Edward (Eddie)
(courtesy of Jeff)
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Baby Name of the Day
Ebenezer
(courtesy of the stained glass window in the First United Methodist Church in Norwalk, CT in memory of Ebenezer Hill, Born Feb 20, 1798, Died June 10, 1875)
(courtesy of the stained glass window in the First United Methodist Church in Norwalk, CT in memory of Ebenezer Hill, Born Feb 20, 1798, Died June 10, 1875)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Today I got my first AT&T Wireless bill with my iphone. What a joke. Mine was 37 pages detailing every KB of data transfer. Page after page with a grand total of 111,421 KB at $0.00. They had to send it to me in a special big envelop because all those pages would not fold up in a normal bill. They probably had to pay extra postage also. I need to surf more often and see how many pages I can get them to send me.
AT&T is just totally clueless and idiotic.
Here's an iphone bill opening video.
AT&T is just totally clueless and idiotic.
Here's an iphone bill opening video.
Coding Horror: The Large Display Paradox
Coding Horror: The Large Display Paradox
ha, but on the mac, this is not a problem as windows maximize to the size of the contents, not the size of the screen.
ha, but on the mac, this is not a problem as windows maximize to the size of the contents, not the size of the screen.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Citibank's response:
"Customer Service Wrote:
We apologize for your experience with our Service Professional. Our goal is to provide superior service to each of our customers. Your feedback is appreciated and helps us improve the service we provide.
Thank you for taking time to send us your suggestions. Your comments are valuable and will help guide us as we continue to enhance our service. We have forwarded this information to the proper department for further consideration.
The Dividend Opt Out conversion offer were mailed on 04/30/07 to customers to advise them that their account will automatically be upgraded to new WorldCard products. The respond by date to opt out from this conversion was 06/22/07.
Thank you for using our website."
Seems canned. I wonder if others are having this problems. There was an opt out letter sent but it said if I opted out, my account would be closed. Seems like that's not much help.
It's also disappointing that they are going to punish some Service Professional when the problem lies with the higher ups who made the marketing decision to switch me to a new card. Too bad they will punish the person who answered my phone call.
"Customer Service Wrote:
We apologize for your experience with our Service Professional. Our goal is to provide superior service to each of our customers. Your feedback is appreciated and helps us improve the service we provide.
Thank you for taking time to send us your suggestions. Your comments are valuable and will help guide us as we continue to enhance our service. We have forwarded this information to the proper department for further consideration.
The Dividend Opt Out conversion offer were mailed on 04/30/07 to customers to advise them that their account will automatically be upgraded to new WorldCard products. The respond by date to opt out from this conversion was 06/22/07.
Thank you for using our website."
Seems canned. I wonder if others are having this problems. There was an opt out letter sent but it said if I opted out, my account would be closed. Seems like that's not much help.
It's also disappointing that they are going to punish some Service Professional when the problem lies with the higher ups who made the marketing decision to switch me to a new card. Too bad they will punish the person who answered my phone call.
Citibank stinks. Here's why.
They decided to send me new credit cards and cancel my existing account. This is a huge pain and is going to cause me lots of grief. I got so fed up with them I canceled my account and urge anyone else facing the same problem to also cancel their accounts.
My note to them:
"I'm very unhappy with your latest scam where you canceled my old account and sent me new cards with new numbers. I have automatic payments to several organizations including my newspaper, tivo, public radio, and others. Switching numbers caused me a huge problem and gave me zero benefits. I read the literature and I could see no benefit for me in switching numbers. You then wasted 20 minutes of my time just now on the phone and I decided to close those accounts.
I will now spent the next month with late payments and questions about why my automatic transactions no longer work and I have to clean this all up. Please pass on to whomever made the decision to force an account change that you have lost me as a customer. I will also make sure to recommend to others to avoid Citibank for this kind of practice.
They decided to send me new credit cards and cancel my existing account. This is a huge pain and is going to cause me lots of grief. I got so fed up with them I canceled my account and urge anyone else facing the same problem to also cancel their accounts.
My note to them:
"I'm very unhappy with your latest scam where you canceled my old account and sent me new cards with new numbers. I have automatic payments to several organizations including my newspaper, tivo, public radio, and others. Switching numbers caused me a huge problem and gave me zero benefits. I read the literature and I could see no benefit for me in switching numbers. You then wasted 20 minutes of my time just now on the phone and I decided to close those accounts.
