Andrew Pollack's Blog

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  1. 01/12/2006Only PARTIALLY hydrogenated. Damn. These people never do something all the way, do they?The image below is what happens if you leave a Cheese Puff on a piece of notebook paper overnight. This is because the cheap bastards are only PARTIALLY hydrogenating their vegetable oil. For those who never bothered to look this up, the big chemical ......
  2. 01/11/2006The economics of MMORPG's is fascinating stuffA friend forwarded a link to an article written on the impact of "Farming" in the "World of Warcraft" online game. "Farming" in this case refers to companies set up in low-wage countries where players are hired to run characters which generate in game ......
  3. 01/10/2006According to scientists, the Milkey Way galaxy is "Warped, and vibrating like a drum"....Those crazy Berkeley guys..... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060110094853.htm -- Isn't that funny......they say the same thing about me. Who else but those wacky guys at Berkeley could come up with THIS as a picture of the galaxy. I thought ......
  4. 01/10/2006Its funny the way yesterday's high end hardware is today's outdated toy.I'm refurbing a computer to put in my 10 year old's room this weekend. This one will replace the old Blueberry iMac that's in there now. That one will move to the six year old, now that she can read. Looking through the hardware closet to figure out what ......
  5. 01/09/2006Time for a new expression. Roommate Annoying.Ok, we all have heard of "Coyote Ugly" -- someone so ugly that if you were to wake up with them after going clubbing you'd gnaw off your own arm to avoid waking them as you got out of there. Its now time for a new expression. "Roommate Annoying" will now ......
  6. 01/08/2006Observation: High performance sportswear is really all about dressing up like a superhero.I've spent some money on a product called "Under Armor" for my daughter so she can wear these warm materials under her soccer uniform in the same way you might wear long johns or silk underwear skiing. The two big differences are that this is "High ......
  7. 01/07/2006Stop the presses! I actually took a day off today. As in, OFF. Like, REALLY.A Barb's suggestion, and with admitted reluctance (due to the huge volume of work I have to get done before Lotusphere) I took the day off and we took the three kids to Sunday Riverfor a day of skiing. The weather was perfect -- just below freezing at the ......
  8. 01/03/2006Unofficial patch for the big Windows security flaw (which does affect Notes clients) If you have a Windows 2000, XP, XP/Pro, or 2003 computer I encourage you to install this hot fix. It doesn't do anything you can see --just installs then says its done. According to SANS, it will protect you from this major exploit. I am already aware of ......
  9. 01/02/2006Its not like you weren't warned about it years before you first had to make the choiceConsider it, you were warned. Ok, the idea for this did come from /. -- I did make the graphic ......
  10. 12/30/2005My new favorite anti-spam & anti-website ads tool -- HostsManAds. I hate them. They've taken over every inch of available screen real estate on websites, roadsides, tv, radio, and even people. I went looking for a tool to help block them at their source. I found exactly what I wanted. There are others out there, ......
  11. 12/30/2005IMPORTANT - Easily Protect your PC and your Client's against this ZERO DAY exploitA flaw in a special kind of image viewer for viewing WMF files represents an unpatched security risk -- and that risk has been exploited in the wild already. All someone has to do is send you an email with an image of this kind containing the exploit to ......
  12. 12/29/2005Supersized iPod remote control for the visually impairedThe Supersized, Super-Easy iPod Remote Control The goal was to create an MP3 playing device which could be easily used by my father-in-law who is 87 on Sunday and is rapidly loosing his vision. He can now see almost no detail. Unfortunately, he has never been a technically oriented person and has had a very hard time using the adaptive technologies. Were I to give him a typical MP3 player, it would be lost in moments, and even while in his hand would be unusable. An iPod is ideal for him in other ways, ......
  13. 12/29/2005Spent all day fixing registry problems, and couldn't get iTunes to run without crashing. Finally got it.....If you ever run into a similar problem, or if you come across this blog entry through a google search on something like 'iTunes 6 keeps crashing in XP' then maybe this little note will help. Despite fixing the registry, removing old dead entries, clearing ......
  14. 12/26/2005Christmas purchase limits -- and a common misconceptionMost people take it for a given that if you and your wife agree on a limit for spending on each other, that you mean it to be the top end of the scale. I, on the other hand, choose to view it as a bottom end limit, and shop accordingly. As such, each year ......
  15. 12/23/2005Apple's On-Line store wins my appreciation -- big timeI've been trying to MONTHS to figure out how to make a solution for my 86 year old father-in-law that would allow me to give him audiobooks on tape. The problem is, he's lost most of his vision, and has never been good with technology. MP3 players and CD ......
  16. 12/22/2005A black eye for ChristmasI went to the eye doctor today and had the growth removed from my lower left eyelid before it could finish growing into my evil twin. When I planned the appointment for the 22nd of December, I hadn't considered that it would mean I shall probably have a ......
  17. 12/22/2005I MUST be special. I got "Mod Points" on SlashdotI've been fascinated by the way Cmdr Taco and his crowd have built a huge discussion site that seems to be able to keep a good conversation going even though it has a transient population of tens of thousands of people. The site is (almost) entirely self ......
  18. 12/21/2005Do you do Torrents?I'm looking for a jump start from someone who reads this blog. I've tried a few BT client side packages and like most newbies am left with a bit of an aftertaste. Aside from the fact that half the clients come with spyware (which I trap and kill instead ......
