SQL Identities

I always get confused, is it scope_identity, @@ident, or what to get the primary key of a row I just inserted?

The SQL Authority Blog does a good job of sorting things out.

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/03/25/sql-server-identity-vs-scope_identity-vs-ident_current-retrieve-last-inserted-identity-of-record/

The short answer is that you want to use SCOPE_IDENTITY()

And if you are stuck with developing with Access, here is your answer-

http://databases.aspfaq.com/general/how-do-i-get-the-identity/autonumber-value-for-the-row-i-inserted.html

Another technique is to generate a unique key on the server and then insert that as your primary key into the database. Since you insert it with the other info you usually know what it is. Usually developers use GUID's for this, which you can create both in classic ASP (check out my classic ASP post) and natively in .NET. There is a performance hit using GUID's though, but you can minimize that hit by using COMB GUID's. I've got some code for generating those somewhere, but I'm not going to hunt for it tonight. But here is a discussion thread with some code samples-

http://www.informit.com/discussion/index.aspx?postid=a8275a70-0698-46f0-8c8f-bf687464628c

NEWSEQUENTIALID is also available, but that is created on the database side, so the purpose is kind of lost, so I'd stick with COMB GUID's.

I used to get pretty religious about this type of stuff (hated GUID's), but ultimately most of us aren't building the next Amazon, Google, MySpace, etc..., so getting anal about primary keys to get that last ounce of efficiency isn't worth the time unless you approach that scale.

It seems like things are moving several steps away from the database in abstraction levels anyway (with O/R mappers and technology like LINQ). We have so much computing horsepower now that bloat seems to be the way of the future...

British X-Files to Be Released

The Brits are opening up their MoD UFO files, with 150 files to be released over the next 10 years.





http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1160625.ece

I'd say the biggest UFO story worth looking at that these files could shed some light on is something that happened in 1981 over an RAF/USAF airbase (multiple witnesses, including high ranking military officials, physical evidence, radar signatures). Was it aliens? Soviets? Guards smoking pot? I don't know, but there is evidence that something unusual happened, maybe these files will shed some additional light on what really did happen back then.

Also, the Pope declared that it was ok to believe in aliens.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90KSE100&show_article=1

Strang days.

Generation Last

(Back by popular demand...I originally just wanted to do a quick post about video games and the brain, and I ended up spending an hour writing what turned out to be a Bible study. I realized that it was too long so unfortunately I tried to cut things down, and a lot of the good stuff was lost. But here is my post...hopefully I'll get some time to really lay out what Generation Last is, why I think we are approaching it, and what that means).

There has been a debate going on between a small group about how or if at all changes in our society (technologically, morally, and spiritually) are effecting humanity. The basic theory is that our brain is a giant chemical vat. If we expose ourselves to stimuli (real or simulated) the brain produces chemicals. Over time, our brain reorganizes to "better handle" all the chemicals that we are producing. This "better handling" may not be better at all. Here is a taste of what I am talking about.

Worry about The Brain Article

Some additional books worth reading are-

Porn Nation (about the internet and sexual addiction),
On Killing (A military book about how the violence on TV and in video games makes killing easier, but doesn't make the psychological effects from killing go away).

Both are well worth the read.

Now my rant-

I fear that mankind, by doing nothing more then following consumer demand, is creating a society of pathologically short attention spanned violent perverts who demand instant gratification in all things, lack empathy for others, lack critical thinking skills, lack a work ethic, and are so shallow that their relationships are short lived and hallow. And that same society will bend over backwards to adapt by lowering expectations, dumbing down the schools, providing more outlets for violence and sex, more access to both legal and "illegal" drugs, etc... Moods will become something you can "mod", so individuals will no longer have to deal with the guilt and shame of their behaviors...or at least prolong dealing with them until a break down comes. Then even more powerful drugs and psychological techniques will be used to "fix" these people, resulting in older individuals becoming zombies, with their capacity to feel anything inside burnt out by their previous youthful pursuits and then later medical "science".

It is coming. And I'm convinced that this is the last generation that Paul wrote Timothy about in 2 Timothy.

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
...
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Garbage in Garbage Out

We, can keep the garbage of generation last out of lives to some degree by monitoring how we spend our time, and choosing the high road instead of the low one of fast food, porn, violent games, laziness, disorganization, recreational drug use, etc. Rather then letting generation last's society shape us, we need to reshape ourselves in light of God's word so that we can be a salt and a light to people living in the last generation.

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. [Talking about Babylon...which could be symbolic of the end times "system", or generation last's society.]

So we are commanded by God to have our brains reorganized by Him rather then the world around us. How can we do that?

I think firstly, we have to acknowledge a big truth.

Prov 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

The society of generation last will seem to many to be the ultimate paradise. For our every short term perceived "needs" (really lusts) generation last society will be have an answer to meet those need in near or real time. Many of the solutions that end time society will offer us are solutions that go outside the boundaries of what God intended for us. We need to acknowledge that the solutions offered by end time society to meet our needs-porn, sex, violence, narcotics, fast food, feel good medications, etc... are wrong and should be avoided (note, not all drugs and sex is wrong, not misquote me here, just when they are abused they can be extremely negative). Generation Last's guide on how to live live (which is preached constantly in popular culture) is in direct contrast with what the Bible teaches. All this brain reprogramming stuff to me is just further evidence that God really does know what He is talking about when He tells us to avoid things He labels as sin. If we don't, our very capacity to be able to seek forgiveness and restoration with God might literally be reprogrammed out of our brains. Do we want that? Is the loss of our capacity even want to seek salvation and restoration with God worth the short term highs and buzzes offered by generation last society? I fear we by creating a consumer based society that has thrown biblical morality to the way side we are ultimately creating Satan's slaughtering house.

Pro 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Heaven help us if all we are about globally is satisfying our lusts.

Jesus, God incarnate, came down to earth, showed us an alternative way of living, and then offered His sinless life as a sacrifice for our sins. He offers us the tools we need to reprogram our brains. First, He offers forgiveness. We can deny our conscious, but when we sin, somewhere deep down we know we have done wrong. Being forgiven is a powerful force, a reboot of our spiritual operating system that opens up our minds and our brains to reprogramming by God. Once we have accepted Jesus's pardon for our sins, His Word and His Spirit will be waiting to reprogam our brains, if we set aside the things of the World and focus on the things of God. Plus, Jesus knows that we aren't prefect, and that all of us to one degree or another have indulged in the sins that the world offers us (and in our weakness as human beings will at times continue to do so). So he makes the forgiveness permanent. He forgives us for past, current, and future sins at the moment we ask for His salvation. Even though all our bodies will physically die (unless Jesus returns first) due to the ravages of living in our fallen world, our souls will forever live with God and be beyond the reach of Generation Last's Society.

If you don't know Jesus as savior, click the link at the top right of the page.

Using Light to Hide

Below links to an article about how the military is using lights to reduce the visibility of objects in the sky. There are also hints that other spectrum beyond visible light are being manipulated as well.

Read on-

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/invisible-drone.html

Interesting Article about Rapid Game Prototyping

Some stus somewhere protyped some 50 games in one semester. Worth a read. Read on here-

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051026/gabler_01.shtml

China Uses India as a Punching Bag for Cyber Warfare Drills

I suspect China is waging a quiet cyberwar against India as testing for a larger potential cyber engagement with the U.S.

