Intellidick.com - Pure Insanity

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In protest of the recent web exploitation of Ninjas, I have officially given up my status as a ninja and started training to become a pirate. In tribute to my official move over to the pirate camp, the Ed Head ^tm has been modified. Without further ado, I present, the Pirate Ed Head!

I have recently started reading iTWire out of Australia, in particular, the “Open Sauce” articles. I must say, i’m quite impressed with the articles i’ve seen so far. This one just adds to my liking of the posts. No need for my opinion of GNOME here, the following title says it all.

GNOME: 10 years old but did we need it?

After my recent FreeBSD experience, I came to the realization that a large part of my web experience depends on Flash. Not having a decent Flash player in BSD was a big turn off to the OS as a viable desktop environment. Oh sure, you can use the Linux binary emulator to run a Linux version of Firefox and Flash under the BSD kernel. That’s definitely neat, but just not practical. And what about other platforms that can’t emulate Linux or Windows? Are they just out in the cold? Well, not exactly. There are FOSS alternatives, like Gnash and others. Anybody who has tried to use these things knows they aren’t exactly a joyride. No offense to these guys, they’re doing the best they can with what they have to work with from Adobe, which is basically nothing. Reverse engineering something as complex as Flash can’t be easy. Hats off to the Gnash team and others for trying to help.

With this being said, i’ve come up with what I believe to be compelling reasons for Adobe to open up the doors to Flash for the rest of the world to truly embrace it. Now, when I say “open up the doors to Flash”, I do not mean give up the source code. That’s really not practical. No, what i’d like to see is for Adobe to open up the format for everyone to use. I understand that they can’t very well open up the full source code to the Flash player without giving up on some trade secrets, but would opening up the file format kill them?

Technological Reasons

• It’s old enough. The money has been made, adoption is at it’s peak. Give it away and allow it to spread it’s wings even further. Keep it proprietary and watch as people being to migrate away from it. (More on this later)
• A large majority of the web sites out there depend on Flash content, yet the player isn’t supported on all platforms. Support for some of those platforms is pretty pitiful. I know there’s not a lot of demand for commercial UNIX versions, I get it, but still…
• The FOSS developers would most likely provide support on all of the platforms. Leading in from my last point… hey Adobe, if you want Flash on all platforms, then give it to people who love their platforms enough to put it there.
• Alternative technologies (like Silverlight) will not stand a chance against a format that is applicable to all users with all browsers. The market is speaking out and buying alternative platforms and hardware. People are experimenting with their machines again.
• Applications will start to use Flash as a format for other things, not just web applications. Creativity will set in eventually and the Flash format will soar to new heights. Just imagine the amazing widget engine that could be built using Flash/ActionScript instead of HTML/CSS/JavaScript!
• SVG didn’t do so hot in the web world. (Makes for a great icon though!) It was misunderstood and poorly implemented in most cases. We’re sorry that didn’t go so well, but Flash is already seated. Just open up the format and solidify it’s position as a first rate content format.

Business Reasons

• The current Flash money making model is to sell environments to build high quality Flash content. Opening the format will open the door for competition in this arena, thus giving alternatives to those who don’t like the current Flash editor. This may be considering a negative by some, as Adobe will have to try harder to build the best Flash editor money can buy. In the end, competition will only drive these companies harder and the consumer will be the winner.
• Be the company that gave Flash to the world, similar to what Sun is trying to do with Java. Build products that use Flash and sell those, don’t hog the Flash format. Don’t be the company that drove us away from Flash. Remember, today’s computer geek is tomorrow’s IT lead.
• It’s cheaper to release a format specification and a reference player than it is to release a player for all platforms. Make the Windows/Mac player if you’d like, and let the FOSS guys handle the rest if you choose not to. Hey, here’s an idea… how about an open source version of the Linux player that can be extended more than the normal player. Maybe some alternate graphics engine support, similar to the current generation’s alternative sound engine support. (Which was a great move from Adobe). I’m sure Apple would like to get their hands on the MacOSX player to build a highly optimized version. I’m sure the Linux guys would love to as well.

Ethical Reasons

• People will sing the praises of the company that makes and supports open formats. Flash will become “a standard”. Not just a “we use it because they’re isn’t anything better out there right now”
• It’s a really nice thing to do. We’d really appreciate it. (Do I have to beg here?)

In closing… Adobe, please open up Flash. Take the lead here, give the Flash format to the world and let us build some amazing applications with it! Don’t make us invent something better. It can happen. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at how much Flash market share has already been lost to CSS.

Bullet - The Yellow Coris Wrasse
Here is my latest addition to the 46 bow. A Yellow Coris Wrasse. I’m pretty sure this will be the last fish in this tank. I’m happy with the activity level and such and the bio-load is acceptable.

The new Cleaner Shrimp and Piggy - Who says you can’t train a fish?
I was *trying* to get a video of my new cleaner shrimp for the site. As usual, my Coral Beauty felt the need to see what the camera was all about. Normally, he just swims around and waits for food, but apparently he decided he wanted to get closer to the action. Check out what this fish does… maybe I feed him too much?

