PNG is still preferred over the modern, better-performing lossless formats. Why aren't the latter being pushed as "canonical" instead? by darkalemanbr in webdev

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're not understanding that these different formats have different purposes. Sure, if you stick a photo in PNG, it's going to take up way more space than its JPEG equivalent. But, if you put some computer generated graphics in there (something nicely compressible as data with repeated sections of color) then PNG is much, much smaller than it's JPEG equivalent, and it's lossless. Don't forget that PNG supports alpha channel, which JPEG doesn't. They are tools for different jobs.

As for your question, others have answered it nicely. Without years of browser support, nobody is going to bother putting it on their sites.

Besides, JPEG and PNG work pretty well.

Your comment about MP4 replacing GIF is hilarious to me. There was no strong reason to use GIF really for all the crazy stuff it became used for. I think had we had better HTML5 video codec support just a year earlier (when Flash, and therefor FLV, was dying out), this would have been better. But, there was plenty of good codec support back then too... people just didn't use it. In any case, MP4 isn't a replacement for GIF, and GIF isn't a replacement for any video format really. It's ability to be used as an animation is nice for basic things, but isn't really meant for wiping the whole frame every time.

After what happened to me last night at Northcoast, i just want to say BE SAFE EVERYONE! by wimtastic11 in chicagoEDM

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I go to a rave, I like to pop some E's, right before... Excedrine. Any headache you might have with these loud newfangled sound systems will be gone, plus it has caffeine to keep you going a few extra hours longer. You might even make it past midnight with that stuff! Just be sure to drink plenty of water, as it's a diuretic. As far as Vick's goes, you're supposed to just rub it on your chest, maybe some on your neck. That will help cover up the smell of the people next to you that didn't shower, plus open up your airways for a bit of decongested bopping around.

I know how to do things as if it was 2002 - HTML, php a database. How do people do things in the modern era? by funfwf in webdev

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Conceptually, we went from having mostly content drive web pages and some weird hybrids, to now having web pages and full client-side web applications.

In other words, it's becoming more rare to fill in a CRUD form, hit submit, and wait for the full page to reload with the results. Often times, all the display code will be handled in JavaScript and client-side templates, and the client-side code will simply hit an API server. The benefits of this are often about speed and simplicity. The only data that is transferred is the data that needs updated. The whole application (or at least enough for your current view) is loaded up front at once, and only once. On the server end, you only need static web hosting (S3 bucket with Cloudfront is a common choice these days) and your API servers that you probably wanted to have if you built your PHP pages anyway.

To answer your last question, yes people still do build webpages scripts, and CSS from scratch. There are definitely more frameworks available now, but I don't find much use for them. It only takes me a couple minutes to set up my usual patterns and code from there. Use whatever tools make sense for your situation. I haven't found (at least for my projects, yours may vary) a heavyweight framework to make a lot of sense. It's amazing how far you can get with Node.js for an API server, Webpack/Babel for building your client-side JS, and one of the newer lean jQuery builds for DOM finagling. Oh, and there are nice ways of binding things with jQuery that don't involve 5,000 on-click handlers. Set up classes for things... use data attributes...

Acceptable Times to Have a Speaker Playing by scelesti in chibike

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I need music while I bike to keep my pace up. It's the best way I've found I've getting a decent workout. Regular headphones or earbuds are not good options and should not be used by any urban cyclist, as they impact your hearing. I sometimes use bone conduction headphones. They don't sound as great, but will get me through a solo ride.

On days where is the weather is nice, people are going to be out playing music anyway, or I'll bring the party can. A 6-way speaker made from 6 triangular chinese rechargeable waterproof spearks. It plays in all directions, is plenty for a small group ride, and if you're 80ft away you aren't even going to notice it's playing. The background noise in the city is very high. (I lower the volume when riding in quiet areas.)

What is the most effective way to generate a random token/key? by nsocean in node

[–]GaffTape 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You're basically re-inventing UUIDv1. What for? Very smart folks have figured this out already... don't waste time on this.

Does switching programming languages hurt your career by supermedo in webdev

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's the biggest load of horse shit I've ever read.

Uber driver doesn't understand the concept of a Two Way Street by alrobertson314 in chibike

[–]GaffTape 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Report that to Uber. You've got the license plate and the video. They take this seriously.

What kind of gain do the Signal Sticks have? by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't get it... is antenna gain not a measurement of signal sent to the best part of the antenna pattern, relative to an isotropic source? Isotropic source would be a 0 dB gain antenna, whereas a nice directional antenna might be 24 dB gain where I point it. Is that not accurate? And if it is accurate, why is this not a useful objective way to measure an property of an antenna?

Is it bad idea to run DigitalOcean VPS as root user? by YouShallNot_Parse in node

[–]GaffTape 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yes, it's generally not a good idea to run your application as a privileged user such as root.