Read more [HERE].

Sourced from the Wired Defense Blog

Telerik RadComboBox in a RadGrid

Ok, this post is only a half post, as for now I will leave out a lot of details. I use Telerik's control suite for ASP.Net (www.telerik.com) at work. I spent about four hours yesterday trying to get a RadComboBox's selected value to bind to a column in the Grid's dataset when in edit mode (so I could get two way databinding on the grid so it will handle the update/delete/insert automatically as long as you setup the appropriate procs and params in your SQL datasource).

Without including all the details I couldn't get things to work until I bound the RadComboBox to a column that initially had the value of ''in the dataset . Then, in the item data bound event I set the value the RadComboBox to the value it should be.

So in my stored proc I had to return two columns like this, mycolumn (which I set in the select to ''), and then mycolumn_real_value which in the stored proc is the value that should be the value for mycolmn. The RadComboBox's selectedvalue is bound to mycolumn like selectedvalue='<%# Bind("mycolumn") %>'. Then in the item data bound event for the Grid I cast the e.Item as a GridItem, then do a findcontrol to find the RadComboBox, then set the text of that RadComboBox to the value of mycolumn_real_value. Also you can't give the RadComboBox a DataSourceID. I ended up building a function that pulls a new DataView out of a DataSource, then loops through that view's rows and add's new items to the RadComboBox.

I'm sure there is another way, but I couldn't get anything else to work, including the downloaded Telerik examples.

I'll post actual code for this at one point, and to 99% of you who read this it will sound like a bunch of nonsense(like most of my post), but to those of you like me who have been pulling their hair out to get two way databinding to work on a RadComboBox in a RadGrid the above will put you on the right path.

Posting Code to Blogger from Visual Studio

Ok, here is a little test of a code poster that works with Visual Studio 2008. Just copy your code into the clipboard, fire up the exe, and then magic happens under the hood to replace your clipboard copied text with the appropriate HTML markup.

For more info and a download, go [HERE].

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Untitled Page</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
  
  </div>
Test
  </form>
</body>
</html>

App Accelerator: Something Worth Checking Out

I had not heard of Appcelerator until recently, but it looks like it might be worth a look. It is a framework for building AJAX/RIA applications. It is compatible with .Net, PHP, Ruby, and more. Just at a glance it looks like it uses JSON for data loads and Appcelerator has its own built in messaging queue that keeps data communication back and forth to the server as light as possible.

Learn more here-

http://www.appcelerator.org/

Still Hope

The following study debunks the popular myth that all the new start ups are created by young 20 somethings. The actual median age of an Entrepreneur when they start their companies is 39, and only 8% have an elitist educational background.

Read on here-

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2958/new-study-debunks-myth-that-most-tech-entrepreneurs-are-college-kids

I'd love to start a company in the serious gaming space, but juggling kids, family, and putting food on the table while starting a business seems like a tall order. We shall see.

A Flying Witch?

Mexico lately has been a hot spot for UFO sightings. Now we have film of a...flying witch? Probably not, but there is video of SOMETHING flying around. It looks like a woman in some sort of jet pack device. Of course video can be easily faked now a days, but allegedly there are plenty of witnesses.

Check out the article for yourself.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1118824.ece

Stockpiling Food as a Short Term Investment

Here are the days in which we live, now it is better to stock pile food then put your money in the bank.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120881517227532621.html

(sourced from http://www.drudgereport.com)

Poor Man's Exception Handling

I've used similar code before, but this link is a good reference to a quick and easy way to handle ALL your ASP.Net exceptions. I've found good stuff over the years from Peter Bromberg's post both both on EggHead Cafe and now his "UnBlog" over the years. I highly recommend his RSS feed.

Read on about Exception Handling here-

http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com/2008/04/aspnet-quick-dirty-exception-logging.html

Vigilante Robot Patrols Bar Parking Lot

Well, maybe not as glamourous as the picture, but still armed with a spot light and a water cannon, read below about an ex-marine's vigilante robot's battles against vagrants.
Robot Vigilante

LA Now a Third World City

I remember when I left California, a friend of mine joked, "Last man out take the flag."

I've got nothing against poor Hispanics that want to try to make a better life for themselves. If I was broke down in Mexico I would head North too. But essentially this migration is becoming an invasion, and Los Angeles has now officially fallen. No surprise to anyone who lives in SoCal.

Read more here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/23/wla123.xml

I think Mexico needs to fix its problems, and as long as there is a place where its people can run to and send money back home, Mexico is in no real rush to deal its problems. If the border isn't tightened, the Southwest will become an adjunct of Mexico. Does that really benefit either country?

But not to worry, our elite globalist friends want to lump us all together under NAFTA.

Professor's Team Publishes 200,000+ Books Using AI

A professor, with the help of a few programmers and a computer grid, has come up with various algorithims that scower publically available information on a given subject and then through an automated process produce a book on that subject. Pretty cool. I guess in the works is an automated romance novel maker. Is techno music next?

Read more here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/media/14link.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5124&en=12d5e7b40bbb1a09&ex=1365825600&partner=digg&exprod=digg

Sourced from Digg.

P.S. Another interesting thing about this article is that is talks about BookSurge.com, Amazon's publish on demand publishing service that anyone can use.

F-117 Stealth Fighter Bids Fairwell

Another Cold War American technological marvel, the F-117 Stealth Fighter, heads for the history books.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8979043?source=most_emailed

Source: Zonker at Slashdot

Truth, Liberals, and Power: Case Study South Korea

Here is a great article on how the left leaning teacher's union in South Korea influenced anti-American sentiment amoung students and how conservatives in South Korea are attempting to turn the tide back student opinion to a realistic appraisal of the United States.

Read more here-

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_Testing_S_Korea-US_alliance_999.html

Ghost Video

Not sure if this is legit or not, but whatever it is, it scared the heck out of me.

You be the judge.

Time for the Ron Paul Banner to Go

I don't agree with some of Ron Paul's positions, but I think he would have been the only real choice for change in the upcoming election. I was looking at my blog with Paul's "Hope for America" banner displayed, and the irony of it stuck me. The only candidate worth anything didn't get the nomination and isn't going to run as a third party candidate. So our "hope" is history, at least for the next four years.

The banner comes down this weekend.

Adobe Air for Javascript Developers Free Download

The Ajaxian website is offering a free download of the new book, Adobe Air for Javascript Developers.

You can download it here-

http://ajaxian.com/archives/adobe-air-for-javascript-developers-pocketguide

Enivronuts at it Again

I'm not against trying to find ways of doing things that have less of an impact on the environment and what not. But I see the radical left, once again driven by emotion rather then logic, creating a crisis by not thinking things through.

Now we have biofuels. We will quit using as much oild and start using more biodiesel the left says. And in their facist manner they make it a law that x amount of today's gas has to be derived from bio fuels.

Well, turns out, that poor people around the world are starving because what they would normally eat is going to biofuels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/worldbusiness/15food.html?ei=5065&en=9e715f242c497f48&ex=1208923200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Once again, great job left.

