Andrew Pollack's Blog

Technology, Family, Entertainment, Politics, and Random Noise

Document Archive

Further BackMore RecentJump to:
  1. 05/08/2008What should the Notes desktop really look like?Are you still using the same desktop workspace in Notes that you were 10 years ago? Truth be told, it is a desktop paradigm that even looks ugly when compared to the Mac Finder interface in 1991. Although there have been attempts at a replacement, most of us still use this dog of a UI with 32x32 pixel 16 color icons set into square blocks about 3 times that size. We can organize these application icons any way we like - as long as we like gray on gray in a grid pattern. We can even have folder tabs to ......
  2. 05/07/2008The Urban Dictionary definition of Borked.....is borked.I love this. Tech people use the term "borked" pretty freely now, but for those who actually remember it is a reference to nominee Robert Bork who's confirmation hearings were driven off the rails in the midst of partisan politics. No matter which side you agree with, it was clear that the process itself was totally broken as a result. The argument over the definition of the term, is suffering the same fate. Check out the use of alternate definitions to continue the very same argument. ......
  3. 05/06/2008Iron Man - Best. Comic. Book. Movie. Ever.I took my (nearly) 13 year old as an excuse to see Iron Man this weekend. What can I say that you haven't already heard? it totally rocked. The suit? it rocked. The house? It rocked. Pepper? She rocked. repeatedly. I do wish they'd have have played more Black Sabbath tracks during the film. There were a couple of spots where just a few really heavy guitar licks would have fit. In all other respects -- Awesome. ......
  4. 04/30/2008One of the best quotes I've ever read from "Quotes of the Day"I cant help but really like this quote: In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George ......
  5. 04/30/2008For the second time in as many weeks, Notes & Domino are getting positive commentary on Slashdot!This story in particular is a good one for the Notes community because it very publically points out how ridiculous the idea of an "Upgrade" to Exchange really is. I particularly like one comment that called the practice of moving to Exchange "Faith Based Computing". I didn't think I'd live to see the day when you could mention Notes on Slashdot and not get deluged with outdated complaints about the UI or whatever. ......
  6. 04/28/2008The part came from Hong Kong, finally, so I was able to fix Ari's Nintendo DS Lite screenAri had dropped her DS Lite a couple of weeks back. Thanks to the magic interwebs I was able to find a replacement part, and today I did the work of putting the new top screen in. It wasn't terribly hard, though some soldering was necessary and the ribbon cable is a pain to get routed through the hinge to the main board. How's this for some fine solder work ......
  7. 04/24/2008A busy week on the fire department side this weekAnother structure fire today. This time all the way in Freeport. That's two towns over. At 15:30 or so both Engine 1 and Engine 3 from Cumberland were dispatched to Yarmouth's North Street station for coverage. Yarmouth had an all hands brush fire going on (it is brush fire season here, from now until when things green up in a couple of weeks). We left our Central station with a crew of three and were almost immediately re-directed to the town of Freeport (one town over from Yarmouth) where they had a ......
  8. 04/24/2008HBO Films John Adams - AmazingI've just finished watching the final part of the HBO Films production "John Adams". What a fantastic mini-series this has been. Though I studied American History (I realize to many of you in Europe this would seem a fairly short course) in school, my understanding of the events immediately surrounding the American Revolution always felt very distant and out of touch. Since moving to New England - and particularly since joining the fire department here in Maine I've gotten to know the places where these ......
  9. 04/21/2008Too many emails makes me rescind permission to send.There are two sites I do business with that I've given permission to email me from to time with updates that I may find of value. Unfortunately, these two sites have confused this permission with what they seem to perceive as a desire to get these emails daily -- or sometimes several times a day. As a result, I'm removing this permission from both sites. The idea of "opt-in" email updates is a good one, but companies need to understand the difference between "Yes, send me an update if something good comes ......
  10. 04/17/2008Speaking Nightmares -The old Water in the Laptop trick...The biggest nightmare I can foresee would be to immediately follow Paul & Bill’s flying circus. Fortunately I’ve never had to do that. I have had some….challenges, however. At the H&T Verlogs conference in Munich a few years back, about 3 minutes into a presentation that included live demos on integrating IBM DB2 with Lotus Domino, I managed to knock a 5 ounce glass of water directly into my Dell laptop’s keyboard. The laptop shut down, and when it tried to boot came up with the fantastic error message ......
  11. 04/15/2008Playing with fire -- and learning to not like CAFSCAFS (Compressed Air Foam System) is a fairly new technology for the fire service. Some people swear by it, and other people don't like it at all. Until today I held no real opinion as I hadn't used it, though I'd expressed some trepidation. At just after 4 this afternoon, Cumberland toned out for our RIT to respond to the next town over, Yarmouth, for a possible structure fire. By the time we were on the road, Yarmouth had gone to the All hands, and about the time we got there they went to a 2nd Alarm. ......
  12. 04/12/2008How many times a week does having access to the internet save your bacon or change your life?My oldest daughter, Ari, tripped and fell while carrying her Nintendo DS-Lite. This is something she saved for for a long time. A broken top screen led to tears. Because we all know that I'm way too soft when it comes to such things, I told her I'd see if it was something I could fix. Enter the Internet. Within seconds I'd found multiple sites with instructions for replacing the top screen of a Nintendo DS-Lite including a full write up at Instructables. The instructions even recommended getting the ......
  13. 04/11/2008Cars left out of the sunshine for too long burst into flame in Portland, Maine!Early this morning, the city of Portland, Maine was busy. Within a few minutes and all within a few blocks of each other 8 or 9 cars burst into flames. Three buildings -- at least one apartment building -- became involved and more than 20 people are left without their home and belongings. Fortunately, there are no reported injuries. At 4am my fire pager went off with a Box 700 for Ladder 7 and Squad 1 (our heavy rescue) to cover Portland for their 3rd alarm fire. This happens a couple of times a year. ......
  14. 04/10/2008Scary Fire Stuff -- probably the scariest blog entry I've ever posted.At last night's officers meeting, one of our deputy chiefs presented a follow-up from a fire in Price William County, Virginain which a firefighter was killed. Its something we do as part of training, so its not that it was unusual but this one really hit home for some of us. This was presented in much the same way as the last one we did (the tragedy in Charleston, SC). We listened to the audio recording timed with photos showing the fire's development and some 3D models showing the layout and the heat ......
  15. 04/07/2008Ok. Memes being what they are... How the hell did I ever get into Lotus Notes?It's always been about the collaboration for me. I'm a geek, but it isn't what I'd planned to do for a living. I'd gone off to University of Arizona to study a program that I hoped would eventually take me to veterinary school so that I could take care of horses. That was, I admit, a vague idea at best. Mostly what I was studying was living with my girlfriend. School was a distant second. Although I'd been into computers for a while they weren't more than tools and toys at that point. Then my cousin's ......
  16. 04/03/2008Lotus - The Mike Rhodin YearsBy now, if you don't know Mike Rhodin is leaving the Lotus organization and being replaced by Bob Picciano from the DB2 side of the house, you probably aren't someone who cares and will want to skip this posting. I don't know anything about Mr. Picciano other than what I've read on other people's blog posts, but it seems he comes from a technical sales and executive background and has very high credibility within the IBM organization. Those are good things. While I didn't agree with Mike Rhodin in some ......
  17. 04/01/2008Happy Birthday MomThis isn't an April fool's joke. My mother's birthday is in fact April 1st. I also know that she tends to follow this blog -- probably because I am otherwise absolutely terrible out getting pictures and letters about the kids out to her and she lives a very long way from here (in so many ways). If I'm following correctly, she is now 39. Still. I realize that's odd given that I'm 40, but one doesn't question these things. By the way, if you think its unusual to have a one parent born on April 1st, consider ......
  18. 03/30/2008IdeaJam Remembers You! Now powered by NCT Remember Me! To celebrate, I've made it cheaper.It's finally happened! NCT Remember Me! is now up and live on IdeaJam! You won't have to re-authenticate just to vote any more. Just check the box. The product, NCT Remember Me! provides true Domino session based authentication credentials. Its not a trick where an anonymous user is recognized and their name pops in. Reader Names fields, Database ACL's, and the other things you associate with being logged into Domino on the web are all supported. NCT Remember Me! is for sale. You can use it on your own ......
