So I'm programming like a mad man yesterday. Everything is going well and looking sharp then suddenly my website on my development server does not look at all like the website on the production server. It will take nearly 5 hours of troubleshooting and 5 hours of sleep to figure out what happened.

The Problem: The CSS in Mozilla Firefox don't load on the development server but load fine on the production server. To confound the issue the style sheet works in IE on both servers. The problem is reproducible from multiple computers. If the style sheet is referenced by <link> as in <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"> it doesn't load. If it is referenced with a block it works fine.

The Solution: I found the solution in MozillaCssMimeType (led to by this article)

some servers are misconfigured and return an incorrect MimeType for CSS files (typically text/plain or application/x-pointplus) which should be sent with a text/css MimeType

Adding "text/css          css" to apache's mime.types file (usually found in /etc/mime.types) solves the problem. For IIS simply map .css to text/css using:

site (or directory) properties, then HTTP Headers>File Types>New Type, .css, text/css.

Now to get to work. I feel two days behind.

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"Justice Souter's vote in the "Kelo vs. City of New London" decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner."

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.
...
The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."
...
Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

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I heard that around mile marker 250 I-40 is closed. Apparently at midnight last night 5 tractor trailer including a mail truck collided and burned killing one person. They are still re-routing traffic down rural roads to Hwy 70 (Kingston Pike). If you are expecting a package or planning on traveling I-40 today you might be in for a surprise.

I cannot find any information online about this which is pathethic either on my part or our news agencies or department of transportation. My information comes from a traveler's account via cell phone.

Update: Ah! Finally found the incident report.

Interstate 40 Incident, Wilson County
Date Last Revised: 6/29/2005 12:46:54 PM
Description: Interstate 40 westbound in Wilson County - Crash at MILE MARKER 239 reported at 12:40:00 AM 6/29/05 and estimated to be cleared by 2:00:00 PM 6/29/05. Westbound traffic is affected with the roadway partially blocked with the LEFT LANE OPEN. Eastbound traffic is affected with rubbernecking delays.
Incident Start: 6/29/2005 12:40:00 AM
Estimated Clearance: 6/29/2005 2:00:00 PM

Wonder if its related to:

Interstate 40 Incident, Davidson County
Date Last Revised: 6/29/2005 12:40:09 PM
Description: Interstate 40 eastbound in Davidson County - Disabled vehicle at MILE MARKER 202 (Mile Marker: 202.0 ) reported at 12:20 PM 6/29/2005 and estimated to be cleared by 12:50 PM 6/29/2005 (Central Time Zone). Eastbound traffic is affected with the roadway partially blocked.
Incident Start: 6/29/2005 12:20:00 PM
Estimated Clearance: 6/29/2005 12:50:00 PM

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See you at the coffee shop for free ice cream on Jun 29, 2005! (thanks wife!)

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The irony does not escape me that at the same time Batman Begins starts in the theatres that two bats begin patrolling the sky above my house. One will come in very low above our porch. They are fun to watch.

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How many people are having trouble posting comments to this blog? Please leave a comment below. (alright, email juggler@gmail.com) Let me know what browser you are using and I'll try to narrow this down. Thanks.

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Let's say you regularly had chocolate as a treat. Maybe not every day but fairly frequently. One day someone comes along and offers you a serving of the best chocolate in the world. But there is a catch. After eating that piece of the best chocolate in the world you can never eat chocolate again for the rest of your life. That means your regular treat would disappear but you would be left with the memory of this fantastic chocolate.

What would you choose?

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Student: Is there such a thing as destiny?
Master: There are many destinies. Which would you like?

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Man freezes engine and gets 120 miles per gallon.

And the latest on global warming. "experimental reactor seeks to mimic the way the sun produces energy" I see future space explorers teaching their children, "and this is an unusual galaxy. The only one of its kind and we have yet to explain how those two planets evolved an orbit between the two suns, or why the smaller sun orbits the larger sun just like the 8 planets."

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89% chance of total meltdown...wait! My insurance doesn't cover that.

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"John Walton [No. 11 on Forbes Magazine list of the world's richest people with a net worth of $18.2 billion], the billionaire son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and a member of the company's board, died Monday in a plane crash in Wyoming."

The plane was an experimental ultralight aircraft with a small, gasoline-powered engine and wings wrapped in fabric similar to heavy-duty sail cloth, officials said.

[source]

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Student: How did I become such a horrible person?
Master: You have never been anything else.

