Spent Saturday at Bennett beach. it was cloudy but we swam anyways as it was still warm out. It was nice to be there when it wasn't jam packed.

The state of HTML 5 audio sucks. I think it is destined to fail at this point. Firefox only supports ogg vorbis format, not mp3, chrome supports mp3 but not short audio files, at least no in my chrome and it is a documented bug. Safari supports mp3 but not ogg vorbis. IE supports none of them yet.

IE - no native audio support, flash
firefox - native ogg vorbis and wav support, flash
safari - native mp3 and wav support, flash
chrome - native ogg and mp3 support (and problems with some mp3), flash
opera - native wav only, flash
iphone safari - mp3 and wav - no flash
android browser - no native support, has flash

Why even bother trying. My experience was that it totally sucked.

Here is my test page:

I think I will stick with flash for now and just include a link to each audio file for native rendering/download for browsers that don't have flash e.g. iphone. If I go native HTML I need to write something to detect the browser capabilities and change it accordingly or re-render all the mp3 as ogg and mp3. Its really just a freakin mess.

Everyday I tell myself today is the day I am going to resolve this and then I do ten other things.

I was walking down Elmwood and decided to take a pic of the progress on the new belgian beer garden in the former Merlin's spot

I was going to say something positive until the people working on it yelled at me and said I wasn't allowed to take pics without permission.

Well fuck you. If you want to be secret wrap it in black fabric like its some new secret iPhone. You don't need permission to take pictures of building from the outside. I can say now is fuck you. What the hell is Elmwood turning into.

Great way to lose customers before you even open.

Each user now has a gallery link under their avatar. It links to a display of the blogs that only show the pictures as thumbnails. This iwll only show published blog's images unless you are looking at your own blog. If you click the pics, you see them full size. If you click the date - go link, it loads the blog entry itself. Its an easy way to visually find something you wrote about.

Sadly I really prefer the before pic, even though I look a little rediculous. At least it will grow back.

It was weird to see the giant hole in the ground.

I have some old domain names I will probably not use but my be willing to sell if someone made a good offer. Just putting them out there. Then again I may just decide to keep them in case I ever want to use them.

PICFEEDER.COM    
LOUDFEEDER.COM
PORTABLEFRIENDS.COM
REMEMBERBUFFALO.ORG
EPEEPS.NET
PMOBL.COM

Holy crap. So I was browsing around freelancer.com and found that someone looking for someone to scrape a site. I spent time writing and scaping the data to make sure it worked and I figured I could put that I was done in the bid. I know, stupid move on my part, there goes two hours down the drain.

Then I signed up to bid and it turns out you can only bid on projects that are put out after you sign up. That is totally retarded. To make it worse it is inconsistent as some previously posted projects in my qualified fields would let me bid. Even the live help tech couldn't seem to figure it out.

I assume most people sign up because they see a project they are interested in. I was so aggravated that i tried the live help. They were not much help after all.

