Published in the early morning of February 25, 2005
If you haven’t heard of Mozilla Firefox by now you really should visit civilization more often. As many of you know, Firefox is the browser of the future. Free of all the issues and vulnerabilities that is Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox has slowly eaten into the browser market, taking away a significant percentage of IE’s user base in the past few months. And it hasn’t showed signs of slowing down.
A lot of people have written about Firefox’s features and advantages, so I’ll spare you that. Personally, one of the reasons I really like this browser is tabbed browsing and extensions. An MDI approach in browsers benefits users significantly, and Firefox put to good use this feature pioneered by Opera a few years ago.
Tabbrowser extensions is one of the most useful extensions I’ve ever gotten across, and enhances the already great tabbed browsing experience. However, as development continued and features crept in, it turned the once nimble browser into a somewhat sluggish and crash–prone tool. And so I tried Firefox without TBE, but the functionality was never the same. The only option was to go out looking for an extension (or combination of extensions) that would provide the functionality I missed.
And yes I found them! MiniT solves my need for a scrollable tab bar with draggable tabs for rearrangement and bookmarking, and a modified version called miniT+ (listed on the extension’s homepage) allows for configuration of behaviors for clicks and double–clicks on the browser’s tabs and tab bar. Undoclosetab works as the name suggests — it allows you to undo (or reopen) recently closed tabs. Lastly, SessionSaver is used to save currently open tabs, so you can restore your session after accomplishing the work you should’ve finished hours ago! 
Now it wouldn’t hurt if I share other extensions I’ve recently discovered or have been using before, right? Bookmark Backup saves copies of your bookmarks.html, so you can restore your bookmarks even after a crash or corruption of the bookmarks file. Digger adds a context menu to the toolbar’s Go button with several functions for navigation. Configuration Mania provides a configuration panel for editing several of the browser’s hidden options. Gcache is handy for viewing a page’s version in the google cache, in case it has been slashdotted or just plain unavailable. Google Pagerank Status shows a site’s Google Pagerank, handy for knowing just how much “Don’t be evil” credits the site has. EditCSS and Web Developer are necessities for all web developers. Launchy enables you to open pages and links in other applications, much like a specialized tool for configuring file associations in the browser. Linky adds several functionality to links, allowing you to open all links in a page in new tabs — when you *stumble* upon pages with multiple links, like *photography* sites. Hehehe. Image Toolbar somehow duplicates IE’s image toolbar for easy saving/copying of images to your desktop.
Now you’ve got the perfect browser!
18 Replies·
2005.02.25
Published around lunchtime of February 23, 2005
I just updated my comment highlighting plugin for WordPress and it’s now bumped up to version 1.1. The previous version works fine but 1.1 adds functionality for WP–1.5! Utilizing the added plugin hooks in 1.5–strayhorn, you can highlight comments from the comment loop in the entry pages by using the rp_comment_hilite_link() function, which works not unlike the “Edit This” or “h” link in the default templates. I’ve thought about this before but never had the time to implement it, not until ckozus emailed about it yesterday and I just felt like diving into PHP and WP for an hour or two. It feels good to code in PHP after months of PL/1 and COBOL!
4 Replies·
2005.02.23
Published in the wee hours of February 22, 2005
I just updated wp–recent–links to work with the latest WordPress release. It’s now up to version 1.32. I’m glad to have great hacker friends around that always get to the problem in no time, and with feedback from users development is much easier.
I’ve been wanting to integrate the additions Eric Meyer made several months ago, but I realized the addition of via links into the rp_recentlinks set of functions would make everything too complicated, more sooner than later. Development of the current codebase better end where it is right now, and we’ll start with something new — one with a much simpler yet more extensible approach, more like iPAP templates and tags. More details in the next few days.
Addendum: I didn’t bother updating the 1.0 hack, only the 1.2-compatible plugin with enhancements for 1.5’s new plugin hooks. If you’ll be using this on 1.5, there is no need to edit your menu.php file.
21 Replies·
2005.02.22
Published just before lunchtime of February 21, 2005
Last week we finally got a DVD–writer for our home PC after years (and probably hundreds of CDs) of burning with my 12X LiteOn 12101B CD–writer. We bought a 16X DVD+/-RW, the LiteOn SOHW-1673S announced not too long ago and discussed quite actively. This drive is closely related to the 1653S and the 1633S, both of which are great all–around burners and readers.
