The Ergophobia Continues... (go ahead, look it up, I dare you)

Dear Dude,

So I was sitting here thinking about how you're my dude, and I'm your dude, but we haven't shared anything in a while. For the eavesdroppers I'll recap (the following should be read with the announcer voice from
Idiocracy);

Last time on 2dudes1blog -- James was trying to code some javascript, but he didn't know anything about it. Michael, his ever faithful cousin and sometimes sidekick, loaned him a plethora of books on the subject in question. To date, James has only read a single chapter in one of the books. Now the not so climatic continuation of this anti-drama will unfold before your eyes.

Thanks for the books, I'll get to those when I get a chance.

The end,
Other dude

Not really. Here are some links in a random order of things I think everyone should see.

• A blog, arguably more interesting than ours.
• Yet another thing I invented after it's been around for years.
• Something cool I'm going to find a reason to use some day.
• This link could save your life.
• and this link could end it if you don't know how to swim without the use of heavy machinery.
• Also, I made two posts in the same day.

For real this time,
Other dude

Dude,

There aren't many video games that excite me these days. At least not without some nostalgic references to games I grew up on, but I have to share this one with you. I got Just Cause 2 as a freebie from something I bought and finally entered the code into Steam for the lols. There have been a number of games the only reason I'd ever play was because they were free, and almost every one only gets about 20 minutes of play time before I forget about it (looking at you STALKER with all the periods).

Just Cause 2 was entertaining enough to get me through the first few levels, skipping all the cut scenes because they are a little long and pointless. I was even able to overlook the cheesy main character's overly macho all black outfit. Once I got into the main game, I was impressed with it's open ended play style. I have no idea what the story is or what I am supposed to do, but just roaming around stealing cars and jets and just generally blowing things up and causing "chaos" has kept me up until 1am for the first time in a long time. I think it helped that I didn't take the game seriously when I started playing and had no expectations.

It's on Steam for $20, but there is a free demo. I recommend checking it out when you are in the mood for mindless entertainment of the explosive kind.

Thanks,
Dude

We did Something Right

A Google search for "tron trench coat" puts our blog post as the first result.

At first I thought it was Google working it's cookie magic on me, but I'm starting to think it's legit.

What little I've learned so far

Dear Other Half of 2 Dudes 1 Blog,

I am writing to inform you that I'm making a blog post.

More seriously, I am writing to save you time. Your time is valuable to me. Like gold; it mysteriously appreciates.

Based on a conversation we had earlier today, I thought I'd take the time to share with you what I have found to be a useful setup when making websites by hand.

FileZilla
When I first started, I did everything through our hosting service's WebFTP (for the nosy, yes we share a web hosting service). That was fine until I started working with PHP and many files. I had to step up my game. Also, don't be a fool like I was and just let it save your log on credentials. Save time, be happy, live longer.

Useful things I like about FileZilla
- synchronized browsing
- set files to open in notepad++ - go to Edit > Settings > File editing > Filetype associations paste something close to this (your setup might need minor changes--I have faith you can make it work):

php "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"
html "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"
txt "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"
css "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"

Things I wish it could do
- useful file compare - you can compare by size or time, both of which will be slightly different between your local copy and server copy.
- Automatic upload of Changed files - When you open a file through FileZilla and save your changes in Notepad++, FileZilla is smart enough to say "Hey dude your file changed, do you want to upload the new version?" This is cool, until you are making a lot of minor changes to a file to see the differences. You'll have to hit save, alt-tab to FileZilla, click okay, alt-tab again to your browser, hit F5.

Notepad++
I know you already know the wonders of Notepad++, but for our eavesdroppers I'm going to include it in this letter.

One thing I do like about Notepad++ is it's ability to change the Language (of the code not to Russian). I've started the bad practice of using PHP files as style sheets, and it's nice to be able to tell Notepad++ I want to see it as a CSS instead of what it is.

