XML - No Silver Bullet

Several years ago, when XML was just a buzzword and I was an undergrad in Computer Science, I went to a technical presentation / recruiting talk given by Cerner at my university. One of the "big" reasons to go work at Cerner was that they were cutting-edge; they were using XML. I gave the presenter some flak on that point. XML is no silver bullet. No one would consider listening to me, an undergrad with very little experience, not even the professors who should have known better*. Maybe someone with more experience can be more convincing....

Software Development Amidst the Whiz of Silver Bullets...

ACM Queue vol. 4, no. 5 - June 2006 by Alex E. Bell, The Boeing Company

* In retrospect, the professors were being politically correct. This is a business that funds scholarships, hires students, and took the time to give a presentation.

Review of Nerdcore Hip-Hop Music

My first taste of Nerdcore was through the stylings of MC Frontalot.  It is light and funny.  Check out the review and links provided at:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/12/1354242

Career Quiz

Below are my results from the PrincetonReview Career Quiz.  Considering that I am currently have a research assistantship, I guess the quiz is fairly accurate.
		People with yellow Interests like job responsibilities that include organizing and systematizing, and professions that are detail-oriented, predictable, and objective. People with yellow Interests enjoy activities that include: ordering, numbering, scheduling, systematizing, preserving, maintaining, measuring, specifying details, and archiving, which often lead to work in research, banking, accounting, systems analysis, tax law, finance, government work, and engineering.

		People with blue styles prefer to perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is supportive and helpful to others with a minimum of confrontation. They prefer to work where they have time to think things through before acting. People with blue style tend to be insightful, reflective, selectively sociable, creative, thoughtful, emotional, imaginative, and sensitive. Usually they thrive in a cutting edge, informally paced, future-oriented environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.

Diagrams on the Web

Draw and share diagrams on the web!! I'm there.

Free Science and Video Lectures Online

http://freescienceonline.blogspot.com/

Summer School

I enrolled for a summer class today. CSC 698: Research In Computer Science. Luckily, I have a research assistantship that the course is being modeled after; meaning that I get academic credit for what I do at work. I'm looking forward to it but I'm not quite ready to start. Finals were last week and a week off would be nice but I need to meet with my advisors sometime this week and discuss goals and possible approaches that I should take to achieve those goals. So, in order to look good, it would be great if I can come in to the meeting with some work and results done. We'll see. I'll take today off and do some work tomorrow (keep in mind that the job doesn't start until June 5 and the class until June 12).

Ubuntu's Add Applications Program

  This is the screenshot from when I installed Rhythmbox and Eric Python IDE. As you can see just point - click - done. However, Rhythmbox sucks (or at least did for me); so, also using Ubuntu's Add Applications Program I unselected Rhythmbox and select XMMS instead. I've been listening to mp3s and streaming music for the past hour. 

Virtualization

The ACM Virtualization presentation (08 Mar 06) really impressed me. I went to vmware.com to download the server software and immediately got distracted by the Virtual Application challenge. $200,000 is one hell of a distraction. Anyway, I ended up downloading the VMware-player and the sample Browser Application. The sample Browser Application is only a 250 MB zip file that contains an Ubuntu disto with Firefox setup ready to go. Installation, execution, installing XMMS and Eric Python IDE, and downloading some MP3s took less than 45 minutes. This is with me playing around while doing this. This FUCKING Rocks! Thanks for answering all the questions I asked you since I came in to Kirk’s presentation late. To everyone reading this download & install VMware-player (28 MB) and the sample Browser Application (250 MB). Very cool shit. Browsed and Created in Browser-Appliance-1.0.0, VMware-player

If I were rich...

I think I'll start a "If I were rich..." theme. Anytime something really cool (but expensive) catches my attention I'll make a "If I were rich..." post. The SkyScout which you can read about at www.celestron.com is so cool. Just read this, "Aim it at any heavenly body, and the GPS receiver and three-axis position sensor identifies stars, planets, and constellations by voice or text." Sah-weeet! However, at four hundred dollars I'll just print out a star chart and wing it.

Building a Better Battery

I have a box of used alkaline batteries at home. I can't convince myself to throw them away since they are still holding 2/3 of a full charge. This is all the fault of my digital camera which takes four batteries at a time and only uses 1/3 of the batteries' charge before deciding that it needs more power. Luckily, I bought a wireless mouse several months ago and it will happily accept a 2/3 charged battery and drain it down to 1/3 of a charge before needing a replacement (and this takes a long time). In the March 2006, issue of Wired there is an article about the M1 battery. It is made by DeWalt (Black & Decker) and it is suppose to have double the power density, five times the peak energy, and a shorter recharging time than a Li-ion battery of the same size. Li-ion batteries are suppose to kick the crap out of alkaline batteries. So, that being said, where is my double-A M1 battery?