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Many CSS users want to be able to take a heading or a short piece of text in the HTML and use CSS to replace it with an image. Users with graphical browsers should see the image. Users with text-only browsers should see (or hear) the original text. Search robots should also see the original text. (They often don't treat alt tags the same as normal text.)

One popular way to do this is Fahrer image replacement. This technique uses a piece of HTML like this

<div>
<span>Hello world!</span>
</div>

div {
background-image:url("hello_world.gif");
background-repeat:no-repeat;
height:35px;
}

The problem with Fahrer image replacement is that several screen reading programs don't pick up the replaced text. Many other image replacement techniques have been devised.

Which image replacement techniques do you think are okay to use? Which, if any, do you consider abuse of CSS?

As long as the US keeps using the SSN as both identification (like your username) and authentication (your password), we will see stuff like this happening every day. You either use it as identification (to claim an identity), in which case it doesn't matter who has the number, or you use it as authentication (to prove the claim of identity), in which case it is a secret.

The analogy of the SSN in the computer world would be like using your password as authentication in some places and as your username in other places. The moment the usage spills over from one (identification) to the other (authentication) strange things start happening and security becomes non-existant.

Conclusion: as long as providing an SSN will be regarded as proof of your claim of being a certain identity (used as authentication token), there will be issues with every construct you build around the number.

Have a look at this article: http://spiresecurity.typepad.com/spire_security_vi ewpoint/2006/04/a_modest_propos.html "A Modest Proposal to Eliminate the SSN Façade"

He obviously doesn't agree: http://dukenukem.typepad.com/game_matters/2006/06/ activisions_ceo.html He pimps Triton, which is being used for Prey.

Your trying just a little too hard to defend what amounts to an even crappier version of geocitites.

If you also considered Geocities to be a Bad Thing, then clearly personal web pages are something which bother the heck out of you. Why even read this thread?

Personally, I think all of these services are fantastic. Personal blogs like Girl Friday are endlessly more entertaining than any site which Big Media is putting out there.

Finally, I think it's sad and pathetic to see people on slashdot complaining about the "mental diarrhea" of free personal web sites. What makes posting here so superior to some teenager blogging about whatever's on her mind?

This article seems to summarize nicely how Sony in particular breaks down the profits from an online sale to deliver "a payment to the artist of approximately 4 1/2 cents per download".

So, on the one hand, the greedy bastards should be less greedy.

On the other hand the artists need to empower their own asses and get out of stupid contracts like that and find some sort of cooperative or direct to consumer sales model. Technology is only getting more enabling of that kind of thing. Go do it.

Your marginal federal tax rate (including Social Security tax) can actually be lower on a second job, since Social Security tax of about 12 percent (half nominally paid by the employer) is not imposed on income in excess of $80,000 per year. A chart of marginal federal income tax rates is here:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/05/di d_ny_times_pu.html

Many states impose income taxes at progressive rates of up to around 10 percent as well. Still, your marginal overall income tax rate is unlikely to increase significantly once you earn more than $80,000 per year.

Uh? they weren't denying censoring searches, it was written in plain text (chinese though) on the frigging result pages.

I wrote a little bit about some worthwhile uses for web enabled spreadsheets Here. I think that people should forget about replacing desktop apps with web enabled apps, and recognize the real collaborative value possible in web-enabling.

Show me one thing that's man made and that's perfect and I will eat my shoes.

http://starfcker.typepad.com/photos/stars_ive_spot ted/pamanderson.jpg

What carriers has anyone used for this kind of video streaming? Mine (Verizon) blocks RTSP video streaming (see http://cognections.typepad.com/lifeblog/2005/10/re quest_for_com.html#comment-10560368), probably to lock customers into VCAST. I'd be willing to switch to T-Mobile or Sprint just for something like this.

Firefox 2 won't have many performance improvements over Firefox 1.5, since Firefox 2 is a frontend release. Most of the speed improvements that have gone into the trunk since Firefox 1.5 won't be shipped to end-users until Firefox 3.

One major exception is the work on memory leaks. Firefox 1.5.0.x releases have been getting the simpler (less risky) leak fixes, and it looks like Firefox 2 will get most of the less simple memory leak fixes that are going into the trunk, including the nsIDOMGCParticipant work that fixes the large leaks with Gmail and most Greasemonkey scripts.