Everything about this drive has been great and I’ve been busy cleaning up my hard disks with all the junk and unused data from the past few years. I’ve got only one complaint though, I find it ironic that I can now buy a DVD writer for six thousand pesos when the CD writer it replaces had me forking more than seven grand! Haha, the wonders of technology. An expounding of Moore’s Law?
This had me thinking that a good percentage of data are hardly supposed to be kept on hard disks, and should’ve been archived safely a long time ago — before you end up losing everything after an unexpected hard drive crash.
With the continuously dropping cost of DVD media, I just rediscovered my interest in archival quality music storage. I used to encode my music in mp3 format using the well–known LAME encoder, using the just as famous r3mix preset — until I discovered Ogg Vorbis. I was caught in the format’s quality and technical merits, but more importantly the philosophies and beliefs it supports.
But after a few years, I got tired of musing over sound quality and clipping and dithering, so I just set ooggdropXPd at q=5 and enjoyed the music. Right now, more than half of the encoded albums on my drive are in vorbis format, with old backups in r3mix–encoded mp3s. But recently, I came across the FLAC project and and it had me reverting to my technically obsessed persona. FLAC is closely related to Ogg Vorbis and just as technically sound. With 4.5 gigabyte of space on a single DVD, I can archive a good number of albums after compression with FLAC. And since FLAC is lossless, I can re–encode to any format I want in the future, or whatever format is most supported when I finally get a portable audio player. An iPod? Probably.
But the big question: Why did I write this entry? 
Well, I’m just buying time so I can update my WP plugins and related projects, as well as cook up something refreshingly new. Stay tuned.
11 Replies·
2005.02.21
Published in the wee hours of February 16, 2005
Yes, the latest iteration of the greatest weblog publishing tool is now up for grabs! The development people are talking about it, and soon everyone — but maybe not the WP dev blog nor Matt himself.
Happy hacking everyone, time for some code refresh of our plugins.
16 Replies·
2005.02.16
Published around lunchtime of February 13, 2005
Joey tagged me with this musical quiz of sorts, so here goes my answers.
Random 10 — I’m quite surprised how pleasantly my ten random songs came out. I just loaded all the songs in my WA5 library and toggled shuffle, then listened to the first ten. Nice.
- Kevyn Lettau - Far Away
- John Stevens (AI2) - She’s Always A Woman
- Gary Valenciano - Narito
- Air Supply - Now And Forever
- The Beatles - Free As A Bird
- The Beatles - In My Life
- Sarah McLachlan - Angel
- Goo Goo Dolls - Name
- U2 - Walk On
- All Star Tribute - What’s Goin’ On
What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
Our music library is currently at 15.2 GB, with 127 full albums and thousands of singles.
The last CD you bought was:
Parokya Ni Edgar’s Inuman Sessions Vol. 1. Sulit!
Write down five songs you listen to a lot or mean a lot to you:
- Rivermaya - Liwanag Sa Dilim
- Mr. Big - To Be With You
- Madonna - Crazy For You
- Eraserheads - Alapaap
- The Beatles - Here, There, and Everywhere
Too bad I had to list five only, because I have other songs that I really like, or mean a lot to me, like Parokya Ni Edgar’s “Harana.” And then some other songs from the same artists listed above. There’s Rivermaya’s “Awit Ng Kabataan” and “214″ and then there’s “Nothing But Love” and “Ain’t Seen Love Like That” from Mr. Big.
Now if I talk Madonna, how can I skip “I’ll Remember” from the movie “With Honors?” Of course every Eraserheads fan loves the classic “Minsan” as well as “Huwag Mo Nang Itanong,” and there’s my personal favorites “Walang Nagbago” and “Fill Her.” For the Beatles, “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude” immediately comes to mind.
Who are you gonna pass this stick to? (3 persons and why)
- Raych - Another die hard music lover! And insanely loves Jasmine Trias. Hahaha.
- Ramil - I know he listens to Parokya a lot though I don’t have any idea about his musical preferences, so I’d love to hear from him.
- Weng - Bamboo fanatic who see’s so much beauty in Filipino music. Another believer of Rico Blanco’s songwriting.