  19. 12/20/2005Professional Driver - Closed CourseEver seen those warnings? "Professional driver, closed course" or "Do not try this at home" --- It applies to I.T. work as well. This is for all of you who think you can just give your users Quickplace and leave them unsupervised. Folks, end users are the ......
  20. 12/20/2005The Life Aquatic - SuckedI just sat through "The Life Aquatic" for no reason I can determine. It started out sucking, and it sucked straight through. It wanted to be some kind of cross between "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Zoolander" and failed on all counts. What a shame, it was a good ......
  21. 12/19/2005The C.U.L.T. shirts are off to the production facility.....finally.....What a relief! This year's C.U.L.T. shirt has been quite a...treat....to work on. For the first time ever, we have 16 sponsors -- not counting Rocky & I. That means sixteen separate company logos which have be just right even though we are trying to keep ......
  22. 12/15/2005I don't know if this has made the rounds before, but its the first time I've seen it. "Who's on first?" -- applied to PC purchasesYou have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello and oldenough to not really understand computers to fully appreciate this. For those who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please readon. It is a reworking of the sketch Bud Abbott and Lou ......
  23. 12/14/2005Why is everyone so stunned about the narwhal's horn being a sensory organ?I would think that anything obviously long and hard sticking out of a mammal would be highly sensitive to something, now wouldn't you? ......
  24. 12/13/2005Can we execute a mass-joke at Lotusphere?This isn't something any one person could do effectively by themselves, and I'm not even sure it would be advisable at all. I also don't know exactly how the legal ramifications would play out. Maybe some of you could suggest answers. The general idea ......
  25. 12/13/2005The Law of Unintended Consequences, as a moral stance.The Law of Unintended Consequences is simply the idea that you cannot accurately predict all the ramifications of your actions. If you're someone who believes the end result can justify the means used to achieve that result, it is this law which is ......
  26. 12/09/2005Snow Day! Here's some pics of the day off here at NCT. We got DUMPED on today. The snow started about about 7am and by 4:30pm was all over. That's pretty quick for a snowstorm, but we got around 8 inches of powder in that time. Enjoy these pictures. ......
  27. 12/08/2005Andrew's FALL TV new shows reports. All opinion, no fact. Ha!With all the extra time I have, it should be no surprise that I like to end my day by using the television as a way to try shutting down my brain. It usually works. I can’t really stop analyzing and criticizing though, however, just because I’m exhausted ......
  28. 12/08/2005Surprise! For a few minutes on November 29th, I was a millionaire.It didn't last, but my Fidelity statement for November showed a bank wire transfer to my SEP IRA (Self Employed Tax Deferred Retirement fund for those of you outside the US) for exactly $1,000,000 US. I called of course, and asked the rep to whom I should ......
  29. 12/07/2005A hard fought loss -- ah well... -- and how ADD meds impact my Scrabble playing.Given the other news this morning, I thought I'd post some lighter stuff as well. I got beat last night in Scrabble by my wife. Again. We've had a long running series of games and over the years she's ahead by about 5% of games. Last night was painful. ......
  30. 12/07/2005I learned a new phrase this morning on CNNThe term "Extraordinary Rendition" -- a phrase created to describe the sort of amoral arrogant abuse of power that our government is involved in. I am sickened and disgusted (though sadly not really surprised any more) that we as a nation are doing things ......
  31. 12/05/2005Take back control of your PC -- A document I wrote to help end users deal with basic PC security issues.I wrote this document because so many of the people I know are absolutely frustrated with trying to keep their PC's running in the face of viruses, worms, scams, spyware, and other garbage. If this helps anyone, please feel free to distribute it or link ......
  32. 12/03/2005Santa is not happy. This was forwarded to me today, and may explain...A Christmas Story 'Twas the night before Christmas--Old Santa was pissed. He cussed out the elves and threw down his list. Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks. I have a good mind to scrap the whole works! I've busted my ass for damn near a ......
  33. 12/03/2005For the first time in years, I've got my mobile phone in sych with Notes Calendar & Contacts -- and its NOT a PDA phone.A couple of weeks ago I got a new Motorola e815 to replace my LG6100 cell phone. I hated the LG. The sound quality was terrible, the shape was odd, and the features were locked down so that anything useful cost more money to use. The Motorola e815, on the ......
  34. 12/01/2005C.U.L.T. primary sponsorships are now on "IF" list (if there's room). Secondary sponsorships still available -- here's a clarification on SIZE issues for those...Ok, so my previous post wasn't clear enough. When I said you couldn't pick your sizes, some people thought that meant a random set of shirts which could leave them will all smalls or something. Not so. There's a ratio of shirt sizes we've refined over the ......
  35. 11/30/2005Update! ** 13 ** of the 10 primary C.U.L.T. sponsorships are already committed!special update: 13 of the 10 primary C.U.L.T. sponsorships are already committed. Get them while they're hot ......
  36. 11/29/2005Insanely cool way to discover music you like -- its almost magic. Stunning.Its very rare that I repeat what someone else is already blogging. In this case, Volker Weber blogged this and its so incredible I wanted to re-blog it for both of you who read my site by not his. The site is Pandora and its just getting started. In less ......
  37. 11/29/2005Sponsors sought for the 2006 C.U.L.T. shirt! Info here --Yes, its that time again. Its past that time actually. Way, way, way past that time. Rocky and I have been banging our heads together trying to come up with a theme and an image worthy of burning in to the minds of all the attendees at Lotusphere this ......