Well, how bout the "Horses" category? http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/horses/ind ex.html

> ...The funniest thing was that on several occasions I had people in Windows PCs come up to me and ask me how I was able to connect to the Wireless network as they tried and couldn't make it work.
>
> My answer? "I just logged in, it saw the access point and logged in, nothing I had to do really." The look on their faces was priceless.

That's pretty much what I do under Windows and Linux...

Although my expirence with Apple was the famous issues with their cards (Plenty more evidence on Google).

Lately, American right-wing Christian conservatives have been attacking Google from left and right. One of my favorite examples is Stacy Harp appearing on Fox, complaining that Google refuses to remove a blog she disagrees with. And now, this. I'm looking forward to future crazy developments.

Here's a very funny and well written article about Turbonique history and the insanty of rocket dragsters. Found via Coop's blog with a comment along the lines of "If this doesn't make you tight in the pants, I don't know what will."

1) It was a pretty big rip on Return of the King. used the same engine if I recall, and it was basically the same game with new skins and sounds.

2) Consoles do have fun games, but if you're going to release a high quality PC game, you need to make it for the PC. It was lacking a lot of basic features, like key-mapping, and some of its mechanics were dumbed down to account for the 360. The AI was also trashed because of it. Something I've already linked to and explained several times on /. and the oblivion forums. It has to do with the crappy "in-order" processor the 360 uses. Those are the words of developers, not me. Actually I grab you the link so you don't whine: http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2005/03/ burn_the_house_.html read the stuff from Chris Hecker about the processors. Oblivion is exactly what he predicted. The same crap only shiny.

3) Read the whole thread before commenting, I already corrected the Bethesda/obisidian mistake. I meant to compare the subpar performance with kotor II

4) Wow is crap. All MMORPGs are, because they're not roleplaying games. They're hack n slash crap. Not all, Eve is reasonable since its not about the level grind, and Wish would have been amazing but was canned (I was in the Beta). I also really liked Temple of Elemental Evil, as you can see I praised its quality, I didn't like the way Atari handled it and killed the franchise before it had the chance to get off the ground.

I'm also a big fan of D&D in general. I'm not particularly happy about the way WoTC passed off on FR and tried to make a "new FR" by trying to force the process with Eberron. I also quite enjoy Palladium's Heroes Unlimited and After the bomb games.

I like quality, I don't like garbage shovelled out by a company to try and make a buck.

this

Another interesting look at declining consumer prices comes from looking at the 1975 Sears catalog, both in terms of real dollars and in terms of how long someone would have to work to be able to afford items then and now.

Another interesting look at declining consumer prices comes from looking at the 1975 Sears catalog, both in terms of real dollars and in terms of how long someone would have to work to be able to afford items then and now.

Dunno if I buy that. See:

http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/200 5/10/microsoft_will_.html
"QDOS became MS-DOS, ForeThought became Powerpoint, SoftDesign became Microsoft Project, Vermeer became FrontPage, PlaceWare became Live Meeting, Vicinity became a key part of MapPoint, nCompass Labs became Content Management Server, Bungie Studios became Halo, HotMail, Visio, Great Plains, Groove Networks"

Or...
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/win dows/story/0,10801,78739,00.html
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/m ar05/03-10GrooveQA.mspx
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/021405-micro soft-sybari.html

Apple also changed the number of computers you can use your iTMS music on - from 3 to 5. After I bought 100 songs with a 3 computer limit! Damn you, Apple!

The point isn't that Apple changed the terms, I know, it's that the change in terms was more restrictive. Honestly, I don't have too much trouble with that particular restriction. What bothers me about Apple is the inconsistency in service: the further away from Maine you are, the worse the service at the Apple Store is.

As a stock holder in a dozen or so corporations, I can definitively say that all of the CEO's of said companies have been paid ludicrous amounts that are in no way based on the actual performance of my stock and investment in said companies. I also know that my 0.00000003% share of the company makes my voice non-exitent in the debate. The fact that 90+% of most companies shares are purchased by 1) Board of Director members, or 2) Invesment Fund Managers (who may also be members of BoD, or related to members or CEOs) means that many, many, many of the upper management compensation decisions are entirely based on elements that have no correlation to the quality of the job the people have done, but much more on the amount of corruption, inside information, and payola being passed around. I actually attended a couple annual shareholders meetings, thinking that I would then get some of the information that I heard financial analysts talking about, or that obviously some of the big investors had access to. Also thinking that I might have some influence on what I thought my company should be doing. HA!

