript is the only way to develop immersive apps” should probably not be allowed to develop for Windows 8 anyway (or any platform, for that matter, because they’d be continually worried about being abandoned whenever anyone announces a new platform and doesn’t mention the old one.) They probably shouldn’t work in the aviation industry either, least they be worried that when Boeing announces the 797 or whatever and not mention any of its previous planes that Boeing will stop making or supporting them.

Microsoft Should Probably Say It Anyway

But the problem is, it’s not just irrational developers on the Silverlight support board. Ina Fried, writing the official analysis for the demo, also interpreted the statement in the same way as the developers Peter Bright and others mention, which was also carried over in Joanna Stern’s write-up for this is my next, and Oliver Haslam’s write-up for Redmond Pie. And completely rational and logical-thinking developers are going to read these sources and think that immersive apps will be HTML5/JavaScript only, having not the time, patience, ability or knowledge to view the original demo.

So, in the end, I do agree with Peter Bright (and thus Thurrott and Foley) on this point: for the sake of all this sillyness, Microsoft should make an official statement that HTML5/JavaScript won’t be the only way to develop immersive apps, and that you will be able to develop them in .NET and Win32 as well.

My real issue is that this shouldn’t need to be said at all. Peter Bright claims the problem is with how Microsoft worded the statement, and again, I disagree – I think it will be a sad day when tech demos need to devote time to point out the blindingly obvious.

But obviously, we can’t force tech publications and developers to take a course in logical thinking, so an official statement is really the only way to solve this. Sitting in silence until BUILD will only create confusion and possibly even get developers to not develop for Windows 8. And, if anything, loosing developers at this critical time is not something Microsoft can afford.

Conclusion

So, in summary, I do not believe that the fears developers have about having to develop immersive apps in HTML5/JavaScript are rational, nor do I believe Microsoft should have to make an official statement. However, to prevent conclusion, I do believe that they should, if only to dissuade these irrational fears from getting into the minds of the mainstream of developers.

Edit: I should note that both Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley also wrote articles about the same developers Peter Bright did. I blame the previous few weeks without Internet (I’m still catching up on some things) and I’ve edited the article to more generalise it.

Left Hanging – A Trip To Japan (Full Commentary)

2011-05-16T07:59:00.001+12:00

I don’t normally post picture descriptions here, but this one was pretty long, so I decided to link it here if anyone wanted to read it.

Left Hanging - A Trip To Japan by ~MarkKB

This is the cover for A Trip To Japan, and part of a set of covers I sketched for my fanfics. (The last one I drew was for Starlight.)

I Don't Think You Thought This Quite Through

This picture is remarkable to me, at the very least, because most of it isn't actually based on the original sketch - and it turned out, at least to me, rather well. Okay, so people do that all the time, but I prefer to stick to my sketches (because when I don't, they sometimes get a bit wonky.)

Sure, it's laid out the same around about, but there were quite a few problems with the original, the least of which being that I'd only sketched the general shape of Tokyo Tower, and not the individual struts. (It was a small box on a page with other small boxes, and thus wasn't really intended to be a full sized pic, so there!) This meant I vastly underestimated the length required to represent the Tower at the angle I had it.

Of course, this was meant to be only a quick, fun piece so I'd have a visual representation of one of my fics in a 150-pixel-wide preview and a 400-pixel-wide contents-page-image for my website, and also for a good idea of what a proper version might look like. (Much of the small problems with this pic won't be noticable at 150px, that's for sure.)

It's, in a way, a concept drawing - I'll probably do a proper version later.

Accurate To A Point

Speaking of which, Tokyo Tower is actually a lot taller than it is in the picture. I did it the way I did because I didn't feel comfortable putting it at much more of an oblique angle, but I wanted to keep the picture within a certain size (and the Tower within the box.)

However, rest assured I took pains to make sure everything else was accurate, including some Flickr photos for the view straight down from the observation tower and Google Maps for the sides of the buildings. A big thanks to the people who for whatever reason took those photos! (And if you want to check them out, they're in the references section below.)

The Tower itself was modelled using beizer curves in what I thought approximated what it would look like under that perspective. After I thought it looked OK, I drew the lineart around it. It was all done by eye (thank you second computer!) so I probably messed up a bit (especially since, naturally, there are no photos of the tower in the perspective I would have needed. Eh, oh well.)

Drat You Perspective!

I'm quite sure I committed about a bazillion sins when it came to laying out the perspective for this piece. I'm fairly sure, for example, that Nani's not quite aligned with the direction of the window (toward the camera) and that the buliding below is not quite angled right with the tower. And I think the focal point is a little messed up.

*beat*

Eh, I don't think anyone will notice. *gets a hundred angry comments*

But, as I said, it's concept drawing really, not a "proper" piece.

(Speaking of Nani, I was never really good at drawing her, and I think she's a little... I dunno, off in this pic. Still better than I've ever drawn her, though...

And speaking of people not looking right, Lilo had to be redrawn quite a few times before I was satisfied. It was kinda hard getting the perspective looking more-or-less how I wanted it.)

How could you be so heartless?

Huh? I'm not quite sure what you're talki- oooh, right, the picture content.

Let it be said that I'm sure no-one likes Lilo Pelekai being in mortal peril, least of all myself. Oh, I may write stories where she *is* in mortal peril, but I write them because they make good stories, not because I like it. Writers shouldn't be afraid to free their characters from the padded box, just because the reaction might be bad.

That, and it's all my muse's fault. Go blame him.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering how Lilo got in such a position. Well, normally I'd direct you to my fanfic, but the funny thing is, much like another picture I drew, I haven't actually gotten to this point in the story. So this is all spoilers!.

Hmm, I need to stop doing that.

Eh, well, go read A Trip To Japan anyway. Be warned, the first few chapters are a little narmy because I wrote them a while back and stuffs. I'm in the middle of rewriting them anyway, so eh.

One last thing: I really wanna support Paint.Net, I really do, but Paint Shop Pro is, quite frankly, sooooo much better. Which is why I switched when it came to really doing this picture, and why I'll be sticking with it for the forseeable future.

Whew, that was pretty long...

Refs!

Tokyo Tower
Looking Straight Down from Tokyo Tower by crispyteriyaki (Flickr)
Temple and Tokyo Tower by crispyteriyaki (Flickr)
straight down from tokyo tower (2) by jacquelynyoung (Flickr)
And special thanks to Google Maps and Street View.

Observation Tower
Tokyo Tower by returntoasia (Flickr)
A cel from the Cardcaptor Sakura episode A Trip To Tokyo Tower, collected by Rallihir.

Nani
This still from Lilo & Stitch.

Sketch: 6 November 2009
Initial lineart (foreground - Paint.Net): 27 December 2009
Lineart (background): 9-10 May 2011
Lineart (foreground), Paint (background): 10 May 2011
Paint (foreground): 10, 16 May 2011
App: Except where specified, Paint Shop Pro 8.10

Software Updater 1.0 Build 03 has been released

2011-05-02T20:31:00.001+12:00

Software Updater 1.0 Build 03 is now up on my website! If you already have Build 02 installed, you should receive a notification when you next restart your computer.

Build 03 fixes a whole bunch of bugs, including the log-off bug and various UAC-related issues. It also adds the ability to add software to the All Users area and support for PAD files, as well as a little UI fit-and-finish.

Software Updater home page
Software Updater download page
Build 03 Home Page
Build 03 Changelog

Website: Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc’s new sidebar, more bug reports, and minor layout changes

2011-03-27T12:34:00.001+13:00

Another day, another update to the website. Here’s what’s new:

<Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>’s new sidebar

Website: http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/cab/

When I updated the sidebar for my website last spring, one section that didn’t get the treatment was my webcomic, <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>. Part of that was because I was having trouble configuring it so it looked reasonably OK, and I didn’t want to hold up the update for all the other pages.

A few months later, and it’s here! Every page contains handy links to the RSS feed, my Twitter account, and the comic’s Facebook page, and the front page contains links to various voting portals (because TopWebComics isn’t the only one out there.)

(Oh, and <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc> now has a Facebook page!)

There’s a few more things in the pipe for <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc> (including actual comics :p ), so hang tight!

Bug Reports layout update

Website: http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/bugs/

Let’s face it, the various pages in the Bug Reports section were looking pretty terrible and bland. So with some generous tabling (what, it’s tabular data!) and a sprinkle of CSS (see below), the pages are certainly looking a lot better than before.

24 new bug reports submitted

I’ve just submitted twenty-four new bug reports into the system, and updated information for two more. Why would I voluntarily do this, you may ask?

Transparency: I want to keep people who use my products in the loop, and to let them know that yes, I know about these problems, and yes, I’m fixing them.
Encouragement: I hope that by submitting bug reports myself, I can encourage others to do the same. I want to know about your problems with the product, so I can fix them – but I can’t do that if you don’t tell me!

Tables style update

Tables now look a heck of a lot better, with borders, blue headers to match the headings on the rest of the site, and a whole lot more padding than before.

New RSS icon

The old one was in pretty dire need of a makeover, so there’s now a new icon to take its' place.

Over the next few weeks I plan to do more (and potentially bigger) updates. I’ll let you know when that happens.

How A Simple Bug Creates A Larger Problem: The Logoff Bug in Software Updater (Or: The Perils of Using e.Cancel in a FormClosing)

2011-03-21T01:54:00.001+13:00

If you’re using Windows XP and have installed Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 (which includes Software Updater), you may have noticed an inability to shutdown or log off your computer. Before you ask, an updated version of Software Updater without the bug is on the way, along with a bunch of optimising and code cleanup (but that’s mainly under the hood.) You should get a notification through Software Updater when that’s ready, but in the meantime you can launch Task Manager and, under the Processes tab, select SoftwareUpdater.exe and hit “End Process”. You should be able to log off then.

So, how did I screw up a program so massively for it to prevent shutdown? Actually, it was really simple. For developers, this is a warning message about the problems of cancelling the closing of your window without taking all things in account.

The Problem

Software Updater consists of a few forms, but the important one is the main window. On the main window is a NotifyIcon object, the object which I can use to give my program a constant presence in the notification area.

(This is a bad idea for reasons Raymond Chen lists, but really, that’s beside the point, and the same problem would exist anyway, since that form also contains the code to check updates. I will be removing the superfluous icon in a later version anyway, so, yuh.)

Now, I wanted to keep the form open when someone clicked the close button, so it could do its business. I’d hide it from the user, but it would still be there, running the stuff it needed to run.

After a poke around the form’s FormClosing event, I decided to use the following code:

Private Sub Main_FormClosing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosing
e.Cancel = True
Me.Visible = False
End Sub

See the problem yet?

The problem is that every time anything tries to close the form, whether it’s hidden or not, this code will execute. The window will say “De-nied!” and hide the window. Including when the computer tries to, say, shut down.

I’d like to note this isn’t a problem in Windows Vista or above, which ignores the app saying “De-nied!” and ~~punches its lights out~~ closes it anyway. But really, you shouldn’t be lazy and rely on the operating system to do your job. (I have an excuse – my main computer is Windows Vista, so I had to borrow another person’s computer to test it out on, and even then I thought I’d messed something up in the installer script, not the program itself.)

The Solution

Through persistent Googling of the problem (as, once I’d figured out the problem went away after you killed Software Updater, on a hunch I tried searching for variations of e.Cancel shutdown problems) I found what I was looking for.

It turns out that during my poking around, somehow I’d missed tthat FormClosing had an e.CloseReason variable. There are quite a few options to choose from, but the one we’re looking for is CloseReason.WindowsShutDown. To wit:

Private Sub Main_FormClosing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosing
    If Not e.CloseReason = CloseReason.WindowsShutDown Then
        e.Cancel = True
        Me.Visible = False
    End If
End Sub

And that, my friends, is that. Later days, and may you not make the same mistake I did!

Is Charlie Sheen Crazy? I Don’t Think So

2011-03-09T13:11:00.001+13:00

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week, no doubt you’ve heard about Charlie Sheen’s recent interviews with various news stations. So, always wanting to get the full picture, I decided to watch the full interviews myself.

(The interviews I watched: 20/20’s “In His Own Words” [parts one, two, three, four, five, six], MSNBC’s Today Show interview [parts one and two], and the Piers Morgan interview [part one, two, three and four]. The Piers Morgan one is especially good, since it's the only one of these interviews that were both live and unedited.)

And you know what? If Sheen is crazy, insane, or otherwise psychiatrically unfit or unwell, I’m not seeing it.

It’s quite clear to me that he was joking around a lot in all those interviews. The fact that people are taking it as if he’s being serious, that they think he’s having a mental episode, is in my mind beyond bewildering, especially considering that when he’s actually seriousness in those interviews, it doesn’t sound crazy at all.

The man obviously does not believe he has tiger blood and Adonis DNA, or that he’s on a drug called Charlie Sheen, or that he actually has magic in his fingers, and I don’t think he was “banging 7g rocks” either. His new catchphrase “winning” doesn’t seem any different to, say, How I Met Your Mother character Barney Stinson’s obsession with the word “awesome” – in fact, many aspects of his interviews seem to share traits with the character. Do we take Stinson seriously when he’s obviously not? Of course not!

The tone, the way Sheen said those things, was so obviously a jocular manner that the way the media (and psychiatrists) has latched on to it is the only crazy thing about this.

Let’s face it, if his comments were scripted for Two and a Half Men, we wouldn’t bat an eyelid. If someone in a bar said as a pick-up line or says to his girlfriend “I’ve got tiger blood flowing through my veins”, we wouldn’t present the person making them as manic or crazy. If this was part of a stand-up routine, we’d be fine with it.

And If these were any other interviews, we’d take them as witty comments and leave them at that.

But no, Sheen just got rehabilitated for drugs, so it’s got to be some kind of withdrawal symptoms, or maybe they were driving him mad, or something. The way the media is psycho-analysing the man is sickening to watch, and even more sickening is the way the public is lapping it up.

Part of the problem are the medical experts weighing in. 20/20 got leading expert on mental health and head of the Hazelden Foundation, Omar Manejwala, to review the full recorded material without cuts, and he said that Sheen could either be suffering withdrawal or having a manic episode. Unless the crazy parts were cut out of the interviews (and why would they do that?) I can’t see it at all. Sure, I’m not a leading anything, but I honestly can’t see where the guy’s coming from.

I think part of the problem is that the media is asking psychiatrists What’s wrong with Sheen rather than Is there anything wrong with Sheen or What’s the likelyhood of these diagnoses being accurate, or How likely is this a mental episode rather than just something normal, and they therefore are pressured into analysing Sheen with the presumption that something is wrong, rather than analysing if there is, in fact, anything wrong. Additionally, there’s pressure to maintain the consensus (that Sheen is crazy) rather than have the potential to be ridiculed.

