Dosboy's Bits and Bytes

Having just switched to Chrome cuz Firefox's rampant CPU utilization was annoying me, I was immediately struck with another annoyance.  Chrome is lacking a proper status bar.  It truncates long URLs at the END and cuts off any query string variables.  Not very nice for developers.

So, I took it upon myself to create a little extension that shows the full href attribute of any <a> elements in an unobtrusive status bar of my own.  Hope it helps someone out there.

Download: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ojjdiklbbogaliiljdbpbkkkghendjja

Support: http://groups.google.com/group/google-chrome-status-bar-extension

I am officially cancelling my facebook account.  The other day someone in my friends list had a "Like" about some video.  Curious, I wanted to check out the video, so I clicked the link.  Well, it turns out that in simply VIEWING the video the site developer injected a "Like" on my account for that video as well.  I never said I liked it.  In fact, I didn't really like it.  Having my own little pocket of information on the web that I can direct my friends to is nice, but when people start doing stupid shit it makes me angry.  Google "facebook auto like" and you'll see a bunch of black-hat forums where script kiddies are doing this all over the place.  Next it's gonna be "auto let-app-have-access-to-my-details", then "auto take-over-my-account".  No thanks.  And just now I tried to download a PDF from Scribd.  It said I could use my facebook account to log in and download it instead of creating an account there.  So I chose that option... then it said it needed access to my account.  Well, eff that.  I'm not giving some random website access to my facebook details so I can d/l a pdf file that's already visible for me to read (just not to save).  So, this blog (soon to be migrated to a different environment and spruced up quite a bit - when I have time that is) will continue to be my personal pocket of information on the web.  Which _I_ control.

Gregg, you had it right all along.  Fuck Facebook.

From an email conversation with a friend which degenerated into a thread about TV Trivia, and me citing my Three's Company expertise:

[I] Wasn't allowed to watch three's company because of God.

I don't even know 100% what that means, but it makes me laugh... nay, guffaw... every time I read it.  Go God!

As an aside, I chose this picture because I love Terri.  Literally.  God be damned!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, I came to Singapore again today.  Last time I just hung out at the airport in an attempt to save money.  This time I decided that it's ok if I spend a little extra in order to take advantage of Singapore.  And by that I mean take advantage of Brewerkz.  BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger and multiple Oatmeal Stouts.  I am in heaven.  To quote a friend, "the only thing missing is a roman orgy".  Though technically that would get in the way of my burger and beer, so I'd probably pass anyway.

So anyway, there's a bit of a story (assuming a story is the ability for my readers to laugh at my expense).  Woke up this morning with just enough time, went downstairs, and my car wouldn't start.  Have been having battery problems lately, and from the moment I got up to the moment I heard the "click-click", I was thinking positive thoughts.  "My car will start.  My car *will* start."  But it didn't.  So after swearing for a couple minutes and calling the only 2 people I knew with cars that might be up at 7:15am (of which neither of them were awake/available), a car pulled into my driveway and I was able to get a jump.  But then it started to rain.  So, there I am, pulling jumper cables and attaching them to batteries while the rain is pouring down and I'm drenched (electricity and water - the breakfast of champions).  Anyway, got the car started, got to the airport, got checked in, and got on my plane.  Everything was uneventful until I got to Singapore.  No problem at customs and all that, got in a cab and told him I wanted to go to Brewerkz.  I'd already done my research last night (of course) and figured out what I wanted.  But all he could say to me was "it's really far".  "I've already flown here from Thailand... a long drive isn't going to deter me" I told him.  So what does he do?  He drives for a bit, then pulls into some sort of mall with a foodcourt and says "there's lots of places to eat here".

REALLY?!  Your fare (that you picked up at the airport) asks you to go to a specific restaurant, and you take him to a foodcourt?  Anyway, he sat there for awhile calling people trying to get directions, and eventually took me to a Brewerkz at some stadium.  It looked a little suspicious (as in nothing looked open), but he seemed confident so I paid him and got out of the cab.  He drove away.  I walked around the building to where the Brewerkz is and it was CLOSED!  So then I had to walk a few hundred metres to a taxi stand at another building.  And I stood there for a long time before a cab came.  But my new taxi driver was awesome.  Had a nice conversation with her about the crazy red-shirts in Bangkok and arrived at my destination with only a $7 and change cab fare (after the nearly $20 from the airport douchebag).  So, I lost about an hour of quality time with my stout(s).  But I vow to finish this post now and play a little catch up.  Then back to Phuket tonight.

