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Oh I Wish I Had Money! – Great WOOT!

Woot has a launch event today. That means they are the very first to be selling a product (via special arrangements). Today’s woot is a Vivitar 8.1MP Compact Digital Camera with 2.5-in. LCD for $299.99 plus $5 shipping. Ultra thin and dandy. If I could I’d buy 3 and tuck two away for Christmas presents.

Of course, at 8.1MP you need to give them a new harddrive also!

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Seeking Juggling Partner – No skills required

When I posted that I’m seeking a juggling partner in or near Knoxville (that sounds like a personals ad) I should have added that you don’t have to be all that good. Most people would say, "I’m not that good" or "I’m not good enough" and it makes me wonder what scale they are measuring themselves against.

I just need someone willing to commit to a little time. I had piano lessons for 4 years and once I showed up for my lesson and the teacher asked, "Did you practice?" to which I replied, "no." The instructor frowned, closed the cover over the keys, and said, "so what do you want to talk about?" The message was clear and left a lasting impression. So, I don’t need someone good. I just need someone willing.

The goal will be to do some passing for an audience near the end of the month. I promise you’ll have a blast. No. This is not a paid gig.

ps. Bonus if you look good in a sequined bikini! Oh no no.. That would be a magician’s assistant instead of a juggling partner.

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Technical hurdle

Finally, my SME Server is working with RH Linux, Apache, Php, and MySQL. Which technically is a LAMP setup since acronyms seem to be all the rag today. Figuring out how to grant privileges on MySQL 3.23.x so that I could use SQLYog (SQL Query Analyzer for MySQL) from my PC was a pain but its working now. I look forward to upgrading to MySQL 4.1. Right now I just want to get back to coding.

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Seeking Juggling Partner

If you are in the Knoxville area and willing to commit to at least an hour’s practice a week, I’m looking for a juggling partner. You don’t have to "be good," just committed. (Interpret that as you may). I also have a juggling show near the end of this month that I’d like to entice someone to do some routines with me.

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Oops. Server down?

Here’s a good reason to never put passwords in source code. Apparently Yahoo’s php server was down today. On the other hand, some commenting would be better than what is shown here. Next post: The ethics of posting other peoples code.

define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', 'www.yahoo.com');
define('PIXEL_WIDTH', '145');

$linkviews = array();

function track_linkview ($link) {
global $linkviews;
array_push($linkviews, $link);
}

function log_linkviews () {
global $linkviews;
if (count($linkviews)) {
yahoo_track_page_params(array('link' => join("\002", $linkviews)));
}
}

function quote ($str) {
return preg_replace('/([\\\"\'])/', '\\\$1', $str);
}

function js_start () {
print "<script language=\"javascript\" type=\"text/javascript\">\n";
print "d=document;\n";
print "d.domain='yahoo.com';\n";
print "p=parent.document;\n";
print "lc=p.getElementById('lc');\n"; // weather content
print "ca=p.getElementById('ca');\n"; // change location link
print "cl=p.getElementById('cl');\n"; // change location
print "wt=p.getElementById('wt');\n"; // module title
print "wa=p.getElementById('wa');\n"; // alert
print "wg=p.getElementById('wg');\n"; // weather message
}

function js_end () {
print "</script>\n";
}

function js_set ($key, $value) {
return "$key=\"" . quote($value) . "\";\n";
}

function weather_result ($label, $url, $cond) {
$rd = $label == 'Today' ? 'r/w3' : 'r/w5';
$lo = $cond["lo"];
$hi = $cond["hi"];
$sky = $cond["sky"];
$fc = $cond["forecast"];
$result = "<a href=\"$rd/*$url\"><b>$label</b></a>";
$result .= "<img src=$sky alt=\"$fc\">";
$result .= "$fc<br>";
$result .= "hi <span class=hi>$hi°<span class=sc>F</span></span> - ";
$result .= "lo <span class=lo>$lo°<span class=sc>F</span></span>";
track_linkview($rd);
return $result;
}