  19. 03/30/2008Lotscript Error Handling LibraryThis is a cleaned up version for your use -- in my own case, its a bit more complex as I use a logging database to log much of the agent activity I do. In that case, the script library opens that database and automatically creates a document with fields for database name, agent name, start time, end time, etc. It also writes logging output to that file in any agent using with a debug_print() function used instead of "print" or "msgbox" throughout the agent. My version also handles the functionname as a ......
  20. 03/29/2008A shout out to Kohler - yea, them.A bit of a plumbing job that I had to do went much easier thanks to some good support from Kohler. In our master bathroom, we have faucets and valves from the Kohler Fairfaxfamily. The bathtub valve was dripping, but I couldn't find a replacement cartridge at any of the hardware stores I frequent. When I called Kohler, I found out why. They don't sell replacement cartridges. They give them away. Simply through my call, within 5 minutes I was talking to an expert who agreed with me that it needed ......
  21. 03/27/2008A couple of comments on some recent teapot scale tempests in the Domino communitySorry I've missed playing in the latest round of who has the biggest ego. I've been working hard lately -- mostly to make up for a dreadful second half of 2007 while I worked on Second Signal and therefore didn't do enough consulting. It wouldn't be a good meaningless argument however, if I didn't weigh in. Here's an invoice for my two cents.... Grand Ruckus #1: Volker Weber posted a carefully aimed groin-kick of truth in the form of his "10 common beliefs in the Domino community", to which Nathan ......
  22. 03/27/2008Spring? I suppose.I took this picture today, March 27th at 07:39. As you can see, the pool's location can now be accurately determined beneath the remaining snow cover. The diving board is poking out just a bit, and the slide is almost fully visible. No sign of the pool cover yet, however. This is obviously in an area fully exposed to direct sunlight most of the day and not impacted by snow plows or anything. Its just natural snow pack. Just think, only 5 weeks till this is opened up and ready to swim ......
  23. 03/24/2008Where have you been? I haven't heard from you in days! This post will ramble some, but I'm in a good mood so I'll share.Has it really been 10 days since my last post? Wow. Its been busy around here. To begin with, spring is trying to sneak its way in. Its less than 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) tonight, but during the day its been up around forty and little by little we're getting rid of the snow pack. There is still upwards of two feet of icy remnant left in many spots, but in sunny places in the center of the yard there's ground showing through. We had a white Easter. We had a white Christmas. We had a white everything else in ......
  24. 03/14/2008Some good old back to basics Domino code this weekThe nature of my practice is that I focus on the real specialty stuff and don't really get to do basic web apps very much. The last few days I've enjoyed working on classic Domino web app though. With all the time spent focusing on Javascript fanciness, AJAX, and pages that don't look like pages you can forget what a joy it can be to just let the server do the work. Some of the built in features have come a long way since the last time I used them. Embedded html views with selectable entries and buttons ......
  25. 03/12/2008Follow-Up - My take on Open ID - It takes us the wrong way. This is a problem that already has better solutions.Open ID is an attempt at the concept of an ID Vault for browser based access to web sites. As a vault, it gets fairly close. Unfortunately, it's storing credentials that are themselves inadequate. If the open ID method of sharing credentials could be applied to the storage of real credentials, it would be much more powerful. I've looked into Open ID a bit more since I started talking about it in a previous blog entry. I've come to a few initial conclusions about it that are fairly disappointing. It isn't ......
  26. 03/08/2008Is there any interest out there in an Open ID implementation for Domino?Open ID (http://openid.net) is an attempt to allow you to use the same credentials to log in on many web sites without having to remember different id and passwords. The idea is that you authenticate with any site that accepts Open ID based on credentials that you control. Your AIM address, for example, can be used as an Open ID. You may have many Open ID's, but a single Open ID can only be owned by one person. This site explains it better, I think: http://janrain.com/openid/ Anyway, I don't think it would ......
  27. 03/03/2008Creating an SSL Certificate for IBM Lotus DominoA great many people have asked me for a simple How-To on creating an SSL certificate for your Domino server. Here's a very clear step-by-step guide that should do the job for you. ......
  28. 03/02/2008Guess what's getting added to IdeaJam?Bruce posted this on hisideaJam blogtoday. Who else needs to automatically re-authenticate users when they return to a secure web ......
  29. 02/27/20086 More inches of snow tonight. This time, the heavy kindIt doesn't sound like much, but you have to understand different kinds of snow to get it. I'm glad the key remaining parts for the snowthrower came in today. It took me about 90 minutes to install the new friction ring and plate, drive clutch spring, and drive clutch cable. The machine performed like a champ with tonight's 6" of new snow. I know, 6" doesn't sounds like very little compared to the snowfalls we've had this year. Those were mostly lighter, more powdery snows that you get in really cold ......
  30. 02/26/2008SmashLab == Cool Technology, Juvenile ImplementationsI've been watching Discovery's new series "SmashLab". I've watched enough now to give it an official Geek Review. The concept is simple enough. Take some gifted people with complimentary backgrounds, give them some new technology and a safety problem to solve with it, and see what they can prototype to try out the idea. Now, lets break down how the show stacks up: 1. The Technology. Extremely Cool. In the shows I've watched they've used Aerated Concrete in an attempt to show down runaway cars, a kind of ......
  31. 02/25/2008A Happy DaySome good things grace my desk today. To begin with, I got the letter from the bank today with the title to my car. I'm finished paying it off now, and it still has a few years of excellent driving. Those who've read this site for some time, may recall that my last car burned up in the garage in February of 2005. Since then, I've been stuck with a car payment. Once again, I am car payment free. Oh happy day. If I were a good planner, I'd keep making that payment into savings for the next car, but it ......
  32. 02/24/2008- CORRECTION - Having just wasted a good bit of the afternoon, here's a technote on setting cookie expiration dates for IE* Corrected on Feb 24. Many of you super JavaScript programmers already know this, but since I didn't have it quite right I thought I'd post it here so that if someone else is searching for information they'll have an easier time of it. When you set a cookie in JavaScript, you make it 'permanent' (make it last through browser restarts) by setting a parameter called "expires". There are web pages all over the place that will tell you about lots of different formats you can set that expiration date in. Many ......
  33. 02/23/2008NCT Remember Me! Just got even easier to useDrop two html tags onto any page on your server, and your users can Auto-Login to Domino when they return to your site. I've been playing with the code for NCT Remember Me! today, and I came up with the easiest deployment method you can imagine. Here's the code you can add to any web page: Or you can get fancy, and do it this way:' cellStyle='border:solid 1px black; background-color:black; color:yellow; padding:1em '>The optional parameters in the second example, will result in a "Remember Me" checkbox ......
  34. 02/21/2008Does anyone believe that this was the only anti-satellite trick up Uncle Sam's heavily armored sleeve?If you haven't seen the newsyet, the U.S. Navy used a "standard" missile launched off a navy cruiser with a special 3rd stage which is effectively a self-guided hunk of mass (a big rock) designed to home in on the target in an airless environment and simply slam into it using the differential in speeds between an orbiting body and the missile itself as the kinetic energy to cause the destruction. Does anyone believe that plans for this sort of thing haven't been in place for quite a while, and that the ......
  35. 02/17/2008Imminent unplanned satellite re-entryHave no fear, FEMA is here. Our government is protecting us from the imminent unplanned satellite re-entry. Here you'll find the documents forwarded through our incident management chain of command. For those of you reading this story from outside the U.S., you can likely follow the same procedures. Guys, I've seen this in the movies a dozen times and I know just what happens. You may wish to acquire this critical information to supplement your skills if the worst happens. ......
  36. 02/16/2008A few days of sunshine, then back to workFor the next few days, I am on Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. What a difference 12 hours makes. Thursday night I was in 20 degree weather lighting a scene for the town of Falmouth where they were dealing with an overturned oil truck dumping 1700 gallons of Kerosene into a river. The coast guard, epa, everyone got to play. Now, I'm in 80 degree sunshine with a beach and pool within eyesight. Forgive me if I hold off the blogging a ......
  37. 02/11/2008Snowthrowers age at about the same pace as dogs.We had three snowstorms last week. During the first, my old snowthrower (which at one time looked a lot like the one pictured), broke just as I was finishing my driveway. It took me about an hour or so to disassemble the drive system and make a workable repair. The repair held for the next driveway - a neighbor's as he's injured his shoulder, and the following two storms as well. It won't hold forever, but I've got replacement parts on the way that should put it to rights again. When I went to order the ......