I will now spent the next month with late payments and questions about why my automatic transactions no longer work and I have to clean this all up. Please pass on to whomever made the decision to force an account change that you have lost me as a customer. I will also make sure to recommend to others to avoid Citibank for this kind of practice.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Got a new computer today. Bough it on http://www.woot.com It's another Compaq piece of junk, but it's faster than my 8 year old compaq piece of junk. :-)
Friday, May 04, 2007
Gotta stop spending money.
Bought socks, a replacement for our broken receiver, a replacement for my 8 year old computer and finally a new grill. We lit up the grill on Wednesday and after a few minutes flames started shooting out of the dials and they melted and dripped to the ground.
Gotta buy a lock and chain for the nice new grill. I did buy a cover to try to make this one last a long time. And it's blue!
Bought socks, a replacement for our broken receiver, a replacement for my 8 year old computer and finally a new grill. We lit up the grill on Wednesday and after a few minutes flames started shooting out of the dials and they melted and dripped to the ground.
Gotta buy a lock and chain for the nice new grill. I did buy a cover to try to make this one last a long time. And it's blue!
Will Apple ever stop going up. Oops, probably should not have written that. My stock I bought a few years ago is up 780%. I've had to sell half of it twice in that time and probably need to sell another half to keep my portfolio from being weighted to heavy in Apple stock. I guess it's a good problem to have.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
I'm green, but I'm not crazy. Time to go back to the old bulbs.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
On the Archive: An iteresting aspect of moving to a dynamic site was how to support old links. There are links out there to pages like
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/JenMark/MarksFolders/133_3394.html
That page is now defined as
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?ID=46732
I wanted to be able to achieve backwards support for the old links.
To achieve this, I defined a Redirecting servlet and deployed it as all of the top level folders. So there's a Redirecting servlet deployed as JenMark. When a url like the example above comes in, the Redirecting servlet forwards the request to
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?htmlpath=JenMark/MarksFolders/133_3394.html
The path parameter is the old location.
The archive servlet reads the path and maps that back to the ID in that place.
Eventually this remapping should be removed since links to the static folder path are not immutable anyway. Someone could move the element in their file system, sync up, and then the path is no longer valid.
That is way it is always a good practice to link by ID.
Old links use to also be made to the showelementpage servlet as in the following example.
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/showelementpage?ID=58370
The new servlet takes those links and remaps them to the new format.
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?ID=58370
It was sort of a pain to do all this backwards link mapping, but it's necessary since so many family blogs link into the archive for photos.
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/JenMark/MarksFolders/133_3394.html
That page is now defined as
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?ID=46732
I wanted to be able to achieve backwards support for the old links.
To achieve this, I defined a Redirecting servlet and deployed it as all of the top level folders. So there's a Redirecting servlet deployed as JenMark. When a url like the example above comes in, the Redirecting servlet forwards the request to
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?htmlpath=JenMark/MarksFolders/133_3394.html
The path parameter is the old location.
The archive servlet reads the path and maps that back to the ID in that place.
Eventually this remapping should be removed since links to the static folder path are not immutable anyway. Someone could move the element in their file system, sync up, and then the path is no longer valid.
That is way it is always a good practice to link by ID.
Old links use to also be made to the showelementpage servlet as in the following example.
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/showelementpage?ID=58370
The new servlet takes those links and remaps them to the new format.
http://famousfamily2.dnsalias.org/famousfamily/archive?ID=58370
It was sort of a pain to do all this backwards link mapping, but it's necessary since so many family blogs link into the archive for photos.
I thought I might blog a little bit about my archive project.
Some background. The archive is an automatically generated web site from pictures in the family. I think most geeks have built the same thing. I build and maintain this to work on my Java/Sevlet/Tomcat skills and because it's fun. The unique points about mine are:
When new photos were addeed, a process went through and scanned the archive folder structure and generated a static web site to match. This was fine at the beginnning, and I made some major performance gains in the generation, but with 30,000 photos we were still looking at about a 20 minute publish time at best.
