May 2002 Archives

Obsessive-compulsive disorder linked to piety. Having been born, baptised and confirmed spending my first 8 years of schooling at St. Mary's the connection doesn't surprise me in the least. One thing Catholics have on most of the other Christian derivatives is ritualist compulsive behavior. Metafilter has discussion.

United Linux an attempt by Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE and Turbolinux to regain some relevancy in the Linux distro buisness. Basicly an agreement to follow standards and the like, in an attempt to turn the tieds of everyone choosing RedHat.

Totally awesome software?

Beck downplays the argument that XP is an all-or-nothing approach. Still, he does note that the project leaders who report the most success with the methodology tend to be the ones who put aside the cultural obsession with rigid specs, an obsession inherited from less flexible fields such as civil and mechanical engineering, and approach XP's design-on-the-fly philosophy wholeheartedly.

ContentEditable in Mozilla, need to get working in the wiki project. Be Blogging has an example/demo.

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

Denis Diderot

Why IT Pros Can't Get Jobs

I don't buy the so-called skills gap as the reason enterprises aren't hiring IT workers. The skills are there, but enterprises are determined to squeeze more productivity out of current employees.

Currently in the job search, and having been in the search every couple of years, I have seen a couple of factors that create the "we need more IT prople" vs. "hey I'm IT hire me".

First for many reasons the IT industry has developed a Mercenary mentality. Both employers and employees have little to no intrest in seeing each other's long term success.

The second problem, employeers desiring skills so specific, thus requiring no training. I see the real skills of a quality IT worker being ignored, adaptability. Knowing a specific language, application, operation system may get one through today but adaptability will get the employerer through all the changes of the industry.

Spit or swallow? It's all about the sauce , in yaledailynews.com

Let's be honest -- when was the last time a carrot ejaculated on you at the salad bar?

With a quote like that you have to read. But seriously I don't think there is anything I can add that will not later come back to haunt me. Though If I have any femail readers feel free to comment.
[via Armed and Dangerous]

Well went and got it all whacked off with arcterex. The perliminary gallery is up.

Beauticians were having as much if not more fun than we were. They took pics as well, hopefully they email us some.

Oh, and I can finally confirm that I have one hugh oxcipical optupal :)

Before

After

Should I or Shouldn't I?, via HeadShaver.org

... Sometimes, one reaches a point in life where a change is desirable.

Yep...

One such choice is the almost zen-like state of hairlessness one achieves by shaving one's head.

Small as this type of change may be (in the universal scheme of things), it's still a personal and (for some) involved decision which affects people in a direct way. In order to assist those considering such a choice, this document looks at many questions that you may be asking.

Think it will be this afternoon or sometime this weekend for the haircut. Still not sure if it is to be a shave it all off or not.

Now to get arcterex to join in, at least for the hair cut if not the head shaving. Hell del has already made the plunge.

And since one of arcterex's concerns is will look like more of a dork, well as the link above states...

I've received hundreds of emails from people who have shaved their heads, and virtually all of them have gotten nothing but positive responses about their new bald looks. It's unlikely that they all looked fabulous, but it's understandable that they all got positive comments.

And remember it grows back. I have had long hair 3 times now.

Cocoa Mamasam Link Directory, A Resource Center for Cocoa Developers. Now if I only had a Mac to try some of the coolness on.

3dhtml - A DHTML Toolkit for 3D Applications. There is even a pretty sexy Solar System Example.

1. What's the last vivid dream that you remember having? This morning. I was hicking on some Kentucky coal roads with my dad. We ended up at a little town on the top of one of the hills which was where I lived.
2. Do you have any recurring dreams? Back in elementary school, 4th grade I think but definately sometime after The Empire Strikes Back came out, there was this dream that kept picking up where I last remembered. The just of the dream is that my class were all children of the Rebel Aliance members that were captured at the Battle of Hoth. We were all in a "re-education school." Most of the substance was things what were soposed to turn us and us fighting back.
3. What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had? When Wookies attacked. Probably the Star Wars Christmas Special to blame for this one. But I was crash landed on a planet, the Wookie homeworld, and being chased by all these wookies. The worst part what when I went back to sleep it just picked right up being chased by Wookies. I think that was when my first round of insomnia began.
4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not? Have kept a dream journal, did for several years. Even tried to analys them.
5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it? Have had lots of them. One that I remember involved flying through the neighborhood I grew up in.

fridayfive.org blue version

Six Common Enterprise Programming Mistakes

Instead of giving you tips to use in your programming (at least directly), I want to look at some common mistakes made in enterprise programming. And instead of focusing on what to do, I want to look at what you should not do.

Not just Java specific info. All seems to hold water pretty well.

vision n.
2. Unusual competence in discernment or perception; intelligent foresight: a leader of vision.

product n.
1. Something produced by human or mechanical effort or by a natural process.

capitalism n.
An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

What makes the perfect game? over on kuro5hin.org. Summary:

1. It must be infinitely replayable
2. It must be "skill scalable"
3. It must be always fresh
4. Include a campaign, "freeplay" and "sandbox" modes.
5. Be able to move the game from a simplified mode to a complex mode.
6. Have an comprehensive, optional tutorial
7. Make it fun.
8. Include Single AND Multiplayer modes

Finally got around to upgrading the MovableType install from 2.0 to 2.11. The one visable change for all my faithful visitors is use of the Google API in the sidebar. For now I'm experimenting with the Related Sites but will see how it evolves.

JabberTools is a set of tools that help make it easy to use and convert to using Jabber.

The Jabber Web Steward allows users to submit requests for new accounts and allows administrators to allow or deny these requests.

