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Songs of 2008

This are not necessarily songs from 2008, but the songs I fell in love with during 2008.

Gobbledigook - Sigur Ros
The Adventure - Angels and Airwaves
Nowhere Man - Beatles
The Sufferring - Coheed and Cambria
This Respirator - The Flatliners
Sweetness - Jimmy Eat World
Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Kids - MGMT
Time to Pretend - MGMT
Sleepy Head - Passion Pit
Escape is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man - The Tragically Hip
Do it or Die - Die Mannequin
F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X - The Fall of Troy
Nothing Special - Ill Scarlett
I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Killer - Mobile
Always - Neverending White Lights
Automatic …

Last.fm - Where have you been all my life?

Mr. Scruss has pointed out to me, indirectly via status update no less, of the wonder that is Last.fm.  If you are a music enthusiast and have a solid internet connection then definitely give last.fm a go.

Start by entering all of the faboulous acts that come to mind and go from there based on the site’s suggestions.  Build your library and then, wait for it, listen to all of it online for free!

I honestly couldn’t believe it.  How many legal hoops did these guys have to jump through to get this off the ground?

Do yourself a favor.

http://www.last.fm/

Technorati

I’m claiming this blog damnit

http://technorati.com/claim/9pzspx9abs” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile

Tweet Tweet - Twitter Twitter

Titled after a saying by my good buddy “Dutch”, this post will focus on the social networking tool that is “Twitter.”

I first stumbled onto Twitter some time ago however the recent resurgence of social digital networking has reignited my interest in this tool.  Meg Parker’s one hour social networking seminar was the catalyst to re-examine Twitter.

To summarize Twitter, it is a simple online site where you can write short 140 character headlines or descriptions of what you are doing or what really turns your crank at that moment in time.  It is sort of like a short blog post that can be …

Global Nuclear Fuel and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Save 25 Million Gallons of Water, Reduce CO2 Emissions by 80 tons

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/11122008.jsp 

A joint venture of GE, Toshiba and Hitachi, spearheaded wastewater plant changes that drove down water usage site-wide at its Wilmington, N.C., headquarters. The result: a reduction in water usage by 25 million gallons annually at the facility, which includes GNF’s US-based fuel manufacturing operations. The plant has been working to optimize its operations and contribute towards GE’s overall ecomagination commitment to reduce its water footprint 20% by 2012. GNF’s new energy efficient wastewater system avoids nearly 80 tons per year of CO2 emissions, and realizes annual savings of $160,000 in water and energy use charges.

Kijiji - My Car is Now for Sale

It was as easy as that!  Free local classified through Kijiji and now my beloved vehicle is now up for grabs to the general public.

Want to see the ad?  Here is the link :

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-Nissan-1997-Nissan-Maxima-GXE-W0QQAdIdZ87052615

Masdar City

There is a lot of buzz lately about Masdar City, so I thought I would take a moment to share with my network.

Masdar City is a planned “City of the Future” that is currently in development in Abu Dhabi.  The goal is to build a self sustainable city with zero carbon footprint.  The city will be powered completely on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Sound interesting?  Read more on Wikipedia :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City

I’m LinkedIn - So What!

Over the last couple of days I have been having discussions in passing with several colleagues on the benefits of having a LinkedIn profile. I was amazed that even in this digital age of social networking and everyone saying Web two-point-oh with every other sentence and billions of dollars being spent on online marketing that people are still asking “So What?” about LinkedIn.

For those of you not-in-the-know, LinkedIn is a professional networking site similar to Facebook and mySpace with a business networking flair to it.  I link to think of my LinkedIn profile as a creature born from my rolodex …

Advanced Cooling Solution

Ok, you may be asking yourself “What the hell is an advanced cooling solution?”

Well my friends this is a solution for asset protection and to lower the overall cooling water required by a system

If you know cooling towers, then you know what the hell I’m talking about

Please read the press release :  http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/10292008.jsp

The Most Destructive Project on Earth

The Alberta Tar Sands (oil sands) project is an environmental abomination.  If you live in Canada or any of the northern U.S. states, YOU ARE being affected.  Great for Canada’s economy, terrible for mother earth.  Please take a moment to skim this report.
http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/pdf/TarSands_TheReport.pdf

New Bike Cleans Water As You Pedal

“Winner of the ‘08 Innovate or Die competition sponsored by Google and Specialized, the Aquaduct is a pedal-powered concept vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water. The design has massive implications for communities where safe and secure sources of drinking water are not readily accessible.” 

