Topical Comic of the Day

SARS, Toronto, Tech. Truly the stars are in alignment (We are so doomed!)
[Link] from Joy of Tech :

What connects Imperial Rome with Space Shuttle Design?

I'd heard this before, but this it's been a while since I've see a link to the story. If true it shows you just how conservative engineering is. [Form Flying Chair]

Chem Jokes in a Comic Strip, no less

from Foxtrot on May 1st 2003

Now this is a 404 error [link]

I'm going to pay for this, no doutb, but here goes.. A Software Engineer, a Hardware Engineer and a Departmental Manager

The Rudy Giuliani of Toronto?

Toronto finds a hero in Dr. Basrur. wonderful story from the Toronto Globe and Mail:

"I have such faith in Dr. Basrur," she said, referring to the city's diminutive, 46-year-old, single-mother medical officer of health, who had followed the mayor's performance with a lucid and persuasive, fact-by-fact deconstruction of the WHO analysis.

"She is so honest and you know she has such integrity," Lori said, hesitating slightly before plunging forward. "Please don't let Mayor Mel represent us on CNN!"

Toronto needs a Rudy Giuliani? Just look down. There she is, "five feet and shrinking," she allows when pressed, a woman of colour with the physique of a Cornish hen, large expressive eyes shining behind her glasses and the unmistakable ways of a born leader.

Sheela Basrur is a leader who came to prominence the old-fashioned way, much to her own surprise, as a down-and-dirty fighter in the infection-control trenches. Working in isolation, her department was almost overwhelmed trying to track down and gather up the far-flung cases that exploded out of Scarborough Grace Hospital last month. As the crisis widened to engulf the entire regional health-care system, however, it was her talents as a communicator that came to dominate.

Fearsomely articulate, logical and frank in her assessments of the epidemic, Dr. Basrur worked steadily to allay fears about rampant contagion in Toronto. Although little heeded at the height of the alarm, she emerged as the steadiest, most credible public spokesperson on SARS. By the time WHO hit, nobody was prepared to hit back harder.

Where do I start the Dr. Basrur for Mayor Campaign?

Will Plain-Text Ads Continue to Rule?

Summary:
Text-only advertisements work far better than banners, but is this only due to their novelty? Search engine text ads will retain their superiority over time, but text ads on other sites will work only if they focus on directly meeting users' needs.

From Jakob Nielsen (making web site suck less since 1995). Actually supportive for the start-up that will not die.

JS form validate to re-cycle

function validateForm() {
var f = document.forms[0]
var ErrorFields = ""
var ccError = ""


// For development Only

selectedbypassLoc = f.bypass.selectedIndex
selectedbypassValue = f.bypass.options[selectedbypassLoc].text

if ( selectedbypassValue != "Test" )
{
alert ("For development Only Validation ByPass!!!!")
f.submit()
return("")
}


var i = 0, temp = 0;
var allEmptyFields = "";
var Empty = false;
var emptyFields = new Array();

if ( f.FirstName.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "First Name";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.LastName.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Last Name";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.Address1.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Address";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.AddressCity.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "City";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
selectedProvLoc = f.AddressProvince.selectedIndex
selectedProvValue = f.AddressProvince.options[selectedProvLoc].text
if ( selectedProvValue == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Province";
Empty = true;
i++;

}
if ( f.AddressPostalCode.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Postal Code";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.PhoneBusiness.value =="" && f.PhoneHome.value =="" )
{
if ( f.PhoneBusiness.value =="" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Business Phone Number";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
else
{
emptyFields[i] = "Home Phone Number";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
}
if ( f.PhoneHome.value !="" && f.PhoneHomeAreaCode.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Home Phone Number Area Code";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.PhoneBusiness.value !="" && f.PhoneBusinessAreaCode.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Business Phone Number Area Code";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.EMail.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Email Address";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
selectedCCTLoc = f.CreditCardType.selectedIndex
selectedCCTValue = f.CreditCardType.options[selectedCCTLoc].text
if ( f.selectedCCTValue == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Credit Card Type";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
if ( f.CreditCardName.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Credit Card Name";
Empty = true;
i++;
}

if ( f.DSEXPMTH.value == "" || f.DSEXPYEAR.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Credit Card Expriy Date";
Empty = true;
i++;
}

if ( f.DSCARD1.value == "" || f.DSCARD2.value == "" || f.DSCARD3.value == "" || f.DSCARD4.value == "" )
{
emptyFields[i] = "Credit Card Number";
Empty = true;
i++;
}
else
{
ccError = validateCard();
}
if (Empty)
{
for(var count = 0; count < i; count++)
{
temp = emptyFields[count].length;
allEmptyFields +=emptyFields[count];
if (count % 2 != 0)
allEmptyFields += "\n";
else
{
if (temp > 38)
allEmptyFields += "\t";
if (temp <=38 && temp >29)
allEmptyFields += "\t\t";
if (temp <= 29 && temp >17)
allEmptyFields += "\t\t\t";
if (temp <= 17 && temp > 8)
allEmptyFields += "\t\t\t\t";
if (temp<=8)
allEmptyFields += "\t\t\t\t\t";
}
}
EmptyFieldsAlert = "\nThe following field(s) must be filled in before the form can be submitted:\n\n" + allEmptyFields + "\n"
}
if ( ccError != "" )
{
EmptyFieldsAlert = EmptyFieldsAlert + "\n\n" + ccError
}
if ( EmptyFieldsAlert != "" )
{
alert(EmptyFieldsAlert )
}
else
{
f.submit()
}
}

Not pretty but it works!.

This is how Jake got started, must be very careful.

HTML Tag of the Day :

The No Break (nobr) tag, so your "Brand Name" is always on the same line for those picky marketing people at Giant Uber Corporation with the really long name Inc.

Miss use of brain power: Magnetic Poetry on a web page!