Websites
http://htmledit.squarefree.com/ - I like to use this if I'm trying to make a site look right. I'll copy and paste the css inside some <style> tags, and paste the code at the bottom. Once I get what I want out of it, paste it back into Notepad++.

http://jsfiddle.net/ - Just discovered this one the other day. It's a lot like the first one, but lets you do more. You'll see.

http://www.w3schools.com/ - Almost every Google search result of "html + something I want to use" begins w3schools.com. I follow that link because they are most likely the have what I am looking for.

Browsers
They don't display the same (despite the plethora of standards available). I blame Lamecrosoft, but it doesn't matter. It is something that has to be dealt with even though we know who to point fingers at.

Curvy Corners - You may have noticed in my webdesign I'm a big fan of border-radius. Who's not? Really? Because if you're not you're wrong. This script allows border-radius to work on browsers that don't support CSS3.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yoursite.com/where/you/stash/scripts/curvycorners.js"></script>

JQuery - While I'm on the scripts and making browsers work subject, let me include this one. I'm not smart enough yet to know all about it, but I know it's a good thing.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.4/jquery.min.js"></script>

F12 - While you are viewing your masterpiece through Chrome or IE (can't speak for others), hit this button to make magic happen. It will show you a number of things. So far I've found it most useful for tweaking margin and padding settings, but I am sure it can do more.

That just about covers what I've learned about setting up to make websites the hard way. Hopefully it gives you a little bit of a jump start, you will surpass me, and write me a letter that kindly explains how I'm doing it wrong. It will be great. We'll share the things we learn and be better for it. Might even help out some of these lazy eavesdroppers.

Thanks,
Other Half of 2 Dudes 1 Blog

Life Rules: Manage your tank

Manage your tank.


This life rule I came up with the other day while getting gas. It started out as "Fill up your tanks", but as I extrapolated the hidden meaning in the wisdom I made up at Bucee's, I realized this was too specific.

Image courtesy of a clever guy with a dollar.

When applied to your gas tank, yes, it should be filled. When you refer to your stomach, fill it for sure. But what about tanks that should be empty? Looking at you bladder! Then there are the tanks that have to be between certain levels like oil and coolant. Clearly this rule can apply to more than anatomy and automobiles, but at the gas station this is all I could think about.

Want me to bust out some economics that validate my rule (at least at the pump)? The gas you buy now, no matter what it cost, is cheaper today than at any point in the future because of inflation. Therefor, when you are at the tank fill it up all the way. No pansy $15 now and the rest on pay day.

Another Letter to my Buddy

I don't know what it is Micheal, but I haven't been able to psych myself up for the final dungeon of Zelda. I'm going to try this weekend.

I don't remember what song I shared with you in my last letter, but this is what I'm listening to right now. And I mean right now too. I've actually loved this song for a long time, just wanted to share. As much as I don't like music these days, Google Music and OCremix has inspired me to listen.

I originally came here to write a real post. Another rule of life actually. Then I started just writing and this is what came out. Let me go try again.

Sincerely,
James

Some things to share with Michael... but I guess both of our blog followers can see too

Dude,

So I've spent a ridiculous amount of time working on geekwagon.net. It has been my goal to code it 99% by hand. The only part I didn't do was the adsense script and the java that updates the date for the last update. Did that part make since? I'm on my 4th beer. I just spent my WHOLE evening making sure it works well at resolutions as low as 600x480. So if you just installed Windows 2000 and don't have any video drivers you can view my website without any problems (except IE5.5 will display all the borders with those nasty square corners... for now--I might have found a way to fix that but like I said I'm on my 4th beer.).

Picture courtesy of Google image
search and some random sucker.

I'm writing to tell you I've had this song going through my head for days.

Also, I finally broke even on bitcoins. Just in time too the price is dropping today like rappers drop hot items. To celebrate I've spent a bunch of time adding this page to geekwagon and I also added a bitcoin picture to this post. I hope it will be useful (the page not the picture) to some one some where in some world.

I still need to finish Zelda. I'll get to it.

Sincerely,
The other Dude