  38. 02/05/2008NCT Remember ME is official!Automatically log-in returning Domino usersNCT Remember ME!True Lotus Domino CredentialsInstalls in Minutes to existing or new web pagesDoes not require a DSAPI filterFully Supports ACL's, Reader Names, Groups, etc.Fully Supports Multi-Server Session Based AuthenticationFind Out ......
  39. 02/03/2008Congrats to the NY Giants - What an amazing football game.I don't watch football that much (not the American kind with an odd shaped ball anyway) as I prefer the other kind -- played with a FOOT and a BALL. Still, even though being in Maine I'd have loved to have seen the Pats win, I can't begrudge New York that win one bit. They managed to shut down Brady's offense so consistently that he almost never had time to do anything. I've never seen him so hammered. Credit where due, the man continued to use every opportunity given him until the end -- he just didn't ......
  40. 02/02/2008NCT Will be announcing a new product on Monday, and many of you will want it.Consider this a pre-announcement and offer via my blog since I have yet to integrate the blog with the home page. The official announcement will be on Monday, for a product called simply "NCT Remember Me". This will be a "nearly instant" drop in solution for Domino based web sites that allows you to add "Remember Me" functionality to your site with almost no effort. Users who return to your site will be recognized and re-issued valid Domino session tokens. They will actually be logged in users -- this is ......
  41. 01/31/2008What if it all just goes quiet?On February 17, 2009 all the analog TV signals transmitted in the US are scheduled to go dark. After that time, its digital or nothing. Just consider for a second, how few of us have ever lived in a place where we were not under constant full time exposure to transmissions measured in thousands or even tens of thousands of watts from the analog TV stations at VHF radio frequencies. Just consider this for a second. What if they shut all the stations down, and a whole bunch of stuff that we had no idea was ......
  42. 01/31/2008Nuclear Duct TapeFrom the department of "I gotta get me one of these!" (Will Smith, Independence Day) Hillas Packaging, Inc. offers the followingproduct:Item Number : Nashua 357 Red Nuclear 3" x 60Yd ETDescription: Duct Tape, Nuclear Grade, 3" X 60 Yard Et, RedProduct SpecificationsMSDS (Materials Saftey Data Sheet)Presumably, this is for HAZMAT response but if you're going to get some serious duct tape, why not get Nuclear Regulatory Agency specification approved duct ......
  43. 01/30/2008Please jump in here - A debate question about an XPages concernPlease chime in on this one, as I know it’s a heavy topic in Westford as well. A very smart friend of mine has a concern about XPages. I think he’s wrong. More specifically, I think he’s making an origami mountain out of a map around a molehill. Even if you normally just ‘lurk’ here, I’d like to see as many people chime in here as possible. Here’s the issue as my friend sees it: There is not any 1:1 relationship of an XPage to a specific document. There may be zero, one, or many data notes or other kinds ......
  44. 01/28/2008XPages: The Most Important New Feature You Didn't Know You NeededHint: It isn't all about the UI features. XPages are not a secret any more, but I think you'll find a perspective here that you may not get elsewhere. XPages: The Most Important New Feature You Didn't Know You NeededWriting anything in conjunction with the IBM Lotus people can be a real exercise in frustration. This is the third or fourth time I've done it, and will likely be the last attempt.this ugly page.Back in mid 2007 as part of a design review team I was given the opportunity to see XPages for the ......
  45. 01/28/2008Too Much Availability; Follow-Up from Lotusphere; Plans for the next few monthsA good Lotusphere this year. Despite some minor disappointments with the priority on announcements this was a great Lotusphere. The message, for the first time in many years, is all about the core products and their various accessories -- which is how I still think of Sametime, Quick'r, et. al. I realize that bothers some, but I can only call it like I see it. Best of all this year, as in almost every year, was time spent with good friends. There's always a bit of a let down after Lotusphere for me. It ......
  46. 01/22/2008Why the Opening General Sessions fall flatI've been thinking about what happens in the planning process that lets this happen. Particularly in a year like this where there is so much to get excited about, it left me slack jawed to see how badly stepped on the excitement was. In years past, they built excitement only to step on it hard at the end. This year, they avoided the problem by building little or no excitement. So what happens? You bring in a production company to help you may a big exciting event. They don't have ANY idea what the stuff ......
  47. 01/22/2008Some things done right in the LS2008 Opening General SessionComplaining about the OGS is like a favorite sport, and while great fun, isn't all there is to talk about. There were a few things done pretty well so I thought I'd talk about them. Kudos #1 - To begin with, Mike Rhodin's talk was much better done than in years past. Sure, if you're a geek it wasn't what you wanted to hear so it seemed long and boring. That's his job, to say long boring things to geeks that the money people care about. What he did right, was to keep it reasonably brief and not jump back in ......
  48. 01/21/2008What a shame. The OGS compressed Maureen's content into a few minutes that should have been the lead. 4 minutes for Designer in Eclipse. 15 minutes for F'ing Portal.This year's OGS leaves me a bit sad for the missed opportunity. Anyone within range of this text needs to get to the Designer sessions at LS to see the exciting things that just didn't get shown at the OGS. Apparently, the people organizing this thing still haven't learned how to decide what is and isn't important at all. I get angry most years about the OGS. More so this year when there is SO MUCH NEW and LONG AWAITED being built and ready to show in Designer now that its in Eclipse. All the editors, all ......
  49. 01/21/2008What ever happened to Lotus/IBM and their big Second Life Plans? Lets take a look. It isn't pretty.I'm in the second Opening General Session. As I had nothing better to do while Bob Costas was speaking to the 20% of the room who both know who he is and also care, I decided to pop in on Second Life and see who was watching from the Lotus venue on IBM's island. Remember that from last year? Well, after downloading the updates to Second Life, I 'flew' over to the Lotus venue from last year. It was nearly empty. There was one person outside -- not from IBM of course, and fast asleep. An abandoned avatar. I ......
  50. 01/21/2008Impressions from the "Salon" at LotusphereThe conference is big enough that the opening session -- the big draw -- is being split into 2 groups. The "Salon" is a demo and panel discussion led for the other group as a side show. They've got these "artists" and "thinkers" in the "web 2.0" space. Impressions: 1. Although I've nearly completed Web 1.0, I may play it again and go for a higher score. I'm not seeing a good reason to upgrade to 2.0 yet. I also can't get anyone to tell me what the upgrade license costs rather than just buying it straight ......
  51. 01/17/2008Greetings from Orlando!Here's the story in Orlando..... #1. I'm here, and you're not (well most of you). #2. It's very hot here. This evening, dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) fell from the sky in LIQUID form! I'm fortunate to have gotten under cover before being burned. #3. It could be the heat, but I think something terrible has happened to the snow here. It all green and fuzzy -- like its covered with some kind of mold. I think the heat and humidity have caused it to go bad. Maybe they can get it all nice and clean and white by the ......
  52. 01/17/2008It is amazing to me how many supposedly tech-savy people fall for the same B.S. over and over again.A simple article about the iPhone supporting Notes (through iNotes I think) generated yet another long list of people who want to talk about how much they don't like Notes based on using many years old versions, and completely ignoring the facts of vendor lock in and proprietary vs. open data access models. http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/iphone-putting-on-a-lotus-notes-suit/ How can anyone who is locked into Active Directory + Exchange + Outlook + SQL Server + Sharepoint + Win2k3 servers serious ......
  53. 01/16/2008Even if you're not going to LS, don't miss seeing the Opening General SessionThis year you're going to see the payoff for all that work and all the overhead associated with running Notes 8 in Eclipse. Usually, either live or shortly after, there is a way to view the Lotusphere Opening General Session. Do not miss this year's OGS. The Notes 8.0 client has a huge potential for new stuff, but you're not seeing too much use of it just yet. I liken it to having a brand new high end sports car that came with a governor set to 55 miles per hour. This year you'll get to see the payoff ......
  54. 01/15/2008The Y2K+38 Problem - It could be your opportunity this weekendFor those who don't know, Y2k38 is "short" for 1/19/2038, when many currently used computers and devices will again have a problem with digits. This time, it is because most Unix based system store dates as the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. Many of those numbers are still stored in 4 byte (32 bit) integers. Since dates can of course exist before 1/1/1970, the 32 bits must be used for both positive and negative numbers -- meaning the most significant bit is reserved as a +/- indicator. So, ......
