For the Viewers, There's No Sun

Lest the TV late-night hosts run out of fodder, President Bush has provided yet another priceless, comedic gem. While fielding questions at a White House press conference, the President had a little laugh at the expense of L.A. Times reporter Peter Wallsten. For his part, Wallsten looked pained, but took the ribbing in stride, accepting Bush's later apology.

Dipping a Toe in the XUL

Lately I've spent a lot of time tinkering with XUL. Actually creating the markup is pretty simple, certainly no more difficult than HTML or XSL. The real dificulty lies in creating all of the different files for distribution. After toying with it for a little while, I realized that I don't really want all of the XUL structural components (at least for now). What I really want is "privileged" JavaScript - JS without the usual security restrictions. By creating a .manifest file and placing it in the appropriate location, I found I could use privileged JS with ordinary XHTML files. Sweet!

The GIMP

For years I've been looking for good digital imaging/photo editing software that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. At work I've used Adobe Photoshop, the de facto standard for professionals, but I can't quite seem to justify the hefty $649 price tag. I've also used Adobe Photoshop Elements ($99), Corel Paint Shop Pro (back when it was Jasc - $79), and Ulead Photoimpact (a long time ago - $89). Of these, Elements was the best, and cost the most.As a final resort, I decided to try the GIMP. Ordinarily, I love Free/Open Source Software. I use Mozilla Firefox, Apache, PHP, and to a lesser extent Knoppix, but I just couldn't see how anyone could create a top shelf image editor for free. I tip my cap to the GIMP though, the program is excellent.