ChaosMatrix.Net

A few weeks back, Microsoft released a Beta of Internet Explorer 8. After trying it out, and kicking the tires on both a Vista and an XP system, I can definitively say that It has some neat features; conversely it also has some bugs (I’ll get to those in a moment). If you’d like to play with it, you can download it from Microsoft.

One of the neat features is a context based submission, where, by highlighting some content on a web page, you can send that content to another website, very similar (ok damn near identical) to an HTTP POST or GET request. As an example of this, I’ve created an Activity that submits and plots an address in Google Maps.

You must have Internet Explorer 8 installed to use this feature. To install it, use the button below.
Install Google Maps Activity for IE 8

Now, on to the bugs. IE8 tends to render some AJAX style pages as trash, depending on the compatibility mode you’re running it in. — Try Google Maps with IE 7 mode on — it’s borked.

IE 8 also includes a memory protection feature that can be switched on (default is off) to prevent some types of hack that would normally pwn lesser versions of IE. Turning this option on in a Vista PC rendered the browser useless. It would start, hang, crash, offer to restart itself, restart, hang, crash, etc., etc.. Nice huh? And, since Outlook, and other Microsoft applications use the IE engine to render HTML, all my HTML emails and other features were dead in the water.

It can be fixed by hacking the registry key that controls the feature to disable it. — Not something that was a lot of fun to find or fix.

That’s it for my initial look at IE 8, I’ll post more details as I discover more about the latest toy from Microsoft.

Late in my time playing UT2004, I developed an interest in mapping for UT2004, and after watching the editing tutorials on the Editor’s Choice Edition of UT 2004, and playing around, I produced 3 remakes, and 1 original map. They were all released together in the Crackaz Map Pack 1.1, and as individual files. This section details those maps and their creation. You’ll also find some old and incomplete textures. Check the DOWNLOADS section to find all the files and goodies. In most cases the Readme files will tell you what you need to know.

You could always explore the Mapping - 2004 (UT2) section of the site too…

I’ve updated the site to the latest versions of all the working, code, and will be spending the rest of this chilly sunday reorganizing and adjusting all of the imported content from my previous sites. Keep an eye out for newly appearing content.

Also, I’ve configured the downloads module, and will be posting my maps, files, and other interesting items from previous sites. It’s linked at the top-right of every page, or you can use this link to Downloads.

1tsp olive oil
1pnch dried red pepper flakes
1 yellow onion, diced
2tbsp minced fresh ginger
4 carrots, peeled & sliced into rounds
2 potatoes (white/russet/idaho)
2c low-sodium veg broth
3c water
1tsp dried thyme
1tsp ground cardamom
1 orange, juiced & zested
In a large soup pot, over medium heat, combine olive oil, pepper flakes, onion & ginger. Saute for 2 minutes to sweat the onions. Add carrots, potatoes, broth, water, thyme & cardamom. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer as soon as it starts boiling. Cook for10-15 minutes (until vegetables are very soft). Remove from heat, and puree in food processor or blender. Blend/puree in the orange juice and zest. Return to soup pot, and re-heat, simmering for another 5-10 minutes. Can be jarred or frozen once cooled.

Last week I had the need to enable Remote Desktop on a set of headless servers that I didn’t have physical access to. Using Remote Desktop worked on some of them, but others had it set to be disabled. A bit of googling turned up this article that indicated the registry key that needed changing. After a quick remote regedit.exe session, I could connect via Remote Desktop to my servers. Nice.

Find this key in the registry of the machine:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server

Look for the REG_DWORD value fDenyTSConnection. Set to 0 to enable Remote Desktop.

I have to say, the upgrade I just performed on my Gallery installation was one of the easiest I’ve ever had to do. While it has layout issues, I’m fairly confident I can fix those by adjusting some of the settings here, and in the theme being used for Gallery. For now I’ve decided to let it ride as-is, and focus on some content. Most specifically, the mapping content for the Unreal Tournament series - UT99, UT2003/UT2004 and UT3 (aka UT2008). and my recipe collection. So, off to the other sites to assemble the data…

Now that the theme has been modified to suit my simple taste (and some might argue that the purple and yellow aren’t much better than the pink-puce combination that was the default for this theme), for my next trick, I get to try my hand at integrating Gallery2 and all the associated content from my old Joomla site, and the 2 static sites that preceded it.  Sometime after that’s done and hell freezes over, I guess I’ll have to start posting all the site-related crap that’s piled up in my email. Christ, there’s 400 emails in that folder…

Well, from doing some reading on the Gallery website, it looks like I’m going to have the privilege of going from 2.1.x to 2.2.0 to 2.2.5?6?#. But not tonight.

Well, I’ve discovered that several packages I use are out of date, and what started as a simple “hey Dar, let’s pick a new site software” has turned into at least a week’s worth of spare time to update things, customize a theme, work the CSS, change the graphics… Sh1T. Time to start crunching things to make it all work right, before I again repeat the effort of moving content. *sigh*. First things first, play some Starcraft, de-stress, and think about what to replace all this lovely pink text with…

Chaosmatrix is back in business. I’ve finally settled on a software to use, and it’s something that will integrate well with the rest of what I’ve already got. So, now to start moving content, posts, rants, links, etc, etc, etc ad nauseum. Of course, this would be a lot frikking easier if I was able to see what I’m typing. Either my firefox style or my computer theme is screwing this up mightily (I swear it’s off-white on white, and unreadable unless I highlight it……)