  38. 11/26/2005Great video -- Ever wonder what firefighters do on a roof? Check this out...I'll warn you though, there's a soundtrack to this video and at the end there's a bit of harsh language. So...unless this kids are up .... turn the volume up on those fancy speakers and watch these truckies (ladder truck firefighters -- also known to some ......
  39. 11/20/2005Initial Results: Verizon Wireless "Broadband" rocks!I'm at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire. Verizon's broadband map doesn't even show this area as launched yet. I'm connected with all the bars lit, and getting fantastic transfer speeds. Here's the result from DSL Reports... Keep in mind we're ......
  40. 11/18/2005Headed for Phoenix for the weekWell, I'll be blogging from the home of the heat next week. A thanksgiving with my side of the family should be.....interesting. Keep in mind, I am not the loudest member of my family. Not by a long shot. So, its pack Barb and the kids up then see if ......
  41. 11/18/2005King of the typos....Its not shock to anyone that I have fat fingers and frequently type a different version of what I'm saying than what is in my head. Today was a close call however, as I very nearly sent a note to a new NCT Search customer thanking him for his 'odor'. ......
  42. 11/17/2005Of COURSE MS Exchange .next will require 64 bit servers. That's the whole point of the upgrade!Its not about just selling Exchange upgrades -- its about selling Operating System upgrades. If you've been paying attention at all, you know that the real fear at Microsoft is that they're not selling as many licenses for newer and bigger Windows servers ......
  43. 11/16/2005The scoop on cellular broadbandI don't like being off the net. Its no shock to anyone who knows me. It means I can't just follow whatever crazy idea I have at the moment to create, adjust, fix, or check on something that's been simmering in the back of my mind. As such, I've been using ......
  44. 11/16/2005People -- wake up! Quit driving into trucks. They are much bigger than you!Its 01:41 on Wednesday and I'm just about to get back to sleep from yet another sleepyhead who decided to run into a tractor trailer on the interstate. He'll live, his car won't. The US Postal Service will have to do without the trailer load of delivery ......
  45. 11/10/2005Howto: Setup ASSP for anti-virus and anti-spam with IBM Lotus DominoThere's a PDF file at the end of the page if you'd rather use that. HOW-TO – Setup ASSP with IBM Lotus DominoThis HOW-TO is provided free (as in speech) and without warrantee. If you follow these directions, you are solely responsible for the results. I ......
  46. 11/09/2005Need anti-spam for Domino? Here's a good open source alternative -- and they even discuss Domino on the site!Take a look at ASSP. For geeks, its all you need. For the rest of the Domino world, put SpamJam in front of it and you've got a dynamite solution. Though nothing will replace SpamJam when it comes to end users interacting with their anti-spam tool in ......
  47. 11/08/2005Remember all those original Star Trek scenes where the earspliting noise attack would cripple the crew?Crippling high pitched noises forcing crew members to their knees on the bridge of the Enterprise as some kind of non-lethal submit-or-die noise came from the foe-du-jour was part for the course on the 60's TV series. Well, apparently the crew of that ......
  48. 11/07/2005Some thoughts on the violence in FranceAside from being a terrible thing, there is something that fascinates me about what's going on in France. By most accounts, France is a country with a decidedly strong socialist policy and economy compared with the US. The social safety net, healthcare, ......
  49. 11/07/2005Special of the day - Peking DuckBad taste? Of course. Just make sure you cook it well. Take a look at this article from CBS News.... ......
  50. 11/07/2005I don't want to do anything at all today.Do you have a long list of things you simply cannot be bothered to bring yourself to start? Mine's longer. My list, I mean. Its longer than yours. Its got lots of really cool projects on it. I don't feel at all like doing any of them today. This must be ......
  51. 11/07/2005AYSO Soccer in Maine -- late fall. Plus, a short clip for family.If you have kids over the age of 8 and live in the U.S., you probably know about AYSO. The American Youth Soccer Organization is one of the greatest things ever to happen for kids. The organization exists in regional chapters purely for the purpose of ......
  52. 11/06/2005The Soccer Finals!Well, sometimes you're the winner, sometimes you're not. Ari's team did well against a tough Kennebunk team but lost 1-Nill to end the season. They played really well, but you don't get to the state meet without being the best in your region, and none of ......
  53. 11/04/2005Yeah, I'm also speaking at LotusFear this year.I'll be doing an updated version of last year's "Admin Zero to Hero in 60 Minutes" -- I'm going to try to stuff more into it. You may want to bring a time lapse camera to get it ......
  54. 11/01/2005Just two and half turns to the left. Why can't all technology be that simple?Its pretty quickly moving toward the first real snowfall here in Maine. Sometimes that happens before Thanksgiving and other times not for many more weeks. Its time, however, while its still reasonable out to get things ready. As I do every year, I dragged out the old snowblower to give it the once over. Its nine years old now, and for small engines that means a little extra maintenance from time to time. I must have failed to properly drain the carb this spring because it was full of old fuel that had ......
  55. 10/31/2005Ari's soccer team advances to the state finals!My daughter Ari is on a competitive soccer team. She's worked hard to get up to the level of play with these kids. They play thirty minute periods with eleven girls on a side using a full high school varsity field -- and they play rough. Saturday morning ......
