Chadone.com Blog http://chadone.com/blog/ Description of my blog en-us Chadone.com Custom Software An Eagle Eye for Stupid Details http://chadone.com/blog/posts/an_eagle_eye_for_stupid_details/ For those who don't know HTML, every picture can have an "ALT" attribute that describes the contents of the image to sight impaired people using a screen reader. Since screen readers are linear, any blind user would be forced to listen to a really long description for a logo that sighted people would quickly glance past.

And then there's this confirmation email I received today from the US Postal Service.

Screenshot of a really bad alt attribute barely visible in the tiny box

See the box above? The full ALT text reads: "USPS.com home. The profile of an eagle's head adjoining the words United States Postal Service are the two elements that are combined to form the corporate signature"

And here's what that ALT text is describing:

Actual logo that defies being described with only one or two words

And sighted people might realize that this logo doesn't even have the words "United States Postal Service"

]]> Fri, 15 May 2015 14:08:57 +0000 an_eagle_eye_for_stupid_details 10 Years of Blogging http://chadone.com/blog/posts/10_years_of_blogging/ Blogdor Logo

My blog back then ran on top of a platform called "b2." An offshoot of that platform eventually went on to be called WordPress.

This wasn't my first web site at all. I've had my own online web presence going back to 1998. I got started with HTML and Internet Explorer 2.0 before ever getting online at home. I remember the early days of Internet at home - leaving the dial-up connection on overnight to download Netscape 4 on a 14.4k modem.

Can't imagine the Internet another 10 years from now. Just 10 years ago, there was no such thing as Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter.

]]> Thu, 26 Sep 2013 15:02:31 +0000 10_years_of_blogging Pepperoni and Sausage http://chadone.com/blog/posts/pepperoni_and_sausage/ Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:38:48 +0000 pepperoni_and_sausage Meatloaf http://chadone.com/blog/posts/meatloaf/ I love a good meatloaf. I made meatloaf just last night. Here's how it went together.

We bought some lovely, very tomato-ey BBQ sauce at the Spoon River Scenic Drive. No idea who makes it, but it's not available in stores.

Here's what went in:

  • One pound each of ground beef and ground pork
  • Two Eggs
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
  • 1/2 Green Bell Pepper, diced
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • Black pepper
  • Loads of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire
  • Panko, italian bread crumbs, and crushed saltines (had a lot of dry breads to rid myself of).
  • A small amount of a very tomatoey BBQ sauce (not store-bought)

I topped it with a glaze made of that same BBQ sauce, loads of ketchup, honey, and worcestershire. I coated the meatloaf with the sauce and put it in the oven at 500 degrees for the first 10 minutes to dry on the sauce and brown the meat, then down to 375 for the next 45. After that, I put another layer of sauce and then some ketchup swirls, and back in the oven another 10 minutes.

Served with the rest of the sauce.

My only regret was not cutting the peppers/onions smaller, and/or sauteing them first. They made it too crumbly, and it was hard to cut. It was very good.

Yes, this post mostly exists because I haven't touched my blog in 2 years, 1 month. But I love meatloaf, too. P.S. I also chopped up a strip of bacon to go in with the meat.

]]> Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:23:06 +0000 meatloaf Happy 25th, Mario! http://chadone.com/blog/posts/happy_25th_mario/ My wife Rachel went yard sale shopping and found me a Nintendo (NES) for only $3.  After some maintenance and cleaning, it looks as good as new and works just as well.  What a great way to celebrate Mario's 25th birthday! It had a LOT of the original documentation.  In fact, it had the original warranty form included.  I wondered what the people at Nintendo would think if they received this.

Warranty booklet cover

Warranty Registration Form

As you can see, I've filled it out and I'm dropping it in the mail tomorrow.  Afraid their business reply mail permit has changed or expired so I'm putting postage on this one. 

I wonder how many Club Nintendo coins I might earn for this purchase.

If anyone has an old NES Control Deck lying around, and it doesn't read cartridges - try the instructions I used to make mine as good as new.  Well that, lots of Lysol cleaning wipes, and a Magic Eraser.

]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 05:06:57 +0000 happy_25th_mario And Now a Story About Bunny Poop http://chadone.com/blog/posts/and_now_a_story_about_bunny_poop/ I was working today on compiling a program that would help a company stream their webcam over the Internet.  I decided to try out a program called Xuggler.

Anyone that's ever tried to compile software on Linux knows that ./configure pumps out hundreds of lines of checks in a few moments' time.

This time was different...

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking how to create a pax tar archive... gnutar
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking whether to use captive versions of dependent libraries... yes
checking whether to enable compiler optimizations... yes
checking whether to regnerate java interfaces from swig... no
checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking whether we saw a bunny... no
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /usr/bin/sed
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /usr/bin/grep
checking for egrep... /usr/bin/grep -E
checking for fgrep... /usr/bin/grep -F
checking for ld used by gcc... /usr/i586-suse-linux/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/i586-suse-linux/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B
checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 1572864
checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes
checking whether the shell understands "+="... yes
checking for /usr/i586-suse-linux/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r
checking for objdump... objdump
checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all
checking for ar... ar
checking for strip... strip
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... yes
checking for objdir... .libs
checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no
checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC
checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes
checking if gcc static flag -static works... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes
checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/i586-suse-linux/bin/ld) supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... no
checking whether we smell bunny poop... no
checking whether to build 64 bit version of package... no
checking for gcc... (cached) gcc
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... (cached) yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes 

No, those lines weren't highlighted in bright white when I ran the command. I happened to see them while it was scrolling by at 20 lines a second.

Reminds me of the Mozy backup service's Terms & Conditions.   A couple years ago, I decided for no apparent reason at all to skim through them, and it said.  "Furthermore, you agree to use Mozy for good or for awesome." They've since changed their terms, but I assure you that it was there. It's not so much that it's in there that's funny, it's that it's almost invisible and yet still people notice it.

]]> Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:34:50 +0000 and_now_a_story_about_bunny_poop Don't Get Me Wrong - I Love the Bunny http://chadone.com/blog/posts/i_love_the_bunny/ I got a Russell Stover solid milk chocolate bunny to celebrate Easter with.  As I was eating away on it, I saw a nice little letter on the back saying how they use only the finest ingredients.

And then, of course, I had to read the ingredients.  I'm very glad that they use cocoa butter for their chocolate.  I can't stand “chocolate” made from palm kernel oil.  But I noticed that they also use vanillin. 

Why vanillin?  There has to be what - one drop of vanilla flavoring in the whole thing.  Why on earth would you cut corners there?  For those that don't know, vanillin (imitation vanilla extract) is usually commercially extracted by soaking burnt wood or coal tar in alcohol.  Yum! 

]]> Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:26:32 +0000 i_love_the_bunny