JabberSMTP is a single Perl5 script for bi-directional translation between email and Jabber messages. It acts as a simple MTA and can occupy port 25, although there are ways around that if you don't have root access. Using JabberSMTP, a Jabber user can receive email messages in any Jabber client, and even create or reply to emails from that Jabber client.

Collected for arcterex, but maybe some of the rest of ya will find them useful.

You are Peter Parker!

(original)
Take the Which Spider-Man Character Are You? quiz by ZyberGoat

Which Spider-Man Character Are You?

Windows Media Audio Digital Rights Management Cracked! Thought some of you out there might find this intresting and useful. Now add the previous to Advanced WMA Workshop for some intresting posiabilities. Enjoy.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization founded on the notion that some people would prefer to share their creative works (and the power to copy, modify, and distribute their works) instead of exercising all of the restrictions of copyright law.

1. What shampoo do you use? Head & Shoulders
2. Do you use conditioner? What kind? Yep, usually, Citrus Instant Conditioner
3. When was the last time you got your hair cut? June of 2000
4. What styling products do you use? A pony tail holder
5. What's your worst hair-related experience? When I cut my own bangs, around 8 years old.

fridayfive.org

Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem on E2.

A Standard for Site Organization

A selection of well-chosen and well-named root-level directories, implemented across as many sites as possible, would go a long way toward easing the complexities of navigating unfamiliar sites, no matter how good (or bad) their fundamental design.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.

Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others.

Americans always do the right thing after trying everything else.

A simple in page Referrals mixing some JavaScript and old school Perl. One of these days I'm going to do something like this with fozbaca, maybe after the Game Demo is finished.

Kosh Redneck: Know'n is a three sided plow.

Kosh Redneck: Just cause you piss in the snow don't make you Picasso.

Kosh Redneck: The straw can't bitch where the shit pile ends up.

Centauri Emperor: Tell me how will this all end?
Kosh Redneck: In far.

Yep...

XSLT-Based Websites

XSLT leveraged during design-time and run-time can result in faster time to market, easier maintenance, and support for multiple HTML flavors

Xopus is our wysiwyg browser based XML editor.

Xopus is easy to use and to implement.
For input it requires data (XML), style (XSLT) and rules (Schema).
Xopus performs some magic on this and turns it into an editor.

So inline WYSIWYG editing, coolness. There is a demo, but it requires IE5.5 or up for now. And it is soposed to be going OpenSource.
[via be blogging]

Found an intresting article Installing the Jabber Server, now I wonder where that could come in handy at, ufies.org.

Kudos to darren for finding the group I was wanting to donate hair to.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children across the U.S. under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

Still not sure if or when to get the hair cut. But when I do I know where to send my hair. So anyother takers from the long hair crowd? Could make this an event, Beuler, Beuler :)

I'm looking for a worthy cause to donate my hair. In case you didn't know I have kinda long hair. Have not had it cut at all in almost 2 years. Now I have heard of places that take hair donations for wigs of folks that lose their hair as part of cancer treatments but can't find any in the Vancover. So if anyone out there has a good lead or specific info post in the comments.

Oh, and any of my fellow long haired folks that might be intrested in joining also sound off.

HeadShaver.org

So you want to shave your head? Information and advice on head-shaving, including a how-to guide, reviews of head-shaving products, and other handy tips.

Adbusters: The Zen TV Experiment

Using your GNU/Linux computer as a VCR

This is a guide to setting up your GNU/Linux workstation as a digital VCR using the video4linux driver and a supported tuner card. A section has been added for creating VCD's that can be played in any DVD/VCD player as well.

Mac OS X - Codename: Jaguar

Code-named “Jaguar,” the next major release of Mac OS X will delight you with the innovation, elegance and ease of use you’ve come to expect from Apple.

Damm I need to get ma a Mac.

US ISSN Center Home Page (Library of Congress)

National Serials Data Program Library of Congress International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

Because someone asked.

1 lb. ground beef or turkey (drain of liq)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 8oz. tomanto sauce
1 tsp. cinnamen
1 tsp alspice
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tablespon vinegar
3 cups water
1 tsp cumin
2 small onions (1 large)
2 tablesppons chili powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce

cook 2 hours or more

Best served as a 3 way or as a coney.

Since some have asked, a 3 way consists of spaghetti, chili and cheese layerd. For a 4 or 5 way add onions or beens. A coney is a hotdog in bun topped with chili and cheese, optionally add onions or mustard before the hotdog.
So there all those questioning the strange Cincinnati chili ways.

Skyline Chili for one of the franchises of the Cincinnati chili.

And a vegie version for those so inclined.

(remote image) You are a Revolutionary! Kingdoms and Royalty mean nothing to you. you'd rather live for yourself or change the system than be a part of it. You think royalty sucks and that the word revolved around them too long. You're non-conformist and seek to change the system and status quo! You want to rock the boat and challenge people's assumptions about life and the world. You want to work to better society for everyone and seek equality over class-systems. Your ideal environment would be a socialist government. Which Royalty Are You? Find out! By Nishi.

Decided it was time to galerise my digital photos. First up is BAIM 1.0, Big Ass Italian Meal, which was up in simpler form, and the pics from my parents visit/vacation. Also finally took some old rols of film to be developed so maybe there will be more, like from my cross country drives.

Petris

Tetris clone. If you have some Perl knowledge you can create your own shapes and initial layouts. Uses Perl/Tk and runs under Linux and Windows.

Too cool. The first source avialable program that I ever really hacked up was Tetris writtenin Turbo Pascal back in high school.

Web Calendar a slick Perl CGI, mod_perl able, Calendar and general Orgainzer.

You Deserve A Month Off, a great rant on needing more vacation time.