  56. 10/24/2005How to 'un-brick' a WRT-54G wireless router (and why) -- and other WRT-54G upgrade informationAfter some background, this post includes pictures and instructions for the de-bricking process. IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog entry was from 2005! While I'm glad people still find it useful and come across it in searches, keep in mind that most of the hardware discussed is out of date at this point and has been replaced with new versions. It's unlikely you'll still be buying this gear in the same revisions. Also, nobody is likely to answer a question you post, because it only gets read by occasional ......
  57. 10/23/2005Soccer Playoffs -- Ari the enforcer -- So far #1 and undefeatedAri (my 11 year old) plays on a competitive "travel" soccer team. The playoffs were this weekend Saturday and Sunday about 1.5 hours north of here. Sunday is rained out so only Saturday's games were played. Sunday's games are moved to next Saturday, with ......
  58. 10/21/2005If you could connect VoIP to Lotus Notes, what would you have it do?I'm playing a LOT these days with VoIP. I've got my own Asterisk PBX, and today's Penumbra meeting included a fairly large virtual attendee base (not giving away any state secrets here). It was successful for many, less so for others due to firewalling ......
  59. 10/16/2005Off to Westford for a two day meetingI'm off to visit my friends in Westford for a couple of days. Anyone have an special requests to pass along? Drop me an email or reply ......
  60. 10/16/2005Chimney fire season has started.Last night around 8:30 we got called out to assist the next town over with a chimney fire. Their ladder is our service so they called ours. Explorers can't go on out of town boxes, and the ladder 7 crew is pretty short right now so I went. A young ......
  61. 10/14/2005A remarkable personality charting toolI got turned on to this from a friend and tried it. It took about 10 minutes and was dead spot on accurate (in my opinion). I doubt any of the results are unflattering so no matter how you come out you'll find the answer is probably appealing. Still, I'm ......
  62. 10/12/2005My poor, troubled, laptop was once again put through hell -- this time by a software 'upgrade'One after another my favorite software vendors fall by the wayside as buy-outs and market pressure to feature enhance products result in bloat-ware, quality problems, extortionate licensing, and in the end my utter disgust and frustration. Merrily working ......
  63. 10/10/2005Microsoft is attempting to rationalize licensing in a world of multi-core, multi-processor, and virtual machine technologySuppose you have a product that sells for $1000 per machine on which it is run. Your revenue is based on the model of a single license handling about 1,000 users, so its a $1/user revenue stream. Now along comes Intel and AMD offering faster processing, ......
  64. 10/07/2005In other news, look what I got tonight...I got the promotion last week, but tonight at the meeting was the presentation of this new piece of hardware. By the way, proud as I am -- this is a really really hard thing to take a picture ......
  65. 10/06/2005Domino bug reported in 5.0.10 -- 2 years ago, still active in version 7I just lost the opportunity to give someone a trial version of my new software -- hopefully they'll try again tomorrow. Why? Because a two year (and three major revision) long bug hasn't been addressed in the Domino code. I can't print the technote from ......
  66. 10/05/2005Google's first big goofle.Google and Sun together. What exactly do they have in common? Nothing but a general dislike for Microsoft. Sun seems to go out of its way to back any play it can come up with that tosses mud toward Redmond, and Google's recent run-ins with the 'softies ......
  67. 10/03/2005The new server is in place, do you like it? Does it work? Is it faster?Well, it took most of the day to get all things carefully cut over, but the dns now points to the new server, and I've dropped http and smtp from the old one. That means if you're seeing this, you're using the new server. Please let me know if you see ......
  68. 09/30/2005I just got Domino 7 running properly on Fedora Core 3 with some minor tweakingIt took a little effort to get this done because Fedora Core 3 is not a supported version of Linux for Domino according to IBM. I suspect others may see similar problems in other Linux distributions so let me document what I did other than the normal ......
  69. 09/28/2005What is it that makes people think "Excel Format" is a standard for transferring data?What follows is the text of an actual response I sent to an associate of mine after reviewing a response to questions we had on an RFP. I had asked what kind of format we could expect to see for the regular updates of data to be sent to us. Only comment ......
  70. 09/28/2005I want one button publishing from the editor of my choice, to the web server of my choice.I want one button publishing from the editor of my choice, to the web server of my choice. All the talk of standards, of service based sites, and content driven applications hasn’t gotten me there at all. I’m not talking here, of using my Notes client to ......
  71. 09/27/2005The economics of hosting have changed, time to take advantage. You should try it.After nearly 20 years of hosting one or more servers of one kind or another in my home, I'm moving my servers to ServerBeach. Many of you know that I have a pretty extensive network setup here, with a professional grade firewall, standby power generation, ......
  72. 09/27/2005Site is moving -- should be faster, could be some minor interruptionI'm making some important infrastructure changes here this week. This server will be hosted on a high speed machine at a tier 1 provider. Within a week or two, I'll also have a hot standby in place. This is to accommodates a need for increased reliability ......
  73. 09/26/2005Ok -- my turn to post a questionnaire thing.This was forwarded to me by Lt. Gordon Murphy. He's on our fire department as well, serving on the Chebeague Island fire museum (yes, the NEW truck is 1980, before that they're a pair of 1973's). The idea here, is you're supposed to forward this to a ......
  74. 09/23/2005Engine 1 - Soon to be retired and replaced with a newer modelI'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but one of the exciting changes due in the spring of next year is the arrival of a replacement for our venerable Engine 1. The current truck is a 1984 Ford chassis customized for fire service by FMC. It still runs ......
