This is my standard method for cooking salmon for a weeknight dinner. It’s fast and crazy easy — start to finish is about 40 mins, including prep time. You can do a bunch of different variants as well, but this is what we’ve had the last few times. This version feeds 2, but the math is pretty straightforward.

Ingredients

• 2 salmon filets
• 1 lemon
• 12-16 cherry tomatoes
• olive oil
• fresh ground pepper

Equipment

• 2 sheets of tin foil, each large enough to fully & loosely wrap a filet
• Baking sheet

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375.
2. Lay the two sheets of tinfoil out on the counter, and pour a bit of olive oil in the center of each.
3. Place the salmon skin-side-down on the oil.
4. Grate fresh pepper over the salmon — not a whole lot.
5. Slice the lemon so you have 8 slices, not including the end bits. Put 4 slices across the top of each bit of salmon.
6. Slice the tomatoes in half and put those on top of the lemon slices, cut side down.
7. Carefully fold the tinfoil up to contain everything, and tightly seal the edges so steam and liquid won’t escape. It’ll end up as a sealed packet with air inside over the salmon.
8. Place these on the baking sheet and cook for 25 mins or so — the salmon should be opaque all the way through. I tend to err on the side of slightly overcooking these, so don’t worry about it too much.

And that’s it. If you want to get fancy you can toss in a sprig or two of tarragon, or maybe a couple of basil leaves. Serve with steamed spinach or a salad.

This Friday, Mozilla’s QA team is hosting a test day for Personas in Firefox 4, and we could really use your help (even if you can only spare a few minutes).

Take part by joining the #testday channel on irc.mozilla.org any time on Friday between 9am to 5pm Pacific time. There’s an etherpad document we’ll be using throughout testing, and you’re welcome to add your ideas about we could or should be testing for on Friday. Please try to find a few minutes to stop by and give us a hand!

Robcee and I spent a bunch of time thinking and talking about alternative browser designs back in 2006/2007. He recently posted his idea from back then, so I figured I’d dig through the archive and post mine. I call it Zenji.

Note: Where it says “[EMPTY PAGE]” that’s where the actual Web content or Dashboard would be. So that’s just a lie.

Zenji was an attempt to re-envision the browser as something smaller and simpler. Some of the ideas have actually shown up in modern browsers, which is gratifying. Other ideas are just terrible (no back button? whuck?). Were I to sit down now and put together ideas for Zenji 2, I would do a lot of things differently.

That in mind, here’s a quick overview of Zenji. The long version is a 13 page PDF which you can download.

Goals
The primary goal of Zenji was to be “as simple as possible, but no simpler.” It encompassed a pared down feature set that would let most users use the vast majority of the Web without being overwhelmed.

While Zenji was to be as simple as possible, it also had to be able to grow with the user. Novice users become expert users over time, and what they need in a browser evolves as well.

Features and UI

What Zenji doesn’t have:

• Traditional tabs
• A URL bar
• Any form of bookmark organization
• Back/forward buttons (2010 editorial comment: yeah, what?)
• A “home page”
• Context menus
• Most preferences or customization options
• Traditional “addons”

What Zenji does have:

Search: Search is the primary focus of Zenji, with the main search bar stretching across the entire top of the window.

Toolbar: The Zenji toolbar does not appear at the top of the window, but rather on the side. Default toolbar buttons are: Dashboard, Stars, Timeline, Subscriptions, Zoom, Widget bar. Additional buttons include: Downloads and Archives.

Dashboard: The dashboard was envisioned as a new breed of “start page” that is local on the users’ machine, but that pulls information both from the browser and the web. It could include things such as: recently starred pages, most frequently visited pages, latest subscription updates, Zenji tips & tricks, help/support info, new widget promotion, user polls & feedback requests, etc.

Stars: Stars are Zenji’s simplified bookmarks. Clicking the “Star” button opens/closes the Stars sidebar, which includes the user’s starred pages sortable by recency and/or frequency. Includes a search box.