Is Charlie Sheen crazy? Does he need psychiatric help? I don’t know for sure. Do I think Charlie Sheen is crazy? Not in the slightest, or at least, no more crazy than the rest of us.

Searching the web, I’ve found I’m not alone in this opinion. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly:

“I don’t think you sound that crazy at all,” said Morgan. And indeed, Sheen came across as an intelligent, complicated man — jumpy and a yammerer, to be sure, compulsively rephrasing nearly every sentence he uttered, but by no means out of control or incoherent.

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/02/28/charlie-sheen-cnn-piers-morgan/

As noted above, Piers Morgan himself felt that Sheen wasn’t crazy, and he’s one of the few people who know Sheen; the two go back almost a decade. He points out that about 80% of the stuff he said then was non-serious joking stuff too, and I get the feeling he doesn’t get the media reaction either.

Marissa Foglia, who writes a blog called “Confessions of a Clever Wordsmith”:

I do not see a man who has lost his mind.

What I do see is a man who is well-aware of every word he speaks, every point he makes. His injections of verbal passion and honesty are surely overwhelming for most people, but I get it. Yes, that scares me, but only a pinch.

I see a man who speaks with no filter…something the general public are not used to. Someone who, God forbid, is 1,000% real and honest about what he TRULY believes and stands for. And there’s nothing wrong with that. He should not be judged on his words, no matter how outlandish. He should not be judged on his beliefs, no matter how much you may disagree.

http://marissafoglia.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/charlie-sheen-isnt-crazy-he-just-needs-a-bath/

Robert Pattison and "The Cynical Christian" of PoliPundit apparently both think Sheen's awesome crazy, not insane crazy, for what that's worth.

So I don’t think Charlie Sheen is crazy, and there are other people out there who don’t think he’s crazy either. What are your thoughts?

Thoughts on Christchurch

2011-03-03T13:14:00.001+13:00

This past week, many New Zealanders played witness to the worst natural disaster they have seen in their lifetime.

Few are alive that remember the Nelson earthquake, the only earthquake in New Zealand similar in destruction and loss of life. So will few recall the Tangiwai disaster, in which a lahar destroyed a rail bridge off of Mt. Ruapehu, causing the second-worst transport-related disaster in New Zealand history. The sinking of the Wahine was long before my time, and I only know of it from reading about it, as with the tragic loss of life at Mount Erebus. All these disasters now live only in textbooks, and in the memories of the generation that lived through them.

I’m not comparing or demeaning the loss of life in any of those disasters. All of them are equally tragic, and many of us would give anything for the people who died in them to have lived their lives normally.

However, I feel that the 2011 Christchurch earthquake will be our generation’s disaster in New Zealand. It’ll be the disaster that we will have the most emotional attachment to, because we were there, because we remember it.

I’m not going to go into the details of the quake itself here, mainly because there are many publications that have done a much better job than I could. However, I will share a few of my thoughts.

We’ve heard much news over the past week. We’ve heard happy stories, like the woman who protected her son from a falling air conditioning unit, or the girl who walked out of the window of the CTV building as it crumbled around her. Someone survived being crushed in a bus by talking with one of the rescuers. The woman who rushed to her husband’s workplace and waited for him until he was pulled out and ran into her arms. The pair who survived the quake and got married in the week following. The happy chances that make this bearable.

We’ve also heard stories of tragedy. The man who tried to rescue someone else in the street from a pile of bricks, only to be killed by falling debris. The woman who got her family out of a superette, only to rush back for her phone and then get crushed when the building collapsed. The baby squashed by a falling television set. The groups of exchange students who were in the CTV building at the time, of which only half have been recovered alive. These are the stories that show how co-incidence is a cruel mistress. It makes survivors wonder what could have been if only they’d been in their loved one’s place, and brings sorrow to the rest of us, as well as reminding us of the fragility of life, and that death can come from anywhere.

The probability is high that we have all met or know someone who was in Christchurch at the time of the quake.

I knew someone who used the nom-de-plume Adaminator1. He frequented a chat room I visit often, but he hasn’t visited since the day before the quake. Though I only knew him for a few months, I have to be honest – I’m frightened. I fear for his safety.

I fear for everyone’s safety.

But we must be strong. We need to help, in any way we can. Even if it’s not directly, even if we give our best wishes to those who live in Christchurch still. They need our words of comfort and support, now more than ever.

We must show Christchurch that, although they may feel it, they are not alone. We must show them they have New Zealand behind them. We must show them they have the entire world behind them.

We must stand together as one people. Whether it be in mourning, in support, in remembrance, or in guidance, we must not let Christchurch stand alone.

We must stand as one.

A Modest Proposal: Private Clouds on a Large Scale

2011-02-05T16:53:00.001+13:00

This blog post is based on a post I made on the Ars Tecnhica forums. It’s been edited here for spelling, clarification and to add an idea I had.

I really don't like the idea of my data being in 'the cloud' in a primary sense. Backup? Sure - if there's data loss, I can just make another backup. Publication? Sure, that's what the Internet is for. Full-hog is a different thing.

It's an issue of control. With local data, I own (in a physical sense) all parts of the system - the computer, the hard drive, the metal filings that represent 0 or 1. I can literally pick up and hold my data, and take it with me. With the cloud, the data is on some server far away, and all I have is a projection of that data.

The same with apps. If a company goes out of business, I can play their games or run their programs indefinitely. If I don't like a new version of the program, I can keep using the old one. Because I own the physical data on my hard drive, I don't have to follow the whims of a company if I don't like it.

If we switch to a world where apps were served by remote computers to our own (as with web apps and streaming games), then I no longer have that control. If a company shuts down or discontinues a service, I have no recourse. If I don't like a new version of something, I can't use old versions unless the company makes provisions for such a thing.

For me, the convenience is simply not worth the loss of control.

However, I'm a big fan of the 'private cloud' - servers that I own that can stream my data anywhere. Right now, I've set up a file server that stores my documents and music, and I can access this via LAN on any computer in the house. It's very liberating.

There are three problems with private servers, however:

Marketing: This is a big one. Consumers don't know what servers are and how they can help, and it's clear that companies don't know how to market servers to consumers (one would only have to look as far as Microsoft and WHS to see that.) Companies should emphasise the convenience factor, and the ability to access your files from anywhere over the network (and, in the future, the internet).
Distribution/Expense: Even among geeks, a small percentage use file servers. Part of this is because of not being able to justify the expense of buying a computer or paying for power just to serve files, and part is because private servers are so few that no-one really considers it.
Ease of use: To a consumer, it's relatively hard to set up file shares, network drives, redirect profile folders, etc. It's a hurdle that most ordinary people will find difficult to overcome.

So, here's my proposal:

A server system that's made up of a computer and a removable drive (which will store the user's data.) The company that makes these servers cuts deals with real estate companies to place these servers, as well as wifi routers, in new and resold homes, offering to train for free real estate staff so they can help consumers set things up, and make deals with power companies to not charge for the server's power usage (read by a meter attached to the server), etc. These servers can be placed in the wall behind a service panel, with a collection of USB sockets embedded in the wall (like telephone and power sockets in most homes today) - this will be where the drives will be attached - and maybe a simple LCD display with relevant information.

The removable drive contains a key on it in a standardised location, as well as a user-set password^[*]. They key is also printed somewhere for the user's reference. If two removable hard drives are attached, it duplicates the files on the second hard drive - basically, software RAID 1.

[*] This could be implemented as a drive-wide encryption, with the password/key as the seed, as opposed to plain text storage.

On their home computers, the user could install some software that requests the drive key and password, then broadcasts a message on LAN to see if the server responds. Once it does, the key and password are transmitted to the server, which checks the data against the info on the removable drive, and, after log in, sets everything up so that the profile folders link to the right folders on the server's removable hard drive. (The software can act as a "dashboard" of sorts, allowing the user to keep track of stuff like disk space and backup status, and letting them set up additional shares, if need be.)

If the person moves house, they can just unplug the removable drive in their old house and plug it into their new house. Since the server reads the key off the removable drive, the user can keep working as if nothing happened.

The main issue with Internet streaming is dynamic IPs. This could be possible by having companies host "redirection servers" at fixed IPs, whereby both the client and the server is given the address of the redirection server (in the private server's case, stored on the removable drive, of course), and the client could use software on the computer to integrate the data it receives into Explorer (ala Dropbox, I believe.)

This doesn't stop at computers - phones, tablets, digital photo frames can all take advantage of this system, continuingly syncing data with the server. And you could 'upgrade' removable drives by having booths where you can exchange your old removable drive for a larger one, have them transfer the data across, and only pay the difference.

I’m aware some programs are finicky with regards to where they put their data, especially games – Age of Empires III, for example, doesn’t like network drives for some reason. Like how routers can unblock ports (and some routers have a Games section so you can unblock ports without having to remember the number), you could set up a data sync, so the data is stored on the hard drive of the local computer, but synced to the server and then to the other computers in the network.

Now, I would love this idea to come about. I'd be thrilled, in fact. Microsoft already has a server + software dashboard solution, so they're the most likely, but I really wouldn't care who does it. Just make it a reality.

Misleading Statements at Google’s Chrome OS Event

2010-12-18T20:20:00.001+13:00

Like many people, I tuned in to Engadget’s liveblog for Google’s Chrome OS event and, like many people, I felt their presentation, presented by VP of Product Management Sundar Pichai, made quite a few good points. But I also found myself shaking my head and sighing at some of the quips they made at the expense of Windows.

Lies, Damned Lies, Mockups and Screenshots

For example, for their “Security as an Afterthought” section, they provided the following slide:

Courtesy of Engadget.

Let’s look at the image to the far right. The drop-down is obviously mocked up – it seems like they couldn’t be bothered getting a proper screenshot of the dialog with the dropdown extended. Of course, if you actually look at the proper dialog, you’ll see it’s even worse than not being bothered:

Windows update dialog.

That’s right, there’s only three options, and the largest amount of time is four hours.

The dialog on bottom left of their slide? You can get it by simply cancelling the updates.

(Sundar also fails to mention that the default option is to update automatically; the only way you are going to see the bottom-left image is if you preform a manual update. And only on Windows XP.

But of course they would – the two companies are rivalling for the same space, after all, and it’s not like they’re going to say, “Oh, hey, but our competitors aren’t quite as bad as we make them out to be”, unless immediately followed by more snark.)

Windows, Chrome and the Out of the Box Experience

When Sundar finished off his presentation of Chrome OS’s first start configuration (also known as the out of the box experience or OOBE), he made the quip:

“We wanted to compare by setting up a PC, but we realized we wouldn't have time and still be able to get you back to your sessions.”

So why not shoot a time-lapse or something? It seems a little convenient, especially since Google has shown previous aptitude at time-lapse videos.

Windows pundit Paul Thurrott makes a similar comment in his article, Google Chrome vs. the World Part 3. (It’s an otherwise good summation of Google’s position, so go read it.)

In it, he states:

“The out of box experience has just a few simple steps, and anyone who's purchased a new PC can tell you that the experience of setting up a Windows-based PC is generally a nightmarish one, and nothing like the simple Chrome OS set up...”

My guess is that both of them were talking about the Windows install process, which no ordinary user will have to go through because no ordinary user buys Windows at retail – instead, they buy it with a new PC.

At the very least, there will be no setup required because the store will have set it up for you.

At the most you’ll have to “suffer” through the five-step Windows 7 OOBE. The steps? User account name and password, time zone and language settings, security settings, network type, and (depending on the setup of your PC) HomeGroup.

Chrome OS’s steps? Language and network settings, Licence Agreement, User account sign in, and profile picture.

Yes, Windows takes a bit of time to actually preform the configuration, but for a one-time process that’s sure a lot of fuss to make over it.

(Windows Vista had a step where it set the wallpaper and user account pic, but that step seems to be removed from Windows 7. A shame, it was a nice touch.)

Google Chrome’s OOBE (courtesy of Engadget.)

Windows Vista’s OOBE (courtesy of Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows. [Source])

Windows 7’s OOBE (courtesy of Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows. [Source])

So, basically a similar OOBE (albeit with a few less steps - since Chrome OS doesn’t store anything locally it doesn’t need to configure network sharing – and a few less progress bars.) And especially with an SSD, I hardly think it would have taken that much longer than Chrome OS – indeed, the longest parts would be the parts where Windows is setting up stuff.

Of course, I might as well point out that on the other side of the coin, to clean install Chrome OS you’ve got to compile it. So which is more arduous – Windows Setup or compiling Chrome OS? (Yes, no ordinary user will do this, but I’m trying to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges here.)

Conclusion

While I appreciate what Google and Sundar are trying to say and do, and wish them all the best in their endeavours, I wish that it could all be done without the half-truths and misleading statements. It doesn’t reflect well on them or their company or their product, and there’s plenty good to say about Chrome OS without having to make stuff up about the competition.

Why your feedback is important

2010-11-13T05:18:00.001+13:00

People love feedback. They revel in it. It’s part of everyday life for most people – whether it be their choice of fashion, their views or their creations.

Even if you disagree, your feedback is important to them. Without checks, they’ll just continue doing whatever it is you don’t like. And it’s possible that they might not have thought about it from the angle you have, or not know about it.

Heck, they might still keep on doing it, but at least they know that there’s someone out there who doesn’t appreciate it.

Commenting can help people know they’re actually being noticed, rather than just submitting stuff to an empty void. Some people, without feedback, might even wonder if they’re hallucinating about it being submitted, or that it came out as gibberish but their minds are pretending it’s not.

I know that every time someone comments on or reviews my work or replies to my own comment or review, my inner self is screaming with joy because someone noticed, someone cared enough to do so, even if their comment is tearing apart everything I hold dear. Feedback is that important to me.

And chances are, even if you may not admit it, even if you may not think it, it’s that important to you too.

So please, tell me if I smell, if my singing’s bad, if my artwork sucks, my writing’s boring, my software’s buggy, or my views are flawed. Heck, tell me if they’re merely mediocre, or if you absolutely loved or agreed with my works. I’d love to hear from you.

And now for something completely different

2010-11-08T11:31:00.001+13:00

I’ve been thinking about doing some reviews for stuffs for a while. So this is me, announcing my intent to review stuffs.

Yes.

Well, I may not actually review much, if anything, depending on how ~~lazy I am~~ ~~much I procrastinate~~ much time I have, but I at least intend to do something.

Hmm.

Well anyway, this is me signing off for now. Fair thee well!

