sIFR reloaded

 

sIFR

sIFR (scalable inman flash replacement for the outsiders) is a technique to embed custom fonts in a webpage. You know, traditionally web pages can only show a couple of fonts reliably – the ubiquitous Arial, Times, and a couple of others.

 

When sIFR was introduced I was pretty psyched out about it. Showing any font, and still accessible, selectable, etc. However, it’s giving me nothing but headaches. Let’s recap some of those:

• sIFR needs Flash. At a certain point there was a security issue and I had to disable Flash. No more sIFR.
• Lots of people block Flash, because of the ads. 
• Special characters weren’t showing. It appeared my font didn’t even have these defined. Well that’s not sIFR to blame, but still
• It’s almost doing a good job presenting the CSS correctly. Almost.
• Documentation? Don’t get me started. Besides a collection of pages on several blogs, that are badly maintained, there’s absolutely nothing.
• Every time you install a new version you have to recreate your font files. Now that’s annoying!

Here are some alternatives I found today

TrueFontFamily

trademarks: JS, PHP, CSS, commercial. 

Server side generating is of course a good idea, but I can’t see if the textimages are cached, it looks like not.

Facelift

trademarks: JS, PHP, hosted, commercial

This one seems very good, but a bit too commercial. Hosted? No thank you.

TypeFace

trademarks: JS, SVG/VML, free

Typeface is a diamond among these, so it seems, if it doesn’t suffer from the lack of documentation that is. But if it’s really good it doesn’t need documentation.

New design

Yes I “implemented” a new design. It’s a WordPress theme, so it’s hardly work.

Finding Possible Cube PLL Algorithms using an Anagram Finder

I ran the internet anagram server on the list of PLL algorithms’ shortcodes: 

• A
• E
• F
• G
• H
• J
• N
• R
• T
• U
• V
• Y
• Z

So who can find some interesting words or sentences? Put it in the comments.

Here’s the full list:

