Cheap solar heat

Easy FREE Home Heat! - video powered by Metacafe

I pity the fool!

If you ask my parents who I idolized as a child Im sure they would come up with Mr. T. I went around for weeks saying "sucka!" The thought of Mr. T. playing WoW makes him cooler than ever.

Cannon of awesomeness

We have a nice long holiday weekend coming up and this is how I plan to spend it ...



High Speed Stuff Accelerator - Pneumatic Cannon In Action - video powered by Metacafe

Distilling Tar?

Still Smoking? Watch This !! - video powered by Metacafe

Just in case you need some extra Tar you can distill your own using household cigarettes. Yikes.

Paris, not the city.

Dave is like a shark in this bit. He smells blood in the water and just keeps it up.

Catalyst, Ruby, and MVC in general

Ruby is all the rage these days so I decided to give a look. First I have to say it is wicked cool. You can do a lot with a few lines of code. If you need to prototype a site in a short amount of time then this is the tool for you. The downside, from what I read, is scalability. This is from a rails developer, Alex Payne, working on twitter:

By various metrics Twitter is the biggest Rails site on the net right
now. Running on Rails has forced us to deal with scaling issues -
issues that any growing site eventually contends with - far sooner
than I think we would on another framework.The common wisdom in the Rails community at this time is that scaling Rails is a matter of cost: just throw more CPUs at it. The problem
is that more instances of Rails (running as part of a Mongrel
cluster, in our case) means more requests to your database. At this
point in time there’s no facility in Rails to talk to more than one
database at a time. The solutions to this are caching the hell out
of everything and setting up multiple read-only slave databases,
neither of which are quick fixes to implement. So it’s not just
cost, it’s time, and time is that much more precious when people can[’t]
reach your site.None of these scaling approaches are as fun and easy as developing
for Rails. All the convenience methods and syntactical sugar that
makes Rails such a pleasure for coders ends up being absolutely
punishing, performance-wise. Once you hit a certain threshold of
traffic, either you need to strip out all the costly neat stuff that
Rails does for you (RJS, ActiveRecord, ActiveSupport, etc.) or move
the slow parts of your application out of Rails, or both.It’s also worth mentioning that there shouldn’t be doubt in anybody’s mind at this point that Ruby itself is slow. It’s great that people
are hard at work on faster implementations of the language, but right
now, it’s tough. If you’re looking to deploy a big web application
and you’re language-agnostic, realize that the same operation in Ruby
will take less time in Python. All of us working on Twitter are big
Ruby fans, but I think it’s worth being frank that this isn’t one of
those relativistic language issues. Ruby is slow. 1

One thing that Alex points to is Ruby, saying that Ruby it-self is slow. I have read a few other posts that lead me to believe that this is the case. So I started playing with Catalyst which is a MVC framework for Perl. I have to saying that I was pretty impressed with Catalyst as well. It has the added advantage if plugging in different view classes and even mix and matching them in the same project. Its not as elegant as Rails, then again Perl is not really known for its elegance in general. I have developed in Perl for a long time and love it as language. So this seems like a good fit.

Then I really get thinking of the MVC framework in general. MVC stands for Model, View, Controller. This is not a new paradigm it has been around in Java for years. You start with a model class that describes your data. This could be a database connection or a standard container class. You also have a view class that handles how your model will be displayed to the world. Finally there are controller classes that interact with the user by display the model through the view class and handling the user input. The controller is the glue between the user and your application. In Java typically you would roll these your-self which gives you a good deal control.

The Rails/Catalyst model seems slightly different in that they are trying to handle more of that for you. In the Rails land the View part is pretty well out of your control. You use the templating language they provide. The model is more or less locked down as well which allows you to focus your coding on the controller. The advantage is you have less to worry about so you can focus on the portion of the app that is really important. Like I said above that is really cool.

Here is what distress me. We are moving the developer further away from core pieces of development. I think that a part of the twitter problem is that they rely on ruby to write SQL for them and to display information. Yes it takes the developer less lines of code but that code didn't just disappear, it has to be handled somewhere. There is a trade off in ease of development and performance.

The Rails problem isnt new right? Do you code your project in VB or C?

