Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • A Fun Javascript Puzzle: Shortcut Icons

    Someone at work asked about this and I can’t find the answer. And, because my foot hurts and I can’t sleep, I figured I’d give it a shot.\
    This is my attempt, and it doesn’t work in anything but Opera 8.5 (that I’ve tested so far), as you can see. Any ideas?\
    Before you start, here’s what I found with my example:

    1. Firefox and Safari both report no errors when I try to change the shortcut icon.
    2. Firefox actually updates the DOM to point to the new image, but the browser doesn’t display it.
    3. It doesn’t work in IE, but I had someone else test it and I didn’t get any more details other than it doesn’t work.
    4. I’ve only tried one way of doing it so far, but I can’t think of anything else that would work at the moment (paaaaaain piiiiiiiills).\
      Got any ideas? Isn’t it a fun little conundrum?\
      UPDATE: I’ve got something working in Firefox! Check out attempt two. It removes the shortcut icon link and appends a new one to the head. Still doesn’t work in Safari, and I don’t have IE at the moment to test, but it’s progress. If you try it in IE, please let me know if it works.

  • I Guess It’s My Turn…

    First Sheryl Swoopes, and now George Takai come out of the closet. It must be the week for it. Ok, my turn. I was in the closet this morning, and now I’m out. I was looking for a shirt, and with the crutches and the fact that my closet is upstairs? I don’t plan on going back in the closet anytime soon.

  • Home

    We’re home, I have a big splint/bandage combination on my leg, and I’m high… high as a kite.\
    Dr. Wilson says everything went well, but I forgot to ask him if I could keep the bone. Stupid oxycontin.\
    I don’t expect to do much for the next couple weeks except watch movies, take a lot of pain pills followed by lots of naps and try not to get bored. I don’t have a lot of experience writing code while on painkillers, but I might try it…\
    Oh, and this was announced today on the microformats list if you’re into that sort of thing. It was a lot of fun coming up with it, and I can’t tell you what product we’re building that drove its creation, but it may be the coolest thing I’ve ever worked on at AOL.\
    More details when I’m less high.

  • My Headshot for SxSW

    I could take a new one, but I just don’t have time between now and surgery on Friday. I think this’ll have to do.\
    This photo came from my first trip to Dublin – although I should probably just ask Dan if I can use this one

  • Writing About Myself Is Hard

    You’d think that having a blog would have prepared me for this moment. For SxSW, I have to write a short and long bio… about me. You would think that someone who talks as much as I do would be able to come up with a paragraph describing myself. But, every time I start, I get self-conscious about writing about myself in the third person and it goes all Bob Goulet on me. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

    Kevin Lawver is a passionate lover of web standards (which his wife oddly doesn’t mind). He french kisses his CSS and makes sure all his tags are closed so the neighbors don’t gossip. Kevin (that’s me) loves writing valid semantic markup by candlelight, and desperately wishes that Barry White had written a love song about CSS3 Selectors. But, Kevin realizes that it’ll probably be country music that brings us our first song about CSS – and it will unfortunately probably be about adjacent siblings. Kevin longs for the day when all browsers hold hands in harmony and web developers, management and designers all understand and love standards and understand their benefits. Kevin would also really like a cookie.

    What do you think? Too much?

  • Completely irrational but…

    I feel responsible for Kevin’s broken ankle.

  • The End Of The Line

    I have a second opinion that’s just like the first. I’ve spent three months in either a boot or a cast, which haven’t make the pain stop.\
    I get my ankle opened up, and the pesky extra bone removed, next Friday at high noon. I would say I’m looking forward to it, but I’m really not. It means at least 3 weeks on crutches, possibly longer, and a very long recovery (“it’s worse than an ACL”, says Dr. Wilson).\
    The one small consolation is that we stuck with the conservative option until it was clear it wouldn’t work. My doctor comes highly recommended (even by the guy who gave the second opinion).\
    My other source of comfort is that my wife is awesome. She’s handled my various horrific injuries with grace, support and love. She’s just the best.

  • How To Convince Your Company To Embrace Standards

    Since we’re listed on the official panels list, I figure I can blog about it. Our panel got approved for SxSW Interactive next year!!\
    It’s called How to Convince Your Company to Embrace Standards and should be a lot of fun. We’ve had a really interesting experience the past couple years trying to push AOL to adopt and embrace web standards. I think we have a lot of interesting information to share about how to translate the technical benefits of web standards into terms that decision makers understand, and how to build a grassroots standards movement “under the radar” without getting yourself fired or pissing off too many people (or at least the wrong people). Since AOL is the size it is, a lot of the strategies I’ve seen posted on blogs and at other conferences don’t scale. Hopefully, we’ll be able to help fill the gaps.\
    We’ve lined up some really interesting folks for the panel, all with a part in the drama, and all with slightly different perspectives on the whole process:

  • Jen’s new shows

    Since Kevin did it, I will too.\
    1. Prison Break– It’s an intense drama that is making me root for both convicted felons and the innocent underdog.\
    2. Supernatural– Kind of like Charmed and Buffy, but without the preternatural abilities. Absolutely cheesy, but the boys are pretty.\
    3. Commander-in-Chief– This reminds me of what The West Wing used to be like. It is full of ideals and hope that have no place in the real White House, I am afraid.\
    4. Invasion– Thanks to Tivo, I can skip the part I don’t like (the sheriff who looks menacingly at everyone)

  • New Television To Watch And Enjoy

    The television season is now several weeks old, but I hadn’t caught up with enough new shows to make recommendations. Now, I have, and we have some winners!!! They are:

    1. Rome – It’s different, and aside from the sex, it’s not your typical HBO Sunday night. It’s political, familial, and conniving. Like other HBO shows, there really are no heroes, which is fine with me. Heroes always disappoint, while villains are at least entertaining. The acting is top notch, and it doesn’t really feel like I thought it would. It’s done for Antiquity what Deadwood did for the Old West – it’s put the life back in the statues, and isn’t afraid to treat the legends like real people. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially for Ray Stevenson’s portrayal of Titus Pullo, fatally flawed, goofy and vicious. He’s the antihero that all other antiheros aspire to be. And, lucky you, HBO is re-running the first 8 episodes this week.
    2. Threshold – I had low expectations for this show, and I’m not sure how far they can stretch the premise, but so far so good. This is sci-fi bubblegum, with just enough creep factor to keep me coming back. It’s a little like The 4400 but with some Andromeda Strain and X-Files thrown in. Good stuff, and the cast is great fun. It’s great to see Charles S. Dutton on TV again.
    3. Invasion – Kind of slow, and sometimes the acting isn’t great, but this one is interesting enough to put make TiVo keep recording it each week. The cast is pretty stock ensemble with very few recognizable names (unlike Threshold which screams indie movie fan as casting director). It is nice to see William Fichtner, but he’s really the only cast member I recognize from anything. If you like LOST but think it moves too fast, then Invasion may be for you.
    4. Extras – It’s by the guy who did The Office. If you like your comedy extremely painful, you’ll love this show.
    5. One Night Stand – It’s back!!! YAY!!!! I frigging love this show. A new comedian every week, and it’s only 30 minutes. Had a bad day? Watch Flight Of The Conchords and all your troubles are gone.\
      It’s not really a “new” show, but this season’s Amazing Race is so much better than I thought it would be. I was afraid they wouldn’t do anything with the families, and they haven’t left the country yet (crossing my fingers for this week), but it’s a lot of fun. It’s a good mix of in-laws, siblings, parents, teenagers, and kids… and they’re all a mess in some ways. It’s guilty, but it’s too much fun not to watch.\
      Set your TiVo’s now. You’ve been warned.