Second Life

I found an interesting and balanced article on Second Life evangelism. You can read it here -

http://ied.gospelcom.net/secondlife-evangelism.php

The article points out the dangers of Second Life without being overly dramatic about them, but covers them thoughtfully none-the-less. Today I almost killed my Second Life accounts permanently. I was home sick, hopped on, started chatting with a few people, told some woman I was home sick, and the next minute she wants to call me and cheer me up. Ummm....I'm married. I said that wasn't possible and broke off the conversation, but it got me thinking, Second Life is primarily a social networking scene, where people live out their virtual fantasies, and many of them lie on the sinful side. Should I even be in Second Life? The answer is easy...no. Sarah is always suspicious of me online in SL, and rightly so I guess considering how we met. I've still got some good friends I met online there that I'd like to keep tabs on, and I still like to take a peak at what University of Phoenix is doing with the Second Campus Islands that I got going for them, but other than that, I have no need to be on SL. Part of living a good life is trying to minimize your "surface area" to temptations, rather then relying on your will power to square off with sin. I love Sarah dearly, and I don't want to even appear to be up to no good in Second Life. Sometimes just flying around in that virtual world will have you innocently stumble upon things that a wife looking over your shoulder would not be pleased with. So, I pledge to stay out of Second Life unless-

1) I'm there for some pre-planned business activity with other professionals (unlikely at this point).

2) Am there to build or script specific items (again, unlikely unless one happens).

3) Am there to cyber evangelize and I am not alone on my end.

4) I am with Sarah or some other friend who will make sure everything is on the up and up.

I also pledge to stay our of areas like virtual bars, pubs, dance clubs, etc..., basically places you wouldn't go alone if you were married in real life unless there is some reason that Sarah would approve of or she is with me (don't see this happening, but leaving this clause in just in case).

To be honest, I think until the HTML on a prim and stability issues fully get worked out, there isn't much of a need to be in a business in Second Life (I know, there are some opportunities, especially in marketing, but none that I need to be in). Sarah and I have plenty of other things to do for entrainment then griefing in Second Life, So it is time to move on, unless I'm there on God's business and I'm not alone.

Food Prices on the Rise

Food prices in the US are going up an average of 4% a year, instead of the steady 2.5% over the last three years. Hopefully this isn't a trend.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/inflation_squeeze.html?.v=4

Great Article on the Demise of the West and the Rise of the East

This is a great article about the rise of the East and the decline of the west. I highly recommend it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=559133&in_page_id=1811

SQL Tip

I've had to create a lot of dynamic queries in the past, and today I stumbled upon something so simple I can't believe I missed it before. Let's say you are doing a query with 100 parameters. In the past sometimes I would generate a dynamic sql statement either on the client side (less then desirable) or in a stored proc (still undesirable). Here is a simple technique that helps eliminate MOST (not all) instances where you need to do this.

set parameters that may or may not exist in the query to default to null in your stored proc.

Then you can do things like...

where
(mytable.value = @myparameter or myparameter is null)

Amazingly simple!

So I get a big Duhhh for not using this in a few projects in the past.

The Internet II...Reality or Fluff?

Well, the next generation of the internet, called imaginatively "The Grid", is on its way. Essentially a parallel network of academics and corps that uses internet technology but with all fibre optic cables and new switches is how the grid is described.

Will this network replace the internet? I doubt it, but the internet, over time, will be upgraded to the tech standard of the Grid.

Read more here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3689881.ece

LINUX Developer Gets Laid

Yep, I couldn't believe it myself, a LINUX developer got laid. What if this is a trend? Will open source projects suffer? Will Microsoft or Apple gain even more market share?

Tough questions. Read more here -

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2000/9/linux_laid.html

The Fruits of Islam...The Video

Here is a video highlighting some of the fruits of Islam. Remember Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruit." Christian fruit is joy, love, peace. Let's look at the fruit of Islam. Death, facism, violence.

You decide.

[Update]

Looks like Liveleak.com pulled the video due to threats, again the wondrous fruit of the Islamic religion, tolerance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, makes their presence known. When is the world going to wake up to the fact that Islam is a vicious cult in the same vain as Nazism? Sad.

[Update Again]

I stand by my assertion that Islam is a cult. But this doesn't mean that the millions of people that are muslims are any better or worse off then anyone else. I believe there is one way to heaven, through Jesus, but I believe that Jesus gives everyone the freedom to accept or reject this, and it isn't my Christian mandate to force anyone to believe the way I think, my mandate is to spread the good news of Jesus's payment for the sins of the world, and the pardon He offers each one of us if we choose to accept Him as our Savior. I take acception with Islam because it tolerates no opposition, and opposition to the Korean in Islamic countries is met with violence. I think God, if He desired to force people to believe in the Korean or the Bible, He could snap his fingers, and it would be so. He doesn't need men to force other men to believe when he is 100% able to do this Himself with a blink of an eye. I believe that isn't God's aim, to force anyone to believe in Him. It is a choice. I pray for the people in Islamic countries, that they will one day be free enough to make the choice of how they believe in God and how they choose to worship the Almighty for themselves.

SQL 2008 - A Developer's Perspective

It looks like SQL 2008 is on the horizon, and I'd say it is a pretty signifigant release. Here is a video highlighting some of the changes in SQL 2008 that affect developers...check it out [HERE].

If you don't want to watch the whole deal, here are some of the highlights-

• New geospatial data types


• Entity Framework (use Linq and objects in SQL?)


• Sparse Columns (better data storage for big columns with little data)


• New Filestream data type (awesome...files are stored on NTFS, but tracked through SQL)


• New Datetime data types (base time on GMT, auto adjust for client?)

Another one, that wasn't included in the video, is the new table type SQL variable. Not to sure about the details yet, but the upshot is that you can do multiple SQL CRUD operations on the equivalent of dataset in one trip to the SQL DB, I see lots of neat possibilities there.

Read more about that here-

http://visualstudiomagazine.com/features/article.aspx?editorialsid=2438

If you want to take it out for a spin, you can get a copy of the Express CTP version here-

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/trial-software.aspx

Sad...Iraqi Intelligence Paid for Dems to Showboat in Iraq Against the War

Regardless of how I feel about the Iraq War part 2, it is sad that Dems where flown to Iraq by Saddam to try to make his case. Reason #5736 to dislike the Dems.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080326/D8VLDCNG0.html

And don't think I'm a great fan of the Repubs either...

Google Translation API Released

Google released a Javascript translation API that looks pretty cool.

Check it out here-

http://googleajaxsearchapi.blogspot.com/2008/03/introducing-ajax-language-api-tools-for.html

Originally reported on http://www.ajaxian.com/

Network Solutions....Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen

Good old Network Solutions, the original public domain name registrar, recently got in trouble for "holding" domain names for up to six days once a potential customer did a search to see if the domain name exists or not but declined to purchase it, now is shutting down web sites registered by Network Solutions based on their political content.

See Here.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/23/europe/dutch.php

Netscape died. Maybe it is time Networks Solutions died too.

Binding a Drop Down In A GridView

Here is a sample of how to bind to a drop down list in a grid view in ASP.Net 2.0+


<edititemtemplate><asp:DropDownList ID="myDDL" Runat="server"
DataSourceID="myDataSet"
DataTextField="dtfield" DataValueField="dvfield"
SelectedValue='<%# Bind("data column to update") %>'>
</asp:DropDownList>
</EditItemTemplate>

Terminator Like "Mule" Is Born

I think Skynet's dog was just built. Check it out.




I found this over at http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/video-robo-mule.html

Formatting DateTime Strings on Databinding in C#

Ok, I got confused on how to format datatime strings on a simple databind on a column in say a GridView in .Net 3.5 (maybe 2.0 as well). So I did some research. The below string will get you started.