1 Alex Payne Interview

Goodbye Cornell (for now)

Im going to be leaving my position here at Cornell, which is in some ways very sad for me. As it turns out its sad for some my co-workers as well. Here is what one of them wrote to me:

Shawn, I wanted to give you the chance to review my farewell message to you. As always, your input is unvaluable to me.


It is with mixed feelings and the taste of bile in my mouth that I bid farewell to Shawn Bower. Shawn is leaving the PeopleSoft developer’s group after a much acclaimed – by him, anyway – stay of nearly two months. As I understand it, that’s about 14 months for a dog. Needless to say, that comparison was made purposely.


I would like to recount Shawn’s many successes while working with the developers but I understand that the lawyers are still looking for them. Not one to impede justice let me just say that Shawn will be missed around here. His lack of attention to detail, his willingness to never lend a hand when needed and his relentless pursuit of mediocrity kept his name on many a person’s lips. I would repeat what was often said of him but I’ve sworn off cursing.


In the short time with us, Shawn has brought about many changes within Information Systems. First, the physical security of Maple Avenue will be beefed up, finally. Second, Human Resources has assured us that future background checks will be more thorough and written references in crayon will not be accepted. Third, direct deposits of paychecks to bank accounts in the Cayman Islands will be more thoroughly scrutinized. I would like to say on his behalf that rumors that Shawn was making money on eBay from his cubicle are false. His main source of income was, of course, from his gambling web site.


On a personal note, I would like to thank Shawn for the friendship we’ve had during his time here. Who can ever forget the time he arranged for the fumigation of my office or the rumors he started of a paternity suit on my behalf. Ah, good times. (As a note, had Shawn stayed at IS, I was assured by HR that I had actionable evidence of bullying and a hostile work environment. So, saved by the bell, huh, Shawn?)


So join me in wishing Shawn good riddance and best of luck on his new endeavor. I’m sure that Shawn will succeed in whatever he tries, as long as it doesn’t require more effort than it takes to breath.


Break a leg, Shawn! Seriously, I mean it.

Update: He did in fact break my leg.

Fire Marshall Bill

X-Wing Downed

John first brought us the story of the real life X-Wing, now I have this follow-up video. (it blows up)

Cornell Football

For the few of you that I didnt see there it was a very awesome day for a game. Groton won the halftime challenge. Cornell lost the game ... what more is there to say?

Don't ask me why I want to build this ...

Homemade Stun Gun Under $10 - video powered by Metacafe

The Peyton Manning

Real Donkey Kong

I almsot feel bad for her

Puppy Wars

I know its getting close to Halloween and every one is wondering what costume they should get for their pet. Well friends the search is over, your lovable pooch can become Darth Doggy for the night!

To get your officially licensed costume craze.

Nifty cheap batteries

6 Volt Battery Hack! You'll Be Amazed! - video powered by Metacafe

Radar Gun

How many times have you said to your self, "If I just had a radar gun ..." Well now your in luck.




Radar Gun Hacked! - video powered by Metacafe

Happy Birthday Google

Ten years ago today Google.com was registered, Happy Birthday!

It seems NBC in it's infinite wisdom has decided to pull out of iTunes. Which sadly means no more Heroes for download, well legal download anyway. Bummer!

You can read more here

On a lighter note this is my 100th post. Woo Hoo!

Techie Haiku

chained to my desk chair
I do slave labor all day
sad coding monkey

1 ... 2 ... 5

And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy." And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu... [At this point, the friar is urged by Brother Maynard to "skip a bit, brother"]... And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." Amen.




Ultimate COLORED Smoke Bomb - video powered by Metacafe



MAKE A Pull Ring SMOKE GRENADE - video powered by Metacafe

Vomit Light

In the vane of non lethal weapons the Department of Homeland Security has come up with a flashlight the disorients and nauseates those who look at it. Sweet huh? There is no way that this will ever be used for anything but the protection of US citizens. I see no possibility for this to be misused ;). Want to read more?

Emergency light!