Transformation, audience appeal and “fetish comics”

2010-11-08T04:16:00.001+13:00

Today I’m going to talk about something that’s been on my mind lately. Bear with me, because this might be long, and it might be a little rambly.

Every now and then, I hear the term “fetish comic” thrown around, usually against comics which engage in male-to-female (or vice-versa) transformations. The first time was while reading Your Webcomic Is Bad and You Should Feel Bad by John Solomon (now removed from the interwebs), on a review of The Wotch. Recently, I’ve also heard it used to describe El Goonish Shive – the implication being that people get off on that kind of stuff, or that the author themself does.

Before I start, yes I am going to defend these two comics against the label of “fetish comics”, and it’s not because “I secretly associate with those kinds of people” or something. It’s because I enjoy reading those comics, and I don’t like seeing something I enjoy being attacked. It’s a perfectly reasonable human emotion, so there.

(And no, I don’t enjoy them in that way. Get your head out of the gutter.)

First, let’s define the term fetish comic. I think we can all agree that a fetish comic is one where the primary purpose is obviously to cater to someone’s fetishes.

So, what might make a fetish comic a fetish comic?

The comic attracts perverts: Well, to be honest, that’s a ridiculous measure. I’m sure VG Cats (which is awesoem, BTW)attracts people into anthropomorphic cats as well – despite it being nothing more than anthro cats playing video games. The fact is, everything attracts some kind of fetish-ers – one would only need to search for Rule 34 stuff to see what I mean.

Even if (and that’s a big if) the fan base is primarily made up of fetish people, that doesn’t make the comic inherently a fetish comic. Unless there is clearly fetish-appealing material in the comic does it make it one. (And TF or TG elements are not merely sufficient – more on that later.)

The comic’s author is a pervert: It is my belief that you can’t judge what a person is attracted to from the elements in a webcomic unless the elements are framed in the manner of which he is attracted to them. That is, unless the TG scenes in either comic are framed in a sexual manner, then there is no basis for believing that the author is sexually attracted to TG situations.

But, whatever, say the author is attracted to the content in that way. If the content is devoid of such sexual framing, it doesn’t matter if they are or not, it’s not a fetish comic. Otherwise, it’s an ad hominem (attacking the content based on the merits of the person), and thus has no basis for criticising the comic.

The comic has transformation/transgender themes: Woah, there, hold your horses! Transformation themes are merely a medium or plot device for telling a story. It’s no more inherently feterish then having two cats talk about video games. There has even been transgender themes on shows aimed at kids, tweens and teens – two examples that come to mind are The Zack Files and Johnny Test.

It’s rather annoying when people have pre-conceived notions about a particular subject, and even more annoying is when they let that colour their judgement on content like webcomics. Please, don’t let that person be you.

Conclusion

I hope that I have presented my case, that comics are only fetish comics not only if they appeal to a certain fetish, but are explicitly framed in the context of being a fetish comic, well enough. If not, feel free to sound off in the comments.

I realise that I probably won’t convince anyone who already has their mind set against such things. I’m not writing this for them, though. I’m writing this partially to vent, and maybe to convince some people to rethink the way they approach things. If I’ve convinced even one to approach their values from a different angle, I will have considered this a success.

Thank you for your time, and good night!

Website: About page, banner and other stuffs updated

2010-09-28T00:56:00.001+13:00

I’ve just updated quite a few things on <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>’s little slice of my website. Here’s what’s new:

Updated About page: the About page now has much better images and somewhat better descriptions.
New banners: The comic now has header banners, not unlike a whole lot of other stuff on my website.
Changed navigational links for the latest comic: Hopefully this will prevent any accidental clicks to sketch-land. ^^
Fixed a bug with the sidebar for the “Truth” archive page.

You can visit the <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc> website at http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/cab/.

Website: Updated Links page

2010-09-22T15:28:00.001+12:00

Did I hear that you desired MOAR LINKS? What, no? Oh well, I’ve now updated the Links page with four moar links.

(I’ve also fixed that annoying layout bug that left gaps all over the place, and I’ve even updated some of the images so they ish look moar betterer.)

Anyway, you can check out my links page at http://markk-b.sitesled.com/links/. The new links are:

Looking for Group by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza
http://www.lfgcomic.com/
Beyond the Canopy by Jonathan Griffiths
http://www.beyondthecanopy.com/
KiLA iLO by Cassandra T.
http://kilailo.atspace.com/
And finally, Ginger’s Bread by Carl Sjostrand
http://www.gingersbread.com/

Check ‘em out, won’t you?

Animation: Their Princess Is In Another Castle

2010-09-22T13:27:00.001+12:00

O hai. I has an animation over at YouTube. It's rough, but I hope it gets the idea across.

[Edit: I should probably point out that the video has nothing to do with Mario beyond the title, which is more of an analogy than anything else.]

(The address at the end reads http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/fanfic/, for those who find it too small to read.)

Basically, this is a draft for a trailer for a fanfic I’m rewriting right now. Those who have read my fanfics over at FF.Net will know what scene this video portrays. Otherwise, I hope I can surprise you guys!

Website: Updated sidebar style

2010-09-18T14:35:00.001+12:00

Just a heads-up – I’ve updated the sidebar for a lot of the pages on my website. Here’s what’s new:

Sections: the sidebar now provides sections of links relevant to the section, subsection or overall category.
Icons: the Software sidebar now has icons for each of the programs listed.

I’ve also updated the Software Updater and Flash Card pages with more infos, and updated the Frequently Asked Questions page, since it was getting a bit stale.

There’s still a bit more stuff I’m planning to do with the site over the coming few weeks, so stay tuned.

--MarkKB

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 has been released!

2010-06-25T18:29:00.001+12:00

If you haven’t already heard, I’ve just released a new build of Project Nelson. There are quite a few new features, a few programs got a UI cleanup, and there’s a whole lot of bugs fixed and fit and finish added.

Don’t forget to submit bug reports so I can, well, fix the bugs. To do so, either click the Report bug icon at the bottom-right of your screen – it looks like that thing to the left – or go to http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/bugs/ and submit the bug report there.

Oh, and check out the Readme for any bugs or problems that I’m aware of that you should look out for.

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Build 020 Changelog
Build 020 Readme

Why We Must Return To The Moon: In Defence of Constellation – Part 1

2010-02-22T11:43:00.001+13:00

President of the United States, Barack Obama, has filed his planned federal budget for the United States in 2011. In it, he has boosted NASA’s budget; however, in doing so he has made no allotment for the Constellation mission.

This was met with both joy and disappointment – on the one hand, more money is always good, but on the other, some feel that Obama is essentially throwing away their chance to forge a name in space. And, to state my bias early on, I’m inclined to agree with them.

In this article, I’ll be examining Constellation, the controversy around it, and why I believe Obama’s decision is the wrong one for spaceflight in the United States.

What is Constellation?

Constellation is NASA’s plan for human-based space exploration for the near future. It consists of two kinds of rocket boosters – the Ares I, for human missions, and the Ares V, for cargo and heavy lifting – and three craft – Orion, for crew, Altair, for lunar landing and transport, and the Earth Departure Stage, which acts as both part of the rocket and as the lunar module.

Right now, Constellation’s primary focus is landing a man on the moon again, but future missions include landing on an asteroid and landing on Mars.

Why the moon? Haven’t we already been there?

Yes, but it is important we go again, if only for three reasons:

Sharpening the blade. If we are to go to other planets, then the Moon is our best shot at practicing and perfecting our techniques and technology. If things go wrong on the way to the Moon, it’s a lot easier than if they go wrong on the way to Mars or Jupiter.
Inspiration and innovation. Only five times did people look up at the Moon while people walked and talked upon its surface; those five times inspired many people to become astronauts and astronomers and physicists and engineers and computer technicians and programmers, in the hope that they too could be a part of it. Those five times prompted a spark of innovation, so that we can do things in space that one could not normally do; many of these technologies greatly benefited people back on Earth.
We need to go to the Moon, not just because of what we’ll do once we get there, but what it will do for all of us.
Inertia. In my opinion, it was a mistake to cancel the Apollo programme. We should have never stopped going there, simply for the fact that now that we stopped, it’s harder than ever before to go back. And now that we’re on our way again, we must seize the moment, least we loose it forever.

What do you mean, harder?

That’s right, I said it’s harder to go to the moon than ever before. But why?

It’s harder to go to the Moon than when Apollo 11 or Gemini or Explorer launched from Cape Canaveral. It’s harder than Jules Verne wrote his inspiring book, From the Earth to the Moon. It’s harder than when Kepler looked to the skies and found that the planets moved in ellipses; harder than when Galileo first spied mountains on the moon. It’s harder than when Copernicus and Aristotle wrote of the heavens; it’s harder than man told tales of vengeful gods and great heroes and strung their images in the heavens, or first looked up at the shimmering orb and decided, I want to be there.

Again, why is it harder? Because we’ve already been.

Because we can always argue, what’s the point? We’ve seen it, we have the data and the photographs. Big whoop-de-doo. We can always send robots there anyway. It’s not like we have to go.

We don’t have to climb Mt. Everest or K2. We don’t have to travel in rickety bulbs of metal and glass to the bottom of the ocean to explore sunken wrecks and unknown, alien species. We don’t have to travel to Africa, or America, or the Amazon; people have already been there, and besides, we can just send robots. I mean, it’s easier, right? And certainly a lot cheaper.

It’s always cheaper and easier to sit back and do nothing. It’s always easier to not have to worry about keeping humans alive; but such research helps us in other areas as well.

But that’s not the point.

It’s the human element. It’s saying, “we’ve overcome all these obstacles, and look at us now.” It’s holding the flag, and planting it in the soil of Plymouth, or the snow of Mt. Everest, or the dust of the Moon; even if you’re not the first, it doesn’t make the moment any less real. It’s about achieving things harder, faster, better; achieving things hardly anyone has achieved before.

We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.

Because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills.

Because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept,

one we are unwilling to postpone,

and one which we intend to win,

and the others too.

--President John F. Kennedy, 1962

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 09

2010-01-27T23:27:00.001+13:00

Oh boy, is this late! ^^;

This is a minor build (mainly a backend rework, not much user visible stuff.) Basically, the UI no longer locks up when a comic is loading.

If you encounter any bugs, submit them to http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/bugs/ and I’ll see what I can do about them.

Oh, the comic in the screenshot is the awesome El Goonish Shive. Check it out, won’t you?

Comic Strip home page
Comic Strip download page
Build 09 home page

Website: Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc now has comments, and other things

2009-12-26T14:47:00.001+13:00

You can now directly comment on my comic, <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>! Right now, only the finished comics have comments – I’m still deciding whether or not to add them to sketches.

(Much thanks to Intense Debate for their awesome comment system! ^^)

I’ve been planning this for a while, but I’ve been holding out for a good comment system to use. So it’s nice to see it up and running at last.

Other things

Three months ago, I updated <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>’s homepage. I just never got ‘round to blogging about it! ^^;

The idea was so that readers can easily find where the latest comics are, and newcomers can easily jump to the beginning of either the comic or the current arc, depending on what takes their fancy. It also shows news about the comic, which you can also subscribe to via RSS.

I felt the previous homepage, which just showed the current comic, was a little too awkward for my tastes. Oh well!

You can check the homepage, and my comic, out at http://markk-b.sitesled.com/stuff/cab/.

--MarkKB

Internet Critique: A Sea of Neutral Facts (Part 1)

2009-12-24T01:09:00.001+13:00

This is part of a series of posts I’ll be writing about Internet criticism.

When reading or writing critique, it is important to distinguish between negative criticism and neutral facts.

Neutral facts are facts that don’t weigh for or against an object being criticised. Misguided Internet critics often pad their critiques with neutral facts in order to try and persuade people to their point of view, by way of the sheer number of these “facts”.

That’s not to say that the person might have a point, it’s just shifting through the silt for a gem may be time-consuming.

The ad hominem

The ad hominem is the most basic kind of neutral fact and one that is most often employed, usually in the form of association fallacy. Basically, an ad hominem is when one attacks the person or entity as an argument of why his views, opinion or something he makes, produces, or is responsible for, is bad or wrong.

Association fallacy says: X is made by Y. Y is bad/wrong because of Z. Ergo, X is bad/wrong, or alternately, X is made by Y, for reason Z. Reason Z is bad/wrong, ergo X is bad/wrong.

Both of these arguments fail to explain how X is wrong or bad. They explain how Y is wrong, misguided or bad, but that has no bearing on the quality of the object itself.

If you establish that the price of tea in China is too high, you don’t back it up by listing social injustices committed by the tea company. Sure, it’s bad a bunch of workers were wrongly treated, but what has that got to do with the price of tea in China?

Wrong: Selling drugs is wrong because the Mafia does it.
Wrong: Selling drugs is wrong because the Mafia uses it to control the underground.
Right: Selling drugs is wrong because there are laws against it.

While the Mafia does wrong things, that says nothing about the wrongness of selling drugs.

Wrong: This webcomic is bad because only perverts read it.
Wrong: This webcomic is bad because it’s obviously aimed at perverts.
Wrong: This webcomic is bad because the author obviously has some sort of weird fetish for this kind of thing.
Right: This webcomic is bad because of weak plot and bad art.

The audience of a webcomic, or the intentions or interests of the author, says nothing about the quality of the webcomic. For all you know, it could be a good webcomic despite its’ target audience, similar to well-done children’s television shows.

Non sequiturs

The non sequitur is a fact that’s only superficially related to the current topic, but is used to back up an opinion anyway.

X and Y are related categories. Y has a product Z. Z performs poorly in category X, and therefore wouldn’t appeal to category Y.

Wrong: WIndows Mobile only has 4% of the consumer smartphone market, and therefore is a poor business phone.

The fact that Windows Mobile is doing poorly in the consumer market says nothing about its’ competency as a business phone.

Misuse of Percentages

Often, percentages will be brought in to back up why something is doing poorly. The problem is that percentages mean nothing without proper context, which is often lacking.

Right: These percentages show that people are ignoring Windows Mobile.
Wrong: These percentages show that Windows Mobile is haemorrhaging users.

What the example above is ignoring is that the market continues to grow – that is, the total number of users has increased and, in fact, so has the number of Windows Mobile phones.

This fact can’t be inferred from percentages alone – raw data and absolute trends are needed to get the full picture.

Appeal to Popularity

The examples given for the preceding sections also suffer from another fallacy: inferring popularity = quality. This is another kind of association fallacy – that is, everyone likes/hates X, therefore X must be good/bad.

Part two will be posted soon.

--MarkKB

Testing Word’s Blogging Ability

2009-12-08T18:39:00.008+13:00

I'm not sure if this is new to Microsoft Word 2010, but I've just noticed that one of the document templates is labelled "Blog Post".