You are now chatting with Michael B. (General)
Paul: hey there
Michael B.: Hi there, how may I help you?
Paul: i signed up for freelancer.com because I saw a project I was interested in
Michael B.: What's the problem?
Paul: but once I signed up, I could not bid because
Paul: it says I was not qualified before the project was put out
Paul: it was really the reason I joined
Paul: is there any way around that
Michael B.: You must edit your qualifications.
Michael B.: Go to My Profile, click My Qualifications.
Paul: I did that
Paul: it is set
Paul: but it says I cannot bid on the project because my qualifications had to be set before the project was offered
Paul: which means in reality I cannot apply for anything currently on the site
Paul: this is the one I want to bid on
Michael B.: Yes, if you edited it now, you can only bid on the new projects with those qualifications.
Paul: and I have data mining and web scraping set in my quaifications
Paul: you guys should put that someone in the signup info
Paul: because I would never have joined
Paul: I spent like two hours figuring out the project
Paul: and then wanted to bid so I signed up
Paul: I would not have bothered had it said, "You cannot apply for any project currenly on the site"
Michael B.: I'm sorry, but it is automated by the system. I'm pretty sure, you can find other projects similar to this one.
Paul: there is no way around that?
Paul: ya I just already wrote the script ;(
Michael B.: No, even I cannot access it.
Michael B.: I'm sorry, paul.
Paul: okay thanks anyways, you really should have a disclaimer about that
Paul: its kind of misleading
Paul: when its implying sign up now to bid on the project
Michael B.: Would you like to search other projects instead?
Michael B.: There are a lot of Data Mining and Web Scraping projects in our website
Paul: ya but following your logic
Paul: I cannot actually bid on any of them
Paul: so whats the point
Paul: I have to wait for new ones to arrive
Michael B.: No, you can bid on new projects.
Paul: new meaning, tommorow
Paul: and they are not there yet?
Michael B.: Wait, let me see the list if there are other projects, ok? :)
Paul: ok
Michael B.: hold on
Paul: e.g. I tried to bid on the latest project in the web scraping list
Paul: and it still tells me no
Michael B.: Really? Ok, can i have your username?
Paul: paulsidekick
Michael B.: Ok, hold on, let me check
Paul: I have web scaping selected in my qualifications
Paul: but as I just signed up there is no project I can bid on as they all were started before I was "Qualified"
Michael B.: How about this one:
Michael B.:
Michael B.: You can bid on this
Paul: How is it possible that I can bid on that
Paul: when it was started 7/24
Paul: and I was not "Qualified" untiil 7/27
Michael B.: Hmmm, but there is a bid on this button.
Michael B.: Can't you see it?
Paul: ya seems inconsistent
Paul: what differs about
Michael B.: That rule will only apply if you change your qualifications NOW. But since you are a new member, you can actually bid.
Paul: then why can't I bid on that one
Michael B.: There must be some restrictions on the last project that's why you can't bid.
Paul: it says
Paul: You are not qualified to bid
on this project
Paul: but I have web scraping selected
Michael B.: hold on
Paul: and it is registered under that
Paul: it says job type: * Data Mining * Web Scraping
Paul: and I have both of those qualifications selected
Paul: the reason i care about that one is that i already did the work
Michael B.: hold on, this is weird
Paul: k
Paul: thanks for looking into it
Michael B.: hold on, this is weird
Paul Visco: k
Paul Visco: thanks for looking into it
Michael B.: Hi Paul, I'll report this to the bug department, ok?
Michael B.: However, please don't do any project if you still haven't bid for the project.
Michael B.: And there is no way also of knowing if you're going to win the bid.
Paul: right I realize that
Paul: i was just excited to test it out
Paul: how will i find out if it changes
Paul: should I just keep checking back
Paul: or will someone email me
Michael B.: I understand. Just move on with other projects. :) There's lots of them.
Michael B.: Nope, I'm afraid not.
: I understand. Just move on with other projects. :) There's lots of them.
Michael B.: Go here to browse the Data mining projects
Michael B.:
Michael B.: and the web scaping ones
Michael B.:
Paul: they almost all say: ou are not qualified to bid
on this project. Click here to edit
your qualifications.
Paul: but I have selected those
Paul: web scraping and data mining
Paul: I mean the one I wanted to bid on is number two newest project in that list
Paul: and neither that nor number one let me bid
Michael B.: Try other projects Paul.

Anyways, if anyone is looking for a scaped catalog of forcalprice.com in csv format with SKU, description, title, image urls, product url and price - I have it lol.

Seriously another $37 billion for war?

What are we fighting for anymore? The war already stole all our money. It took all the tax money pillaged from the middle class and placed in in the hands of the huge companies that profit on these stupid wars. It almost seems like they are trying to start another one in Korea. Didn't we learn the first time.

I am starting to feel that every dollar we waste on these stupid wars is like another dollar the terrorists stole from us. And by terrorists I don't just mean the kind that fly into building on airplanes. I also mean the big military industrial complex company scum bags and their friends that rape us.