  55. 01/15/2008The Shirts Have Arrived in Orlando!According to UPS, the shirts are at the shipping depot in Orlando, waiting for me. There are 36 boxes, at 40 pounds each. Yes, over 1400 pounds of ......
  56. 01/15/2008If you are reading this, and will be at Lotusphere 2008 .....Please make sure to at least wave and say hi. There is only one real reason why most people blog. Ego. If someone says otherwise, they're full of crap. To blog regularly, you have to either truly believe that what you have to say carries some kind of importance or you have to not care a bit. Either way, blogging is a clear indication of someone with an ego. NOTHING makes a blogger happier than to hear from people who read their mindless, poorly written drivel. If you read mine, let me know. Finding me at ......
  57. 01/15/2008Weekend Update: Finished, thankfully, with my drywall project; 14 inches of new snow; Countdown to LS08New Snow Fourteen inches of new powdery snow fell Monday. That was enough to cancel school, giving us a three day weekend. More snow is expected on Friday but I should be fine getting out on Thursday afternoon in time to pick the shirts up in Orlando on Friday. I've scheduled the flight early enough that in a worst-case situation (like last February where Jet-Blue abandoned Portland, Maine for over a week due to the storm in New York) I can drive. It's about 21 hours straight driving, so I'd sure like to ......
  58. 01/11/2008Are "CAPTCHA" losing their value for security? New bypass method completely avoids the problem of reading them.You might be a hacker. If you've ever been asked to read an image of distorted letters and numbers, then type them into a field on a web form, you're using a Captcha.The thing is, even though the programs that make the images are keeping ahead of the programs that read them, it is quickly loosing its effectiveness. Hackers are now using YOU to do the work. Suppose a comment spammer wants to automate adding stuff to your blog, but you've got captcha codes set up. These spammers are resourceful people. ......
  59. 01/11/2008Slingbox -- It isn't about T.V. over the internet. It's about my OWN T.V. over the internetI mentioned a few days ago that I got a Slinboxwith the gift certificate Barb gave me for Christmas. I'm really enjoying it, with all the time I spend waiting for the kids at one practice or another. What's interesting, is that lots of services are offering video over the internet, and most of what I'm watching I could get in other ways. Most of the networks offer their stuff a few days later for on-line viewing, iTunes sells the stuff, etc. The thing is, its a pain the backside to use those things. When ......
  60. 01/11/2008Want to learn to do surface mount soldering and repairs? Hands down, this is the best 8 minutes you could ever spend to learn how to solder properly. http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/101 The video is zoomed in super tight, the speaker is very clear, the demo is relevant, and the advice is both practical and accurate. He shows soldering and de-soldering of small, surface mount resistors, larger chips, and chips with very small ......
  61. 01/11/2008How to kill your own network.I woke up this morning to no network connectivity here in my home/office. Given that I have both a cable and dsl connection, with failover managed through my sonicwall firewall this is an extremely rare event. How did it break? I broke it. I recently moved from two servers at Serverbeach to a single more powerful server at The Planet. Having put the order in to cancel the two at the beach, I'd forgotten about it. My firewall, however, did not. It is configured to monitor the two connection paths by ......
  62. 01/10/2008Someone is picking on Gab. Not fair! Gab Davis, who is one of the most gifted Domino admins within our light cone has made a resolution to blog more. Only a few days in, some "Friend" (as if) has told her she should "tighten up" her style. Apparently this person thinks she should write less and edit more. Go check out Gab's blog and help us give feedback to whoever this person is, that they need to go get their own blog, and leave Gab free to say what's on her mind. I think if this person would give less advice, and spend more time reading ......
  63. 01/09/2008CULT Shirts 2008 Preview + Many Changes to the Lotusphere Wiki!Don't miss going to the Lotusphere Wikifor lots of stuff related to the conference. I've just added preview images of the 2008 CULT shirts, and a full 1280x1024 transparent background image of the "Don't Hate Me" logo suitable for desktop and presentation use. Have at it people. ......
  64. 01/08/2008Slingbox Rocks!Here's a tease for you. I'm in my car, parked outside the indoor arena where Ari is practicing her soccer. I've got the EV-DO card turned on, and am connected to my brand newSlingbox. I'm watching Jon Stewart and the clarity is perfect. I did adjust the buffer to a full 15 seconds, because this is a kind of bursty connection. In the first minute or so of the stream, it can be a little jittery, but slow the buffer fills up and the picture gets better and better as the "slingstream" uses the available ......
  65. 01/07/2008My most hated home repair jobs - wallpaper removal and drywall patchingWhen I was very little, I would not finger paint. The reason for this, discovered later, is that I have an aversion to any kind of dust, fine powder, or things that feel like they're coated with dust. This includes newsprint, chalk, and even dry soil. The idea of purposely spreading talc on ones body makes my skin crawl just to think of it. The idea of working with and even sanding down dry wall joint compound is enough to send me into full procrastinate mode for very long periods of time. Interestingly, ......
  66. 01/04/2008Microsoft Patents Frustration Detection System - so I've created a User Interface for it.According tothis article, Microsoft has patented a software and biofeedback based "Frustration Detection System". From TFA:I can't imagine anything more annoying then my PC waiting for me to get frustrated, then at just the point where I'm ready to toss it against the wall it interrupts me with a modal dialog ......
  67. 01/02/2008Video - Come for a Drive in the Snow! Bonus: Pics of my kids an Barb playing the snow!img {margin:3px; border:solid 1px blue;Today we got about 10 inches of perfect snowman snow, on top of 8 fresh inches of dry powdery snow just two days ago. All that went on top of a base of maybe 6 inches of older, icy stuff. The little boy in the picture is our neighbor.Just in case you've forgotten what it's like to drive in this stuff, take a look at this video, or just click any of the thumbnail pictures to see it larger. The driving was done just as the second storm was getting going, so all the snow ......
  68. 12/31/2007New Year's ResolutionsNew Year's Eve is here, and its as good a time as any to reflect on the stuff you know you should be doing but haven't been. Resolutions aren't so much about sticking to them like an iron clad contract. If we could do that, we would already have done those things. They're about thinking through some of what's going on with you and what you can do to make things better. In that light, here are some of mine: #1. Refocus on some of my core business products. Resisting the temptation to endlessly tinker with ......
  69. 12/28/2007Finally picked a replacement phone. Its almost a smart phone - and it wirelessly synchs my DOMINO mail, calendar, and contacts ......
  70. 12/24/2007According to the BBC, The UK is set to release beavers back into the Scottish Highlands.Barb had a funny reaction to this article. According to the article "Plans are in the pipeline for beavers to be released into the Scottish wild for the first time in 500 years." Reading further, it seems the beavers they'll be using will come from Norway. Barb got a very concerned look on her face when she heard this. From Europe, to Scotland, about 500 years..... she asked "they're not going to name the first one 'William' are ......
  71. 12/24/2007Christmas Eve Day here at TheNorth.comMerry Christmas to all of you. Even those of you who don't celebrate Christmas. No harm in wishing you a merry one. Here at thenorth, Barb and the Kids are already up at her parents place. My tradition is to put a good movie on, sit and wrap gifts, and wait for the FedEX and UPS trucks to bring the last of the last minute fun. Most years that works out. One year it didn't. At 9am on the 24th one year a fire call came in that kept us busy until late into the evening. Here's hoping that doesn't happen this ......
  72. 12/22/2007I'm thinking of unifying at least two of my three web sites, what do you think?I have three sites I try to maintain. This blog site, the main NCT site, and my Second Signal web site. I don't think I'm quite ready to fold in Second Signal yet -- it probably needs its own identity. Do I really need to be all that distinct between NCT and my blog? Many of my peers spend a great deal of time making web sites that look like they're big consulting agencies. I know one guy who's web site almost makes you think he's one of the big analyst firms. I can't imagine that the charade holds up for ......
  73. 12/22/2007The state of the cell phone market. What happened when I went shopping.I need a new phone, as I've stated before. I use a Motorola e815 and generally like it, but if I have to buy another phone (I have to replace one for my daughter) I thought I'd check out Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Motorola, and so on. I spent hours on this yesterday and came away disgusted. I tried the Blackberry 8130, and I liked its size and form factor. The typing for text messages was pretty great even with two keys per button -- I did have trouble finding the period when doing a web address, but I ......