So excuse me now whilst I enjoy my burger and stout.

As my friends already know, I'm pretty much a vampire - even though I live on a tropical island.  The other day I tried to do some work on the roof beside the pool (ok, I was actually trying to watch Breaking Bad).  But it sucked.  I couldn't see my screen to save my life.  The whole glossy Mac screen is nice indoors, but it sucks ass outside.  So just now I thought to myself that I should try to find a way to reduce the glare so that I could, when the mood struck me, work outside.  So I googled "macbook pro sunlight glare" and the first link I clicked led me to this:

WTF?!  Who is going to carry that PoS around with them so they can use their laptop in less-than-optimal-lighting-conditions?  Not I.  Could you imagine sitting by the pool with your laptop on your lap and that hoody surrounding it?  Luckily, further link-clicking led me to this Anti-Glare Screen Protector, which is both cheap and unobtrusive.  Now all I need to do is find an even cheaper Thai knockoff.

As most Firefox users know, clicking the middle mouse button (or scrollwheel) on a link opens it in a new tab.  Since I've been using a MacBook, whenever I don't have a mouse I've been using a 2 finger click to bring up the context menu then selecting "Open Link in New Tab".  This is tedious, so today I started looking for a way to emulate the middle mouse button functionality with a 3 finger click.  And after a little searching I found a neat little app that does exactly that.

Enter MiddleClick.  It's a lightweight little app that lets you use either a 3 Finger Click or a 3 Finger Tap to emulate the middle mouse button.  And it works like a charm.  Thanks clem!

To make it start automatically (since there's no Dock icon) you have to go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items and add it that way.

Lately I've been using Firefox with a lot of tabs.  Generally I'm actually using multiple windows with multiple tabs.  One window for development/testing.  One window for general surfing.  One window for time tracking.  And many tabs in each.  Occasionally my machine gets sluggish, and when I check Activity Monitor it's inevitably Firefox chewing up CPU and RAM.  Before today I would just sigh, go through my tabs to see if there is anything important that I still want open, then close all the other tabs, then close Firefox (telling it to open existing tabs when it opens), then re-open Firefox.  Big PITA.  But no more!

Enter BarTab!  I just discovered this little gem and after using it for 5 mins am already in love with it.  It basically lets you manage whether tabs are active or passive.  If they're active, they act like they normally do.  If they're passive, the tab for a page remains visible, but the page isn't loaded until the tab is actually clicked.  And you can set a timeout so that if a tab isn't accessed for x hours it'll unload itself.  Very nice.

I really want one of these.  I had one when I was a kid (grey) and have been looking for some Chinese knock-off for years now.  Unfortunately they won't ship to Thailand... so if any of my friends want to buy me an early birthday present or just want to do a guy a favor, I'd greatly appreciate it :)

eBay Link

Ya, it's been quiet in here lately.  Been busy.  At any rate, my friend just shared with me the trailer for what looks to be an excellent upcoming flick.  Seems like great casting - at least from the trailer.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/theateam/

I love it when a plan comes together.

If there's one thing I really hate about SE Asia it's flies.  As in Musca domestica.  They're everywhere.  And they have no courtesy.  They fly right in your field of vision, into your eyes, up your nose, in your ears... they just don't care.  The mosquitos are annoying - but they're relatively slow and can be killed.  Ants can be frustrating as when there's one, there's a hundred - but they serve a purpose in cleaning up leftovers.  But flies?

Remember those Sally Struthers Ethiopia ads (well, not technically an ad for Ethiopia, but you know) where they have images of the kids with flies climbing on their eyeballs?  I get it now.  You just get so tired of waving the fuckers away repeatedly that eventually you just give up... and let them climb on your eyeballs.

I will say that Phuket isn't so bad.  But northern Thailand (and Laos apparently) are horrendous when it comes to these flying, obnoxious insects.  As with everything insect-related, the more urban a location is, the less insects there are.  And northern Thailand is about as rural as it gets, so it's understandable that the flies have taken over.

Anyway, that's my pet peeve for the day, as I sit here typing this post on a ~40kB/s internet connection in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, on what is probably one of the faster 'net connections around.  With flies divebombing me and trying to drink my coffee.  And land on my eyeballs.