What did you (or do you) want to be when you grow up?

Builder or architect.

How many siblings do you have and what is your birth order (oldest, middle child, youngest, only child)?

I am the middle chile of three.

Are you doing what you love with your life? Why or Why not?

Yes. It seems the sensible option.

What is your favourite hobby or past time? Is this something you prefer to do alone or with others and why?

I like creating things. I like to do it alone and with others.

What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod that you do not want to delete?

Drivers Seat by Sniffin' The Tears.

Describe an important place to you. Include things like what season or time of day it is. Also let us know of any important smells or colours you associate with that place.

Innisfail, North Queensland in the winter, anytime. Cow poo and very green grass. What three things do you 'feel you need' to carry with you (other than your phone, wallet or keys)?

Wallet and keys are all I carry. I often forget my phone.

What fictional character do you most identify with and why?

I cant recall his name but he was a perpetual student (who lived off an inheritance that would end when he graduated). I admired his broad general knowledge and his laziness. He had many unfinished degrees.

What book OR movie do you enjoy reading/watching over and over again?

Recently I reread The Virgin Suicides and watched Zoolander again.

Describe something you wear that makes you feel confident, happy or powerful.

I am not often aware of what I am wearing. Even after checking in the mirror I forget.

Picture http://www.facebook.com/markdireland

Is it right to critise a game when you have just painted yourself into a corner playing it without reference to online walkthroughs?

Well I am in that corner now and I dont want to replay a big chunk of the game.

Ever since I cheated my way through Zelda's Ocarina of Time I really dont want to do it with any new game.

Here is a nice component for using the Twitter API by:

Matt Gifford AKA coldfumonkeh

Mark Ireland's Twitter favourites

Here is a nice plugin for an Excel like table on a page:

jQuery Handsontable plugin

Its the same as Oblivion. It even has the same old bugs.

I posted the above many weeks ago and now I should take it back. The only real bug is the inventory one. (The catagory must have focus from the mouse wheel, it may not work if it is only highlighted by the hover)

Skyrim is not the same as Oblivion. All the new stuff (dragons and shouts) is very good.

I added Loss of A Loved One to my Facebook TimeLine and someone 'Liked' it.

Is there a javascipt MVC library where the business logic is not in the js for all to see?

Adobe should host ColdFusion code examples with access to Performance Monitoring.

The apps could be very small but that should be highly available and very scalable.

One app should be an all javascript front-end and ColdFusion webservices on the server side.

There should be some good load testing examples that users can run while they observe the Performance Monitoring and garbage collecting.

If Charlie Arehart says this is already availble I will puke.

Working at a small university changed my code because the university hosted its own sites.

I knew just enough about the hardware setup to see where problems might occur for me and started adding 'just-in-case' code.

Then I read a ColdFusion book that suggested using a simple database query wrapped in a cftry/cfcatch tag just to see if the database connection was up and running.

I laughed because I thought I invented that. My code used a cfmail tag to emailed me so I could go and nag the database guys.

A lot of people are passionately involved in the "one way or the other" debate surrounding Flash and HTML5. Some people contest that Flash is, and will be for some years to come, the most popular and accessible form of bringing media to the masses. Others have put forward the argument that Flash is outdated and incompatible with some modern devices, and HTML5 offers many improvements over Adobe's antiquated format.

What's the right answer? It's simple, if you're a user: it doesn't matter what the answer is Whether you're watching YouTube, a client presentation or a tournament on Partypoker, it's not going to make a huge amount of difference to you as long as the media is brought to your fingertips with ease. A lot of people forget that not everyone is a web developer, so whether that embedded funny video is in Flash or HTML5 isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference to them.

That isn't to imply that the average user is stupid and only enjoys funny videos - that's a generalisation that's only too easy to wield, much to the unhappiness of those being stereotyped. Ironically, it's also this demographic that will ensure your sales keep going up, so not pandering to the PEBKAC, "read the manual" mindset is probably for the best.

If you're wondering which to choose, ask yourself this - which do you enjoy most? Do you like working in Flash, whether everything is familiar and easy to do, or do you find the challenge of a new format with new capabilities exciting? Either way, it's worth being knowledgeable about both, as a HTML5 switch-over is a reasonable possibility.

Looking into the future, there's a lot of turmoil for those who live designing for the web the way it is now. But at the end of it, some of you will adapt, and some of you will die stubbornly. HTML5 and Flash won't take your souls, and neither will those who debate with you. Learn as much as you can, and experiment - and good luck doing so. See you on the other side.