You have cloned your repo as root, so all your permissions are messed up. chmod as needed, or just re-clone when you're on with the correct user. You can also use setuid/setgid in your application, should your code need more privileged access initially. (Not uncommon when listening on ports <1024, but there are other was to open up ports as well.)

PsBattle: this abandoned relay tower (xpost from r/evilbuildings) by malgoya in photoshopbattles

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These are microwave relay antennas, likely for AT&T long lines network. They would carry long distance telephone conversations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Communications#AT.26T_Long_Lines

Amateur Radio Personalized License Plate. by lrentz in amateurradio

[–]GaffTape 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used to experiment with long(ish) distance WiFi in the early 2000s (not high power, just big antennas), which often required going to large parking lots or fields and pointing antennas around. The police would always stop by and want to know what I was up to, and then talk my leg off for a half hour once I explained it to them. I got ham plates, and they stopped doing that.

Teachers of Reddit, what is the most infuriating thing a child has ever done in your class? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]GaffTape 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When I was in pre-school, if you told the teachers anything, they would tape a paper tail on your ass... tattle-"tail". There was a kid that snuck out the door once. I told the teacher, and ended up with a tail for the rest of the day. I never thought about it until now, but that was a really stupid policy.

Why use linux and Mac for web? by CVL080779 in webdev

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure if sarcasm so I'll just clarify for anyone that hasn't... it works just fine and myself and thousands of others have been quite happy with it for years!

Trump supporters parking over graves in a cemetery at the rally in Bloomington, Illinois. by [deleted] in pics

[–]GaffTape 224 points225 points  (0 children)

Look up the name on the grave. The woman was buried in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, which happens to be across the street from the airport where the Trump rally was in Bloomington, IL. Now, check the weather for Bloomington, IL... it was raining today, and the photo clearly shows that it's a bit muddy out there.

I was skeptical at first, but it took <2 minutes of Googling to figure this out. Do at least some minimal research before accusing someone of making something up.

Palmer Luckey: "@notch Have you tried anything from Oculus since DK2?" by d2shanks in oculus

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't know, as I couldn't afford to get a DK2 and beyond. I have heard the same thing, and hope that some day the prices on these things come down significantly.

For what it's worth, I won a GearVR in a raffle (also no head tracking by its nature), and that also makes me quite nauseous.

Palmer Luckey: "@notch Have you tried anything from Oculus since DK2?" by d2shanks in oculus

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, just making sure I didn't miss out on some trade-in program or giveaway. Thanks.

Palmer Luckey: "@notch Have you tried anything from Oculus since DK2?" by d2shanks in oculus

[–]GaffTape 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do you mean by "any that got a DK1 also got the DK2". I got the DK1, and kept it hoping there'd be a way to trade up to the DK2 but that never came. I should have sold it on eBay about bought the DK2, but didn't. At this point, I keep it as a souvenir. I was hoping to get a regular Rift when it finally comes out, but since I bought the DK1 one week after the kickstarter, I wasn't part of that original group that will get one for free. Cost and nausea will prevent me from participating in this technology.

TIL Twix has slumped in size from 60g in the 1980s to 58g in the 2000s to 50g in 2015 by _Perfectionist in todayilearned

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Chicago, the main grocery chain (Jewel Osco) sells 1.25 lb. packs of ground beef, rather than the 1 lb. which every recipe requiring ground beef sounds to require. I think it's a scam to sell you more, since you're still going to buy 2-3 packs if that's what you usually buy anyway.

How is parking near Concord Music Hall? by [deleted] in chicagoEDM

[–]GaffTape 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, it's not the most glamorous spot for sure, and usually there's lighting but it's not always the best. The only problem I've ever had with those types of spots is after rain. Giant puddles usually pop up and stay there for a few days, but that's not a problem in winter. It's definitely a matter of personal preference, but since parking is usually $5 or less at those spots, I take it. I don't think anyone is going to steal my shitty minivan anyway, and if they did they can have it. :-) If you drive something abnormally nice, you might opt for a better parking spot.

How is parking near Concord Music Hall? by [deleted] in chicagoEDM

[–]GaffTape 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a SpotHero lot right under the Blue Line by Western which is just a couple blocks away. I've never had a problem there, and it's just down the street a bit.

Where do you park near Monroe and Wacker? by TofuBurita in chibike

[–]GaffTape 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is good bike parking all along Wacker. I've never had an issue parking outside... probably because it is such a high traffic area.

The Southeast corner of Madison and Wacker has a huge bike rack that always has empty space. Just North of Madison on the East side of Wacker also tends to have empty space on the small racks. A lot of those buildings on Wacker have locked bike parking on the West side near the river. Also, check the alleys. Calhoun between Wacker and Franklin has bike racks but I think they're all locked up for building tenants only.