Gigs Shrugged

I had a problem for a long time now that Firefox would go forward or back while I was trying to type into a text box. I discovered, somewhat by accident, the cause of this today.  It turns out if you have a wheel mouse that uses detents to scroll in discrete increments, sometimes the wheel can stop between detents, depending on which mouse you have.   A few seconds or minutes later, the mouse wheel will “pop” into place, normally just causing a little unintended scrolling.  This happens with a lot of Microsoft Mice apparently.

But when you are holding the shift key, say because you are typing in a text field and capitalizing a letter, instead of scrolling, the wheel popping into place will cause you to navigate away from the page you are on, potentially losing all that you typed.  It’s extremely frustrating, and it doesn’t happen often enough to realize what is causing it most of the time.

Here is the solution, for Linux and Windows at least:

Go to about:config and change mousewheel.withshiftkey.action to 0.  This makes the wheel scroll even if shift is held down.  This prevents firefox from losing text that you type with unintended navigation.

So if Firefox is going forward and back randomly while you try to type a message, this may very well be the cause.

Fuck Apple for starting this idea that PC=Windows.  Fuck Microsoft for running with it.  Hundreds of Operating Systems run on a PC.

Ever since I (re) joined the NRA, renewing my very old membership, I have been spammed mercilessly by the NRA.  I am getting email advertisements from LifeLock, from “Special Editon Books”, and for a while, persistent phone calls every couple days, even though I told them each time to put me on their Do Not Call list and to stop calling.

They have it appears at least 6 different mailing lists, and if you unsubscribe from one they just create a new one for the next “exciting offer” that they want to sell you and automatically opt you in.

Here’s some of the email spam I’ve gotten from the NRA:

• NRA Breaking News on 2nd Amendment Rights  (an ad for a book by Les Adams) (Special Edition Books)
• NRA brings you health insurance for less than a latte a day (NRA Endorsed Insurance)
• NRA & LifeLock- Exclusive Discount for NRA Members (NRA Special Offers)
• NRA & LifeLock Partner to Protect Your Identity
• NRA & LifeLock partner to protect your rights
• NRA Members ONLY! $600 Value! Get 4 Months FREE
• NRA’s Marksmanship Primer - Get yours for hunting season!
• Cool New NRA Gear!  (NRAStore)
• No Risk NRA  Wines - Only $6.99 & Free Shipping (NRA Special Offers)
• It’s $40 Below at the NRA Store!  (NRAStore)

This is in addition to paper junk mail in my mailbox.  I just wanted to support the 2nd amendment.  I didn’t sign up to be flooded with advertisements.

It seems a lot of arguments these days are using the logic, “If it saves one person, then it’s worth it”, where “it” is … pretty much anything.  It doesn’t matter how expensive, draconian, or detrimental “it” is, if it saves just one life then it’s all worth it!

More formally this could be expressed as:

1. X provides benefit Y
2. The value of Y can’t be measured
3. Therefore X is justified no matter what the cost

To make this concrete:

1. Embedded RFID chips can detect kidnapped children in public places
2. The value of a kidnapped child’s life is unmeasurable
3. Therefore mandatory embedding of RFID chips in every child is justified

Or a more mundane example:

1. Corporate charity sponsorship foster consumer goodwill
2. Consumer goodwill is a largely unmeasurable benefit
3. Therefore large charity budgets are justified

And very closely related:

1. Doing Y has a minuscule chance of killing someone
2. The cost of someone dying is unmeasurable
3. Therefore no one should do Y

I don’t believe this logical fallacy has been formally described before.  If it doesn’t have a name, I suggest calling it “Appeal to unmeasurable value”.

As if it’s not enough to crap up every article with hundreds of pointless [citation needed] tags on every clause of every sentence they happen to disagree with, there’s this type of mess:

An unused highway may reference a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] or later closed.[10][11][12] An unused ramp can be referred to as a ghost ramp, stub ramp,[13] stub street,[14][2][15] stub-out,[2] or simply stub.[16][17]

17 sources and 19 citations for what amounts to a dictionary definition.  Way to make a readable encyclopedia.

Even worse, take a look at the source code:
An '''unused highway''' may reference a [[highway]] or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused”US&R and NY-TF1 Practice for the Real Thing.” City of New York 20 June 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/news/05_06_20_usar_mobex.shtml].”Kentucky Model Access Management Ordinance.” Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Oct. 2004. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://transportation.ky.gov/planning/traffic/access_files/KY%20Model%20Local%20AM%20Ordinance.pdf].”Barrie (City) v. 1606533 Ontario Inc.”, 2005 CanLII 24746 (ON S.C.). 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/on/cas/onsc/2005/2005onsc14170.html].Iowa House. 1998. House File 686., 77th, H.R. 0686. [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/BillHistory/HF/00600/HF00686.html] [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/Legislation/HF/00600/HF00686/Current.html].”PETITIONED PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT.” New York City. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/brookfield/bal_p1.html].House. 1993. LAND TITLE AMENDMENT ACT, 1993. 35th Parliament, 2nd sess., H.R. 78. [http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/35th2nd/h0721pm.htm].Munroe, Tapan. “TRENDS ANALYSIS for PARKS & RECREATION: 2000 AND BEYOND.” California Park & Recreation Society Jan. 1999. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.cprs.org/pdf/trends2000.pdf]“Chapter 5: Detailed Comparison of Alternatives – Seattle.” SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Project, Washington Department of Transportation, 2 May. 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.sr520deiscomments.com/Pages/SR520_DEIS_Section7.pdf] [http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FEE76803-E971-4DEE-BA3D-06D6A2F64D6B/0/SR520DEIS_AppendixEPart1.pdf].Anderson, Steve. “CT 11 Expressway.” New York City Roads. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/CT-11/]. or later closed.”Leasing of Closed Highways Regulation”, Alta. Reg. 36/1986. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/ab/laws/regu/1986r.36/20061113/whole.html].”R. v. Sanders”, 2004 NBPC 12 (CanLII). 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/nb/cas/nbpc/2004/2004nbpc12.html].”HIGHWAY CLOSINGS”, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 599. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.canlii.ca/on/laws/regu/1990r.599/20061120/whole.html]. An unused ramp can be referred to as a ”’ghost ramp”’, ”’stub ramp”’,{{PDFlink|[http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/transit/ptr_newsletter/2006_october.pdf Washington State Department of Transportation Public Transportation and Rail Division Monthly News, October 2006, page 4]|286 [[Kibibyte|KiB]]}}, accessed [[December 28]], [[2006]] ”’stub street”’,Sommer, Dick. “Ten Ways to Manage Roadway Access in Your Community.” Ohio Department of Transportation, 2005. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/roadwayengineering/documents/access_management/10ways2005.pdf].Bauserman, Christian E. “DELAWARE COUNTY ENGINEER’S DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION & SURVEYING STANDARDS.” 18 May, 1998. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/prod/ROW/CtyCvy/delaware.pdf]. ”’stub-out”’, or simply ”’stub”’.Geiger, Gene. “Ohio DOT Constructs I-670 over a Water Treatment Sludge Lagoon in Columbus.” Ohio LTAP Quarterly. Ohio Department of Transportation. 15:3 (1999) [http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ltap/Newsletters/1999/Q4/Fall%201999.pdf].”CITY OF UNION, KENTUCKY.” City of Union, Kentucky 23 June 2006. 15 Jan. 2007 [http://www.cityofunionky.org/files/19078672.htm].

That’s the source code for the first sentence. Yes, just like that with no linebreaks.  If you feel motivated to fix this mess of an article, it’s here: Unused Highway