Mightypeo's Musings

Strawberry Perl: How to install a cpan module with a proxy

2011-11-16T14:31:00.001-05:00

goto the portable shell:

----------------------------------------------
Welcome to Strawberry Perl Portable Edition!
* URL - http://www.strawberryperl.com/
* see README.portable.TXT for more info
----------------------------------------------
Perl executable: H:\sperl\perl\bin\perl.exe
Perl version : 5.12.3

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

Type in cpan

H:\sperl>cpan

enter

o conf http_proxy http://10.0.0.1:83

or whatever your proxy is

How to update a row in YUI2 DataTable

2011-06-30T17:55:00.000-05:00

Here's how to update the data in a YUI2 ScrollingDataTable:


this.subscribe('cellClickEvent',function(e, obj) {
    var target                  = e.target,
        column                  = this.getColumn(target),
        record                  = this.getRecord(target),
        data                    = record.getData(),
        recordIndex             = this.getRecordIndex(record);

//manipulate data here
      this.updateRow( recordIndex, data);

A Switch and A New Direction

2011-06-30T13:45:00.001-05:00

This is going to be a collection of little scripts and other stuff from now on.

YUI2 Datatable:

Here's how you refresh the data through the DataSource:

this.DS.sendRequest( null, {
scope: this,
success: function( sRequest, oResponse, oPayload) {
this.onDataReturnInitializeTable( sRequest, oResponse, oPayload);
},
failure: function( sRequest, oResponse, oPayload) {
}
}, this);

Around Lake Michigan

2009-08-27T05:23:00.001-05:00

Getting ready to go around (sort of) Lake Michigan on my bike. Here's a link to the route (planned) Google Maps - Around Lake Michigan.

Stay tuned for updates

What are we listening too ?

2008-12-03T21:46:00.002-05:00

Well, right now, Serge Gainsbourg - Live au Palace 79. Tracks on heavy repeat are Les Locataires and Brigade des Stups.

Of course, here in the U.S. nobody knows him. But he was truly a man that loved the language. Something unique French (which I only understand a little - thanks to my 1st and 2nd grade french lessons - don't ask - an experiment). But with the help of Google Translate I can pick the sense and meaning together - and the Reggae is superb.

Linoléum un peu degueu, trou à la turque
Papier journal,

and

Je suis tombé sur des cops,
Ils ont cherché mon spliff,

Vim Folding - CSS Stylesheets - IE

2008-10-02T11:38:00.003-05:00

A little quirk I noticed when using VIM folding in cascading style sheets with IE6. The foldings html comment entry  seems to mess with IE handling of CSS, the style of the following element does not get honored completely. In my case, left and top were all of a sudden 0.

The fix is to insert a dummy element.

In Firefox the whole thing doesn't work like intended anyway.

From womb to tomb, from basket to casket

2008-04-13T20:33:00.002-05:00

My brother-in-law was in town again for the 4th annual Jakson Spire fundraiser for the Ann Arbor School of Performing Arts. We went to it a little late, and caught the end of the Conqueroots with Al Jacques.

After them I was in for a real treat by George Bedard (of George Bedard and the Kingpins) and Drivin Sideways and Bill Kirchen

New Job

2008-04-06T17:52:00.002-05:00

Well it happened again. Within a short time I was approached through LinkedIn about a job opportunity, and now I'm working developing software that helps in the management of the global network of a large Michigan based company. Since I have been driving two of their cars, and the group I'm working with made a really positive impression, I decided to follow my feelings and start something new. The commute is a little further than before, but so far not to bad. I get there in about 30 minutes.

On other hands, I ran speedtest today and it came up with this:
result

That's the fastest result I have ever gotten, and it's totally atypically of what I get on my larger downloads. And Chicago, which is not what Speedtest suggest as default is even faster

Shows you how much Comcast's PowerBoosts influences statistics. Meanwhile, AT&T offers a comparable service, for a lot less. I'm thinking about it !