Timeline: Timeline is a hybrid of history & tabs that can be viewed as a list (with favicons) or thumbnails.

Subscriptions: Subscriptions are essentially fully integrated feeds. If you subscribe to a page, Zenji shows you the most recent updates to your subscriptions in this sidebar.

Zoom: Apparently I thought zoom was important enough to have on the main toolbar. This would probably be different now :)

Downloads: Sidebar of stuff the user has downloaded through Zenji, all neatly organized. Everything goes into a single directory, which can be sorted in Zenji in various ways.

Archives: Archived pages (basically saved web pages) are stored in a single Zenji archives directory.

Widget bar: This is where the user can add things to Zenji’s UI and functionality. Widgets were envisioned as a new breed of add-on, being small, very task-specfic, and allowed to change nothing about Zenji’s UI beyond, at most, displaying a panel when clicked. Examples would include: Gmail bookmark/icon with new message count overlay, Facebook w/ overlay, Current weather + temp, Flickr RSS stream and uploader, Personas, etc. Widgets would be a simple drag/drop to install and uninstall.

Page actions: Star, Subscribe, Archive.

And et cetera. There’s more detail (and more craziness) in the PDF. Turns out thinking about browser design is a lot of fun :)

Check out the Mozilla Labs Chromeless browser experiment if you haven’t — the team is working on making zany experiments like this as fast and easy as possible, which I think could lead to an amazing period of exploration and innovation.

library books :: timetrax23

Thinking about the Open Web

I’ve been thinking about how to talk to people about what the Open Web is, why it’s so important, and why they should care.

The Open Web as a global public resource

It struck me that the Open Web is analogous to some other fundamentally vital things in our society:

• public libraries
• public schools
• public parks
• public broadcasting
• public roads
• public art
• public museums
• public galleries
• etc.

Many of these things are deemed so vital a part of our everyday lives and societal infrastructure that we support them through our tax dollars. Others are supported by concerned citizens who believe so deeply in their importance that they donate not only their hard-earned money, but also their time, skills, and creativity.

The Web is an increasingly important part of our lives, and it is absolutely essential that it remain free and open and accessible to all. If it doesn’t — if the Web becomes closed, restricted, controlled, and inaccessible to anyone who is disadvantaged or marginalized in some way — our whole, global society will suffer as a result. The Web cannot become something that further delineates the haves from the have-nots. It is already far too important for that, and it is still only in its infancy.

Mozilla exists to support the Open Web

Mozilla is an organization devoted to ensuring that the Web continue to develop as and remain a global public resource — akin to libraries, schools, parks, and roads — and everything we do, every resource at our disposal, is focused towards this end. This is the absolute core of our mission as outlined in the Mozilla Manifesto, and it is the heart of everything we strive towards.

Why Mozilla makes a browser

Making a browser is one of the most important things Mozilla currently does — not as an end unto itself, but rather in support of our larger mission and goals.

The browser is by far the most important tool we use to create and consume the Web. Without an open browser there is no Open Web. This is why we build Firefox, and why we’re pushing hard to get Firefox on to as many devices and desktops as we can. The Open Web is an increasingly crucial part of our lives and our society, and Firefox is one way we’re working to ensure that the Web remain open and available for everyone.

What do you think?

Is this a useful way to think about and talk about the Open Web to people who might not quite get what we’re so excited about? Not everyone is going to grok the analogy in the same way — and this certainly isn’t the only way to talk about it — but I think that most people understand that public works are a good thing, and that ensuring open and equitable access to fundamental resources and infrastructure — which now includes the Open Web — is an essential part of a just and civilised society.

Just a quick reminder that if you post your Mozilla Summit 2010 photos to Flickr, please tag them with “moz10″ so we can find them!

Also, if you have photos posted but don’t use Flickr, please leave a comment here with a link to where you’ve hosted them. Thanks!