function show_results ($city_state, $weather) {
$url = $weather->url;
$today = weather_result("Today", $url, $weather->today);
$tomorrow = weather_result("Tomorrow", $url, $weather->tomorrow);
$xfc =
"<span class=mr>" .
"<a href=\"r/w7/*$url\"><b>»</b> Extended Weather Forecast</a>" .
"</span>";

print js_set("wt.innerHTML",
htmlentities(fp_limit_location($city_state, PIXEL_WIDTH)));
print js_set("wt.href", "r/wt/*$url");
print js_set("ca.style.display", "inline");
print js_set("ca.className", "");
print js_set("lc.innerHTML",
"<div class=b>$today</div>" .
"<div class=b>$tomorrow</div>" .
$xfc);
//print "wt.focus();wt.blur();parent.clo=0;\n";
print "parent.clo=0;\n";

// U.S. location for local search, disabled
if (0 && preg_match('/\b\w{2}$/', $city_state)) {
print js_set("parent._wcs", $city_state);
print "if (p.sf1.csz) " . js_set("p.sf1.csz.value", $city_state);
}

yahoo_track_page_params(array("wrs" => $weather->id));
track_linkview("r/w7");
}

function show_error ($status) {
$code = "error";
if (!is_null($status)) {
$code .= ":$status";
}
print js_set("wa.innerHTML",
"<strong>Your search produced no matches.</strong><br>".
"Please re-enter a City or U.S. Zip Code:");
print js_set("wg.style.display", "none");
print js_set("wa.style.display", "block");
yahoo_track_page_params(array("wrs" => $code));
}

function show_picklist ($list) {
$ccc_file = "/home/y/share/htdocs/includes/weather/ccc2full.cdb";
$ccc_map = dba_open($ccc_file, "r-", "cdb");
$choices = "";
## re-order USA first
if (array_key_exists('USA', $list)) {
$newlist = array();
$newlist['USA'] = $list['USA'];
foreach ($list as $ccc => $region) {
$newlist[$ccc] = $region;
}
$list = $newlist;
}
foreach ($list as $ccc => $region) {
$country = $ccc;
if ($ccc_map !== FALSE &&
($full = dba_fetch($ccc, $ccc_map)) !== FALSE) {
$country = $full;
}
$choices .= "<div>$country</div>";
foreach ($region as $loc) {
list($id, $cs) = $loc;
$param = quote($id);
$choices .= "<a href=\"javascript:parent.zp('$param');\">$cs</a>";
}
}
if ($ccc_map !== FALSE) {
dba_close($ccc_map);
}
print js_set("wa.innerHTML",
"<span>" .
"<strong>Your search matched multiple cities.</strong><br>" .
"Please select the appropriate location below:" .
"</span>" .
"<span id=ls class=wil>" .
$choices .
"</span>");
print js_set("wg.style.display", "block");
print js_set("wa.style.display", "block");
yahoo_track_page_params(array("wrs" => "picklist"));
}

function retry_validate_location ($lm, $csz, $limit) {
$attempt = 0;

do {
if ($attempt) usleep(500000); // 0.5 seconds
$attempt++;
$return = $lm->validatelocation($csz, 1);
} while ($return[0] == '-5' and $attempt < $limit);

if ($return[0] != 1 and $return[0] != -1 and $return[0] != -2) {
error_log("validatelocation($csz) failed: $return[0]");
}

return $return;
}

function find_location ($lm, $wtr, $csz) {
$attempts = 3;
$return = retry_validate_location($lm, $csz, $attempts);
$results = array();

if (($return[0] == -2 or $return[0] >= 0) &&
array_key_exists('geolist', $return)) {
foreach ($return['geolist'] as $location) {
if ($wtr->load($location)) {
array_push($results, $location);
}
else {
error_log("no weather data for: " . fp_city_state($location));
}
}
}

return $results;
}

function set_weather_cookie ($value) {
$expire = time() + 90 * 86400;
setcookie(WEATHER_COOKIE, $value, $expire, "/", COOKIE_DOMAIN, 0);
}

function clear_weather_cookie () {
setcookie(WEATHER_COOKIE, "", 0, "/", COOKIE_DOMAIN, 0);
}