Each element has an associated XML file with additional attributes - attributes set from reading the photo information, added from the process or modified by user edits. I like this design instead of a database because the storage is all file based and organization is all file based. Everything matches what it synced. All XML processing is done using castor.
Tod came along and suggested we add tagging support. I'm still working on that at this moment and have some new ideas not seen on other projects. But regardless, I realized that if we were going to add tags, I could not keep generating the site in a static manner. It would be a lot more pages to generate to index and display elements under all of the tags. It would also be nearly impossible to regenerate specific pages appropriatly when the user added a tag.
So I decided to switch to a totally dynamic generation design.
Around version 5, I added the concept of an ID to the elements. I did this so links from other blogs or sites would work, even if the photos was moved. Any photo could be accessed by it's unique ID. Whenever the system published the static site, it publised an additionl master list of IDs and locations in an xml file.
This meant that when the server started up, it read the ID map and was able to resolve requests for a photo by ID by remapping to the location of the element.
In version 7, two major changes were made. All links were replaced by links based on IDs. In addition, all pages were generated dynamically based on their ID. The ID mapping information now contains some additional information about the element including its children (for folders in the file system hierarchy view), its date (for the calendar) and its title amoung other things. The primary source of the mapping informaiton is still the individual xml files associated with the element. There's a 1-2 minute process that can rescan the file system and rebuild the cache.
With the cache can handle, the servlet can dynamically render all pages in the archive without having to read in the element's xml attributes except when the element is viewed on it's own page (in any section). All of the related previous, next, up characteristics can be determined from the cache. The entire calendar map is pulled from the cache.
At this point, I'm ready to work on the next phase which is being able to tell the cache that either a new element has been added, or an element has been modified. This will support the ability to add a tag and see the changes immediately. This will also have a nice benefit in that when the sync is happening, as soon as the element is uploaded, it can be added to the cache and immediately visible on the site (pending thumbnail generation).
Finally, in version 7.1, I have moved the syncing process which used to be a independent application into the website. The entire archive is run as a single war file under tomcat. This will avoid having to do any inter-process communication when updating the cache.
I'll chat more as things progress. I think the Archive system is very interesting. There are dozens of ways to do a lot of these things, but it's fun to play around with the design and still be pragmatic about how things are done.
An additional note, now that the application is setup in Tomcat as a single war, I have a ant task in Eclipse that deploys new versions with a single click. Nothing like making a code change and putting it in production with a single click! Luckily with the more recent changes, this deployment can be made and the web site be back up in about 20 seconds.
Some background. The archive is an automatically generated web site from pictures in the family. I think most geeks have built the same thing. I build and maintain this to work on my Java/Sevlet/Tomcat skills and because it's fun. The unique points about mine are:
- Reads the photo information and uses the photo date to map to a calendar. (This has now been picked up by other projects, but I was doing this a couple years ago.) You can see all photos taken on a particular date.
- Each family member maintains their section on their computer. There is a sync operation they run to upload (or remove) any changes to sync up with the archive. They are in control of their section. This sync operation also acts as a backup for the archive. We even use it in the same house. The sync operation also publishes a follow up email with links to the new photos.
- Has useful functionality like Blog This which sets up a blogger posting with a link and a thumbnail on the image.
- Maintains a recent changes section to see newly added elements.
When new photos were addeed, a process went through and scanned the archive folder structure and generated a static web site to match. This was fine at the beginnning, and I made some major performance gains in the generation, but with 30,000 photos we were still looking at about a 20 minute publish time at best.
Each element has an associated XML file with additional attributes - attributes set from reading the photo information, added from the process or modified by user edits. I like this design instead of a database because the storage is all file based and organization is all file based. Everything matches what it synced. All XML processing is done using castor.
Tod came along and suggested we add tagging support. I'm still working on that at this moment and have some new ideas not seen on other projects. But regardless, I realized that if we were going to add tags, I could not keep generating the site in a static manner. It would be a lot more pages to generate to index and display elements under all of the tags. It would also be nearly impossible to regenerate specific pages appropriatly when the user added a tag.
So I decided to switch to a totally dynamic generation design.
Around version 5, I added the concept of an ID to the elements. I did this so links from other blogs or sites would work, even if the photos was moved. Any photo could be accessed by it's unique ID. Whenever the system published the static site, it publised an additionl master list of IDs and locations in an xml file.
