Firefox 3 Browser Review : Awesome!

I just started using the new Mozilla Firefox 3 Internet / Web Browser yesterday, and I have already reached the conclusion that this version is simply fantastic, and oh my God is it FAST!

Speed, Speed, Speed...
The page rendering for most of the sites I commonly browse - both on the Internet and on my local Intranet / LAN network - is easily twice as fast if not faster. I have experienced page-loads and rendering so quick that I literally blinked and missed witnessing the page refresh; it was that quick, and this was on pages that were definitely no where near this quick to load in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer (IE) 6 or 7!

Content Scaling...
When it comes to increasing and decreasing the size of text/graphics/layout-items, Firefox 3 is so far the best I have ever seen at "getting it right". By this, I mean that it keeps relative positions of text and layout items intact while scaling their size, and thusfar in my testing, it is the only browser to be consistently accurate. Even Firefox 2 had issues getting this right, and IE 6 had all sorts of problems, and IE7 had a few problems too (on the same pages). I give top marks to the CSS handling and overall page-rendering, at any scale, to Firefox 3.

"Live Drag-n-Drop"...
"Live Drag-n-Drop" - well, that is what I call it,... where you can see an outline of the text you are dragging around in the browser, like when I am editing this blog entry and highlighting a region of text (like a sentence) and dragging it to a different area in this edit window. Quite Nice indeed!

The URL-Bar Improvements...
I just love the new smart auto-completion feature that can locate relevant URL choices from my bookmarks, prior page-viewing history, and so on. As I start typing a word, the dropdown presents options not just with that word at the beginning of the URL, but anywhere within the URL (or, it seems, even with the word in the site-description / tags). Wonderful!

I like the concept of this drop-down control so much I can already imagine places I want to use it in my own software. I don't know how easy that control is to adapt, but I will have to dig into it a bit and find out.

Get Firefox 3 now, and don't look back...
OK, I'm not going to write abiout every last feature. Fact is, the new browser is wonderful. Just go to the Mozilla FireFox 3 Download Site and get it for yourself. Install it, try it out, and you'll soon see it will live up to my review and then some.

Enjoy! (hopefully as much as I am enjoying it!)

IBM RoadRunner SuperComputer

IBM is always at the cutting-edge of SuperComputer development, and things are no different today with the release of news about their new Roadrunner super-computer that is to be delivered to the US Nuclear Security Administration. This thing has absolutely insane levels of computing power, turning in over a Petaflop of computing ability (that is one quadrillion, or 1000 Trillion, operations per second!) As a comparison, figure that it would take between 50,000 and 100,000 of the fastest modern personal computers to equal that.

I find this type of quote (from Technology News Daily's site) really great for describing how far computing technology has come in such a short amount of time:

In the past 10 years, supercomputer power has increased about 1,000 times. Today, just three of Roadrunner’s 3,456 Tri-blade units have the same power as the 1998 fastest computer. A complex physics calculation that will take Roadrunner one week to complete, would have taken the 1998 machine 20 years to finish – it would be half done today! If it were possible for cars to improve their gas mileage over the past decade at the same rate that supercomputers have improved their cost and efficiency, we'd be getting 200,000 miles to the gallon today.

Isn't that just unbelievable? We have engineered computers whose processing power has outpaced prior generation's ability to complete a given task. So, it begs the question: why not just wait another 10 years for a faster computer before considering running more simulations or problems to solve? :) Well, the answer is obvious (I think), in that it is the current demand for computing power that drives the need for faster computers as we find more uses for the power. And, were it not for purchases of these computers, the R&D wouldn't be there to keep the pace of computing-power advancement where it is now. So, like all computers, their own success is what makes them obsolete.

Now, when the price of this power comes down from the current $100Million to something like $5,000, I'll just have to buy one for some really serious virtual-reality simulations!

MySQL : not ready for critiical applications

I have considered MySQL a database option (of sorts) for low-priced web-hosting solutions where I need a simple rudimentary database available to data-driven dynamic web pages (typically from PHP pages). But, every time I start thinking about using it for more significant applications - especially anything to be considered "mission critical" business applications - I am constantly reminded of how much I still consider MySQL a TOY compared to the likes of Microsoft SQL Server database.