Turn A PENCIL Into A LIGHT ! - video powered by Metacafe

Golden Rule

May I be an enemy to no one and
the friend of what abides eternally.
May I never quarrel with those nearest me, and
be reconciled quickly if I should.
May I never plot evil against others, and
if anyone plot evil against me,
may I escape unharmed and
without the need to hurt anyone else.
May I love, seek and attain only what is good.
May I desire happiness for all and harbor envy for none.
May I never find joy in the misfortune of one who
has wronged me.
May I never wait for the rebuke of others,
but always rebuke myself until I make reparation.
May I gain no victory that harms me or my opponent.
May I reconcile friends who are mad at each other.
May I, insofar as I can, give all necessary
help to my friends and to all who are in need.
May I never fail a friend in trouble.
May I be able to soften the pain of the
grief stricken and give them comforting words.
May I respect myself.
May I always maintain control of my emotions.
May I habituate myself to be gentle, and
never angry with others because of circumstances.
May I never discuss the wicked or what they have done,
but know good people and follow in their footsteps.

Eusebius of Caesarea

Dont Try this at home ... Ever

Have you ever needed to pop a balloon without touching it, I know it happens to me all the time. Or perhaps you need to light a match without striking it. Happen all the time. Well your in luck, in a few minutes you can turn an mini mag flashlight into a high powered laser pointer. Watch ...

Message to the signifigant other ...

Wow, not good

Might as well start smoking ...

As if we dont have enough to worry about a recent study shows that laser printers have an adverse effect on lungs. Great! In fact, according to the article the effect is similar to that of second hand smoke.

Almost one third of laser printers emit tiny toner paricles that when inhaled casue respitory problems. Yikes

More Here

ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified

The other day I got this annoying oracle error: ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified. Funny thing I wasn't trying to access NLS data files, I don't even now what they are. So in case this happens to you ...

There are two possible causes:

An attempt was made to issue an ALTER SESSION statement with an invalid NLS parameter or value.

The NLS_LANG environment variable contains an invalid language, territory, or character set.

Fix:

Unset the NLS_LANG environment variable

Windows - The NLS_LANG must be unset in the Windows registry (re-named is best). Look for the NLS_LANG subkey in the registry at \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE, and rename it.

Linux/UNIX - Here you simply issue the Linux command "unset NLS_LANG"

Blue Screen of Death Lives On!

Think typing on your phone is hard?

I dont know about you but the thought of communicating via a text message makes me cringe. For me to eek out a short "Will you pick up some milk?" takes what seems like an eternity. Robert Bernocco, Italian IT Professional, type an entire 384 page novel. Which by the way would take me an eternity to type on my laptop let alone a cell phone.

Read the full story here.

King of Kong

Coming out August 17th King of Kong documents the struggle of Steve Wiebe the middle school science teacher as he tries to become the world's greatest Donkey Kong player. The only thing that stands in his path is Billy Mitchell the current record holder and Video Game Player of the Century. Check out the preview:



I will be waiting in line to catch this epic David vs Goliath donkey showdown!

Thanks to Matt for this find!

What be yer pirate name ... Arrrr

My pirate name is:

Bloody Sam Flint

Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Plane lands on highway ... it happens all the time

Eat muffins everyday ... or else

The Wii as Exercise equipment?

Skynet bad

After watching the documnetaries Terminator, Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 I though we had learned from our mistakes and not involved AI in warfare. The good news is that instead of calling it Skynet they call it Deep Green. So besides thinking that maybe we shouldnt do this I wonder what is Deep Green's position on tic tac toe?

iPhone is blended

The iPhone its everything

Sorry Earth

A fully operational death star

When you dont have the funds or storm troopers to build the real thing go for the Lego scale model. Well then again that assumes you have lots of free time .... I still want one!

Math Important for CS Majors?

Karl Fant, CEO of Theseus Research, has written a book that seeks to show that knowledge of math is not important to understanding computer science. Yikes! Many colleges have already started offering a water downed version of Computer Science (CS) called Computer Information Science (CIS) that takes it easy on the math and science and favors learning the syntax of today's popular languages. The idea is that for a wide range of business applications you dont really need an in depth knowledge of math, algorithms, compiler design, etc. That for the most part you need to know just enough VB to fake it. Is there some truth to that? Yes.