Netbeans 6.0 and C++ on Windows

2007-12-28T16:04:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of Java development in the last two months, on Windows and for that I am using Netbeans. Well Netbeans 6.0 got released and it supports C/C++.

Here is a list of what you have to do to get a free C/C++ development environment going on Windows:

1) Download the netbeans 6.0 IDE with Java 6 JDK from here. Pick the all version if you got the bandwidth.

2) install Netbeans 6.0

3) Download MinGW32 and MSys (Minimalist Gnu on Windows) from here. Install MinGW32 to c:\mingw32 and MSys to c:\msys.

4) In Netbeans go to Tools->Options and select C/C++ tab. Then add C:\mingw32\bin and c:\msys\bin to the current path. This should give you all the tools.

Happy development.

The Perversion of the American Ideal

2007-12-20T09:47:00.000-05:00

Never mind what Bush is doing in Washington (and for that matter to the rest of the world in the name of this nation), this is about the lyrics of one of the songs on my christmas playlist. Have you ever listened to 'Winter Wonderland':

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say: Are you married?
We'll say: No man,
But you can do the job
When you're in town.

And what the heck do you think the job is ? eh ? dirty dirty dirty - and that back from 1934

Christmas Playlist

2007-12-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis
Alvin & The Chipmunks - The Chipmunk Song
Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas T
Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run
Perry Como - White Christmas
The Andrew Sisters - Winter Wonderland
Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas
Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
Elvis - Here Comes Santa Claus
Wham - Last Christmas
Kylie Minogue - Santa Baby
Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London
Diana Ros & the Supremes - Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Testing with default arguments

2007-10-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

For a while I have known, that testing with default arguments is not the best idea. I mean, it's better than not testing at all, but it's still not a very good test.

Take the following case (which cost me a few hours):

Two systems, one running a web service in Microsoft .NET 1.1, the other a java application written with Netbeans. They communicate their data structures by serializing them in xml. So far nothing out of the ordinary. But since we are talking about two systems, testing needs to include multiple roundtrips. And that makes unittests that serialize and then deserialize on one platform a logical choice. And if you do those unittests with default arguments (i.e. create the data structure, serialize it, deserialize it, and then check the values), guess what happens ?

You catch nothing !

It so happens that the deserializers will create a data structure, which will have DEFAULT VALUES (pardon my screaming, I'm yelling at myself for being so stupid).

So the moral of this story is, if you test, test at least once with non-default values.

P.S. 10 minutes after I rewrote the code, I found another bug (with the test). One element was omitted in the serialization !! Test, Test, Test

Yep That's me

2007-09-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

The Race on Belle Isle

2007-09-03T20:32:00.000-05:00

Went to the races this week on Belle Isle, here in Detroit, It was just awesome.

Saturday we (Vincent and I) saw Indy Car qualifying and American Le Mans. Had seats in Grandstand 3, right at Turn 1.

The renovated course (little difference to the previous layout) but much better pavement, was excellent. The weather couldn't have been better. Here are some pictures

Oh, and by the way, school is starting this week here in tree-town. Welcome back, especially U of M students.

How fast is your internet connection

2007-09-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

A little useful utility here at http://wwww.speedtest.net. Measures both upload and download speeds of your dsl/cable modem etc.

Here's my fastest test . Click on the image to visit speedtest.

Your secret SQL Helper

2007-05-24T13:23:00.000-05:00

Ever restored a database in SQL Server. And then had all this disconnected logins hanging around. Logins in the database that got restored, but have no SQL Server login name associated with them. Fear no more, here's the help:

sp_change_users_login

And here's how to use it:

sp_change_users_login @Action='Update_One', @UserNamePattern='dbuser', @LoginName='sysuser', @Password=Null

This will reconnect the database user dbuser with the login name in the system sysuser. Normally both user names are the same.

