Disqus - Latest Comments for GPHemsley

Re: Multiple languages in Accept-Language header

Gordon P. Hemsley — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:12:44 -0000

Gecko (which powers Firefox, etc.) calculates the q values by counting up the number of language tags and dividing it into 1, so that each q value is a given step down from the previous one. (The HTTP standard clamps the q values to 3 decimal places, though—not sure if that ever comes into play.) Judging from your example, it appears the Chrome does something similar.

The code powering the Accept-Language header (and its associated UI) has been essentially unchanged since the Netscape days, though I'm spearheading an effort to bring BCP 47 support to Gecko. (Most people who care nowadays just hand-edit the 'intl.accept_languages' preference in about:config. See if you can dig up my setting. :) )

Re: Channel 4: showing the fruits of ‘content lifecycle’ idiocy

Gordon P. Hemsley — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:49:40 -0000

Yeah. In fact, it's even worse wrt the Web, because space truly is cheap. And because all websites tend to have equal footing, no matter how old they are. It is arguable (though sad) that their decision to wipe content the first time around was justified in that tape truly was expensive and that storage technology changed quickly, making older footage unequal with modern footage.

But the Web doesn't have that problem. The HTML5 spec in the works as we speak has instructions on how to process malformed, old, or unstandardized HTML pages from 20 years ago. A page from 1992 and 2012 can be read just as easily with the same browser, without the user even knowing the difference.

Re: Channel 4: showing the fruits of ‘content lifecycle’ idiocy

Gordon P. Hemsley — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:28:13 -0000

tl;dr: The BBC hasn't learned its lesson from when it wiped its early shows, resulting in the loss of entire early serials of Doctor Who and footage of The Beatles, just to name two high-profile examples.

Re: Rare Footage: Home Movie of FDR’s 1941 Inauguration

Gordon P. Hemsley — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:08:14 -0000

Someone should sync up this color footage with the audio broadcast, particularly of the speech. And the parts that weren't recorded can be replaced with the older black and white footage.

It would also be awesome if a lip-reader could transcribe what people were saying outside of the official ceremony production.

Re: Recipe for disaster

Gordon P. Hemsley — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:21:38 -0000

That URL has a 'q' instead of a 'g', in the word "gluten".

Re: Hiring & The Sixth Sense of Expertise

Gordon P. Hemsley — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:01:27 -0000

I'm assuming that one of the major details of the story was that the product was nothing like a Furby? (I think a Furby-like product that automatically updated its software would've made a bigger splash.)

Re: The curtains don’t match the drapes

Gordon P. Hemsley — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:37:55 -0000

The reason you had that slip of redundancy is because the phrase is "the carpet doesn't match the drapes". First, you used the wrong C word. Then, you corrected the correct word, instead of the incorrect word.

Re: IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On

Gordon P. Hemsley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:12:04 -0000

I'm sure they have a perfectly good reason for having the minimum requirements of XP SP2. I highly doubt that chose that version arbitrarily.

Re: IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On

Gordon P. Hemsley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:09:06 -0000

Neither of those browsers support Windows ME.

Re: Please forward to the previous resident

Gordon P. Hemsley — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:16:13 -0000

I noticed similar information in a copy of my 2009–2010 local phonebook yesterday. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that it clearly notes that the information was as of a November, 2008, date that was after the election.

If you're publishing a new phonebook for a year after a nationwide election, wouldn't you included the updated information about newly-elected officials?

Re: News Tidbits including Sasha Obama on The Set of Harry Potter and Russell Crowe The Diva

Gordon P. Hemsley — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:39:25 -0000

Any chance of correcting the original entry?

Re: News Tidbits including Sasha Obama on The Set of Harry Potter and Russell Crowe The Diva

Gordon P. Hemsley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:37:54 -0000

Um, actually, the hot dog scene was filmed at the Dairy Barn in Long Beach.