jasonn's blog

Kill default Windows ding

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:32:52 -0500

The Windows operating circumvents my will by throwing a ding in when I adjust the volume, even when I tell it I don't want any sounds. This effect may take place on several software behavior. When faced with no sound, the system throws a default ding in, because you obviously failed to see the importance of this notification. I've seen this complaint on many forums. There is an easy, though annoying, fix.

Obama Ad: Fair Content, Bad Form

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:03:24 -0500

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But, is he ready to lead? With gas prices souring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling? And says he'll raise taxes on electricity? Higher taxes, more foreign oil. That's the real Obama."

I would have left out the Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears pictures. It's a bad comparison. And, the ad would have been just as strong with the chants "Obama, Obama, Obama," and the snapshots of him. Look at Obama's ads, his swagger, his legion of supporters. He's as celebrity and rockstar politician as they get. When they compare you to Kennedy, it's not about policy, it's about appeal. The ad says "hey he's a celebrity and cool, but does that mean he's going to be a good president?" That's fair, and a good question regardless of who you support.

XP Service Pack 3 Troubles

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:15:15 -0500

Two brand spanking new Dell laptops show up for some friends/clients and I'm updating them before I deliver the little buggers. A series of snags rear their collective ugly heads. It's called XP Service Pack 3. XP Service Pack 3, and it's implementation on the Microsoft Update website are still a bit unable to deal with fresh PCs with mere XP SP2, or your average not quite up to date PCs.

The question is, what are the necessary patches.

The power of blog/twitter/rss/friends

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:02:44 -0500

Yesterday I blogged that I'm considering an ortho surgeon. I don't know if I need one or not, but my internist has suggested I probably do. So, I'm off to see a surgeon to determine whether or not I need surgery.

That's not the story here.

A friend of mine receives updates from my blog, and emailed me immediately suggesting a surgeon he knows of in my home state.

I just post a blog considering a surgeon and the power of friends and personal networks goes to work for me. I didn't email him personally, ask for advice from him or anyone in his local network, and poof -- I get his input anyway. That's extremely cool.

Looking for an ortho surgeon

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:38:19 -0500

I suffered damage to a ham string muscle, one of my biceps femorus to be precise.

Looking for a surgeon, I'm considering Alabama Orthopedic Spine and Sports Medicine Associates.

Gas prices, and what you can do about it

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:21:15 -0500

I don't commute, I quit traveling as much, and I drive as if gasoline were dear and limited (like it is).

Don't do as the Europeans and protest without real action. Will angry screams and threats make one more drop of oil come from the ground? Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and the other oil countries can't hear your cries for the clamoring of buyers after their product. You could weaken the US companies by increasing their tax. You could nationalize the European companies. But, you'll do nothing but limit the built-in efficiencies of business seeking profit. They are delivering the oil as close to the price you're governments can squeeze out of them. Protests accomplish nothing but create hysteria, and there's nothing good that comes of that.

Annenburg Math Illunimated

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:57:27 -0500

Math Illuminated "is a thirteen-part series for adult learners and high school teachers."

I'm going to try to get my kids on this, and read it myself (my math skills could use some improvement). And, then I'll report here regarding our progress. However, it's a good thing to check out. The Annenburg project is a great source of learning material (hint hint, school systems).

A different take on freedom: Turkey's constitutional ban on head scarfs

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:23:33 -0500

Turkey is a free country. The people are free to worship as they wish, travel, vote, conduct business, and all the other things that western liberal democracies allow their citizens. Recently, Turkey's government has become more Islamic in nature due to its free elections. However, the courts made an impressive move to stand firm on constitutional law banning religious elements in public spaces. It's a very interesting take on separation of church and state.

The Constitutional Court said in a brief statement that the change, proposed by Mr. Erdogan’s party and passed by Parliament in February, violated principles of secularism set in Turkey’s Constitution.
-- NY Times

Researching my biz, finding others using open minded models

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:36:22 -0500

I'm finding more open minded models out there lately. Specifically, I see a lot of people giving away high quality media through social networks, etc. and creatively finding ways to monetize their work (sometimes just rehashing very old models, like live performance and advertising). It seems they "get it," in a way that big Hollywood and old-school Music Industry types are reluctant to accept.

Polish Ska Stylin

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:08:04 -0500

Eastern Europe is getting interesting (media).

Polish trendy:
Skangur website

Skangur - Hej Kochanie HD from Przemek P. on Vimeo.

Barackula -- kind of funny, really well done

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:41:10 -0500

Barackula from mark mannschreck on Vimeo.

It's 2008 and magic quotes just bit me again!

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:17:19 -0500

I should be embarrassed about this, and I am. I religiously complain about magic quotes, but code keeps coming back to me from developers who insist on ripping out good controls on illegal or dangerous characters (see SQL injection for example) and relying on magic quotes.

This is an old problem. And, fortunately PHP6 deprecates this feature. But, it won't stop the thousands of lines of code that rely on them from causing you headaches. Beware of PHP6 sorta compliant code when this goes away. It should go away, and I'm happy, and I spend more time dealing with the badly written code using magic quotes or the badly configured server environments that enable it than I do code that requires magic quotes breaking. One is really annoying, the other is quite dangerous.

iTunes sync pain

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:33:07 -0500

I spent a night trying to sync, clean, and organize my daughter's iTunes list so she could take her iPod Nano with her. Fortunately, it did yield some new approaches to using iTunes to manage my music for my players.

This is just wrong!

Sat, 24 May 2008 10:33:22 -0500

For years, our businesses and our government have winked at latin American migrant workers. Tyson didn't go to jail for his participation in thousands of undocumented workers crossing the border to work in his plants. Thousands of business owners in America that entice these people with jobs and opportunity didn't go to jail, but now we've actually put 270 workers -- NOT THE PEOPLE WHO EMPLOYED THEM -- in jail.

In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents.
-- NY Times

Getting out of a funk, again

Mon, 19 May 2008 10:55:46 -0500

I'm getting out of a funk, again.

I'm in a funk. Mostly, I'm developing a fear about my future and wondering if I can meet my financial goals and production goals based on what I've done recently. Let me be clear, this is largely based on clear judgment. My income has gone down recently, not up. My productivity is in the tank, and my company hasn't released a new product or offering in more than six months. Things are not going well.