Text='<%# ((DateTime)Eval("mydate")).ToString("d") %>'



For format codes, check out here-

http://authors.aspalliance.com/aspxtreme/sys/demos/datetimeformats.aspx

Here is another code snippet that might help as well.

DateTime.Now.ToString ( "yyyy/MM/dd",
 System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture );

More Industrial Espionage

We aren't even trying to maintain any sort of technological dominance in warfare anymore. Read this article about some Indian dude getting snagged for exporting restricted military technology to India. He will get a hefty....slap on the wrist.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_firm_CEO_admit_weapon_nuclear-linked_export_violations_999.html

Hey corporate assholes that are exporting all our tax payer paid for military tech to other nations for short term profits, here is a big F-U to you from me. I hope that this country will get serious about protecting secrets again and that you will hang high for crap like this rather then do a few years in club fed. Not a very Christian thought I know, but I believe one day American soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen will die in large numbers by weapons using technology that American taxpayers developed and then sh*t brains either let get stolen with a wink wink or "co-developed" products allowing for technology transference to other nations in exchange for short term corporate profits.

America, I love you, but you are getting really, really lame. We are letting our fat cats sell us out at every corner why we gorge ourselves on fast food, drive giant cars bought on loans from Middle East Sheiks, and spend our pay checks on cheap goods from Asia that we used to make ourselves while we wonder why there aren't as many good paying jobs anymore.

Freaken grow up and wake up.

Gary Gyax Dead

I missed this one during the move, but I guess Gary Gyax, the co-founder of TSR and co-creator of dungeons and dragons, died recently.

Read more here-

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/03/gary-gygax-1938.html

HTML On A Prim

Well, for those of us who had/have fantasies about developing real world applications in the Virtual Environment known as Second Life there has been an encouraging development. It looks like Linden Labs is finally rolling out the ability to present static web content on a prim (a prim is the basic building block of Second Life). For now the prim will only be able to display essentially a static screen shot of a web page with no dynamic or interactive capabilities (no button clicks, no Flash, no scroll bars), but this is a nice first step. Once we have full web interactivity in Second Life I see a lot of possibilities opening up.

I see this year as an important year for Second Life. The hype will be (mostly) over, which might be a good thing as Linden Labs will get some quiet time to make some much needed improvements. I don't log in that much any more, but it looks Linden is on the way to implement Mono, now HTML on a Prim, and several other enhancements are making me pay closer attention. The next year should be interesting, maybe Linden Labs will start delivering on long ago promised features.

GDC: Future of MMO's

Terra Nova posted a transcript of a panel made up of MMO developers at GDC 2008. There comments are worth a quick read though.

Read on at Terra Nova's blog here-

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/02/gdc-2008-the-fu.html

Cool Flash Photoshop Replacement

I stumbled upon Splashup (http://www.splashup.com/ ) this evening (as it was referenced in design vitality's blog http://www.designvitality.com/blog/). Very nice piece of web work. Splashup is a Flash App that has most of the functionality of say Photoshop Elements. Very cool for light editing work and you don't have photoshop installed. Thumbs up. Also Design Vitality's blog is well worth an RSS subscription.

Product Reviews: ImageGlue and e-Receptionist

I know with .Net you basically can roll your own image manipulation classes fairly easily, as I've done it in the past based on publicly available examples. However, being stuck working with classic ASP for a few more weeks kills using .Net so I was stuck looking for another way. At my work we had a copy of Image Glue installed on our server, so I ended up using that. I must say Image Glue was very easy to use (though a few things in the documentation could have been explained better) and is extremely fast. I give Image Glue a thumbs up. Image Glue also comes with a .Net version, so if you don't want to role your own code you throw down a few bucks and have a great solution for cheap.

And my company, a small, nibble, virtual workforce dotcom, started using eVoice receptionist to take phone calls. You end up getting sent a wav to your email with the message. Pretty cool. I think for smaller companies who don't have a budget for dedicated phone support this solution will work pretty well.

More Info-

http://www.evoicereceptionist.com/
http://www.websupergoo.com/products.htm

Javascript VB-Like Rounding Function

Here is a pretty nice rounding function I stole from some website, if I could remember which one I would give them full credit. Javascript lacks a nice built in VB like rounding function, but you can roll your own based on this code.

function roundNumber(num, dec) {
var result = Math.round(num*Math.pow(10,dec))/Math.pow(10,dec);
return result;
}

Pretty Cool Site

The President of my company sent out a link today to a site that has some great marketing information on it. Here is a link to the RSS feed.

http://www.grokdotcom.com/grokdotcom.rss

Very worth an RSS Subscription.

Or if you are old school, check out the site at-

http://www.grokdotcom.com/

Javascript: Looping through an Objects Properties

For future reference....here is how to loop through a javascript object's property fields.


if (typeof(aPhoto)=="object")
{
for(var z in aPhoto) {
alert(z +": "+aPhoto[z]);
}
}

A Perfect Example of Why Globalism Sucks

I found this article, about Boeing setting up a joint defense manufacturing company in India with Tata Industries. Now before I go into my rant, first I'd like to say that I've met with Tata representatives before, and they were cool people who knew their products and markets well. In my brief encounters with them I was impressed that they didn't over promise either. So, this rant isn't targeting Tata or India. First, the article.

Tata/Boeing Joint Venture

Essentially Boeing is going to build manufacturing and R & D facilities with Tata in India. So in my opinion what does this do?

1) In passes on to India numerous defense technologies that were developed by Boeing but paid for by U.S. Taxpayers. India saves billions on R & D.

2) Boeing begins to manufacture parts in India that normally where manufactured in the U.S., making their aerospace products "cheaper". But what about the U.S. workers who funded the technology and now loose out on the chance to manufacture what they funded?

3) Boeing ultimately looses, because it is building its competition. Tata is by no means a slouch of a company, once they build up indigenous capabilities the need to partner with Boeing will slacken. India's defense establishment will by indigenous Tata produced products, where previously Boeing's technical lead would encourage India's military to buy Boeing products.

So essentially, we give away technology, build up our competition, and outsource out production. We see this all the time. How can this country continue to be a super power operating this way? As more and more of our people become unemployed, the tax base lessons, and their is less money to keep funding R & D innovations. We see temporary relief by Tata made F-18's costing our government less, but long term economic problems such as the middle class disintegrating are not addressed. So is that how we are going to roll? Produce nothing, buy everything cheap from other nations? Something tells me that this ultimately isn't going to work, especially as we run out of money to but because we don't produce anything anymore. A good job becoming managing a Kroger as opposed to manufacturing a plane.

Boeing, your executive team are idiots. But how can I blame you? Our MBA schools are nothing more then brainwashing camps instructing our leaders of tomorrow all about the short term gains of global outsourcing without concentrating an ioda about what the long term effects of that outsourcing will be.

America's future is bleak if we don't realize we are giving away the store.

Microsoft's New Second Life

It looks like Microsoft bought out Caligari inorder to build some kind of 3D world meeting place that ties in the MS Virtual Earth. Could this be the beginnings of Microsoft's Second Life type application?

I checked out Caligari's website, and they announced both that MS and Caligari are teaming up, and also Caligari released a new product called truePlace.