  74. 12/21/2007Shit Happens - A old favoriteThis is an old favorite of mine, I thought I would look up and re-share. As we reach this time of such religious fervor in the U.S. and around the world, it will be of value to understand each other's viewpoints a little better. This is the shortest comparative religion course you can ever take. Taoism: If you understand shit, it isn't shitHinduism: This shit happened beforeConfucianism: Confucious say 'shit happens'Buddhism: Shit will happen to you againZen: What is the sound of shit happening?Islam: If ......
  75. 12/21/2007Sounds like they need a really really big VACUUM cleaner!10,000 Earths' Worth Of Fresh Dust Found Near Star Explosion ScienceDaily (Dec. 21, 2007) — Astronomers have at last found definitive evidence that the universe's first dust – the celestial stuff that seeded future generations of stars and planets – was forged in the explosions of massive stars. Check out this ......
  76. 12/20/2007A December for the books, surely.I just went out and took these pictures to show you that yes, we got another 6-8 inches of snow today. It is getting hard to find places to put all the snow, allowing the UPS guy to get to the door. img { margin:10px; border:solid 1px blue ......
  77. 12/20/2007Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Text!A new wiki has been set up to help people plan and have fun around Lotusphere. It won't work if you don't go play. Everyone gets to be an editor! http://ls2008cult.pbwiki.com/?full_access=sBKGMIyPKI&l=S Go make good things happen, ......
  78. 12/20/2007Northern Collaborative Technologies Recognized by IBM for Second SignalSecond Signal has been named as a Finalist for "Best Industry Solution" in the 2008 Beacon Awards!Second Signalis helping save lives and property by improving response to emergencies by fire departments.Find out more"This is the third time I've been recognized by IBM as a finalist or winner in these prestigious annual awards. This kind of consistent industry recognition is a huge achievement for any sized consulting organization, and an even bigger one for a small one like ours."Andrew Pollack, President ......
  79. 12/19/2007Oh Joy - More snow tonight, tomorrow, and then again this weekend...I like snow, but enough is enough - its only December! We're set up for another 6-10 inches of fresh snow tonight. That will make something like 25-30 inches in the last two weeks. Our winter doesn't usually get started this way. December in Maine is not normally a heavy snow month. Its a few cold days and some warm ones, with January getting really cold and February being our big snow month. No so this year! I'm off to get my stuff together, we're staffing the station again tonight -- the third time this ......
  80. 12/18/2007Quick, call for the Dread Pirate Roberts!Scientists have discovered that there really are ROUS (Rodents Of Unusual Size) living in the jungles of New Guinea. According to this BBS article, "A giant rodent five times the size of a common rat has been ......
  81. 12/17/2007Another Storm, Another Fire, & Driving a Bus in the SnowSome of you who've worked with me have commented that I tend to be very quick to change direction if things aren't going the way I'd planned. I don't marry an idea. I try hard to know when its time to go in another direction. Last night's events are a case in point as to why that's not a bad way to work. This has been a heck of a December for snowfall. I don't think we've seen the front yard uncovered since the beginning. We got another 8 inches of very cold, very dry snow yesterday which was then covered ......
  82. 12/15/2007O.K. I've relented and got rid of the ugly CSS. At least I hope so. You'll have to tell me if this is better. What this has really been all about is an update to the site. Aside from generally cleaning it up, standardizing the fonts, and other such junk, I've built in a bit of a color scheme management feature. I can now create and save color schemes using a form (as in the picture below). Then, in a configuration record for this blog site, I can switch between them using a simple radio button to pick between the defined color schemes. The CSS for this ......
  83. 12/13/2007Ho Ho Ho --- Holiday CSS colors on this site now.[Updated 12/14/2007 at 23:55] - I couldn't take it any more. I've decided to roll out some new design a little early. I recommend squinting a bit, and maybe shielding your eyes. Nathan in particular may be off his lunch for a while after viewing. The whole point of CSS was that you could over lay different looks without rebuilding the site. I thought I'd give it a try tonight. Maybe I'll give up on it and go back really ......
  84. 12/12/2007Ok, time for a new cell phone, so I'm going to solicit some e-pinions here...I know there are a ton of you people using crack-berries. I also know some prefer the Windows CE devices. The CE has an advantage to me in that writing apps for it will be a trivial change for me given that I'm already pretty comfortable in vs.NET. Still, crackberries are all the rage. Let me tell you what I currently have and what my goals are -- then you tell me what to look at. Right now, I have a Motorola e815. Its your basic clamshell phone, but a good one. It has the "Get it Now" from Verizon and ......
  85. 12/08/2007WWRD?WWRD? What Would Raj Do? Mary Beth Raven is talking about the latest "persona" they've created as part of their user-experience work. Raj is a Notes Developer. He's not real. He's what's called a "straw man" -- a stand in for the Domino Developers and Notes Developers out there. He's how the user-experience folks will be thinking about the day to day work process from the standpoint of someone doing that kind of work. When I'm writing code, I frequently have a real person in mind for the user. I try to ......
  86. 12/08/2007Existential Server AdministrationI've arranged for a new server, and while getting it set up have noticed something interesting. You start out by getting a login name and password, which you can then use to open a secure command shell session on your new server. We're talking about remotely hosted machines here, where access is primarily through a command line shell, or maybe a browser utility you like. Even though the operating system is what you asked for, the configuration is somewhat different than what you're used to. Your favorite ......
  87. 12/04/2007Some snow pictures after the stormIt wasn't exactly the "Storm of the Century" as the various T.V. panic people were talking about, but we did get a fair amount of snow. About 9 inches total over the course of around 20 hours. Take a look. a.picture { border:none ; margin:5px }Click any of these to see the picture ......
  88. 12/03/2007Headed for Philly tomorrow. Anyone feel like getting together?I'm flying in for a client site visit Wednesday and Thursday, and staying up in the Malvern / Valley Forge area. Anyone feels like getting together drop me a ......
  89. 12/03/2007Snow Day!Its a Snow Day here at Northern Collaborative and at Second Signal, our wholly owned subsidiary (yeah, they're both just me). We're expecting between 10 and 16 inches of fresh snow by tomorrow morning. So far we have around 4 or 5. Yesterday, I took the spouse-mobile (a 2004 Honda mini van) down to the fire station, pulled Engine 1 out on the ramp, backed the spouse-mobile in, closed the bay door, and swapped the regular wheels and tires for snows (on the van, not the fire engine). It was nice to be able ......
  90. 11/23/2007Posted some ideas to IdeaJamIf you haven't checked out IdeaJam yet, you should. I've posted three Ideas to get started. Bruce has done a great idea with the concept and it looks very workable. Use RSS feeds to keep up with new ideas, then vote them up or down. inwidth = 500;inheight = 150;id = "3C0AB5C09EADFDA08625739C007FF0C2";//-->inwidth = 500;inheight = 150;id = "935851559D016E708625739C00807A4B";//-->inwidth = 500;inheight = 150;id = ......
  91. 11/22/2007It looks like the session schedules are already starting to get filled in for LS 2008If you haven't already gone to the Lotusphere Sessions site and picked your preferences, you should really do so soon. The schedule is built based in large part on which ones you say you're planning to attend. Gab and I are doing our Jumpstart on Domino Security again this year, and that one is already scheduled with a big room and a repeat. I'm sure the Jumpstarts are easier to schedule as they have specific slots to deal with, so that why its in there so soon. The preliminary schedule looks like Gab and ......
  92. 11/20/2007Domino 8 on Linux - CentOS 5Well, my test platform ( allSpark ) had to undergo a reinstall. The Domino version 8 install won't run properly on CENTOS 4, which is what I had on there. CENTOS 5 works fine though. I'm sure with enough digging I could have found what was missing and added the right packages. I think it was java related. In any case, neither is a "supported" platform so it may be a bit of a moot point. For those who follow such things, I can confirm that CENTOS 5 does provide all the goodies the Domino 8 server needs. ......
  93. 11/20/2007My Lotusphere Sessions with their official links & descriptionsFor those of you looking forward to Lotusphere 2008, here's the official summary of my sessions. For those of you not looking forward to this event, or not planning to go -- if you're doing work with Notes and Domino, you're very foolish not to be there this year.Understanding Security in IBM Lotus Notes and Domino- Gabriella Davis & Andrew PollackSecure your environment. The Lotus Notes and Domino product suite offers an extensive array of features which work together to provide a strong, flexible, and ......