Enjoy

SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Scripting

2007-05-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

Something that bugs me now and then. using SQL Server 2005 Management Studio to script tables and stored procedure is really a great tool. Couldn't do without it and would certainly have to write something similar. Except now and then it throws all the object definitions into a EXEC dbo.sp_executesql @statement = N format, and that throws me off, and doesn't smell right.
Then I go scrambling, trying to figure out which of the many scripting options it is that sets this up.
For my own future sanity and for anybody who cares, it is (drum roll):

Include IF NOT EXISTS clause

Which makes sense, since then the whole definition needs to fit in an if clause.

.NET String Format

2007-05-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

How many times have you sat there and browsed MSDN for a comprehensive list of format strings in .NET ?

I've done it countless times, and while the documentation is technically accurate, it is missing an essential overview in one spot.

Here is my two alternative SteveX Compiled » String Formatting in C#

Enjoy

Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band

2007-03-15T18:25:00.000-05:00

Saw them on Tuesday, at the Joe Louis Arena. What a concert. Just incredible, and this of course is his home town. I had to save my voice on Wednesday, we called him back for two encores. Uncle Cracker opened for him (they could play a concert on their own)

Here's the set list

Nutbush City Limits
Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You
Wreck This Heart
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
Wait for Me
Face the Promise
Sunspot Baby
Betty Lou’s Gettin' Out Tonight
We've Got Tonight
Turn the Page
Travelin’ Man/Beautiful Loser
Roll Me Away
Ramblin Gamblin Man
C'est La Vie (You Can Never Tell)
Real Mean Bottle
The Answer is in the Question
The Fire Down Below
Horizontal Bop
Katmandu

Encore 1

Night Moves
Hollywood Nights

Encore 2

Against the Wind
Rock and Roll Never Forgets

How to take a proper shower

2007-02-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

When it's 5 degrees out there !

First you make sure that you have at least 1/2 our of time available. Then you make sure that you won't be disturbed. Lock the door ! Block it with a chair. Tell everybody to use te other bathroom !

And then make sure you have a shower, that has limited flow, so you won't run out of hot water. Get one of those rain-fall heads with a flow of 2.5 gpm or less.

Turn on the water
Make sure it's not too hot in the beginning, we'll turn it up later
Get in, and take your time
Take you time
AFter 10 minutes reduce the cold water some more
Make sure the curtain is completely closed, so no cold air can come into the shower. Use the condensation and the showercurtain to stick the curtain against the edges of the tub enclosure.
That way the shower will be filled with delicious hot steamy air.
Stay in there ! gradually reduce all cold water to zero, and steam boil yourself like a lobster
Enjoy the fruits of our civilization. Running hot water. See how the window is frosted up, and remember it's colder than a witches t.... out there.

Enjoy

MFC and SQLFetch

2006-12-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

This is probably an old bug, but nevertheless one that cost me a few hours. When using a recordset in MFC 4.2 (comes with Visual Studio 6) and an odbc driver, do not open the recordset with a sql statement. That forces the first parameter in the open to be default (or dynaset which is the same). With a dynaset, MFC decides to call SQLExtendedFetch, like here

AFX_ODBC_CALL(::SQLExtendedFetch(m_hstmt, wFetchType, nRow, pdwRowsFetched, m_rgRowStatus));

And guess what ? SQLExtendedFetch returns the number of rows fetched, which AFC_ODBC_CALL freely interprets as an error code. Sure, your saying, who's using MFC4.2 now, or why not just change the source code ? All valid points, but after all, most people use the out of the box stuff, even nowadays.