Many useful applications require little understanding of how the computer works. I was contracted to write an application that would calculate the insurance premium for a house. It was very simple. The user would enter some characteristics about the house, the program would run a calculation (the calculation was provided by the insurance company) and then it would spit out an answer. The application required no understanding of math or computer science. Or did it?

The application used a small amount of RAM, was it by accident? Knowledge of math helps to understand how much RAM each variable will take up and what the overall program foot print will be. Is that not important? Knowing a little math is crucial to efficiency. In part of the application I need to sort a list of data, the list contains about a 100000 data points. This list will grow over time as the company does more and more business. Can a sort be written without a good understanding of math, sure. Here is perhaps the simplest example of a sort

procedure bubbleSort( A : list of sortable items ) defined as:
for each i in 1 to length(A) do:
   for each j in length(A) downto i + 1 do:
     if A[ j ] <>then
       swap( A[ j ],  A[ j - 1 ] )
     end if
   end for
end for
end procedure

The worst case time for this to execute is O(n^2), meaning worst case this could take n^2 iterations. Thats bad. On the other hand one of the fastest sort algorithms executes in O(n * log n) worst case. This is incredible faster. To illustrate the difference lets say that is takes the computer 1/100 of a second to perform on cycle. In the case of the bubble sort then we would first calculate the number of cycles: 100,000^2 = 10,000,000,000. Divide that by 100 to get seconds: 100,000,000. Then lets divide that by 3600 (the number of seconds in a hour): 27,778. So the bubble sort would take 27, 778 hours, yikes! What does this look like for the faster routine of O( n * log n). Well lets do the log firs: log 100,000 = 5 (its going to be a long day for the bubble sort). So multiply it by n and the divide by 100 for seconds: (100,000 * 5 ) / 100 = 5,000. So to get the answer in hours divide by 3600: 5,000/3,600 = 1.39 hours.

Do you thinks it more reasonable for a user to wait 1.39 hours or 27,778 hours (which is over three years)? So what is my point? You can get away without understanding the math, but there is a price to pay. Industry does seem to be leaning in the direction of CIS majors who can code but lack real analytical skills, they are banking on the ever increase in computing power. The theory is that with a powerful enough computer it doesn't matter how inefficient the code is. Remember that the next time your using an application that seems to frequently crash. The next time you surf a web page that takes minutes to display.

There is in IDE for C++ called Code Warrior, certainly appeals to us geeky coder types. I think the metaphor has taking on a new meaning. We seem to view coding staff as grunts in an army. Most IT firms try to get as many grunts on the battlefield as possible, thats how you win a war right? Gather up some warm bodies and had them a rifle ... er ... key board. Interestingly enough there is a real parallel hear. When a well trained army meets an untrained army of greater numbers the well trained army is favored.

My feeling on education for Programmers, and I give this advice to everyone who asks, is that should take as little programming as possible. Take Philosophy (esp logic), Math, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Military History. Spend your time becoming a good analyst, some one who can take a problem a part. Learning a programming language is by far the easiest part of a good education in Computer Science. You will find that writing code is the easiest part of being a programmer. The hard part is understanding and solving the right problem. The questions is do you want to be a Code Warrior or a Code Ninja?

Did someone say Calamari

Apparently Calamari sales are up since the ad ran

It's been a busy time for CEO Keith Cox and his crew at Pacific Catch. For thelast few weeks, the restaurant has been featured in ads for Apple's new iPhone as a place to go if you're jonesing for for calamari.Turns out, Cox says, that calamari was only an occasional special at the Corte Madera branch (133 Town Center). When the calls -- up to 100 a day -- started coming in, executive chef Aaron Noveshen quickly put it on the menu.

Good way to keep in shape?

MyKind of Storm Trooper

305

Microsoft Surface

This is just scary

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1st Purple Verse 12 and kidnapping

Thanks for Tom's link to the Church Sign generator. It reminds me about my favorite web generator goodness, The ransom not generator for the busy kidnapper.

For example I was just typing one out this morning:

I want one.....

Try this at home

Weird Weather

Weird Weather

I have posted the pictures I took at the Ithaca Festival Parade. You can view them all here: . This one is right when the weather started turn.

