via http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/?ref=opinion
Loading the background image first
03
Sep
When loading images on a website the background image could be the last to load which doesn’t look too professional. In this very short tutorial (more a tip I suppose) I will show you how to load the background image before anything else, you can apply this to any image that you wish, it is achieved by a bit of javascript in the head section.
In between the <head> and </head> tags of your html file, add the script tags:
<script type="text/javascript"> </script>
It is worth mentioning that this wont work in browsers without javascript enabled, but the majority do so there shouldn’t be any real problems. If a browser doesn’t have javascript then it will continue to load as normal.
Now add the following code in between the script tags like this:
<script type="text/javascript"> ImageA = new Image(width,height) ImageA.src = "URL of Image" </script>
Replace the (width,height) with the dimensions of your image, eg (100,100) and the “URL of Image†to the URL of the image eg “http://help-developer.com/image.jpgâ€. Now it should load before all other images on the page.
To add more than one image you can do something like this:
<script type="text/javascript"> ImageA = new Image(100,100) ImageA.src = "http://help-developer.com/imageA.jpg" ImageB = new Image(100,100) ImageB.src = "http://help-developer.com/imageB.jpg" </script> ImageC = new Image(100,100) ImageC.src = "http://help-developer.com/imageC.jpg" </script>
There you have it, how to load an image first, this works because javascript (and the content between the <head> and </head> tags) is loaded in the browser before the content, hence before any other images or CSS styles.
World’s Most Powerful Magnet Under Construction in Florida [Magnets]
02
Sep
You have probably heard stories about patient injuries or deaths occurring when someone introduces a heavy metal object into the same room as an MRI machine. Obviously, we are talking about some seriously powerful magnets here. However, the $10 million magnet currently under construction at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida is expected to reach 100 tesla when finished—about 67 times more powerful than a typical MRI machine.
That is just the kind of power needed to test the properties of high-temperature superconductors like iron oxyarsenide, which may result in better, cheaper MRI machines and high-voltage power lines. It could also be used for certain zero-gravity experiments and magnetic propulsion systems that could eliminate the need for traditional rockets down the line. Researchers have been able to create magnetic fields over 100 T for years, but if successful, this would be the first magnet that could repeatedly hold up to the strain. According to Greg Boebinger, director of the Magnet Lab, the magnet will have to resist Lorentz forces “equivalent to the explosive force of 200 sticks of dynamite packed into a volume of space the size of a marble.†[IEEE Spectrum Online via New Launches via Dvice]
Angelsoft 3.0 Simplifies the Angel Investment Process
02
Sep
It is often exceedingly difficult to establish and launch a startup. It is also a task to secure funding to sustain the effort. This is the challenge that four-year-old Angelsoft is on a mission to conquer. Even more so now with its launch of Angelsoft 3.0. Today’s release is meant to enable entrepreneurs to more easily find financiers through the use of a group finder (comprising 400 parties at present) and direct communication through the so-called common application.
Angelsoft founder David Rose puts the release in terms that connote the most ideal middle ground yet. Something very streamlined and low on tedium and much fruitless searching on the part of the startup, that connects a broad base of angel investors in one channel or cloud. Public profiles of investment groups are made available, and news feeds are published to give money seekers a closer, more familiar view.
Call it a facilitator. Angelsoft isn’t essential for entrepreneurs and angels together to use, but it can help ease the process. The ratio of startups to cash simply makes Angelsoft a logical option to test. And the less time spent on travel than work, as it were, the better for everyone.
Angelsoft 3.0 Introduction Video from Angelsoft on Vimeo.
Google Maps shows Missile over Utah
01
Sep
Duncan Riley via The Inquisitr
shared by 5 people
Interesting Google Maps discoveries are a dime a dozen, but a missile in flight is a rare find. The shot below shows a missile in flight over Utah near the town of Circleville (direct link on Google Maps here)
It’s hard to be sure from the shot, but the Missile appears to be an AIM-9 Sidewinder used by the US Air Force. It’s also a considerable distance from the Utah Test and Training Range, so it would appear to be out of place.
Palin: “If Pledge Of Allegiance Was Good Enough For Founding Fathers, It’s Good Enough For Me”
01
Sep
Hunter via Daily Kos
shared by 4 people
Oh. My. God. Giant hat tip to JLFinch's recommended diary: here's McCain's selection for the Vice Presidency of the United States, Sarah Palin, answering a 2006 policy questionnaire:
Q: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance
I don't even know what to say to that... I think the only possible response is a long, drawn out pause, followed by a vigorous beating of your head against the wall.
Fun facts: when John McCain's grandfather graduated from the Naval Academy in 1906, the Pledge of Allegiance, as first written, was only fourteen years old. It would not be made the official pledge of the United States until 1942, six years after John McCain himself was born.
When John McCain was born, the words "Under God" were not in the Pledge. They would not appear there until 1954, during McCain's senior year of high school.
Either McCain's graduating class included Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson (hey, maybe Palin will ask him), or McCain's own vice presidential candidate doesn't know a stick of history -- but still feels perfectly qualified to opine on it anyway. What a completely non-comforting thought.