I have a new test in my Rails arsenal: assert_valid_markup.
def assert_valid_markup(markup=@response.body)
require 'net/http'
response = Net::HTTP.start('validator.w3.org') do |w3c|
query = 'fragment=' + CGI.escape(markup) + '&output=xml'
w3c.post2('/check', query)
end
assert_equal 'Valid', response['x-w3c-validator-status']
end
First and foremost - oops, looks like I didn’t get my four posts last week. Oh well. Maybe three a week is more reasonable…or I’m way too fucking lazy. Sheesh.
But on to business. I had planned to add another entry yesterday, but I got sidetracked. On Friday, Al asked me if I would be interested in joining him and Josh for their RailsDay2006 project. Since I hadn’t registered, I ended up not actually writing code, but I did do some extreme programming with Josh, without me actually typing anything. We came up with a half-finished e-mail autoresponder called on_vacation (source will be available soon!).
It’s a pretty nifty app. When we did our last checkin, it was able to check someone’s pop3 account for new messages, ensure that we had not responded to the message, queue a response to be sent, mark that e-mail as autoresponded to, and finally send autoresponses. There was also a frontend with a signup/login thing. We didn’t quite get around to implementing an away message management screen, though.
In other news, I did some web designing today. I’m not entirely sure where I’m headed with this, but have a look: freePets.
My friends, I need to share Microsoft’s latest stroke of genius with you.
Inside Microsoft’s new Driver Quality Rating system.
Oh fucking hell. As if Windows didn’t suck enough as it stood, Microsoft is now introducing political bullshit into the fucking kernel by allowing users to ‘rate’ device drivers and revoking a driver’s certifications based on this. Why? Why? WHY?
I just hope that the certification revocation is not done by an automagic system. Otherwise, a few assholes mog together a huge botnet, submit crap crash reports to Microsoft, and get the iPod’s driver revoked. Boom, an instant million Windows lusers whining in my ear about ‘it just breaking’.
And this time, it did ‘just break’. ARGH.
This makes me glad I dropped that Windows shit years ago.
Two years ago, I could have been accurately described as a news addict. For a long time after 2001-09-11, I kept my radio on and tuned in to 880 (a New York station) or 960 (a local Clear Channel station) for fear of missing anything major the minute it happens, like another terrorist attack on the nation. As a result, I knew about the Shuttle Columbia clusterfuck minutes after it blew the fuck up. I would also check Slashdot compulsively. Like, every five minutes, all day (well, night) during my last true summer vacation.
And now, I read Slashdot. Maybe every hour, I refresh the page. Once a night, I check CNN. My radio is no longer tuned in 24/7/365. But what is my reason for being so tuned out? Why would I cut myself off up-to-the-second newsbriefs?
Because it depresses me way too much. Because it sickens me. Because nothing ever really changes in the eyes of the media.
I stopped with the radio because, each and every day, the FOX reporter would come on every fifteen minutes and tell me about the latest suicide bombing in Iraq. There’s no point in keeping up to date if you already know what’s going to be the top story every goddamned day for the next four years.
The Wikipedia has a news section. It’s not updated every three minutes, but you usually see something every day or two. It covers global news. Elections. War crimes in far off countries. Fantastic things that humans have achieved. But alas, CNN will have none of that. Iraq sucks. More at 11!
The reason that I am no longer so keen on Slashdot is not Slashdot’s fault. The editors post stories worthy of being discussed. We discuss them. It’s a simple, clean, and beautiful process that is repeated two dozen (or more) times a day.
I’ve simply slowed because, inevitably, there is a story that makes me want to cry. A story about polititians, usually Senators or the Department of Justice, but sometimes Europeans or UN diplomats seriously considering a new bill at which common sense revolts, or proposing a new treaty, or sleeping with AT&T.
Consider.
The list of incredibly, mind-numbingly stupid claims/bills/actions just goes on and on. There were plenty of idiotic articles during the heat of the neutrality debate, and even months before, when some fucking telco CEO was running his mouth about the idea. There was the NSA spying program. The Sony rootkit. The ongoing SCO vs. IBM & Novell & Jesus H. Christ & His Lordship The Almighty Noodly One, Our Liege and Master, The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I think I may have become just a teensy bit jaded and cynical about, uhm, everything.
Gah. I think I need a cat.
It is once again that time, ladies and gents. My second set of final exams is upon me, which can mean only one thing: another nine months of this shit down, eighteen months left to go.
It’s been quite an action-packed year, lemme tell ya. I’ve followed a pretty gruesome schedule thanks to work, but it’s well worth it. No doubt that I would have completely lost my shit and blown somebody’s brains out by November were it not for the little island of sanity that I like to call the office.
Of course, the office has had its moments too. But that’s a whole nother story.
Despite all of the things I’ve had the (dis)pleasure of seeing and hearing this year, education wasn’t actually present that often. I guess he got cancer or some shit and had to run off for kemo every morning. A brief summary of my schedule…
Last year, I had exactly one outstanding teacher - Mr. Bouchet, who I’ve mentioned previously. This year, I had two.
The first of the two would be Mr. Smoker, my physics teacher. An former engineer, he’s a pretty laid back guy. He does not stress out about class bullshit. People listen to him. Shit gets done.
The second is my geometry teacher, Mr. Wight. I think he’s been a career teacher for awhile. He’s also a farmer, and one of the most patient people I’ve ever met. If I had to deal with such incredible stupidity, jackassery, and disrespect, I’d start blowing shit the fuck up. He just lets it all go, like he - GET THIS - actually cares if his students learn! It’s difficult for me to believe such a thing possible of any of these New Haven public school teachers.
There would be a third. But in light of recent events…
Yeah. I’ve met a few people. Know a few better than others.
But enough for now. I have a new LinuxJournal to read.
