Archive for January, 2005

Everybody Sing Along…

Allen January 31st, 2005

One of these things is not like the other….

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
John F. Kennedy

One of these things just doesn’t belong…

All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.
Robert F. Kennedy

Can you tell which thing is not like the others…

It has been written a man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles, and dangers, and pressures, and that is the basis of human morality. Whatever may be the sacrifices he faces, if he follows his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow man — each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of the past courage cannot supply courage itself. For this, each man must look into his own soul.

I pray that I can have the courage to make the right decision. Whatever is decided and whatever the future holds for me, I hope that I shall have been able to put this most recent tragedy behind me and make some further contribution to our state and mankind, whether it be in public or private life.
Ted Kennedy

By the time I finish my song?

You mean there is more to supporting the troops…

Allen January 24th, 2005

than just sticking a magnetic doodad to the back of your car?

Read So You Say You Support The Troops? to learn of the new Honoring Every Requirement of Exemplary Service (HEROES) Act.  This is a bipartisan bill that will raise the "life insurance" benefits for those killed in combat.  The amount currently stands at $12,400 and would be raised under this bill to $100K.

I fully support this bill and plan to contact my congress-critters to ask them to support it as well.  I suggest that you do the same.

I’d Write More About This…

Allen January 20th, 2005

In a somwhat mis-titled article, 50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work, Jerry Oltion details some ideas on how to get yourself to write every day.

I personally like the chocolate syrup thing, but I think you have to have someone who is fully committed to both (a) you spending your time writing and (b) the chocolate syrup thing.

While I was actively developing my NaNoWriMo novel, I kept finding sticking points and fact-finding points that I would breeze through. When reviewing what I had written, I would find factual errors that I needed to go back and fix. Unfortunately that would detract from my “word-count” for the day. On the other hand, I didn’t want to move the story forward with those factual errors in place.

Anyway, I still need to work on the novel some more. Perhaps, perhaps…

[Via Writing On Your Palm]

chkdsk /nodraftposts mind:

Allen January 20th, 2005

56 draft postings removed.

Now perhaps I will post more when I get a chance.  I kept trying to work on old draft postings.  I finally decided to purge them off and start with new material.  It was mostly comments on other people’s articles and by now the comment would have been stale.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Allen January 20th, 2005

Work continues to be incredibly busy — I’ve got a set of users who keep changing the specs for a program on me.  Home is also very busy, but at least I have something to show for it.

My daughter is involved with Whittier Middle School’s Botball team.  The idea behind botball is that you have a robot that you build (out of Lego Mindstorm) and program (using Interactive C).  These bots are then unleashed in an arena where they attempt to score points by picking up balls, stacking objects, etc.

She is tasked primarily with developing the website.  In the past she has used NetObject’s Fusion, but I recently purchased Dreamweaver using an educational discount.  While I can’t develop commercial sites with this license, I can learn using it and develop personal sites.

So I’ve spent the past few weeks teaching her how to use Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash.  The results can be found at Whittier’s Botball Website.  I’m quite proud of how well she did with this site.  As the team meets more, the skeleton will be fleshed out with content, but I think she did a nice job with the buttons, site design, Flash intro animation, etc.

I will also be working with the team to teach them rudimentary programming — apparently preparing the group that will be programming next year.  Even though this adds even more to my schedule, I’m looking forward to this.

I Like To Hang Out With…

Allen January 6th, 2005

Villainous Company.

Cassandra has started her own weblog after a long stint of guest-blogging.

Check her out!

Perhaps It’s A Signal For Aquaman

Allen January 6th, 2005

I receive Express Science News Delivery from NASA. It’s an email-based notification service. Today’s entry is Green Comet.

For those who are not interested in astronomy, skip on past.

Apparently Comet Machholz, a comet glowing green with cyanogen and diatomic carbon will pass beside/in front of the light-blue nebula Pleiades.

Directions on how to find the comet are given in the link above. As a note, the directions state that you should try looking some time between 9 and 10 o’clock. I assume they mean EST.

I simply can’t help but wonder why the two are coming together.

Perhaps It’s A Signal For Aquaman

Allen January 6th, 2005

I receive Express Science News Delivery from NASA. It’s an email-based notification service. Today’s entry is Green Comet.

For those who are not interested in astronomy, skip on past.

Apparently Comet Machholz, a comet glowing green with cyanogen and diatomic carbon will pass beside/in front of the light-blue nebula Pleiades.

Directions on how to find the comet are given in the link above. As a note, the directions state that you should try looking some time between 9 and 10 o’clock. I assume they mean EST.

I simply can’t help but wonder why the two are coming together.

All We Are Saying / Is Give Peach A Chance

Allen January 4th, 2005

The middle school that my daughter attends has the "Hanging of the Greens" festival right before "Winter Break".  Students are invited to write an extemporaneous essay with the subject of "What I Would Like for Christmas".  The staff chooses some of the essays which are then read during the festival.

My daughter submitted essay and from what I remember, her essay started, "At first I wasn’t going to wish for world peace because everyone wishes for that.  But the more I thought about it…"

While her thoughts are admirable, it sparked some thoughts of my own I would like to share with you.

World Peace.  Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?  Everyone wants world peace, right?

Wrong.  I don’t want world peace. 

And the reason I wish to forgo world peace is that every despot in the world, every militaristic dictator, every theocrat wishes for world peace — or rather world peace on their terms.  They would love nothing more than the world to leave them alone in peace.  Power held in corrupt hands wishes for peace and security.  For the restful nights knowing that the next day will dawn safe and secure.  Just as long as they remain in power.  Of course, when their interests lie in violence, world peace is soon discarded.  But as long as it works for their purposes, they pray and hope for world peace.

So in keeping with my daughters theme, what is my Christmas wish for world (fill in the blank)?

World justice.

I would like to see evil folks everywhere brought to justice.  I would far prefer that this justice be rendered peacefully, but if violence is needed, then so be it.

Evil folks don’t wish for world justice.

Which probably probably explains why I have so many problems with a world organization dedicated to "national border security and world peace."  Their goals align with evil men across the world.

This is not to say that I would prefer some sort of  "World Court".  More on that another day perhaps.

As a finishing note, there are 14,023 CDs listed on CDDB that have a song with "peace" in the title.  There are far fewer with "justice" in the title.

I Got Them Demand Planner Calendar Blues

Allen January 4th, 2005

Just a quick note while OU gets drubbed by USC.  I haven’t forgotten blogging, but work is still incredibly busy. I’m having to manipulate the  Demand Planner (a Supply Chain Management Forecasting Tool) calendar.  Our client is switching the calendar on us and I have to adjust our tool to sync up our calendar with theirs.  Then I’ve got some changes to make to the forecast input tool.  So blogging will continue to be light.  Or as SDB said, the free ice cream will be a bit light for a while yet.

I had every notion of working up an essay while showering this morning, but other hot projects intervened before I even got a chance to work it up.

Perhaps I can finish it up tonight.  It’s not as though OU is playing a football game tonight.  (sigh)