Multi-million Dollar Research Agreement Aims to Improve Water Management and Use in Alberta

Sharing knowledge and testing innovative solutions to better manage Alberta’s water resources are the foundation of a world-class research agreement between the Alberta Water Research Institute and GE Water & Process Technologies.

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/10092008.jsp

GE and Septech deploy innovative mobile water solutions to meet growing water needs in UAE and Oman

Collaboration Brings Quickly Deployable Water Solutions

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/06252008.jsp 

GE Wastewater Treatment Solution to Help Restore Health of China’s Third Largest Lake

Advanced Wastewater Treatment System to Achieve Strict Discharge Standards and Protect Water Quality in Taihu Lake

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/06242008.jsp 

GE Water Solutions Selected for Pakistan’s National Clean Water Initiative

GE Advanced Membrane Technologies to Provide Safe, Clean Drinking Water at Over a Thousand Sites

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/06232008.jsp 

GE’S Advanced Water Treatment Solutions to Help Reduce Water and Carbon Footprints for Alberta Oil Producers

Project Marks Continued Adoption of GE’s Produced Water Evaporator and Zero-Liquid Discharge Technologies in Alberta Oil Sands

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/06102008.jsp

GE and Pennant Hills Golf Club Open Australia’s First Commercial “Sewer Mining” Water Reclamation Plant

As Drought and Water Challenges Continue: Golf Course Stays Green with Environmentally-Sound, Drought-Proof Supply of Water.

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/05302008.jsp 

GE Unveils Aggressive Water Reduction Target to Free Up Fresh Water Supplies

Company Pledges to Reduce Fresh Water Use by 20% by 2012.

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/05282008-Target.jsp 

GE Releases White Paper on Best Practices for Recycling and Reusing Water

Addressing Water Scarcity Through Recycling and Reuse: A Menu for Policymakers

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/05282008-Paper.jsp

Olympic Wave: GE Donates Water Treatment Technology to Chinese Communities as Legacy Gift in Honor of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

GE PROVIDES CHINA’S FIRST MOBILE WATER SOLUTION TO SUPPLY CLEAN DRINKING WATER TO REMOTE AREAS

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/05282008-gift.jsp 

GE Water Solution to Help Elion Chemical Co. Protect China’s Yellow River From Pollution

ECOMAGINATION-CERTIFIED TECHNOLOGIES WILL ELIMINATE OVER A BILLION GALLONS OF WASTEWATER DISCHARGE, PROTECT ENVIRONMENT AND REDUCE WATER DEMAND

http://www.gewater.com/who_we_are/press_center/pr/05282008-Elion.jsp

Blogged!

Osama Bin Laden - Rock Lobster

Osama Bin Laden digs on “Rock Lobster” by the B52s

‘Osama believed that music was evil and I remember how angry he’d get if any guest at the estate played music (Isam, for instance, did enjoy music)–Osama would cover up his ears and not uncover them until he got the managers to have the “poison” silenced. But then he’d become this other guy who wanted to hear Van Halen or some B-52’s. To this day, I hear the song “Rock Lobster” in my sleep.’

- Kola Boof, Diary of a Lost Girl

http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Lost-Girl-Autobiography-Kola/dp/0971201986

Padre Kristobal’s Chimichurri Sauce

Use as meat marinade or condiment.

Combine the following in a bowl or food processor:

- 4 Jalapeno Peppers - course chop

- 2 Pinches Sea Salt

- 1 Clove Garlic - chopped

- 1 handful grated parmesan cheese

- 3/4 Large bunch flat leaf (Italian) parsley

- 2 limes - Juice squeezed

- 2 green onions - chopped

- 1/2 cup olive oil (EVOO if ya got it)

 Turn on food processor or mix with hand mixer.

Add to everything!  Awesome!