All right, nuff said

Have fun racing

2006-12-01T22:50:00.000-05:00

A new job (Cimulus) and some more time on my hand. So I'm sitting here surfing the web, when I come across these youtube videos of BBC's topgear show. Check out their race from Guildford to Nice, or the one from Alba to London. Check it out, if you like cars you like this

What am I listening too right now

2006-09-19T20:45:00.000-05:00

Bob Seger Face the promise

Back after a long time - back with a very strong album. Here in the midwest - in A2 - where he's from - a must to listen too. Here's my 2 cents worth on those songs

1. Wreck This Heart
I can understand the thought behind this song - going on even when it ends up hurting you

2. Wait For Me
Wanderlust and the plea for the loved one to wait for one to come back - and the promise to be back for sure

3. Face The Promise
A road song - again Wanderlust and the taste of what drives someone to go far. Also about this big country of ours - the USA. So long small town - hello big city, bright lights.

4. No Matter Who You Are
The circle of life : life and death, it affects us all - and no matter who you are, you will lose a loved one eventually, you will have to give up things - in the end, you can't take it with you.

5. Are You
Could this be about the war ? Are you gonna see his bluff. On the other hand - maybe it goes with the next song - the shelves are overstocked - a criticism on our commercialism and consumerism - and the blatant disregard for the rest of the world. this world's gonna drive you under, if you never have enough

6. Simplicity
Definitely very clear - and right down my line. When you have had it - simplicity will work. Focus on your loved ones, and the stuff money can't buy. Partners, friends, spouses and children. Pets, Parents and siblings. Forget about fast cars, big tvs and all the other bling bling

7. No More
The best anti-war song in a while. Should be mandatory listening in all schools. And Bush should have to listen to it at least once a day - so he understands what he got us into, and how much he damaged this country's image in the world. It's also a little poppy with it's violins and the orchestra - but the truth remains, this president got us into a mess, that it's gonna be hard to get out of. I also don't want this

8. Real Mean Bottle (with Kid Rock)
A great country rock song - I wonder who they sing about - maybe Johnny Cash ? Or themselves ?

9. Won’t Stop
You can cry if you want to ... but you won't stop there - a great song about addiction and demons that ride us.

10. Between
'This world is out to get you just like it got me. .. World keeps getting hotter'. A very accurate statement of politics and life in this nation

11. The Answer’s In The Question (with Patty Loveless)
A nice quiet song - great duet

12. The Long Goodbye
a VERY quiet song about our mortality - or is it just me interpreting this wrong - probably

And I respect the fact that he took time off for his family. And I'm grateful, that he's back

Back from the Valley

2006-09-08T06:48:00.000-05:00

Spend a great time over labor day weekend in the valley ! What a dynamic environment, time to make a move there !

While walking down 4th street in SFO, I stumbled across a door that indicated that Moveable Type and a couple of other outfits are in that building. For a company with as big an internet presence as them and then only a door ! I scratched my head !

VB6 and Page Heaps

2006-08-10T20:21:00.000-05:00

Yeah, Yeah I know, long time. but here's something I just ran across, trying to find this darned memory problem

You cannot run vb6 with page heap protection. Something in the mechanism on how extensions are plugged in (SourceSafe in specific), gives you an access violation (0xc0000005). Bummer, since the bugs happen much faster in the VB6 IDE than in the executable.

Stay tuned....

Back to the surface

2006-04-10T19:15:00.000-05:00

After a long tour of duty on the emotional nuclear ballistic missile sub of depression, I finally surface again. And as always after such a long haul, things are totally different on the surface.

The sunlight feels good on the skin, and sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee in the hand. A lot of things have happened, maybe one day, I'll share some.

Anyway, this last weekend was pretty good. My brother-in-law came into town, with his latest band Thunderfoot. My wife planned a party on Saturday, and I, apprehensive of such things (any mass of people, even friends and relatives) freaked somewhat. But it turned out ok.

Things are looking up...