Sports, Hollywood, or other stars are selling their popularity, and presumably the advertisers and producers are getting a good return for their investment. I personnally do not think that my shares in Coca Cola are that enhanced by massive spending on sports endorsements. But at least the company appears to be trying to show some sort of fiscal responsibility towards the average shareholder.

And you are right, if you own no stock, have no investment protfolio, no retirement fund, don't work for a public company, and have no pension to worry about, it is none of your business. First, I would weep for your future, except that my taxes will pay for your welfare. Second, as someone who participates in all of the above I have a great interest in how my assests are being used, as well as interest in what other companies are presenting as "standard" business practices.

As far as relative value, when the CEO salary vs average worker ratio was 85 to 1 in 1990, I thought that was excessive. Now with the average at 431 to 1, it is so far beyond relative worth that the corruption is glaring.

2. "Nudity" means the:....
c. depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state;

Sorry, I no longer trust anything the Watch Tower Society says.

I once conducted through research into some of the lesser known current and past teachings of Watch Tower and Jehovah's Witnesses (like their former ban on transplants, ban on vacinations, Pyramidology, claim to have a cure for skin cancer, beleif that "Christians" do not have a relationship with Christ (only their special 144,000 remnant are so privleged), joining the United Nations after telling their members the UN is Satanic, letting Pedophiles get away with their crime, etc etc.)

No, I'm not making any of this up, and I haven't been "lied to by The Opposers and Aposates". I had detailed research directly from Watch Tower books and magazines. I published my results on the internet.

Result: they sued me and claimed copyright infringement (so much for the biblical admonition to not hide your light under a basket!). They said my research was not research, but rather could only have one purpose: to "embarras the plaintiffs [Watch Tower]. You can read about the (now settled) suit anywhere, try http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholi c_blog/2005/10/jehovahs_witnes.html

In summary: Please leave medicine the the Medical Scientists that practice Evidence Based Science and Research, and leave "The Sky Is Falling" claims to Chicken Little and Jehovah's Witnesses.

BTW, Much of what JWs have published about the "state of the art" of bloodless surgery is taking experts grossly out of context. You can read examples of this here: http://www.jwinfo.8m.com/misquotes.htm.

~Q

P.S. I suppose you could argue that the Mormons have some excellent research into how Native Americans are really the Lost Tribe of Israel, or that Scientology has published some fascinating infromation about how we are all messed up with Thetans and Engrams, or the Institute for Creation Research has plenty of proof that the earth is only 6000 years old, but I am hightly skeptical of those sources too.

P.P.S. I'm only posting as Anonymous Coward because even after all these years lurking on /., I've never created an account. But if you follow the story link above, it contains my name, and city. So I'm not very anonymous, and also not a coward. :)

Ahtisaari is the son of Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland (1994-2000). The older Ahtisaari is also known for positions in corporate boards. (Corporatism must be either hereditary or contagious, then...)

He is probably still known as a pop musician, as he's a bass player and songwriter and composer. Particularly interesting is this old song of his:
http://ahtisaari.typepad.com/moia/files/Technology .mp3

"People used to write long letters when they were in love now they use those mobile phones when they are in love take me away on this supahighway."

Reminds me of another Slashdot post that pointed out that it is really difficult to find the real productive people just by looking at that kind of indicators. A quiet person who works mostly office hours, takes a break to read the newspaper, surf the Web or play some game might seem less valuable than a glib articulate worker that stays overtime very often

However, I've seen that several of the first kind of workers actually do get their work done, are often way smarter/better qualified but have more difficulty expressing themselves and thus don't seem as good when viewed by upper management that sees a glib talker that might be clueless, and takes so much longer than the other to finish work that has to work extra hours (see joelonsoftware for some info he has on productivity related to programming in particular, which IMO can be applied to information workers in general). Also, the image which got me thinking about that recently, from a blog: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_us ers/2006/04/when_only_the_g.html

which I originally found here: http://www.businessinnovationinsider.com/2006/04/0 9-week/
Joelonsoftware's link: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.h tml (very general but covers the topic briefly near the end. I can't find a more specific one ATM)

This is great stuff. while SL might not be turning a profit YET, it shows the potential for companies to participate in the commercial side of the virtual world. I think there's money to be made here. A colleague saw a presentation by John Seely-Brown a couple weeks back that spoke to this referenced in this post: http://mondaymorning.typepad.com/monday_morning/

1. Maintain a tenuous balance on the edge of total collapse, firmly on the bottom of the market.
2. Invert reality. Now you're on the edge of complete success, firmly on the top of the market.
3. Profit!