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We've all seen the skeleton. Here's a variation using bubbles. Rag Doll Physics

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Thanks to James at Puerilis I will now spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to wear one of these and why you'd want it to smell like "Cheese & Onion Pasty": 9ct Gold Ringed Burberry Condoms.

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Look! It's like hands on Science Digest!

MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will.

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Was there a full moon last night? I had so much energy about me I felt like I could manically, work through the night but forced myself to find sleep knowing that I would be useless today without some rest.

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A new theme of memory not regret.

I really enjoyed college. Had I been smarter and worked the system for scholarships or more wisely budgeted my money I could have easily been one of those people that stayed in college for 10 or 15 years.

I broke a lot of boundaries in college. I was experimental and eager to try new things. My curiosity was exposed in many unpublishables, life threatening/thrill seeking experiences, cultural exposure and so on. I was motivated to excel and worked as a desk worker in the dorm, treasurer of the hall government (fixing some impossibly screwed up books), resident assistant, help desk, activist, and undergraduate system administrator to name a few. But the thing I took particular pleasure in doing right and doing well was postage stamps.

Yes, postage stamps. There was something about doing a postage stamp just right that was very rewarding. Knowing the joy and pleasure a person would receive from one of my postage stamps made me want to find better ways to achieve a more perfect stamp. Some folks were content with the way they did post stamps, other didn't care to do them at all finding the process mundane or even displeasant; I on the other hand was the Jonathan Livingston Seagull of post stamps always seeking a more perfect way! Postage stamps had a bit of self-gratification also because they have a unique flavor on your tongue. At first they were almost acridic but with a hidden sweetness which was almost addictive creating a huge desire for more. The more postage stamps you lick, the more you want. A sloppy stamp just brings no joy. A stamp that is too dry will not reach its goal. Timing is also an issue. Not enough time spent with the postage stamp is like a big, unsatisfying tease to the envelop as the stamp is unlikely to hang around long while too much time could remove all the glue leaving a dry postage stamp also unable to reach its destination. Postage stamps are delicate and being too aggressive can ruin the stamp.

There are also tools for postage stamps and although more precise and often more effective than done by person, I find them impersonable and although appreciated by the postmaster the pleasure is more lopsided to the recipient. Alas, in this busy, electronic age I find myself with fewer opportunities to practice my skills. Perhaps I should pull out my stationary and write a letter.

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After removing her sleep diaper, Amy declares, "I'm just naked under my pants."
Ah! The profoundness! A true philosopher in the making.

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There are not many times that I can talk about my work nor do I feel it is terribly appropriate to cross blog and work. I am one of those "anything computer" people. Over the years I have built computers, run networks, designed database, killed trees in the name of quality assurance, managed projects, managed people, danced on the bleeding edge, ridden the wave, and been blown up in dot bombs.

One of the positives about tech is that it moves so fast you are rarely bored; one of the negatives is it moves so fast you are rarely up to speed. For a variety of reasons easily looked up through Blingo, to make websites look right in most browser (IE, AOL-which really was IE, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, and so on) tables were heavily used in the past. Imagine using an Excel spreadsheet to paint a picture. Now-a-days browsers have become more compliant to web standards so there is a push to create "tableless" designs since a <table> element for HTML was really intended to create a table (say, of data) rather than be used as a hack for laying out design a la paint by numbers.

A good developer will be aware of the evolving technologies and changing standards but due to high pressure deadlines, inadequate budgets, bad habits, over working, moonlighting, resistance to change, or whatever the case may be that developer may find himself doing great work but still using techniques of a time passed. If the learning curve is going to add 150% effort to a project and only give a return to the client that is only appreciated by academia and not the client's customer base then it does not make sense.

I have always tried to create websites that were cross-browser compatible (Netscape, IE, etc) and cross-platform (Mac and Windows...perhaps Linux/Unix et al) but I have not stuck with standards nor strived for artistic markup that produced compliant code. Instead I strove for well-documented code that was encapsulated, portable, extensible, and age-able. My work has always been documented within the code, and in external documents such as MS Word and Visio. A developer should easily be able to step into my code and maintain, continue or expand a project.

Typically an artist or a client provides the content and layout (in the form of a picture or MS Publisher document). My job is to use a markup language to present that content in such a way that the browser (IE, AOL, FireFox, Opera, etc) will render the content exactly as the original designer intended. This time around I decided to go for broke and make a site using current web standards that validates and uses a completely tableless design using CSS which in theory makes this site portable to a variety of devices such as telephones and means it can quickly, easily be styled to have a new look when the time comes.