Read more about truePlace -

http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/truePlaces.asp?SubCate=S2forum

I first learned about this from-

http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/

Tutorial: Photoshop Texture Patterns

On the same site I did my earlier Photoshop tutorial review on I found another quick and easy tutorial that helps you get familiar with the basics of using textures as patterns for layers.

The tutorial can be found here-

http://originmaker.com/2008/metal-sign-photoshop/

Topic: Photoshop, Web UI
Time: It took me about 25 minutes to go through the tutorial.
Usefulness: Very

If you liked this Photoshop Tutorial, check out the rest of my Photoshop articles [HERE].

Tip: Old Photoshop Rounded Corners Tip

If you have Photoshop CS + it is easy to get rounded corners. You select the rounded rectangle tool, set your feathering in the top dialog box, and click anti-alias.

Well, if you have Photoshop 7 like I do, getting the anti-aliased rounded corners requires and extra step.

So I found a little tutorial here--

http://paininthetech.com/2005/10/11/using-paths-to-create-smooth-rounded-corners-in-photoshop/

If you aren't doing a texture fill, after you do the steps in the tutorial, just add a new layer, and then use the paint bucket to fill in your selection.

AF to Build "MyBase"

The USAF plans to build a virtual world/social network for AF online training and outreach called "MyBase".

Read more [HERE].

Serious Gaming...Why People Don't Get It

In my past job I worked a little bit and thought a lot about Serious Gaming. Here is a quick rant for today about that. I think the the Holy Grail for Serious Games is not about learning reinforcement. As I told my former boss today.

"The game should be the textbook."

I think there are different markets for different serious games. Ultimately the more serious the game, the less free time your target audience tends to have. Tacking on a game or a simulation as an extra task isn't going to be well received and almost always doomed to failure. However, if a game or simulation is subtractive rather then additive, that is where user acceptance will go up. What do I mean?

Typically training involves learning a competency, and then practicing that competency. If you think about it, that is all games do. You learn a competency, say how to zap an alien, and then you exercise that competency continously.

So, often Serious Games focus on exercise and reinforcement of a competency. Unfortunately, no one really trust Serious Games enough to have them fully replace other traditional methods of competency learning and practice. So Serious Games, often at this point poorly implemented, give users a new task without reducing their over all training work load. This is bad.

What needs to happen is Serious Games need to become good enough so that they subtract from traditional training method work loads. In academia, Serious Games need to replace text books. In corporation, Serious Games need to replace conferences and training pamphlets.

Then Serious Gaming will have arrived.

Uber Cheezy Christian Video

I saw this video, and had to laugh.



Yet, the message, even though uber cheezy. So why is it on my blog? Well, it is funny, and a good example of how us Christians often do some very cheezy promotions of our Savior. God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and this is a great example. The message, even cheezy, simplistic, and short, is right on.

There is another reason I put this cheezy video up. I've had it rough lately. I can't but help to think that I'm being targeted for some reason, probably just because I'm a convenient target. I'm a born again Christian, and lately just some things that normally aren't a problem for me are becoming extremely difficult. So, as a reward to the spiritual forces that may or may not be hindering me in my life, I give you this. The plan of Salvation in a nutshell.

1) We are all sinners, all of us.
2) God paid for our sins by sending Jesus to die for us on the cross.
3) If we accept Jesus's payment for our sins, and ask Jesus to come into our lives and forgive us of our sins, we will be totally and completely saved for all time.


All it takes is something like this. "Jesus, I admit that I'm a sinner and I have broken your commandments. I am guilty before you and in my sin if I die I will go to hell. I believe that you Jesus loved me enough to die for my sins. I invite you into my life Jesus, please forgive me for all my sins and seal me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you."

If you are not saved, don't wait to do so. The same spiritual forces that are playing havock with my life lately will do everything they can to make you think that accepting Jesus into your life and Lord ans Savior is foolish and unnecessary. Don't walk away if you feel God is telling you in your heart that you need Him.

And to the forces that have been playing with me, I am awake now. I will proclaim my God boldly.

The Web, Looking Foward

The text below was in response to an email I received at work. I went off on a rant, that probably wouldn't be that much appreciated by my coworkers, but I liked my rant so rather then email it out I'll just post it here.

------------------------------------------------

The sad part is that Netscape will sail off into the sunset in February. My first "real" tech job was installing Netscape on thousands of computers at various Motorola plants around Phoenix. Now there is no more Motorola in Phoenix and no more Netscape. And we are still developing apps targeting HTML, which was never intended to be used in any way other then to present documents. I wish there was a standard runtime that we could develop against. Java was the right idea but it got derailed by M$, and then kind of fragmented. Silverlight looks promising, but it has to mature a bit more I think. Flash/Flex is another option, but working in the Flash dev environments sucks. Eclipse for Flex is a little better I hear, but I haven't played with it much other then looking over someone's shoulder to see what Flex could do. Then there are other XML technologies like xforms, that at least would be a half step up from HTML, but we would still be building strings on the server to be downloaded and display on a client's webbrowser, which ultimately, if you really step back and think about it for application development, is lame.

What I would like to see is something like Unity3D or Director 11 not just be geared towards game development, but also build in some functionality for displaying datasets,and something similar to winforms. Then you would have something akin to the whole Minority Report movie interface. I've seen some things in Flash and other programs that look pretty Minority Report'ish, but again I think those apps look great despite Flash/Flex not because of it.

Sorry, I've just been thinking and reading a lot about the future of the web. I think Silverlight is on the right path, and Flash to a lesser extent. Director was on the total right path but then Macromedia/Adobe let it die. That literally could have put back web development by like 10 years without anyone even realizing it. Flash took off, but it should have been Director, which Flash was originally a subset of. The same with the slow death of Java, it M$ hadn't crushed it, we might be seeing Rich Internet Applications today, written in a much more robust and faster version of Java, the likes of which we probably won't see till the 2012+ range.

I hate to say it but it is time to choose between Flash/Flex or Silverlight, or go out on a limb and shoot for something like Unity. Allegidly Web 3.0 will be the "Game/Avatar" web, so maybe that wouldn't be a bad choice. Second Life was hailed as the new web, and it has its uses, but generally it is a dud due to stability and limited functionality issues. Also back in the day there was VRML. That was web 3.0 in 1997. Great idea, but it never went anywhere. Some people are trying to resurrect it as X3D. Not sure if X3D is ready for prime time. Maybe now with bandwidth and processor power up Web 3.0 might be ready. Ultimately I think HTML web development (ie HTML as a front end, ASP, ASP.Net, PHP, etc... on a server backend) will be around for years, but it will begin to fade in importance, probably starting this year. The server piece will still be there, but we will be piping info to Silverlight, Flash, or another interface rather then HTML.

I babble. I'm probably not saying anything you guys didn't know already. This is what the pain meds for my tooth do to me :) I used to talk tech a lot at my old gig, I kind of miss it. Sorry.

USAF's Decline: The Numbers

As I heard one Air Force Pilot on one TV program state, "It may not be your Daddy's Air Force, but it probably is his plane."

Our Air Force is old. About a third of the Air Force's planes are grounded from one reason or another. As the U.S. goes bankrupt, how will the Air Force cope with replenishing our planes? By buying ultra expensive F-22's and F-35's?

Big questions.

Read move about the sad state of the Air Force [HERE].

MLK Day: Someone Else Has a Dream

Watch.

