Andrew Pollack's Blog

Technology, Family, Entertainment, Politics, and Random Noise

Document Archive

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  1. 11/14/2004Dutch Violence against Muslims Continues On Volker Weber's blog in response to a topic posted just following the election I had be vehemently deriding some of the comments I'd seen by people there and in the European press about the choices we made in our elections here in the U.S. The most ......
  2. 11/14/2004Can **insert name here** beat Google? Is Intel's new chip faster than AMD's? Will SP2 bring the known world to a halt?It must be a slow news month in the I.T. industry now that Microsoft's strategy at the desktop has been set back so far, Intel has finally dropped off the escalating gigahertz numbers game, and service pack 2 didn't bring the world to halt. In the last ......
  3. 11/13/2004Well, it had to happen some time...It had to happen at some point. A strange confluence of events left me in the "command" role at a small fire scene today. We were the second engine due, meaning we should have gone to the hydrant but the other engine made a wrong turn so we ended up at ......
  4. 11/13/2004Adobe update finally stops hanging Firefox when I read PDF files on lineFinally! I've had the problem for a long time -- open a web site which is a PDF and it works, but then if you close that page or use the back button or some combination I never quite got my finger on it would hang Adobe Acrobat Reader and Firefox. It was ......
  5. 11/11/2004When to use .recycle() in your Domino Java agents...There are some things that drive me nuts about the way Domino has implemented the Java interfaces to the back end classes. One of them is the need to call .recycle(). The problem is that if you don't explicitly call recycle() on each object your have ......
  6. 11/11/2004Some jobs are so fun you have to do them twiceI went to put the snow tires on my wife's Honda minivan tonight because we're expecting our first bit of snow tomorrow. When I bought these, rather than paying twice a year to have all four wheels remounted and balanced I purchased some cheap wheels and ......
  7. 11/11/2004My 11 year old has far surpassed my limited musical talents nowI was listening to Ari play the recorder today, and had to ask her why she was working so hard on a tune for that when she's taking sax lessons now. The recorder was last year -- a part of fourth grade, but something she really took off with and earned ......
  8. 11/09/2004Really enjoyed Baltimore -- and that was surprisingSo a week or so ago I was in Baltimore to speak at the Advisor conference. Of course, the folks at Advisor did a great job as they always do. A surprise to me was how Baltimore has become more interesting. My knowledge of that city is very limited, having ......
  9. 11/08/2004Some of my favorite pictures from this yearI haven't posted any pictures in a while. Take a look at these, all from the last several months, and let me know if there are any you really like. [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ......
  10. 11/08/2004Bloglines processes RSS tag as a PERMALINK -- technically ok, but leads to confusion.As reported by a reader of this blog, Bloglines was parsing the tag of the RSS feed from this site instead of thetag when creating URLs. This caused many bloglines readers difficulties in accessing the brilliance (and the other 99% of the content) of this ......
  11. 11/04/2004Presentations from Baltimore on Domino / Notes 7, Domino 7 w/ DB2 Integration, and the IBM Workplace Rich ClientSchedule: 11/02/2004 08:00 AM, 11/03/2004 11:00 AMIBM Lotus Domino 7 Meets IBM DB2Andrew PollackTake a deep dive into an all-new aspect of Domino 7, and discover what it means to store Domino data in DB2. This session gives you a heavy developer focus. ......
  12. 11/04/2004Some assembly requiredFrom Rob Novak's presentation covering the installation of Websphere Portal Server, comes this slide comparing the difficulty installing that application to his new weight bench. The caption, if you can't read it, is "This is the Wieder Pro 4000 weight ......
  13. 11/04/2004Regardless of the resulting winners, the U.S. can stand proud as such a hard-fought election cycle completes peacefully and with overall fairness.Though the result wasn't entirely to my liking, I must say how pleased I am overall with the results of Tuesday's election. How great for our country that at the end of a year long vitriolic and divisive race, that record numbers of citizens packed the ......
  14. 11/01/2004Advisor Devcon - Baltimore 2004!Well folks, I made it to Baltimore. I think its going to be a good conference. If you're a reader of this blog, look me up while you're here. I'd like to meet both of ......
  15. 10/26/2004Please, make it stop!I tend to consume informational media of all kinds pretty much all day. That either makes me a fountain of obscure information or a complete bore -- the difference depends on how much you like or dislike hearing me rant about it. I wake up to NPR, BBC ......
  16. 10/22/2004The laptop has a new lease on lifeA new lease on life for this 'old' machine. I'd looked into replacing it because it can't handle more than 1gb of RAM. That's enough for most work, but for demos and things I wanted to go to 2gb so I can more comfortably run a few virtual machines at ......
  17. 10/18/2004Maine in OctoberIf you live in this area, October is the time to keep your camera nearby. All these are taken at the spur of the moment, while driving down the same roads I travel every day. The light is right and you just "see" the shot you need to take. Enjoy. Click to ......
  18. 10/18/2004And now, back to the Universal Rich Client discussionI think if you look through this presentation document you'll see why I'm so excited. Here's some highlights: 1. There is a huge unserved market of people who used to use greenscreen terminals and now use bad web applications or really bad customer ......