So after living in denial for longer than I expected, I finally caved and picked up an iPad (wifi only, 64gb — Rogers, my data provider, can eat [dirt] if they think I’m buying a second iDevice data plan). Anyhow, it’s really quite fantastic except for one notable and surprising thing: the App Store just completely sucks. It’s just awful — impossible to browse for anything, navigation is a joke, etc etc.

If you want to find apps, you basically have to rely on third party review sites. Here are three that I’m finding handy: App Shopper (great, everything), Touch Arcade (ok, just games), and 148 Apps (mediocre, everything).

We got the iPads on Thursday last week and I’ve been spending quite a bit of time trying new apps, games, etc etc. Here’s a quick list of stuff I love so far (all links go directly to iTunes, sorry).

Not Games

• Air Video ($2.99 but worth much, much more)
• Evernote (free)
• Dictionary.com/Thesaurus.com (free)
• Wikipanion (free)
• GoodReader ($0.99)
• Twitteriffic (free)
• Things ($19.99)
• Instapaper Pro ($4.99)
• Kindle (free)
• Stanza (new iPad version, free)
• Epicurious (free)
• Adobe Ideas (free)
• WordPress (free)

Games

• Dizzypad HD (free + not-free alternate game modes)
• Aurora Feint 3 (free: match-3-w/ rpg elements)
• Word Quest Plus ($4.99: wordsearch)
• Words With Friends HD ($2.99: Scrabble-alike w/ online play)
• Jumbline 2 ($2.99: word scramble game)
• NYT Crosswords (free)
• Amazon: Hidden Expedition ($4.99: hidden object)
• Bomb Master ($1.99: physics puzzler)
• Azkend HD ($4.99: match-3-ish sort of thing – free demo here)
• Orbital HD ($2.99: hard to describe)
• Backgammon NJ HD ($5.99, single-player only, very good)

Ok, that’s it for now. What iPad apps have you tried that you like and would recommend?

Updated to add Air Video.

Simple, insanely yummy.

Ingredients

• 2 racks baby back pork ribs, cut in half
• 9-12 cloves garlic, smashed and rough-chopped
• 3 large onions, sliced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 6 sprigs fresh oregano
• 10-12 dried chilis
• 2-3 tbsp black peppercorns
• Water
• BBQ sauce of your choice (Mad Dog Original, here)

Method
Heat oven to 300 (275 if you have more time, 325 if you have less).

Scatter half the onions, garlic, thyme, oregano, peppercorns, and chilis on the bottom of a roasting pan. Place ribs in pan, overlapping slightly. Fill pan with water until ribs are 2/3rds submerged. Scatter the rest of the onions, garlic, thyme, oregano, peppercorns, and chilis over the top of the ribs (it doesn’t have to be tidy). Cover roasting pan tightly with 2-3 layers of tinfoil (or cover, if your pan has a cover…mine doesn’t).

Put ribs in the oven for around 3 hours. They will be fully cooked and fork-tender when they’re done.

Remove ribs from pan, leaving behind basically all the other stuff. Let cool a bit, then slather with BBQ sauce and grill to caramelize. Do a few coats of the sauce and take your time, it’s worth it. You’re worth it.

Serve with Bourbon baked beans, Fennel-cabbage coleslaw, and beer. Then watch some hockey.

As promised…

1. Copy/paste these rules and questions into a blog post, answer the questions, then tag some other people (however many you like) and encourage them to do the same.
2. Include a link to the original post.
3. You don’t have to be tagged to take part — if you see this post and want to play, just dive on in. Simple!

How (and when) did you originally get involved with an open source project? Which projects have you contributed to?

I first got involved with open source-related stuff in 1999 when I started Linuxchix (still going) and the Open Source Writers Group (long since dead). In addition to those, I’ve contributed to the PA-RISC/Linux project (about forty million years ago), and the Mozilla project, plus little fiddly-bits here and there.

Why did you choose to contribute to an open source project?

Because I could. I had been using Linux for a few years at that point and I loved it — I loved the community and the openness and everything else about it. When I realized that I had the skills and ability to make real and useful contributions, I got involved. Linux and the open source community had given me a lot, and I wanted to give back however I could.

