March 24, 2005
Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget & Firefox
I recently started using the Venkman JavaScript Debugger for Firefox (and other Mozilla based browsers), named after Peter Venkman from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters.
Well having used javascript alert boxes and such like for debugging for years, I have to say this thing is absolutely brilliant.
Especially the ability to watch variable values change as the code executes. Extremely useful for tracking down those niggling coding logic errors—the ones that execute fine but just don't work!
Also of invaluable help is Firefox's DOM Inspector. I had looked at this when I first installed Firefox, but didn't realise it would update the tree to reflect changes made with DHTML—oops! The current project I'm working on creates large amounts of elements dynamically, so this is great for tracking down dodgy object creation/nesting.
However it doesn't help when the problem is actually a bug in Firefox itself (1.0.1), arrrgggh. In this case moving a DIV to be the first child node, made the second child [it's sibling, also a DIV] lose its margins. The problem doesn't occur in the latest Firefox nightly or Internet Explorer, frustrating...
Debugging In Internet Explorer
Having tried the Microsoft Script Debugger and found it to be a flying piece of sh*t, I discovered the link below describing the MS Script Editor; a very capable javascript debugger for Internet Explorer. Very useful when you're debugging a msie specific code fork, especially since IE's default error messages are most completely useless...
Javascript Debugging using the MS Script Editor
Great hall locations: Web Development | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
March 22, 2005
Dichotomy
In a moment of philosophical pondering, I've come to the conclusion there are two types of people in the world, and the difference can be summed up as this: those that drive around in their car with the air-conditioning on and the windows up, and those who have the windows down, regardless of whether they have air-con.
I'm the latter, I can't stand being in a car with the windows up—fresh air is an absolute necessity. Of course, if it's minus 30 out, then the windows stay firmly up, lol.
The image to the right was Google Images first result for "Dichotomy", it's from The American Bear Association, a non-profit organization based in Minnesota promoting the well-being of the black bear and other natural resources. Pay them a visit and make a donation if you can; looks like a worthwhile cause ;)
Great hall locations: Miscellaneous | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
March 15, 2005
What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Am I?
While trying my very best to avoid doing any actual work this morning, I came across this site... hehe, amusing ;)
I am Mario.
"I like to jump around, and would lead a fairly serene and aimless existence if it weren't for my friends always getting into trouble. I love to help out, even when it puts me at risk. I seem to make friends with people who just can't stay out of trouble."
What Video Game Character Are You?
Great hall locations: Miscellaneous | Talked about by: 1 Fraggles
March 11, 2005
International Characters Made Easy
If you've ever needed to enter international characters like the é in café, then you've probably like me either used the Character Map utility or memorized the letter's Alt + numeric keypad number combination.
The problem is this is a real pain if you have to type these letters more than once in a blue moon, especially if you have a laptop without a numeric keypad!
Well it turns out there's an easy (and painless) solution for that works for all versions of Windows.
It lets you type accented characters, by first pressing the key that looks like the accent ` and then the letter e to get the accented version è.
Configuration
I'm only going to go though the steps for configuring Windows XP below, however in other versions of windows the steps are similar.
- Control Panel
- Regional & Language Options
- Languages (tab)
- Details... (under Text Services & Input Languages)
- Click Add
- Leave the language the same (should be whatever was on the previous screen, in my case English (New Zealand))
- For the Keyboard Layout, choose United States - International
- Click OK on all three dialogs, and you're done
You should now have a little keyboard icon (
) on the taskbar down by the System Tray/Clock.
To enable International character support for the application you're currently working in, click on this icon and choose United States - International. This setting is per application, if you'd like it on all the time, you can set it as the default from the Regional & Language Options control panel.
Inputing Accented Characters
The accents are available by typing the following keys, plus the letter in question:
| circumflex | Shift+6 |
| grave | ` (above the TAB key) |
| acute | ' (single quotemark) |
| le tréma | " (double quotemark) |
| cedilla | ' (single quotemark) |
With this keyboard layout if you want to enter one of the accent keys verbatim, you'd enter the key and then press the spacebar. E.g. to type 'ed, you'd type:
' space e d
Symbol Character Support
This keyboard layout also changes the right-ALT key into a special character key (the left-ALT functions normal).