Rust Bucket

This car was put in a nuclear bomb proof shelter 50 years ago in Tuls Oklahoma (Tom this one is for you). As it turns out the bunker was not water proof so the car turned into a literal rust bucket. Im not no fancy rocket type scientist but I think if water could get in, the shelter may not have been Nuclear Bomb proof. For the whole story click here.

Test Road

I have spent a lot of my career around database applications and have create a lot of fake data for testing. If I have to test out a web sign up form then I will add some fake names and addresses and the like. Since Im not the most inspired person sometimes that may look something like:

Test Dude
132 Test Road
Test City, CA 90210

So here is the the twist, everyday I drive 30 miles to work and at about the midway point I pass Test Road. I swear the name of the road is Test Road.

So now Im wondering, "am I just a part of some large test database just awaiting the say I get put into production." What is the production database like? It would have to cleaner right? Stricter rules for entry, no orphans, stable environment, and I could go on and on.

Im just a test row dreaming of the day I get inserted into the production path....

Somedays I know how this guy feels....

How to speak office jargon

Let's think out of the box: Really means, "Can you creatively anemic people please come up with something?" The person who says, "Let's think out of the box" is usually desperate for a new idea and surrounded by people who are not known for generating ideas. So the phrase is actually an announcement that says, "I'm in trouble."

I need someone who can hit the ground running: Really means, "I am screwed." Because no one can hit the ground running. You need to at least assess what race you're in and who else is running.

Do you have the bandwidth? Note that bandwidth is not time. It is something else. If you ask someone "Do you have time?" you mean, "Am I a priority?" If you ask someone "Do you have bandwidth" you mean, "You seem like your brain is fried. Can you pull yourself together to do this for me?"

Let's hit a home run: "I'm desperate to look good. Even though the odds of a home run are slim, I'm banking on one because it's the only thing that'll save me." Something for all your sports fans to remember: If you have a bunch of solid hitters you don't need a bunch of home runs.

You and I are not on the same page: "Get on my page. Your page is misguided." No one ever says, "We're not on the same page, so let me work really hard to understand your point of view. If you want to understand someone else, you say, "Can you tell me more about how you're thinking."

I'm calling to touch base: "I want something from you but I can't say it up front." Or "I am worried that you are lost and I'm sniffing around for signs to confirm my hunch." Or "I'm calling because you micromanage me."

Let's run the numbers and see how they look: "I know they look bad on first blush. But the true use of Excel is to keep changing the formulas until you find a format that makes the numbers look good."

My plate is full: "Help I'm drowning," or "I would kill myself before I'd work on your project."

Let's close the loop: "Let me make sure I'm not going to get into trouble for this one."

Let's touch base next week: "I don't want to talk to you now," or "You are on a short leash and you need to report back to me."

Keep this on your radar: "This will come back to bite you. or me."

The Moon

The Moon
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

From my back yard through my pine.

In honor of the Dalai Lama's visit to Ithaca

30 second skip TiVo

Thanks to the internet I was able to get the 30 second (commercial) skip working on my TiVo. Sweet!

1. Grab your TiVo remote.

2. Bring up any recorded program. (I believe you have to be watching a recorded program rather than "Live TV" in order to enable the feature.)

3. On your TiVo remote, key in the following sequence:
select play select 3 0 select
SELECT PLAY SELECT 3 0 SELECT

4. If you've successfully entered the code, you should hear three "bings" in succession to let you know that you've successfully enabled the 30 second skip feature.

5. The skip-to-hash button on your remote will now skip forward 30 seconds during playback.

6. The previous function of the skip to hash button (that is, jumping to the next "hash" mark on the playback progress bar at the bottom of the screen) can still be accessed by first pressing fast forward or reverse. Press the fast forward button and then press skip-to-hash and the playback will advance to the next hashmark (or the end of the program if you're close to the end of playback.) Press the rewind button and then the skip-to-hash and you jump back to the previous hash mark, or the beginning of the program depending on your place in the playback. Skipping past the end of the program takes you back to the start of playback.

Apple II explained by seven year old

Programming for an apple is so easy that even a 7 yearold can do it.

Sam w/ Icing

Sam w/ Icing
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

He is also available in the non iced model, however these are increasingly hard to find.