  94. 11/19/2007Interesting Day - I finally got around to starting my testing with a new version of Asterisk Domino administrators are spoiled. A new version comes out, we upgrade and it works. Its gotten so you barely have to test even a major revision. Backward compatibility is part of the QA process. The rest of the world is not that friendly to upgrades. A few months back I put a new linux based test server together. Its been sitting and waiting for me to start testing ever since. You may recall that I named my new server "AllSpark" after the device of the same name from the Transformers movie. Its a 64bit ......
  95. 11/18/2007Question for any Prius or other Hybrid car owners.I want to know. How many of you have driven with the headlights off a bit longer than you would otherwise do? How many have turned off the radio - or just turned it down? What else have you done while driving, secretly hoping to extend the time on the batteries and make it just a little further without that engine starting ......
  96. 11/18/2007Found a new RSS feed reader I really like. Its called AlestiI used to use Sharpreader, but that doesn't share well. Foxmarks is good in theory, but it seems to loose track of updates. The RSS reader in Notes 8 doesn't make me happy, and paying for a better one isn't my style. I'd sooner write one myself. In looking around, I came across "Alesti" http://www.alesti.org/ , and I'm back to keeping up with RSS feeds again. Its web based, but doesn't feel like a web application. It uses a three pane interface, with bookmarks on the left, titles in the upper right, and ......
  97. 11/15/2007Reviewing the Charleston, South Caroline fireA tough evening last night. As part of our monthly officers meeting at the fire department, we listened to a good portion of the radio traffic from the tragic fire in Charleston, South Carolina last August. We also had some photographs and location markers to see where things happened. In that fire, nine good men died. Before I talk much about what seems to have gone so terribly wrong, I want to point out a few things. 1. It is much easier to criticize the incident after the fact, than to manage it as it ......
  98. 11/13/2007The template for presentations at Lotusphere 2008 isn't ready yet. So I took a guess today.Ok, this is fake. I made it as a joke, based on templates from the past. This one hits all my "Favorite" things about Lotusphere slide templates. Anyone else want to take stab at ......
  99. 11/13/2007Product Recommendation - Philips SHE9500 Ultra Sound In Ear Headphones ......
  100. 11/08/2007A shout out to Tom DuffTom Duff sent me a book he wrote abouton his blog. The content is right up my alley.Its a solid technical look at how hardware interfaces are used. It is a strange thing, because there are some topics in there that are really old hat -- the software side of the interfaces and communication protocols in particular. Some of the hardware I'm fairly comfortable with as well. I'm not exactly new to the use of a soldering iron. Then there are places where the content is totally new. I've never built a digital ......
  101. 11/03/2007We are a soccer household... ......
  102. 11/03/2007Come see me at Lotusphere 2008 - Here are the 3 sessions I'm doingI'm going to be giving three sessions this year, and I'm really excited by all of them. I really hope you'll come see them.Linux for the IBM Lotus Domino Administrator-- Zombies & daemons aren't just for killing! This session is updated from last year and its my new favorite. So many people are using Domino on Windows servers more because they aren't comfortable with Linux than because they've made a choice that they like Windows better.This session is designed to give the Linux newbie everything they need ......
  103. 11/02/2007The most insanely sick picture of lightening I've ever seen.This pic is copyrighted and being shown on a site that probably paid for it, so I'm linking to it by not displaying it in line. Link to Lightening PicWe're expecting some heavy weather here in the next 24 hours. It should be a fun day on the fire ......
  104. 10/31/2007Finally figured out an oddness in Notes 8 that I've had for a good whileI've used the keyboard shortcuts for "Create Mail Message" and "Create Mail Reply" for years, but since upgrading to the Notes 8.0 BETA I didn't have them. They simply were gone from the menus.I knew these were a function of a check box on the property settings of the forms in the mail file, so I assumed when I checked that design that they'd been accidentally left off by development during the beta. When I upgraded to the Notes 8.0 client, however, they didn't come back.I checked the properties box on the ......
  105. 10/30/2007Designing your web site for YOUR target browsers - Not just "global" standardsSecond Signal's web site has been the focus of a great deal of my time recently. I'd love to use all that screen real estate on the right side that my laptop's wide screen shows, but before even attempting that I needed to understand what other people would see. There are lots of sites out there declaring that most people are using 1280x1024 screens now that LCD panels have been standardizing on that at 17" for so long. Other sites say the majority are 1024x768 still. Pretty much nobody is running at ......
  106. 10/27/2007Laptop Performance Quest - An affordable way to use SSD (Solid State Disks) in my current laptop.Solid State Disk -- essentially big flash drives in the shape of and with interface level compatibility with internal laptop drives -- is here. They don't compete for size with traditional spinning drives, and won't soon for anything close to the same cost. But they can be used effectively. What got me started this time was realizing that I had this modular drive bay in my Dell D820 that is currently filled with a CD/DVD that almost never is needed. I found a $50 unit that goes in the same bay, and is ......
  107. 10/25/2007Domino 7.0.3 in ProductionJust a quick heads up on the newly released Domino 7.0.3. I've had it up in production for several days. All is well. Performance may be improved. Of most value to me is the ability to reduce the time a users credentials are kept in cache. Since new users to Second Signal get added to groups as they join departments, updating the cache sooner has a distinct impact on their experience. This should also help with password changes and password refreshes (user forgets password so a new one is sent) being ......
  108. 10/22/2007Web access and logs are, in the end, about people.After the press release last week, and today's announcement of a referral program, I've been keeping a pretty close eye on the log files for Second Signal's public web pages. To do that, I've built a view that really limits what is shown. It only shows specific documents that are on the web site. It shows no image requests, and filters out nearly all web crawler robots. It also filters out my own addresses. What I'm left with is a very clear view of what pages people are actually reading, how long they're ......
  109. 10/22/2007iRobot Roomba 560 vs. 3 Kids, 2 working parents, 1 cat, lots of mess.The short verdict - its a keeper. For a nice change, the product actually does pretty much what it says it does. It isn't perfect, but the carpets and floors are cleaner with it than without it. It isn't entirely effortless, but the combination of cool factor and function do result in the job getting done better and more often than before. I've been very skeptical of these things. They're small - more akin to a little rechargeable dust buster than a full sized vacuum. They're self-roaming -- I had little ......
  110. 10/19/2007What old favorites live on your hard disk? How old is your oldest? Can you still remember what they do?Some of these may be older than some of you reading this blog. I was going through the file system on my laptop as part of generally cleaning it up. I do that once in a while -- removing old junk, uninstalling software I tried once and didn't like, generally putting things to rights. Anyway, as I was looking at the file system, I came across a directory I've copied from machine to machine for quite a while now. In fact, I've copied this little directory full of utilities through more upgrades than I can ......
  111. 10/18/2007Second Signal - Today's press release starts up the big pushThis press release went out today. It marks an end to the tinkering and the first real push to get this thing out in as many places as I can. I don't usually do "sales stuff" on this blog, but it seems pointless not to put up my own press releases. Second Signal Helps Small Town Firefighters Save Lives and PropertyUsing cutting edge technology, Second Signal is helping fire departments across the country better respond to daytime emergencies.Thursday October 18, 8:43 am ETCUMBERLAND, Maine, Oct. 18 2007-- ......
  112. 10/17/2007Attention IBM Partners - Domino 7.03 is now out for distribution -- or so I'm told -- but don't wait. Partnerworld is going down AGAIN at Noon Eastern US time on Friday the 19th.Apparently, it is our responsibility to "Please Plan Accordingly" IBM Partners who want access to IBM software, must pay IBM $795 a year. For this, they get access to the worst download interface I have ever come across and a web site that just shuts down for a few days at a time whenever they decide to perform "Maintenance" on it. IBM Partners have been screaming about this kind of garbage for years, but mostly in forums with limited access. There has been little response from the Partnerworld program ......
  113. 10/16/2007My Mother-In-Law the ComputerPeople have histories that you never really consider deeply enough. I had a really interesting conversation with my wife's mother over the weekend. She had asked about the route I'd planned to take, as I needed to go from her place on the coast up to Bangor where Coryn had a soccer game. I answered that I didn't know; I'd just plugged in the field's address on the GPS, and it told me I'd need about two hours to get there. I would do what it said and get there within a few minutes of that estimate. Instead ......
