I’ll preface this article with, I am not for or against either Flash or HTML5; unlike most, I just want to present the information and wait to see what happens.

I’m sure most of everybody that develops or designs websites for a living, or is just up to date with internet technology knows about the massive debate over Adobe’s Flash and HTML5 technology. HTML5 is toted as the “flash killer”, tens of thousands of site posts/comments and Tweets alike have flooded the internet with messages like “R.I.P Flash”, “Goodbye Flash”, among other illogical two to four word statements pronouncing the death of Flash. Lack of flash support for the iPad and iPod has even furthered the debate.

What we know: HTML5 can DO ALOT, it will change the way we design for the web, develop for the web, and interact with the web. The same thing happened from HTML3 to HTML4, and even to lesser steps like HTML4.1 and on to XHTML 1.0. You can now develop full games, embed sound and video, overall, just do a lot more with the browser by essentially rendering things dynamically all without the need for browser plugins. Many people don’t even know what they are talking about when they say HTML5 will kill flash, because when in fact, everything is actually being controlled by JavaScript and used in the new HTML5 <canvas> element. Maybe JavaScript (with some help from HTML5) killed flash!

Even with the prevalence of things like Flash and JavaScript over the years, older technologies like full Java-based web applications still exist on the web, as does other “nasties” like  applets, embedding video formats directly, shockwave applications, and WildTangent games. It didn’t kill them, they are still there; albeit, very few and far between, why would Flash be any different? Considering 80% of online videos are Flash, millions of games are Flash, millions of websites are Flash, millions of advertisements are Flash – Flash will not go away; furthermore, Flash is so prolific in terms of market share, even if it wasn’t updated for years, it would still live on indefinitely like the rest of the nasties.

But the fact is, Flash will be updated, Adobe is not giving up, and will continue to push the limits of Flash, which at it’s current form can still do a lot more than HTML5 and JavaScript, and far easier too. The codebase and API library that is available for Flash developers is MASSIVE, Actionscript 3.0 is more extensive (especially in the visual department) than JavaScript is. Did C++ kill C? Did C# kill C++? Technologies and languages, like that found in Adobe Flash have been learned by millions of people. Do you really think every single one of those people will say, “Oh well, time to port over 300 of my flash games over to JavaScript + HTML5”.

If Adobe Flash is ever in jeopardy or in dire need, I’m sure we will see Adobe opening up Flash completely and getting a <flash> tag in HTML5.x or even HTML6 for that matter.

Originally written October 5th, 2006

Since when is it appropriate to wear a filthy, stained white shirt that looks to be covered in the remnants of lunch from a constant seven days of wear out in public? Let’s not even get into mentioning those 10 year old Budweiser sweatpants with holes in all the wrong places. Like was this ensemble seriously the best that he had for a public display? I mean, you would think that he would have a cleaner dirty shirt to wear out so at least he didn’t look as bad as he smelled.

Then there’s the people with the ripped pants and clothing revealing parts of them that shouldn’t be revealed. This mostly goes for the fatter types of people, but do you seriously think that over-tight tank top makes you look good? Some of the fat hanging off the sides of these people oddly resembles dough from a bakery. I’d sometimes just like to cut it off and see if I could bake a pizza or something. And do they seriously think nobody will notice the giant hole in the ass of their pants? Especially when they bend over to get the freshest milk at the local supermarket, struggling to grab the newest milk cartoon at the back. You’re probably going to drink it all that night anyways when you eat a whole box of cookies in your sad, depressive state.

The makeup is another issue with a lot of these 80’s rejects hanging around the stores. Ya, maybe it was alright to douse your face with green and blue eye shadow and wear the hugest earrings you could find to cover up your bruises, 15 years ago. But nobody wears makeup like that anymore, except maybe models on the runway, but face it, your no model. Can you look at the calender every once in awhile and realize that it’s not 1985, and you aren’t listening to Cyndi Lauper anymore (well maybe you are, and that’s the problem). And what’s with the pants of these women? I find it hard to believe anybody had that high of pants in the 80’s and 90’s, but I guess it has to be true. These women put Steve Urkel to shame.

Originally written June 30th, 2007

Everybody is a hypocrite. How can you ever possibly live without saying a contradiction? Of course, people change, and so does their mindset from that specific time of their life. This isn’t exactly what I am referring to, but it could be the only one true excusable interference with this outlook, well if you are looking for an excuse that is…

In this sense there is two types of people. (#1) The ones that realize their opinions and beliefs may contradict each other, but strive to be neutral in any sense, and (#2) those whom choose to ignore that their opinions and beliefs may be contradictory and claim they aren’t. The thing that strikes me as the most funny is the excuses to those who choose to claim that they are not contradictory. What are they trying to prove? They definitely are already a hypocrite in your mind, and unless you actually really respect the person you aren’t going to listen to their excuses anyways, after all you just called them a hypocrite, which isn’t at the top of the list of respectful things.