If you were to pick one or two people who have had a major influence on your involvement with open source, who would those people be? Why?

Chris Beard: Some 10 or 11 years ago, I read about Chris and the Puffin Group (a small Linux consulting company) on Slashdot and sent Chris (a complete stranger) an email asking for a job. He hired me. This is a pretty short story for what has ended up being a decade-long friendship. I have an enormous amount of respect for Chris and the work he does — easily one of the most visionary and driven people I’ve had the privilege of working with.

Mike Shaver: Some 10 or 11 years ago, I met shaver the day before his wedding to which he immediately invited me (a complete stranger). I declined, and I regret that decision to this day because Mike has turned out to be one of my best friends. I’m going to stop now because I’ll just get teary-eyed, and it would take more than a few hours to talk about how his friendship has (actually, and for reals) changed my life.

Both Chris and Mike are why I’m part of Mozilla now, and I believe I still owe them both a beer or two for that.

How have you personally benefited from being involved with open source projects?

Getting involved with open source turned into a career for me. Mozilla, in particular, has been spectacular because this project encourages people to push beyond themselves and to reach for and learn new things all the time. I’ve learned more and done more in the past five years of being involved with Mozilla than I would have been able to do in any traditional organization, had I been able to wedge a foot in the door.

Not only has it become a career, being involved with open source has (as I foreshadowed before) lead to some of my deepest and most lasting friendships. It turns out that open source projects are a fantastic way to meet like-minded (but oh-so-entertainingly diverse) people. I know, talk to, and work with incredibly brilliant and passionate people all over the world, every day. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

What advice and/or encouragement would you give to someone who is considering getting involved with an open source project?

Do it! Get involved. Persevere. Step up. Be brave. It can be awfully intimidating and overwhelming when you first start out, but don’t give up. Find some niche where you can make a contribution, then just get started. It could be the best thing you’ve ever done.

• Chris Beard
• Mike Shaver
• David Humphrey
• Lukas Blakk
• Mike Morgan

I know these sorts of things can often be silly and annoying, but I’m really interested in hearing people’s stories about how they got involved with Open Source and what it has meant to them, both personally and professionally. I’m hoping this is fun and lightweight enough that everyone will take a few minutes and blog about their experiences. Everyone is welcome (and encouraged!) to play.

The rules:

1. Copy/paste these rules and questions into a blog post, answer the questions, then tag some other people (however many you like) and encourage them to do the same.
2. Include a link to the original post.
3. You don’t have to be tagged to take part — if you see this post and want to play, just dive on in. Simple!

The questions:

1. How (and when) did you originally get involved with an open source project? Which projects have you contributed to?
2. Why did you choose to contribute to an open source project?
3. If you were to pick one or two people who have had a major influence on your involvement with open source, who would those people be? Why?
4. How have you personally benefited from being involved with open source projects?
5. What advice and/or encouragement would you give to someone who is considering getting involved with an open source project?

That’s it! I’ll post my own responses soon :)

One of the awesomest new features in the revamped Rypple system is the ability for anyone to send kudos to anyone else. Kudos are a very simple, fun way to thank people for being amazing, doing a great job, going above and beyond the call of duty, etc.

It might sound sort of silly or contrived, but it turns out that a simple note of appreciation really can have a huge impact. Since I’ve started using Rypple to send out kudos, I’ve received a few notes from folks telling me that I’ve basically made their day. It’s a little thing, and doesn’t really take more than a couple of minutes out of your day, but it can really make a difference. We don’t often get genuine, heartfelt, positive feedback, so it’s really incredibly energizing when we do.

Everyone with a Rypple account (which is anyone, since everyone can sign up) can log in and send kudos to anyone with an email address. It’s totally wide open and anyone can do it — so if you have a few minutes sometime today, think of someone who’s done something awesome, head over to Rypple, and send them a kudos. The more you do it, the more fun it becomes.