I present you: Gano Café. Gano Café is an example of a static website using current standards. For an example of a database driven project using PHP see Werner Paddles and click "choose a paddle"

Working with standards has been an incredible pleasure! I now have little excuse to ever do anything less.

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It's really cool when you start back on a project and are impressed with your own code.

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I was led to the survey by Boing Boing (of course..)

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I have to say some of the most entertaining, creative writing I can find on the web is at Sanity Adrift. His posts are spaced out as if each is being drafted, proofed, re-written, tossed out, pulled from the garbage, written again, edited and finally published against a relunctant deadline of "I must move on to another topic." The time between posts is rewarded with a post of several paragraphs from which you cannot divert your eyes. It's not lengthy in the sense that you want to skim to get to the end. At Sanity Adrift the writing is so well done that you want to read each word and sometimes twice. TV deserves to be published! I'll leave it to the curious to explore and figure out "TV." His bio is as much a pleasure to view as is his blog.

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Drapes removed from Justice Department statue. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales makes a good choice!

The drapes [covering Spirit of Justice's one exposed breast], installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.

Alright! That's progress. Now how do we get the other one uncovered?

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An ORANGE ALERT is issued for Saturday, June 25, 2005. Ride a KAT bus fare-free and help to improve our air quality.

South Knox Bubba shows us why we should carpool, ride buses and take other steps for cleaner air.

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For those who can't get along with your band members this is for you.

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Appalachistan has led us to The Hanging Stranger for an explanation of "What happens when you burn an American flag?"

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Student: My body aches.
Master: Your mind says you ache.

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Sometimes white noise drives me nuts. As a child I could tell you from the opposite end of the house if the television was turned on even if the sound was all the way down while others would insist there was no noise. The hum of a computer monitor can be distracting enough to prohibit programming. At these times I like to put in some ear plugs dropping noise by 20db and effectively cutting out the white noise but still allowing you to hear.

I am programming and I hear a noise that I can't identify. I take out an ear plug to acknowledge an airplane. A few minutes later with the ear plugs in I hear what sounds like a Cessna single engine plane flying too low. The sound is coming through the baby monitor and getting louder. I can only assume an appliance is dying despite a childhood flashback so I run upstairs to seek out the noise before it wakes everyone in the house.

The childhood flashback was to being in right field during a t-ball game praying that some lefty hitter didn't smack the ball my way. I'd much rather hang out assuming my lack of ability than have the ball fly my way and prove my lack of ability. I was living in Kenner, Lousiana at the time. Lots of mosquitoes. During the game a skeeter eater would drive by, the game would pause as all the children would stare at the truck spouting off a wall of fog, the fog would approach and be welcomed by the crowd as we knew we'd have a few less bites that night, and the game would continue without so much as a thought toward what this horrid chemical might be doing to our lungs and tissues.

It didn't take long for me to realize that no appliance was dying and no airplane was crashing into the house. I stood on the porch for a few moments and watched the funny looking truck approach spouting off its spray of whatever is supposed to reduce the mosquitoe population. As it neared, the outdoor cat meowed as if to say, "Am I supposed to hold my breath?" and I slipped back inside with the clean air feeling slight remorse for the cat while not allowing the dog to go out into the fog but happy to know that there may be a few less blood suckers tomorrow.

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I said a long time ago that Heir Bush would try to stay in office forever. Now B.K. Delong of Brain Stream points out that Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland introduced a bill on February 17, 2005 to "remove the 22nd Amendment setting Presidential Term Limits."
Co-sponsors:

Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 2/17/2005
Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] - 2/17/2005
Rep Sabo, Martin Olav [MN-5] - 2/17/2005
Rep Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [WI-5] - 2/17/2005

Well, your fearless dictator is trying to strike yet another blow to the Constitution.

Who keeps voting for these morons?

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Time to hunker down for an all-nighter of programming. Sometimes I wonder if the trade-offs of homebased, self-employment are really worth it.

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If there is one thing I could have changed about today, I would have been quite happy to not witness my cat toss its cookies.

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Sometimes we never know just how many lifes we touch.

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Dear Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General:

Morality is taught to our children by their parents and cannot be dictated by the government. A government of the people takes the views of all the people and if a person standing to my left has opinions, beliefs and morals differing from the person on my right it is neither the right nor the place of the government to force the views of one of those people upon the other as long as a person's stand does not cause harm to another person. Mr. Gonzales will argue that 18 USC 2257 is protecting our children from harm and I strongly disagree.