I am sure there are plenty of developers that will try to argue that MYSQL is a great database, and that it compares favorably to SQL-Server. But, when I constantly encounter (accidentally) errors like the following when just browsing web sites on the Internet, I really have to wonder how stable the product, and the data it is storing, is. I have run into this same "table is crashed" junk on multiple sites over the past few months; and, these are sites I go to regularly that are usually just fine. I had this happen on the Eclipse.org site recently too (and, that is a BIG NAME site to say the least).

mySQL WARNING!
DB Error Blog Flux Topsites: mySQL Error on Query : SELECT * FROM `weblog` WHERE weblog_ID='95849'
More Information:

• Mysql Error : Table './infor/weblog' is marked as crashed and should be repaired
• Mysql Error no # : 145
• Date : June 4, 2008, 8:30 am
• Referer:
• Script: /sitedetails_95849.html

When I encounter errors like this, I can't help wondering how utterly screwed up the underlying data-integrity is throughout the entire affected database. And, I can't help wondering why it seems to take people ages to become aware of the issue (I have seen this type of error persist on large sites for up to a week - apparently undetected, though perhaps just not a priority for anyone to fix). Better yet; if the database "knows" a repair is needed, why can't it repair itself or something?

I have never encountered a "crashed table" in Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 or 2008, and I have relied on SQL Server for serious mission-critical applications with hundreds of tables and tens of gigabytes of data with many users simultaneously hitting the database. All this with no issues aside from an occasional log-file that needs shrinking. The only serious SQL-Server crashes I have encountered have been due to hardware failure like a RAID-Backplane cooking out and taking the data and/or log drives with it. But, even that is usually easy for me to correct by simply restoring a backup or a hot-spare (kept available via log-shipping or such).

The bottom line for me ever considering MYSQL for production is simple: until I stop seeing all these "table is marked as crashed and should be repaired" messages at random on the Internet, there is no way in heck I'd stake my own software developer and database administrator reputation on the line for such a product. When it comes to something as important as your database, and the critical data it contains, there is no compromising data-integrity and stability for "cheap" or "free" products like MySQL (and yes, I realize there is commercial version of mysql also -- which actually amplifies my concern).

Here's hoping the product becomes more stable over time, though it seems like it has been around long enough to work out most of these issues already, so I am not very encouraged about this prospect.

US Economy a "House of Cards"

Finally, the Swiss-Cheese and House of Cards known as our "Economy" is starting to emerge from the shadows, though ever so slowly and quite reluctantly, as the Federal Reserve takes drastic measures to maintain the secret: our "economy" is crap! It's smoke and mirrors! It's vapor! It's garbage!

We live in a country where the majority of "growth" in our GDP is driven by military spending, other government spending, "paper gains" (on things like homes - which are finally unraveling), and constant consumption of cheap foreign imports (aka, "retail sales"). And, if that wasn't good enough, this "growth" is all funded by debt-spending (personal and government especially). As for exports and their contribution to the GDP, the bulk of what we export makes us appear more like a 3rd world country than anything: i.e., low-price raw materials that other countries will turn into value-added goods and sell back to us.

Aside from those at the very top of the economic ladder, nobody has any CASH, as the personal *average* savings rate is not .2% (yes, two-tenths of one percent; meaning that for every thousand bucks someone makes, they save TWO!). So, a person making $50,000/year is saving a whopping $100 (if they are lucky). And, what is that same average person's credit-card debt (oh, something like $6,000!) Unreal!

I'm convinced the economy is rotten at the core. Those with mega-wealth are accumulating it faster than ever (thanks to Mr. Bush's lovely tax cut for the rich - especially Capital Gains tax reductions that disproportionately favor the super rich,... which include, gee,... most of our political and business leaders be it Democrats or Republicans alike). The rest of those participating in this economy, whether considered "middle class" or otherwise, are simply doing their part in this mass transfer of wealth to the top of the pyramid-scheme by consuming and spending continually, and much to often via debt-spending.

Now, to keep this screwed up machine (our economy) running, the Federal Reserve is taking unprecedented steps to maintain liquidity throughout the system. Someone has to soak up all that debt, and it seems the Fed has no problem with that. Just watch the daily headlines, and read how the Fed is expanding its debt sucking sponge (oh, I mean, expanding the credit offered to banks) as detailed in stories like today's Bloomberg report on the Federal Reserve steps to Jolt Credit Market further.

