"Murphy was an optimist!"
Work at home job opportunity! June 28, 2006 11:42 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeNow you too can be part of the US border patrol without ever leaving the comfort of your easy chair. Why yes! This excellent opportunity allows you to keep our country safe by using your home computer to spy on our borders and report when an illegal is crossing.
The Texas governor announced his plans for streaming the border surveillance camera footage over the internet at a meeting of police officials on Thursday.
…
Web users who spot an apparently illegal crossing will be able to alert the authorities by telephoning a number free of charge. [Source]
I see a completely new market for a previously distasteful Internet technology!
LIVE-SHOT is a revolutionary concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our on-line target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time. [Source]
What could go wrong?
1 comment so far5 Steps to CSS Heaven June 28, 2006 9:19 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : CSS, Programming, TechnologyI find CSS to be much fun. I like reading other people’s options of CSS techniques. PingMag lists 5 steps that I like.
- http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/05/18/5-steps-to-css-heaven/
- Separate the positioning properties from the typographic properties
- Isolate single properties that you are likely to reuse a lot
- Try out an online CSS compressor
- Learn to exploit the cascading nature of CSS
I don’t necessarily agree completely or adhere to these steps but they are certainly worth reviewing. [Source]
add a commentWho needs Prozac! Tag! You’re it. June 28, 2006 8:51 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Education, Exercise, Health, Mental, Of InterestI’ve been feeling increasingly depressed. Work stress and my general situation have just beaten me down. I have managed to keep the dizzy spells back but often it is just by luck that I’m not swirling away.
Yesterday I got off my bum and ran. It wasn’t a terribly lengthy run but it was on hills and made me wheeze like the air had suddenly shut off. Then last night I took a break and had Sarah join me for The Knoxville Juggler’s Club meeting. We had a blast and I exercised hard.
Today I feel great! The work is still there. Today’s schedule is nuts 
(that link won’t show it because we use 9 calendars to coordinate our family). I may have a career altering decision to make at lunch. And the wolves are still at door. But I truly feel less down!
Schools have blunted our creative education with the elimination of arts and language skills.
“We can no longer afford the arts,†yet recent studies have confirmed that public schools cannot afford to eliminate arts education because of the important contributions it makes in the cognitive development of the whole child. [Source]
Were it not for the exceptional PTA at Rocky Hill, our elementary school would not be teaching foreign language at all. Now schools are looking ot reduce physical activity, like banning tag, on the premise that these activities are not safe. They are making a huge mistake.
The principal said children playing tag suffered both physical and emotional injuries.
Exercise works to prevent depression! (without side affects)
…another treatment for depression – exercise therapy – that can be as effective as antidepressants and counselling. Several scientific studies have shown that a regular programme of exercise can help people recover from depression – lifting their mood, reducing anxiety and improving self-esteem and concentration. They have also found that taking regular exercise can help protect people against becoming depressed in the first place. [Source]
A study of male graduates at Harvard found that the relative risk of depression over a 25-year period was 27 per cent lower for men who played three hours or more of sport a week. [Source]
I think Franklin Elementary School Principal Pat Samarge has it wrong. Tag, even with its "abuses" develops our children physically and mentally. Without exercise, Samarge is contributing directly to physical problems and, as the studies have shown, Samarge is also contributing directly to the emotional abuse of depression! Of course, not playing tag doesn’t mean these children will become depressed nor does it imply that these children are being denied opportunities to exercise. It simply means that Samarge has taken away an opportunity, opened a door to potential lethargy, and eliminated a possible depression preventative.
Yummy! I had pondered creating a site to review teachers from the parent and student point of view. I am happy that it has already been done!
Side note, In case you missed "Schools Abolish Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training", click this to see the picture! "I’m OK! You’re OK! a horrible bigot."
