Snowmans Blog

Beating Facebooks Forced Update - for now

It seems Facebook is determined to force a drastically new layout upon all it's users, whether we like it or not. And many of us don't. There are numerous groups dedicated to opposing this change, with some of them having more than 2 million members. If you had several million customers who complained about a change would you still force it on them?

For the time being there is a way to keep using the old layout. This was posted on a Facebook group, but it was overly complicated and involved downloads that are not needed, a toolbar that's not needed, and restarting Firefox which isn't necessary. This only works in Firefox/Mozilla.

All you really need to do is "spoof" your user agent. And there is a tool to do this. Get the "User Agent Switcher" here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59

This is an official add-on downloaded from the mozilla website. Install this, which should be easy. You may need to restart the browser once after installing this, I don't remember. I've had this for a long time now.

Next you just add a new Agent. From the drop-down menus at the top of Firefox use Tools -> User Agent Switcher -> Options -> Options. Choose User Agents, the second of two choices on a list. Then add one. A small pop-up opens with a bunch of fields, just add "MSIE 5.5 (2000)" with no quotes to the Description and User Agent fields, the rest can be empty. Now close this and go back to the browser.

Any time you want to switch, use the Tools -> User Agent Switcher drop down menu and choose your agent. Most of the time you probably want default, but when using Facebook choose the MSIE 5.5 (2000).

Now, while using the new agent, go to this link:

http://www.new.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.new.facebook.com%2F%3Ffbnew_opt_out%3D1&h=8bec68bc94899ac0e7f953b7794601aa

This opts you out of the new layout. Bookmark this or put it on your desktop since you may periodically be switched (against your will) to the new layout. If so, just click this link to go back to the old one.

When you're done with Facebook just switch your user agent back to default.

This is not a security risk. Some instructions include complicated directions for additional downloads and toolbars - you don't need any of that. Just an add-on right from the Mozilla site.

Happy surfing on Facebook! At least for a while, until they undermine this fix.

More on Employment

Here's another comic I couldn't resist. (Link to Previous One)

I've never understood how people can give up 50 weeks a year, out of 52, to work in an office or cubicle. Money, I guess. I do miss that so I can understand the appeal. But really, 2 weeks to yourself?

I also have always had a problem with the hour-orientation of the typical workplace. There's one forum I follow that's skiing related and very active. But the majority of posts are entirely unrelated, and are made during working hours. Just people stuck in an office without enough to do, but they can't leave and go skiing either.

Surveys have shown repeatedly that companies would do better to offer more flexibility and vacation than more money. It's what many employees prefer (a majority in the surveys). But instead they offer more money as if it's the only thing they can imagine being a motivator.

A friend was interviewing for a new engineering job a long time ago. As part of his negotiation he asked for the ability to take more time off than the standard allowance, even if it was unpaid. After all, engineers make plenty and he was single at the time. He said the interviewing manager looked at him with a dropped jaw, as if he was amazed anyone would ask for unpaid time! (In the end he did get the job.)

What happened to the "boomers"?

I recently came across an editorial in the student paper from Auburn asking why the students are so complacent. And pointing out that the generation of protesters from the 60's and 70's are the ones running things in a less than satisfactory way now.

I've often wondered myself whatever happened to the idealism that generation once had. Where were all the former Vietnam protestors when we entered Iraq? Who are all the people working in corporate America now? Largely those that rebelled against the system at one time. And why didn't those ordeals get handed down to todays students? They are sitting through their "education" to pick up a degree and make a lot of money. They don't seem to care enough about anything to protest.

The editorial seems to be orphaned and may disappear, but the full version is here, and is titled "A redheaded stranger quotes Chuck D".

Here is an excerpt which captures most of it:

Back in our parents' college days, it was a common occurrence for students to come together and speak out for what they believed to be right.

Well, the protesters of that generation are in charge now, and I for one don't particularly like the way they are managing my school.

While in no way is this an endorsement for free love, flower power or rampant drug use (they all happen anyway), it is an endorsement for some "call to arms."

What ever happened to college-aged people's passion and zeal for the way of life they so desperately want to live?

