Tag: web servers

I Think I’m Switching From Firefox To Chrome

The problem is the first versions of Chrome were noticeably sparse and unable to support add-ons like Firefox can (called extensions in Chrome). That’s now changed

google-chrome-logo.jpegI am fascinated by technology with a pretty good understanding of how lots of electronic devices work. Advancing the state-of-the-art is my fun. That’s why I think it’s time to switch from Firefox to Google Chrome.

Motivation: javascript.

Javascript (lower case ‘j’) is used on websites a lot. Web servers can offer more because javascript is executed on your computer and not the webserver itself as some other languages are. Chrome came out of the box with a javascript engine much faster than anything else–noticeably faster while web surfing. It’s a significant pick-up.

The problem is the first versions of Chrome were noticeably sparse and unable to support add-ons like Firefox can (called extensions in Chrome). That’s now changed.

Today I fired up Chrome, ‘updated’ to a stable beta version, and began to download new tools. It now syncs bookmarks with my other browsers using Xmarks. Also installed are an ad-blocker and Gmail checker. I suspect new extensions will be forthcoming. These few

Browsers first appeared at a time when the web was served by ‘thinner pipes’. Multimedia playback was very limited.

New browsers will better support all sorts of media natively, without the need for players (think Flash and Quicktime for example). The separation between TVs and computers will shrink and shift. Are TV stations worried? You betcha.

A faster browser is another step toward making that all possible.

Have Hackers Unearthed Climate Change’s Real Inconvenient Truth?

It looks like some well publicized global warming evidence is the product of the books being cooked!

When people hear my opinions on human induced global warming they’re usually surprised… maybe shocked is a better word. I am a meteorologist with some training in climatology. I watched Al Gore present his global warming lecture as an invited guest in the White House. I’m a liberal. And yet I don’t believe we humans are changing our climate in a noticeable or troubling way.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for freeing ourselves from the grip of foreign oil, even if that’s painful in the short term. I’d like the air cleaner with less crap emitted by cars, trucks and industry. My goals are mostly the same as the goals of the global warming doomsayers.

Unfortunately, if you dissent on the issue of global warming you’re branded an idiot or heretic or maybe I’m in the pocket of big oil. The global warming theory proponents often have a religious-like fervor in their support. “How can you dismiss all the evidence,” they ask?

This is my blog. This isn’t the news. My level of fact checking is very low, but published reports say web servers at the England’s East Anglia Climate Research Unit have been hacked and some of the personal emails and data removed are damning!

It looks like some well publicized global warming evidence is the product of the books being cooked! It’s possible the loudest voices in this fight have been playing fast-and-loose with the truth when it doesn’t serve their purpose.

Even though I disagree with these people I am seriously shocked to hear this might be true. I expected the debate was educated and legitimate.

Here are two email snippets.

“I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.” – Phil Jones

“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.” – Kevin Trenberth

The problem is recent history has shown a halt to global warming over the last decade. Whatever the reason it doesn’t make sense to see this if the most well known theories are correct!

This is a story that’s just beginning to be written.

I don’t condone breaking into a computer, as these hackers allegedly did. I certainly don’t condone passing off lies as fact.