Cow Boy Goes Mainstream

Here we go. Of course this has probably happened behind the scenes since the 60ies, but now we have main stream science working on unleashing a real life furry into the world. This one is a cow, human hybrid.

Read more [HERE].

It Looks Like Hell Just Froze Over...

...read about it [HERE].

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Originally linked from www.drudgereport.com

Good For Sony: No Porn on Blu Ray

As described in [this] article, Sony has decided to not allow Porn on Blu Ray disk. More reason to buy products from this Honorable company.

Hired Guns, Shody Journalism, and Illegal Immigration

I read an interesting article about the effects of illegal immigration in Arizona. You can read more [HERE].

I have opinions about immigration, but that isn't what my blog is about. I noticed several things about the article.

1) The journalism was weak. A 625 dollar an hour figure is tossed out there with no reference on how the journalist came upon that information, other then the statement "might" be a possible quote from someone that I got the impression on was being sarcastic.

2) The journalism was biased. The article's points are placed in such a way to attempt to lesson the impact of one sides argument while trying not to appear to do so.

3) The researchers in this article are essentially hired guns. This is systemic in our society. Pay someone enough, and they will spout out numbers supporting whatever it is you want them to support, and they will cloak their findings as "science". Our society tends to trust arguments that appear scientific, so there is a lot of political pressure to wrap ideology in pseudo science.

So people are making decisions based on pseudo science reported on by weak biased journalism. Not good for a democracy.

Embryo-Friendly Technique Produces Stem Cells

Allegedly a company can produce stem cells without harming embryos, better known as developing babies. This has significance to the abortion debate.

Read more [HERE].

Predictions for 2008

Since my RSS feeds are down, on my lunch break I'm pondering predictions for 2008. Here are a few.

1) Second Life will loose a lot of its hype. Many large American companies will exit Second Life. However, Second Life will still have a large user base, and many foreign companies and governments will still experiment with Second Life. Companies like Millions of Us and Electric Sheep will keep a finger in Second Life, but they will focus more on other emerging virtual worlds.

2) Russia will do some sort of quasi invasion in the Serbia/Croatia region. There are a few important decisions on the docket for the future of that region, and I don't think the rest of the world realizes how marginalized the Russians felt in the 90ies about what went on there. Now that the Russians are feeling like they are in more of a position to start pushing their will on the world, expect some moves there. It won't be an outright invasion or anything like that, but Russian troops will be moved around in defiance of the West.

3) I will be living in the state of Washington by March.

4) I wish I could make a good prediction on the Presidential race, but I can't. It is tempting for me to say the race will come down to between McCain, Obama, and Paul, but I can't be sure. McCain is doing better then expected in the primaries, but he is still considered a long shot. Hukabee might take it. I'm not sure if Ron Paul will run as a third party candidate either.

5) RIAs, or Rich Internet Applications, will start to become visible, but because of their difficulty to develop and maintain compared to traditional web apps, you won't see that many of them. You will start to see more Flash and Sliverlight "bling" in traditional web applications, but I don't think Flex or Sliverlight will take over the internet world just yet.

6) Web 3.0, the avatar/virtual world web, will start making a presence felt, that will also cut into the development of RIA's. I'd like to see runtimes like Unity3D or Oligoop or whatever it is called start to become more mainstream, and they will, so now we will have two forks in the web development road, the Avatar web and RIA's. Neither will dominate the web for a long time to come, but again they will make their presence known more and more.

7) It will be ok for people to say that Ruby on Rails isn't the end all end all web solution. It will become ok to criticize Ruby.

8) Virtual Worlds will still be hampered on developers insisting on wrapping data communications in bloated XML, and not using binary serializers or compiling maps, leaving Second Life to still be the biggest virtual 3D world for another couple years to come.

9) There will be at least two combat confrontations with Iran, but neither will lead to all out war between Iran or the U.S.

10) Israel will not attack Iran this year.

11) The dollar will make a limited come back.

Spell Check for Visual Studio 2005/2008

Mikhail Arkhipov wrote some cool spell checking extensions for Visual Studio 2005/2008. They don't work with the express versions unless you hack them, but for standard, pro, enterprise, and team, here is the link.

http://blogs.msdn.com/mikhailarkhipov/archive/2007/12/31/spell-checker-update-2-1-a-few-bug-fixes-and-couple-of-new-features.aspx

Thanks Mikhail.

Netscape: AOL Pulls the Plug In February

Poor Netscape looks like it is finally doomed to the bit archives. In February of '08 AOL is formally pulling the plug on the browser that started it all (Mosaic really did I guess, but Netscape was the first browser to hit the main stream).



You ruled the Internet till about version 4 Netscape, then marketing forces and good old Microsoft started to kill you. Your son, Firebox, will live on to avenge you.

Read more [HERE].

Good Into Javascript OOP Tutorial

I'm pretty good at procedural Javascript, but I'm a little behind on object oriented Javascript. Some of my more recent client side projects could have really benefited from some JS OOP knowledge, so I decided I better bone up a little bit.

Anyway, here is a link to an old, but still very relevant, OOP Javascript tutorial. There are two parts, just toggle the 1/1 in the URL to 2/1 when you are done with teh first part.

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/oriented-programming-1/1

[Update 1/22/08]

Here is a pretty good ebook on Javascript-

http://eloquentjavascript.net/contents.html

Lame: Chinese Intelligence Works for the NSA

Pretty sad. Chinese intelligence set up a translation service company, and then used that company to contract NSA gigs translating NSA Chinese signals intercepts. This gave the Chinese a pretty clear view of what our capabilities are. Wonderful.

Read more [HERE].

Originally referenced on http://haftofthespear.com/

Reason Number 4837 To Hate Safari

How come images will not upload correctly with freaken Safari? And then only on more recent versions?

A possible answer is here...

http://www.neurofuzzy.net/2006/07/09/safari-and-php-file-uploads-solved/

Yet another reason Safari sucks. Apple is slick, and the fearful as well as the new hip hop web developers who don't know any better, flock to Apple. I'm sorry, Apple sucks, always sucked, and still sucks. So does M$, but at least their crap works most of the time. Yes, I know younger developers will rail against IE6 because it isn't "standards compliant". True enough, but they forget IE6 was made when IE was pushing the standards, not trying to comply with them. DHTML? XMLHTTP? innerHTML? All that came from IE. The standards came after IE innovated the web to a point where all their web 2.0 stuff could work.

Merry Chrismas from the Electric Sheep Company!

The Electric Sheep company, one of the early hawkers of Second Life to fad prone corporate marketing types, gave 22 employees pink slips for Christmas.

Read more [HERE].

The article is from Second Life's Reuters bureau, which is run by Electric Sheep, so to be fair they are trying to be transparent I guess. My view is that Electric Sheep will survive, and actually are positioned to do well for the future as they expand into another arenas. Just the early experiments with corps in Second Life where just that, experiments that, as in my opinion Electric Sheep knew, where pretty doomed to failure. They took a lot of willing customers with big wallets for a ride. At the same time, both the customers, and Electric Sheep gained from the experience. Corps will be wiser as they invest in virtual enterprises, and Electric Sheep did learn valuable lessons that will be able to be transferred to other platforms. The big question is whether or not alternatives to Second Life will mature fast enough to keep Electric Sheep large enough to survive as is as virtual worlds develop.