  19. 10/17/2004What can we learn from endlessly watching yet another "Reality TV goes Inside Industry "X" show?I was watching "American Casino" the other night. I've never seen it before, and really wasn't that interested in it, but I was working and it was on. I ended up really enjoying it, even though it was predictable, uninspired, repetitive, and filled with ......
  20. 10/14/2004Well, I held my nose and votedI'll be at the Advisor Devcon in Baltimore on Election day (maybe we should rent a car and drive to a bar in DC -- maybe the Crystal City Marriott -- that night to watch the results come in) so i did my absentee ballot. Yech. For President, I had the ......
  21. 10/10/2004And speaking of Flu -- it looks like I've brought it homeLooks like I've brought the Flu home thanks to enclosed space breathing on aircraft and such. ......
  22. 10/09/2004Forwarded from elsewhere....the new Florida Voting MachineIf you can't vote with this, you can't think well enough to ......
  23. 10/09/2004Its clear we'd rather go to war than fix our health care problemsIn the U.S., about 50% of the expected vaccine this year has become unavailable. Its a known fact that each year in our country, more than 36,000 people die as a result of complications from the flu. These are the youngest children, the most elderly, and ......
  24. 10/08/2004If Bush really is being prompted in the debates, he should fire the whole team who set it up.According to some, this picture is proof that Bush is getting help with his debate points. If true, how pitifully sad in three respects. First, that he would need the help. Second, that he would think nobody would find out. Third, that the idiots couldn't ......
  25. 10/08/2004No good choices to be foundWas responding to a note forwarded by family when I wrote this rant -- but decided what the hell, I'll blog it too... You know, its a shame again this year. Just when the Republicans have gone so far over the rainbow (hm, I don't think they'd like that ......
  26. 10/08/2004In Java, it could be expressed: (Person)andrewJayPollack.yearsOld++Strange birthday this year, as I'm getting older but feeling several years younger than last year. Healthy living, physical activity, and good friends will do that. In fact, I've managed to make it through 37 years now without voiding the warrantee. I ......
  27. 10/07/2004Found Camera at Logan AirportWalking back to my truck at Logan, around 21:00 last night, I found a note on my windshield saying "this must be your phone" and a small padded pouch. Inside the pouch was a camera -- a rather nice digital camera, nearly brand new. I've called the state ......
  28. 10/07/2004Presentations from H&T Verlags Admin + Dev 2004 in UKI'm going to add these to the site more formally at some point soon (I'm building a new structure for this sort of material) but in the mean time, here are the presentations essentially as delivered. I wish I could have taped them, as I think particularly ......
  29. 10/06/2004Lunch On-Demand at IBMI failed twice, but after considerable effort I was able to purchase Lunch "ON-Demand" at IBM's "Embassy" near Heathrow airport in England. I say "Embassy" because "Customer Center" or such doesn't describe it well at all. IBM's economy is larger than ......
  30. 10/06/2004The H&T Conference in London was great....Relief that I'm done though....I must say that once again I am amazed at what a professional production the H&T people put on. I am happy to say that in terms of real training value for the time and money, its a great deal for anyone in the area. I really enjoy how many of my greatly ......
  31. 10/05/2004Great slide from London -- more laterThe conference was great, I'll write a lot more later -- for now...Its been a long time since you could expect to see a slide like this on an IBM given Keynote.... Hats off to Bill Hume for delivering this ......
  32. 09/29/2004I sure wish I could be impressed with Spaceship OneWell, thanks to the X prize and a guy with some 25 million dollars to burn, we’ve proven that a talented engineer given enough money and a willing test subject can use existing proven technology and well known and documented science and engineering to do ......
  33. 09/29/2004Admin & Dev 2005 near London -- a great way to handle conference CD'sThese guys put on a great show. For such a small conference, the speaker list is great and the level of effort the organizers put in is outstanding. I've enjoyed both previous times I've done speaking engagements for them. One thing I really like that I ......
  34. 09/29/2004Two days off, spent at the county fairA relaxing couple of days at the county fair. This picture is from last year. I didn't bring a camera this time around so just for you I dug this one up from someone's collection. Our town hosts this fair each year, one of many such harvest fairs that ......
  35. 09/29/2004The not so golden gooseLast night as I was going to bed, we heard the distinctive honk of a goose outside. As a pool owner, this can be a very bad thing. 23:00 found me outside putting the pool cover on after chasing away the first of goose of the season. Actually, he was ......
  36. 09/26/2004So all clues point to Google Browser soon -- but they're not saying...or are they?Well, the google people are at it again. They're registered a domain, hosted the mozilla dev conference, and done a few other things that at first glance look like the worst kept secret in history. Remember though, these are the guys who created major ......
  37. 09/25/2004Ok Mac People: Name some fun software that's ok for kids and runs on older hardware....I'm giving my 9 year old daughter this G3 400mhz iMac. Its been upgraded now to 256 megs but only has 8mb of video memory. As a result, Tony Hawk Skater Pro 4 won't run. Now, to make the sale on ripping her PC out and replacing it with this iMac, I need ......