Off to the races

2005-08-03T06:02:00.000-05:00

I spent a very delightful weekend at MIS (Michigan International Speedway). After a five year hiatus I returned to attend an open wheel race. This time it was the Firestone Indy 400. Oval racing is normally not my favorite type of racing (real race courses, and real roads are more to my liking). What made this trip so special was that on Sunday, my son Vincent was with me. we had a blast, we saw all the cars, saw plenty of racers (Danica Patrick, AJ Foyt IV, AJ Foyt himself). We saw a crew guy in the pits get hit by a tire during the race, we saw 4 engines blow up, and we saw a 4 car accident. We also saw a very good sprint to the finish, and Bryan Herta won. Well deserved, his car was running best all weekend long.

On Saturday, I spent all day in the pits and pattock, during practice and qualifying. There's nothing better to show you that racing is a team sport, than to be with the teams during that day. You immediately see that the drivers become less important. Danica, for example, had just trouble with the car. The engine sounded bad (it blew on Sunday then), and she had problems winding the car up for a fast qualifying time. I already knew on Saturday, that she wasn't gonna make it Sunday. And that's not even her fault. Neither the team's. Racing like that, everythings gotta work perfect, and it's such a fickle thing. It's not like you can sit down, say, you're gonna do this and that, and that will get you the win. You gotta work hard to catch the right setup, and then have the right tires (hello Michelin) and then the driver needs to know what (s)he's doing, and so on.

Anyway, it was well worth the money to have a weekend like that.

The Best Radio Show In The World

2005-07-27T06:16:00.000-05:00

The best radio show in the world is now on the web. and podcasted. head on over to Thayrone's place and get it. You won't regret it. The Bone Conduction Music Show. What a shame that WEMU ever cancelled him, over a stupid argument. Thanks to WAAM to keep him on the air. Ann Arbor, gotta love it !

SRA

2005-05-02T18:16:00.000-05:00

Went to the Jakson Spires memorial concert yesterday (here in A2 at the Millenium). Southern Rock Allstars are truly a great band. Anybody that heard them said so. And if you were lucky enough to stay for the encore, that was a cool set. 'Play that funky music, White Boy' !

The brain

2005-03-11T09:55:00.000-05:00

Having worked too much and fighting another depression attack produced by stress from home and work, I started thinking about the brain and depression.

When you go by what we know about the brain scientifically. There are neurons which are connecting to other neurons through their axons. It is the fact that many neurons connect to one neuron through dendrites that turns this mass of cells into a neural network.

And in the last 20 years, we developed pretty good models for neural networks. But that's not what I want to talk about. What is interesting, in this neural network that our brain is, is that repetition seems to reinforce. Duuh, when you a learning you need to do things over and over, before you get them right (repetition). When you are learning to shoot the perfect 3 pointer or how to hit a baseball, you have to do things over and over. What you are doing there, is configure (or train) your neural network (the brain and the nerves that communicate to the muscle, the nerves at the muscle) to adapt to the physical realities of your body and control that physical apparatus (not a real simple one) to perform the task.

That's all easy to understand. Then it should not be very hard to understand, that you will do the same thing on an emotional and intellectual level. So if you think the same thoughts over and over again, they will leave a reinforcing trace in your brain, and thought often enough, reconfigure your neural network, so that it will function along those lines.

In other words, if you are depressed (as I often am), and you think those depressing thoughts, have that negative outlook, then that will reinforce the depression, and the negative outlook. So, one thing that should help, is trying to adapt a different attitude, think different (positive) thoughts.

Mind you, I am not just saying, ignore reality, everything is rosy. No, I don't want you to go to that river in Egypt. I just want you to consider thinking differently now and then. Realize the importance of changing your thought patterns. Get distracted. Humour really helps here. When you hear a good joke, see a good comedian, or a good movie, it distracts you. It let's that record player in your head jump to a different groove. Just don't play the same thing over and over in your head. It won't help, it will make things harder.

Enough said now. Tell me what you think about this by sending me an e-mail to mightypeo at gmail.com.

The Man ? - The MAN !