This meant that when the server started up, it read the ID map and was able to resolve requests for a photo by ID by remapping to the location of the element.
In version 7, two major changes were made. All links were replaced by links based on IDs. In addition, all pages were generated dynamically based on their ID. The ID mapping information now contains some additional information about the element including its children (for folders in the file system hierarchy view), its date (for the calendar) and its title amoung other things. The primary source of the mapping informaiton is still the individual xml files associated with the element. There's a 1-2 minute process that can rescan the file system and rebuild the cache.
With the cache can handle, the servlet can dynamically render all pages in the archive without having to read in the element's xml attributes except when the element is viewed on it's own page (in any section). All of the related previous, next, up characteristics can be determined from the cache. The entire calendar map is pulled from the cache.
At this point, I'm ready to work on the next phase which is being able to tell the cache that either a new element has been added, or an element has been modified. This will support the ability to add a tag and see the changes immediately. This will also have a nice benefit in that when the sync is happening, as soon as the element is uploaded, it can be added to the cache and immediately visible on the site (pending thumbnail generation).
Finally, in version 7.1, I have moved the syncing process which used to be a independent application into the website. The entire archive is run as a single war file under tomcat. This will avoid having to do any inter-process communication when updating the cache.
I'll chat more as things progress. I think the Archive system is very interesting. There are dozens of ways to do a lot of these things, but it's fun to play around with the design and still be pragmatic about how things are done.
An additional note, now that the application is setup in Tomcat as a single war, I have a ant task in Eclipse that deploys new versions with a single click. Nothing like making a code change and putting it in production with a single click! Luckily with the more recent changes, this deployment can be made and the web site be back up in about 20 seconds.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
I was listening to the Bernstein Mass tonight. I also found this:
Timeline: School of Music: Indiana University
Under 1988 it mentions "Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at Tanglewood, as part of Boston Symphon's celebration of his seventieth birthday". I was in that performance. We performed the pieces several times in Bloomington, then went on the road to Tanglewood. My parents and other family members all attended the concert. I met Bernstein after the concert while he was sitting there with a drink and a cigarette. Mom got him to sign a program. It's in my scrapbook.
Under 1989 is also mentions "Philharmonic Orchestra participates in opening festivities of the Bastille Opera House" I was also in that performance and I made my orchestral debut as a celesta player. I convinced them they could save air-fare for one person to just let me play the part. The instrument in Paris waamazingng. traveleded to Paris for this concert. I have a photo album with lots of pictures.
Finally is mentions "Thomas Mathiesen, the nation'’s foremost authority on ancient Greek and Medieval Latin music theory texts, appointed" who taught me music history one semester.
Wow. Lots of memories.
Timeline: School of Music: Indiana University
Under 1988 it mentions "Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at Tanglewood, as part of Boston Symphon's celebration of his seventieth birthday". I was in that performance. We performed the pieces several times in Bloomington, then went on the road to Tanglewood. My parents and other family members all attended the concert. I met Bernstein after the concert while he was sitting there with a drink and a cigarette. Mom got him to sign a program. It's in my scrapbook.
Under 1989 is also mentions "Philharmonic Orchestra participates in opening festivities of the Bastille Opera House" I was also in that performance and I made my orchestral debut as a celesta player. I convinced them they could save air-fare for one person to just let me play the part. The instrument in Paris waamazingng. traveleded to Paris for this concert. I have a photo album with lots of pictures.
Finally is mentions "Thomas Mathiesen, the nation'’s foremost authority on ancient Greek and Medieval Latin music theory texts, appointed" who taught me music history one semester.
Wow. Lots of memories.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Today I played organ and directed the choir for the 8:00 AM and 10:15 AM services at St. John's Episcopal Church, Stamford, CT. It went pretty well. It was one of the most complex services I've played in a while and I had to do some improvisation. I also lead the choir rehearsal after the services. It was the first service I've played since we moved to CT and joined St. John's. I've directed a few anthems, but had not played and directed the whole service. I had some "I didn't know you could play" comments.
I must say one of the most enjoyable things is directing the rehearsal. We're working on some parts of the Handel Messiah and I was pleased to use some of the rehearsal techniques I've learned from Garmon Ashby and Bill Roberts when we rehearsed the same music at St. Philip's, Tucson, AZ. I'm really pleased with my experiences there. I think it give me a better idea of what to do with most pieces and I was exposed to such a large library of music.