288 candidate words found:
1. Gaunter 
2. Fraught 
3. Naughty 
4. Unearth 
5. Haunter 
6. Frenzy 
7. Jaunty 
8. Rehang 
9. Hunger 
10. Hanger 
11. Gather 
12. Naught 
13. Argent 
14. Father 
15. Graven 
16. Anther 
17. Hungry 
18. Gyrate 
19. Garnet 
20. Nature 
21. Hearty 
22. Tavern 
23. Earthy 
24. Gentry 
25. Rehung 
26. Vaguer 
27. Hunter 
28. Gantry 
29. Urgent 
30. Gurney 
31. Turfy 
32. Heart 
33. Jaunt 
34. Hyena 
35. Grave 
36. Fayer 
37. Faery 
38. Vegan 
39. After 
40. Grunt 
41. Grate 
42. Aunty 
43. Furze 
44. Nervy 
45. Auger 
46. Junta 
47. Gauze 
48. Great 
49. Ferny 
50. Argue 
51. Earth 
52. Avert 
53. Agent 
54. Gaunt 
55. Thane 
56. Graze 
57. Angry 
58. Aught 
59. Teary 
60. Graft 
61. Azure 
62. Grant 
63. Hater 
64. Gazer 
65. Yearn 
66. Hefty 
67. Tangy 
68. Tuner 
69. Gayer 
70. Hazer 
71. Huger 
72. Gauzy 
73. Runty 
74. Rangy 
75. Vaunt 
76. Anger 
77. Heavy 
78. Gravy 
79. Raven 
80. Entry 
81. Hertz 
82. Neath 
83. Vague 
84. Haven 
85. Range 
86. Haunt 
87. Tear 
88. Thru 
89. Year 
90. Rave 
91. They 
92. Aver 
93. Rant 
94. Tare 
95. Fate 
96. Rang 
97. Fang 
98. Tune 
99. Rage 
100. Tray 
101. Raze 
102. Tern 
103. Zany 
104. Faun 
105. Aery 
106. Urge 
107. Rent 
108. Gaze 
109. Near 
110. Yeah 
111. Navy 
112. Nave 
113. Turn 
114. Ante 
115. Gave 
116. Nary 
117. Arty 
118. Fret 
119. Jute 
120. Rhea 
121. Gate 
122. True 
123. Fare 
124. Tang 
125. Jean 
126. Yuan 
127. Gent 
128. Envy 
129. Feat 
130. Tyre 
131. Zeta 
132. Fray 
133. Hurt 
134. Rune 
135. Hunt 
136. Fern 
137. Ague 
138. Hung 
139. Turf 
140. Huge 
141. Thug 
142. Vary 
143. Very 
144. Fear 
145. Jury 
146. Runt 
147. Trey 
148. Heft 
149. Yang 
150. Heat 
151. Rung 
152. Ghat 
153. Then 
154. Futz 
155. Hazy 
156. Than 
157. Haze 
158. Gnat 
159. Raft 
160. Have 
161. Urea 
162. Earn 
163. Hear 
164. Hate 
165. Tarn 
166. Hart 
167. Hare 
168. Frat 
169. Hang 
170. Fury 
171. Haft 
172. Tzar 
173. Gyve 
174. Yurt 
175. Tuna 
176. Fart 
177. Gear 
178. Rate 
179. Faze 
180. Grey 
181. Fuze 
182. Feta 
183. Gray 
184. Neat 
185. Vent 
186. Yarn 
187. Vane 
188. Aunt 
189. Hut 
190. Jet 
191. Hay 
192. Gnu 
193. Nag 
194. Hey 
195. Van 
196. Yen 
197. Ran 
198. Rue 
199. Fay 
200. Hue 
201. Rye 
202. Rut 
203. Are 
204. Tag 
205. Nut 
206. Jag 
207. Tau 
208. Rug 
209. Hat 
210. Nay 
211. Rev 
212. Age 
213. Jug 
214. Hag 
215. Fur 
216. Fun 
217. Fry 
218. Nae 
219. Gay 
220. Gut 
221. Her 
222. Zen 
223. Fez 
224. Fey 
225. Vat 
226. Jay 
227. Yet 
228. Fen 
229. Jar 
230. Rag 
231. Rah 
232. Yea 
233. Ant 
234. Nth 
235. Net 
236. Get 
237. Fat 
238. Guy 
239. Tan 
240. Far 
241. Veg 
242. Fan 
243. Fag 
244. Vet 
245. Gun 
246. Eta 
247. Erg 
248. Era 
249. Urn 
250. Jut 
251. Hen 
252. Gar 
253. Eat 
254. Tar 
255. Ugh 
256. The 
257. Ear 
258. Ray 
259. Aye 
260. Ten 
261. Ref 
262. Rat 
263. Thy 
264. Tun 
265. Tug 
266. Try 
267. Ate 
268. Tea 
269. Run 
270. Art 
271. Hug 
272. Aft 
273. Any 
274. Nu 
275. Re 
276. En 
277. Ye 
278. Fa 
279. Ay 
280. An 
281. Ah 
282. At 
283. Ya 
284. He 
285. Eh 
286. Ha 
287. Uh 
288. A 

Check it out here

The world is in trouble, why?

The whole world is in a financial crisis. How did this happen? Here’s my own analysis of the past events.

I believe greed is the key word. When greed comes in, and is not controlled, it behaves like agression. Agression uncontrolled leads to crime, sometimes murder, most times war (which should be a crime, but isn’t).

When greed is not controlled, it leads, usually, to more greed. Capitalism is not too blame, though. The goal of capitalism, as I was told in my first economics class, was not profit. That was a misunderstanding. The goal of any organization is continuation of the business. That’s why usually you don’t see businesses like Apple or Yahoo (!) being purchased and stripped apart for profit. E.g. in the latter case, Microsoft was only interested in Yahoo’s services, not the money they could make of selling it again. At that level, continuation of the business is much more important. And that is what MS is looking at right now, a risk of not being able to compete in the OS market. Well, enough about that side story about Microsoft. 

The banks, just like any other business, should be in the system for continuation of the business. However, when the economy is in a surge, going uphill, there is no stopping the banks. They get more and more money, and since they are in the money business, continuation seems only so easy. And since none of their clients really understand that business, they can basically sell anything. Just like it was with IT in the eighties. And guess what, IT also experiences these collapses for almost the same reasons (web 1.0 bubble, web 2.0 bubble).

I don’t have a good solution for this, I have to admit. Some things that spring to mind are to have more regulation, but regulation doesn’t always work well. Perhaps more transparency would be enough. Perhaps when the fine print is actually readable and understandable, and has to pass a readability score, then we’d all know what we be getting into.