MikeFitz with overflow bit set…

#3 Son finished high school on Friday, and Mrs Fitz is cheering loudest of all.  Special thanks with gold stars are due to two special teachers.  First, Bronwyn Masterman, whose dedication to her students, helped #3 son through so much of his final year.  Second, Jenny Middleton who has now helped all three of our sons to excel in their IT related subjects.  Thanks ladies, and may Googling your names reveal a thousand praises.

Fraser Island Beach House

I have just returned from a big day’s driving.  I deposited #3 Son and a pack of his (now ex-)classmates at my favourite place on the planet, Fraser Island, for the schoolies week.  Fortunately, there was a low tide in the middle of the day, so I could get on and off the island on the same tide.

I was prompted to write about this by fellow Brisvegas blogger, MadameBoffin, who wrote about the joy of watching her two-year-old nephew explore Brisbane’s Botanic Gardens.  It’s so important to let youngsters explore the great outdoors.  Otherwise, they grow up believing the four basic elements are concrete, steel, glass and electrical cables. 

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Our good friend Carole gave us this orchid last year - and now it has bloomed again.  Thanks Carole!

Orchid on kitchen bench, no flash, flash, zoom

Now we know why Vancouver blogger and friend, David Drucker is so excited about his orchid.

I could tell we had a hot topic for this month’s QMSDNUG meeting, as soon as I saw the flood of RSVPs.  Several acceptances came in immediately I updated the website - even before the first batch of meeting notices were e-mailed out.

The meeting will cover the skills and tools an enthusiast will need to experiment with game development.  The agenda in brief…

• Tue 28 Nov 2006
  17:30 for 18:00, finishing approx 19:30
  QUT Gardens Point Campus, Lecture Theatre S403
• A brief introduction by Dr Ross Brown to The State of the Games Industry
• Zsolt Mathe, on Introduction to XNA Game Studio Express
• Jason Strayer, speaking on Xbox Live Arcade

Zsolt and Jason are two of Microsoft’s top Game Technology experts.  Full details on the QMSDNUG website.

Thanks to Chuck Sterling and Prof Paul Roe for helping put the meeting together.

———————
Update: Mon 13 Nov 06
We’re even drawing attention from interstate.  XNA developer Mykre has posted a plea for sponsorship so he can fly from Melbourne to attend.

I have a confession to make.  For the last few days, my blog has not used valid XHTML.  But don’t panic!  I’ve fixed it.

Problem

The problem started when I used my first YouTube video in this post.  The code supplied by YouTube uses the now-deprecated <embed> tag:

<object width="425" height="350">
<param name="movie"
 value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mwc0wQt-L1Q"></param>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mwc0wQt-L1Q"
 type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
 wmode="transparent" width="425"
 height="350"></embed>
</object>

Solution

Bernie Zimmerman has a solution that works.  He points out that by supplying correct type, style and data attributes to the <object> tag, we can leave out the <embed> tag altogether.

However, the solution I like best was suggested by minghong, one of Bernie’s commenters.  It avoided using the style attribute and used the width and height attributes instead.  Here’s what I eventually used:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
 width="425" height="350"
 data="http://www.youtube.com/v/mwc0wQt-L1Q">
<param name="movie"
 value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mwc0wQt-L1Q"></param>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param>
</object>

But Why?

Using valid XHTML has a number of benefits.  As well as giving the widest range of compatibility across various web browsers, my blog can be read on mobile phones and devices for visually impaired and disabled people.

See, it’s not just because I am a bit OCD (according to Mrs Fitz, anyway).  When I go blind (The Pope told me I would), I’ll still be able to read my blog on my braille-reader.  (Although, music videos might be a bit of a challenge.)

Shattered Shards Scattered; Satirical Scripts Shredded!

Really angry tonight! At the end of tonight’s episode of The Glass House, Wil Anderson announced that the year’s final episode on November 29 would be the last Glass House ever.

I smell political interference from spoil-sports who don’t enjoy satire.  Or maybe they don’t like the way The Glass House alerts many young people to political issues.  You know young people.  They’re the ones who generally don’t vote for 1950’s conservative values.

Sign or view the guestbook

The Glass House’s Guestbook is choked with hundreds of messages condemning the decision and supporting the cast and crew of the show.

Ashleigh has had a suitably angry rant over at Ashleigh’s Dump.  He points out that an ABC spokes-person said…

“We’re not axing the show but we’re not going to commission it next year.”

What’s the difference?  The effect on the viewing public is the same.  Oh wait!  One of them involves lower lawyers fees. 

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