(FP discussions, Hotlist, Admin Tools) still look like a hodgepodge of various formats .

If you can.

No, now you mention it.

Does nested display of comments work on your browser?

Does Google Translate work on this?

$$
\left(
\begin{matrix}
1 & 0 \\
0 & 1 \\
\end{matrix}\right)$$

ab

$a over b$ and $a \over b$

No $ 3\ \alpha $

But $$ 3\ \alpha $$ is inline.

$$\Sigma + 10\ \infty $$

$$ \Pi $$

Testing in comments

$$ Pi_{i=0}^{i=n} X_i $$

Don't know if that's server load, net speed or the change in the HTML - this version should be much less expensive to render.

All is as usual - stories go under "Articles", mostly, which is the point.

Commenting goes way faster than at ye olde site.

Sweet. I like the three column approach for sifting out diaries and more community related stuff - it also brings activity at the Salon in constant focus.

My first question - what happens to Stories? Where will they be lumped? Should we still use them in the new style?

Bugs: as I reply to your diary I see a line of script at the top of the page, reading:

'; expand_symbol = '+'; loading_symbol = 'x'; loading_message = 'Loading...'; rootdir = ''; sid = '2011/2/22/74420/7224'; /--> -->

Drop down menus would be spiffy, and once you give me a crumb, I want a slice: how feasible is it to customize a drop down menu with your 4-5 preferred options at the top.

Say for example, I use "Hidden Comment" , "Newbie Comments", "Macros" a lot. Could I get these three on top, while you might want having "Topics" and "SPecial Pages" floating nearby.

Let me know when I'm asking impossible things.

As it says above, I'm thinking of using the square between the logo and etoile link as a console for users, with links to the actions they can take, and the Workshop link could be in there for users who have permissions.

I'm thinking about a design solution for this at the moment.

Sure, link away.

Re the ET Future Discussion button.

This will be called "ET Workshop". There'll be c. 130 members with permission for it. So we need to find a prominent spot for it on all pages.

It could cease to be displayed as a box, and be a square (or other shape) icon to click on, like L'Etoile de Martin. I can design one if need be.

In the current version of ET, it can remain as a box and I can simply change the content from "Future Discussion" to "Workshop".

The section itself will not change, except in display title. The former content of the Future Discussion is now tucked away in the three subsections, Technical, Legal, and Marketing. I've suspended display of these on the section main page. If anyone wants to look back over the FD, links can be supplied on request.

Re the top toolbar.

We surely (?) need to pull the info pages together, ie FAQ - New User Guide - ET Editorial Guidelines. So there'd be one choice up there for those three, called, probably, "User Guide". That would call a special page that would feature links to the others. Yes, I know, those pages need revising and the whole thing doing properly. It needs putting before the ed team to see who can help.

Can we link to here now, from the Notepad?

If you pass through Copenhagen, be sure to drop me an e-mail, and I'll show you the sights.

- Jake

Actually we'll be coming back from Hong Kong before going to Shanghai, so changing at Shenzen rather than Guangzhou could be useful, I'll check this...

And a day trip to Hangzhou from Shanghai was also in the potential plans, we'll see how much time we can spare.

And yes, there'll be a photo diary, which hopefully will also include Korea, Japan, Russia and the way back.

Still wondering about going back from St Petersburg by Scandinavia or the Baltic countries, but that's pretty far away...

Have you seen 'Oil City Confidential'?

Coexistence With Monsanto? Hell No!:

After 16 years of non-stop biotech bullying and force-feeding Genetically Engineered or Modified (GE or GM) crops to farm animals and "Frankenfoods" to unwitting consumers, Monsanto has a big problem, or rather several big problems. A growing number of published scientific studies indicate that GE foods pose serious human health threats.  The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) recently stated that "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM advises consumers to avoid GM foods. Before the FDA arbitrarily decided to allow Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into food products in 1994, FDA scientists had repeatedly warned that GM foods can set off serious, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies, but were ignored.

I did hear that it is now considered impossible to sell any detective novel if there isn't a dead woman inside the first four paragraphs.

...and this one makes two.  Setty picked up this beaut from the Wikileaks cables:

[Then Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe was even more aggressive in private than in public. He told the U.S. military high command: "Chavez has a five to seven year plan to advance his Bolivarian agenda in Colombia...Chavez remains committed to bring down both Uribe and his government, as the primary obstacles to his Bolivarian expansionist dreams...The best counter to Chavez, in Uribe's view, remains action -- including use of the military... He was prepared to authorize Colombian forces to cross into Venezuela, arrest FARC leaders, and bring them to justice in Colombia." I hear that he concluded his speech by saying, "The whole world is a nail."

He is one of the most unsettlingly intense guitarists I have ever come across at close range.

Darn, I always miss one or two...

Cuban Medics in Haiti put the World to Shame: Castro's doctors and nurses are the backbone of the fight against cholera: Figures released last week show that Cuban medical personnel, working in 40 centres across Haiti, have treated more than 30,000 cholera patients since October. They are the largest foreign contingent, treating around 40 per cent of all cholera patients. Another batch of medics from the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade, a disaster and emergency specialist team, arrived recently as it became clear that Haiti was struggling to cope with the epidemic that has already killed hundreds.

Well the main thing that prevents something like this occurring is  that If a backdoor is inserted into the software then at some point it will leak that this has happened. At that point people stop trusting any encryption software, and Internet business spirals down the tubes.

Also, every major transnational corporation will spontaneously agree to join the lynch mobs, since the primary use of those backdoors will be industrial espionage. Transnats are normally opposed to making industrial espionage easy (or rather, they're normally opposed to making industrial espionage against themselves easy).

- Jake