There is also the speech versus action debate; wherein, people can say one thing and become incongruous to their statements. This is the most popular form of hypocrisy. Most of this, I think, relates to the given circumstances at the time of speech and action. A person might say they will never do drugs, but under circumstances they might do it, unwillingly, or cognitively through a pressured instance. Perhaps I am picking on a easy target there. I guess I could of went with no sex until marriage, religion or a myriad of fallible statements that change depending on the circumstances. Don’t say never if you don’t know, and you don’t ever truly know, so don’t say never anyways, well unless you are the second type of person, then who cares, I think you’re a liar anyways.

Maybe there is a third type of person. One that does whatever they want without the fear of doing something contradictory. One that is truly detached from social standards, social or peer criticism, social acceptance. And in that very sense, this third type of person could have all three deficiencies built within their fiber. Perhaps they are the biggest hypocrite. Perhaps I am the biggest hypocrite? Hell, isn’t me writing this article contradicting some of what I said, did, said I did, said I said? Of course it is, but there’s the difference, the dissociation with the others. I realize this foundation.

Everybody is a liar, deal with it, don’t think you’re above reproach.

PART 1
Look, before I even get started. I am not a Microsoft fanboy and I am not a Apple fanboy, and I don’t hate either of their operating systems either. I am just a person that uses both Windows and Mac OS on a frequent basis for graphic design, web design, gaming and even just surfing the net. I hear people almost everyday praising Mac/Apple computers, whether it’s my teachers, co-workers, friends or family. These people can all have one of these statements applied to them:

1. They have never been familiarized to a Windows PC, and refuse to be.
2. They use a Mac to check emails and surf the web.
3. They don’t even own or use a Mac at all, they just repeat what they have heard.

1. They have never been familiarized to a Windows PC, and refuse to be.
There exists some real die-hard fans of Apple out there that have never really touched a Windows PC in their life because they are convinced it doesn’t work as good, as fast, as fluid, or even work at all. Some of these people only use one reason, and one reason ONLY to why they use Macs over Windows PCs. Some of those reasons include:

• Mac <OS 10,9,8…> is so much easier to use and more user friendly than Windows.

You’re just being blinded by the graphic user interface and the hardware exterior. Let’s face it, Mac’s interfaces through computing history usually look better than their Windows counterpart. The presentation and overall look of the monitors and hardware exterior is also much more appealing then the standard PC (non-gaming that is). But instead of making up fake excuses, just go out and say it, “I like the way they look”, because even the newest Mac OS is not any easier than XP or even Vista. It’s the same damn thing and you know it, there’s just different methods of doing the same thing.

• Microsoft stole Windows architecture from Apple, and continue to copy them to this day.

Of course, there’s variations to this claim, but it’s still a pretty stupid reason not to use something, even if it is true. We import lots of things to our country from different places all over the world, for examples spices. At one time, thieves may have stole these spices and brought them back for trade. Does that mean you shouldn’t use pepper because it was stolen and traded at one point in time? A pretty weak analogy, I know, but it’s a pretty weak claim too. Microsoft continues to do what works, what the users want; if they didn’t then we would all be using Macs right now.

• Macs don’t get viruses or spyware.

That’s weird that there’s tons of virus protection software out there for Macs then, isn’t it? The most popular PC-based scanner and protection software usually also have a Mac version. That’s really strange, isn’t it? Look, it’s true that there’s less of a security risk on Macs because virus programmers usually want to create the biggest impact on the public, so why would they go with 10% (actually 7.6% as of June 21st, 2007) of the computing population over 90%? The percentage is rising though. Let’s see how the Mac stands up against security issues at 20% or 30%. I think Microsoft is doing a real good job at controlling security at 82.4% of the market share, especially with their advancements in Vista.

2. They use a Mac to check emails and surf the web.
These are possibly the worst type of Mac users of them all. Of course you love Macs if all you do is read email and surf the web, because that’s generally all it’s good for (don’t get mad yet). I mean, even with emulating software (weird that there’s tons of emulators out there for Macs to run Windows applications and games, but not many Windows to Mac emulators) you are not going to be able to run millions of useful applications and games. And while on the subject: It’s emulated, so it’s not going to run at a full Windows speed, if it actually runs at all.