  38. 09/23/2004After an insane amount of effort, OS X -Panther is installed on the old iMacThis is why working with Macs can be frustrating to PC people. Here I am with a perfectly capable G3 iMac I found for $20. It came with 64mb and OS 9.0. First, it took links from friends, and many hours to find out just what the machine was. Then, if it ......
  39. 09/22/2004Finally, some meaning to that tired, useless mantra "Its standards based" from IBM trying to get me to try the new productsOk. Very little has irked me more in the marketing diatribe about the newer products than the hollow "Its standards based, Domino is proprietary" argument. It comes as dogma, to be accepted without further explanation as if it were obvious in the way ......
  40. 09/20/2004Curmudgeon declares Rich Client a winnerWell all; I had the privilige of talking with some of the designers, movers, and shakers on working on the new Rich Client. It'll be a day or two before I'm sure what I can and can't talk about in any detail, but at this point I can say a few very small ......
  41. 09/16/2004Wondering where I've been...For this week, and next, I'm blogging daily here: http://expertanswercenter.techtarget.com/eac/blog/0,295203,sid63_tax297876,00.html I'm a guess expert. I'm answering a few questions and writing a few thoughts. They just sent the advertising out that I'm ......
  42. 09/09/2004R.I.T. Training -- the most fun you can have on your hands and knees (in gear)Its amazing really. Just a couple of years ago I wrotethis descriptionof my first time in a live fire. I've put in hundreds of hours of training and calls since then, in the meantime getting certified to drive the Ladder and Heavy Rescue trucks along with ......
  43. 09/03/2004Response to a press inquiry about Senderid, Workplace, and IBM's directionI got a request from someone in the press yesterday for information on a few topics. Of course, the request came with the comment that he is under deadline and needs any comments quickly -- as is always the case. I try to be pretty complete when I write ......
  44. 09/01/2004A couple of things done really well in ND7 Beta M2 DB2 IntegrationSometimes things are just done RIGHT. Here's a couple of screenshots from the Admin client in the Lotus Domino 7 public beta. What you can see is how easy it is first to move a Notes database from storage in traditional "NSF" format to storage as a ......
  45. 09/01/2004Ok Apple OS-X geeks -- some advice pleaseI bought this at a garage sale for $20 -- working. After some cleaning (it was covered in stickers and the see through keyboard was literally filled with crumbs and other nasty stuff) its a great shape. I've added some ram (it came with 64 megs, now it ......
  46. 08/30/2004A great tip, and good example of using LS2J in LotusScript I don't normally do a lot of outside linking to places that require a member log-in to read the content, but this tip is particularly good. It may even be good enough to justify submitting your email address and risking getting some mail (though I've ......
  47. 08/30/2004Serious studying these days on the Workplace Rich ClientI've spent the weekend head down in red papers reading about the new Workplace Rich Client in preparation for a session I'm doing on it at Advisor in Baltimore. Its a lot to digest, and I've got some questions to get answered first, but I think a few ......
  48. 08/27/2004Longhorn to the slaughterhouse -- Now its low grade ground beefSoftware comes and software goes. You try things, they work or they don't and you move on. Personally, I don't think the story here is Longhorn's (or more accurately WINFS) ultimate failure. That's a symptom. The story is the icepick through the heart of ......
  49. 08/27/2004New meaning to the term "Bite my ....."A cancer patient has enjoyed his first solid meal in nine years - after doctors rebuilt his jaw by growing another one on his back. Four weeks after the pioneering operation, the man was able to tuck in to a sausage sandwich . The 56-year-old German was ......
  50. 08/27/2004Seeking PCMCIA Card Case -- Any ideas?I'm carrying more -- and more important -- PCMCIA cards lately. You see, the use of VMWARE (amazing tool) has pushed my laptop over the brink. My "old" Dell Inspiron 8200 has reached a point where a few of things are a bit weak. In particular the max of 1 ......
  51. 08/26/2004A big thank you to Ms. "S" -- who set up a wireless linksys with default accessI don't know who you are, but I know we were nearby. Last night I stayed at a hotel south of here with my kids. The hotel room internet wire didn't give me an IP. I tried wireless and in 10 seconds was on a wireless router in another room. Must have been ......
  52. 08/24/2004Lotus Domino 7 beta M2 - So far, awesomeSo far so good in my testing with Domino 7. I haven't done performance testing yet, but I've been running the server along with the trial DB2 and the client, designer, and admin all in a Windows 2000 Pro "Generic" virtual machine under vmware on my hotrod ......
  53. 08/22/2004Why can't my whole PC replicate?Why is it that My laptop is never quite in sync? I use it less frequently than my PC for the simple reason that my PC is way way faster. I recognize the value of having a single laptop with the "oomph" to be your only machine. I know NotesDawg does this, ......
  54. 08/22/2004Business vs. Personal in a community forumCultures are very different, often in subtle ways. What happens in a public or semi-public forum with a very mixed culture but enough long term bonds to also feel somewhat familial? In my family, as in many of yours, argument is the norm. Sometimes loud ......
  55. 08/20/2004What's REALLY interesting about the Google IPOGoogle, as a company, reminds me of some of my geek friends. They don't accept for a second that things have to work the way they have always worked. Its what made their search engine better than anyone else's for a long time. Its also why GMAIL works for ......
