It's so annoying when software gives me an option to do something, then just doesn't do it. Firefox 2 (and now 3) is a very nice place to browse. It has lots of cool features like tabbed browsing. I love this feature, and tell Firefox to open all pop-ups in a tab instead of a new window.

For some reason there is one stubborn link that opens it in a new window anyway. After a bit of research, I discovered that there IS a way to fix it!

open the about:config page, and change the "browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction" setting to 0 (zero).

This seems to do the trick! No muss no fuss. Does this work in 3.0 as well? Let me know if you have tried it out...

Here is a test link:
John Boal's Blog


If it opens in a tab, you've fixed it!

Today I made some Swiss Pancakes, just like my mother made me when I was a boy, and like her mother made for her when she was a girl.

They are not "pancakes" in the conventional [buttermilk] sense, they are more like crepes. But, the French already have a copyright on that I think. They are pancakes in the sense that they are cooked in a hot pan. They are very thin, and we would always just put a thin layer of jam or jelly on the inside and sort of roll them up to eat them. Pretty good stuff! Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Swiss Pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/8 tsp salt [optional]

Mix liquid ingredients, and sprinkle in flour while stirring, a bit at a time so it doesn't get too lumpy. A few little lumps are OK.

Heat pan on medium heat and spray on some olive oil or canola oil - just a small amount. The pan doesn't have to be really really hot, medium heat works best.

Use a ladle to scoop up some batter and drop it in the middle of the pan. Using a spatula, spread the mix out starting from the center, and try to keep it in a mostly circular pattern. Keep spreading the batter out from the edges until there isn't any more batter to spread. Let it cook for a few seconds to a minute, then turn it over and cook it for a minute on the other side.

Serve warm, with jam or jelly. Makes enough for 3 hungry pancake eaters.

Finally got an hour to spend on the streaming chart page from the weather system. I managed to refactor the code to improve the accuracy of the plotting of points and the labels on the axis, which didn't quite match up... Let's just say that this code is "legacy" code and we'll leave it at that... It's not the kind of thing I'd want to admit to really, being a test driven developer.. but hey it was written many years ago and I just didn't have the time or inclination at that time to test it properly. My bad. One of these days I'll get to it. Right after the treehouse. And the deck. And the new bathroom. And the kitchen remodel. And the new workshop. Did I mention the lawn needs mowing too?

Anyway... the charts are working better now, enjoy...

I decided today on a whim to check out my Alton 3.5KW generator, and see what kind of waveform it was putting out. I had read a few things online that caused me to wonder about the quality of the power it puts out for me... I hooked it up and measured it with my oscilloscope.

As I don't have a 10x probe at my disposal, I had to adjust the image so i could see the top of the waveform. It's not a sine wave, but it does have the general shape and only a few deformations. Much better than most of the UPS signals I have seen...

This is my secondary generator, the one that will run the well pump and pressure pump for the wellhouse in the event of a power outage - so I can have RUNNING WATER... I didn't get a chance to measure the output of the main gen that powers the house. Perhaps I will take a look at that in the near future, just for grins...

Got to spend some time (and money and sweat) on the treehouse project this weekend. I was able to get the parts ($40) and labor together to get the stairway built. I got it built, and mounted, and the hinges put on the trap door. Now, one can ascend the ladder to push up to open the trap door and be atop the platform that someday will be the floor of a grand tree home!

Notice now the new front right corner support that was refactored and re-added NOT to go THROUGH the ladder this time.

THIMK. Pla
n. Ahead.

Many hours of sweat and two mosquito bites later, we have a completed ladder and door. Now, on to something more substantial like WALLS...

Here is a shot of me and my son drilling the holes in the 2x6's we used for the ladder.

This evening, I was walking up the street for a little night time stroll, when I heard a strange shriekish chirp come from the trees across the road. I shined my high powered flashlight up there, but didn't see anything. A few seconds later, I heard another chirp, and just as I looked up, our friend the owl was swooping down flying directly at me! I shined the light on him, and he did a 180 in the air and landed on a tree branch that hangs out across the road, where he shrieked at me again and watched me intently... I walked up the road right underneath him, and he turned around to watch my back as I headed up the road. Maybe my light woke up the Mrs. or something... he had his eyes glued to me continuously as I walked up and then back down the block.

So, let this be a lesson to you... Never piss off a bird with a 5' wingspan and talons sharp enough to shred you into meat strips.

Today out in the blazing 80 degree heat, I managed to get the floor up to the treehouse and get it installed. The Doug fir is about 140' tall, and is 19" in diameter at the level of the floor. I figure it's around a hundred years old or there abouts.

I used two sheets of tongue-in-groove plywood, on top of the 2x4's and 2x6's that I managed to get put up last year. It was a little bit difficult to get the hole in the middle for the tree cut right... Had to refactor both the tree bark and the cutouts on both sides. It didn't turn out exactly square as I'd hoped it would... but it should be good enough. There's only a small gap in one corner that I can fix easily.

Next it's time to cut out the trap door, and figure out how to build the stairway up to it. Then, it's walls, roof and siding. More to follow...