Saw this on Google’s Quote of the Day service… couldn’t resist.

A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.
- Oscar Wilde

I finally got around to making some videos of the new tank. While I was at it, I made some videos of my favorite fish and such. I tried to catch them all doing neat stuff, but some of them just stared at me like I was a dumbass holding a video camera trying to record fish tricks… oh wait, I was. Here’s the videos…

90g FOWLR system
Livestock is currently 5 fish, a cleaner shrimp, and the Rose and Condy Anemones from the 46BF tank.

Earl! The Royal Gramma
All hail Earl, survivor of the 46g marine aquarium. This guy was added almost immediately after the coral beauty and has been through hell and back. He’s fallen out of the tank twice due to rock moves and careless parentry on my part. He’s been chased by pretty much everything in the tank. He had an Ich problem, etc. Give it up for a real trooper.

I actually managed to catch the Coral Beauty (Piggy) going after him, so it made for a funny clip if you’re familiar with the behavioral patterns of these fish.

Pooty and Piggy - The Tomini Tang and Royal Gramma
Here is a quick video of my latest fish in my reef tank… Pooty Tang! He’s a Tomini Tang and was chosen because of his small size. I’ll probably have to remove him later (or get a bigger reef tank!) because he’ll outgrow this tank, but he’s okay for now. He’s under 3 inches but will get to at least 6… way too big for a 46BF. (For those of you who don’t know, Tangs need a lot of swim room. 36″ wide tanks just aren’t enough.)

I also shot some video of the Coral Beauty (Piggy) bullying that Tang around. It didn’t take long to figure out who the dominant fish was in this tank. That may change as the tang gets bigger, but for now, Piggy rules.

Rose Anemone and the Onxy Clowns in their new home
Here is a shot of the Rose Anemone and the two Onyx Clowns that host it. They’re now living happily in the 90g tank. Thanks to a pump mishap during vacation, the Rose had moved in the 46g tank and was extremely unhappy. It was move him or lose him, so now he’s in the 90 and bigger than ever!

Cleaner Shrimp
In addition to the fish in the 90g tank, a cleaner shrimp was added. Hopefully he’ll keep the diseases and parasites under control.

Mr Pink - The Lyretail Anthias
The first member of the new 90g tank was a Lyretail Anthias. He was first in after the cycle was complete and is doing quite well now. Very nice fish, although a bit tough to get eating and likes to be fed 3-4 times per day. Good thing for the autofeeder.

Very neat fish though, also very calm and cool with other tank mates. Highly recommended for a community tank if you have an autofeeder.

Tangs and the Angel - Close ups
Here are some better shots of the new Tangs and the Angel.

The purple tang was straight out of the ocean so his behavior is still a bit odd. He’s eating though, so that’s a good sign.

The blue tang and bicolor angel had been at the fish store for a while and took to the tank right away.

In a previous posting, I listed the final head count of my 46g marine aquarium… Boy was I wrong. Vacation came, all hell broke loose, we lost the clam, the anemones hit the panic button, the new tank came out of cycle, etc, etc, etc… needless to say, the final tally isn’t final anymore. For those who care, here’s the most recent tally for the two tanks. I’ll get some videos of the new tank up soon. Until then, here are a few pictures of the bicolor angel and the lyretail anthias.

46g Reef Tank
• 1 Coral Beauty (Piggy)
• 1 Watchman Goby (Spot)
• 1 Royal Gramma (EARL!!!!)
• 1 Tomini Tang (Pooty Tang)
• 1 Mexican Turbo Snail (Fiesta!)
• 10+ Astrea Snails
• 5+ Nassarius Snails
• 20+ Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
• 10+ Red Tip Hermit Crabs
• 3+ Queen Conch Snails
• Many Soft, SPS, and LPS corals and frags…

90g FOWLR Tank
• 1 Lyretail Anthias (Mr. Pink)
• 1 Bicolor Angel (No names as of yet)
• 1 Blue Tang (No names as of yet)
• 1 Purple Tang (No names as of yet)
• 2 Onyx Clowns (No names as of yet)
• 1 Rose Anemone
• 1 ‘Condy’ Anemone
• 5+ Mexican Turbo Snail
• 10+ Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
• 10+ Red Tip Hermit Crabs
• 3+ Queen Conch Snails

I hate to admit it, but I really like the watchman goby… he’s just so cool. I can’t help but stare at him and just watch him. He’s pretty dormant most of the time, but he occasionally dives into the sand or darts up to the surface of the tank… interesting fish. Very neat personality, even if he’s not that active.

So without further ado, I give you Spot! The Yellow Watchman Goby!

I normally don’t do link articles where I don’t provide the meat of the story, but in this case i’ll make an exception. Just a few things I spotted on iTWire that were nice reads. If you’re looking for a HOWTO, neither of these will help but they’re both a good read.

Article 1 : Why people don’t switch operating systems

Article 2 : Migrating from Windows to Linux: the gentle guide

Just remember folks. No matter how beautiful she is… someone, somewhere, is tired of putting up with her crap.