18 USC 2257 is blatant censorship. It is electronic bookburning stiffling a creative outlet as sited in the Boing Boing article "Rotten.com: our gapingmaw.com and other sites shut in anticipation of 2257"

We might mention that the material here isn't even pornography as you normally think of it -- this site is just adult humor, in essay format, with some illustrations. The government is mandating that we meet certain bookkeeping requirements, ones impossible to meet for this site. Never mind that those requirements do not actually gain the public anything. This is the strongest attack on free speech since the passage of the CDA, and oddly, the media seems to have hardly noticed. The penalty for not abiding by these bookkeeping requirements is five years prison.

Because the nature of their site is user submissions of adult humor they will receive pictures for which they cannot document the person in the picture therefore their site must cease to exist.

I am not advocating child pornography but I do put the onus of protection of children on the parents. Parents must protect their children from from the evils of the world through education and involvement. Children will see hardcore magazines at their friends houses; children will experience horrific things (death, the twin towers, etc); children will see things on their friend's Internet connection. You can cleanse your house but you cannot blindfold your children when they leave the house. Parents must protect their children from exploitation through supervision and education. If the parent is an abuser, the parent must seek help.

18 USC 2257 is the equivalent to Prohibition.

Prohibition also presented lucrative opportunities for organized crime to take over the importation ("bootlegging"), manufacture, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Al Capone, one of the most famous bootleggers of them all, built his criminal empire largely on profits from illegal alcohol. [ source ]

You are attacking inadvertant distributors who would happily pull the content if it was suspect. You have not protected a child. Shutting down a site that showed a child depicting a sexual act has not stopped the adult from abusing that child. If anything, shutting down the site removes a digital footprint to finding the adult that should prosecuted. 18 USC 2257 will drive child pornographers into more ingenious distribution methods that may be more elusive to prosecution.

Where does this stop? Will Blogger shut down because they have no control over what I post? Will that picture of my naked newborn scare them enough to erase my writings?

A powerful, thought provoking statement from the gapingmaw.com statement: "No nation has freedom when it is run by religious zealots."

Sincerely,
A parent who wants his children to grow up in a free society.

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Now Christians can leave their message while they walk. Of course, this may not have the desired affect in Cancun. 

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Excellent article on when products expire.

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Contacting your senator does help!

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You know, when I think of The Pyramids I imagine a horizon to horizon expanse of sand with perhaps a couple of camels carrying a handful of people wrapped in bed sheets. Squeaky horn music plays eeriely from the heavens, the air is still and no one speaks. Somewhere over a sand dune 8 guys are trying to rebuild an airplane to fly and a bunch of World War II gold is buried beneath a rusted tank. Google Maps now ruins my impressions given to me by National Geographic and Hollywood. Have a look at The Real Egypt. Looks noisy.

(wow!)

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I'm an observant person. I watched the traffic cams get installed by TDOT. For a long I have intended to call TDOT and ask, "are those cameras available to the public?" Ironically, being a web guy, I never bothered looking online until one of the local news stations mentioned the 75 cameras are online (though by my count I only see 66). Have a look at a picture of a TDOT SmartWay camera.

Additional information about the TDOT $20 million SmaryWay system is available including cameras statewide and information about Tennessee 511 a service that provides traffic information from any phone. TDOT is also in Alabama.

From the Smartway FAQ:

Other benefits include:

• Providing live video to local television stations that is used during their rush hour traffic reports
• Website access to current construction and incident information.
• Shorter crash response time by emergency response agencies including TDOT HELP trucks
• Using the system to assist in AMBER ALERTS
• Radio reports of current construction and incident information available on the highway advisory radio (HAR) system.
• Use of the system to complement Homeland Security evacuation plans

Now when you want to leave the house you can check to see if I-40 is jammed or not!

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Democrats Called Anti-Christian Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state! Separation of church and state!

"Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians," said Rep. John Hostettler.

Hostettler's picture just screams, "Hey. Don't ya'll get it? GW came into office and government went out the window. It's all about God now. The Apocalypse is coming tomorrow anyway and ya'll won't be around to complain then."

Of course, we find irony in the article:

The Democratic proposal on the Air Force Academy was defeated. The House instead approved by voice vote a Republican plan requiring an Air Force report to Congress on the steps it was taking to promote religious tolerance.

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I scored 4 out of 10 on this. (safe for work)

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Wife barking at 9 year old to find missing dog that I let out and forgot.
14 year old sleeping; refusing to get up.
3 year old crying that she is hurt.
Me, unable to move, listening to hold music on an ear piece wired to the phone base.

Stress rising.

