I solved the creeping/drifting text problem with the menus under IE6. I had to recode my templates a bit but was able to maintain the visual effect I wanted. The gory details of the bug and a demonstration can be seen here. Much appreciation and thanks to Big John for maintaining “Position Is Everything” where that bug page is hosted.

Menus should now display correctly in IE 6 which is the only browser to manifest this bug.

Update: the bug also manifested itself in a more subtle fashion in the body of entries, this is also fixed now.

Want a fast Compact Flash card for not too much money? Would you know where to ask for such a thing? After all, how
do you tell how fast one of those cards are anyway, arn’t they all the same?

Well, as it turns out, no they aren’t. What’s more I can probably guarantee that you paid too much for yours and that
yours is slower than mine. The best people to ask about flash cards aren’t MP3 junkies but high end digital camera
users. They need fast flash memory to save large (5-7MB) RAW format images from the cameras onboard memory before they
can take another shot. You just want fast memory so it doesn’t take all day to upload your photos or music.

One of the best sites for digicam reviews is Digital Picture Review (dpreview.com). Always see what they have to say
before purchasing your next digital camera. They also keep a databank of Compact Flash cards they have tested here:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediacompare/. The card from RiData is blazing fast and it can be found online for not
too much money.

All this came to mind this evening because I was looking at the cost of MMC cards to go with the Nokia 3650. I had
seen some 128MB models in the $70 range but RiData makes a card of that capacity for $20 less. A big memory card will
probably encourage me to take pictures with the built in camera. I’m also toying with the idea of using it as a big
floppy disk to sooth my desire for portable mass storage. You can plug the card in anywhere that has USB (with the right
adapter of course) and that just about everywhere these
days. No more carrying around CD’s and floppies with little files on them. Now I just wish the card wasn’t
hidden under the battery in the
phone.

And now for fun lets have a rundown of 3650 reviews:

• Howard Chui
• Mobile Burn
• infoSync World

My Venerable Nokia 8260 has served me well. Its getting up to 3 years old now, its been dropped a few times but its still ticking. The screen cracked and I lovingly disassembled it and put on a new one, in fact i’v taken it apart a few (6) times to clean the dust out of it. But now it has to go, its old tech and its time for an upgrade.

I bought the 8620 because at the time it was the smallest phone out there with an internal antenna. Size is still important but now I have a whole host of other requirements for my next phone. Here are the must have requirements:

• Must have a visible clock display. I’v stopped wearing a watch since I bought my phone. Flip phones without the external clock display are useless in this reguard.
• Must fit in my pocket comfortably.
• Must connect to my PC so that I can edit phone numbers, e-mail addresses etc on the PC. I hate typing on my cell phone and I don’t want to loose the information if my phone dies.
• Must be a GSM phone. Cayman is switching to GSM, even though its old technology it’s still better than TDMA.
• I don’t have more than $150 to spend on this.

Now that list isn’t very long but surprisingly it narrows
down the number of phones quite a bit. Here is the list of thinks that heavily
swayed my decision:

• Java capable with the ability for me to load my own apps without the cell network being involved. (it’s my PDA after all)
• Bluetooth connectivity to a PC and Headset
• Web browser that renders HTML or at least XHTML. WAP is useless.
• E-mail.
• Instant messaging with support for AOL

Things that would be icing on the cake:

• Should Play MP3′s. I don’t have a portable music device yet so this would be a bonus.
• Removable memory of some kind to store MP3′s and photos on.
• A built in camera and all that MMS stuff that goes with it. Camera attachments are useless because I would never carry them with me.
• A color screen.
• Polyphonic ring tones

All in all the Nokia 3650 best fits the bill. Of all the currently available phones it has the largest future set. Its Java enabled and a large developer community has sprung up around it, much like the early days of Palm. It doesn’t ship with an MP3 player but one has been written for it. The removable storage and Bluetooth support make it an attractive package. It’s just a lot bigger than my current phone, but I think ill have to give up 1 inch of pocket space to get the features that I need.

Not perfect but close. Nokia: shrink it down and you’ve got a winner. Ill post my review here after I get the thing.

Somehow, this week was like a journey. Like starting out in one place and ending up somewhere totally different.
Cayman is not the place it used to be and we are not going to like the place it is rapidly becoming. You don’t have to
look hard to see the changes but you do have to stop and take notice, too many people think it wont affect them.

Non Caymanians, expats, foreigners, whatever you like to call them vastly outnumber Caymanians especially in everyday
situations. Everywhere I went this week I saw people, whole crews working at fast food joints and supermarkets, not one
was identifiably Caymanian. If I can’t identify the Caymanians I’m sure a tourist can’t either. If you walked into
Fosters you would be forgiven for thinking the national language was Spanish! Anyone entering KFC during the late shift
would be excused for thinking they were in India.

All these people have brought with them their customs, their habits and their attitudes. There was a time when
everyone understood that the supermarket isle were too narrow, courtesy dictated that you keep to one side. Tell that to
the two Spanish ladies with gaudy red lipstick I was behind. They walked down the exact center of the isle, slow as
turtles, gazing in all directions, except mine.

Crime is on the rise too. My friend from the Med School got his wallet stolen. My great aunt had hers stolen out of
her car while she was delivering Meals on Wheels. A car cleaning service took a co-workers Jeep for a joy ride and used
her credit card in three separate places. These petty crimes never happened before, largely  because people
couldn’t hide. Everyone had at least seen everyone else once. Now the crowds of people are a sea of nameless, shifting
faces. Cayman has lost its peacefulness and Caymanians are loosing their neighborly attitude. We feel the hustle and
bustle, we are all striving to make a buck, money has becoming more important than morality, or legality for that
matter.

We went out for a proper Caymanian lunch today, Conch Stew and Steam Fish. The conch comes from elsewhere now, a
total ban is in effect because of over fishing. The Crows Nest is one of Caymans hidden treasures, it overlooks the
water with a nice view of the South Sound Light House. The sound of the gentle sea on the sand is one of natures most
relaxing sounds. I remarked that there was no point being on this island if you didn’t make it to the beach every
weekend. Nobody could say they had been in the last month, everyone was too busy.

We are too few, too busy, too indifferent to look after our Island. Other people are looking after it for use, things
are bound to change. Now I feel as though I have woken up to where I am and its not the place it used to be.