While I’m at it, let’s dispel another thought. Most people think that all graphic designers, animators, movie makers or any type of creative professional at all use Macs. Sure, that was how it was a long time ago; unfortunately the stereotype stuck. All Adobe/Macromedia (now Adobe anyways) work for both operating system now, interchangeably. The only thing different is the hotkeys and some of the interface; which are all based around the keyboard for Macs because they refuse to get out of 1980 and supply a default two or three button mouse. Hell, even some Adobe programs only ever seen light on Macs in the most recent Creative Suite, like Adobe Premier Pro CS3 (which is hailed to be better than Apple’s Final Cut Pro).

For one last comparison, let’s take a look at Maya, a very powerful 3d animation program (used at Pixar). You need a very powerful computer to be able to run and render in Maya. You will not be able to run this program effectively on your standard Mac computer, because Mac computers don’t innately come with good video cards (because of no gaming support), and will not be able to run or render Maya, or very poorly. Yet, on the Windows-based PC side, any computer with 1GB of ram or a decent video card will be able to run it. Supposedly one of the minimum requirements for Maya is also a three button mouse, which I found hilarious.

3. They don’t even own or use a Mac at all, they just repeat what they have heard.
Look people, you have never used a Mac, you have never owned one. You probably really want to buy one, because in all honesty, it’s the cool thing to do, and they look so damn nice. But really, is it worth it? Is it worth the extra thousand dollars to be so non-conforming that you end up being an even bigger cliche? But please don’t think you know anything about the Mac OS, because you don’t.

–

Sure, buy a mac if you want to read a PDF, if you want to surf the web, and maybe even to match with your iPod. Buy a Mac if you want to design, make movies, or do anything. Because, in the end, it’s the same thing as a Windows PC, just more trendy. It has faults, it is fallible, just like Windows, just like Linux, just like you. Stay tuned for part 2 where I write about designing on a Mac.

Originally written October 15th, 2006

I’ve really been struggling to find the reason behind fandom. Not the act of being a fan itself, but what it entails. Sure, people can like something and then try and be apart of it: that’s being a fan. But when people start decorating there houses soley with their favorite football team’s posters: that’s fandom. Why do people feel the need to do this? Are the football players going to come to their redneck house one day and say how awesome of a fan he is for buying a couple $2.99 posters and a wearing a sweater with their faded logo on it. Maybe it’s to show off, or maybe it’s to try to impress other fans; if so, your just as lame and tired as that faded sweater you are wearing to show off your interest to others.

Here’s an example of how fandom interferes with logical thinking. On MSN, I had seen somebody write in their MSN name: “Way to go Sundin, 500 goals!”. Sure, you are showing your support, but to who? You obviously don’t have Sundin your MSN, and you most likely will never, ever, meet Sundin. So what benefit does this have? Again, it’s really just to show off to other people, so maybe they will start a conversation with you. You may as well change your name to “It’s pretty good weather we are having today!”. You might actually even get more remarks about it.

People gather around at bars and at homes to watch the sunday game. This night is filled with chip eating, beer drinking, and yelling at the television for a couple hours. Who are you yelling at? Are they going to hear you? Even if you were actually at the game in the front row they probably wouldn’t be able to hear you and your fatass anyway. Although I do admit, it’s a lot more respectable and logical to participate in a real life audience. At least you are filling a seat and cheering that can be noticed as a whole to the players.

“COME ON, WHAT WAS THAT?”
Oh now your a football coach, as if you could, if you had the chance, do a better job than a professional football player. Sure buddy, just keep sucking those beer back and adding to your gut. There’s a reason why you’re watching the football game instead of playing it.

“YA!!! TOUCHDOWN!”
I’ve seen a person saying this alone when they thought nobody was watching and with a group at a party. I can’t tell which is sadder. On one hand, you truly are talking to yourself, and on the second hand, if you’re doing it at a party, you are just trying to show off and see how cool you are for liking the underdog team or something. Maybe just be an interesting person instead of trying to get attention by yelling at a television screen? I don’t know, maybe that’s just my twisted thinking.

Another thing is the hostility between opposing fans. Two people with different favorite hockey teams are sometimes worst enemies just for the fact they cheer for a different team. It doesn’t matter that they don’t even know one another, they already hate each other. A lot of sport bar fights probably start like this. This isn’t just a sport thing either. Playstation fans hate Xbox fans that hate Nintendo fans. It’s a vicious hate circle based on the fact each side it too stupid and arrogant to take other people’s point of views into consideration. Who gives a shit if you think Microsoft is money hungry, or that the Gamecube is a kiddy system, or that the Playstation has shitty graphics. Is your deluded perception going to change anything except drive you deeper into a social stereotype?