  75. 09/22/2005Open Office is nice, but don't count it unseating Microsoft from the Desktop so soonDon’t count on Open Office with IBM Workplace killing Microsoft Office any time soon. I like both products, and I’d love to see Microsoft take it on the chin now and again; but the marketplace has done what it does best – and it has sent Microsoft ......
  76. 09/22/2005Its live! NCT Simple Signon -- Take control of your Authenticated AccessAnnouncing NCT Simple Signon -- Integration without Aggravation If you've ever wanted to accept a user onto your Lotus Domino based web site with credentials from another server, or with a cookie you assigned the last time they visited, our newest product ......
  77. 09/21/2005Sneak Preview -- NCT Simple Signon Documentation. Trial downloads to be released within 24-48 hours.NCT Simple Signon provides an easy to manage, secure and reliable way to accept credentials from nearly any other application, and to pass credentials for users authenticated by your server to other sites. Integration without Aggravation The whole idea of ......
  78. 09/21/2005So what does it mean to be an officer in an all volunteer fire department? My brother sent me an email asking what exactly this means. We're not paid much, its not the military, so what the difference? I thought I'd write up a partial explanation here for those who probably have the same question. Keep in mind that according to ......
  79. 09/20/2005I have a new nameTechnically speaking, its not a name but a call sign. Tomorrow morning an official email will go out indicating my change from the radio number 339 to the new call sign "Car 31" -- which indicates that I've been given the position of Lieutenant on ......
  80. 09/20/2005Convergence * Updated -- Even more convergence!Do things in your life seem to happen all at once? Convergence is a strange thing. Today I have two important meetings. They are unconnected. Both related to activities that I’ve been working toward for quite a while. I chose the date for neither. Yes ......
  81. 09/19/2005What's yer pirate name?I don't usually do this stuff, but this one looked fun. Mad Roger KiddGet your own pirate name from ......
  82. 09/19/2005Everyone go give big congrats to NotesDawg.....or he'll kick your ......
  83. 09/19/2005Shape the next version of Notes! Sign up to do usability studies early!Main TopicSubject: Help Us Find End-users for usability testing of the next version! [Comment] By Mary Beth Raven/Westford/IBM on Mon, Sep 19, 2005 at 11:40 AM. Categories: Applications, Calendar & Scheduling (Applications\Design), Community, Customer ......
  84. 09/19/2005So many ideas, so little time, and the radical personality shifts of 12 year olds.Do you have periods in your work life or home life were you have so many ideas you'd like to take forward and no time at all to finish them? My list right now is longer than its ever been, and it shows no sign of getting shorter. I think I've got at least ......
  85. 09/14/2005Some thoughts after looking at the new Office 12 -- and surprise, Outlook is the odd man out.Like so many of you, I took a look at Scobble's video of the new user interface on Office 12 -- beta supposedly due out this fall. My first thought, is Scobble -- for the love of God buy a tripod. Moving beyond that, here's my first impression.... Its ......
  86. 09/13/2005A strongly worded warning -- What do you think?As I get ready to release NCT Simple Signon into the wild, I have some concern over allowing a sample agent to come with it that will log on virtually anyone under virtually any name if they know the syntax of the command. ......
  87. 09/13/2005Making sense of eBay’s purchase of Skype, and its inherent dangerAside from the pressure for any large tech company to be in all the hot tech areas, there is a very important fit for Skype with eBay. At first glance, this looks like late 90’s internet boom craziness. eBay and Skype would seem to have little in common. ......
  88. 09/12/2005Two Bright Sparks in Software Development, means one great backup toolI've wanted a good backup software tool for a long time. Most of them are either too expensive, too complicated, or both. I've been really pleased with SyncBackSE from 2BrightSparks Pte Ltd. I read about it this month in CPU Magazine, and figured I'd give ......
  89. 09/08/2005I'll bet they didn't stop this one to search for illegal immigrationMexico sends first ever aid convoy to U.S. Food, supplies, doctors come north in gesture fraught with symbolism, irony http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9248064/ LAREDO, Texas - A Mexican army convoy crossed into the United States on Thursday to bring aid to ......
  90. 09/06/2005High fuel costs this winter mean extra challenges for firefightersHere in the northeast, home heating is a big challenge. The way some of you in the south struggle to keep the electricity bills down and still keep the house cool in the summer, we fight cold all winter with home heating oil or LP gas fired furnaces. Fuel ......
  91. 09/03/2005Visual Studio .NET -- a Thanks to Gary Devendorf -- and a RANT about "DotFuscator" from PreEmptive SolutionsWith some excellent help from Gary Devendorf, I've released the beta version of my first stand-alone (Non Notes) workstation application in something like 15 years. Its nothing most readers of this blog would be all that interested in, as it detects ......
  92. 08/31/2005...highlights and circles and items to do, these are a few of my favorite things....A few new features in D7 mail that I like. Follow-ups that are as simple as right-click to manage, automatic highlighting of mail you need to look at based on recipient (in this case, from my wife), and the little blue circle that indicates if you're the ......
  93. 08/28/2005NCT Scanner Monitor is almost in beta -- I have a feeling this is going to go over well.Yes, Domino is part of this solution, but just one part. Its my first time in probably 15 years building a commercial product that's not specifically targeted to Lotus Notes or Domino customers. This is the front end piece to be used on-site. I hope to ......