Holding down the right-ALT and pressing the keys shown in the left column gives you the character on the right:
| right ALT + / | ¿ (spanish punctuation) |
| right ALT + 1 | ¡ (spanish punctuation) |
| right ALT + c | © (copyright) |
| right ALT + C | ¢ (cents) |
| right ALT + – | ¥ (yen) |
| right ALT + $ | £ (pound) |
| right ALT + 5 | € (euro) |
| right ALT + 6 | ¼ |
| right ALT + 7 | ½ |
| right ALT + 8 | ¾ |
| right ALT + = | x |
| right ALT + + | / |
| right ALT + ; | ¶ (paragraph) |
| right ALT + : | ° (degrees) |
| right ALT + W | Å |
| right ALT + w | å |
| right ALT + Z | Æ |
| right ALT + z | æ |
Great hall locations: Computing | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
March 7, 2005
Tarmac FM
My iPod once again went flat on the way to work today; damn over optimistic battery gauge. However, it appears the Japanese have invented a solution to my musically challenged commute...
Japan has already dabbled here and there with road surfaces that keep drivers awake by using appropriately-placed troughs to play rhythms through your tires.
Now the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has gone a step further, with grooved sections of road that boom a melody up through your car.
The grooves are a few millimetres deep and 6-12 mm wide; unsurprisingly, the closer they're grouped together the higher the pitch of the note produced. They're planning to use different melodies for different areas, picking songs that have some association to the locale.
Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute
Great hall locations: Music | Talked about by: 0 Fraggles
March 3, 2005
Mr. T, Breakdancing & BMX's
I have to say, the coolest thing from the 80's by far, was the acade game "Time Bandit" for the Sanyo. Back in the days when 3-bit colour was high-tech, and floppy disks where still actually floppy & took 50 minutes to format ;)
Written by Bill Dunlevy and with artwork by Harry Lafnear, Time Bandit was originally released for the TRS-80 and was heavily based on the arcade game Tutankham. The 1984 port to the Sanyo featured 8 colors, higher resolution graphics, four direction scrolling, and a two player option.
The game starts off at the Time-gates area, where you can choose one of 16 worlds to explore. In each world you must fight the Guardians in order escape to though the time-gate at the end of the labyrinth, gathering treasures along the way and recovering all the Artifacts. Each world features sixteen levels of increasing complexity, these were the same layout but flipped or mirrored. In these sub-levels items were in different places, including the timegates and the one-way doors were often reversed—which made things interesting.
The Guardians in each of the worlds consisted of: snakes, lions, trolls, spiders, worms, eyes, aliens, ghosts and bombs. You get points (cubits) for each monster destroyed with your missiles, for the treasures you collect, and also for finding keys, locks and solving puzzles. 
The game begins with 14 lives and you get an additional one with each 1000 cubits.
There are seven Artifacts in the game. Six of them found in the last level of the different worlds and the last one is visible when you complete all of the sixteen worlds. In the Sanyo version of the game one of the artifacts was Dr. Who's time-traveling vehicle, the Tardis.
Time Bandit – Worlds by Area
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Original Packaging Blurb
Fast-paced arcade action, full scale adventures, and endless variety is now only a disk's reach from your Sanyo.
Use the Timegates to explore the Worlds of Time: the medieval halls of FANTASY WORLD, the great frontiers of WEST WORLD, and the bizarre future in SPACE WORLD. Choose from more than twenty exciting adventuring areas throughout the game.
Battle the Evil Guardians: the Looking Lurker, Killer Smurfs, and lots more. Collect the Treasures of the Ages as you remove the locks blocking your escape. But hurry Bandit, your power is dwindling and the Techno-Bandits are hot on your trail!
Time Bandit's dual-player mode lets two player in on all the action at the same time—on their own playing windows! Work together, or battle it out for a bigger share of the loot!
Ultra-crisp Supergraphics, colorful scrolling landscapes, full animation of a multitude of characters, amazing sound, and literally hundreds of screens: it's all here! The conquest of Time and Space awaits you...
Great hall locations: Computing | Talked about by: 3 Fraggles
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