Most musicians always earned their money by giving concerts and selling merchandise. The money from records usually directly went into the pockets of the music label managers to cover the production of records, the marketing, the investments, the ... you name it. Most musicians got nothing from sales of their record. (See Lesk's article for some figures.)

But the record labels usually did not get a share of the revenue from concerts.

Or, as the RIAA writes:

"When artists are successful, record companies typically renegotiate their contracts to provide significantly higher compensation. These renegotiations are allowed under Section 2855. Record companies want to retain their most popular artists. As a result, successful artists frequently renegotiate terms mid-contract for larger advances and better royalties. Their recordings also serve as springboards for other revenue sources that they do not share with the record companies, such as concert revenues and publishing and merchandising royalties."

The sky isn't falling.

But it has started...

What's new is that record labels offer contracts to newcomer musicians with clauses that guarantee them a large of revenues from concerts and merchandising. See, e.g., "EMI Takes a Stake in Band" (http://davidkusek.typepad.com/future_of_music/KOR NEMI.pdf).

"Sources close to the band said that under the terms of the deal, EMI would pay the four- member band an estimated $15 million upfront -- more than twice what the band might expect from a traditional recording contract. In return, EMI would get more than 25% of the band's publishing, merchandising and touring revenue as well as profit from the group's albums."

Expect rising prices for merchandising articles as well.

You do know that one way to catch catfish is to use your index finger as tackle? (and often your entire hand and parts of fore-arm...)

Plus in Japan you work to the bone and you accept it.

According to the Aussies, Japanese only work 45 hours more on average than Americans. (PDF warning...) According to the wall street journal, from 1970 to 2002, the hours worked by the Japanese fell 16.6% while the hours worked by Americans rose 20%. (Info linked from a blog that draws from a WSJ article, because WSJ requires login.)

How long before we're working more hours than the Japanese?

I'll bet a days' wage that Amazon beat you to it. ...

Wait, it was Schwab!

http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek/2005/11/silly_s oftware_.html

I've been wearing Menicon Z's for the past couple of months and believe I've found the next best thing to Lasik. They're wearable for up to 30 days at a time. Clean and soak them overnight and you're good to go for another 30 days. They're made from a new plastic that's oxygen hyper-transmissive so I never fight with dry eyes any longer. With my old RGPs, by the end of the day I'd be pushing the lenses around, trying to get some moisture in my eyes and fight off the "sticky" feeling.

And, according to the research done by the NIH, wearers are less likely to get eye infections with these lenses than with any other extended wear lens. Oh, and they're also thinner than similar strength daily RGPs, so they're more comfortable and easier to get used to if you haven't worn RGPs in the past. (See my blog at <http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> for links to the NIH research and more.)

I would like to improve the automation of my home. I have some vague images of the "Home of the Future" from early cartoons and discussions with friends. Some people worry about gender role changes and social impacts: http://askpang.typepad.com/relevant_history/2003/0 7/home_of_the_fut.html http://samvak.tripod.com/home.html Others just want better technology. For me it is really about common communication standards, even [gasp] network aware appliances. Leaning on communication over the power lines to achieve low-quality control with limited feedback is not good enough for me to adopt. My brother-in-law loves X10 though and suggests that wider usage will result in improvements that will bridge the gap. I am not convinced however. Ultimately for me its about what I can control and see from my office, but I am just a hopeless geek...

Wow, maybe your post is irony but there are plenty of horror stories about working at EA.
Game development has become stylish and lots of people think it's the greenest grass in the pasture. I beg to differ. It's highly competitive; lessers tend to get weeded out pretty quickly, especially since you product is in the public domain. It can be enormously stressful.. There are so many elements that need to converge to create the final deliverable product. Most internal business applications don't have sound, music, packaging, animations, art and story lines, and you really don't have as much creative license as you might think. Teams are so big, you are compartmentalized into a small portion of the bigger picture. You might spend months coding AI routines.