  56. 08/20/2004Thinking about "The Welcome Page"A strange experience yesterday -- and not the usual kind either. I was at a client's office talking about an application I'm building for them, and the conversation turned to the "entry point" on the application. This will be, for these users, the ......
  57. 08/20/2004What's your favorite new R7 feature from the Beta?I'm working to finalize the presentation for a conference that covers new things in the beta -- what are you favorites? I wouldn't want to over look ......
  58. 08/20/2004Bravo to the Brits -- new anti-spam measures take aim at the profitThis article from the BBC reports that a new policy adopted by the London Internet Exchange -- a network where most of the UK providers connect to transfer data between them -- will now shut down firms that benefit from spam even if the spam is being sent ......
  59. 08/20/2004LotusSphere 2005 Registration opens early with a discount for CLPsThis information was mailed to me. I'm happy to share it with you. I'm also glad to be hearing distant rumors of much increased technical depth and renewed focus on existing core technologies to give attendees value they can use immediately. Bravo to the ......
  60. 08/20/2004Dedicated bandwidth is very nice...You've got to love this kind of ......
  61. 08/18/2004Follow-up and pictures -- Andrew vs. Durango [] [] [] [] [] Background: Had an A/C leak. Went through an occasional can (of r134a refrigerant -- $4 at Wal-Mart), then after a while more and more. Leak detector had no effect -- could simply not find anything. Turns out, it was a common issue on these ......
  62. 08/18/2004China one-ups the U.S. by outsourcing its populationAccording to this story http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040818-105443-7992r.htm in the Washington Times, India's population will soon swell to overtake that of China. Soon, it won't be a billion Chinese that can't be wrong unless they first poll ......
  63. 08/16/2004Lots of fun tomorrow - Its heavy car repair timeWell my 98 Durango with nearly 100k miles on it needs a bit of work. The good news, is the replacement of the part itself is about 15 minutes. The bad news, is that to get to the part needing replacement and then to put it all back its going to take ......
  64. 08/15/2004If you're waiting for a storm, a map like this can be frustratingAs you see, if there was a way to avoid this storm, Cumberland has found it so ......
  65. 08/14/2004Well, it won't be as bad as Florida, but Charlie is due to call here in a few hoursFor me, this pretty much means flooded basement calls, a few down powerlines, maybe a car wreck or two to respond to. They're saying 3-4" of rain and some good but not excessive wind by the time it gets ......
  66. 08/14/2004So I find myself with a surplus of the much sought after gmail invitations. Anyone need one?Somone want to help me fill this ......
  67. 08/12/2004Toys 'R Us getting out of the toy business.... and what is K-Mart doing?[] Toys 'R Us not selling toys? K-Mart not selling anything? What's going on? The economy in our country is getting stranger and stranger. I'm an avid listener of "Marketplace" on our local public radio station and I've heard two stories recently that to ......
  68. 08/12/2004Is High-Def TV slow on the uptake because it misses a key point?[] High definition tv has been around a while now but seems slower on the uptake than other entertainment technologies. Its admittedly expensive still, but there hasn't been a huge demand for low end HDTV either. If there were, smaller screens and ......
  69. 08/10/2004My favorite new(ish) @Functions( )[] Well, its sure been a long time since I did a really heavy duty new Lotus Notes Client application with a full blown user interface. I have to admit, I've really had to reach back into that back of tricks from way back when. I've also had to refresh on ......
  70. 08/09/2004Time for a new approach to anti-spam lawsAnti-spam laws are hung up on definitions in two fatal ways. First, they try to define spam; and second, they try to define the techniques used to send spam. Often the latter is an attempt at the former. This is a hopeless legal strategy and too easily ......
  71. 08/07/2004Avoidance -- what tricks does your own mind play on you?I'm sitting here fighting with myself to do some work. The work is important. I'm being paid for the work. Deadlines are approaching. Not doing the work is in at least a small way self destructive. It is exactly at this moment that I come up with a ......
  72. 08/07/2004Easy hack at WiFi hotspots - Defensive measuresThe recent Defcon 12 hacker conference was the scene of the release of a brilliant new tool for creating havoc on public wifi sites. Now I'm not in favor of actually doing any of this but from a purely technical perspective, I must say I love this. What ......
  73. 08/06/2004Windows XP sp2 is rolling out -- will you be the first?[] Well, its released. Windows XP sp2. The biggest patch yet and as of last week so unstable that reports of major rebuilds on analyst systems to undue the damage of test versions. Are you going to be the first? I'm ......
  74. 08/06/2004The difference between a hardware channel and a developer channelI’m reading some things on IBM’s appointment of a new top channel guy, particularly interesting was Zarly’s take on it. Opinions abound of course. Mine is that IBM are desperate for someone to turn the program into something sensible. I hope Don turns out ......
  75. 08/06/2004You work all day, and what do you get?Well, another year older ......
  76. 08/05/2004Personal Technology Defence - Not what you think[] Personal Technology Defense - no, I'm not talking about defense technology, I'm talking about all the things you have to do to protect your own technology from the ways other people -- primarily advertisers -- want to use it to get to you. It was just ......
