Labour Disputes in Web Development: Leaked Document!

by Steven Garrity
Thumbnail of labour agreement
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Today at our office, perhaps inspired by the faculty at our local university, there was a rift between management and staff. Early in the afternoon, as the time of day we like to call “snack-o-clock” began to approach, there were rumblings of a potential work-stoppage if our (sweet, sweet) demands were not met.

Management was quick to respond and an agreement was reached in time for snack-o-clock. Things are still a little tense, but we’re all being mature about it.

You can take a look at a leaked copy of the agreement that was smuggled out of the high-level negotiations.

 

Why are there no banjos in Star Trek?

by Steven Garrity

The East Coast Music Awards were in Charlottetown this past weekend and I enjoyed some great live music by Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Joel Plaskett, Wintersleep, Mir, and lots of traditional East Coast artists.

The true highlight of the weekend, though, was Cape Breton songwriter JP Cormier’s banjo jokes. As he brought out his banjo, he shared a joke that divided the crowd sharply into two contingents: people laughing (which was only myself), and everyone else.

Q. Why are there no banjos in Star Trek?

A. Because it’s in the future.

 

by Steven Garrity

Awesome email to Firefox development list: “I’m neither a kid, nor a fool.” (granted, some of the hilarity is simply a language difference)

 

by Steven Garrity

Sloan is working on their next album

 

by Steven Garrity

This IEs 4 Linux script worked like a charm on Fedora Core 4 – I’ve now got IE6, IE5.5, and IE5 on Linux for browser testing.

 

Non-Tech Website Statistics

by Steven Garrity

Some semi-anonymous browser statistics from a non-technology-related e-commerce website during a one-week period in early February 2006:

Browser usage from a mid-sized e-commerce site – February 2006
84.1% Internet Explorer (97% of these using IE6)
9.6% Firefox (43% of these using v1.5)
2.5% Safari

A few thoughts:

  • Firefox really does have somewhere around 10% of the market. Most of the other statistics I’ve seen are skewed towards a more tech-aware crowd and lean more in favour of Firefox.
  • Almost everyone uses Internet Explorer is up to version 6. It has been out for a few years now, and upgrading is easy, but I’m still surprised how few people are still on IE 5/5.5. This bodes relatively well for update of IE7 (which is already starting to show up in the statistics in beta form).
  • A few people (literally, just a “few”) use IE5.x for the Mac
  • Not even one visitor during this week used Netscape 4 or Internet Explorer 4. Not one. I never thought I would live to see such a time.
  • Mac users are around 4%, Linux users below 0.3%. Someone visited using OS/2!

Ah, bullet points – lazy cousin of the paragraph.

 

by Steven Garrity

Design patterns at Yahoo

 

by Steven Garrity

Slick image hack for sharp lines along with JPEG images by fellow silverorange Daniel Burka

 

by Steven Garrity

Actual press release from Canada’s Department of National Defence: NORAD prepares for Super Bowl XL

 

Election Day: Hive Mind Politics

by Steven Garrity

Having voted earlier this evening for the Green Party in the Canadian federal election, I left the poling station with a strange sensation.

Given all the talk (some of it my own voice) of how little a vote counts, and how ineffectual a partisan political system can be, it is easy to be cynical (and I am) about the value of voting. For example, tonight I voted for a candidate and party who have virtually no chance of winning in my riding.

That said, there is something remarkable about participating in a collective decision with tens of millions of others.

Voting makes me feel small, insignificant, and powerful.

Update: Again doing something in common with tens of millions of others, I’ve turned on the TV to watch some election coverage. I’m back to feeling cynical.