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This from Boing Boing:

We've heard rumors that the Broadcast Flag that Cory, the EFF, and a coalition of pressure groups have fought so hard against (and beat in the courts) will be sneaked back via an amendment to the giant Senate Appropriations Bill in a sub-committee at 2PM EST on Tuesday 21st. This week is Hollywood's last chance to ram the flag past Congress, and they're working hard to get it under the radar.

There's no time to write letters or start a media campaign: but folk in the states below have just enough time to warn their senators, who are all on the sub-committee. People of Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin - it's up to you!

There's a sample script after the phone list. Remember: be cool, collected and polite. Most of these senators won't know a thing about the flag, until one of them makes it a throwaway amendment tomorrow. Make sure their ears twitch when they hear "broadcast flag" today.

ALABAMA Senator Richard Shelby (202) 224-5744
ALASKA Senator Ted Stevens (202) 224-3004
HAWAII Senator Daniel Inouye (202) 224-3934
IOWA Senator Tom Harkin (202) 224-3254
KANSAS Senator Sam Brownback (202) 224-6521
KENTUCKY Senator Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541
MARYLAND Senator Barbara Mikulski (202) 224-4654
MISSOURI Senator Christopher Bond (202) 224-5721
NEW HAMPSHIRE Senator Judd Gregg (202) 224-3324
NEW MEXICO Senator Pete Domenici (202) 224-6621
NORTH DAKOTA Senator Byron Dorgan (202) 224-2551
TEXAS Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (202) 224-5922
VERMONT Senator Patrick Leahy (202) 224-4242
WASHINGTON Senator Patty Murray (202) 224-2621
WISCONSIN Senator Herb Kohl (202) 224-5653

"Hello, Senator _________'s office"

"Hi, I'm a constituent. [Remember: Only say 'I'm a constituent' if you really are -- if you're calling the Senator from _your own state_] I'm registering my opposition to the broadcast flag amendment being introduced in the Senate Commerce Justice and Science Appropriations subcommittee mark-up on Tuesday, and in full committee on Thursday."

(*** You can give your own reasons for opposing the flag here. Here's a sample: ***)

"The Broadcast Flag cripples any device capable of receiving over-the-air digital broadcasts."

"It give Hollywood movie studios a permanent veto over how members of the American public use our televisions."

"It forces American innovators to beg the FCC for permission before adding new features to TV."

"It will prevent fair use of copyrighted works: critical review, and use of material in distance learning"

"This is an important issue which will affect all Americans, and should not be inserted in a large bill, at the last moment, with no debate."

"Please oppose the broadcast flag amendment. My name and address are ___________________."

"Thank you for your time."

Good luck!

Then the update:

You can now fax and email appropriation committee members for free at the EFF's action center. Do it tonight, or live with the consequences of a Hollywood veto over your PC forever.

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I really enjoy programming! I wish I could do it in these wee hours without feeling so tired.

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Student: I don't make enough.
Master: Perhaps you spend too much.

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I'm so tired. So much to be done before the morn.

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My anxiety is so high that the dizzy spells are trying to come back. I can feel it when I lie down and stand up.

I came upstairs this morning to find Amy asleep in a laundry basket. I wonder how long she slept there.

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To all the dads out there: "Happy Father's Day!"
To all the children: "Take care of your dad today be it through a phone call, visit, hug or in memory."
To all the dads yet to be: "It's worth it!"

To the moms: "Thanks for letting us be dads!"

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So I have 3 law mowers and none of them run. That is, until yesterday. I finally took some time to clean up one. I removed the gas tank and carburetor cleaning them thoroughly. Got a new airfilter and did the oddest thing..I soaked it in motor oil (as instructed). I'm still baffled.

Mower started up and with the exception of a few putters it is running fine. I think I'll work on the other two and have some fun in the yard this week.

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Today is the end of the week and I want everything off my plate. Everything completes! Today!

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I just went outside and scare the dickens out of a raccoon (good picture at wikipedia). It shot up the tree and I raced in for my flashlight. Cute baby coon. I placed a apple in what remains of my hand-made bird's nest.

Animals I have seen in this yard:

• Raccoon (6)
• Chipmunk (dead and alive)
• Possum
• Black Snake (dead and alive)
• mole
• mouse (I used to feed one a piece of cheese and peanut butter while I sat on my switch with a bowl of cereal. Every morning at 8am the two of us would share a meal.)
• hampster (beats me..could have been a huge field mouse)
• cat
• dog
• Cardinal
• hummingbird
• sparrow
• bat
• wren
• hawk
• ok..the list of birds is far too long
• matter of fact.. I should re-think continuing this list

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