"Heh," I thought as I clicked on it. I mean, isn't that getting a little too silly?

Of course, I hadn't counted on Word actually having the ability to post the things. Now that I've had a look around, I can say it's quite a well done job; certainly at least as good as Windows Live Writer.

The Insert Screenshot tool is especially nice, although it doesn't seem to preform that well when up against programs that utilise Vista's Aero glass effects (see screenshots.) Maybe if it gets as good as Window Clippings, I can use it in day-to-day use.

Of course, it doesn't list any image hosting providers, and thus I'd have to upload all the pictures manually. But otherwise it's a nice tool to have if you have Microsoft Word.

Here are some screenshots taken by Word's Insert Screenshot tool:

Appetisers, prior art and patents

2009-11-20T19:04:00.001+13:00

Over the last year I’ve read many articles about how software patents are bad and evil and whatnot. Most of them give an example of a big evil company (often Microsoft) applying for some obvious patent and them laughing their heads about how incredibly stupid the whole thing is.

The problem is that most of these people do not understand how legal documents work. They read the brief and think, oh, wow, I could have thought of that!

BTW: I am not a lawyer and this doesn’t constitute as legal advice.

The brief is not the whole document

Briefs are not meant to cover the entire claim. That’s what the patent claim does. Instead, the brief just gives a short, general idea of the claim. Patents are not accepted, rejected or prosecuted on based on the brief.

Think of the brief as the appetiser in a meal. If all you have is an appetiser, you’re not going to get very full.

In other words, a brief is just that, brief.

Patents are all about implementation

If the patent applicant finds a novel way of doing something commonplace, they can still apply for a patent. Prior art doesn’t work if the methodology is completely different; likewise, you can’t sue someone if the method they used was completely different.

In other words, just because the idea is obvious doesn’t mean the method is also obvious.

If it’s mentioned in the patent, chances are it’s different

If you see the prior art you were thinking of acknowledged or mentioned in the patent, then that usually means that the applicant recognises that that art does something functionally related to the patent, however they still think that it’s different enough to warrant a patent.

To name one that has recently popped up in the geek news: In patent 7,617,530 (Rights elevator), the applicants specifically mention sudo as a prior art for process escalation, however consider the patent to be different.

Consider the patent in full

Finding prior art for some of the patent does not invalidate the entire thing. If it did, we could stop someone getting a patent for a tire engineered to grip tighter on pavements using a specific method with “prior art: tire.”

Conversely, just because someone got a patent on a tire engineered to grip tighter on pavements using a specific method does not mean someone just patented a tire. Patents cover the entire implementation; one can’t be sued for just making a tire using this patent.

Legal language is not English

Patents are not written so that normal people can understand them; they’re written so that lawyers can understand them. Think of programming in BASIC – the language is based on English, but is extremely strict, and someone may find it confusing if they have no prior training. Similarly, legal language may be confusing to those not doctrined to the strict meaning of words in legal language.

Above all, READ THE PATENT IN FULL. Do not EVER go on just the brief alone. Seriously. It can save you a lot of trouble, and stop you from looking reeeally stupid.

Hope this clears up some confusion!
--MarkKB

In Case of Earthquake

2009-10-22T03:54:00.001+13:00

Just to take a break from the monotony…

This sign is made of pure, unmitigated WIN:

Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t crack up laughing like I did when I saw it. I won’t believe you. ^^

(Via Oregon Live’s Earthquake News.)

Corkboard 1.0 Build 03 and Gibraltar 1.0 Build 05

2009-09-29T16:52:00.001+13:00

OK, basically I’ve just remembered there’s a bunch of stuff I forgot to upload! ^^;

So, anyway…

Corkboard 1.0 Build 03

For those who don’t know what Corkboard is, the way I envisioned it is a digital version of your fridge or (yes) corkboard – reminders, phone numbers, schedules ect. I plan to also include messaging, calendar/scheduling and gaming capabilities, but for now we just hove post-it style notes.

This build basically fixes a bunch of bugs, including a few to do with Vista, and also allows deleting notes.

Corkboard home page
Corkboard download page
Build 03 readme
Build 03 changelog

Gibraltar 1.0 Build 05

Gibraltar is an easily configurable and flexible installer – in fact, I use it for all my programs.

It originally started life as Project Nelson’s setup program, but I thought it’d be much better as a general-purpose installer.

Build 05 fixes some bugs, and also outputs a log file, which is viewable by using the /d command line switch.

Gibraltar home page
Gibraltar download page
Build 05 readme
Build 05 changelog

I also hope to release Comic Strip 1.0 Build 09 within the week.

--MarkKB

OpenCity vs. “Microzoft”: Why Are Linux Developers Jerks?

2009-09-29T11:53:00.001+13:00

OpenCity is an awesoem free city simulation that I came across back in 2007, but since I moved to Windows Vista, I haven’t been able to run it.

OK, let me backtrack a little. I have been an avid Linux fan since 2001, when I ran a Red Hat 7 box. But one of the things that’s always bugged me is the attitudes of some people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not everyone, but even one sour response can spoil the broth, so to speak.

There’s a long story behind my usage of OpenCity on Windows Vista, however I’m not going to tell it right now, seeing as it’s, well, long.

Anyway, I decided to try to run OpenCity again recently. No problem: go to the website, download the install binaries.

And then I saw this:

Please note that Windows platform is a secondary target. It's mainly because Microzoft[sic] doesn't support OpenGL correctly. Blame Microzoft not us !

Sigh.

There are two things wrong with this statement:

It’s fine if Windows is a secondary platform and you don’t/can’t devote resources to it. What’s not fine is blaming Microsoft for the fact. Microsoft didn’t make you not care.
OpenGL is supported just fine on Windows. Microsoft provides a bare minimum base ICD (like most of its’ drivers), and expects the manufacturer to provide its’ own ICD, as it knows how to properly support OpenGL best.
Oh, and there seems to be something wrong with your “s” key; it keeps randomly generating “z”s. :D

Now, I could put this down as simply being misinformed. The OpenCity development team may be repeating common “knowledge” that has been parroted without checking. But then there’s this:

In case where OpenCity doesn't start under Vista, blame Microzoft again, not us ! We've worked hard to make OpenCity as portable as possible but Microzoft always tries to make open source developer's life harder and harder.

I’m sure Microsoft employees have nothing better to do than dream up ways to make your porting attempts fail. I can just hear them now: “Hmm, how can we annoy those OpenCity guys today?” “I know, lets break their build again!”

Seriously, you need to step back and examine what you just said. You said Microsoft is always looking for ways to stop you from making Windows apps (albeit free/open source and/or ported from Linux.) In other words, they are trying to stop people from using Windows.

It doesn’t matter whether the software is FOSS or not – its’ still Windows software, and while because a program is on Linux and Windows may not make someone buy Windows (though it probably will influence them in that direction), not having a favourite program on the platform may mean loss of a customer.

Microsoft simply doesn’t care what philosophy your app has, as long as you use Windows to run it. That’s the simple truth.

It’s important as a developer that you be as unbiased in your code as you can, because, in the end, the customer does not care what the specifics are. They will, however, care that your application doesn’t work, and, rightfully so, they will complain to you. If you must work around some OS bug, so be it, but remember, you chose to build for that platform.

(And no, OpenCity still doesn’t work. :( )

9/11: A Retrospective

2009-09-13T17:21:00.001+12:00

Originally posted to my deviantART Journal.

What was I doing on the day the Twin Towers fell?

Honestly, I can't remember. Is that a bad thing? Keep in mind that I was only ten years old.

I'll dedicate this space, instead, on what I remember afterwards.

I remember echoes of rumours that an aeroplane had crashed into a building, maybe at lunchtime. I remember a small television on a dolly; whether or not we watched the news reports or not I don't remember.

I remember seeing the news early the next day on CNN.

I remember clearly the photograph of the South Tower, engulfed in smoke, that was displayed predominately on the front page of the Western Leader (our local newspaper), captured by a photographer from Laingholm.

Photographs of young, sad children waving the American flag. Photographs of the rescuers, with the haunting imagery of the smouldering ruins as their backdrop.

Photographs of the hole in the Pentagon, and of the remains of United Airlines Flight 93 in a field in Pennsylvania.

I have all these in a scrapbook. I tried to collect newspapers, as many as I could find, and paste anything about the disaster I could find into it. Even though the pages are yellowing, I still have that scrapbook on my bookshelf, tucked away with a few issues of TIME. Perhaps I did it for a school project? ... I don't know.

At the time, I don't think I realised what had really happened. How do you explain death to a ten year old? It was an abstract concept, far removed from the minds of the young. I just knew something bad had happened, and people were hurt. People were no longer alive.

On that terrible day, eight years and two days ago, we lost many people. Many lives were changed. And so, come September 11th, we morn the lost. Not only that, we celebrate their lives. We wish them and their families peace. We lower our flags to half-mast to honour their memory.

A hundred years from now, when few are still alive who remember the disaster, would we still morn? Maybe. I certainly hope that we remember what happened, at least.

That day was a day of sorrow, a shadow that hovers over us, even though the shadows of the Towers hovers no longer. A blight, a smudge in the manuscript of human history.

But we can't let that stop us.

So, rest in peace, those soaring souls that were joined with the ground and sky. Wherever they may be, we have to hope they are finally at rest.

And as we stand, sit, walk and run, drive or fly or swim or boat, we remember them on that day.

We need to remember.

Mark Guesses the Origin of Words #1: inflammable

2009-08-19T23:37:00.001+12:00

The word flammable, meaning easy to set on fire, derives from the word inflammable, meaning… easy to set on fire. The reason flammable was created was because people thought inflammable meant not-flame-able.

But where did inflammable come from?

My guess would be that it derives from the word inflame, meaning… to set on fire. This use of the in- prefix is similar to inflate and increase. The reason inflate and increase didn’t get a similar treatment is probably because flate is far enough from float to be considered different words, and we associate crease with a different meaning (to fold neatly) then we did back then (~~probably “divide” or “make greater”.~~ Apparently, crease actually derives from the Latin word crea, meaning to create.)

--MarkKB

Update on SiteSled Issues

2009-08-18T23:49:00.001+12:00

You may have noticed some regular outages over the last half-year of my website at http://makk-b.sitesled.com/. There seems to be major problems up at SiteSled’s end, and I’ve been hoping that they’d get ironed out if I just weather the tide.

The most recent problem hasn’t limited your ability to look at it, but my ability to upload stuff – in fact, most stuff seems to be broken – FTP, HTTP upload, the forums, their wiki…

Apparently, hopefully, they’re fixing their ongoing problems:

It is true that we've experienced several extended outages, and communication has been spotty. The current software has been in use on SiteSled and our other free hosts since 1998, and is no longer supported with updates. This has caused several issues, which we are still working to solve.

[…]

We have been installing a new software suite that will allow us to offer a wide range of additional features on SiteSled.com and it's new sister site. We hope to be able to port over the old sites, but this has not been confirmed yet.

We will try to keep you informed, but again, our current software has very limited communication abilities.

We appreciate your support through the rough times, and hope to provide you with additional services in the future.

Thanks,
SS

[From the comments of this blog post – scroll to the end to see it.]

If this is true, it’s much appreciated (and a long time coming :D). Hopefully, this will all sort itself out, but if not, I’ve been researching both free and paid hosts. Although moving really is a last resort (since I’m lazy and don’t want to have to send everyone along to the new site. ^^)

--MarkKB

App Paths? What App Paths?

2009-08-10T21:15:00.001+12:00

This article is part of Bad Things Programmers Do, a laundry list of common mistakes that catch even the best developers.

One of the most annoying things I’ve come across while developing Project Nelson is the dreadful support for App Paths in other applications. Now, for most devs it would probably be only slightly annoying, but it’s especially aggravating for me seeing as Project Nelson is dependant on them being there to work (efficiently).

What are app paths anyway?

Short answer: The term “App Paths” refers to the registry key located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\App Paths.

Long answer: Since Windows lets people install software where-ever they please (and good-neighbour apps should never assume they know where an app lives), App Paths provides a central lookup for the locations of any given app. Think of it as an application address book.

What’s the big deal?

While most of the big/popular/old programs register their paths, some of the newer/smaller/unpopular apps don’t. I find this happens most among independent developers (for example, IRC clients and RSS readers are dominated by these people) and open source apps or Linux-ports.

But even big, powerful, closed source companies can do this – for example, Safari (yes, the web browser) doesn’t do it, despite the fact that iTunes does. Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

Why should I use App Paths?

Say I wanted to launch Firefox. I could assume that I’d find it at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe, and for 90% of the English-speaking world that’d be alright. However, then my program would break for:

People who installed Windows on a drive other than C:.
People who moved their Program Files directory to a drive other than C:.
People who installed Firefox in a directory other than the default.
People who don’t speak English.

Nice going, you just angered an 30-year-old Brazilian who installs his software to a network drive and has his Windows directory on D:\. Pray he’s not a mobster with contacts in your town.

Long story short, if you expect other developers to run your program, you’ve got to tell them where it is first. :D

How do I use App Paths?

Look up the default value in the key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\App Paths\%filename%, where %filename% represents the filename of the executable (e.g.firefox.exe).

You should also look up the “Path” value (in the same key) so you know what CurrentDirectory you should run it under; if none exits, simply use the parent directory.
Some apps (for some odd reason) use HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKLM. It’s best to check both places, just to be sure, but you won’t be missing much by only using HKLM.

If you're developing an app, never store your app path under HKCU unless you know your app will only be used by one user on each computer or you install in the users’ AppData directory (*cough*Google Chrome*cough*). The reason for this is because you then have to set it for each user (e.g. at first start), and when you uninstall the app, the old references will still linger.

Setting up shop

You should register yourself in App Paths as part of your installation script.

Value name	Type	Value
(Default)	String value (REG_SZ)	The path to the executable (e.g. “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” for firefox.exe
Path	String value (REG_SZ)	The CurrentDirectory you want to open the executable under (optional)

What about Linux/Mac OS X?

Mac OS X uses fat binaries, so all you need to do is look in /Applications.
Linux will store the program in either /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin or /usr/sbin (most likely in /usr/bin), so search those directories and you should find it.

Either way, these locations should be in your $PATH, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding programs, and programs shouldn’t have any trouble finding you.

Delivering Papers (Or, Is There A Birdie Heaven?)

2009-07-17T22:09:00.001+12:00

Time to write one of those anecdote thingies I’ve been promising. ^^; Well, here goes…

If you guys don’t know by now, I make a living^[1] delivering papers. And, as you guys also know, I’m rather lacking in what I call “good judgement” – brash, rude, lazy, a procrastinator, not looking where I leap, don’t know when to quit, always got to be right…

Wait, where was I?

