IBM on 4/1
The IBM intranet had a decent April Fools news article about "solving" time zone confusion by adjusting employee schedules to 1 work hour, 3 break hours, 1 work hour, 3 break hours ad infinitum to better accommodate what IBMers do best: hold meetings.
Like many IBM news posts, the article included a video embed "for more information." Clicking the vid, I was greeted with a copy of this clip.
That's right. I was rickroll'd by IBM. I honestly did not see that coming.
Two Comments about Wordpress
First, the new dashboard coming in 2.7 looks wonderful. I must say it looks much cleaner and appears to fit a typical screen better than the current version.
Wordpress 2.7 posting UI screenshot
Second, near the end of the standard install guide for Wordpress, there's a link to a separate guide on how to install and update Wordpress direct from Subversion. Too bad I discovered these instructions after doing my first install from the packaged version, but it was definitely worth the effort to switch over to installing directly from Subversion.
Site Updates
I upgraded to Wordpress 2.6.1 tonight. I also took the opportunity to install the GeSHi plugin. Hopefully everything is still working and my code snippets are more readable. Let me know if anything is amiss.
On a somewhat related note, the real Planet Accessibility site is now live. If you were reading or included in my stop-gap Accessibility Daily feed, make sure you go subscribe and register with Planet Accessibility.
Dr. Horrible
I never watched Buffy or Firefly on TV, but seeing the movie Serenity and then purchasing the Firefly DVD set turned me on to Joss Whedon. He's taken his talents online now with a three act musical, Dr. Horrible.
I didn't know what to think of the opening with Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) recording his vlog. But as soon as he started singing, I started laughing. By the time Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) appeared, I was loving it.
Acts II and III are due in a few days. Catch them before they disappear.
Maze Day 2008
About once a year, K-12 kids with disabilities from all over North Carolina (and beyond) travel to UNC-Chapel Hill to take part in Maze Day. Throughout the day, the kids, their teachers, and their parents wander Sitterson Hall to try out the numerous games, applications, activities, and demos designed to help them learn and have fun at the same time.
The kids always have a blast, and this year was no exception. Some of the 21 projects demoed this year included the following:
- Carolina Rocker: A rocking-horse game that combines exercise and acoustic localization.
- Carolina Beat: An accessible version of Dance Dance Revolution for a good exercise workout to music.
- Braille Twister: A twister game using a DDR pad to form Braille letters and get exercise.
- Sweet Beat: A vision-based, edible (yes, edible) music tracker.
- Deep View: Auditory display of complex diagrams.
I believe the estimated attendance this year was something like 80 kids and 90 adults. About 30 or so stopped by to try my demo of Clique. While many of the kids were young and not yet familiar with using desktop applications, they still enjoyed figuring out Clique's commands, typing messages, and hearing Clique's output. And when they got bored, they jumped to the ever popular Nanomanipulator demo in the same room to touch carbon nanotubes using a PHANTOM and Atomic Force Microscope data.
While the day is intended to give these kids a trip to remember, I think I have just as much fun watching their reactions to the various projects. I find it equally wonderful to see the CS department staff, faculty, and students band together to create a memorable experience for all of the visitors.