Car Phone?

One would think that this sign implies that you can use this pay phone from your car




However ....




There are two poles that block you from pulling up to it! Nice!

Dog Surpasses Man

Dont whiz on the electric fence

Some guy (whom apparently never saw Ren and Stimpy) peed on a PS2. Unfortunately for him the play station fought back knocked the guy unconscious. He was treated and released from a local hospital, PS 2's everywhere should stay inside until this guy is caught.

Read the whole story here.

The techie Haiku winner

Each month ThinkGeek runs a techie Haiku contest, last month's winner:

The Mac hates popcorn
I dropped some on the keyboard
It kernel panicked

Rube you may not be with us but your spirit lives on

When I was younger mouse trap was one of my favorite games ... but this really takes the cake!


NOTE: Sometimes you have to click on it a few times to get the movie going.

Hi Im a Marvel ...

Sometimes I have to face the fact that I really am I comic book nerd, today is one of those days.

Im not a cat person either but come on ....

Mug of Friendship

Mug of Friendship
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

This is definitely one of the nicest things I have received. A good friend gave this to me to say thanks, but I am the one that is truly thankful. Its hard to find good friends ... not just good friends but good people. I am lucky to have had a few good, no, no, great people enter my life recently.

Thanks!

Has technology improved our lives?

I love gadgets! Sometimes though I have to wonder if they

are really improving my life. For example cell phones. I was so excited when I got my first cell, I would be able to be in contact with my friends and family at all times. I need to stress that I had no idea that at all times truly meant at all times. At first it was a lot of fun. I could talk to people while driving, I could stay in touch when I was out of town, etc. As time went on my cell number ended up in the hands of my employer and they used it, a lot. I went on to be a contractor and used my cell as my main contact number for my clients and they used a lot more.

At some point I went from feeling warm and happy when my cell rang to wanting to cringe.

Life Better?

Sometimes you have to ...

Well I guess I have no idea why people come up with some inventions. The rocket powered toilet is totally weird and probably has no real use, however I still want one.

Some days life sucks ....

050107_09521.jpg
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

So Im happily working along running some fun scripts and all of sudden things start happening ... things im not asking the computer to do. At some point I opened 70 some connections to a server while locking up my computer. Sheesh. As seen in the picture I had to actually physically remove the a key from my laptop keyboard.

Yikes.

Kryptonite discovered (finally)

I for one am glad we found some Kryptonite. In case we are ever plagued with an evil Superman (Superman III) or outlaws from the planet Krypton (Superman II). Dr Chris Stanely a Mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum had this to say

"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News.

Even if it's not green I will sleep a little safer without the threat of a rogue super being.

Shawn Your Company's Computer Guy

As of late I have been promoted (demoted?) to computer support for the project. I have to think about adopting the tactis of Nick burns ...

Mickey

Mickey
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

This poor guy my wife found along the PA 220 playing in traffic. She had a little bit of trouble getting him in the car but once he got in he just went to sleep. So far he is getting along well with the other dogs, however I think he has thrown the balance of their routine off a little. So we are trying to adjust. Its not certain where he is going to end up, but for right now we are trying to give him a good home

My new work machine

My new work machine
Originally uploaded by Drizzt51.

I was doing to much so they gave me a new machine. Of course little do they know that giving me a mac, even an ancient one, will allow me to be much more productive

A voice of reason from the insane

One of the best contemporary American authors and my personal favorite, Kurt Vonnegut, passed away yesterday. The recurring theme of his work was, simply, community. We (humans) are social animals. We need to interact with others, that stimulus is an important part of a healthy life. The American culture takes a different view, favoring the idea of the rugged individualist. Americans are in love with the idea of the immigrant who pulls himself up by his boot straps to become wealthy and influential.

Thats all crap.

People need other people to survive. Someone to care for us when were sick, encourage us to accomplish our potential, to join with us to build a better world. The often irreverent Vonnegut refers to this philsophy as humanism and himself as a humanist. What makes the idea of humanism so grand it two fold. First its simple, and can be summed with the old adage "Do unto to others as you would have undone to you." Second its about doing the right thing because its right, not because you want something out of the trade. I have been affected by his life and his work and would like to think that I could be a humanist my-self. I try hard at this everyday.

