Jen and Jon Johnson

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist. Gandhi had been leading the Indian independence movement.

So I’m currently re-writing Jen’s Gradebook web application into Ajax and the results are stunning. I had no idea how much time went into reloading the web interface to reload as opposed to passing data to the database. I actually had to add a sleep() to my php backend code in order to ensure that I was getting the visual response I was looking for. Well.. back to work…

Some Great Ajax Links:

Ajax in Action Is a great intro and overview of the necessary worlds including an indepth look at design patterns and performance which I found pretty fascinating.

Jesse James Garrett at adaptive path - this is the article that started the buzz and gave this technology its really crappy name (I know I’m the onlly one who hates it, it is just so corny and difficult to work into a normal conversation)

 prototype.js provides a great starting framework and it will lead you to other projects. Check out rico and script.aculo.us and Behavior to get some wonderful pre-built functions.

 There are obviously a bunch more places to check out, but these should give you a great head start.Â

On Jan. 25, 1915, the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, launched U.S. transcontinental telephone service. This allowed instant communication between the US & other nations.

On Jan. 24, 1848, millwright named James Marshall discovers gold along the banks of Sutter’s Creek in California, forever changing the course of history in the American West.

On Jan. 23, 1973, President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War did not end for the Vietnamese until
1975 when the South surrendered to the North.

On Jan. 20, 1841 During the First Opium War, China cedes (gives) the island of Hong Kong to the British. The Opium War does not end until 1842 with the signing of the treaty of Nanking.

On Jan. 19, 1950 Communist China officially recognizes Ho Chi Minh’s communist regime in North Vietnam resulting in much needed financial and military assistance in Ho’s battle against the French.

BBC NEWS has an article today from Bill Thompson which responds to Mac users who believe he is crazy for thinking that OSX is vulnerable. This is ridiculous. Of course OSX is vulnerable and the Apple credo that nothing can touch a Mac is one day going to get them in serious trouble. By telling people that their Mac is safe straight out of the box, and that no steps need to be taken to ensure security apple is setting their users up for a serious problem.

Let me be the one to break this news to you. Your Mac is vulnerable. Most especially it is vulnerable because YOU are running it. Without taking care you could install malware that will compromise your security, steal your passwords, and wipe out your computer. This is possible because, as a Mac user, you have the power to put in your Administrator Password and do something really nasty.

So take care. Your paranoia is the only thing standing between your Mac and certain destruction.

If you are worried now, you should check out SecureMac.com there are some great tools and tips there.

Ok Well I have been a bit busy to post much of anything new over the last couple of weeks what with the holidays and the beginning of the new quarter at work… anyway I just wanted to announce that we are now running WP 2.0. Which means absolutely nothing to you, but on this end there are a slew of design improvements that are just amazing. I wanted to give a quick shout out to the programmers of this fantastic publishing suite!

In other news I expect to get some new photos up in the next couple of days as well as finally publishing my mythtv install guide.

Until then…

On Jan. 18, 1788, the first Australian Penal Colony is established as 736 convicts banished from England landed in Botany Bay. Over the next 60 years, 50,000 criminals were sent from England to Australia.