How to fix Java for Firefox 3.6 on Mac

A few days ago I updated Firefox and found that java wasn't working. This is a problem, since I'm developing java programs.

The Software Update facility could not find an update for java or Firefox. Although there were some solutions on the net, none of them worked.

In the end, I reinstalled the Java Embedding Plugin in the following way:

Download and unzip the Java Embedding Plugin.

Follow the Read-Me, reproduced here:

1) In the JavaEmbeddingPlugin folder you just downloaded and unzipped, open the Binaries folder and drag JavaEmbeddingPlugin.bundle and MRJPlugin.plugin to "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins" folder.

2) If you're running Mac OS X 10.4.X (Tiger), you also need to make
sure MRJPlugin.plugin's timestamp is later than the timestamps
of two other files in the "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins" folder --
"Java Applet.plugin" and "Java Applet Plugin Enabler". This
isn't necessary on Mac OS X 10.5.X (Leopard).

Open a Terminal session and enter the following command:

touch "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/MRJPlugin.plugin"

3) Find your browser in the Applications folder (e.g. Firefox), Control-click (or right-click) on your browser's binary and choose "Show Package Contents".

4) Browse to the Contents/MacOS/plugins folder and delete JavaEmbeddingPlugin.bundle and MRJPlugin.plugin.

Language Evolution and Tetris!

Hello, people of the Blogosphere!

Why not take some time out from your dedicated reading to do a little language evolution experiment! And all you have to do is play Tetris!

... and learn an alien language. It takes no less than 10 minutes.

The instructions and game are here:

http://blake.ppls.ed.ac.uk/~s0451342/tetris/Tetris_Experiment.htm

Due to me being a terrible programmer, it'll probably crash or do some weird things. But it's all in the name of pseudo-science!