Oh yeah, delivering papers.

One night^[2], I saw one of the usual cats^[3] sitting in the middle of a driveway. Now, this kitten was (one might say unusually) voracious/eager, so to see her just sitting in the driveway seemed, well, odd. Still, I walked up and stroked her head. Even more unusually, she didn’t move at all.

Then I noticed what was in front of her.

There was this poor little sparrow, lying sprawled against he pavement. It’s eyes were still open, and for a moment I stared at it, not realising I was still stroking the kitten.

And then they blinked, and I realised with horror what had happened – that it was still alive, and the last thing this poor magnificent creature would ever see is big evil Man congratulating his proud pet on another kill.^[4]

Crud.

If you’ve ever looked into a small birds’ eyes, you’d know they contain in them a sort of wonder, a curiosity, a spark in their beadyness that few others posses. I guess you have to be observant when the world is out to get you and your food’s smaller than your head. To see that spark there, even at the last vestiges of life, really gives this feeling of… great sadness, I guess. It sobers someone to the reality of things that we ignore day-to-day.

But there’s also another thing I saw in that little birds’ eye: hope. A hope for the future, that there’ll be no more death and killing and disease and poverty…

A hope that tomorrow’s going to be better.

Do not go gentle into that good Night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-- Dylan Thomas

--MarkKB

Footnotes:

[1] Of course, I don’t mean a proper living (I get to board free with my 'parents :D), but $20 each week isn’t too shabby IMHO.
[2] Oh, um, Boss, did I say night? I meant day! At 4:30p.m., even! ^^;
[3] It’s odd - some cats like me, some are scared of me, and some like to put stitches in my hand. ^^ Just kidding about that last part, that’s what my doctor does.
[4] “Man” here is the same Man who killed Bambi’s mother. Yeah, we’re a horrible bunch. (And that it’s not my pet is beside the point, we’re talking about the sparrow’s perspective.)

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 08

2009-07-07T15:50:00.001+12:00

Another day, another build of Comic Strip. Ah.

The main change between this and the previous version is that it can extract the comic location from files given the right parameters. I also added some advanced options to the Add/Edit Comic dialog, so you don’t have to edit your comic list manually to add them. Lastly, I fixed the Author Notes problem present in the last build.

Be warned that the program will seem unresponsive when traversing long periods of time, or when downloading comics, so it’s not recommended for a slow internet connection. Also, remember to back up your comic list before installing because it will be reset when you install.

So, try out The Wotch and El Goonish Shive (the two example comics that use location extraction) and send any bugs to my email address (markkeyb@gmail.com).

Comic Strip home page
Comic Strip download page
Build 08 home page

Slow Internet and Trackbacks

2009-06-22T08:27:00.003+12:00

On a sad note, due to a screw-up with the guy who wanted to change us to Telstra Clear broadband, we’ve been on dial-up this last week. (And, due to another screw-up with technical support, it was all unnecessary – Vodafone hadn’t disconnected us yet!) Fun.

In other news, this blog now has trackbacks (thanks to JS-Kit), so if you want to show your readers what a blog with no readers looks like, I’ll know about your blog post. Yays!

--MarkKB

UAC is not (that) broken in Windows 7

2009-06-14T05:28:00.001+12:00

A few days back, Long Zheng (who has my upmost respect as a blogger) published (another) article about UAC. Before we discuss that, let’s summarise the article linked at the top of his, written by Microsoft’s Mark Russinovich:

UAC was made primarily to make life easier for standard users. Ergo, standard users could use Vista with relative ease, as opposed to, you know, pretty much not at all.
- It does so by using a split token – users would run in standard mode, and get a prompt to elevate when needing admin privs.
- In this way, people could set up an admin account for big swabs of admin fun, while using standard accounts normally without having to switch to the admin account for e.g. installing stuff.
Many people were complaining that they still had to get great swabs of prompts to elevate to admin while they were using an admin account. Still others complained about redundant and unneeded prompts.
- Microsoft responded to this by cutting down on multiple prompts and removing unnecessary prompts.
- They also added a security token to some programs that will make those programs autoelevate some tasks in admin mode. That way, admins can do their great swabs of admin stuff without getting a prompt every minute or so. Pre-emptive comment: that was an exaggeration to make a point. I know their must be something seriously wrong with my computer to get a prompt a minute.
UAC is not a security boundary. In the end, it is up to the user to decide whether or not to run that program.

Zheng’s primary point of contention is that programs will inject code into other programs to elevate themselves to avoid the hassle of doing it themselves. This ignores several things:

It is actually harder to inject code into another service than to set up an elevated COM interface (or autoelevate your program.)
People doing this are just begging for their programs to be broken in the next release of Windows.
It is unlikely that any major software developer is going to do this, since they usually submit their programs through WHQL, which are sure to pick up on this practice.
Programs can do this anyway – that is, piggyback on some other programs’ UAC prompt using injected code. Once someone else's code is running, “your system” isn’t *your* system anymore.
If you’re a virus writer, it’s easier to tell your users to elevate first than to go through the hassle of code injection.
Finally, standard user will still get the prompt. If you are running as admin, you either a) should know what you’re doing, or b) shouldn’t be admin in the first place.

I’ve also seen some people claim that this allows Microsoft to parrot “make your programs UACified” without doing it themselves. Er, no, because they still have to make it work in standard user. The whole admin thing is to make it easier to set up your computer, then set up a standard account.

Having said all that, I do think Microsoft is making a mistake, and I for one will be pushing the UAC bar all the way to eleven. However, treating it as some inherent flaw in UAC is missing the whole point, which was to run as standard user without switching accounts.

As an added bonus, Rafael Rivera (who I also have a lot of respect for) asks why the icon is a shield if it’s not protecting users. I can think of a few reasons:

Its use steams from the Security Center in Windows XP which was (shock horror!) a shield. Although Security Center is no longer in Windows 7 (replaced by the Action Center), the icon remains for non-confusion.
(submitted by Bad Analogy Guy:) Like a proper shield, it’s up to the bearer to decide whether or not to hold it up or down. However, knights don’t wear shields when they’re hunting, nor do lords when they’re ~~beating up peasants~~ *ahem*, making proclamations and laws and whatnot, because they can be reasonably sure that they’d be safe.
Marketing and programmers don’t talk very well to each other.

Have a great day, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.

--MarkKB

Operating Conventions Part II (How To Fix What Shouldn’t Be Broken)

2009-06-12T01:20:00.001+12:00

This is part two of Operating Conventions, which is itself part of Bad Things Programmers Do. You can read Part 1, but you don’t really have to.

Method 1: Just Fix It

Seriously. Redirect your file open dialogs to the proper My Documents (or better yet, remember the last location.) Use Windows Contacts. Use the favourites folder. Do it the right way, and it won’t be a problem anymore.

Method 2: But compatibility!

If you really must, because some program written years ago by a developer you don’t even know is still alive depends on it, then keep a compatibility struct synced to the OS’s APIs. Make it plain that other developers are not to use the old way anymore, as it may disappear off the face of the earth at any time (this is called deprecation.)

Method 3: But my way is better!

If you truly believe your way is better, then its’ still up to you to keep the OS up-to-date. Use proprietary extensions that other programs will ignore. At the very least, do it your way completely, but keep the OS version synced to any changes.

Remember, above all, if you do it right the first time, you don’t have to worry about compatibility later down the road. Your users will be happy, you’ll be happy, and other developers will be happy too.

Next time on Bad Things Programmers Do, we’ll talk about HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths, otherwise known as the bane of my existence (because programs don’t register themselves there.)

Ciao!

--MarkKB

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019

2009-05-30T21:53:00.004+12:00

OK, this is a little late (due mainly to my procrastination ;) ), but no worries, here it is! Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019 introduces a few new features, fixes quite a few bugs, and polishes up some places which needed it.

Remember, to submit a bug, click on the Report bug icon at the lower right of your screen. I can’t fix your problems if I don’t know about them! (It looks like the guy to the left.)

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Build 019 Changelog
Build 019 Readme

The State of Audio on Linux Part 1 – Insufficient Memory

2009-05-23T12:29:00.003+12:00

My memory sucks.

Yesterday, I was talking with Jonathan (a friend) about Linux on the Desktop, and I remembered something I had read half-a-year previous about the state of audio on Linux. I couldn’t remember what it was, only that it involved mixing – I put it down to the inability to do hardware mixing.

This was the article I read. Oops. ^///^

For those not willing to RTFA, it talks about the history of Linux audio. First there was OSS. Then OSS became proprietary (teh EVILS!), and then the free version of OSS got old, so ALSA was built to replace it. Unfortunately, ALSA was completely incompatible with OSS, so they had to include emulation to support both older apps and people who didn’t want to learn ALSA. But the emulation wasn’t all that good in that it doesn’t do software mixing, which defeats the purpose of using ALSA in the first place.

So, to sum up, ALSA doesn’t do software mixing for its OSS compat stuff. My bad.

OK, so how is Audio on Desktop Linux really? Stay tuned!

--MarkKB

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 07

2009-05-17T00:21:00.002+12:00

As promised, here’s Comic Strip 1.0 Build 07! This build has a bug in the way it handles author comments, but apart from that, it should be OK.

The main reason I want to get it out there is to test the new prev-next comic buttons, so hit Count Your Sheep and start clicking away!

Comic Strip home page
Comic Strip download page
Build 07 Changelog

Finished.

2009-05-16T10:12:00.002+12:00

Hey guys! Just dropping a note to say that Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019 is complete as of April 14 2009. I’ve already finished the changelog, and just need to fill out the readme. I plan to release it by Monday at the earliest.

(I’m already well into developing Build 020, and I’ll try to have it out quite a bit sooner than the Build 019. :D)

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 07 is also done, and I hope to release it by the end of the day. Remember, these are estimates, and not hard-and-fast dates.

Happy testing!

Website Updates

2009-03-01T22:55:00.001+13:00

About two weeks ago, I preformed a major upgrade to my website - including a new look!

(I’ve been meaning to blog about it, but I keep forgetting… :D)

There are still a few things I need to fix up, but apart from that, it should be fine!

In case you’ve forgotten, or stumbled upon this via Google, it’s located at http://markk-b.sitesled.com – you can also visit it via the sidebar on the right.

Highlights

Comic

I’ve uploaded <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>, a comic I do in my spare time. Whereas only a few of my classmates have previously seen it, now it’s been made available to everyone with an internet connection.

New software

Comic Strip, a webcomic viewer.
Corkboard, a noticeboard for home networks.
Gibraltar, an easy-to-configure installer.

I’ll probably expand on these later, but for now, cherrio!

--MarkKB

Operating System Conventions

2009-01-15T00:42:00.003+13:00

Operating systems have a way of doing things. They provide APIs for developers to hook into and use, and default locations for users to put stuff into.

For example, most operating systems now provide a Documents folder as a default location to put their stuff in, a Bookmarks or Favourites folder to store website links, and music, picture and video folders for various media types. Vista also provides a common Feeds API, and a common contacts framework.

However, many programs are not updated to support, or worse, completely ignore these conventions. While this is not always a big deal to the developers and power users, it is a big deal when Ma switches from one app to another and can’t find her stuff. (They may not be using your software, but you’ve just completely alienated them from trying it out again, or recommending it to others.)

Non-Deliberate Examples

Operating systems often replace functionality that has traditionally been handled by programs. For example, before Microsoft introduced the My Documents folder in Windows 98, most word processors saved their documents to C:\Documents, C:\My Documents, C:\Docs, or variations thereof. At least by 2002, one (admittedly minor) word processor was still doing this, saving to C:\Documents\<insert program name here> Docs.

The same thing happened with the Downloads folder in Windows Vista – even today, many popular download managers and *ahem* file sharing apps don’t download their files to the Vista Downloads folder.

And, of course, we must not forget how every single game seems intent on putting <Program Name> Saved Games in my Documents folder, rather than App Data where it belongs, or the user’s Saved Games folder in Vista.

(I myself am not immune – File Manager “Nemo”’s fav folders idea was formed before I knew Vista would have a similar feature, and developed before I had a working build of Vista to play with, for example.)

And Then There’s…

Some programs deliberately ignore conventions altogether – whether it’s to create a “walled garden” to keep users in, because it’s out of spite or contempt, or simply because it’s the way they’ve always done it.

Browsers are a rather egregious example – apart from Internet Explorer, the default browser in Windows, none of the major browsers use Windows’ Favourites folder for their favourites/bookmarks, and none of them use each other’s bookmark database (although many use the same system.) This one stands out particularly well, seeing as Windows has had a bookmark folder since Microsoft started shipping an internet browser with Windows - Windows 98 with IE4 in 1998, just over a decade ago. They aren’t even stored in some proprietary format – they use plain text, and Windows even provides an API, just in case you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself.

The common Feeds API is another example – Apart from Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer and Windows Live Mail, no other program that has anything remotely to do with RSS/Atom feeds uses it.

A particularly annoying one is how email programs’ contact/address books – heck, anything with some kind of contact system – seems to use their own system of doing things. Although Outlook Express/Windows Live Mail have generally been good with this, even Microsoft Outlook doesn’t use the default OS contacts database of their own operating system. (Windows Live Messenger doesn’t do it either. Hmm…)

Next time, I’ll discuss how to fix these problems without breaking your apps. ‘Till then!

--MarkKB

The road to Project Nelson

2009-01-14T16:26:00.002+13:00

In this post, I’m going to shed some light on the state of Project Nelson going forward, as well as some insight on its past.

Past

In the past, Project Nelson advanced a build when it was “done” – when I felt it had enough about it to warrant a new build. This method worked for my methods, if it was a bit haphazard. Every build had a few bug fixes and new features, and so on and so forth.

The first real break in the cycle was Build 017. Build 017 was a “features” build – that is, it focused on features, as opposed to bug fixes. It finally introduced Category pages, something that had been planned since the first few .NET-based builds. It also added hidden Run boxes in the Applications page, and Application “views” (Categories/Classic Start/Recent). The First Run Wizard was heavily rewritten, and Nemo’s favourite folders feature was implemented. Build 017 also featured the first build of MediaPN.

Build 018 was the first build that intentionally focused on features, as Build 017 being one was kinda just a fluke. With Build 18 came application task pages, a semi-functioning Games page, a stopwatch, “Windows” vs. “Project Nelson” icons, a seek bar and metadata about the currently playing song in MediaPN, New File in Nemo, command-line arguments, SchedulePN, Nemo settings, and starting your default media player at startup. The First Run Wizard lay the backbone for the new way of handling applications in each group.