  114. 10/08/2007The results of the Falmouth Fall Classic (Soccer)Cumberland's U14G division 2 team (Coryn's team) beat Saco again, dominating most of the game and winning the finals! Cumberland's U14G division 1 team (Ari's team) beat the other Saco team then faced Gorham in the finals. Gorham beat PAYSA 6-2 in their semifinal and was considered by all to be the heavy favorite for the win -- and the overall win at the State Cup level when all is said and done. The final went 1-1 through over time and into sudden death where at the last minute Gorham scored, ending the ......
  115. 10/07/2007Tommorrow is Andrew Day. It is a national holiday. Banks will be closed. Schools will be closed. The Government will be closed (but who can tell). Many people will be home from work. Why? Columbus day you say? Nope. Tomorrow is Andrew's Birthday. Here's a hint, it's a big one, and the least significant digit is a zero. ......
  116. 10/07/2007Soccer Update -- Coryn's U14G Division 2 team won their game today, leaving them #2 in their grouping.Oddly, finishing second in their group puts them in the finals against the the very team they beat today. The game was close and it could be anyone's game tomorrow. That's what happens when they're only one group in your division I guess. Ari's team plays in the Semi-Finals at 8:30am tomorrow. If they win that game -- and they should, as they've beaten that team twice before -- they play in the finals against their arch rivals from Gorham who have an extremely strong team and beat them 2-0 last time they ......
  117. 10/07/2007Another holiday weekend, another soccer tournament - Ari plays with an injurySoccer, soccer, and more soccer. Caitlin has been playing at the AYSO level. AYSO -- the "American Youth Soccer Organization" is an "everyone plays" recreation level league. I've actually done coaching in this league. They teach parent-coaches the basics and it really isn't hard to do since you're really just teaching the basics of the game and keeping the kids happy, safe, and excited. AYSO's principals are great for getting kids into the game. The league tracks kids and coaches carefully. No favorites, ......
  118. 10/04/2007Is Transparent Aluminium Here?"New Material is extremely strong — and TransparentThe stuff is really strong, really stiff, and lasts a long time. It isn't porn though, it is a polymer. From TFA: "Science Daily — By mimicking a brick-and-mortar molecular structure found in seashells, University of Michigan researchers created a composite plastic that's as strong as steel but lighter and transparent."TFA: ......
  119. 09/30/2007Congratulations to the German Women's World Cup Team!My daughters and I have been watching the Women's World Cup by tape delay over the last couple of weeks. Although we were disappointed by the loss of the USA team to Brazil last week in the semi-finals, it was still great fun to watch the games. Brazil plays with all the passion and heat you'd expect from Brazilians. They have some amazing talent, including a 21 year old who is possibly the best woman playing the game at present. Marta as so amazing to watch that you can't help but appreciate the way she ......
  120. 09/28/2007If your union runs your benefits, who do you strike against?Health Care costs in the U.S. are driving the costs and decisions of nearly everything else now. Companies like GM which have obligations negotiated over past decades in this area are finding these costs strangling as they have to compete with newer manufacturers that build plants in non-union states or have contracts negotiated more recently that manage health care differently. GM cites a $10 per hour per employee cost difference as a result. Enter the most recent negotiations with the UAW. GM has managed ......
  121. 09/25/2007Common cold, or geek let down?Since getting back from IBM in Westford on Friday night, I've been pretty under the weather with a low grade fever and stuffed up head. It could be just a common cold (when will they finally cure this?) but it could be geek let down after two days of some really good future tech. I don't do fever well at all, so I'm mostly sleeping it off. I'll write more on the weekend once this thing is ......
  122. 09/23/2007The Domino Server and Lotus Notes client have an exciting futureI (and some others) had a recent opportunity to participate in some long term future discussions with the IBM development teams. I can't talk directly about anything specific that I've been shown, but I cannot help but report that the future has more cool stuff in it than I'd thought possible in a much shorter time frame. The IBM teams are focused on making the product more robust, much easier (and less expensive) to support, and much more easily integrated with -- well, pretty much everything. The ......
  123. 09/15/2007Government is not formed from the top down.Nation Building is a 20th Century idea and it’s time to move on. I’m speaking of course about what we’re trying to do in Iraq, but the discussion is much larger than that. The whole of the 20th century with all its fantastic advances in health, wealth, and happiness for the world’s wealthier nations has been a disaster defined by nothing so much as the – sometimes unintended -- consequences of our misguided attempts to bring our brand of success and values to the less successful and less powerful. The more ......
  124. 09/12/2007Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Tee-shirt -- Sponsors Requested!Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Tee-shirt Once again it is time to sign up sponsors for the annual C.U.L.T. As always, we’re running late. Rocky will be posting this year’s top-10 poll soon, meanwhile I need to start setting aside sponsorships and planning for the number of shirts. One of this year’s goals is to create a fun shirt that people will want to wear – The design will be something a little bit less gaudy but still fun. This year’s theme isn’t a secret (though of course the final top ten list will ......
  125. 09/02/2007All I want for Lotusphere 2008 is a.....Its months away, but the planning is in gear so I thought I'd jump in here with the top item on my wish list. I've given feedback like this privately to a few people; but its time to ask for in a more public way. ( EDIT NOTE: I am specifically referring to using the Eclipse Based Lotus Notes client to access data stored on a Domino Server) I want to go at least one, maybe as many as three serious sessions about creating new style applications for Domino in the Eclipse Framework. Here's the rub though -- I ......
  126. 08/31/2007Some countries can no longer access my servers.I've been going through my logs. Not just web server logs, but also SMTP logs, firewall logs, etc. I did some quick analysis of IP addresses by country, and created a simple ratio of friendly hits to unfriendly ones. By unfriendly I mean password hack attempts, spam attack attempts, exploit attempts, probes, and all the other ugly shit. Based on that, I've blocked all IP addresses in some countries. All of them. Entire countries. In most of them, there was not a single "Friendly" hit compared to thousands ......
  127. 08/30/2007School Has Started!7:30 and already there is peace and quiet. Having a home office is great. You can be there for your kids when needed, work after hours, take care of home stuff during working hours, and general make whatever use of time you need. Its also terrible. It mixes home and work time in the worst possible ways. The balance can be hard to manage. If you ask Barb, I don't manage it terribly well. Today is the first day of school here in Cumberland so for the next two days I have several hours of peace and quiet. Of ......
  128. 08/29/2007Things I didn't know about most current laptop batteriesBattery technology changes fast right now. Most current laptop models use Lithium Ion batteries. These are really odd things. They store an insane amount of energy for their mass. Any time you have that kind of energy density its dangerous. These batteries have complex electronics inside their packaging that's designed with a number of fail safe circuits so they don't just burst into flame. As we've seen recently, they haven't always been successful. I'd forgotten how long this laptop could run without a ......
  129. 08/28/2007On a lighter, and more important note -- Help me pick some SF classic films to show a friend.I have a dear friend who's in many respects as geeky as the rest of us, but who has a horrible sad lacking when it comes to classic science fiction films. We're doing some work at the same client and its within driving range of me, so I thought I'd bring some films, a projector screen, the lcd projector, some descent speakers, and a dvd player and play catch up in evening. With some help from a couple of others, I've put some top picks in a list here, but as long as I've gone to that much trouble now is ......
  130. 08/27/2007If someone made these statements to you, in the order shown, would you find them deceptive?Yes, I'm still going on about this. These people deliberately told me something would ship overnight, but only when pressed would admit that they couldn't commit to when it would actually ship. Sure, they'd ship it overnight once they shipped it, but it could be 8 days before that actually happened. Keep in mind, I'd already been promised the item overnight 3 times and been shipped a package without it. "The replacement order will be sent to you overnight." -- but then when pressed to find out WHEN it ......
  131. 08/25/2007Dell no longer wishes to do business. They're a mail order company that has forgotten how to mail things. Now off my recommend list for good.It’s a good thing Dell is starting to sell via Wal-Mart. That’s where they are headed anyway. They’ve just lost my business, and I can no longer recommend them to anyone. It is now finally completely clear to me that Dell simply doesn’t want to do business. I have posted here about my issues dealing with Dell’s extremely bad customer service before. I’ve had shipping problems, I have had sales people refuse to give me part numbers so I could order them directly, and I’ve had their corporate sales people ......