GUID's in Classic ASP

I found a great article on generating and using GUID's in classic ASP here...

http://classicasp.aspfaq.com/general/how-do-i-generate-unique-guids-from-asp.html

All-in-all classicasp.aspfaq.com is a great resource for those of us who still support and develop with classic ASP.

Here is the function you need.

Function GetGuid()
Set TypeLib = CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib")
GetGuid = Left(CStr(TypeLib.Guid), 38)
Set TypeLib = Nothing
End Function

Playing God: Scientist Hope to Create New Artificial Life Forms

Mankind is at it again, this time hoping to create completely new "artificial" life forms from scratch.

Read more [HERE].

Virtual Worlds... An Insight From Oscar Wilde

I've blogged a few times about virtual infidelity, gender bending, virtual sex, and all the sick and twisted stuff that goes on in Virtual Worlds like Second Life that I have observed people do.

I was watching a pretty far out video clip from http://www.goodfight.org/ on U2 and Satanism. Not sure if I would take every rock stars profession of being satanic at face value. I think many of them blab such nonsense because they are trying to be anti-conformist. But in a deeper, darker sense, they might, even though they don't realize it, give voice to what subconsciously they know they are really doing, and that is why I find the video interesting.

Anyway, there was a quote from Oscar Wild on the video clip that I think applies to virtual worlds.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. ~Oscar Wilde

What do you do when your mask (avatar) is on?

The New Media Further Solidifies: Jackass 2.5 Set for Internet Release

This popped up on my radar today and I almost overlooked it. Upon further reflection though I realized this was significant. What am I talking about? A movie being released not direct to video...not direct to DVD...but direct to interent. I take this is a sign of things to come, though I predict we are really more like 8 years out on this then 2, but more an more of these type of releases will show up as time goes by.

Jackass 2.5 is being set for direct to internet release, a further sign of the new media's maturation.

Read more [HERE].

I found the link on www.drudgereport.com

The Bear Awakes: Last Minute CFE Talks Fail

Russia pulls out of the Conventional Forces Europe treaty.

Read more [HERE].

UK Accepts EU Treaty, Gives up 60 Veto Powers

The UK gave in and signed away much of its sovereignty to the greater EU recently. The Union Jack will never be the same.

Read on [HERE].

Fear of Girls: Brutal

This is awesome, but it hits a little close to home.

If you have ever played D & D, check out the "Fear of Girls" videos [HERE].

USAF: It maybe isn't your daddy's air force, but it most likely is his plane.

An article provided by spacewar.com details the USAF's delima of having a lot of old planes flying around and not enough budgets to cover the cost of replacing them. This article is actually more optimistic then others I have read.

Read on [HERE].

Classic ASP...is that Connection object or Recordset Object Closed?

To say some of the legacy code that I'm working is Sphagetti code would be an understatement, it is more like a pasta house. Include after include after include. To be honest, I actually like coding like that sometimes...I know, blasphemy to the OO crowd. But in many ways our site has grown out of control. Open connections, recordsets not being closed, yadda yadda yadda.

So I found this cool article
http://classicasp.aspfaq.com/components/how-do-i-determine-if-a-vbscript-based-object-exists.html

So, I have this include file that opens all these recordsets and command objects. On some pages these objects are closed, on others not. So a quick fix to make sure these objects were closed so the SQL server wasn't being killed and our server memory maxing out was something like this...


if isObject(someobj) then
if not (sombobj is nothing) then
if someobj.state = 1 then
someobj.close
end if
set someobj= nothing
end if
end if

This should pin things till the rewrite, or until I go through and really tiddy up the code. someobj can be either an ADODB recordset or an ADODB connection. For command objects just remove the if somebj.state if then and it should work.

Google's New Charting API: Pretty Cool

Google has released a free charting API to the world. You won't create uber beautiful charts like I've seen other 3rd party components create, but hey, it is free.

Check out the specs [HERE].

The green empire once again makes it hard to resist coming under their control.

Originally posted by www.ajaxian.com.

Lifespan of Worms Increased

This article from blog.wired.defense is actually pretty interesting. It talks about one DoD funded scientist that is doing some interesting experiments that have yielded significant life span increases in simple organisms, along with other possible ways to save wounded soldiers by putting them in a suspended animation state.

In the Bible you hear about people living to be 800 years old. Most Christians put that off as myth, others explain it with voodoo science. Maybe something along the lines of what this researcher is into, if the environment on earth was much different before the flood, might explain things.

Regardless, the article is worth a read.

Another Internet Bubble?

Of course...so let's put it to music.




Stole from www.amix.dk.

The NIE and Iran. About Face and Why

The latest National Intelligence Estimate did an about face and now says Iran isn't developing nukes. I don't buy it. I found the article below to be interesting, and unfortunately not suprising.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/12/nie_an_abrupt_aboutface.asp

Why can't we throw people who twist facts (whatever party flavor they be) in jail? What is this crap?

Mike Huckabee

Well, a lot of my Christian friends are starting to fall in love with Mike Huckabee. He is a former pastor that stands up for a lot of moral issues that I and many Christian's think need to be stood up for. But over all I'm unimpressed.

Why?

• Huckabee is from the establishment. The establishment is corrupt. Thus I don't really trust him. He has to prove to me he is the man. The one time I saw him in a debate, he didn't.
• It is easy to stand up for moral issues. I applaud him for his conservative stances. But no where do I see on his issue page on his web site anything about stemming the outsourcing of our economy. After going to Detroit a few times, and seeing what it was and what it now is, I think raising tariffs is a huge deal. All the arguments I've heard against doing so are a bunch of crap that are now starting to be proven false. Our dollar is devaluating, and things are only going to get worse for Americans. All this crap about the benefits of outsourcing our economy are lies. The only thing we gain is a short term boost in our standard of living while we mortgage our futures. The rich gain hugely as they sell out the middle class and the poor. We see evidence of their massive gains in CEO pay increases vs. average pay increases for most workers. Moral issues are hugely important, but so is our way of life and our standard of living. I'm afraid I'm with the libs on this issue. I wish no ill will towards the rest of the world and I'm happy to see the standard of living of many countries increasing, but I'm against seeing this increase at our expense.

So I see Huckabee is a conservative rich boy from the elite class who because he has some moral fortitude misguidedly thinks he can toss his hat in the ring and fix things. I doubt that from his class perspective he can even identify all the problems that need to be fixed.

Next.

Ron Paul still has my vote, even though he is crazy.

Classic ASP: MARS

I've cleaning up a bunch of classic ASP code and basically I'm taking about 10 stored procs that execute in sequence on a page and just creating one uber stored proc that brings back multiple records sets (I didn't write the first version of the page). For future reference, since I always forget this, the syntax is...


Set myrecordsetobj=myrecordsetobj.NextRecordset()

No special stuff needed on the stored proc's end, just use multiple selects.

In the last days they will be fierce...

I've heard people argue against this, but this is no surprise. Violent games makes people more violent, according to the University of Michigan.

Read more about that on Slashdot and its referenced article [HERE].

A great book on the subject is titled, "On Killing". I haven't finished reading it, but the author (whose name escapes me at the moment), a military guy, points to research that in the past people generally didn't like killing other people and tried to do their best to avoid it, even and sometimes especially in times of war. The basic premise is that the media is breaking that aversion down, but at a high psychological cost to the military personnel who kill more easily now. The aversion to killing is diminished, but not the deep psychological issues killing creates in those who commit it.