2005-01-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

Saw B.B. again at the Fox Theatre last Saturday. Compared to that show (with Bobby Blue Bland) the audience in Ann Arbor was cold fish. Excellent !

B. B. is the MAN !

2004-12-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

His concert on Wednesday was just incredible. There's a man, 79 years old, and he had the whole house at his mercy. And his band, they are amazing. And he's still touring, just look at his work load. That demands respect. Man, I'd give an eye to be able to play with these guys !

So, that made me listen to some of his older records again (ok, they are CDs) - actually MP3s right now. One of the best is Indianola Mississippi Seed right there with Live in Japan.

So remember "Nobody loves me but my mother, and she might be jivin' too" !

Six Weeks

2004-12-08T09:26:00.000-05:00

It took six weeks for my gmail account to get its first spam. That must be some kind of record, since I barely ever give out that address. Don't know what to do with it.

On the domestic front, the war is on again, off again. Not as bad as in Iraq, but emotionally devastating nevertheless. Time to do something about that...

On the better side of things, tonight's B.B. King concert at the Michigan Theatre. Can't wait for that one !

Future City is a blast too. I'm judging some SimCity designs now, got hooked up to that through the IEEE and my daughter's school.

My Sincere Apologies

2004-11-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

My sincere apologies to all my friends in Europe. I really don't know what happened in this country. What got into my fellow countrymen. Voting like this - for 4 more years of Bush.

Let's see what will happen....

P.S. My mom is hanging in there, stay tuned

And then you hit a wall

2004-10-26T06:42:00.000-05:00

Had to go to Germany on a moments notice. My mom was ill.

She had chemo-therapy, and developed an infection. She went to the hospital on Sunday. All week I called and tried to get something out of the three of them (my mom, my dad and my sister).

Mom: Su - We : I'm fine, I'm ok, nothing to worry about.
Dad: Su - We : She's fine, she's ok, nothing to worry about.
Sis: Su - We : I haven't had time to visit her, she's in the isolation ward, since her white bloodcell count is so low, and the baby and I got a cold.

Mom: Th : I'm tired, I'm too tired to talk.
Dad: Th : ?????
Sis: Th : I haven't had time to visit her, she's in the isolation ward, since her white bloodcell count is so low, and the baby and I got a cold.

Me: Well, could you please find out ? Do I have to come ?
Sis: No, not yet, but I'll find out

Mom: Fri : I'm tired, I'm too tired to talk.
Dad: Fri : ?????
Sis: Fri : - i left a message on her answering machine

Friday, noon, the phone rings here at work. It's sis : 'I'm at the hospital, I talked to the doctors, drop everything and come... It could be the end.'

So I drop everything, go home, call LH at 12:30 get a seat on the 18:05 flight out of DTW to MUC via FRA.

I get there Saturday at 1 pm... my mom's really bad shape....

More later...

Cruisin'

2004-09-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

Cruisin along. School year started and things are falling into their place. Today, I slacked in the morning, decided to go in late - refreshing.

I coach a youth soccer team (kindergarten) and yesterday was our 2rd practice. Finally knew all the kids name (not an easy feat for me - with a pea sized brain and bladder - just kidding)

Nothing else to report.... stay tuned

Engage !

2004-08-26T06:51:00.000-05:00

Things are getting back to normal. The school year starts. Alyssa is going to middle school now and Vincent starts kindergarten. Not like my old place of education.

Oh, yeah, have you heard, 31st of August got cancelled this year. They are having 2 1sts of September, so that school starts in September (like it used to) and not in August. :-)

Anyway, getting ready to change the rhythm all over because of school. And I'm gonna coach a kindergarten soccer (football for the rest of the world). Gonna be fun.

Still listening to the same old stuff, though I like Amiel's 'Just another .... lovesong' and some strange remix of Britney Spear's Everytime. I'm almost to embarrassed to post that here.

