Sunday, May 22, 2011

Firefox 5 beta

There isn't much new in this release.
There is the new channel switcher and better support for CSS animations, but none of the hoped-for features are yet included. This is in contrast to the nightly build, where one other change has occurred: the URL bar now acts like Internet Explorer 8's, graying out everything but the actual domain name.
Chances are, you won't notice any of the differences, as the channel switcher effectively works in the background (only people who want to change channels regularly will be affected. Personally, I have the Nightly, Aurora, Beta, and Release versions installed separately). One problem that I have with the channel switcher is that there is no way to switch to the nightly builds from the channel switcher, and you can't switch from the Nightly to any other channel. While this may not seem a big deal, it can make a difference when testing (one of these days, I'm going to have time to participate in one of Mozilla's bugdays, but that may be a while) since each confirmed bug in Aurora is supposed to be checked in the Nightly build.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Finished IB testing...After I graduated

For some reason, IB testing doesn't finish before the end of the senior school year. Maybe that's because IB wants everyone suffer painfully.

Also, IB Math HL is the hardest test that I took--If I don't get the IB diploma, it is probable that it is math that does it.


Update on new format for site:
Still working on it (I have to learn XML programming--background colors were easy--and I have to figure out why it isn't behaving as expected)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Troy Rising Series--Looking back after the third release

I am trying to keep this very general. This means that only one name is mentioned, and that is a character first introduced in Live Free or Die along with the primary method for bootstrapping earth into a galactic power. I am going to avoid most of the technology, with a few exceptions, and give a very broad overview. I don't want to ruin the series for other people after all...


The first book was good. There were some explosions, an explanation on how humans got out of the gravity well, and the repercussions of being unable to defend ourselves. It even had some science that did sound somewhat possible (and is possible, like the SAPL) with a lot more work here on earth.

The second book expanded upon the first, and did not focus so much on Tyler Vernon, but more upon a new arrival to space. Since this book focused more on the nitty-gritty of surviving in space, it was also very realistic (except the gates...and the reaction-less drives), especially when talking about the dangers of a vacuum and orbital kinetic strikes on earth.

The third book wrapped up the entire series (unfortunately), and again it focuses upon the people who would enable earth to win a fight against aliens--in other words, the pilots, the welders, and the manufacturers--except the main character is thrown in with some horribly ineffective people.

I personally wish that there was going to be a fourth book (there is some potential there, what with the mediators being very territorial).
EDIT: According to TvTropes.org there is Word of God  from Ringo that he will be continuing the series.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Testing

Why do AP students have only one test per subject and IB students have multiple tests?

Personally, I think that AP doesn't like students, since the students have only one chance to pass or fail their exams, whereas IB wants students to pass--as evidenced by the multiple tests that students are able to take, and the students ability to talk with classmates after the test about what they did not know.

On the other hand, the AP get through the suffering faster, while the IB students have to suffer through at least two tests per course (with a few exceptions).