Of course, I only write games as a hobby (which is pretty fun), and all of the above is second hand here say, but computer game development should be taken seriously as pull your hair out, bleeding edge computer science.

They even have a nicely designed blog online where you can write in your favourite Windows-only applications.

I'd bet my left nut that he didn't design the blog himself - it's a TypePad blog. 90% of the blogs in the 'verse seem to just use one of the vanilla templates that come with the blogging software. And the design isn't even that nice.

Obviously, he's a troll and not a Mac user - real Mac users know how to steal a nice design from somebody else's blog.

In way too many meetings, the fastest talkers win. And by "fastest talkers", I mean those who are the first to articulate an idea, challenge, issue, whatever. Too many of us assume that if it sounds smart, it probably is, especially when we aren't given the chance to think about it.

Eh, and when more than 20 faxes are sent to your eFax account in a 30 day window; and eFax starts charging your for the increased load & account upgrade; how is this a good solution?

Sure, give out your efax number to all these folks, and let them start sending you junk faxes - you will be incuring the same (or more) costs than the paper & toner!

Not a good sugestion or solution, IMHO.

Links to background info on eFax:
Reviews & rating of eFax on epinions.com
Replacing eFax with MaxEmail on db.tidbits.com
Blog entry on sippey.typepad.com with details on eFax billing issues
And of course, just hit up Google for "eFax sucks" for more good & bad stories...

FWIIW, I have had a free eFax account for a few years now; only using it for those emergency 'I need to get something now' or the customer/client does not have the capability to send via any other means. I have not had any billing issues, but it was a PITA to find out that the area code for your fax number changed - after spending a bunch of time trying to figure out why the number was no longer working. Thankfully I usually only get one or two faxes a month, so I have been able to stay under the magic 20 number.

YMMV - IANAL....

Eh, and when more than 20 faxes are sent to your eFax account in a 30 day window; and eFax starts charging your for the increased load & account upgrade; how is this a good solution?

Sure, give out your efax number to all these folks, and let them start sending you junk faxes - you will be incuring the same (or more) costs than the paper & toner!

Not a good sugestion or solution, IMHO.

Links to background info on eFax:
Reviews & rating of eFax on epinions.com
Replacing eFax with MaxEmail on db.tidbits.com
Blog entry on sippey.typepad.com with details on eFax billing issues
And of course, just hit up Google for "eFax sucks" for more good & bad stories...

FWIIW, I have had a free eFax account for a few years now; only using it for those emergency 'I need to get something now' or the customer/client does not have the capability to send via any other means. I have not had any billing issues, but it was a PITA to find out that the area code for your fax number changed - after spending a bunch of time trying to figure out why the number was no longer working. Thankfully I usually only get one or two faxes a month, so I have been able to stay under the magic 20 number.

YMMV - IANAL....

There are serious problems with the OLPC program

After all, Glenda is drawn by Renee French.

"Plan 9 from Bell Labs" the only OMG!!! Ponies OS.

Seriously, we (the plan9 community - there could be up to 100 of us!) sure hope they "get" plan9.

There's more on Google if you're REALLY that interested...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oreilly/6770009/

http://joi.typepad.com/photos/cc_anniversary_03/ci mg0171sized.html

http://images.google.com/images?q=Annalee+Newitz&h l=en&btnG=Search+Images

I think Annalee would have a response similar to this

I'm really surprised that no-one mentioned the pussies and racs section of website. That's practically free porn.

thank you cuteoverload/unusual animals, now i'll have to migrate my girlfriend from debian to suse for cuteness...
i really hope the next story is not about freebsd... "oooh, what a cute 'lil devil"

Well, they do at least have penguin pictures. It's kinda Linuxy.

Well, they do at least have penguin pictures. It's kinda Linuxy.

There IS a category on the site for males... http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/cats_n_rac ks/index.html

The cats and racks section could be pretty useful...

Actually cuteoverload is just a frame that leads to a typepad site. I'd say it's pretty safe from slashdotting but reloading the cuteoverload its getting slower.