Present

Right now, I’m working on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019. Build 019 is a “bug fixing” or “fit and finish” build – it’s not going to be a big bang release, although there are some new features. Rather, it’s focusing on polishing the user experience, and fixing annoying bugs.

I hope to release Build 019 sometime in the next two months.

Future

Going forward, I plan to adhere to a kind of back-and-forth schedule, with even-numbered builds being feature or “unstable” releases, and odd-numbered builds being bug-fixing or “stable” builds. (That’s not to say that they don’t have bugs in them, btw, it’s just that I’m devoting the build to fixing them.) I have quite a few ideas for the future of Project Nelson, such as the new file copying system, as well as building on the program modal implemented in Build 018, and a new taskbar system.

The next few years are waiting, and I hope they’ll be just as exciting as the previous ones.

--MarkKB

Er… that was a long break…

2008-12-14T18:19:00.003+13:00

Sorries! ^^;

We finished our final exams earlier this month, and lately I’ve been taking a break from most stuff, and catching up on my artwork. Don’t worry, I’ll finish my blog series :D

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 19 is well under way, and I hope to release it next month. I’ll also be putting up some of the other stuff I’ve been working on, but I probably’ll have to do it next month as well.

Oh, and I finally bought a copy of Windows Vista! It’s here, sitting all nice and shiny on my main computer. It means I can work out all the bugs of PN on Vista, implement UAC support, all that rot. ;) (It also means I no longer have to test against a beta version on a old computer that still thinks it’s 2006… ^^)

Bad Things Programmers Do

2008-09-23T00:07:00.002+12:00

[Updated 14 Jan 2009 with new article titles.]

I’ve decided to start a series about the bad things many programmers do. Suggestions at markkeyb@gmail.com would be appreciated!

Many things on this list are about things that programmers shouldn’t really do, but do anyway. Many of them make small little programs, but some are really high profile or really popular, and often are looked up to by less prominent programmers as how to do things, which only propagates the problem.

Articles in this series:

Operating System Conventions (Part 2)
App Paths? What App Paths?
Uncommon Controls and Dialogs
Hardcoded Paths
Inappropriate Tray Usage

This list will be updated with links when I’ve published the articles. Yay!

--MarkKB

The recent increase in male pregnancy is a big contributor to global warming.

2008-09-20T18:43:00.001+12:00

Apparently, I’m in some video on YouTube:

It appears I’ve been a Asian immigrant from The China all this time and never knew it. :)

Tip o’ the hat to the people from 10ASJ.

Spatial Browsing: The Case For The Explorer

2008-08-24T16:06:00.001+12:00

Originally written 21/07/2008. Images created 24/08/2008.

I recently came across something rather interesting on Ars Technica – a kind of old article, entitled “About the Finder…” (a pun based on the second menu item of the Apple menu in Mac OS 9 and earlier). In it, John Siracusa makes the case for the Spatial File Manager, and also somewhat condemns what I call the Browser File Manager (although it’s more commonly known as the navigational file manager.)

Now, Mr. Siracusa is an awesome writer, and he makes some excellent points in the article, but I have, in particular, problems with his arguments on Page 4 against the Browser File Manager. It seems all they amount to is “I’m Not Used To It, Therefore It Sucks”.

In the article, he states that the spatial file manager enables us to remember the “location” of the file, while the browser file manager makes us learn “strings” and “addresses”, forcing people to memorize text, instead of visual cues. The problem with those claims is, in reality, they are completely false. Indeed, the Browser and the Spatial employ the same methods – they simply have different ways of going about it.

Browsing and Visual Paths

When I want to find one of my sketches using Windows Explorer, I double-click My Documents, double-click My Pictures, double-click the Art folder, and double-click Sketches. Now, I know that I store my photos in a folder called Camera in the My Pictures folder. If I want to then check out the photos I took on the 25th of August 2006, I click Back, Back and then open the Camera folder and open the folder labeled “2006-08-25”.

In my mind, I know that the folder called My Documents contains another folder called My Pictures, and in that folder are two others, called “Art” and “Camera”. Therefore, I know that if I want to get to the Camera folder from the Art folder, I must first “put away” the Art folder back into the My Pictures folder (i.e click “Back”) and then “take out” the Camera folder, placing the My Pictures folder down for the moment so I can place my full attention on the Camera folder.

This is no different from real life; indeed, the only thing that’s changed is that it’s all so much faster. This is the point John was trying to make with the Spatial File Manager; however, the analogy works just as well for the Browser File Manager.

Strings and File Paths

Even when I do type paths, I don’t think of them as strings. The path \\blah\shared\test\ means that the computer named “blah” contains a folder named “shared”, which contains a folder named “test”. C:\Program Files\MarkKB means the C drive contains a folder named “Program Files” which, in turn, contains a folder named “MarkKB”.

OK, obviously, I don’t actually think that when I’m typing it in, or browsing it in Explorer; rather it all happens automatically – muscle memory kicks in, and I don’t really have to “think” much about the journey, but instead can focus on the destination.

Paths and Landmarks

The reason this works is because its the same way we remember routes to and from places: walking to school, driving to work, taking the bus – we rely on landmarks to get from point A to point B. Landmarks can be anything – T-junctions, gas stations, billboards, crossings, old folk homes, they all contribute to our muscle memory. In the example I used at the beginning, I used My Pictures as the common “landmark” to get from Art to Camera.

Indeed, when you really get down to it, a file path is nothing more than a shorthand compilation of landmarks: C:\Users\markkb\Documents\test.doc is no more different than writing Home\Tree\Shops\Gas Station\Roundabout\School. That a file path would reflect a path in real life (complete with shortcuts! ^^) comes as no surprise – after all, computers are designed to reflect the reality they were created in.

Because, y’know, otherwise they wouldn’t work at all. And that’d really suck.

Project Nelson, meet world

2008-07-19T23:00:00.002+12:00

After all the time, effort and procrastination, Project Nelson v1.0 Build 018 is finally now available for download from my website!

A note: this build is kinda buggy, so you should only install it if you know what you’re doing. Reading the readme (release notes) might help as well, as it contains information about known bugs and how to get around them. (The readme is the main reason it took me three months from freezing development to actual release… but that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

So, anyway, here it is, so enjoy!

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Changelog
Readme

Congratulations!!! You are that expert!

2008-07-01T23:09:00.001+12:00

As the three of you who read my blog will probably know, our school just^[1] had its mid-year exams. Yay. It’s also almost time for winter holidays (next week..) Yays!

One of my problems with story-based word problems is that they seem too... kludgy, too contrived. I mean, why would some big-wig professional-type dude hire a kid who’s half-failing math as it is to do their consulting work?

The title, btw, is a direct quote from our Sampling test. Clearly, one exclamation mark didn’t suffice in conveying just how exciting mathematics really is.

Footnotes:

[1] The word “just” here meaning “over the period of about three weeks”.

Software, freeze!

2008-05-02T04:17:00.002+12:00

In "We're geeks bearing gifts...", I posted that I was just putting the finishing touches on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 18. But that was over a month ago. So you might be wondering, what gives?

Well, the truth is, it's already finished.

In fact, it's been finished for quite a while now. After a few last-minute bugs that postponed me finishing it for about two weeks (while I found them, fixed them, and found some more to fix, and so on), I finally froze^[1] development on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 18 on the 16th of April 2008 at around 6:30pm. So, what's with the holdup?

Firstly, I've been working on the setup routine. In fact, all the installation stuff is finished, as of about Tuesday (the 29th of April). On Wednesday, I went through and reworded much of the text throughout the setup program. I also slightly revised the EULA^[2] a bit. All done, right?

Well, almost. The good news is that all I really need to do is finish off my rewording/reorganisation of the changelog^[3^] and do the readme^[4]and I'll be done. (In the case of the changelog, I've been hastily compiling the list of changes for Builds 16-18 these past few days, and the changes for previous builds earlier this year, and later the last. It's all rather disorganised, (but then again, that's me), so now I'm trying to make it a bit more digestible.)

Since it's almost finished, I hope to put the whole kaboodle on my website in the next few days. I'll see you all when it gets there.

--MarkKB

Footnotes (for those less technically inclined):

[1] To freeze development is to stop making changes to code, and usually to compile a final build (turn it from code to a living, breathing program.)

[2] The EULA is the End User License Agreement, a contract between the software provider and the user that determines terms of use of the product. It's that thing you mindlessly click "I Agree" to when you install software. EULAs for websites are known as "Terms and Conditions of Use".

[3] A changelog is a document detailing the changes that have taken place between versions. Well, at least, mine are. ;) Properly, in the open-source world, a changelog details every minute revision with dates and names; non-open-source software uses versions instead of dates, and only mentions major changes or those that are noticeable to the user. The non-open-source changelog is roughly analogous to the "NEWS" file in open-source.

[4] Readmes contain last-minute details that couldn't go into the documentation in time, information that wouldn't really fit in the documentation, and sometimes just general notes. Yays.

We're geeks bearing gifts...

2008-03-21T06:39:00.002+13:00

As I type, I'm just ironing out a few final things before I release Project Nelson 1.0 Build 18, as a public beta, on my website. Since I haven't really talked about it much on my blog, let me introduce it to you guys.

Project Nelson is a shell^[1] for Windows and a suite of accessories. It's based on a task-based view, rather than applications-based. That is, programs are organised by type, rather than name. (The picture on the right is of the Applications page.) It also comes with several utilities, such as a file browser, address book, and scheduler.

I've been working on Project Nelson for near-on three years, so it feels quite satisfying to be so close to putting it out there. (That said, it's only a beta, y'know. There's a lot more stuff to be done.)

My focus on this build was fixing long-running bugs; however, some important new stuff was introduced as well. There are some things that don't do anything when you click on them, somewhat like a fake door - they're there for completeness, but the stuff behind it isn't implemented yet.

For the curious, the Project Nelson home page has a few more answers on the matter.

So, here's hoping for a few ~~brave souls~~ beta testers and better productivity for all. Woot!

--MarkKB

[1] A "shell" is a way of interacting with your computer, a program with which you start other programs, so to speak. Historically speaking, Windows 3.1's Program Manager was a shell. The default shell for the current incarnation of Windows, consisting of the start menu, taskbar and desktop, is managed by Windows Explorer.

Welcome to teh blog!

2008-02-10T16:44:00.002+13:00

Well, here it is. Meh new bloggeh! Feel free to make yourselves at home, but don't touch the walls - the paint's still a little wet. :D

Well, there's some anecdotes that happened over the summer that I've forgotten to blog about. Rest assured, they're coming... So too are some geeky stuff, but I'm sure you're all used to that by now. :)

--MarkKB

Moving...

2008-02-03T09:55:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. Yes, I'm well aware of the irony involved. [View original post]

I'm sorry, Windows Live Spaces. No, it's not you, it's me.

Okaaay, bad metaphor. Still, the fact remains that I'm moving this blog to http://markkeyb.blogspot.com/. For the four or five people who read this blog (yes, that's an overestimation), that means you'll get to see new posties an' stuff. For everyone else... well... I'll give you candy? OK, well I can't give you candy due to obvious technological hurdles, but the instant they invent a way of transferring candy over the Internet, I'll be right on it. ;)

What about all the old posties? Well, they're coming too, so you don't have to switch between blogs to see them. It also makes it easier for those types who read all the posts to the beginning and then moan about having to go back yet another blog. :D

See ya on the other side!
--MarkKB

Trojans, locking and scams, oh my!

2008-01-06T21:45:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

Disclaimer: While this post is about something that happens to everybody, it might get a tad too geeky^[1]. Continue at your peril.
Note: This account is based on what I remember, and so might be a smidge inaccurate. I only took a few screenshots, and in hindsight I realise I probably should have taken more. Ah well, what's done is done.
I'd also like to note that I don't usually do stuff like this. It just so happens that my bro's computer got a trojan that I needed to manually remove, and I like to tell you guys about my experiences. However, I don't go out looking for nasties just to document them. Such things are best left to the likes of Paperghost and the Sunbelt guy(s).

While I was going to post about this sometime-or-another, what prompted me to do so today was a post I came across in the security-minded Sunbelt Blog with a chillingly familiar screenshot. (You'll see how familiar in a second.) The Sunbelt post is more investigative on the who rather than the what, but it's still an interesting read.

One day in late December, my younger brother Andrew mentioned something like "Windows XP [on his computer] needs to activate". I thought it was odd, as nothing went wrong during activation (I had recently reinstalled it), and I decided I would do something about it the next day.

The next day came, and Andrew called the problem to my attention again. Looking at the screen, I saw the following:

Riiiiiight. Clicky-button probably equals lotsa nasties. This was a trojan horse.

Cleverly, the usual key combinations (<Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del>, <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<Esc>, <Alt>+<F4>, <Super>+Anything^[2]) had been disabled, the only recourse being to reboot your computer or to give in to the program's demands. Note that the keys work fine until the program pops up, suggesting some kind of key-hooking.

So I rebooted into Windows 2000 and scanned the computer for evil stuff with Spybot.

16 nasties found and removed = problem gone, right?

Wrong. This time it also popped up with what seemed like an IE shell (selectable text, permanent scroll bar to the right, right-clickyness). Oh, and the spelling! What exactly is "exprited" anyway, death by Sprite? I guess when you drink several bottles in a row, it could get rather dangerows...

OK, enough with the bad puns. During the process of trying-to-beat-the-trojan-at-startup, I discovered that if you open the start menu and leave it open while the program loads, it stays up, thus enabling me to run Windows Explorer, and thus Task Manager, with which I can kill the offending processes (locker.exe and iexplore.exe). Me 1, Trojan 0.

During this, I had noticed two interesting things: The "IE shell" wasn't one at all, but rather Internet Explorer itself, stripped down to its bare bones. If one had his Search sidebar up, it would also appear in the trojan-thingy, and so I had a little fun using it as an actual web browser. Also, once you terminated "locker.exe", the keys listed above would continue to be inoperable. A separate TSR perhaps?

It's registry time! As the trojan had seemingly also removed msconfig, I traversed to HKLM\Microsoft\Software\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell\Run. Sure enough, we had a key that launched something called "License". So, on a hunch, I looked up App Paths. Bingo! "License" linked to locker.exe. Removing both entries ensured that locker.exe would never darken our startup again. Two for two!

Another interesting thing is that it seems to have eaten the Computer Browser, Security Center and Windows Firewall services. As a result, it can't explore the local network, the computer's wide open and the security center won't tell you about the lack of a firewall.

Of cause, many trojans install themselves into the Windows directory, and so I travelled there and surprise, surprise: locker.exe. Sorting by date revealed two other files created the same day as locker.exe: WinLockDll.dll, and wl.exe. So I moved them to a zip file where they could no longer do no harm (at least, in theory), intending to send them as samples to a security research thingy. With all due respect to Batman, BIFF! BAM! POW!