  77. 07/30/2004Some thoughts from the conventionI mostly listened to the convention speeches this week as I've been heads down programming on client work for 18-20 hour days. One that made a big impression was Al Sharpton. Now I don't care for Al's politics all that much -- he's too far off the center ......
  78. 07/29/2004Some great practical advice on personal credit securityThis was forwarded to me by a friend. It is a list that originally (supposedly) came from an attorney who's credit was stolen. I can't verify the source, but the advice is good. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first ......
  79. 07/29/2004One story about FX's "Rescue Me" show, and I'm #3 on the search listHow strange, that after simply writing a single story about FX Channel's "Rescue Me" I started seeing a crazy number of hits. Turns out that when I check I was (for the moment) the third search result returned for "FX Channel" and near the top also for ......
  80. 07/27/2004Stargate Atlantis : Science Fiction Formula - YawnOk. Create some really powerful magic technology, but then to make sure you still have a story you have to limit that technology. Now, you need a group of people large enough to have stories, but small enough to be alone and without help. Strand them out ......
  81. 07/27/2004Actual useful things that drive my brand loyalty - Great things smart companies are doingI was doing some catching up, going through my bills today and I came across a receipt from BJ's for a couple of air conditions that had rebates on them totalling forty bucks. Now if you have ADHD, you have to really think twice about taking something ......
  82. 07/24/2004An example of why hyperthreading rocksSitting and surfing the net, researching smtp proxies (I'm working on a heuristic anti-spam solution), and I get this alert on my PC indicating my processor temperature is exceeding the recommendation of its manufacturer. In this machine it shouldn't ever ......
  83. 07/22/2004My vedict on "Rescue Me" (FX Channel, Wed 10pm)I haven't done a firefighting blog entry in a while, so here's a good excuse. FX Network rolled out its new show "Rescue Me" last night. Here its cable channel 62, and I almost didn't hear about it. Like any firefighter show right now, the first episode ......
  84. 07/21/2004Workstation Wars: For the Next Generation its back to the original fightThe battle over how you’ll work at your personal computer is heating up again and the big players are aligning into sides on two distinct battles. We're already pretty familiar with the first battle. Should software be "Open" and "Standard" or "Closed" ......
  85. 07/20/2004Domino Server Capacity Planning – An Alternative GuidelineI was chatting with Richard about server capacity tonight (yeah, we do know how to live it up) and these thoughts came to mind as a result... It’s been a long time since I had to put real thought into how many traditional Lotus Notes mail client users I ......
  86. 07/16/2004Bobby Fisher Caught? He should have castled!Man, he must be getting old. Any really good chess player in that situation would have castled! Suddenly, he "Rooks" the Philipinos and is himself in Thailand! "One town, is very like another when your head's down over your pieces, brother." ......
  87. 07/16/2004The notes/domino 7 beta two new features list is out -- the list as a whole ROCKSThere are a huge number of new features listed. Hope to take some time to examine the implications of many of these shortly. Some favorites (personally) include: WebAdmin client supports Mozilla! Use Eclipse (or other 3rd party tools) as your Debugger ......
  88. 07/15/2004IBM to Acquire Alphablox, an outstanding toolkit for data miningAdvisor Magazine is reporting that IBM now plans to acquire "Alphablox" for data mining. Some of you know I took a year out from consulting to work for Rich Schwartz at a company doing some interesting transactional work around legal invoicing. My job ......
  89. 07/14/2004One of the biggest winners in this year's election cycle is already knownEven though he lost out in the primaries a few years back, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has absolutely not fallen back into the relative obscurity of that southwestern state. By staying his ground in the relative middle ground and refusing to ......
  90. 07/12/2004Would the current administration be dumb enough to try postponing elections?All over the press today (try cnn.com or usatoday.com or one of the others) is the question Tom Ridge was fool enough to ask. What would need to be in place -- what laws, rules, situations, etc. -- to postpone the November elections in the event of a ......
  91. 07/12/2004The end of the e-mail centered workdayFor some, that first e-mail account came with going off to college or business school, and that first dial-up session to some big machine you envisioned being tended by white coated lab technicians in a clean, well lit, secure facility somewhere. For ......
  92. 07/11/2004Blogging from Coastal Maine todayMy wife's parents have this stunning property out on Davis Point in Friendship, Maine. Its right on the water looking into the rocky coastal waters here, on a protected inlet off the bay. The view is of rocky shores, small islands, rare birds, lobster ......
  93. 07/11/2004Security notices for Domino / NotesWell, a few security notices to be aware of: Andrew's Note: In this first one, I guess its not surprise that using an outdated embedded JVM that can't be managed outside the client install and thus can't be updated my be vulnerable. I suggest dissabling ......
  94. 07/10/2004Social networks driven by false ego gratificationHas anyone actually derived real value from the various commercial experiments in “social networks”? As part of my personal field of interest – the ways people and technology combine to produce a result that is greater than either – I’m always grateful ......
  95. 07/10/2004Network connection timeout issue on Domino?Are your Domino sessions between servers or from client to server going away? Over the last months I’ve seen this many times and had a hard time tracing it down. In a private forum for Business Partners, we’ve had some success at drawing the attention of ......