Coding hurts June 27, 2006 3:46 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, PHP, Programming, Smarty, TechnologyThis is the stuff that makes my eyes bleed:
<FORM action="{$register_script_name}?{$smarty.server.QUERY_STRING}" method="POST" name="registerform"{if $js_enabled} onsubmit="javascript: if (check_zip_code(){if $default_fields.email.required eq 'Y'} && checkEmailAddress(document.registerform.email){/if}) return true; else return false;"{/if}>
If you write your representative, they sometimes write back! June 27, 2006 3:23 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Technology, Touchy Subjects, United StatesKudos to efnet‘s #coldfusion‘s MacGeorge for writing his representative regarding net neutrality and bigger kudos to Tammy Baldwin for responding!
I strongly support network neutrality, the guiding principle which
ensures that the Internet remains open to all and guarantees
everyone equal access. …
…I am a cosponsor of the Network
Neutrality Act, H.R. 5273. This bill clearly defines U.S.
telecommunication policy to include the preservation of the
freedom to use broadband telecommunications networks, including
the Internet, without interference from network operators.
Specifically, it outlines responsibilities of network providers to
ensure that the Internet remains open and available to everyone. …
Sincerely,
Tammy Baldwin
Member of Congress
Good stuff! Her letter also mentions that it is better to send email than physical letters.
As a result of the anthrax incidents, all
mail sent to Congress is first irradiated. This process causes
significant delays. To ensure the fastest response, I encourage all
constituents who have access to the internet to contact me through
my website…
Be politically active in your life. There is time for a simple phone call or email. Contact your representative frequently!
See also Markey Amendment to COPE Act, Markey bill, and The Library of Congress.
1 comment so farEnhance your website with Skype June 27, 2006 2:02 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Software, Technology, voip
Are you a Skype user? Want to enhance your website by giving users the ability to call you from a link? Call Doug Or perhaps you want to give your users an easy way to add your Skype link to their contacts. Add Doug as a Skype contact
Those links will fail if you haven’t installed Skype on your computer. So some javascript can help changing the error message to a prompt to download Skype. Call Doug or if you don’t have skype get prompted to install
Instead of calling, perhaps you want to text chat with Doug. There are other links for conference calls, regular phone numbers, viewing profiles, and even sending files.
These techniques are described in Skypes Advanced Links. Also read How to show your Skype status on the web.
add a commentA blogger passes June 27, 2006 12:13 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Announcements, News, Of InterestI’ve seen this on many blogs today. "Rob Smith, aka Acidman of Gut Rumbles is dead." I personnally only read Gut Rumbles a few times. I liked his style. His picture made me think I was reading Buddy Ebsen. When a blogger, a relative stranger, passes away I feel more remorse than hearing about a celebrity or reading an obit in the paper. Bloggers feel connected.
Rob Smith, rest in peace!
add a commentIntroducing Motorola H5 MINIBLUE June 27, 2006 10:42 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, Technology
EEEwww! I want!
1 comment so farA barely-there Bluetooth experience, the revolutionary Motorola H5 MINIBLUE is designed around the way your body works. The tiny headset fits discreetly in your ear and includes a built-in microphone and speaker, so your ear canal picks up your voice.
…
The advanced in-ear technology lets you hear and talk clearly. When you find yourself in a noisy environment, don’t worry about having to remove yourself when you receive a call. Just use the Motorola H5 MINIBLUE for strain-free conversation on the freeway* or in a coffee shop.
Podcasting $ounds fun! June 27, 2006 9:33 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Of Interest, VideoRemember how I used to talk up Rocketboom? Since discovering it on September 27, 2005 I didn’t miss a show until… I have yet to be able to watch Rocketboom again. I now suspect my Linksys router is the problem.
Sarah wants to get into podcasting so I’ve made some efforts at understanding podcasting. In my research I discovered that Rocketboom has grown!
Yesterday I was talking with Amanda Congdon, one of the co-founders of Rocketboom. Her videoblog is now seeing about 300,000 viewers a day. That’s, what, a year or so old? Did you know that advertisers are now paying her $85,000 per week? That’s almost as much money as I made in an entire year of working at Microsoft. [Source]
This is not to imply that a 3 minute video blog is 3 minutes of work. "…Amanda tells me she and her team are working nearly around the clock right now to put together their three-minute videoblog…" Great success comes from great efforts! Money aside, video podcasting sound fun and is definitely a medium worth learning more about!
