Month: April 2002

Image Gallery Update

I finally got around to adding more pictures to the image gallery. I’ve probably added several hundred images that I got of Archive CDs. I also added more cartographic samples and GIS work to those pages. I’m still using ImageIndexer, but I’m looking for other options, because the ImageIndexer doesn’t offer much for customization or templates. If you know any good alternatives for OS X, let me know.

We played Croquet today. It was really nice out, and Michelle needed a break from finals studies, so we went over to Scott & Sarah’s appartment. The lawn wasn’t flat, but that made it interesting. So did the fact that Michelle and Sarah are dirty cheats. They would take turns stopping each other’s balls from rolling too far, or coaxing them in the right direction. The lady on her balcony was laughing at us, but mostly at them.

It turns out I’m a Cult member, pagan, athiest and communist…

I had been skimming over links to this story all day. It turns out that Apple Computers is anti-christian, anti-creation propoganda, and its a cult run by a demi-god (ok, we knew that part.)

This guy is making more allusions than I did in my senior IB English paper. If only I had know earlier, I could have armed myself with the truth, and taken the high road with a Windoze PC. Granted, I wouldn’t put it beyond Steve & Co to use some of these things, but I had no idea I was so indoctrinated.

This guy must have done his research from behind a proxy set up to block out informed and enlightened thought. How else would this guy draw such bizarre conclusions.

NASCAR for Dummies??

The other night, Scott, Sarah, Michelle and I were clowning around in Borders after dinner. I was walking back towards the computer books sections to see how little I know when I past by NASCAR for Dummies. I have to admit I felt a lot better after seeing that, because even though I don’t hardly know anything, I’ll never need that book.

I made a comment to Scott about the redundency in the title, and we both laughed out loud. Fortunately, no one was around to be offended. I just looked it up on Amazon.com and found that there were plenty of used copies for sale.

Well, I gotta go. I just got e-mail from an AOL user who can’t log in. They forgot to leave their name and what class they’re trying to access. I guess they assumed I could look up their profile, or buddy list or whatever.

Citizen Database & Name Changes

You’ve probably read all the different “National Database” and “Shared Databases” stories recently. State and Federal Agencies want to share information on you so that there won’t be any more breaches in intelligence (i.e. September 11th). Naturally, every major tech company has offered their product in some form; Oracle, Sun, and now Microsoft all want in on the pie.

I’m not against National IDs or shared databases for security reasons, but if we were going to use Microsoft Passport and the .Net scheme of things, we may as well sell our personal information ourselves. Would Microsoft sell our information? Who knows (probably), but if their contribution to national security was anything like their contribution to network or software security, we’re screwed.

That’s why I think I should change my name. Not to something normal, but to a function. This way, when my name, Andy =CONCATENATE(B3:B5) is entered into the database, I’ll be stored as Andy SmithWatersFord or some such thing. This is only the beginning. People could change their names to a problematic script that would randomly copy and past data to other places. These “macros” or whatever you want to call them would be like status symbols. Imagine sticking your card into an ATM and having that stupid “Are you sure you want to withdraw money, some last names may contain Macros that can damage your computer” message pop up.

What would your name be?

First Applescript Program

Last night I wrote my first program in Applescript. I ignored all training I’ve had in computer science and simply wrote the code as I went. Then I debugged it when things went wrong. Well, it took nearly 4 hours to write a simple backup script because I kept changing things as I went. The program, when run, will stuff (compress) my wife’s documents folder, open a connection to her iDisk drive, copy the stuffed archive to the disk, delete the archive on her computer, and unmount the iDisk.

It almost works. I had to change from iDisk Mounter 1.8 to a generic script because iDisk Mounter wanted a registration code. Sadly, the free script doesn’t work as well, or mount as quickly. I’m still working this out because it sometimes times out. Also, when the script copies the archive to the iDisk, if another file exists, it won’t copy. I just need to learn how to tell the script to say “ok”. Soon, it’ll all be finished.

When I was laying in bed, I finally did the planning and layout I was taught when I learned Pascal & C++ in college. Pascal sucked. The teacher was a genius when it came to AI, but he couldn’t teach worth crap. It was an 8AM class, so my friend blew it off. For his final project (timed, of course), he wrote a program the printed “Pascal Sucks Big Time” to the screen and beeped in a loop. He still got a C- in the class, but he dropped out shortly there after for other reasons.

On another note, Lars got accepted to the University of Surrey in the UK. Cheers!

Powerbait – for better memories

I was driving on I-5 to my Web Server class this morning. I saw a billboard for Powerbait, a fancy and potent fish bait, that said something like “make better memories”. The idea I guess is to use powerbait when fishing with your kids to improve your chances of catching fish, thus improving your time together. What struck me as funny was the concept of improving your children’s lives through super potent fish bait.

What struck me as funnier was a twist on the idea; fathers using drugs to make themselves Super Dads. Just imagine how cool your dad would appear if he was on PCP and was lifting up cars and no-one could restrain him. Imagine the playground talk.. “my dad tipped over a semi, then fought off 12 police officers..”

PCP – be the best parent you can.
Speed – be the most efficient mother you can.

anyway, the web server class was fun, like 8th grade computer class. Too bad we’re using IIS.

ESB like Fuller’s

I forgot to mention this; my last batch of beer was great. I made an ESB using a Redhook clone that I took some liberties with. It was great. I used White Labs Edinburgh Yeast, which gave it a more anglo-like flavor. I might be embellishing, but it really was of the quality of Fuller’s. I only wish it wasn’t gone. I’ll be keeping the recipe.

The batch was named Lefthook, here’s the label

Camping with Friends

I’m recovering from this past weekend still. I was camping at Staircase with the First Floor crew. It was a great time with nearly all the usual suspects. We played around the campsite, climbed on rocks, threw rocks at each other, rode John’s bike, ate hot dogs, and drank beer. Feel free to peruse the pictures.

Tasty Bits of metal

Tonight we had Tastey Biteson steamed rice. It was an easy, quick dinner, and I thought it was good (mmmm, spinich). Michelle found a small screw. Talk about crazy. She’s going to write them, and I hope that they give us a year’s supply of it. Its great for camping.