All these "experts" and "economist" try to convince us of how great this Federal Reserve intervention is. Well, I challenge that wisdom and declare this all to indicate one thing: how desperate the Fed is to preserve the perception that this economy is healthy when even a cursory exam can produce many, many reasons to believe otherwise. I'm also convinced that the few that run this country (politicians, corporations, and the lobbyists that interconnect them all) will drive this country over a cliff so long as they first have found a way to suck every last bit of blood (i.e., money) out of the country for their personal fortunes along the way.

I say *personal* fortunes even though I used *corporations* in my list just a minute ago, since the only ones at corporations making tons and tons of cash are those overpaid few occupying the upper echelon of corporate management (trust me, they ALWAYS get their overly large "cut" even if a company is going bankrupt! They always "win" personally, even if you, the average stockholder loses your shirt). Just look at the statistics on where CEO / executive pay has gone in contrast to the average working person! That says a lot about things.

Don't count on politicians coming to the rescue. Keep in mind, two of the three Presidential candidates (Senator Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain) have familial wealth in the 10's, if not 100's, of millions of dollars. They are making out like bandits in this "economy" of ours. In fact, most of our elected officials in Congress are millionaires, yet they are supposed to some how represent us, the average American? Don't count on it.

My bottom line statement with regards to an analysis of the fundamentals of this economy remain the same no matter what: the United States "economy" is a pile of rotten Swiss Cheese - full of holes and the mice are eating what is left. The Federal Reserve is doing their best to keep us all from smelling the rot or seeing the mice, but the fact is, barring some dramatic change, the secret is soon going to be known by the masses.

Beware of Cannibals!

Ted Turner (of CNN-founding fame, and mega-millionaire status), recently made some rather interesting comments on PBS about how extreme the global situation could become if global warming continues unchecked. One of the dire warnings he put forth for consideration was the prospect of how people, when pushed to the limits with lack of available food, may resort to cannibalism. Here's some of the what was discussed with regards to the global climate change issue:

If steps aren't taken to stem global warming, "We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow," Turner said during a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with PBS's Charlie Rose that aired Tuesday.

"Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals," said Turner, 69. "Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state — like Somalia or Sudan — and living conditions will be intolerable."

One way to combat global warming, Turner said, is to stabilize the population.

"We're too many people; that's why we have global warming," he said. "Too many people are using too much stuff."

OK, so this all sounds a bit extreme, or does it?
Fact is, Ted Turner may well be right!

I for one, at least while in my right mind (during this pre-catastrophic-earth period), tell myself I would rather just die of starvation than eat another human being, but who knows... if pushed to the brink, maybe I'd essentially become a zombie where only my deep animal instincts drove me to seek out any and all available "food", be it human or not.

Perhaps Ted Turner had just watched the movie Sweeney Todd (the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), and noticed how Johnny Depp's character (and his fellow house / business tenant) took to killing many a human and turning them into meat pies (which, they served to unsuspecting London consumers during what they characterized as "desperate times" or "hard times"). If 19th Century London is bad enough meat is so scarce, then I guess Ted Turner's 21st post-global-warming-catastrophic-earth conditions would make that look like nothing, and (human) meat-pies may be the menu-item of choice.

Now, instead of becoming a cannibal this year, I have just begun work on my new garden. A nice chunk of the yard (formerly just grass) is becoming what I hope will be a productive vegetable garden. I am doing this for a few reasons: 1) food prices have skyrocketed! and 2) I don't want to rely completely on others for my food. I want variation in my diet, and with this insane push for Ethanol, it seems the only 100% sure way to get the vegetables / crops I want (without paying a fortune) will be to grow my own. So, here's hoping this experiment pays off. And, with luck, I'll raise enough home-grown food I won't have to resort to cannibalism! :)

Less Pain, More Gain? Weightlifting rules changed.

I just couldn't help posting about this study that goes completely against the old "no pain, no gain" rule of weightlifting and muscle building.

Check this out:

Taking daily recommended dosages of ibuprofen and acetaminophen caused a substantially greater increase over placebo in the amount of quadriceps muscle mass and muscle strength gained during three months of regular weight lifting, in a study by physiologists at the Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University

Isn't that just interesting? So, should we change the saying in the weight room to "less pain, more gain?" An interesting question may also be: will taking a daily Tylenol when lifting, or an Ibuprofin, produce gains equal to that of Anabolic Steroids or Human Growth Hormone (HGH) or protein powders, whey protein, amino acid supplements, etc? :)

Regardless, it was an interesting study.

