Scott's Mad World
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Actually, Scott is not the only one who is mad, other madmen are:
Things that mad Scott likes to do:
- Blog in my personal web log space. This is a bit of an experiment, but I may change the way I update this website if it works out.
- Dancing: Ballroom, Social, Modern, Folk - all are fun. My favourite dance tunes sorted by rhythm are being listed slowly.
- Living History Reenactment: Educating people about history is important.
- Computers: tools, toys, career - these things keep me fed and clothed right now...
- Surfing: I wish I was closer to a real beach with real waves. Very little compares to being stationed in Hawaii, and having access to the Summer waves of Eva Beach and the Winter waves off the North shore of Oahu. For body surfing and boogie boards it has to be Sandy Beach, Oahu though.
- Sailing: Like surfing, this is a hobby that is no longer active, but I wish to take it up again.
- Soaring: Quite possibly one of the greatest pleasures in life.
- Diving: I first got certified by Joe Nadel after taking the PADI open water SCUBA course while on temporary duty at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan in 1987.
I think that tropical coral reefs are one of the most beautiful sights in the world, and the sense of freedom you have while floating, effectivly weightless, in the water is exhilerating.
I have missed diving for a long time, but managed to slip in a resort dive at Negril, Jamaica in May of 1997.
Erci and I are getting back into diving through Adventure Scuba (Chantilly, VA) with several friends from work. Matt Davis is our instructor, and we are having a ball.
I will try to keep my online dive logs up to date.
- Archery: is something I am trying to pick up. It should be a lot easier with the beautiful new longbows that Bill Darr of WhipperWil Archery made for me. One is a Yew longbow, 28" draw length, 58 pound draw weight; the other is ash, 28" draw length, 30 pound draw weight.
- Falconry: is a fascination. Wouldn't it be nice to fly your own peregrine or tiercel?
- Wargames are something I never have enough time to play. My favourites are Pax Britannica (suggested changes), Kingmaker, Third Reich, and Battle of the Bulge.
- My Aquariums: help keep one from getting too stressed.
- Football: real football that is, Americans call it Soccer.
- Games: miniatures, board games, information games, play-by-mail games. Especially Flying Buffalo games like Illuminati and Starweb. Iron Crown Enterprises has a few fun games too.
- Volleyball: a good game is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
- Cycling: a ride on my Trek 6000 is one way to relax, and the best way to see the local area.
- Warhammer: this fast paced miniatures game has caught my attention. It is really a great scam to separate hobbyists from their money, but the armies look so cool! I plan to do an army of Orcs and Goblins, and I need to make them ready to fight off those self-righteous Bretonnians (Peter and Alex) and Wood Elves, not to mention those pesky Lizardmen and Skaven (Bob).
Vault of Warhammer Knowledge
A Warhammer Page
Blackwind & Raddix Gaming
Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial-era Wargames Page
XXXenoPhile, a fun adult card game
- Woodworking, Hand Sewing, and Leatherworking, at least enough to make replicas of medieval artifacts.
- Soccer and Volleyball are the two sports I wish I had more time to play.
- Current Periodicals:
- Travel to historically significant sites and exotic places, or simply to places where I can relax, read, scuba dive, swim, study, or contemplate my navel.
Things mad Scott raves about;
Things mad Scott would wishes he could get; and
Things mad Scott rants about:
- I wish NetManage would either resume support for ZMail (orginially written by Z-Code Software) or simply release the licenses and source for it to the public domain so that the Open Source community could improve the few problems ZMail has today. No other email reader had the flexibility, power, and features of ZMail. I still use it, years after support has dried up. I have a few tips for ZMail users on Irix.
- Websites that require JavaScript for use. My rant is not against Java as a language (though I still have yet to see anything implemented in Java that is not more easily implemented in another language), but against the use of both Java and JavaScript enabled web content as the only method for publishing a site's content. Embedded in a browser, both JavaScript and Java weaken both the security of the computer the browser is running on and can weaken security on other computers on the same network. See Jochen Topf's home page for a white paper on how HTML Forms Protocol can be used by malicious websites to circumvent some firewalls. This is a quote from Mr Topf's white paper:
"Basically the only thing a user can do to prevent this attack is to disable
Javascript in the browser. The attack is still possible, but instead of being
fully automatic, the attacker has to get the user to click on the submit button."
Other JavaScript hacks have been shown that delete files on the browser's computer, mail those files to internet email addresses, or modify files on the browsing computer without consent of the unwitting web surfer.