Coal mining ravages Appalachia mountains

They’re ripping the tops off mountains in West Virginia coal country to feed our insatiable appetite for power. It’s cheaper that way. And the trees and the animals and the flooding? It may not be pretty, but we’ve got all those dishwashers to run.

 http://www.thestar.com/article/306165

 

Lemon Polenta Cake

Ground Almonds (130g)

Coconut, shredded (130g)

Polenta, fine (130g)

Baking Powder (1 tsp)

Lemon Zest (3 lemons)

Butter, soft (270g)

Caster Sugar (270g)

Eggs (4 - 55g/each)

Lemon Juice, Fresh (2 lemons)

Lemon Icing

Icing Sugar (250g)

Lemon Juice, Fresh (1/2 Lemon)

Lemon Glaze

Lemon Juice, Fresh (2 lemons)

Sugar

Parkes’ Quiche

Puff Pastry

Sour Cream (300ml)

Cheese, shredded (good hand full)

Eggs (3)

Bacon Bits (1/2 cup)

Nutmeg (good pinch)

Yummmmmm!

Darlene’s Dahl Soup

2 tbsp butter

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp chilli powder

2 lb canned, chopped tomatoes, drained

1 cup red lentils

2 tsp lemon juice

2 1/2 cups vegetable bouillon

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

Salt and pepper

Chopped fresh cilantro and lemon slices, to garnish

nann bread to serve

Colbert Roasts President Bush

Steven Colbert takes a swing at Bush on his home turf at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSE_saVX_2A&feature=related

YouTube! - Alcohol Fueled Party Interview

Really funny interview with the king of party!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm61svN4U5g

Top Songs of 2007

Keeping in spirit of scruss’s top tunes for 2007, these are the top tunes I have discovered in 2007 and will shape my musical memory for the year.  So if you are looking for some new music to dig on, try some of the following:

Across the Sea - Weezer (Pinkerton)

Debaser - Pixies (Doolittle)

Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin (Phobia)

Dig - Incubus (Light Grenades)

Do It Or Die - Die Mannequin (Slaughter Daughter)

Don’t Wanna Wait Forever - Saint Alvia Cartel

Girl from the North Country - Dylan / Cash (Nashville Skyline)

I Get It - Chevelle (Vena Sera)

I Hope Your Heart Runs Empty - Neverending …

THE TEQUILA COOKIE RECIPE

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup of sugar
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup of brown sugar lemon tsp. juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Turn on the electric mixer…Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar…Beat again.

At this point it’s best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK, try another cup … just in …

Give Light Bulbs for Christmas

Wondering what to stuff in those stockings or what to get those relatives that you only see once a year?  Get them light bulbs.  Not just any kind of light bulbs, but energy efficient light bulbs such as EnergyStar rated ones.

If everyone changed the 5 most used light bulbs in their dwelling, we could really offset the energy requirements for the world. 

Here is some additional reading: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=lighting.pr_lighting 

Quote of the Year?

“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is
a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy,
the tallest guy in the NBA  is Chinese, the
Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing
the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn’t want to go to war, and
the three most powerful men in America are named
Bush, Dick, and Colon.

By Chris Rock,
2-28-07

Who is Hoarding the Oil?

According to this list of oil production / exporters in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart_of_exports_and_production_of_oil_by_nation) most countries are exporting a certain portion of their oil except for a handful. 

After doing some simple quick math (please note very sloppy rounding) but here are some points:

The world net oil exports are ~27 million barrels a day (take into consideration that the US, China, India and Australia import)

The US imports ~12.2 million barrels of oil / day — Probably the largest consumer

So if 27 million barrels a day are still left up for grabs on the import market–Keep in mind the US, China, India and …

Mom’s Orzo Salad

Ingredients

1 Cup Orzo

Green pepper

Celery stalk

Red Onion

Greek / Italian salad dressing

Soy sauce

Method

Boil Orzo and drain.  Move cooked orzo into bowl.

Finely dice pepper, onion, celery and mix in with Orzo

Drizzle greek / italian salad dressing and mix

Splash soy sauce to taste and mix

Classic Basil Pesto

Heady fresh pesto has unlimited uses for an imaginative chef: the base for a creamy dressing, a topping for grilled fish, a spread for toasted baguettes, a condiment for gourmet burgers, and of course, a sauce for tender pasta.