  94. 08/25/2005Help me understand how IBM, Microsoft, or anyone else will make money on Instant Messaging.Google is in the mix now with their own IM client -- including voice traffic. Why? Why not? Its easy now. All you need is plenty of bandwidth and some big servers. Pretty much all the connection protocols, encoders (CODECS), and so on are available now as ......
  95. 08/22/2005Some thoughts on Eclipse/Java vs VS.netI should start by saying that I know comparing VS.net with Java/Eclipse is ignoring the choice of which language I'm using in VS.net. IMO, it doesn't matter that much because the nature of .net is such that the object models you work with are largely the ......
  96. 08/19/2005Back from under my bomb shelter. Heavy coding this week; oh, and here are some phone behaviors really that annoy me.Well, I've spent the entire week getting deeper and deeper into Digital Signal Processing. What a complex arena this is. I've actually had to go and buy a book on Calculus to understand much of the documentation. It was either that or call Richard and ......
  97. 08/07/2005Lets get this straight -- HBO is a studio, and a broadcaster, but they are not a network.Look, I really enjoy HBO. The series work they do is everything they claim it to be -- groundbreaking, intelligent, well written, well acted, and fabulously shot. They sweep the awards every year. That said, its hardly in the same category as an actual ......
  98. 08/06/2005Sherman, to the wayback machine.....I've been cleaning out the basement all day today. Like archeology, as you dig deeper into piles of garbage you go back further in time. Some of its pretty scary stuff, though I haven't come across evidence of human sacrifice yet. Can you believe I used ......
  99. 08/05/2005I gotta get me one of these! ......
  100. 08/04/2005Cumberland Fire Acadamy - The ExplorersIf I've been a bit quiet this week, its because I've been helping out with this years Fire Academy. Each year, our "Explorer" post invites several other town posts over and we host a 5 day long "Fire Academy" for the kids. "Explorers" are kids between the ......
  101. 08/03/2005Busy night on the fire department last WednesdayAs promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view) here's the story from last Wednesday's big storm and fire. To set things up a bit, it had been hot here for several days -- temperatures in the 90's ( 32+ Celsius) and humid. The weather report ......
  102. 08/01/2005Odd googles for JulyWell, I get around 1000 google hits each month right now, which isn't much but it works well for me since clearly less than 1% are would I'd called "odd ball". The rest all have something to do with my site, my products, my company, or firefighting. For ......
  103. 07/31/2005Early Neal Stephenson re-released -- and its goodWhile I don't read at the rate of Duffbert (few do), I do read quite a bit of both fiction and I've finished the second of two books I picked up just before the trip to Las Vegas. The books, titled "Interface" and "The Cobweb" are re-released under the ......
  104. 07/31/2005Pluto isn't a planet; Domino Doesn't Scale; and other stupid things people have said.From reading this article about the confirmed discovery of another large mass orbiting our sun, further than Pluto and having more mass, I'm reminded of a really stupid presentation given at a Lotusphere BP day a few years back in which a prominent person ......
  105. 07/27/2005Big storm this afternoon.Six lightening strikes, 1 house fire, 1 down power lines -- 7 hours. I'm going to bed now. More details ......
  106. 07/27/2005Theory confirmed -- there is indeed a detectable, tangible link between Gab and Tim Davis which prevents them being separated.Its long been rumored that Gab and Tim cannot remain separated for any great length of time. The reason for that is now a bit closer as we have found a device which can clearly detect and be impacted by that very link. This is 100% true. While on our road ......
  107. 07/25/2005A shame, but it looks like Dr. Ambuj Goyal is moving from Lotus to Information Management (DB2)According to SearchDomino.com, Dr. Goyal is moving to become the General Manager of Information Management. Its no secret that I've been very impressed with Dr. Goyal's work at Lotus. I give him a lot of credit for bringing a bunch of different ideas on ......
  108. 07/24/2005Post Advisor Conference Road Trip (with pictures) with Rocky, Gab, Tim, and some childrenSorry for being so quiet this last week -- I've been speaking at Advisor then running off on a road trip. Here are pictures from the trip. Rocky brought two of his kids, and I brought one of mine. Gab and Tim were along as well, but no pictures here of ......
  109. 07/17/2005Harry Potter and the Dell Inspiron 8200 CD PlayerOn the way to advisor I picked up the new HP book on CD since the preordered books would not get to the house until after we'd left. Of course, this is for Coryn, my daughter who's traveling with me. Not for me, of course. No, surely not. Anyway.... I'm ......
  110. 07/14/2005Software Eval Key Question -- Am I being too strict this time?This time around, with NCT Compliance Search the license key problem is a little different. With a product like NCT Search I'm happy to give away full functionality for 30 days -- and extend that for people who ask. Its the kind of tool that really isn't ......
  111. 07/14/2005Help me set the price for a new NCT Product -- NCT Auto Login for Domino will debut later this monthYour parent company has a website with a secure area for your customers and distributors. Its run by the parent company I.T. center in B.F.E. You've put together a private site in Domino that is specific to the products made by your division in Cool City. ......
  112. 07/13/2005Results I can use! Add this search plug in to your Firefox and avoid pages of price comparison sites in the results!I mentioned that I'd like to be able to search Google and not have a full page of aggregation sites like nextag and pricegrabber show up. These are annoying. Well, I got exactly what I wanted. Thanks to a tip from Peter Leugner, I got what I wanted. ......