I'll tell you what happened. We got complacent. Think about it. Look at the classes you've taken at Auburn. How many of those consisted of no more than pure memorization and regurgitation?"

One of the other relevant thoughts I've often had is that universities have traditionally been a source of change, a starting point for upheaval. In other countries this is still true, entire governments have been brought down by movements begun in their universities. But here in the US it's hard to imagine students starting a significant movement for change of any kind.

And if students don't do it it's unlikely any other group will. Dooming us to complacency and the status quo.

Break Away from the Herd

PISCES (Feb 19 - Mar 20): Break away from the herd. Those who follow you may be attracted by your potential success but could disappear in a crunch.

Thoughts on Employment

There's a reason I gave up working in the business world rather quickly. However, while people often envy my avoidance of the 9-to-5 routine and the good points such as the times I get to spend outdoors they rarely appreciate the sacrifices that go with it. To quote a song by blues musician John Mayall:

"You call us the privileged few...
If you think what we do isn't working...
Then you don't understand what we do ...

We picked out a life that's a gamble...
We gave up the nine to five..."

John Mayall Band - New Year, New Band, New Company

So life can often be tough, and there are certainly gambles, but at least I'm not like this:



I couldn't help laughing when I saw this!

The Doomsday Manual

I was over at the Oregon Coast a couple weeks ago and picked up a copy of the "Depoe Bay Beacon" newspaper. Depoe Bay is a nice small town north of Newport and south of Lincoln City.

Their editorial was on a new 5-page brochure which tells "just how shoddy the official response will be" in case of a tsunami or any other disaster. The brochure cost $2000, but such "experts" as the OSP, Sheriff, Fire Dept and Coast Guard were never consulted. (Actually I question the expertise of any of these aside from the Coast Guard).

... Read more ...

Ethics of War and Prisoner Treatment

In the years since the Iraq war (or occupation) began we've seen some simply horrifying reports of how our own government treats prisoners of war. They have been tortured, and in some cases killed in the process. They've been held outside the US to circumvent laws. The Bush administration has claimed at times that the Geneva conventions do not apply. And at the moment they are arguing to exempt the CIA from requirements and expectations being set for the military.

This is not our heritage as Americans. The Bush administration needs a history lesson, and the people of the country need to take a stand. Let's look back at two examples from our own revolutionary days - the Boston Massacre and Washingtons treatment of prisoners of war.

... Read more ...

Peer Review in Science - My Experience

I recently came across a good editorial concerning peer review of scientific articles, which I have a link to on my science page.

I only ever tried to publish one article in the scientific journal system, but I had a pretty negative experience and ended up self-publishing it on my website. After filing a copyright. It's in the papers section of my website.

... Read more ...

Personal Update (Journal) - Sept 15 2006

So what's been happening over the summer? Obviously I haven't had time to do this blog thing, and I've probably slipped further out of sight than usual.
... Read more ...

Welcome to the Blog

Well, since it's all the rave these days I just had to set up a blog. Actually I already have another one going at avalanche-blog.com where I post specifically about snow avalanche topics. This one will be for personal and varied use.

At first I thought I'd use it for political commentary. Which I will, but there are other good uses too. And I'll set up different sections so it's easy to sort out different things. I think some will parallel the topics and organization of my personal website and others will fall outside that.

Two things I hope to use this for are keeping friends and family updated on what's going on in my life and summarizing website updates. This way they can read whatever interests them, and how ever much they want. I'm really too busy to do a lot of things I'd like to and unfortunately staying in touch with friends has fallen by the wayside in favor of efforts that have some chance of contributing to my economic survival. I also only get to work on my personal web site now and then so maybe I can use this blog to summarize changes now and then.

Of course the real question is whether I'll have time to blog at all or not. It's quite likely that I will post fairly often at times, interspersed with other long stretches of time when I'm just too busy. We'll see.

I'll make the next post about the Sections and update that as they evolve.

Comments on anything, or just quick greetings in passing, are welcome as comments. I think I've set it to require review of all comments before they appear, but I should get an email that something was submitted. I set this up and ignored it for quite a while only to discover that my test posts had thousands of comments promoting viagra, cheap university degrees, and other sundry items.

Jim