Well, I’m very excited! Some of you will know that I was asked to be an author on a book a while ago. I kept quiet about the details at first, but let slip to a few that I was updating a couple of chapters for the upcoming PHP Anthology (second edition). What I wasn’t expecting was to have my name on the cover!
The first edition of this book came in two volumes and was described as “a compilation of best practice solutions to common Web Development problems in PHP, focusing on the achievement of practical goals by applying well-structured, object orientated software design principles” (source). The second edition brings the first up-to-date by providing a question and answer format of PHP 5 solutions to the most common programming problems in a single volume.
I had great fun working on this book, and hope you get as much out of it as I did. I’ll have some extra news on this book in a short while.
There’s this thing happening today - it’s called the Blog Action Day, in which bloggers around the world are being asked to post something about the environment. It’s a cute idea, and I’ve been meaning to mention Blackle for a while now.
Lots (and lots) of people have Google as their browser’s default home page. Google’s pages are on a white background. White is the least energy efficient color to display (all colours on) for CRT (the big deep monitors, not the more recent flat ones).
Blackle is Google on a black background. So when you search using Blackle (and assuming you have a CRT monitor), you’re saving a teensy weensy bit of electricity. All these teensy weensy bits could add up to something more significant.
Of course if you’re using a newer flat (LCD) screen, its back light is always on, so this point is moot.
(Photo courtesy of mcleod at stock.xchng)
Some people might not know it, but I’m a grammar nazi. You might not know this because I don’t correct people (except those who have asked me to correct them).
You’ll imagine my excitement (or at least extreme interest) in last Wednesday’s showing of Are you smarter than a 5th grader, when a contestant was asked this first grade grammar question:
Max talked to Darcy and …
A. I
B. Me
C. My
I knew she was going to say “I”, because almost everyone makes that mistake. I’ve noticed this mistake made more in Australia than in the UK, but it’s a common one nonetheless. Even the 5th grader by her side and her son made the same mistake, most likely because they hear the incorrect usage more often that they’re taught the correct one.
My little gem for today is an easy way to remember when to use I and when to use me without needing to know the grammatical rules. Simple remove the third party from the sentence, and see which sounds better.
Would you say “Max talked to I” or “Max talked to me”? Now add the third party in again to get “Max talked to Darcy and me”.
Conversely, consider “Max noticed Darcy and … were running late”. Would you say “Max noticed I was late” or “Max noticed me was late”? Now add the third party again to get “Max noticed Darcy and I were running late”.
Me hopes this help you.
(Photo courtesy of weliton at stock.xchng)
In another step towards total government control of its people, the UK is planning to enforce Part 3, Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which will authorise authorities to obtain encryption keys or any encrypted data in unencrypted form in relation to any anti-terrorism investigations.
While this privacy freak understands the nation’s requirement to be able to obtain data that can assist with the aversion of, or investigation into any terrorist activity, I worry about the consequences. ARS Technica’s article on this subject explains that one possible use of this law could be to obtain encryption keys for banking records where funds for terrorist activities are involved. The issue here is that the authorities would then have the keys to decrypt any information, not just that pertaining to the funds in question.
I can imagine that a lot of businesses and individuals will be concerned at the implications these new laws introduce and, given that the laws will only apply to data that resides in the UK, might consider moving their data offshore. This would obviously have an impact on the economy with businesses moving their hosting and data infrastructure to countries that offer more protection and anonymity.
Alternatively, I see a huge surge in the use of encryption technologies that provide a mechanism for plausible deniability. TrueCrypt, for example, allows you to create hidden and unidentifiable partitions of encrypted data, and even supports partitions that provide access to different data sets depending on the password provided. This allows you to store your personal data in an embedded partition, and should anyone coerce you to provide the password, you provide the “safe” password, which gives them access to the outer partition, keeping your personal data hidden.