I must say one of the most enjoyable things is directing the rehearsal. We're working on some parts of the Handel Messiah and I was pleased to use some of the rehearsal techniques I've learned from Garmon Ashby and Bill Roberts when we rehearsed the same music at St. Philip's, Tucson, AZ. I'm really pleased with my experiences there. I think it give me a better idea of what to do with most pieces and I was exposed to such a large library of music.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Friday, September 02, 2005
Tetris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a very important piece of information.
(PS. My project codename at work is Tetris. We need a new name for a new version. Ideas?)
This is a very important piece of information.
(PS. My project codename at work is Tetris. We need a new name for a new version. Ideas?)
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Google Maps - Delaware
I'm planning on trying to figure out how to avoid some of the steep tolls on our trips to MD. First stop - eliminate the Delaware Turnpike toll. Hmmm.... need to look at the map and try a few ideas.
I'm planning on trying to figure out how to avoid some of the steep tolls on our trips to MD. First stop - eliminate the Delaware Turnpike toll. Hmmm.... need to look at the map and try a few ideas.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Feed me better
We need to get something like this going in the America. With all the school budget cuts, I'm sure food intake is low on the priority. It's a real tragedy. Jamie Oliver is right on in his campaign.
We need to get something like this going in the America. With all the school budget cuts, I'm sure food intake is low on the priority. It's a real tragedy. Jamie Oliver is right on in his campaign.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Retalix Store and Retalix HQ Applications Now Available from StoreNext; Former TCI Products Provide New Opportunities for StoreNext Dealers: "StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC announces the immediate availability of key enterprise-level applications that were previously developed and marketed by TCI Solutions, Inc. [The apps have been] ... renamed Retalix Store and Retalix Headquarters."
Ha. Ha. I wrote a lot of that stuff. I remember when we had to change the name from HQPM2 (the 2 should be superscript) to TCI HQ. We also changed SSM to SM2 (same 2 in superscript) to TCI Store. I recall doing a bit of work to make the name changing easier for next time. I hope the Retalix folks gain the benefits of easier name changing.
Please note that making the 2 superscript in the dos file name was requested but never happened. Thank goodness for Windows Links.
Ha. Ha. I wrote a lot of that stuff. I remember when we had to change the name from HQPM2 (the 2 should be superscript) to TCI HQ. We also changed SSM to SM2 (same 2 in superscript) to TCI Store. I recall doing a bit of work to make the name changing easier for next time. I hope the Retalix folks gain the benefits of easier name changing.
Please note that making the 2 superscript in the dos file name was requested but never happened. Thank goodness for Windows Links.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Thursday, June 30, 2005
CPB - It gets worse
It gets worse.
http://www.npr.org/documents/2005/jun/cpb_pdfs/rehm.summary.pdf
6/7 Diane Rehm
Col D. McGregor and James Fallows are labeled "liberal". (Not liberal is not a bad term when used towards someone who is a liberal like me but) --- Why, you ask?
"Col. McGregor's viewpoint was that troop tour of duty extensions in Iraq is hurting morale. Col. McGregor stated that U.S. troups are trined [sic] for linear combat not to be policemen in post-war Iraq. According to McGregor, the U.S. soldiers have killed innocent civilians which has bred bitterness and hatred among Iraqis."
"Mr. Fallows viewpoint was the same as Col. McGregor; open-ended, repeat tours of duty damage morale."
HOW IS THIS LIBERAL? THESE ARE FACTS.
So if you don't agree that everything is peachy in Iraq and/or even report on the factual morale problems with troops in Iraq you are biased?
This makes me SOOOOO mad.
http://www.npr.org/documents/2005/jun/cpb_pdfs/rehm.summary.pdf
6/7 Diane Rehm
Col D. McGregor and James Fallows are labeled "liberal". (Not liberal is not a bad term when used towards someone who is a liberal like me but) --- Why, you ask?
"Col. McGregor's viewpoint was that troop tour of duty extensions in Iraq is hurting morale. Col. McGregor stated that U.S. troups are trined [sic] for linear combat not to be policemen in post-war Iraq. According to McGregor, the U.S. soldiers have killed innocent civilians which has bred bitterness and hatred among Iraqis."