  96. 07/01/2004Saturn's Rings - Amazing PhotoCasini did it! Click here for ABC's ......
  97. 06/30/2004Wow, linux has come a long way. Here's an easy way to see for yourself.Linux at the desktop is here, and nearly accessible for even the least experienced end users. Looking at it now in terms of ease of use and software availability, most users will find it does pretty much everything they need. Most distributions come ......
  98. 06/29/2004The new blogsite is here! The new blogsite is here!Hi all. Just a note of welcome as I kick off the new blogware. Once again, I've written this from scratch myself as an exercise in web development skills. Comments and requests are welcome. There are about 20 features that aren't "live" yet, but I've ......
  99. 06/26/2004Off to go burn a house downWell, some folks on Main street want a house torn down and instead of a bulldozer, they've decided to donate it to the fire department for a training burn. Stories later, I'm sure. I've been slow on the blogging lately because i'm 99.5% done with a new ......
  100. 06/22/2004Guess I get to be one of the cool kids too -- sort of...A friend got me hooked up with GMAIL and I've played with it a bit, but today its not looking so hot. More thoughts on this really well thought out paradigm later. I like it though, I'll say that ......
  101. 06/04/2004Follow-up to the Heathcare topic - Why the Free Market is being abused in this caseI've seen comments suggesting nationalizing the healthcare in this country, and of course there's the continued arguments as there are on nationalization in general that can run on both sides endlessly. I don't think anyone would disagree that the 'free ......
  102. 06/01/2004Healthcare costs are killing this economy, and drug cards and discounts are not going to help. Living in a small town in New England, we still have small scale democracy at a very granular level. Our town of well under 10,000 people and the small town adjacent share a school district -- MSAD51. For both the town budget and the school district, a ......
  103. 05/20/2004L.L. Bean goes after spyware advertisers where it hurtsL.L. Bean filed suits in a U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine which named two department store chains (Nordstrom and JC Penney) as well as two other mail order companies specializing in supplements and coffee. These firms have advertised with "Gator" ......
  104. 05/18/2004An arm and a legFrom USA Today (always good at pictures and graphs) http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-05-18-dems-gas-prices_x.htm A gas station owner in Menlo Park, Calif., expresses his opinion on the recent surge in gasoline prices. ......
  105. 05/18/2004The Pepsi Syndrome -- or coffee, or coke, or whateverSitting in a Border's books using T-Mobile and keep dropping the signal. About the 4th time, I realize its because I'm putting the nice tall cup of iced cola next to the wireless card. 802.11 wireless uses the same frequency as your microwave oven, ......
  106. 05/14/2004Evidence of giant meteor that destroyed nearly all life on earth is found - Bush blames Al QuadaScientists have discovered evidence that a giant asteroid crashed to Earth about 250 million years ago, creating a 200-kilometre-wide crater off the coast of Australia and possibly killing most of the species that lived on Earth at the time. ......
  107. 05/06/2004True Brotherhood & LoyaltySome of you know that I took a class last weekend at the CCFAS (Cumberland County Fire Attack School). I have to say that one of the coolest things about the weekend was the overwhelming sense of brotherhood when you're around other firefighters. The guys ......
  108. 05/04/2004Keeping things in perspective - from a hazmat drill, me in a class B suit[] Hi all! I thought you might enjoy some pictures of your favorite computer geek / firefighter doing a haz-mat refresher drill. This took place a few days ago on a Thursday night. The idea is to simulate a decontamination procedure at a hazardous ......
  109. 05/03/2004A "Caitlinism"Those of you who know me have heard me rattle on about Caitlin's unusually logical approach to everything she does, and how it can be a little frustrating when combined with a 4 year old's typically short attention span. Caitlin is a four year old girl ......
  110. 05/01/2004Amazing thermal imaging camera footage, showing how to avert a deadly flashover situationThis weekend, I'm taking an unbelievably amazing class at the Cumberland County Fire Attack School (an annual event). So far, aside from the techniques shown in this footage, I've learned to tie off to an axe handle, wedge it across the corner of a window ......
  111. 04/29/2004Has HBO 'disappeared' an original movie after one showing because it was controversial or was it just bad?The other night I taped a show to watch later. It was to be a "...cautionary scenarios in which two graduate students - one a female American in China, the other a male Arab in New York - are detained without hard evidence and interrogated about ......
  112. 04/15/2004Via an NPR story -- do you know what an "American Camera" is?In some parts of the world, the term "American Camera" is a reference to something that is all flash but fails to produce a picture of any value. It sounds a lot like what they say down in Texas about a person who talks a big game but can't deliver -- ......
  113. 04/11/2004Spring is finally here!Spring is finally here! A sure sign is annual host testing on Engine 1. We spent the morning yesterday pulling all the lines off the truck, filling them and holding pressure (ranging from 100 pounds on the 5" feeder lines to 250 on the inch and three ......
  114. 04/11/2004Yet another noun is 'veribized' into an I.T. termMany of you know that my wife Barbara is also in the I.T. industry. She's the Manager of Information Security at L.L. Bean and in most homes would be 'geek' of residence. I'll let you folks guess as to just how much that holds true in our place. Anyway, ......