## main ()

$v = $_GET;
$location = new yahoo_location_manager();
$weather = new YahooFrontpageWeather(array('pixel_width' => PIXEL_WIDTH));

## /yahoo/site/main/weather (non-frontpage traffic)
yadl_spaceid('P#97167465');
yahoo_track_page_params(array('PL' =>
yahoo_full_cookie('PL') === FALSE ? 0 : 1));

if (array_key_exists('test', $v)) {
$version = 'v' . yahoo_get_data(YIV_GET, 'test');
yahoo_track_page_params(array('test' => $version));
}

if (array_key_exists('wl', $v)) {
$pixel = 'http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/space.gif';
$wlocid = yahoo_get_data(YIV_GET, 'wl');

if ($weather->load($wlocid)) {
set_weather_cookie($wlocid);
}

header("Location: $pixel");
}
else if (array_key_exists('p', $v) and
(($csz =
yahoo_get_data(YIV_GET, 'p', YIV_FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW)) != '')) {
$results = find_location($location, $weather, $csz);

## invalid location
if (count($results) == 0) {
if ($csz == 'delete') {
// clear weather cookie
if (yahoo_full_cookie(WEATHER_COOKIE) !== FALSE) {
clear_weather_cookie();
}
// clear location manager cookie
if (yahoo_full_cookie('PL') != FALSE) {
setcookie('PL', '', 0, '/', ".yahoo.com");
}
}
js_start();
show_error('l');
js_end();
}
## single result
else if (count($results) == 1) {
$loc = $results[0];
$cs = fp_city_state($loc);
$id = $loc['uniqueId'];

if ($weather->load($loc)) {
if (array_key_exists('sv', $v) && $v['sv'] == 'on') {
// clear weather cookie
if (yahoo_full_cookie(WEATHER_COOKIE) !== FALSE) {
clear_weather_cookie();
}

// clear PL older cookie scoped on www.yahoo.com
if (yahoo_cookie_part('PL', 'V') == '1.0') {
setcookie('PL', '', 0, '/', COOKIE_DOMAIN);
}

$return = $location->setLocation($id, "weather", 1);
if ($return[0] != 1) {
error_log("setLocation($id) failed: $return[0]");
}

yahoo_track_page_params(array('wsv' => 1));
}

if ($cs == '') {
$cs = $weather->location;
}

js_start();
show_results($cs, $weather);
js_end();
}
else {
js_start();
show_error('w');
js_end();
}
}
## pick list
else {
$list = array();

// group by country
foreach ($results as $loc) {
$cs = fp_city_state($loc);
$id = $loc['uniqueId'];
$ccc = $loc['country'];
$item = array($id, $cs);

if (array_key_exists($ccc, $list)) {
array_push($list[$ccc], $item);
}
else {
$list[$ccc] = array($item);
}
}

js_start();
if (count($list) == 0) {
show_error('pl');
}
else {
show_picklist($list);
}
js_end();
}
}
## initial pageview
else {
$loc = fp_get_weather_location();

if ($loc !== FALSE) {
$cs = fp_city_state($loc);

if ($weather->load($loc)) {
if ($cs == '') {
$cs = $weather->location;
}
js_start();
show_results($cs, $weather);
js_end();
}
}
}

log_linkviews();

?>

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Children Make Us Better Adults

A simple request, "Dad, would you read me the book Granddaddy got me?" during a heated, high pressure deadline reminds us that sometimes a break makes us more productive. Taking a few minutes with children instead of replying, "not now. I’m busy." makes us feel good where as putting them off gives us guilt. Remember, a toddler and even older children do not understand the concept of "later" and particularly "I’m busy." They don’t care. They want you to be busy with them.

Reading Amy’s story took less time than writing this post. She enjoyed the time and at the end of the story went on happily to other things. I love it!

Studies are even showing that napping (taking a short break) during the day helps make us as much as 30% more productive.

Liberty Wellness Tip: Well-rested employees create happier & more productive workplaces.