Category: Random

I hate it when people talk about “HTML programming.” Generating HTML is not programming. The “M” in “HTML” stands for markup. HTML is a markup language, not a programming language. What’s the difference? In programming, one has to correctly structure a sequence of commands which get executed. In a markup language, one applies static markups to a document, roughly the equivalent of selecting “bold” in your word processor. OK, I’ll grant that HTML has gotten more complex than that, but it still isn’t programming. People who say so don’t know what they’re talking about, and it’s insulting to those of us who actually can program, and have done so for a living.

(original date: 2001.06.10)

What parts of “discontinue the use of personal electronic items and cellular phones” and “return your tray tables and seat backs to their upright and locked position” are hard to understand? I just want to know why most airline travelers seem unable to comprehend these simple instructions. Or is the problem that people just think these instructions don’t apply to them?

Well, I don’t much care about seat backs and tray tables, but the cell phone thing is a real sticking point for me. Those things really do interfere with aircraft instruments, which puts everyone on the plane potentially in danger. Just because you, the compulsive cell-phone yammerer, are too stupid to live, does not mean you have the right to endanger or delay the rest of us. I’d like the maximum chance of getting there on time and alive, thank you.

Next airline beef: One of the reasons it takes so long to load airplanes is people in the aisle loading luggage, which half the time doesn’t really fit, into overhead bins while people are trying to get by. This is why they start loading from the back of the plane. This is not a difficult concept. Why, then, do so many rocket scientists insist on going up there before their row numbers are called? For an extra couple of minutes of that lovely cabin air? The luxurious seats? What? Again, all this behavior does is inconvenience other people. Wait for your damn row.

(original date: 1999.09.17)

You know, normally I’m not all that opposed to using nouns as verbs, but it really can get annoying when the appropriate verb already exists. The currently grating example is the word “defense,” which in my dictionary is a noun. This word need not be used as a verb, because there already is a corresponding verb (that would be “defend” for all you idiot football announcers out there who have obviously never heard this word before).

(original date: 1997.10.22)

OK, it’s really been a while now but I’ve had this rant smoldering for quite some time, so I’ll vent it now: journalists. Why is that every time I read a piece of journalism that covers topics in which I’m reasonably knowledgeable (I’ll limit that claim to computers and cognitive psychology, since I have graduate degrees in both), I find the article riddled with misconceptions and inaccuracies? It’s unconscionable! But I think I’ve discovered the answer. If these people actually knew anything about computers or psychology, they’d be in the computer industry or a research psychologist, not a journalist–actual domain experts have work to do in their fields and don’t write for newspapers or TV. So now I’ve come to expect incompetence from journalists, rather than being surprised and annoyed by it. (Well, OK, I try not to be annoyed, anyway.)

(original date: 1997.08.05)

OK, advertising pet peeve: the new Phillips/Magnavox “Web TV” commercials, where they say “What’s missing? That’s right, the computer.” Hel-lo, but what the hell is in that little box on top of the TV, little green men? Could it be… a computer? Morons…

(original date: 1996.12.16)

“If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve.”

Heh, I may have to change my .sig…

(original date: 1996.05.21)