  115. 04/11/2004Medical diagnostics suffering from the same thing as I.T. Consulting?An article in the Houston Chronical on April 10th talks about how with medicine becoming so reliant on diagnostic tests and risk factors that doctors and specialists have become very interchangeable and much of the time diagnosis is made not based on a ......
  116. 04/09/2004Working harder and harder on anti-spam I've got really great results with Mark's SPAMJAM product but as is my nature I'm always trying to improve. I've been analyzing the spam that does get through to try to figure out how best to eliminate it. Richard really believes in the idea of bayesian ......
  117. 04/06/2004Here's why you don't store gas cylinders in your carAcetylene gas has a lower flamable limit of 2.5% and an upper flamable limit of 100% (it will burn underwater). If that doesn't convince you not to store it carefully, consider this case from Newcastle, Maine. An "E" size cylinder was left in the cab of a ......
  118. 04/05/2004Two new lotusScript functions replaced some old stanby utility code todayOf course, they're not really that new -- they've been around a bit but I've never really had a reason to use them. I had my old "ParseToArray" function that did just the same thing as one, and the other -- well, its a simple enough loop. They are cool ......
  119. 04/05/2004Lotus Domino wins Network Computing's Editor's Choice!Since there is no way I can state this better than Ed, I'm going to "encapsulate" him here -- or perhaps that should be 'I-capsulate' --- heh heh heh..... ......
  120. 04/05/2004Is life better with a faster 'puter?If you followed last weeks adventure into the building a high performance PC, by now you've got to be desperate to find out..."Was it worth it?" It sure was. Here's a chart: Before (1.7ghz Celeron, 1GB RAM, StandardVideo & Sound, EIDE drive) After (2.8ghz ......
  121. 04/05/2004Excellent shopping charma today! Some neat stuff out there for geeks and geek wanna-be's.Lest you all think my life is nothing but writing amazing code by day (and night) and running into burning buildings or ripping people out of damaged cars by night (and day) I thought I'd share some more mundane fun for a change.... All I really needed ......
  122. 04/02/2004Ballmer and McNealy -- best buds again? Where does that leave big blue?So now Bill gives Scott some two billion bucks, and Scott's all smiles again. What does it mean? Windows gets the JVM, sure. What else? Will we see visual studio sprout new direct integration to the Java run time? Can you imagine a class library add in ......
  123. 04/02/2004Silence is copperThe addition of a Zalman CPU cooler (A replacement for the stock Intel heatsink and fan that came with this cpu) changed my new hotrod PC from a noisy server room candidate to a silent and well behaved desktop denizen. Silence is golden, or in this case ......
  124. 03/29/2004Well, the new PC is all built and happy -- here's a review on the hardware and buildOverall, the whole thing went fairly well. I'll give you a run down on each of the bits of hardware so you can decide if they have value to you. Assembly took about two hours, but in part that was me taking my time and getting every cable and screw just ......
  125. 03/24/2004Pay homage to our slack-jawed friends, for we have them to thank...An article in the Washington Post today essentially attributes a minor mutation in a single gene for the ultimate evolution of Humans as a species. That specific mutation weakened the jaw's "Bite" muscles, which apparently wrap the entire skull. The ......
  126. 03/24/2004Time to upgrade the workstation -- prepare to drool (if you know what this stuff means)Took the plunge today and bought the hardware for my new desktop/development machine. The parts should be in by Friday. The goal was maximum performance without going over the top on cost. Compromise just a bit off the very latest, but stay out on the ......
  127. 03/23/2004Time for another classic Notes client performance tip!Its been a while since I wrote a good performance tip. This one is a favorite since it affects the most important performance of all -- what the user actually feels. We have a busy database that resides on a server. It isn't locally replicated. It uses ......
  128. 03/17/2004Loving my Win 2003 Server and its shared use modemHaving installed Windows 2003 on a machine -- not really a high end one -- to do some streaming audio, I came across a feature that allows a single fax modem to do the job of both modem and fax for inbound and outbound use. That means with the single ......
  129. 03/16/2004Choosing a credit card company for how they do businessI'm switching credit cards too -- dropping my American Express card and going to use exclusively a card from MBNA. Why? MBNA employs thousands of people within a hundred miles of me, and many more in places around the U.S. for their massive call centers, ......
  130. 03/16/2004Parting ways with my old airlineBreakups are hard. You've been together for years. You know the schedules, the trade-offs, the rules -- you've learned to make things go smoothly even problems arise. The time comes when you have to realize that things just aren't working. You have to ......
  131. 03/08/2004The plan for Martha Steward Living is obvious --Its pick on stupid press day today, if you can't tell. Obviously a company like Martha's will continue without its founder. They'll rename themselves -- probably to just "Living" or "American Living" or maybe "Glorious Patriotic and Entirely Above Board ......
  132. 03/08/2004Hyperbole around water on MarsOk, I've learned recently that mars was "Drenched", "Soaked", "Completely Soaked" and now "Wet on both sides" --- Why can we not be satisfied with "Mars had abundant flowing water in more than one place on its surface." Drenched and Soaked both imply an ......