Economics and the drive to work

2004-08-10T06:50:00.000-05:00

Back from the continent, where my wife and kids spent a month, and I spent a very enjoyable week. Saw old friends (but no absent lovers) and the weather was great.

Again, on my way to work, things kind of fermented in my brain, and several discussions from the last few days culminated into these thoughts:

a) the utility function of money is an interesting economical concept. The idea that 10 Euros are of different value to different people, based on their current economical situation, is definitely true. And if you got all the bases covered, the next 10 simoleans can be spent on luxury, while if you are struggling to make ends meet, the same next 10 simoleans are of different value to you

b) where the utility function of money fails though, is in this concept: the threshold function of money. Think about it, you spent the same 10 cents differently, based on what you want to buy. If you want to by a can of peas, you might pick a brand, based on it being 10 cents cheaper (you value price/performance) or on it being 10 cents more expensive (you value the value/quality). However, if you buy a car, you might not car about a 10 cent difference, even though mathematically speaking (and economically) 10 cents are 10 cents. So there's a definite difference to the value of the same amount of money based on what you are going to by (or in economical terms, what market you are in). Well enough, that is still covered by the utility function. However, some markets (like the IPO game, or luxury vehicles) have also certain thresholds, that you have to exceed, for you to participate. If you want to become a stock broker (in your own brokerage firm) you will have to have tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, euros or simoleans to play/enter. You might express this as a non-linearity in the utility function, but I think there's more about that.

Anyway, enough about these idle thoughts, back to work.

Nothing

2004-07-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

What are we listening too now ? Johnny Cash - American IV - with really strong titles, like 'Hurt', 'The man comes around'. Now there's a man who's clearly been to the depth of the despair of depression and back a few times. Deja vu, been there and done that. God, that resonates. 'I Hung My Head' makes you never wanna touch a gun again. What foolish things kids do ! What foolish things I have done as kid !

Thanks to ordering it from Amazon I got a bunch of other stuff - Like the 'Live from Folsom Prison' cd and a bunch of books.

What are we thinking about - coworkers, old girl friends (the toast to friends and absent lovers), this stupid PC/104 board I'm working with, that makes my life a hell, and their vendor who claims that they are totally PC/104 compliant (definitely in the 99% tile).

I better publish this before they need to adjust my medication again

Le Tour hits the Pyrenees

2004-07-16T09:08:00.000-05:00

Le Tour 2004 is getting into the mountain stages. Should be an exciting weekend for an old armchair racer.

What are we listening too ? A lot of Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert - and I dug out Unreal Tournament to get rid of some of the aggressions.

The fam is still in Munich, where the weather is finally fine.

Another Neuron Firing

2004-07-12T14:10:00.000-05:00

A long time friend of mine sent me a reference to the Reichstagsbrandverordnung (warning - legal German). How strikingly similar to the US-Patriot act.

This fine piece of legislature (the former) was passed after the Reichstagsbrand (Reichstag fire) on February 27, 1933 (one day).

At least they immediately told you what they were doing in the first paragraph (suspending several articles of the constitution). Maybe some people learned from those mistakes, and veiled their language in the second.

The fifth paragraph then introduces the death penalty on the following crimes: Hochverrat (Treason), Giftbeibringung (Poisoning), Brandstiftung (Arson), Explosion (Blowing Things Up), Überschwemmung (Flooding), Beschädigung von Eisenbahnen (damaging railroads).

This was past 5 years before World War II.

Hot off the press...

2004-07-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

After reading an article in WIRED on RFID tags it hits me. If those are going to be in all the products sold in stores, they will be in all the garbage too (after all they are embedded in the products packaging).

The consequences are huge. Municipalities could actually charge manufactures based on the percentage of packaging in the garbage - an enormous incentive to reduce packaging (ok, this follows the German model of the 'grüne Punkt').

The Tour

2004-07-07T06:27:00.000-05:00

The Tour started this Sunday (Saturday if you count the prolog). Check out details at the site french site or OLN TVs excellent english site.

