The Proper Use of Serial Commas

Ha! As this site asserts, I've always been right!

About what? You do put a comma after the item that precedes "and" in a list, like so:

John bought eggs, fish, chicken, and a sandal.

Journalistic guidelines say otherwise, but as the site above says, they're wrong. Journalism is untrustworthy these days anyway.

So, take that, Jim!

TiddlyWiki Code for 2007 Calendar

I couldn't find this anywhere so I had to make it myself (I converted a 2006 Calendar, actually; don't remember where I found it, though). Anyway, if you want to have a 2007 calendar tiddler for your TiddlyWiki wiki, you can use the code below:

|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver; !@@color:black;2 0 0 7@@ |
|>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;January@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;February@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;March@@|
|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|
||1|2|3|4|5|6| | | | | |1|2|3| | | | | |1|2|3|
|7|8|9|10|11|12|13| |4|5|6|7|8|9|10| |4|5|6|7|8|9|10|
|14|15|16|17|18|19|20| |11|12|13|14|15|16|17| |11|12|13|14|15|16|17|
|21|22|23|24|25|26|27| |18|19|20|21|22|23|24| |18|19|20|21|22|23|24|
|28|29|30|31| | | | |25|26|27|28| | | | |25|26|27|28|29|30|31|
|>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;April@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;May@@||>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;June@@|
|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|
|1|2|3|4|5|6|7| | | |1|2|3|4|5| | | | | | |1|2|
|8|9|10|11|12|13|14| |6|7|8|9|10|11|12| |3|4|5|6|7|8|9|
|15|16|17|18|19|20|21| |13|14|15|16|17|18|19| |10|11|12|13|14|15|16|
|22|23|24|25|26|27|28| |20|21|22|23|24|25|26| |17|18|19|20|21|22|23|
|29|30| | | | | | |27|28|29|30|31| | | |24|25|26|27|28|29|30|
|>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;July@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;August@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;September@@|
|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|
|1|2|3|4|5|6|7| | | | |1|2|3|4| | | | | | | |1|
|8|9|10|11|12|13|14| |5|6|7|8|9|10|11| |2|3|4|5|6|7|8|
|15|16|17|18|19|20|21| |12|13|14|15|16|17|18| |9|10|11|12|13|14|15|
|22|23|24|25|26|27|28| |19|20|21|22|23|24|25| |16|17|18|19|20|21|22|
|29|30|31| | | | | |26|27|28|29|30|31| | |23|24|25|26|27|28|29|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |30| | | | | | |
|>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;October@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;November@@| |>|>|>|>|>|>|bgcolor:silver;!@@color:black;December@@|
|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@| |bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;M@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;W@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;T@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;F@@|bgcolor:cornflowerblue;!@@color:white;S@@|
||1|2|3|4|5|6| | | | | |1|2|3| | | | | | | |1|
|7|8|9|10|11|12|13| |4|5|6|7|8|9|10| |2|3|4|5|6|7|8|
|14|15|16|17|18|19|20| |11|12|13|14|15|16|17| |9|10|11|12|13|14|15|
|21|22|23|24|25|26|27| |18|19|20|21|22|23|24| |16|17|18|19|20|21|22|
|28|29|30|31| | | | |25|26|27|28|29|30| | |23|24|25|26|27|28|29|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |30|31| | | | | |

Commentary: Knife of Dreams

Though it's been out for quite some time, only recently did I finally read Knife of Dreams, the latest book in the ''Wheel of Time'' series. Part of the reason it took so long is because I wasn't looking forward to reading it given the lukewarm reviews I'd seen. And after Crossroads of Twilight, I didn't have high hopes for the book.

As it turned out, I enjoyed it. Knife of Dreams wasn't as good as Winter's Heart (which reversed the downhill direction the series had taken around book 6 or so), but it was still pretty decent. The action could have moved a bit faster, but for the most part Jordan was moving the story along and even wrapped up a couple of plotlines

Cool Tech Tip: Easy Encryption for your USB Drive

Just found this blog post recently (via Lifehacker). It's instructions on how to set up your USB drive to be encrypted (using the open source Truecrypt tool). Works well when you're done, too - stick your USB drive in, enter your password, and you're good to go.

Very useful if you want to protect your data in the event you lose the drive.

A Curse of a Thousand Sand Fleas Upon HP Marketing...

...or whoever was the genius who decided that their laser printers shouldn't have power buttons and let them be controlled by Windows. Why the hell would you hand control of your hardware to #$&*#@$% WINDOWS?!?!?

The reason I ask is that I have a Word document that I'm trying to print but each time I do, it locks up my printer. Such that I need to unplug the stupid thing because HP, in it's infinite wisdom, didn't think to put a power button on it! This is as brilliant as taking reset buttons off of PCs (years ago, when I was interning at Compaq, I asked about that (since they were one of the first, if not the first, PC manufacturers to stop putting reset buttons on their computers). I was told that it was a decision by marketing (or some other non-technical group) since putting a reset button on a computer implies that it may need to be reset. Apparently, it was an image thing, as they were afraid people would think it was the hardware's fault that Windows locked up your computer. So, in the end, the consumer was screwed regardless of who was responsible).

(Note: I'm not some anti-corporate socialist hippy, so don't take that as a "Yeah! Down with market forces!" On the other hand, corporations of course aren't the equivalent of bunnies who crap ice cream).

Anyway, this rant is getting (?) incoherent, so I'll stop. For the record, my HP printer (LaserJet 1200) has served me pretty well for a number of years now. But that sort of thing is just maddening. Maddening, I say!

In the end, I finally got it working. How? I opened up the .doc in OpenWriter, saved it as a PDF (since printing from the hippy program gave me the same result), and printed the PDF.

So the points for this round go to: Adobe, since they're the only one involved that didn't give me any problems. And Apple, since I'm still digging my iPod.