  132. 08/24/2007Software Complexity Peaking AgainLotus Notes 8 is a huge step forward in what developers will be able to do. I’m already seeing the first posts in partner forums and on blogs showing simple side bar applications that make use of some of the extensibility. These remind me of the first wiz-bang buttons and actions in Notes 4 that used Lotuscript. In those days, that kind of work was considered very high end development for Notes. Today of course, most Notes developers think in LS and forget how easy formula language is to work with. In a ......
  133. 08/21/2007RIM should be embarrassed by their failure to support customers. RIM may be the darling of the wireless communications world, but from where I sit they’re not treating customers very well at all. They’ve created a situation where customers can easily find themselves locked out of the system for hours or even days though what would otherwise be acceptable business practices. I’m involved in a project right now that includes a goal of building a redundant Blackberry configuration for disaster recovery. People rely on these things now for doing important work, and an ......
  134. 08/16/2007Facebook -- the fastest I've ever dropped a social contact website.Someone please tell me what possible value is to be gained from this other than a nightmare of constant message pings telling me this one has added me to a "friend list" or that one has left his bedroom and moved to the kitchen or no longer likes the color blue. Who cares? Are they trying to re-create the seventh ......
  135. 08/15/2007Its new stupid meme time! Which Transformer are you?According to this site, I'm 73% Optimus Prime I AM 73% OPTIMUS PRIMETake the Transformers QuizOptimus Prime is the heroic leader of the Autobots. He is the personification of courage, strength, and integrity. His personal motto is that “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” Like Optimus Prime, you are good by nature. But beware because mischievous thoughts sometimes tempt you. You are inspiring, confident, and a natural leader. The Autobots have chosen well. In addition, you use technology when you ......
  136. 08/15/2007What's the most boring show on cable you get sucked into for reasons you'll never understand?Cable TV brings us new heights of insanely boring TV we can't stop watching I'm sitting here completely fascinated by one of the most insanely boring programs I've ever watched. I realize that doesn't make sense, but that's the way it is. Its worse than watching golf and yet somehow I can't turn it off. If you're really, really board, check out Ice Road Truckerson the history channel. What's the most boring show on cable you get sucked into for reasons you'll never ......
  137. 08/15/2007So which campaign is Karl Rove going to?Karl Rove is leaving the White House. If you hadn't heard that by now you aren't someone who cares. I can think of three reasons why he'd do that other than the ubiquitous "to spend time with my family" answer they all give. Some say its because some new scandal or a resurgence of ugliness related to an existing one could put him in in the same place as his buddy Scooter. I don't buy that. If that was going to happen it would have already. The Libby pardon was held back as long as it could be to allow the ......
  138. 08/13/2007Ear Bud Pads -- by the bagfullEar buds, those little headphone things that come with iPods and similar products have these cheap foam pads on them. They come off. Now the ear bud isn't useful or isn't comfortable. You can buy more expensive ear buds, cheap replacement ones, or a Belkin 5 pack of pads for $10 (ouch). I win. I found a place that had a bag of 100 of them for under 20 bucks. HA. Now I can use all the old ear buds again whenever I ......
  139. 08/10/2007More really bad travel thanks to US Airways and their horrible serviceThe flight to Philly was terrible, but at least there was a flight. On that one, though having booked in advance and having selected a seat in the isle near the front, I found when I checked in at Boston that my seat had been taken away and I was forced to take a last minute back row non-reclining one. Then, this airline actually took the time -- mid flight -- to get on the PA System and give a minute long scripted pitch for their credit card, including walking down the isle with the brochures. This is ......
  140. 08/09/2007CNN -- Back off Bob Murray a bit Bob Murray is the part owner of a mine where rescue operations are underway right now. The men trapped 1500 feet below the earth may be alive, may be injured, or may be dead. These kinds of stories are always a huge draw for news programs like CNN, and in my memory the owners of the mine are usually faceless companies represented by expensive PR machines. CNN is operating in full "gotcha" journalism style when they interview this guy. We, out here in opinion land, can't possibly know what caused the ......
  141. 08/08/2007Late to the JSON bus - In a nutshell, its a simplified hack that is easy to work with even in its ugliness[] Many people in the blogging community around Lotus Domino have been pushing JSON for a while now. These are mostly user interface oriented people who do a lot more front end web site development than I do. I'm late to the table with this technology, but on investigation it looks like the best workaround to a bad situation I've seen yet. I want to talk more about JSON in the context of some suggestions for the Domino server rendering useful data. I'll do that in another post, but for now, here's a very ......
  142. 08/06/2007I promised pictures yesterday -- well, here they are. All taken on Saturday late afternoon.These were all taken in or off the coast of Friendship, Maine. Friendship is a very small fishing village far enough off the tourist track of Route 1 as to be largely filled with people who either live there year round or returning summer after summer in established communities. Barb's parents have a really nice place up there on Davis Point looking onto the bay. They're terrific people, and her brothers as well are great to be with. This summer Barb has been taking the kids up there most weekends while I ......
  143. 08/05/2007Where, exactly, is Cumberland Maine anyway?I get asked all the time from people, "Where is Cumberland?" so I decided to post a couple of pictures from Google Earth. Its pretty far Northeast -- about as far as you can go and still be in the US (though people here call it "Southern Maine". I've marked on the map both Cumberland, and further up the coast Friendship, Maine. The next posting has a bunch of pictures taken in Friendship from my In-Laws' place there. This post should add some perspective. ......
  144. 08/01/2007Is a 'System Engineer' really an Engineer?Do you call yourself a "Software Engineer" or maybe a "System Engineer"? What happens when the stuff you "Design" doesn't work? A network goes down? Maybe a few users don't get their email? Today we see a reminder of what happens when an ACTUAL engineer gets things wrong. Maybe you really want to rethink using that word unless you're up to doing the math that would have prevented this. ......
  145. 08/01/2007Have you ever wished you could replicate non database files on your servers?I've been using a tool called "unison" to keep the files on a pair of linux servers in synchronization. Its available for Windows as well though. This is a command line utility that works very much like Domino replication. A hash database is used and compared rather than a simple look at file dates and names, so renames, deletes, changes, and new files are all replicated effectively. I'm using it at the file system level to keep not just the files in the domino/html directory in sync, but also several ......
  146. 07/31/2007Geek of the week at ServerBeach Look who got to be the marketing chimp for last week's "Geek of the Week" at SeverBeach! ......
  147. 07/26/2007What Are Chrysler's engineers thinking?From the "WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING?" category.... In a classic ADD moment, I left my car keys at the hotel in Tampa this morning, and didn't discover the loss until I was at my car in Boston. Given that the spare key is at home home in Maine about two hours away, I thought that I'd try out that AAA membership that I've had for years and have used for nothing other than a discount on hotel bills. The call to AAA was quick, and they called a locksmith who assured them and me that it would be no ......
  148. 07/25/2007Second Signal welcomes its first out of state department on-lineYou know how much time I've spent bringing the Second Signal venture to life. Today is a big milestone, because they're a department with no affiliation to me other than this, and thousands of miles away. They received their equipment today, and once plugged in it immediately started relaying audio and tone notifications as it should. The remote support tools also worked right away and the periodic "ping" updates to my servers happen like clockwork so I can see if there is any problem. So....Welcome to the ......
  149. 07/24/2007What should you be doing now, to get ready for that big upgrade later this year or next?Notes 8 is due out soon. Some of you will perform your own "Zero Day Upgrade®" while others will wait six months or more. This isn't an upgrade like any in recent history. This one is big on user-focused change. That means the upgrade planning is more important no matter how smoothly the "Wizards of Westford®" make the technical process. There are things you should be doing right now, to make sure you have the tools in place to do the job right when it comes around for you. You're going to want to manage ......
  150. 07/24/2007Hello from Florida! I'm at a client site for a change, and having a great time there.Some clients are a pleasure to work with. Today was one of those days you get to enjoy working with people to get something done. As a matter of policy I don't disclose most client names here, but since I know that at least one person there reads my blog, let me say in a most public way "Thank You". The client purchased NCT Simple Sign On, and asked me to come down to help them quickly get it integrated with their project. Though they'd already gotten the demo version up and running quickly, time pressures ......
Further BackMore RecentJump to:

Site Links

Useful Links