Highest Mileage Cars : 80MPG+!!

You read that correctly - production cars that get 80+ MPG. Yes, EIGHTY MILES PER GALLON. They exist! But, it seems that we (here in the United States) keep having to hear from the major auto makers that "we just can't build cars that get more than 30MPG" and along that line of thinking).

Oh, did I mention these are MAINSTREAM BRAND-NAME automobiles from Volkswagen and Mini too? I so want one of these 80MPG Mini-Coopers... or, heck, I'll even settle for the 80MPG VW Polo!





MY GOD THAT IS SOME SERIOUSLY AWESOME GAS MILEAGE!
Combined miles-per-gallon in excess of 70MPG! Oh how I want one!

Even with both of these vehicles being Diesel powered (vs. gasoline), and with Diesel currently being more expensive here in the United States than gas, with those numbers, who cares!? EIGHTY-EIGHT HIGHWAY MPG for the little VW! Wow!

Now, here's the catch: this is for the UK (United Kingdom) / European market. Sorry, you can't get one of these in the United States, for various reasons. First, they supposedly don't meet our emissions standards (though, you can sit on the highway and watch as many emission-EXEMPT semis, tractor-trailor rigs, buses, and other "exempt" vehicles spewing a choking black diesel smoke all the time, and THAT is "ok"?)

I was in the UK in the sumer of 2007, and I had a chance to drive a rental car that was made by a subdivision of GM - and it achieved 45MPG average, in a mid-size vehicle, and while burning gasoline. But yet, I have no chance of getting such a car here in the USA. This really, really miffs me when gas is in excess of $3.00/gallon, and $4.00 or $5.00 per gallon gasoline seems like it is just on the horizon... especially thanks to price-fixing essentially, where refiners have learned that by simply lowering their output, they can hit record per-gallon gas prices -- today's report showed how refinery utilization here was at something like 81% now... or, barely above post-Katrina (hurricane) levels. Supply/Demand curves mean nothing when nobody is willing to actually COMPETE!

We hear all the time how we "need more refineries", yet as consumers actually started using less fuel, and refiners saw margins falling, they simply cut capacity. And, at a mere 81% of capacity, we have a fair amount of "slack" in the system - should anyone decide to actually put it to use. I call this all price manipulation one way or the other. In a truly free market economy, with ample competition, SOMEBODY would sell fuel even at "thin margins" because they would have an opportunity to gain market share. Not here. Not now. There isn't enough competition left. I heard some bonehead on NBR (Nightly Business Report) talk about how if we had a recession, that prices would fall -- well, again that logic depends on supply-demand curves meaning something, and as demonstrated lately, even when demand falls, it just doesn't matter, since refiners simply adjust supply downward to keep prices up.

Fact is, the American consumer has little choice but to pay high prices for gasoline (and yes, I realize it is MUCH lower here than in Europe), while not getting the choice in high-mileage vehicles that Europe has. Auto companies claim they can't make them, or that nobody would buy them, etc. etc.... and, I really don't think oil companies want any downward spiral in consumption to ever have a chance to take hold. I'm also not kidding myself either: most people, even given the choice of a high-mileage tiny vehicle would still rather have the sportier, higher horsepower, fancier, ritzier, trendier, etc. etc. vehicle at their disposal, and would be willing to pay for the fuel it requires.

But, some of us would really really love to have a little commuter-car that gets 80MPG... or even 70MPG... or 60MPG... or 50MPG. And, you give me the option of something as stylish as a Mini-Cooper that gets 80+MPG highway (and 60MPG City), and I am in line IMMEDIATELY to buy one! It'd be a no-brainer from a gas-savings / payback standpoint. But, thanks to our government, various corporate interests, and all sorts of other junk, I will not get that opportunity, and instead will be forced to drive something much less efficient (perhaps that is a good thing, since lately I rarely drive anywhere!). But, I want the CHOICE to purchase a super-high-mileage car here if I want to.

Note: there are some nice electric vehicle options on the horizon, though I really doubt they'll ever materialize either, and if/when they do, I GUARANTEE electric rates will soar - and, most electricity will be from COAL or oil or natural-gas burning anyhow, thanks to lobbying efforts by those industries. If solar and wind-power generated electricity can be used to "fuel" these future electric vehicles, I'm all for it. Otherwise, forget it.