The Nimda virus (PC only) attacked Windows (tm) computers in several different methods, one of which was via the enabled JavaScript language embedded in most web browsers when a user used said browser to visit an infected website running MicroSoft IIS (Internet Information Server).
Always turn both Java and JavaScript off when browsing the web!
Complain to webadmins and web content producers if they design web sites that cannot be view without Java or JavaScript enabled.
- Spam. Not the meat substitute, that is relatively inoffensive now that we have unsolicited bulk email or junk mail. Luckily there is some pretty good advice on fighting SPAM/JunkMail/UCE at JunkBusters.Com. Spam is only a little less annoying than cold calls.
- The insanity of the GOP wasting so many millions of tax dollars to find out that they had nothing to indict Bill Clinton on.
- Trailers that are better than the movies they advertise
- Soft drinks with sugar substitutes such as corn syrup, which tastes nothing like real cane sugar. Cane sugar should be cheaper than corn syrup, except for the hypocritical corn lobby and the tariffs imposed on sugar. Thank goodness for Nantucket Nectars, a soft drink company with the ability to choose wisely, offering drinks with real cane sugar. It is a shame they don't understand what good software is...
- Intel based computers; why? There are so many better alternatives...
- Big, heavy, ponderous, and utterly annoying governments
- Arrogance without a solid basis in demonstrated ability
- People who let the majority make decisions for them (eg: buying Microsoft products, assuming that because 80% of the market does it it must be right)
- People with closed minds. Trust me, we all matter relatively little in the grand scheme of things. What does it matter who we are when planets collide?
- Web sites that insist on the use of only one browser. The point of the world wide web is to provide information to the largest number of people without caring what software they use to get the information. See the Any Browser Campaign for more details.
- Web sites that insist on the use of Java, JavaScript, VisualBasic, or some other junkware that reduces my security. Java and JavaScript, when used with a web browser, reduce your computer's security. Find out more about hostile applets at: http://www.hf.caltech.edu/HF/java_bad.html, http://www.cigital.com/hostile-applets/index.html or http://metro.to/mladue/hostile-applets/index.html.
- People who are unable to grasp the two basic truths:
- Everybody dies eventually.
- Everything changes eventually.
Mad Scott's amusements of the moment:
- Seen on the wall in Payne's diner in Centreville: "Diet, Exercise, Die anyway."
- "Life is too short for mediocrity." (Hey, this is my own!)
- "Evolve." (WHFS 99.1, where Bob Waugh broadcasts from)
- "Make up your own mind." (Common Amiga Owner's Slogan)
I am trying to learn to design better (more readable) web pages.
My template is available.
I am learning by reading "Creating Killer Web Sites" by David Siegel, who, while very opinionated, writes an excellent treatise on using page layout design principles to make web pages more understandable.
I am also (as I have time) trying to make my web pages more accessible. By more accessible, I mean that I want people with any web browser to be able to access and read my pages. If you are using a non-standard web browser, and have trouble reading my pages, please let me know by sending mail to me at snolan@aol.net.
There is a campaign to make more pages accessible, tips can be found at Optimize your Site! and at Consumer Choice in Web Browsers.
The World Wide Web Consortium has a lot of info on building web pages.
Read AmigaPhil's home pages for more information on accessability.
Junk Busters has tips on fighting Spam, cold calls, junk mail, etc
Privacy Net has usefule Privacy and Security tips.
AdBusters has interesting anecdotes and commentary on how free we really are in the United States, and if our country's government serves it's people or it's corporations. It is also a reference site for stunning design examples regardless of the political message.
Design Interventions
Anti-DMCA, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act is being abused by corporations for their private agendas, and it is designed to penalize the average citizen rather than the pirates it should be addressing.
SpyChecker and OptOut are products that help you recover from a SpyWare infestation or detect on happening. The Counterexploitation website has The Trouble With Spyware & Advertising-Supported Software, an interesting article on the subject of SpyWare/AdWare and how it can harm your system, and their adware/malware article has more information on specific programs. Use Ad-Aware and ZoneAlarm will help you prevent Spyware from happening. There a primer on SpyWare at ACCS
We are building a new home, and our New Home Design Ideas are online to help us coordinate with our builder and collect ideas and solutions.
The Red Cross has a guide for how to prepare your family for disaster. Chec it out http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/unexpected.html.
Author: Scott Nolan,
(How to send me email)
Last updated: October 23rd, 2005
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