Will Lance Armstrong succeed a sixth time ? The mountain stages will decide. I used to ride a race bike around upper Bavaria a lot, before the beer belly 120km on a Saturday was not a problem. The bike (custom built by my late uncle Kurt) is now in the garage, awaiting a much needed restoration. And then use of course...

On other news, Kerrin (my wife) and the kids will go to Germany (to the grandparents) for a month. I'm spending the summer on the continent. Always drama before they are on the plane. And lot's of work for me to do while they are not here...

Ready for the weekend

2004-07-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

Things are back to normal. The troops returned from the field, and I can go back to doing the programming I like. Otherwise I'm preparing for the weekend. July 4th ? I wonder why the British don't celebrate that - he he.

Any holiday is fine and a 3 day weekend - heck even better. The spouse faction demands her share of time - have to go do this - have to go do that - what do you mean, you didn't know about that - we've been doing it every year - we always go to the fireworks on Friday and to the parade on Saturday - leave me alone, I want to go to barbie, and sit around and talk with people, who's opinion I like and care about, not people, who I can't relate too (and their bratty kids).

Anyway, that leads down the road to the subject of another rant, which we will not do right now. Right now, we will chill, take our medication and enjoy the fact that I'm reasonably healthy, loved by a few (see byline) and it's summer....

The 99% Rule

2004-06-29T06:46:00.000-05:00

I'm donning my teflon/asbestos underwear today. On the way to work I ponder the 99% rule.

99% of all people are morons. While this is easily said, and almost as easily recognized and understood, it has some pretty far reaching consequences:

a) 99% of the people that drive on the roads behave like morons (q.e.d)
b) 99% of the people that you work with are also morons (q.e.d)
c) 99% of the people in your family are also morons ( 99% means 9 out of 10 people - so if your family has 10 members - 9 are morons).

Ok, c) might be too much. Statistics allows us to shift around a bit (if I sample a 1000 people, I have room for 10 +/- 1 or 2 genuine intelligent people). But it also means that if you look around (like at your family) and you don't see morons, then somewhere else in the universe, there's a bigger concentration of morons.

And how about time ? is it that 99% of all people are morons 100% of the time - or maybe just 99% ? I don't know about that. On gentle days, and believe me today is one, I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt and like to say 99% of all people are morons at some point in time and on other days, it's 99% of all people are morons all the time, except that it is exhausting to be a moron all the time, so they have to take breaks too.

Back to the grind

2004-06-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

After a nice weekend in Southern Ohio - it's back to the grind. First thing, that happens, is that a sales guy drops another redballinto my lap. A machine that I don't know, a software version that I don't know. All the software engineers, that know the machine, are on the road. Anyway, nothing I cannot handle, a few phone calls and voila. Except the production engineer does not call me back. <whine>. They always do that. When they are not running it's the end of the world. When they are up and running, they are happy and promptly forget to call anybody back </whine>.

Anyway, the bed and breakfast was a blast (http://www.strattonhouse.com). A beautiful house, beautiful weather - cruisin' in the 'Stang with the top down. Dealing with the wife is another issue. One minute your gathering wife faction points, the next minute ...

Why this

2004-06-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

It's time to start yawl - yet another web log.

On the way to work this morning, I started thinking, I need to post some of these thoughts. Get it out of the system. So here goes...

What am I listening too now ? The Empire strikes first - Bad Religion: A good punk rock album. A couple of weeks ago, I went to TechEd 2004 in San Diego. On a two occasions I took a spare day and went up to LA (lots a baggage on that town) - they played 'LA is burning' on the radio stations - great song. I also like 'All there is' and 'God's Love'. This record plays great in my stang on the way to slave labor - ooops work I mean.

I'm also listening to Evanescence - a gift for father's day by my daughter - she's getting my sense of music (my wife - god bless her - doesn't !)