So it goes.

Well they are called the geek squad...

OK here is the definition of geek:

1. a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.
2. a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.)
3. a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

And as we all know geek's are often portrayed as sexually frustrated and lusting after the beautiful cheerleader. So when he is invited into the home of an attractive young woman how would have thought this would happen ...

I have to go ahead and move my desk

Somedays your a milton ...



I have been told to go ahead and move my desk ... which makes me sad.

My Pwincess

Mutil Tasking is stupid

I have been saying this for years. The problem with multi-tasking is that at the end of the day the brain (or computer) can only do one task at a time.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Slow Down, Multitaskers; Don’t Read in Traffic Think you can juggle phone calls, e-mail, instant messages and computer work to get more done in a time-starved world? Read on, preferably shutting out the cacophony of digital devices for a while. Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car. In short, the answer appears to lie in managing the technology, instead of merely yielding to its incessant tug.

Rsync Rocks

I have used this for backup and file mirroring ... it works great!

clipped from lifehacker.com Geek to Live: Mirror files across systems with rsync

Part Deux

The truth is out

Very Fitting

clipped from scripts.mit.edu

FIRST Robotics

When I was at clarkson I was on the FIRST team ... cool stuff.

clipped from gizmodo.com FIRST Robotics Competition: Like Battlebots with Fewer Saws This weekend was the FIRST robotics competition at the Javits Center here in NYC, an event where groups of students compete to see who built the best robot in the six-week competition window. How it works: The core of the high school–level FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the design and building of a robotic competitor. Each year in early January, FIRST unveils the competition or "game" at an annual kick-off event that is beamed by NASA satellite to auditoriums all over the world. This is the first glimpse students get of the game they will have to design their robot to play. Working in teams, students have just six weeks to create their robot. They get the opportunity to work with programmable radio controls, pneumatics, motors, electrical circuits, mechanics, machining, web design, computer animation, computer assisted design, and other technologies—just like professional engineers and technologists do.

JTable Size Columns

I was trying to find a way to auto size columns of a JTable much like the functionality of excel. I found out that that was a real pain, so I decided to just set specific sizes for the columns. This is the code I came up with:

TableColumn column = null;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    column = table.getColumnModel().getColumn(i);
    if (i == 2) {
        column.setPreferredWidth(100); 
    } else {
        column.setPreferredWidth(50);
    }
}

GI Joe

Works for me ...

This has been the developers battle cry for years! I have to admit I have used it more then once.

clipped from www.codinghorror.com You might think attaining such a prestigious, rigorous level of certification would be far too challenging. But fear not! Participating in this innovative new application certification program is as simple as pressing the F5 key on your keyboard. Just follow the four easy steps Joseph outlined: Compile your application code. Getting the latest version of any recent code changes from other developers is purely optional and not a requirement for certification. Launch the application or website that has just been compiled. Cause one code path in the code you're checking in to be executed. The preferred way to do this is with ad-hoc manual testing of the simplest possible case for the feature in question. Omit this step if the code change was less than five lines, or if, in the developer's professional opinion, the code change could not possibly result in an error. Check the code changes into your version control system.

Chuck Reading His Favourite Facts

The Ferret Heads

Smelly

This is a product I can get behind or rather on ... or whatever

Test

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

while(1) { print "stuff"; }

Step 2 ????

I was famous once

In a past life I was a winner and subsequent finalist of the Embedded Linux Journal NIC Contest. That was a fun project. I wish I did more of this sort of innovative development. I think my recent calendar sync project is an attempt to get back into some more serious development. I really want to latch onto a open source project and give back to the community.

clipped from www.linuxjournal.com NIC Contest And the winners are... Well, here they are, the winners for the NIC contest. First, let me say that we had a lot of really good entries. Knowing that we only had 20 systems available, we tried to distribute the winning ideas to various industry areas. Thus, you will see home systems, industrial testing systems, retail systems, kiosks and at least one system just for fun. Home Appliance Interface (HAPI), by Shawn Bower, Gerry Mletzko, Kris DeMuth, Steve Ernst and Peter Halliday

Creepy -- Photo of the Day

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