  113. 07/12/2005NCT Compliance Search v1.0 Release Date is Friday! Check out this quoteAt long last, with several copies in production `pre-release` use, I will be letting NCT Compliance Search 1.0 out into the public. The key difference between `Compliance Search` and nearly any other search product, is that normally a search tool isn't ......
  114. 07/12/2005My advisor schedule for next week is busier than I have ever been at one conferenceThis year, asside from more sessions than I've ever done at a conference (7 hours plus a lunch) I'm traveling with my 10 year old Daughter, Coryn. Rocky is bringing a couple of his Rock-etts with him, and we're all going to have some fun after the show ......
  115. 07/12/2005Firefox add-in extension that I'd really like to seeI want a "search" bar for firefox that calls google search, but automatically appends api commands to exclude a list of sites (particularly nextag, epinions, dealtime, pricegrabber, and that ilk that fills up the damn screen when you're searching for a ......
  116. 07/12/2005Will I see you at Advisor in VegasI'd like to meet as many of you who read this blog as I can. If you're going to be in Vegas at the Advisor show next week, give me a heads up by email or post here. I'll be leaving after lunch on Wednesday, so catch me before ......
  117. 07/07/2005The Great city of London -- triumphant even in tragedy -- is in our hearts today.Not 24 hours after gleefully and rightly winning the right to host the 2012 Olympics, London is beset once again by cowardly criminals who kill women and children in the name of a belief system twisted by callous, power crazed leaders. I have many good ......
  118. 07/07/2005Are you a wardriver? This guy may go to prison for it.The courts have repeatedly found that if you can pull a signal off the air without decrypting it, you can use it. If this guy had a wireless rig setup in his house and did not have a password requirement or anything preventing access, I wonder if that can ......
  119. 07/07/2005Digital Signal Processing, FFT, and CalculusFor that last two days I've been working out how to pull the 'current' dominant sound frequency (or tone) out of a digital audio stream. This is done using something called a "Fourier Transform". This is a complex algorithm based on some pretty heavy duty ......
  120. 07/04/2005Once more into the telephony breach, dear friends...In 1993 I used Phone Notes with a Natural Microsystems 4 port voice card to create a voice interactive sales tool for company here called "The Maine Idea". At the same time I set up my own office voicemail system with the same Remark product. Its been 12 ......
  121. 07/02/2005Speaking of movies -- help me understand.........zombie flicks. There's a key bit of logic I don't understand. Even with the best of the movies where attention has actually been paid to the cause (usually a virus from a lab) and thought has gone into the consequences, I don't get why the zombies ......
  122. 07/02/2005Who was in charge of packing the cooler?I took a couple of hours off today and saw "War of the Worlds" -- the new one. In the classic film, the premise was much simpler. The space badguys come down in spaceships protected by a lot of rock and land hard on the ground. The rock breaks open and ......
  123. 07/02/2005I would expect, given the wide range of topics I rant about, to get some really oddball Google hits....Would you believe that out of 1,300+ google hits in June, there are none I would consider really oddball or funny? 99% of them are directly related to the topics I favor most on this site -- that is to say IBM Lotus Domino and related technologies, or ......
  124. 06/21/2005Inserting pass through html onto a form with LotusScript, designed to used in the NOTES CLIENT.If you create a form for Notes 6, and put a field on the form where the field and surrounding text is marked "pass through html", and you use the form property to render pass through html in Notes..... It doesn't work. You see the html that you put in the ......
  125. 06/21/2005Some code I used to save time with creation of an ugly backward compatibility hackI had to create a form to be used by R5 clients and part of the form had to display a variable number of urls, with an image used for the bullet. The data had to be written from a COM call outside Notes, and the form stored with the mail send. Ugliness ......
  126. 06/21/2005Want to know what New England firefighting is like? Check out the Discovery Channel's new show ......
  127. 06/21/2005FX's RESCUE-ME starts up again tonightRescue-Me! Starts again tonight on the FX network. The show stars Dennis Leary as a New York truckie (firefighter assigned to a ladder company) dealing with the issues related to 911, a drinking problem, and an overdeveloped sense of sarcasm. It is one of ......
  128. 06/14/2005Insanely cool surreal nightmare of a film -- what a great surpriseI'm watching the end now, of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" and I'm so pleasantly surprised by it. It isn't at all what I thought it would be. The film jumps around, more focused on the idea than anything else. In some ways, I'm reminded of Pi (the ......
  129. 06/12/2005RIT gets real, Summer comes to Maine, Lightning strikes at a bad time, and prepping for Las VegasSorry for not writing sooner, its been a busy week. Aside from the regular client stuff, I've been working with Gab on our combined admin basics jump start for Vegas. I'm really looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun. Had a good meeting in ......
  130. 06/03/2005THEM! Where did great, simple, fun movies like this go?Here's the description: "Scientists must defeat a horde of giant ants--before they conquer the world! With Edmund Gwenn and bit player Leonard Nimoy." People go missing in a small desert town in Nevada. After a bit, a print is identified by scientists (a ......
  131. 05/29/2005The great cable & adapter changeoverAs someone who still travels a good deal on business and used to travel a great deal my backpack/briefcase/computer bag is a wonder of modern packing. I carry such an array of cables, adapters, wires, and such as to be able to connect to, repair, display ......
