Skip to main content

Posts

Things I Do Not Get

Amongst many things, and in no particular order: A Web-standard-compliant box model. Why the default size of the box is determined by it's contents, and why the padding should be added to the overall dimensions. The Internet Explorer's model makes more sense (blasphemy). It does. Another CSS thing which puzzles me: why I can float things right and left, but not to the center? Right and left here are in fact top-right and top-left, but I sooo could use bottom-right and bottom-left positions as well... And why decided that vertical margins should collapse? Not a very important one, but still... really, why?

On UPS Communications And Delivery Options

OK. I never had any significant luck when I order something with delivery. One way or another, something will ALWAYS go wrong. The following is merely a documented process of getting the item I bought on the web, delivered by UPS, no rush, regular 2-5 business days option. Tracking info from UPS website: US 01/10/2008 6:52 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED KANSAS CITY, KS, US 01/10/2008 7:17 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN KANSAS CITY, KS, US 01/11/2008 1:31 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN SECAUCUS, NJ, US 01/14/2008 10:30 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN SECAUCUS, NJ, US 01/15/2008 1:37 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN NEW YORK, NY, US 01/15/2008 1:58 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN 01/15/2008 6:48 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY So far so good, right? I was smart, too—gave them my office address, just to make sure I won't miss it. Now, at around noon I go to the restroom, strangely located outside the office's backdoor, next to a freight eleva...

Netscape Is Dead

I feel sooo old. Somehow, when Microsoft announced the end of support for the Internet Explorer for Mac at the version 5.2, I didn't feel that weird, but I always was a bit of a fan of NN—just to stick it to the man, I guess—, even after I switched to Firefox a couple of years ago and made it a primary browser on my Windows machines, having Safari rule my Mac environment. Surviving a web browser may not be a life-changing experience, but it does make one ponder...

On Addictivity And Connectivity

First things first—after a year (at least) of drooling over one, I finally decided to cash in my almost-two-years-of-non-smoking credits, and got myself an EWI . It sounds a bit like a medical condition, and frankly, it's quite mental, because I can't stop playing with it. So far it seems to be an amusingly addictive instrument even with a stock soundbank—I plan on making my own patches later, as soon as I figure out how to use that UniQuest joke of a software—worst of all, it can be played in headphones, so I can do it even at 4am if I wanted to. So far, I have more fun then problems playing it, in spite of its little fingering differences (I use SA(x) mode), and totally different breathing technique. Now comes the connectivity part. I've used FastTrack USB for a couple of years with a microphone through the XLR input with no problems, but when I tried to connect a line output of EWI's synthesizer to the line input of the FastTrack, the signal level was very low. T...

On Variety Shows

Well, to put it shortly—if the best number in your variety show is performed by the quick-change artists, and the second best is Chinese acrobats (and even they cheated and bailed out of properly dismounting from the top of the chair tower), there is something wrong with the rest of the people on the show. I rightfully expect Ellen's Really BIG Variety Show —if I remember the name correctly—in it's dreadfull boringness to be challenged only by the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade . Should have gone to bed at 9 p.m., but didn't. Shame on me.

Template Update

Nothing special, really, just updated the blogger template for the sake of trying something new. And, yea, I lost my previous template backup somehow, so there was no way back. Now I have found my backup, but I don't like it anymore, so I am going to stay with this template for a while. Who cares.

On Voice Recognition

I: (touch the Bluetooth headset button) Phone: (beeps ascending scale, then in a female voice) Please, say a command. I: Call Darya. Phone: Command not recognized. Please, say a command. I: Call Dar. Phone: Did you say (pause, then in a male distorted voice) Darrin ? I: No! Phone: (in a female voice) Did you say (in a male distorted voice) Dennis ? I: NO! DARYA! I SAID DARYA !!! Phone: (in a female voice) Are you sure? Because I'am pretty sure you said David ... Which is strange, since there is nobody by that name in your Contacts. Neither there is Darrin , nor Dennis . My battery is low. And I am tired. And you are nuts. Please, say a command. I: Fuck you. Phone: Command not recognized. Go fuck yourself. Please, say a command. Phone: Command timed out. (beeps descending scale) I: (sigh) ...