Estimated Times: Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 0 mins Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil tightly packed

2 cloves large garlic peeled

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions In a food processor or blender, combine basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, pecorino Romano cheese and pine …

Susan Mello’s “My Big Fat Greco Inspired Burger”

Tzatziki with feta:
1 small cucumber
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh dill
1/2 cup crumbled Greek feta cheese

Grilled Eggplant:
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large eggplant

Burger:
2 pounds ground lamb
3/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper
Oil, for brushing on the grill rack
6 small pita breads
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce Prepare an open grill for moderate direct-heat cookingTzatziki with feta:
Seed and chop the cucumber. In a medium bowl, stir together the cucumber, yogurt, garlic, dill and feta. Refrigerate and chill for 1 hour.Grilled Eggplant:
In a …

Bobby Flay’s “Pressed Cuban-Style Burger”

 Here is a recipe from a Food Network prorgam for a winning burger 

Pressed Cuban-Style Burger

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

1 pound ground chuck
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup best quality mayonnaise
3 cloves roasted garlic, pureed
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
4 hamburger buns
4 slices thinly sliced smoked ham
8 slices thinly sliced Swiss cheese
2 dill pickles, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices 

Form the meat into 4 (1/4-inch thick) burgers. Season the meat with salt and pepper on both sides and cook in a saute pan over high heat to medium doneness, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.Combine the mayonnaise and roasted garlic in a small bowl …

Quick Goulash

Ingredients

2 Links spicy hungarian sausage (Debrecener?)
2 Green peppers
1 Large celery stalk
1 Medium carrot
2 Large cooking onions
2 Tbsp paprika
2 Medium potatoes
4 Cloves garlic
1 Handfull fresh summer savory
1 Large can diced tomatoes

Method

1. Chop the onion, carrot, celery, green pepper, garlic into very small pieces

2. Brown the onion in a pan / pot.  Add carrot, celery, green pepper and cover.  Keep cooking under medium to low heat until all are quite soft.

3. Add can of diced tomatoes, garlic, paprika and bring to boil

4. Simmer 5 minutes

5. (Optional) If you like a more uniform sauce, use a hand-blender in the pot to mulch up …

Mass Database Table Ownership Change

DECLARE @old sysname, @new sysname, @sql varchar(1000)

SELECT
  @old = ‘{ THE OLD OWNER NAME }’
  , @new = ‘{ THE NEW OWNER NAME (eg. dbo) }’
  , @sql = ‘
  IF EXISTS (SELECT NULL FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
  WHERE
      QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA)+'’.'’+QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) = ‘’?'’
      AND TABLE_SCHEMA = ‘'’ + @old + ‘'’
  )
  EXECUTE sp_changeobjectowner ‘’?'’, ‘'’ + @new + ‘”’

EXECUTE sp_MSforeachtable @sql

JSP, JDBC and MS SQL Server

A quick post to illustrate how to connect to an SQL Server instance through JSP/Java.

1. Get the JDBC driver for SQL Server from the microsoft web site.  As of this posting it is version 1.1.  (Just search for “JDBC SQL Server Driver”

2. Put the driver (the JAR file) into the Tomcat lib directory

3. Restart Tomcat

4. In your JSP code, add the line to include the JDBC library for SQL Server : 

< %@ page import="java.sql.*,com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.*" %>

5. Now add the sweet sweet inards

< %
 
CallableStatement cstmt = null;
ResultSet rs = null;
Connection con = null;
SQLServerDataSource ds = new SQLServerDataSource();
ds.setUser(”MarketingWeb”);
ds.setPassword(”*******”);
ds.setServerName(”HQSQL1″);
ds.setPortNumber(1433);
ds.setDatabaseName(”MarketingWebSite”);
 
 
try {
con = ds.getConnection();
 
// Execute a …

RecipeSource.com

If you like to cook, I suggest a visit to www.RecipeSource.com

Lots of ethnic dishes! 

Hiding HTML Form Elements with JavaScript

We recently had a requirement to update a form to reveal / hide various form elements based on a dropdown list selection.  Since the site was done in CodeCharge, using server-side .NET visibility was going to prove to be a real pain in the ass down the road when we made additional changes.  CodeCharge does “Auto Generated” code so any custom code you change you won’t be able to add other elements in the future without your original custom code being corrupted.

