06.14.03

Google News

Posted in General at 10 am

Interesting top story from Google news this morning:

“Iraqi Townspeople say 5 Civilians Killed by US Troops” Voice of America – 30 minutes ago

Iraqi witnesses say five civilians were among those killed earlier this week by US forces responding to an ambush on their patrol north of Baghdad.

Then there are the follow-up headlines from other sources:

“113 killed in US mopping-up operation in northern Iraq” Channel News Asia

“80 Iraqis killed by American forces in one day, a fire at a main oil pipeline in Iraq” Arabic News

Now, everyone knows that the VoA has a virtual directive to present the US in the best possible light. I just wish they could be more like the BBC.

My Ever Changing Site

Posted in General at 2 am

Fri Jun 13, 2003 10:51

Hi, your site looks really interesting, & full of KG info. I’d really like to look at it.

Only prob is, at my end, comes out in green on black, where the body text is just not readable. Prob my end? If not, you might consider changing colour slightly.

Best wishes, John

==========

Fri Jun 13, 2003 10:55

Oh how weird!

Just returned to the site automatically after sending last msg, to find it transformed into a beautifully designed site, white background, different layout???!!! Looks great!

Am looking forward to getting into it.

Regards, John

06.09.03

Journaling almost rocks

Posted in General at 11 am

People seem to think that Journaling is some sort of data saviour. But the truth that journaling will never do anything to keep files from being internally corrupted.

The only thing Journaling does is makes sure that the file system integrity is kept: That sectors are properly tied to files and that the files start and end at the place that the ‘table of contents’ says they will.

Whether an application will be able to recover the file is a completely different issue, and has really only been handled properly by RDBMS’s that have fully ACID (Atomic, Consistent, Isolation, Durable) transactions.

[Warning: Really bad mixed metaphor ahead!]

Journaling will keep your peanut butter cookies away from your chocolate ship cookies, but that doesn’t keep your cookies from coming out half-baked.

(Scary thought: Is this a reason why ‘longhorn’ will have a database-based file system? That would mean that the file system could ‘roll-back’ changes to a file when there’s a problem.)

05.24.03

This is True

Posted in General at 12 pm

From www.thisistrue.com‘s weekly free newsletter:

DOPEY DESPERADO II: Stereo store technicians installing a car stereo in Orem, Utah, found a bag of marijuana in the customer’s car and called the police. Officer Ryan Porter confronted the customer and asked if he knew why he was called. “The suspect hung his head and said, ‘It’s about the bicycle I just stole from in front of Media Play, isn’t it?’,” a police spokesman recounted. “Yes, that. And?” Porter replied. “It’s about the marijuana pipe I have in my truck, right?” Porter again replied, “Yes, that. And?” The 19-year-old man, whose name was not reported, said he couldn’t think of anything else, so Porter reminded him about the pot in the car and cited him for all three crimes. (Salt Lake Tribune) …It’s a good thing the guy had a bad memory or they could have been there all day.

05.22.03

WebVisions Again

Posted in General at 12 pm

We’re working hard on getting WebVisions 2003 together for this summer. It’s going to be at the Oregon Convention Center July 18. Find out more about it at www.webvisionsevent.org/

The keynote will be Jeffery Veen from Adaptive Path. This is going to be a good show, even better than last year’s event. That makes it 3 years in a row now. Pretty impressive how it’s grown and developed.

I’ll probably be the Stage Manager again this year. I think everyone felt I did a pretty good job at it. And I feel like I did too.

05.12.03

Disinformation Minister

Posted in General at 9 am

One of the Best Parodies I’ve seen recently:

forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?threadid=24351&perpage=1&pagenumber=52

“Microsoft is the best! We innovate everything!”

05.08.03

On Stress

Posted in General at 9 pm

I’ve lived a stressed out lifestyle for a few years now. Sure there are ups and downs, but the overall graph of stress has stayed above the tense / forgetting to breathe stage for about 6 months now.

It’s had an interesting effect in that there are obvious longer term effects that I’m noticing. Lower back pain and more ongoing wrist pain are two of the starting points. A distinct lack of ability to concentrate and fidgeting are others.

I have this nervous habit which I had dropped a few years back which I noticed happening just the other day. It’s not horrible, but I have a tendency to dig my fingernails into the sides of my fingertips, right next to the nail. It actually provides some stress relief at some level, but if it happens on a regular basis, I begin to lose the skin around my nails, opening it up until it’s quite raw.

Not a good thing. But at least I’m recognizing it. Perhaps I’ll take some steps to control it.

05.04.03

Tune Loc

Posted in General at 1 am

So I’ve added a little piece of text that lists my most recently played tune that I’ve got iTunes playing on my G3. This is the first change I’ve made to my Journal in quite some time.

I was just re-reading my entries from this week in ’98 and ’99 and each of them are far more personal, something this log has not had in quite some time. Of course Resolutions, like Rules, are made to be broken. One of my ongoing resolutions has been to write more, but I find myself reading voraciously, all online of course. Blogs, News, Articles, Research papers, anything that comes up grabs me.

I retain a lot of it, but if information is a river, I’m a backwater eddy with a bunch of debris swirling around. I really need to write more. Or at least some. And not just these pithy comments I’ve been making for the past couple of months but some actual writing. Of course my wrist may decide to go on permanent strike, but I’ll see what I can do.

I’ve got a set of handouts for my intro to web graphics course that I’d like to have ready for my Fall class, but at this rate I might not make it.

04.25.03

Vanport Bridge

Posted in General at 2 pm

A cool e-mail I got the other day:

Thank you for submitting ideas for TriMet’s contest to name the Interstate MAX Long Bridge. Vanport Bridge was the overwhelming winner.

You are one of several contest winners. Your prize is bragging rights for naming the Interstate MAX Long Bridge and an Interstate MAX preview ride with your friends. We’ll contact you when the Interstate MAX line is nearly complete and arrange for your special ride.

Bridge dedication

In the meantime, join TriMet and honored guests at a dedication ceremony at the Interstate MAX Delta Park/Vanport Station on Friday, May 30th, the 55th anniversary of the flood that wiped out the entire Vanport community. At the ceremony, a plaque commemorating the city and those who lived there will be unveiled.

I helped name a bridge! Those of you who understand my fascination with major public works and transportation will figure how cool this is for me.

04.21.03

Big Sugar

Posted in General at 9 am

I had no idea ther was such a thing as ‘Big Sugar‘. The Guardian has an article on this.
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