1 comment so farRush Limbaugh held UP for 3 1/2 hours June 27, 2006 8:15 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : News, Of InterestIt’s hard for me to comment on this without laughing.
Customs officials found in Limbaugh’s luggage a prescription bottle labeled as , a prescription drug that treats erectile disfunction, Miller said.
“The problem was that on the bottle itself was not his name, but the name of two Florida doctors,” Miller said.
This is certainly going to get a rise out of the left while leaving the right a little hard up. . Some more at Daily KOS.
1 comment so farArmy of one June 26, 2006 9:38 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeIn my race against time, I’m losing.
add a commentKeep those posts coming! Some of my blogging tricks. June 26, 2006 6:31 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Software, Technology, WordPress
I enjoy blogging. I enjoy both the writing side of blogging as well as the reading and interacting side of blogging. I personally think it is more pleasureable to read a blog that has a steady stream of information rather than bursts of quantity followed by silence. I believe that is one aspect of Instapundit that makes Glen Reynolds (and his rumored ghost writers) stand out. Like dead air on the radio, several days or weeks of no posts can cost your blog readership.
I collect links and tidbits as I work. When I’m researching and see something interesting I open a tab in Firefox and hold the link. My goal, of course, is to write something substantial and correlate to other sources and similar tidbits but rather than Pulitzer I often end up with a couple of sentences saying, "check this out!" I also have friends that instant message or email interesting links which go into the pool of possible publishings. And my browser homepage for Firefox is the Geek Crack site http://popurls.com/ while Internet Explorer retains the news portal iWon.
My trick to steady posting is to devote a bit of time each Sunday to making non-time sensitive posts into the future. This was a feature that Blogger lacked. On blogger, posting in the future made the information immediately available but with a future date. As you can see in the picture, WordPress handles future posts correctly! The screenshot shows my recent posts today but also reveals seven scheduled posts already written which will appear whether or not I’m frantically working, or even away from my computer. The next one arrives in 16 hours then another in 20 hours, three post in 2 days, and finally two posts 4 days from now. These non-time sensitive posts come from the links I’ve collected over the week. The scheduled posts may only be a couple of sentences but if time permits over the week, I can improve the information before their scheduled time (and being what a blog is, I can update them at any time but my style is typically to leave a post alone once it publishes).
By using scheduling features of your blog publishing software, you can have posts appear while you are at the office of a business that has a policy against blogging at work. You can keep your readers satisfied with a steady stream of good writing. By spreading your material out over time, you avoid turning your readers into skimmers because of information overload. Write steady!
Update: Swap Blog also offers bloggers some good advice.
3commentsUse your tools correctly. June 26, 2006 3:39 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Software, TechnologyWe all use Microsoft Office. Maybe some of us use Open Office but most people will lay hands on MS Word or Excel at some point in the day. So why not use them better? Microsoft offers all kinds of downloadable templates to make our lifes easier! I’ve decided to quit reinventing the wheel and appreciate what is already made for me.
add a commentAjax Tutorial and Prototype June 26, 2006 1:22 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : AJAX, ColdFusion, Daily Life, Programming, TechnologyI’ve had Pete Freitag’s Ajax Tutorial and Prototype open for awhile with intent to share. Since I haven’t looked through it yet, I can’t say anthing beyond that. It is written in conjunction with ColdFusion.
add a commentHanso Foundation Hacked June 26, 2006 11:54 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Lost, Of Interest, TV / MoviesSo, is this part of the game? Is it real? Or are the developer buying time to work on the next phase?
The Hanso Foundation site has been hacked by malicious infiltrators seeking to blemish the good work of many dedicated researchers. Until a legal investigation is complete, the site will no longer be accessible to the public. Namaste.
[Source]
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