 

There are a few basic things you need to do:

  • Seperate your form into different tables and surround the tables that …

    • 4 Things To Hate About Bottled Water

    I received a forward from a friend at work which revealed the terrible truths about bottled water.

    In summary:

  • Bottled water is usaully not as good as municipal tap water.  Cities have very strict requirements when producing water for a population.  These requirements are usually not imposed on bottled water manufacturers.
  • Bottled water is more expensive than tap water.
  • The bottles are wasteful from landfill standpoint.
  • Producing bottles and packaging uses energy which usually comes from a non-eco friendly energy source such as coal fired power plants.

    •  To read the full article, please use the following link:

    http://lifestyle.sympatico.msn.ca/4+Things+To+Hate+About+Bottled+Water/BodyandMind/TheSoko/articles/TS+4ThingsToHateAboutBottledWater.htm?isfa=1

     

    ICE - In Case of Emergency

    I received this message in an email today.  I thought it made a lot of sense so I’m sharing it with all of you.  Even if it is some sort of hoax (chain letter) it still is a good idea!

    The concept of “ICE” is catching up quickly. It is simple, yet an important
    method of contact during emergency situations.

    As cell phones are carried by majority of the population, all you need to
    do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be
    contacted at during emergency as ” ICE” (meaning In Case of Emergency).

    The idea was thought up by …

    Excel: Performing Mathematical Functions on Data Ranges

    This is a quick post to remember how to do math on a range of data.  For example: Suppose you have 10×10 area on a worksheet that you need all the data divided by the number 2.

    1. Put the number 2 into a cell away from your data range

    2. Copy the number 2 into your clipboard (highlight the cell with ‘2′ and Ctrl+C)

    3. Highlight all the cells you want to divide by ‘2′

    4. From the ‘EDIT” menu, choose ‘Paste Special…’

    5. From the pop-up window, select ‘Divide’

    This will perform the operation to all the values based on the value in the clipboard.

     

    Augusta’s Winking Judge

    Just a quick post to let everyone know that the Winking Judge now has a MySpace page.  Here is the link:

    http://www.myspace.com/thewinkingjudge

    Hamilton Restaurant Guide

    For those of you that live in the Hamilton / Ancaster are of Ontario, here is an online resource that allows you to look up local restaurant menus.

    Menu’s Only

    Stored Procedures That Return the IDENTITY

    The secret lies in the function “SCOPE_IDENTITY()” which references that last ID inserted within the scope of the procedure.  See the following:

    CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_FORMS_E_InfoEntry_INSERT]
    @NAME VARCHAR(255) ,
    @ID_FORMS_E_InfoEntryCategory INT
    AS
    SET NOCOUNT ON
     INSERT INTO [dbo].[FORMS_E_InfoEntry]
    (
     NAME,
      ID_FORMS_E_InfoEntryCategory,
     creation_datetime
    )
    VALUES
    (
     @NAME,
     @ID_FORMS_E_InfoEntryCategory,
     GetDate()
    )
    SELECT SCOPE_IDENTITY() AS ID
    SET NOCOUNT OFF
    GO

    Cicada

    I have decided to write a post about Cicada (sick-eh-dah) which are bugs that produce an interesting sound.  Most people in Southern Ontario are probably quite familiar with this sound that can be heard on a hot summer day.  Its sort of a droning buzzing noise, kind of like crickets.  The difference with this sound is it seems they are all in on it.  Once one starts they all start and the noise gets louder and louder and eventually tapers off.

     

    Anyway… these bugs are called Cicada.  Most people confuse this noise with Grasshoppers or Locusts.

    Read more here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

     

     

    The New Priest

    A funny to brighten your day, I don’t know the author. 

    A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done. The monsignor replied, “When I am worried about getting nervous on the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip. So next Sunday he took the monsignor’s advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink. He proceeded to talk up a storm. Upon his return to his …

    Creating Transparent Images for PowerPoint

    This exercise demonstrates how to create images that are not square that can be used in PowerPoint presentations.

    NOTE: This is to only be used for presentations that are not being printed.  PowerPoint does not implement printing transparent images correctly. 