9 Replies·
2005.02.13
- I refuse to be lonely
→
“And I may be senseless. I am meaningless. But I refuse to make myself trivial, for I am significant. These words have no meaning. No sense, no direction. Meaningless. But not me. For I refuse to be lonely.” #
Published around lunchtime of February 11, 2005
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
1 Reply·
2005.02.11
- Does Your iPod Play Favorites?
→
“My first iPod seemed to have a fondness for Steely Dan, while other artists were sent into exile.” I really couldn’t care unless you send me an iPod. #
Published late at night of February 6, 2005
I just had a date with the bathroom scale which isn’t really in the bathroom but in my sister’s room and I just found out how much weight I’ve gained in just two months! For a few months last year I was quite steady at 155 pounds, but gained a few to reach 160 right after the Christmas season. I hardly noticed the changes in my eating habits until I realized some of my pants were quite tight–fitting again and my stomach seems to stick out more than I’ve been recently used to. Arrgghh! 165 pounds is just five pounds away from my average weight a year ago, and I really should do something about this.
Just last Friday I played basketball after skipping it for around two months, and I don’t think I had the stamina to run back and forth, not as much as before. Good thing Ramil and my brother Hannu were there to hit the shots. I managed to sprain my left index finger just a few minutes into the game and I was left with a lame shooting hand for the rest of the evening. Yes — my spankin’ new Molten GF7 broke my finger (but that’s just an excuse for my lousy dribbling!).
Which brings me to my latest toy, my Molten GF7. Sounds familiar? The GF7 is actually a brother of the Molten G7, which you get to see lots of in today’s PBA games and other FIBA–sanctioned leagues and tournaments. The G7 series has the distinguishing yellow/beige stripes around the ball that enhances its playability by increasing the groove count to 12, compared to 8 on the traditional basketball. I really like the way it felt, but I’m not sure how playable it really is because of the sprained finger. 
But Hannu was hitting his usual share of jumpers and three-pointers and passing the ball just as well as the bald guy (Ramil, Hehehe ;)), so I guess it’s a fairly good buy. How much? Just 945 pesos at Sportshouse. If you’re getting one, get the GF7, not the other model priced similarly. The GF7 uses synthetic leather compared to the other which uses rubber.
And by the way, we realized the ball was overinflated when we got home, probably why I sprained my finger.
Now back to my weight issue. My sister tells me I gain weight when I’m in love, and lose weight when depressed. Now it makes sense — because I’m in love.
9 Replies·
2005.02.06
Published in the wee hours of February 3, 2005
Lyrics and chords of the greatest OPM rock song of 2004. Of course, also available as a plain text download. By the way, I was browsing music with Anne at Greenbelt’s Tower Records and accidentally discovered a special edition EP of You’ll Be Safe Here/Liwanag Sa Dilim with 2 versions of each song, plus another track I couldn’t remember the title at the moment. It comes in four different CD covers/layouts, each one labeled You’ll, Be, Safe, and Here, respectively. Cool — reminds me of No Code, Pearl Jam’s 1996 release.
Rivermaya rocks!
* * *
Liwanag Sa Dilim
Rivermaya
INTRO
B A (3x)
G#m A
B A (3x)
G#m A
VERSE ONE
B A
Ituring ang iyong sariling
B
Tagahawi ng ulap
A
Sa kalangitang kulimlim
B
Kampanang yayanig
A
Sa bawat nilalang
B
Magigising ang lupang
A
Kulang sa dilig
REFRAIN ONE
G#m
Ikaw ang magsasabing
A
“Kaya mo ‘to!”
G#m
Tulad ng isang tanglaw
A
Sa gitna ng bagyo
CHORUS
B
Isigaw mo sa hangin
A
Tumindig at magsilbing
B
Liwanag
A
Liwanag sa Dilim
B
Harapin mong magiting
A
Ang bagong awitin
B
Ikaw ang
A
Liwanag sa Dilim
INTERLUDE
B A (3x)
G#m A-
VERSE TWO
B
At sa paghamon mo
A B A
Sa agos ng ating kasaysayan
B A B A
Uukit ka ng bagong daan
REFRAIN TWO
G#m
Ikaw ang aawit ng
A
“Kaya mo ‘to!”
G#m
‘Sang panalangin
A
Sa gitna ng gulo
[ Repeat
CHORUS except last line ]
[ Repeat
INTERLUDE ]
[ Repeat
CHORUS except last line ]
[ Repeat
CHORUS 3 times ]
16 Replies·
2005.02.03