"Mr. Fallows viewpoint was the same as Col. McGregor; open-ended, repeat tours of duty damage morale."
HOW IS THIS LIBERAL? THESE ARE FACTS.
So if you don't agree that everything is peachy in Iraq and/or even report on the factual morale problems with troops in Iraq you are biased?
This makes me SOOOOO mad.
NPR : CPB Memos Indicate Level of Monitoring
NPR : CPB Memos Indicate Level of Monitoring
This stuff is really getting me angry. I regretfully wrote emails to both of my PBS stations telling them I can't give them money because of this sort of stuff. I also told them I am very unhappy that my money might end up in the hands of the Wall Street Journal, Fotune or other corporate entities. I'm not happy about the integration of commercial media into the titles of shows on PBS let alone any sort of big media "product placement" in PBS shows. They have enough influence.
This stuff is really getting me angry. I regretfully wrote emails to both of my PBS stations telling them I can't give them money because of this sort of stuff. I also told them I am very unhappy that my money might end up in the hands of the Wall Street Journal, Fotune or other corporate entities. I'm not happy about the integration of commercial media into the titles of shows on PBS let alone any sort of big media "product placement" in PBS shows. They have enough influence.
Persecution of Christians
I was watching John Stewart the other night and they had more commentary about the members of congress complaining about the persecution of Christians in America. I got to thinking about that. They are correct - but the persecution is by the conservative Christian right. I am really getting tired of them defining my Christian values as being about 10 commandments in the courthouse, keeping alive brain dead people by artificial means and actions to force Christianity on the unbelievers. People are not going to become believers by those means. Their persecution continues by ignoring my Christian beliefs in feeding the hunger, caring for the sick, the friendless and the needy, and working to make society less stressful on the people at the bottom. If there is any voice not being heard, it is the Christians trying to follow in Christ's footsteps. I'm tired of them getting center stage and defining Christianity under their terms.
Look Out World
Signing up for my mobile blog. I can take now take photos with my camera and they appear in the blog. Look out world!
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Active RFID - What about the environment?
My response to InfoWorld's The case for active RFID - Ephraim Schwartz
I hope any issues with the disposal of RFID tags - passive, active or otherwise - is not going to be an afterthought. I can only assume that passive tags are harmless, but your opinion piece on active tags makes me scared for all of the batteries being thrown in the garbage or scattered all over the earth. Maybe the added expense of active tags will encourage reuse, but that will won't stop eventual or accidental disposal.
What is the environmental impact of all of these tags in our disposable packaging? I hope we don't find out too late as we've done with the millions of old PCs and and monitors. My fear on RFID is that as they take off, disposal of billions or trillions (keep going....) of tags will be a problem.
I hope any issues with the disposal of RFID tags - passive, active or otherwise - is not going to be an afterthought. I can only assume that passive tags are harmless, but your opinion piece on active tags makes me scared for all of the batteries being thrown in the garbage or scattered all over the earth. Maybe the added expense of active tags will encourage reuse, but that will won't stop eventual or accidental disposal.
What is the environmental impact of all of these tags in our disposable packaging? I hope we don't find out too late as we've done with the millions of old PCs and and monitors. My fear on RFID is that as they take off, disposal of billions or trillions (keep going....) of tags will be a problem.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Google Earth
Google Earth
This is just about the most amaizing thing I've seen in a long time. Wow. Very impressive.
This is just about the most amaizing thing I've seen in a long time. Wow. Very impressive.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Instant Library
Amazon.com: Books: The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection
Just what I need once I build my new addition with a library.
Just what I need once I build my new addition with a library.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Sunday, May 29, 2005
I copied a version of the Password Generator on Eric's Password Generator to Famous Family - http://www.famousfamily.com/password.html. This is a handy way to generate multiple passwords for site based on a single master password. I put a copy on FamousFamily so we will always have access to the generator. I also suggest going to the original sight and adding the bookmark. Luckily we use FireFox and Safari - so the fact it doesn't work on IE doesn't matter.
The hard part will be converting all those passwords over time.
