NSLog();

What do you see when you visit http://nslog.com/index.rdf? A week or so ago I moved solely to index.rss and comment.rss feeds. My 404 page triggers a search, and my MovableType activity log has, since I replaced index.rdf with a very generic "Please use a different feed" stub you should see when you visit index.rdf, "index.rdf" has shown up in the search list hundreds of times per day.

How can this be failing? index.rdf exists in the same place it's always existed. Why aren't people just seeing the contents of index.rdf and saying "oh, I should switch to index.rss." Why are they getting 404s for index.rdf? It has me thoroughly stumped (though I haven't had the time to do any research beyond just noting my activity log in MT).

P.S. Yes, I know I could use a 301, but very few feed viewers seem to actually support that code. I'll use it when we test PulpFiction's support for it.

Though I admire this guy for pushing Web standards, I am annoyed by the conclusion: Apple should port Safari to Windows.

How in the world would this make any sense? While iTunes makes money for Apple and provides a common ground for a multiplatform hardware product (the iPod), and while QuickTime ties into Apple's media server products (Broadcaster, iTunes now, etc.), a free browser does little to justify the cost of porting to Windows. Simply to push Web standards? As much as I wish that to be the case, I find FireFox and other Windows browsers quite suitable at helping to push the standards we have.

The answer to almost very, very few questions is "port it to Windows."

Question: What was your favorite class (college, HS, whatever)?

My Answer: I may have to go with physics or French in high school (though organic chem was great too). In college, I enjoyed far fewer - mostly because other students rubbed out my enthusiasm. I enjoyed all of my CS classes most - funny, given that I got my main degree in medicinal chemistry. If I had to pick a class, it would be CS 161 with Dr. Hudak. He's left academia last time I heard, but he was a good guy - not necessarily a great teacher, but a good guy - that made even the mindlessness of CS 161 (for me) tolerable and enjoyable.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: What's the best thing about little kids?

My Answer: I think the fact that you can act like a big kid around them is the best thing. Of course, there are several others, such as the rate at which they soak up information (it's fun to show people things they've never seen before, regardless of their age). Kids are so easily impressed.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Do you have a jacuzzi? Or ready access to one?

My Answer: No and no. Does my apartment complex have a jacuzzi? I don't think so. No, just a pool. Hrm… my roommate and I once contemplated putting a jacuzzi in our dorm room.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Jamie is looking for some comments on her porn post, and is taking a list of them to class on Monday (I think), so if you've got something to say, drop by.

I'll write more about it later… more than the little I posted in a comment.

Question: Do you have a VersionTracker account?

My Answer: Yes. However, they've just asked me to renew and I don't believe I will be. What does it offer? I never visit MacFixIt anymore, so a bundle promotion won't lure me into their Web again either. As a developer, I haven't seen any benefits, and I rarely worry about keeping as up-to-date as I used to. I tend to hear about updates within 12 hours through means other than VersionTracker.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: What's the best Father's Day present you've given or received?

My Answer: My dad is unusually difficult to buy for because, like myself, if he wants something he gets it for himself. We have been able to surprise him with a big steak dinner, or ammunition, or something like that, but those times are outnumbered by the time he insists that he has everything, and that he'd be happy if we just had whatever meal struck his fancy at the moment for dinner.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Do you play golf?

My Answer: Yep. Was quite good for awhile (and at the real-life version, not the video game version), and haven't played anywhere near regularly since moving to Florida, perhaps the golf capital of the US. Hrmph.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I just finished playing the Southern Major Championship in Tiger Woods 2004. As I lined up a 14-foot putt on the 72nd green, the announcer said "This is for the win!"

Thing is, he could have said that 55 putts later. I won by 57 shots. I shot 51-52-52-52: 207 total and 77 under par. At one point in the third round, I was 7 under after four holes and 8 under after five in the second round. I hit one ball out of bounds in the final round (I got a bit cocky I suppose, and tried a super shot) and it cost me the only bogey of the tournament. I lipped out about seven putts, left a few long ones a a few inches short, and had one double eagle. I chipped in about five times from off the green for eagles or more. I missed three greens and three fairways. I played out of two bunkers and holed one of the shots.

And yet I keep playing, because you've got to at least complete an entire season to break some of the records. Ho hum. Tedious to say the least.

At one point, we decided that it'd be cool if PulpFiction allowed users to customize the preview pane with CSS. We shoved every article into a template and created unique DIVs for everything. A few simple stylesheets were produced and we were quite pleased.

Some time later, we decided that it would be even cooler if the stylesheet author could override the built-in template with their own. We came up with the seemingly brilliant idea of an optional header in the .css file, enclosed in /* CSS comment tags */. Simple, easy, effective. Also a bit braindead.

If we were going to mix HTML and CSS, why, there's already a good way to do this: build an HTML document with <style> tags. PulpFiction 1.0.1 includes this improvement (and about 60 others). I'll update the resources page when we ship it.

Question: Did you watch the 1980 Olympics USA vs. USSR hockey game?

My Answer: I was not yet two at the time. If I could find a copy of it somewhere, I would watch it today, though.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: How do you sleep?

My Answer: I used to be a tosser/turner. My Tempurpedic has helped that quite a bit. Now I lay primarily on my side/stomach. I usually put the pillows at 90 degrees and wrap my arms around one of 'em. Occasionally I substitute a woman for the pillow. Occasionally. 😉

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

John Gruber, in Security Cannot be Spun, poignantly takes Apple to task for trying to milk PR from recent security updates. The help:runscript vulnerability is the leadoff batter, and Gruber points out that Apple didn't seem to act on the issue until it was made public - having failed to do so when the vulnerability was reported on February 23. Gruber admits that Apple simply may have taken this long to fix the issue, but criticizes Apple for their handling of the situation:

Ostensibly, Lixlpixel did the right thing, or at least did what Apple would prefer people do when serious vulnerabilities are identified. Ideally, notifying Apple privately would engender the same response as publicizing the vulnerability in the press.

A quick look at the reporter's site provides this gem:

i told Apple on 23rd of February about this and never got any reply.

The thing is this: how did he report it to Apple? Did he send an email to feedback@apple.com or fill out the form. Did he call and leave some sort of voicemail with Apple PR?

I wouldn't expect any of those methods of notification to receive a response. Apple gets thousands of general emails per day and I could easily see how one might be lost in the shuffle.

I think we can come to three conclusions here.

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Suppose someone harboring a grudge over the fact that .Mac now cost $99 instead of being free created a cool shareware game. This game was cool enough that Apple brokered a deal to give away a free copy to .Mac subscribers.

People download the special, pre-registered copy of the game en masse.

A few weeks later an "update" is released and customers are directed to the company's website. Once there, a hidden frameset tells the application to launch via the "evilgame:" protocol. This URI protocol handler is only present in the special version available to .Mac users.

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