  133. 03/06/2004cross post: Biometics as a Technology - in my opinion is moribundAuthor's Note: I originally posted this in another venue as a response to a push for biometics. I've updated it a bit to remove references to other things in that venue that are not mine to share. Biometrics is one of those technologies that springs out ......
  134. 03/02/2004Our hearts go out to the Shiite Muslims who were attacked today.Having grown up in a Jewish household, and being American and therefore subject to the constant negative imagery associated with the Muslim and particularly some of the Shiite branches of Muslim over the years, I would like to call on everyone who bothers ......
  135. 02/26/2004NCT Search 3.0 goes Beta 1! Come give me feedbackAt long last and with great relief, NCT Search 3.0 is in Beta 1 -- the First Look version. Obviously I haven't crafted a terribly complex search form onto it yet, but give it a try and tell me what you think thus far. Note: The servlet responds with an ......
  136. 02/26/2004its the little bugs that get you....As I'm sitting here getting NCT Search 3.0 beta 1 ready to send over to Jim at Brightline, I realized that the cache is a little too good --- if you make a change to a configuration form, you have to redeploy the servlet to get it to pick up (or drop the ......
  137. 02/23/2004Followup - more test data with really interesting resultsI modified the test (described here: http://www.thenorth.com/apblog2.nsf/0/816E292DD0A455E385256E3F0079C823 ) to try to make it resist things like random server performance changes due to whatever else the machine is doing. I've also tried to eliminate a ......
  138. 02/19/2004It is REALLY better for each Thread to have its own Notes Session objectWhat's really interesting here are two distinct findings: 1. There is no question that two threads hitting different databases pretty hard at the same time, run more than twice as fast as both threads using the same session. In fact, there is a 125% ......
  139. 02/18/2004Doing it all wrong!Breakthroughs are funny. You'd think it would be frustrating to find out that what you've been doing isn't the best way to do it, but its the revelation itself that is exciting and leads to amazing success. I've you've been following my blogs as I bang my ......
  140. 02/16/2004Defragging can be helpful, but not critical and not as important as it used to beg=C800:5 anyone?) in an RLL format (30% more sectors per track) and was fast enough to handle a 1:1 interleave. I remember seeing speeds of 800k/second with that controller and an expensive 80meg full height drive from Micropolis in my 80286. ** all this ......
  141. 02/15/2004NCT Search 3.0 -- First MAJOR test in progress and it looks greatIts an exciting day for me, because at long last NCT Search 3.0 is in a real serious QA mode. Right now, I'm hammering on it with 20 concurrant sessions, each posting search after search after search (10,000 times) without pause. What I'm looking for, is ......
  142. 02/14/2004Cheap and easy wireless boost from Radio ShackHere's a simple product that does just what it says. For your Linksys 802.11b or 802.11g wireless router, Radio Shack sells part number 278-844. It is simply a pair of antennae to replace the ones that come with the router. These are longer. That's the ......
  143. 02/13/2004Cool product pick!I know this isn't new, but I really really like it... http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/5da2/ The Ambient Orb is a device that slowly transitions between thousands of colors to show changes in the weather, the health of your stock portfolio, or ......
  144. 02/12/2004Just configured SSL on my serverGeez, in all this time the template design for SSL certificate management in notes has not gotten better. Its a horrible process. I signed up as a reseller for an ssl certificate firm and I think I'm going to create an online service just for Domino ......
  145. 02/11/2004Who really cares if Atkins was overweight?Friends, Romans, Countryman -- fellow geeks all; does it matter if the man who brought us the T-Bone Steak as a diet aid was himself overweight when he died? Now understand, I'm not on a low carb diet -- you can have my carbs when you pry them from my ......
  146. 02/09/2004This blog should now support SafariHi all; I've been busier than a one legged man at an ass-kicking contest lately, but one big item off my list was to make this blog work right in Safari. Turns out it was missing just a single closing "" tag at the end of a monster list -- the archived ......
  147. 01/30/2004IBM is too worried about PortalHi all. Some thoughts from LotusSphere. I got to talk to Pooter yesterday and he did more to give me a feeling for Portal than anyone in the entire marketing avalanche that was IBM plan for LotusSphere. Others I've talked to feel the same. Richard and ......
  148. 01/28/2004Day 2 - Thank you all very muchWhat a day. For those of you I got to meet today -- thanks. I gave my talk today, and expected to be talking to about 5 people. I couldn't imagine why they put me in the Osprey room which holds 400+. The room was full, but I found out later that the ......
  149. 01/26/2004Notes from Day 1 at LotusSphere!Well friends, its been quite a day for me. I spent a good part of it working in my room on NCT Search, and thanks to a little help from the guys at Brightline in finding where Tomcat had referenced my servlet, I am incredibly pleased to report that I've ......
  150. 01/24/2004I got to speak at length with Ambuj Goyal tonight...Hey -- welcome to the first of my LotusSphere 2004 blog entries. I've been away from blogging for a few weeks. Here's what I've been up to: Adopted Eclipse as my java ide of choice. Re-wrote nctSerach as a multi-threaded java object set -- more details on ......
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