    Tools Required: Photoshop

    1. Load the image containing the image you wish to isolate.  For example if you have an image of a cube that contains a background but you want to isolate the cube portion.

    2. Select the Pen tool by clicking on the Pen tool or pressing “P”.  Make sure that “Paths” is selected in the top left-hand corner rather than “Shape Layers” or …

    Setting Up an Eclipse Tomcat Environment

    Today I had the pleasure to install a J2EE web environment on my dev box.  This works very similar to Visual Studio .NET but it doesn’t cost you anything (Java Equiv.)

    Here goes:

    1. Download and install J2EE SDK (not JRE) (java.sun.com)

    2. Download and install Tomcat (tomcat.apache.org)

    3. Download and install Eclipse (www.eclipse.org)

    4. Download and install EasyEclipse (SourceForge)

     

    Put it all together and start Eclipse!

    Here is a super article from IBM on the subject : http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-ectom/

    Peace out.

     

    Welcome to GE

    As many of you may have already heard, ZENON Environmental was acquired by GE (General Electric) as of June 1st, 2006.  Along with the acquisition came the people whom I work with and as such I am now an employee of GE.

    Many of us do not understand the nature of such a transaction and what it means to those people who have invested their years with a company like ZENON.  For the most part, it appears that ZENON will remain intact for immediate future as a solution division of GE Water & Process Technologies ( GE Infrastructure ).  I will still …

    CSS Calendar

    Just a quick post about a quick and easy CSS calendar that I created.

    You can find the calendar here : http://norvin.eitzenlabs.com/design/HTML_calendar/01/HTML_calendar_01.html

    The parameters are very easy to change and there isn’t any messy table code.

    Enjoy! 

     

    Happy Cinco de Mayo

    Have a good one everyone!  For those that don’t know, Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the Mexican forces prevailing over hostile French attacks in 1862.  Mexico decided not to pay its debt so Napolean III decided to march on Mexico City.  The Mexican people being more aware of the terrain were able to defeat the French on the home turf.  Thus Cinco de Mayo.  Many horrible things followed this event as the French did not give up and decided to send a larger force in 1864 however this event marks the occasion of what probably seemed like an …

    Interpreted vs. Compiled Languages

    This past week I was asked a question regarding the strengths and weaknesses of compiled vs. interpreted programming languages.  To further clarify my response I thought I would take a moment and write a post to illustrate all the points that apply to this often-asked question.

    Interpreted Languages

    Advantages:

    Tilting At Windmills

    Anne Applebaum has written an informative article that shows how many morons out there are opposing wind energy.  Please read the article here:

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801188.html

    Let us remember that wind enery is much more comforting to coal-fired plants which disperse harmful carbon dioxide and uranium into the atmosphere.

    Many people will say “Well , the trees will take care of the carbon dioxide that our coal plants produce!”  In fact, you would need more than 6 more Amazon rain forests worth of trees to consume the amount of carbon dioxide at our current production levels.

    Stick that in your coal pipe and smoke it …

    Truncate Table vs. DELETE FROM

    Just a quick note that instead of deleting all the rows from a table you can also use the “TRUNCATE TABLE” command.  This command has the added benefit of resetting the IDENTITY columns back to its seed value. 

    In other words, automatic primary keys start back at 1.

    Random Numbers in .NET

    To generate random numbers in .NET is fairly straight forward however there is one pitfall that you must avoid in order to get the numbers not bound to the clock!

    DO NOT INSTANTIATE THE NUMBER GENERATOR EVERYTIME YOU GENERATE NUMBERS

    In other words, if you have a method that you are calling to generate the random numbers in a library, do not create an instance everytime you are looking to generate random numbers.

    Eg.

    RandomLibrary.vb 

    public class myRandomLibrary

    public function getRandNumber() as integer

    Dim myRandObject as new Random

    return(myRandObject.Next(1, 100))

    end function
    end class

    This is not going to work because you are calling new() on the random number generator everytime …

    Dr. Tim Flannery Talk

    Blair and I had the pleasure last night of listening to a talk by Dr. Tim Flannery who is the author of “The Weather Makers“  Dr. Flannery’s work has been a real eye opener to the world regarding the fate of the earth with respect to carbon dioxide production. 