  132. 05/28/2005Stupid article in Wired Magazine about supposedly new firefighting techniquesWired is carrying an article this month on a technique for using less water in a more deliberate way they call "3-D" firefighting. The method involves using thermal imaging cameras to see the heat patterns in the room, then using just enough water in ......
  133. 05/28/2005Am I getting older and yet more cynical or is the media getting more and more transparent?I'm an admitted information junkie. I read print versions of Wired, CPU, and Scientific American -- all cover to cover -- and can never resist a good article from Goggle News, which is my home page. I keep up with SlashDot (aka /.) and a dozen or so blogs ......
  134. 05/27/2005RESCUE ME -- season 2 starts June 21Rescue Me, the FX Network's firefighter show is due to start its second season on June 21st. If you haven't seen it, you should. This isn't typical overproduced garbage, instead its a riotous and irreverent comedy-drama that you'll think is over the top ......
  135. 05/26/2005The new chips are here! The new chips are here!Do you need to go faster? For only $1,150 at ZipZoomFly (one of my favorite haunts) they're now offering the newest Intel P4. If you remember what I wrote earlier about why Hyperthreading rocks, you'll understand why I love this new toy..... Intel Pentium ......
  136. 05/26/2005Running your Domino server on a consumer home network DSL or CABLE system? Bad news on the way...(updated)Information Week, and a bunch of others, are carrying an article that references a renewed FTC (Federal Trade Commission) effort to get consumer carriers worldwide to stop allowing SMTP traffic outbound to anything other than their own mail relay servers. ......
  137. 05/26/2005Selected pictures from Monday night's fireHere are a few selected pictures to go with the story from Monday night... Click on a thumbnail to see the picture in more detail. ......
  138. 05/24/2005What the hell is middleware, and why would anyone want to but something with that name?Of all the product categories and names out there, what the hell kind of name is “Middleware”? Would you ever buy something called “Middleware”? Is it attractive? What does a name like this promise? Will it make you stronger, wealthier, better looking, ......
  139. 05/24/2005A big night tonight on the fire department -- fortunately no serious injuriesIts 1:17 am and I'm just back from a long evening on Engine 1. I'm eating dinner and blogging to calm down a bit before going to sleep so forgive me if I ramble a bit. At 17:06 my fire pager went off, striking a "desk box" (a significant incident) for a ......
  140. 05/21/2005Throwing Clay, Java, and Developments at the Fire StationI have to finally admit that my new modeling clay is Java. I still don't buy into J2EE for building most applications, and I don't see the value in making standards an obsession for work being done within the application itself -- but having gotten ......
  141. 05/20/2005A stop in New York, a strange perspective on accents, and Revenge of the ReviewOn my way to Fort Lee, New Jersey for this weekend's Penumbra meeting, I stopped at the Palisades Center to wait out the traffic on the parkway. Its a huge shopping mall in the worst sense of all such things. This massive windowless, featureless, block ......
  142. 05/18/2005off to New Jersey -- as my friend Volker says, "See you on the other side"....Off for a fun filled weekend business meeting with my fellow Penumbra members in New Jersey. Yes, I know you'd think a bunch of bright people could pick a nice spot. Ah well. At least its driving distance. The new car should make it in one tank -- and I ......
  143. 05/17/2005Rabbits down holesSometimes you chase the rabbit too far down the hole. In my never ending quest for high performance, I built an in memory index that works very much like a sorted view column in that its very quick to find an entry, and even support partial matches -- in ......
  144. 05/14/2005High Performance Threadsafe Access to DataThis document started out a quick blog entry, about two and a half hours ago. Its become one of the most detailed performance explanations I’ve ever put down in writing. If you have the patience to sit and read it, I’d appreciate any feedback you have. ......
  145. 05/10/2005The de-buzzification of AJAXEveryone's talking about AJAX now. The level of attention this is getting is more indicative of the herd mentality of JavaScript UI programmers than it is of anything particularly amazing about the technology. Apparently, everyone has spent so much time ......
  146. 05/10/2005Its HAPPY DANCE TIME in Redmond, WA.....I'm sure you've heard this story already... "A pair of unpatched vulnerabilities in Mozilla's Firefox Web browser -- rated as "extremely critical" by one security firm -- could allow an attacker to take control of a PC simply by getting a user to visit a ......
  147. 05/09/2005Running with the "Lotus Domino/Workplace Consulting Business" theme under discussion on so many blogs right now.....Well, Carl, Ed, and a bunch of others are asking about the consulting business. This stems from seeing a few people leave private consulting and head for jobs in big firms of late. I suppose its a valuable question, but I think concerns are overblown. ......
  148. 05/04/2005Incremental progress on a big project - and learning to like JavaAt what point are you comfortable with a new programming language? Like all modern languages, Java needs to be approached in three distinct areas. The environment in which it runs, the lexical syntax and common practices associated with using it, and the ......
  149. 05/02/2005Bad ATM Software -- Someone should be VERY embarrassed at KEY Bank.Last week, the Key Bank in Yarmouth, Maine had their ATM upgraded. Same old hardware, but clearly new software -- and some kind of headphone jack -- for the blind maybe. Now, first I have to ask what the hell a blind person would be doing in the driver's ......
  150. 05/02/2005Intuit (Quickbooks) wasted 2 hours of my day today, by screwing up my software just to advertise to me!I hate these people. My poor accounting skills have left me little choice by to use their software or become hopeless tangled in my own finances. That said, I've never seen a product cause me to have to spend so much of my time looking at advertisements ......
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