So, if I'm right, locker.exe uses either wl.exe or WinLockDll.dll to "lock" the computer. It then proceeds to display a screen prompting you to renew your license (the black one), and then launches IE (presumably with arguments that force it to shed most of it's stuff) which shows a (webpage-based) fake anti-whatever downloader. Or something.

The webpage in itself is quite interesting. It starts off with a loading graphic (far left). Once the dialog is "loaded", it "attempts" to download some "update files" on a public channel (mid left) with a ridiculously long estimation. It then "fails" (mid-right). The private channel is advertised as being a ridiculously short estimation (35 sec v. two days?) but, of cause, you have to pay for it. A nice touch is that the dialog is moveable (far right).

The whole charade seems to be aimed at those people who frequently download from "free" file hosting services and/or GameSpy's file download site, both of which usually advertise free vs premium accounts, where premium dudes don't have to wait in line and/or get faster servers. Most people will look at it and think "getting in my way, must get rid of it", which, of cause, means "activating" your "account", and won't even look at the rest of the stuff.

So, now we have a de-gunkafied computer, although it looks like I might have to do a repair reinstallation of Windows XP (again). Ah well. Happy new year, and may your days be without malware!

Footnotes:

[1] Mandatory disclaimer, as most of the readers of this blog will be my peers in high school.

[2] <Super> is more commonly known as the Windows key.

English Exam

2007-11-29T20:29:00.002+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Thu 29 Nov 2007

I hate myself. ^[1]

Last Thursday we had our NCEA^[2] English external exams. I did an almost complete repeat performance of the practice exams, where I did Unfamiliar Texts and Formal Writing^[3], and then ran out of time. But that's not why I hate myself.

After the exams, I hung around a bit outside, catching up with some of my friends in the English 100 class, who were also taking exams that day^[4], as well as some of the guys I had taken our exam with. We talked, joked, and so on.

By and by, I decided to walk home, like I usually do when I go home from school mid-day. (Study leave is awesome.) As I was making the turn just past Gallony Avenue, I saw someone lying on the ground, moaning, with tear-filled eyes. (I think she's from my English class.^[5]) Evidently, she had twisted some part of her foot, or something was making it unbearable for her to walk. So, like the dolt that I am, I asked her if she was OK. She didn't answer, possibly because she was in too much pain to do so, but more probably because she was too busy considering whacking me with a large mallet. So, announcing that I would go back to the school (to look for any of her friends that were still hanging around), I proceeded to do just that.

Now, sometimes when you're focused on something, it takes a while for your brain to process your surroundings. And so, it wasn't until I had reached the school gates that the cogs started whirring: Didn't I just pass two guys?

Looking back, I saw the afore mentioned dudes turning the corner. I backtracked, and sure enough, the two were doing what I should have done: they had flagged down a car and were now helping her on. At least, I think so, and that's what it looked like.

So, tell me: did I do the right thing?

Footnotes:

[1] By "I hate myself", I, of cause, mean "I hate the course of action that I'd taken", not "I'm going all emo".

[2] If you're not from New Zealand, you probably won't know what this is. It's the national certificate for New Zealand, and it's based on arbitrary levels of achievement designed to show your knowledge of a subject. You can either achieve (A), achieve with merit (M), achieve with excellence (E), or not achieve (N). Markers often write up a grid, showing you how much of each you got, which forms the word NAME across the page.

[3] Unfamiliar Texts is answering a bunch of questions on poems, extracts from literacy, "visual texts" (static images) and the such. Formal Writing is writing a x-word essay, where x=~200-300 words, choosing from an unknown list of subjects. The other two sections are film and book essays, the former being What's Eating Gilbert Grape, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, and the latter, Alex, by Tessa Duder.

[4] I am not in the English 100 class, instead I am in one of the many 101 classes, which are basically mid-range. Apparently, the reason I wasn't put into such a class was my lack of organisation, a decision with which I can't find fault with. You should see my room...

[5] Not naming names, of cause. I mean, it was rather embarrassing.

Is Windows Live Suite a good idea?

2007-09-15T20:21:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Sat 15 Sep 2007

Simple answer, yes. But the answer is much more complex than that.

OK, those who frequent my blog (wait, there's people who frequent my blog?) will probably not be that technically inclined, so I'd like to first preface this post with the warning that this post discusses software in a way that many who just update and say 'eh' will not care about. If you are one of those people, it's best not to continue, although if you're feeling courageous, go right ahead.

Now, don't get me wrong: the idea is fine. There's nothing wrong with the unified installer that is Windows Live Suite. It's the execution that bothers me.
"Whatd'ya mean?" I hear you say. Well, there is no way to download standalone installers. It's the unified thingy or nothing.
"But you don't need standalone installers, the unified installer replaces it all!" Which leads me to my second point. You can't download the whole lot and install it offline. You have to be online to install it, and it has to be the latest version.

Personally, I hate installers that exist merely to download the appropriate files of a single program from its servers. AOL is a culprit with their AIM and ICQ installers. For one thing, it kinda makes you think "wait, what's the point of downloading the installer if it's just gonna download stuff anyway?" For another, you're gonna have to pay your ISP for every time you run the installer. This isn't really a point for those who are on a flat-rate plan, more for those who pay by the hour or megabyte, or those with capped plans. Another thing is, of cause, something may be missing in the new version that is in the older, or the new version may be too cluttered, or...

The penultimate reason is because of archivists, those who regularly swap disks between Windows Vista, Win3.1 and MS-DOS 5, those who long for the beta version of Windows 1.0 shown in Byte in 1983, or for that one hard disk containing Star Trek (the cancelled Apple port of System 7 to Intel-based processors). These people want to be able to preserve what once was, or just do so because they like it. Half the screenshots on Wikipedia are due to these people.
If everyone had had an Internet-based installer, we would hear tell of how Netscape 4 sucked, how Windows Live Messenger was once dubbed "MSN Messenger", or Firefox went through three name changes, or how Microsoft Office used to have cute little characters bouncing around their work, and we'd say, "yeah right, prove it." Proof is one of the key concepts in history, and many people have spent decades arguing proof of historical fact.

Lastly, what if Microsoft disappears? What happens if their servers go down? People of tomorrow may start up their installers, only to find the message "Server not found" staring them in the face. (Of cause, Messenger won't work anyway, but stuff like Mail and Writer, which works with other stuff, and Photo Gallery, which doesn't need an Internet connection, won't install either.)

Again, I have no problems with the Windows Live Suite installer. It's a good idea. It means I don't have to go all over the Windows Live site to get the various programs in the Suite. It's just the lack of alternates, or of something tangible on our hard disks, that I don't like.

So my suggestion to Microsoft is this: provide both an offline and online installer, or better yet, optional standalone installers like in previous versions. Or maybe make the installer so it download the stuff to a non-temporary folder where we can get it and use for later. Don't do this to us, the users.

Age Before Intellect

2007-09-12T21:02:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Sun 12 Sep 2007

I've updated my website. 'Tis at http://markk-b.sitesled.com. Yays.

OK, here's the other anecdote I promised earlier:

Mrs. Donnell, our English teacher, was talking to us about our upcoming external exam (1.6 - Unfamiliar Texts), and during this talk she revealed that she had started high school in 1975. It was at this moment that one of my fellow learner-peoples felt the uncontrollable urge to utter the following:

“Wait, that means you're older than me!”

'Cause everyone knows 12 is a popular age to start teaching...

NB
I have not posted the above mentioned student's name for a reason. Please, no guessing, no telling, and no mean words.

What Mornings Do To You

2007-08-26T23:57:00.000+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Sun 26 Aug 2007

I know, it's been a long time since my last post, but from now on I'll try to post with more regularity.

Having said that, I have two rather interesting anecdotes that I'd like to share with you guys... but I'll save the second for later. First, something from Tuesday about two weeks ago.

Well, I was late.
OK, I know, no surprise there. But this time I was super-extra late^TM, and so was told by Mr. Van Niekirk (the Te Henga dean, who was at that time performing a crackdown on lateness) told me to go to the sign-in window.

Now, the sign-in window is on the side of the office block opposite to the one facing the street. Most people take the (literal) high road/pavement, which went directly past said window; I, however, usually walk down the driveway and then up the stairs. I really don't know why.

Here's a map to illustrate. The 'most people' route is in red, while my way is in green. Not to scale, if you're wondering.

Well, anyway, I set off down the driveway, and after a few moments, Mr. Van N. shouted for me to go to the sign-in window. I shrugged my shoulders and continued. When I was about halfway to the stairs, he shouted again. But it wasn't 'till the third time that it clicked.

He thought I was going to class.

After shouting back something that resembled "I'm going this way!", I continued down the driveway, up the stairs, and to the window.

NB
This post is not meant to be hurtful to anyone. Please don't take it the wrong way, and, if you guys comment, please don't say mean things about anyone.
Oh, and sorry if I spelt Mr. Van N.'s name wrong.

Eh.

2007-05-10T23:23:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]
MarkKB's Blog - Thu 10 May 2007
I really gotta write stuff in this more often. But then again, no-one ever comments.
News

I've survived a term, the holidays, parent-teacher interviews, assesments and ringworm.
Achieved with merit (M) on my static image. Yays.
Still working on my website. I hope to get it out some time over the next three months.
I really need to get organised - especially with Japanese. I'll be working on that over the next few weeks.

New year. Eh.

2007-01-27T21:35:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]
MarkKB's Blog - Sat 27 Jan 2007
OK, I know I need to make a point to update this blog more. I'll try to do that, K?
what's new?

For those who've been wondering where I got to for the last week, I've been in limbo. Actually, I've been trying to reinstall Windows XP. Fresh install didn't work. Tried installing Windows 2000 first - it wouldn't at first, but then it did. Hello 16 colours and 800x600. Bleh. So I've been booting into BartPE for the past week (works perfectly, 'cept there's no sound). And yesterday we tried swapping the DVD-RW with a CD-RW we had lying around - it worked. Eh.
School on the 7th of Feb. NCEA. Oh, goody.
I'm thinking of doing a little thing on YouTube - actually I've been thinking of it since 'round late November. Tell ya more later.
Work on my website has taken a back seat, as have Project Nelson. I've been working a bit on meh fics, but other than that, I've been browsing on Slashdot or clicking every link I don't know about on Wikipedia. Eh.
Got ringworm. Got anti-fungal cream. Delightful.

Thanks for tuning in! I look forward to seeing some of you back at Massey on the 7th.

Photo. Eh.

2006-08-23T23:52:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog Tue Aug 24 2006

I missed the class photo. Yay.
At least I feel a lot better knowing someone, somewhere, missed theirs too. Yeah...
I blame my bed. Drat you, bed! And my clock which is four hours behind. Cliché, blaming the clock, I know, but eh.

Anywho, I'm planning to wipe Fedora off my main computer (read: the computer in my room who's monitor is currently decapitated because of my brother wanting to play networked AOEIIx 2v1 [i.e. he and his friend vs. me] and we can't find an extra monitor for the second computer) and install SuSE on it. (Fedora and SuSE are distros of Linux.) Maybe SuSE will network with the other two computers and my laptop better than Fedora... but I'm not holding my breath. (Yes, I always make a point to install SAMBA...) I'll tell ya guys how it works out! Not that anyone will read it...

C'ya!
--MarkKB

Go Go Gadget Laptop!

2006-08-15T21:06:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]
MarkKB's Blog Tue Aug 15 2006
You may have noticed that I haven't been on the internet much these past few weeks (here, few means two), and there's a simple reason for that.
I've got a new laptop!
New in this case being I've just got it recently and it's actually several years old.
'Twas the day after my birthday (which was on the 28th of July, for all who missed it... bad people!) when my grandad came around to pick up some scrap metal to take to The Concource (that's that road that juts off Lincoln after you go over the motorway, the trash disposal center's up there...). Anywho, he gave me this bag, and inside is a laptop! What a birthday present...
No, I don't care it's so old it's got a Windows 2000 product key on the bottom. It works fine for me.
So, for those wanting the specs:

Processor: Pentium III 747MHz
RAM: 192 MB
Video: S3 SavageMX 8MB
HDD: Fujitsu MHS2020AT 20GB 4,200RPM
Optical: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-C2302
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 (I'm not sure if I updated it to SP2 after I recieved it, or it already came like that...)

There's only an inbuilt dialup modem (which means I have to plug in our USB ADSL modem), one USB port, a network port in the form of an PCMIA card, a serial port, a parallel port, a monitor out, and a video out (for stuff like TVs.) There's also these tinny tiny speakers. Oh, and a speaker out and audio in. And an external floppy disk drive.
I can almost hear the laughing.
Well, in the first week, on... Tuesday morning, I think, the monitor started playing up. I started up in safe mode and found that there was something wrong with the video card's driver, so I disabled it. Unfortunately that meant that 3D programs were slooooow, and full screen video was more than a little choppy. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day, I reenabled it and everything worked. Strange.
Well, in the two weeks following, I've installed the basic things (Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3, Windows Media Playeer 11 Beta, Windows Live Messenger 8, trueSpace 3.2, Paint Shop Pro 5.01, Visual Basic, Age of Empires II and the Conquerors, Powertoys for 95 and XP, ect) and copied meh fanfics and alot of meh projects. Yay CD-RW!

In other news, I updated my site about two months ago and never got round to blogging about it. Oh well. To visit the site, click "MarkKB's Web" above or go to http://markk-b.tripod.com/.
deviantART has just recently celebrated their 6th birthday, and with it the release of dA v5, which features a revramped new look. It's kinda broken under IE7B3... oh well. deviantART can be found at http://www.deviantart.com/.
And, thanks to Tim O'Brien, 10TCA has it's own webpage! To visit it, point ye browsers at http://www.tca.zoomshare.com/. (Note to Tim if he reads this: I don't have SMS. I don't even have a mobile phone. Sad, ain't it?)

Random fact: Today signifies the 61st anniversay of the announcement of the unconditional surrender of Japan, thus ending World War II. (for more info see the Wikipedia articles for the Surrender of Japan and the Gyokuon-hoso (address to the people by the Emperor.))
Quote: I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. --Albert Einstein

C'ya!
--MarkKB

Zone Blues

2006-07-23T16:17:00.001+12:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog July 23rd 2006

I hate it when people don't read.

Like when people message me on WLM when meh status is set to "Away" (you know who you are!)
Or when people complain about an issue that's already been addressed.