    Here are some facts that were highlighted at the talk:

    Object Oriented Programming (OOP) Concepts

    Abstraction (Abstract Class):  The process of identifying common patterns that have systematic variations; an abstraction represents the common pattern and provides a means for specifying which variation to use.  An abstract class is a parent class that allows inheritance but can never be instantiated.  An example is the Shape Class.  Creating an instance of a generic shape does not make sense but using the Shape Class to create a Square class does make sense.

    Assembly:
     

    An Assembly is a  logical unit of code

    RangeValidator

    The RangeValidator is a web control that has the ability to automatically validate data entry between a maxiumum and minimum value. 

    One would use the RangeValidator in the typical web control fashion of :

    The RangeValidator is able to validate the following:

    Here are the basic parameters to assign when using the RangeValidator:

    Thats about it.

    Padre Kristobal’s Salad Dressing

    Here is a quick and easy salad dressing that the good padre recommended to me:

    Ingredients

    1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

    1/3 cup red wine vinegar

    1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (add more if you want)

    2 colves of garlic

    1/4 onion (Padre recommends Green or Red, I used a common cooking onion)

    1 tablespoon mustard ( I used dried Keens )

    Dash Pepper / Dash Salt

    Prep

    1. Dice the garlic and the onion very fine.  Use a garlic press if you like

    2. Combine all ingredients into a dish or cup

    3. Whisk like mad!  If you have a hand blender or food processor that would work too.

    Et Voila!

    Photoshop Vector Elipses

    I just learned a little trick from Miro on how to create lovely ellipses with a nice thick border in Photoshop.

    Here are the steps :

    1. Create a new fill layer (Layers -> New Fill Layer)

    2. Change the opacity of the fill layer so you can see everything in the background (50% should do)

    3. Select the Ellipse tool from the Vector Tool Basket

    4. Create a perfect circle (Hold Shift while drawing)

    5. Select and copy and paste the path (you won’t see the new path but it’ll be there and selected)

    6. Transform the path (Ctrl-T) and use specific measures (e.g. H: 80%, …

    Google: Where are you?

    I’m sure most web savvy people have Googled themselves before.  But for those that have not, perhaps its worth a shot.

    Here are my results for this blog:

    Norvin Eitzen: Rank #1 / 283 (0.003533)

    Norvin: Rank #23 / 69,300 (0.00033189)

    Eitzen: Rank #179 / 317,000 (0.00056466)

    Granted I do have an unusual name, however results are all relative to the size of the search space.  Based on the above results, for the most general term “Norvin” is doing much better than “Eitzen”

    Capsaicin Makes Cancer Commit Suicide

    Researchers have found that Capaicin, an alkaloid found in chilli peppers, causes prostate cancer cells to kill themselves. 

    Don’t believe me?  Read this:

    http://www.webmd.com/content/article/120/113588?src=rss_cancer

    Make sure your next curry is a spicy one!

    The GE Acquisition of ZENON Environmental

    As many of you probably already know, GE (General Electric) has made a bid to purchase ZENON Envionmental this week for $24 USD a share.  This works out to be about $656 million USD.  This is not a done deal yet as the shareholders have the final say.

     If you would like to learn more about this, please read the following press release : http://www.zenon.com/newsroom/press_releases/2006/03142006.shtml

    The Google Machine

    I have just discovered some papers written on Google system architecture which I though I would post for all to enjoy.

    1. The Google File System

    http://www.cs.rochester.edu/sosp2003/papers/p125-ghemawat.pdf

    2. The Google Cluster Architecture

    http://www.search3w.com/Siteresources/data/MediaArchive/files/Google%2015000%20servers%20secrest.pdf

    Jesus Walks

    I did some calculations on how far Jesus walked based on H21’s Jesus Walks (Google Earth)  It looks like you too could complete the voyage in just over a month’s time! 

    View It Here

    Update: Please note that this does not include Jesus’ journeys into India, the Orient and Europe.  These only include the quoted locations in the Christian Bible.  These journeys occured between the ages of 12 and 30 (approx.) as well after he escaped crucifixion at Golgotha.

     References :

    1. http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=160953 (H21 Navigator)

    2. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1340/jesus_in_india.htm