The hard part will be converting all those passwords over time.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Feed me better
We really need to get something like this started in the US. I really like his TV show, but I was meeting with some British coworkers last week and they mentioned this campaign. The point is to raise the issue of what our kids are being fed in the schools. I really like this.
We really need to get something like this started in the US. I really like his TV show, but I was meeting with some British coworkers last week and they mentioned this campaign. The point is to raise the issue of what our kids are being fed in the schools. I really like this.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
moyers.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)
Good listening. I had to write an email to WNET & CPTV explaining why I can't continue to be a public television member until something is changed regarding Bill Moyer's speech. He is right on the money.
Good listening. I had to write an email to WNET & CPTV explaining why I can't continue to be a public television member until something is changed regarding Bill Moyer's speech. He is right on the money.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
I'm saddened. Another thing I was thinking about earlier this week was the reality of the relationship after someone in the relationship dies. Mom and dad knew each other for 36 years. They had an intimate relationship. They loved each other. Now mom has died. When someone in a relationship like theirs dies, each day the other person continues to live, it seems that the intimacy of their relationship diminishes. It must diminish over time because someone that you loved is no longer here with you. It's like the longer you live, the more distant your relationship with the other becomes. Regardless of whether you meet after this world, one can ponder only ponder the pain of this separation. I got to thinking about it and it made me pretty unhappy. I can't imagine how my dad is thinking and I wonder how I would cope with that situation. It must be difficult.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
I'm saddened: On March 22, 2005 my mom died. I've been sad through the whole thing. There's more to read about the details at Judith Lloyd Famous.
In order to help myself with some of my sadness, I may write about it from time to time, beginning with I'm saddened.
Tonight we went to a symphony concert. The music during the first half was rather uninteresting, so I got to thinking. That's not good. I'm finding that I prefer to do activities where I can't just sit there and think.
My thoughts tonight were maybe I should have spent less time answering the phone and worrying about the details and spent more time just sitting with mom. I don't recall doing a lot of sitting with her when she was sick, but not near the end. The last day I sat with her a lot of the day but it wasn't the same. I do remember the first weekend she was in the hospital when we drove down. I remember going in early one morning to the Bel Air hospital. I got to sit with her in the morning all be myself. We talked about a few things. It was nice. After she went home for the first time, I spent a lot of time downstairs herding people and answering the phone. I don't know.
In order to help myself with some of my sadness, I may write about it from time to time, beginning with I'm saddened.
Tonight we went to a symphony concert. The music during the first half was rather uninteresting, so I got to thinking. That's not good. I'm finding that I prefer to do activities where I can't just sit there and think.
My thoughts tonight were maybe I should have spent less time answering the phone and worrying about the details and spent more time just sitting with mom. I don't recall doing a lot of sitting with her when she was sick, but not near the end. The last day I sat with her a lot of the day but it wasn't the same. I do remember the first weekend she was in the hospital when we drove down. I remember going in early one morning to the Bel Air hospital. I got to sit with her in the morning all be myself. We talked about a few things. It was nice. After she went home for the first time, I spent a lot of time downstairs herding people and answering the phone. I don't know.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Yea. They just sold out. Retalix acquires TCI Solutions. Good bye TCI. Good luck to the people I enjoyed working with who don't have jobs anymore. I would say the acquisition is basically for TCI's customers and some POS drivers, but that's just my opinion. I have some stock. We'll see how my 36 shares of TCI do.
On the last day I worked at TCI, we were at lunch. I had been talking with my buddies about what to do about my stock options. I thought I might buy one just for the paperwork hassle. I had options to buy shares at twenty five cents a share. I took my drink cup from lunch (purchased for $1.50) and went around the table collecting pocket change. I then went back to the office and collected more pocket change. The CEO even gave me 55 cents. I boxed up the change and sent it to Irvine. They did not appreciate the money in Irvine (although I guess they no longer have job either, so there is no hard feelings on my part. I hope they do OK). When I later found out about this I asked them to give the change to Jim S. (he owe's me nine dollars) and sent them a check for nine dollars. They sent my this.
Note that Dave Auerbach has his signature on the document as the COO, but they fired him several years before I left. Kinda funny. Steve DeSantis also signed it. Ha. I'll post again when I see how much I get for it - if they even remember I have it.
Friday, April 08, 2005
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