For instance, those who play on the Zone will know that the so-called "Classic Games" have been retired due to aging technology and ancient servers. This resulted in an uproar among the community. But it seems all the ho-ha is about two things: lobbies and ZoneFriends.
The "lobby" was where you would stand around and chat until you were ready to play, or until a game freed up. Some people just stood around and chat, never actually playing a game. ZoneFriends was a IM program.
With the retirement of Classic games, and no replacement for lobbies in the new ones, disgruntiled Zoners flooded the forums with messeges such as IWANT ZOEN BAK!!! or, those with more brains, left to flock to GameSpy Arcade, Yahoo! Games and the like. The rest of us accepted these changes.
Mind you, I thought the new games were better, with better graphics, and faster response time. Oh well.
I also thought that the Zone team had made it clear that they were working on a replacement. Apparently I was wrong about that too.
From Beyond The Zone:

What about ZoneFriends?
Along with our old servers, the ZoneFriends tool will be taking a long-overdue retirement. All of our remaining (and future!) multiplayer games will be integrated with MSN Messenger. This is a big, big step forward for us. With its wide range of contact and message functions, handy additional features and even exclusive games, Messenger is everything that ZoneFriends wanted to be when it grew up.

So, wait, does this mean no lobbies?
That’s correct, at least for now. The old lobby system was built into our earliest classic games, and is to current game technology what a biplane engine would be to a stealth jet: similar, but essentially incompatible. Online gaming is all about community, so in addition to the in-game chat and Messenger-based invitation ability of our new multiplayer games, we’ve been researching new social and community features for both the games and our site in general. Of course the end result will be fun to use, but we’re also aiming for something that will still be as fun and useful after our second decade joins the first.

Bold emphasis added by me.
Beyond The Zone was an article that was displayed both on the main page and on the page of every Classic-based game.
Another gripe was that for some games, such as Bridge, the new version would be instated a few months after the old version was retired.
Let me make an analogy to a famous example: Gran Turismo. Gran Turismo is the most played PlayStation game ever. It is considered to be the racing sim. The original version alone sold 10.84 million units, forget Gran Turismo 4. The entire series is the ninth most-sold franchise in the world, with 43.7 million units sold in total.
Gran Turismo 2 was rushed to release in Nov 20 1999, so it could be out in the stores by the holidays. Sony publically admitted that development of the game had not been completed. As such, it had a lot of glitches, including the famous Plam Strip track, the remnent of the Drag Racing track that was removed so they release it on time.
This could happen to Bridge, if it were released before it was ready.
But then the Zone reinstated Classic Bridge due to "popular demand". What do people do to show their appretiation?
They spam the board.
Darned if ya do, darned if you don't.
Now, everyone wants their own classic games back, not considering that perhaps they're struggling to keep those remaining old servers running. (If I'm right, they're only running Bridge from a few old servers in the corner, as opposed to the many they had before that were running Classic Games.)
So... yeah, that's all from meh for today...
--MarkKB

School and Geekiness

2006-02-11T00:47:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Journal - 10 Feb 06

Meh... first blog post of the new year!
By the way, did you know that last year was:

Bill Gates' 50th birthday (Bill Gates was born on Oct 28th, 1955)
Microsoft's 30th birthday (Microsoft is co-founded and headed by Bill Gates, and was founded in 1975)
Microsoft Windows' 20th birthday (Windows 1.0 was first released on Nov 20th, 1985)
Microsoft Windows 95's 10th birthday (Windows 95 was the first version of Windows to feature the now famous "Start" button, "My Computer", "Network Neighbourhood" (now "My Network Places"), the "Recycle Bin", long file names, icons of the desktop, and a heap of other stuff, and was released on Aug 24th, 1995)

So... that's my geeky 'useless fact' tidbit for today...

So, yesterday was Year 10 'orientation day' i.e. we all got to find out what class we're in, what we're taking, ect, ect, and so forth. (Today is the Y9's OD...) I'm in the same class as last year, same teacher, same classmates... same school! (MHS has a 'school within a school' concept... why not just call them 'houses' and save the trouble? Classes are sorted into schools... so if you change classes, and your new class just happens to be in another school, you become part of that school. Schools are named after local beaches...We're Te Henga! Go green!)

The only problem with being in the same class is that the majority of the class are still girls (not that there's anything wrong with girls...) But last year there were at least 10 boys in a 30-pupil class... and somehow we've been whittled down to five! And to top it all off, we've had the extra addition of 3/4 girls! Ah well, I'll just have to live with it...

In other news, for the past week I've been using Windows Live Messenger 8. After months of anxious waiting, I've finally got an invite! I've been playing around with it and it is simply... wow-worthy. (For all those who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, WLM is the next version of MSN Messenger...) for more info, check out the WLM blog at http://spaces.msn.com/MessengerSays.

I've also been using Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview, and I must say it's a heap of a lot better than IE 6, though whether it's better than Firefox is hard for me to tell. It introduces a lot of features IE has been sorely needing for sooo long (and other browsers have had for ages), but also goes a step further... and not just with features. There are also notable security measures added, so stuff don't get through. To get the geeky gloss, take a peek at http://blogs.msdn.com/ie, or to download the thing, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7. Note that this is pre-release software, and as such neither me nor Microsoft can be held accountable for any terrors you may behold.

So... I guess that's it for this blog post... not to mention I've been working on programming and my website... and yes, I will upload it soon...

Quote of the post...

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Signing off,
--MarkKB

End of another year... (almost...)

2005-12-15T19:15:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Journal - 15th Dec. 05

Ah... the holidays have arrived! (OK, yes, I know, obvious!) Time to kick back, relax and enjoy the sun... or some of us, at least.

I'm quite sure you've all heard this countless times (whether ye be at deviantART or elsewhere) but I'm pretty close to uploading the next version of my website (which is, for all who don't know, at http://markk-b.tripod.com/)... So, if you see a giant cloud over West Auckland at any point in time, don't be alarmed, it's probably just my computer working in overdrive. :D

A big shout to all those in 9TCA of Massey High School... and congrats for "surviving" meh. And to those from deviantART - Hi! :D And those from Room 7 of HIS '04 who have stayed in contact, or even if you've just stumbled upon this blog - nice to see you again. To ye all, wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year - the (admitidly few) chats I've had with you guys have been enjoyable.

Ka kite, bonne chance, sayonara and aloha!
--MarkKB

Warehouse Stationary

2005-11-06T18:19:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at http://markkb.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!52714B684A8E80DD!109.entry.

Today I went up to Warehouse Stationary (For any who have no idea what that is, it's a warehouse... with... stationary in it...) to get me some acrylic paint for school (something I've been neglecting to do for... *counts on fingers* one... two... fifty-nine... carry the four... three weeks...).
Anyway, I had barely gotten five meters past the bus stop (our house is behind this bus stop...) when I saw my little bro, Andrew, tagging along behind. Apparently, he wanted to go just for the sake of it. Yay.
So, we rounded the corner of Larnoch, went along Rathgar, crossed the road at the wrong side of Pomaria. (I really hate myself sometimes...) We walked at a rather slow pace down 'Maria (forgetting to cross at the zebra crossing in the middle... ho-hum) with me chatting to Andrew about random stuff.
Nearing the lights, around the bus stop, Andrew found a bunch of old fireworks, and started wacking the pavement with them, causing this powdery-orange stuff to come out. (Being the responcible sibling, I picked them up and put them in the bin... man, I hate being the responcible one...)
So we crossed Lincoln at teh lights, and Andrew asked for some BK. (I told him distincly "no".)
Andrew started talking about needing acrylics for an "art attack" monster thingy ('Art Attack', Disney Channel), and I reluctantly agreed to get him some too. (He has to pay me back every cent... MUHAHA!)
Having gotten our paints, our brushes and nearly run over, we headed off home, when I remembered that I needed to get a few CD-Rs (long...-ger story), and so went into Noel Leemings, paid the guy (and amazingly Andrew didn't notice the XBOX section) and we dodged some more cars on our way to the Lincoln Center lights.
So having crossed Fairdene (which was another way we could have gotten home faster... my brain's having an off day...), walked the long stretch of Lincoln, crossing Pomaria (even though I had, again, no need too... guess it's out of habit...), and walking 2.9524cm, I realised that my bank card was not in the WS bag. Since Andrew had already pressed the button (he seems to have an obssesion woth pressing traffic light buttons), all we had to do was wait... until about five minutes later when I found it in meh pocket.
For the rest of the way down Pomaria, Andrew pretended he was deaf (at least, I think he was), even though he could somehow hear me commenting on the fact that he has no brains. (There's even a little sign in his right ear saying "Space for rent".)
Re-crossing Pomaria at the other end, we came across the remaints of a Keep Left sign and it's melted plastic pole. I picked up a tiny piece of pole for further investigation. I would have taken the sign, but I think the council may need it, and frankly, it's a little too big to fit in my pocket.
Rest of the way home, we did a few of the things we usually do - talk, chat, run around, swing fake plastic swords around (read: he was the one doing the swinging, and I was doing the running).
All in all, an uneventful day.

Cya,
MarkKB

Introductions...

2005-11-03T22:59:00.001+13:00

This post was originally posted at http://markkb.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!52714B684A8E80DD!107.entry.

'Ello! I'm Mark Kéy-Balchin (pronounced BELL-chin, NOT, as some people seem to think, BELCH-ing...), but ye all can call me MarkKB. Or, better yet, simply Mark.
Who am I? Simply put, I'm a geek. An average, ordinary, everyday geek. *pause* Yeah, right, like a geek will ever be ordinary!
What do I like? 1) Computers. 2) Computers. 3) Computers. 4) Programming computers. 5)Playing games... on meh computer. As you can see, I'm a major computer geekarado. I use Visual Basic and Visual C# regularily. (If you don't know what those are, then you're better off not knowing, least you slip into the dark, slimy depths of geekdom.) I also play Age of Empires, and would play AOEIII Trial regularily if it were not for the fact that it doesn't run on teh main computer (stupid graphics card...)
Did I tell you I have a website? No? Well, mosey on down to http://markk-b.tripod.com/! I'm preparing gor a major update, so be sure to check in every month or so...
My second equal interests are as follows: Music, Art, Prose. (You thought I was gonna say science , physics and astronomy, didn't ya, didn't ya! Come on, admit it!) I love singing, though public opinion about aforementioned singing is split: Some think I should go on NZ Idol, and assuming I did, that I would win, and some think that it's some type of crazy new punishment the Board of Ed. thought up.
Art... I prefer CGI (no fumes to inhale) to acrylics. I use a variety of programs to achieve what I want, ranging from Microsoft Paint to Jasc... I mean, Corel Paint Shop Pro, through Macromedia... er, Adobe Flash MX, to Paint.Net and Inkscape. Don't make any sense to you? Oh well...
Prose! (In case yeah don't know, 'prose' is a fancy word meaning 'non-poetry'.) I mainly write fanfiction, and of cause, you can read them at my page on FanFiction.Net.
Third equal is science and geography. I used to be an astronomy nut, but then, one night, when the moon was full, I was bored, and there was nothing else to read, and so I picked up Windows 95 for Dummies... and the rest is history. I'm still greatly interested in astronomy (anyone who tries to tell me that the moon does not rotate had better watch it!), and every now and then I peek in the Cassini/Huygens website (space probe to Saturn).
Geography really is hand in hand with art, and alot of my classmates (that is, the two or three that peak over my shoulder whenever I'm at work on a piece) have remarked on meh maps' similarity with the base map. (This is without tracing, too!)
There is a whole lotta other stuff I like, but right now I'm kinda tired and thus shall now retire to bed. Night, y'all!
--MarkKB

Mark Isn't A Geek

No, Scott Adams isn’t a misogynist (or a creationist)

Lesson One: On The Internet, Everything Must Be Marked

Lesson Two: Be Clear The First Time (And Every Time)

A Note About Reading Comprehension

Conclusion

Splitting Up The Blog

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite has now launched!

Gibraltar Installer 1.0 Build 06 has been released

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite: The Whats and What-Nots

So… what is YALaSFS?

What Isn’t YALaSFS?

What’s In The Future

Expanded Universe mini-encyclopaedia

Guest Editorial Articles

Timeline

Conclusion

Yet Another Lilo & Stitch Fansite: It Has Returned (Almost)

Web analytics on MarkKB’s Web – what that means for you

Why the devs Peter Bright wrote about are wrong (and why Peter Bright is right about what to do about it)

It’s Called A Non-Sequitur For A Reason

Evidence, Shmevidence

There’s Nothing Stopping You Anyway

Nothing Is Being Said Because Nothing Needs To Be Said

Microsoft Should Probably Say It Anyway

Conclusion

Left Hanging – A Trip To Japan (Full Commentary)

I don’t normally post picture descriptions here, but this one was pretty long, so I decided to link it here if anyone wanted to read it.

Left Hanging - A Trip To Japan by ~MarkKB

Software Updater 1.0 Build 03 has been released

Website: Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc’s new sidebar, more bug reports, and minor layout changes

<Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>’s new sidebar

Bug Reports layout update

24 new bug reports submitted

Tables style update

New RSS icon

How A Simple Bug Creates A Larger Problem: The Logoff Bug in Software Updater (Or: The Perils of Using e.Cancel in a FormClosing)

The Problem

The Solution

Is Charlie Sheen Crazy? I Don’t Think So

Thoughts on Christchurch

A Modest Proposal: Private Clouds on a Large Scale

Misleading Statements at Google’s Chrome OS Event

Lies, Damned Lies, Mockups and Screenshots

Windows, Chrome and the Out of the Box Experience

Conclusion

Why *your* feedback is important

And now for something completely different

Transformation, audience appeal and “fetish comics”

Website: About page, banner and other stuffs updated

Website: Updated Links page

Animation: Their Princess Is In Another Castle

Website: Updated sidebar style

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 has been released!

Why We Must Return To The Moon: In Defence of Constellation – Part 1

What is Constellation?

Why the moon? Haven’t we already been there?

What do you mean, harder?

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 09

Website: Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc now has comments, and other things

Other things

Internet Critique: A Sea of Neutral Facts (Part 1)

The ad hominem

Non sequiturs

Misuse of Percentages

Appeal to Popularity

Testing Word’s Blogging Ability

Appetisers, prior art and patents

In Case of Earthquake

Corkboard 1.0 Build 03 and Gibraltar 1.0 Build 05

OpenCity vs. “Microzoft”: Why Are Linux Developers Jerks?

9/11: A Retrospective

Mark Guesses the Origin of Words #1: inflammable

Update on SiteSled Issues

App Paths? What App Paths?

What are app paths anyway?

What’s the big deal?

Why should I use App Paths?

How do I use App Paths?

Setting up shop

Why your feedback is important