Genetic Engineering: The Mouse That CAN'T Get Cancer

A mouse that can't get cancer? Read onward [HERE].

Originally found on www.drudgereport.com

Pat Buckanan: Day of Reckoning.

I haven't read Pat Buchanan's new book "Day of Reckoning" yet, but it seems to be right on. I've talked politics with a lot of people, and may of the points he addresses as potential reasons why American will become unglued I've talked about before. In essence, unless there is a dramatic turn, America is screwed. Sounds like Pat nails it on the head.

Read more about Matt Drudge's initial comments on the book [HERE].

Birth-Pains before Jesus's Return: Natural Disasters up 4x in the last 20 Years

Another sign of the times is [HERE].

Russia Widthdrawing from Arms Treaty on December 12th

Putin went from ally to seeker of former imperial glory pretty quickly. This somehow slipped by me. I'm not suprised considering our News Media.

"He [Putin] issued his stark message as Russia confirmed that it would pull out of a landmark arms limitation treaty on December 12. The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty was fundamental to ending the Cold War."

Nice. The post cold war peace didn't last long.

Another Reason to Stop Buying Chinese Goods

Access denied for the Ronald Reagan Strike Group to use Hong Kong as a port of call. Access denied for Chinese Communist to my bank account.

Read more [HERE].

Visual Studio 2008: First Impression

Well, I downloaded the Visual Studio 2008 Express version and played around with it very briefly yesterday. So far I haven't played with too many of the new features yet, but hopefully I'll get a chance to over the weekend. Here are some initial comments of mine.

The Good: The install was a breeze compared to Visual Studio 2005 Pro.

The Bad: I still have to support classic ASP applications, and it looks like the intellisense for classic ASP has pretty much been removed. Bummer.

The OK: I like that the .Net framework 3.5 integrates the AJAX framework out of the box. It looks like most of the interface is pretty much the same as Visual Studio 2005, so I won't be hunting for things all the time, which is nice.

Overall I like how Microsoft is giving away Visual Studio and SQL Server Express versions away for free.

Download copies for yourself -

http://www.microsoft.com/express

Game Tap

My fiance just got me a subscription to Game Tap for my birthday. For the price of one video game and change, you get access to a library of over a thousand games for a year. In my opinion GameTap is a must have for gamers. I thought the games would be older, and there is a lot of older games there, but there are newer ones, like CIV IV and some newer FPS.

Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself. www.gametap.com

Image Onload Problems

I've written a few slide shows, and one of the things that bugs me is that the image.onload function seems to not be supported very well on numerous browsers. Here might be the culprit.

// evil:
var image = new Image();
image.src = 'image.jpg';
image.onload = function() {
    // sometimes called
    alert('image loaded');
};

// good:
var image = new Image();
image.onload = function() {
    // always called
    alert('image loaded');
};
image.src = 'image.jpg';

To be honest, I'm not sure if this works or not, especially in Safari 1.x and Opera, but I'll give it a shot. The only other work around I've seen is pretty complicated.

Thanks to http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/image-onload-isnt-being-called for posting this.

Desktop Tower Defense

Got a few hours, OK maybe a few days, to kill? Check out Desktop Tower Defense [HERE].

Basically you are defending two openings, and bad guys known as creeps slip through two other openings. You build various types of immobile gun walls to both channel and kill creeps. Pretty fun.

Chinese Communist Co-Opting US Websites

Check out this article [HERE] on slashdot about how Chinese are co-opting US websites. Another reason to start winding trade down with China. All we are doing is building up their economy which in turn is building up their military.

Why Mess with Photoshop: Rounded Corners Auto Generator

http://www.allcrunchy.com/ has a pretty cool auto generator for creating rounded corner divs. You have to download an image and paste some css and javascript on your page, but all and all this is pretty cool.

Check it out [HERE].

The Little Plane That Could: First Production T-38 Trainer Goes Into Retirement

This little plane, the T-38 supersonic trainer, has proven to be a very successful design that has been around for 45+ years. The first one ever to roll off the production line ended service recently after a career spanning from 1962 - 2007. You may have seen it flying close to an X-plane or monitoring a space shuttle as it landed. The humble plane probably trained hundred of pilots and numerous astronauts. Quiet a career.

Read more about the Talon [HERE].

Read more about the retirement ceremony for the first T-38 [HERE].

A Flaw in Moore's Law: Demand

Moore's Law is the observation that computer processing power tends to double every two years. This has seemed to hold true for the last 40 years or so, but I think that in the next couple of years, at least as far as home computers are concerned, Moore's Law will not hold true.

Here are 3 reasons why I think Moore's law will not hold up for Home Computers.

1) Home computers are becoming less and less the platform of choice for gaming. Consoles are now more popular then ever, and the PC gaming industry is feeling the punch. Does this mean PC games will go away? No, but it does mean that the bigger game developers will focus more and more on console game development, and PC gaming will become more of a niche thing (MMORPG, Indie developers). So, the need for PC's to have ever increasing processor and graphics power will not end, but it will slow.

2) Most home computer users use their computers to web surf, pirate music and movies, check email, instant message, and write a document every once in a while. We have approached a point now where operating systems and computer horsepower are more then enough to handle these tasks. Do consumers really need to update their computers every two or three years when their five year old machine is more then enough to handle these tasks? Probably not.

3) There are more and more internet enabled appliances that will compete with PC's for use for interent surfing, emailing, and instant messaging. These appliances are generally smaller and more connected through cellular networks then say a laptop, so these appliances are becoming more and more the communications medium of choice for younger people as opposed to PC's.

So these three factors, the slow down of the PC gaming industry, current PC's reaching the point where they can perform common task more then adequately fore the foreseeable future, and mobile devices competing with PC's as a communication device, all will create the perfect storm to slow down the home and to a lesser degree business demand for new personal computers. Thus we should see the investments in developing new processing power for PC's also slow somewhat, possibly making Moore's law no longer a law in the PC realm.

Apparently, the market slow down is already happening in Japan, which could be an indicator of a future global trend.

Read more about the PC market slow down in Japan [HERE].

Read more about Moore's law [HERE].

The Darling of the Left at it Again

Huego Chavez once again shows another reason to be admired by the left, this time by crushing protest.

Read more [HERE].

Monroe doctrine anyone?

Photo taken from www.drudgereport.com

Genetic Engineering: Super Mouse

Once again our scientist are toying with Pandora's genetic box. This story is about a genetically altered super mouse that lives longer, has more sex, runs faster, remains trim, and eats 60% more.

Read more [HERE].

Photo taken from http://www.drudgereport.com/

Once Again, Media is Reported Biased to the Left

Again and again the main stream media in the U.S. has been PROVEN to favor the left.


[HERE] is another article indicating such.


This makes me laugh because liberal love to pretend they live in a world where it is them, the tragic revolutionary underdogs, against the man. Often times liberals are the man but they are so blinded that they can't see it.

Photoshop: Rounded Corners

For some reason I always freaken forget this. I'm using an ancient version of Photoshop (7), though I'm eyeing CS 3 and I will probably break down and purchase it this year. I do a lot of simple image manipulation, but I always seem to forget how to make rounded corners. So for reference, hit the U key, set the feathering to about about 15 pix, and then draw your rounded rectangle. Then go back to the square select bool, set the feathering back to zero, and grab and crop your rounded corners. Simple, but I always forget, so here it is for reference.