That's all folks

I think I'm done with this blog. It's neat having a record of what's interested me over the past 5 years, but I'm getting bored with it. I think I want more of a conversation and sites like Facebook are better for that.

I'll leave you, my tens of readers, with a funny comment from the Calculated Risk blog.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

Line Eater

There is a batch file that we run to create a version of RPM that's ready for deployment. It does some optimizations on some files among other tasks. I recently needed to have it remove the first line of every JavaScript file. After trying some unsuccessful batch file tricks, I figured it would be faster to whip up a little app to do it.

So if you need a command line utility to remove lines from the start of a file, be my guest: Line Eater.

Tory Minority

A minority government for the Conservatives - not a horrible result. Canada has a lot of things that going well, so I can understand why people vote for the status quo. I don't mind the Conservatives much myself, with two major exceptions. First is their scary design for copyright. Second is my personal vow to never put an x by my candidate my representative out of respect for Maher Arar. Those reasons aside, my motivation for a protest vote was mostly from a desire for a reform of the whole election and representation system. And a frustration for not having any party I really like.

At least there's little doubt that Dion was a bad choice as leader of the Liberals. What were you reds thinking?

Back from Toronto

I'd like to thank everyone who came to my presentation at Agile2008 in Toronto. The highlight for me was the closing keynote by Alan Cooper.

I'm Presenting at Agile 2008

I'm presenting a short experience report at the Agile 2008 Conference in Toronto. If you're there on Wed, Aug 6 please stop by for "Design to Delivery in 7 Weeks" at 3pm on the user experience stage.

The highlight of the conference for me will no doubt be the closing keynote speaker, my role model, Alan Cooper.

China Photos on Flickr

I used Picasa Web Albums for a while, and tried SumgMug, .Mac, and rolling my own photo pages. I'm now back to Flickr and loving it. Here are my favorites from our recent China trip

China Photos

China 1: Beijing city and factories

China 2: The Great Wall

China 3: The Great Wall (second camera)

China 4: Forbidden City

China 5: Xi'an city

China 6: Xi'an Tang Show

China 7: Terracotta Factory and Army

China 8: Xi'an Drum and Bell Towers

China 9: Xi'an Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

China 10: Shanghai

China 11: Guangzhou City and Parks

China 12: Guangzhou Temples

China 13: Hong Kong

Why Facebook? It's not as convenient to upload to and the pictures are small and too compressed. However, it has convenient tagging and commenting and seems to be where most of my acquaintances are.

Update: I've uploaded my favorites to Flickr where they look a lot better.

Liar Liar

Lies We Tell Kids

Paul Graham has written many essays, many good, some excellent. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best yet. Thanks, Paul.

And the season 4 winner of the R&D Poker League is

Me

Pragmatic Nutrition

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs. My trainer showed me this short article and it has really resonated me. Of course understanding and acting are very different. Can I get up to 90% complience?

All the fundamental principles you need to achieve good health and optimal body composition are out there already, and have been for years. Unfortunately, with 500 experts for every fundamental principle, and very little money to be made from repeating other people’s ideas, experts must continually emphasize the small (and often relatively unimportant) differences between their diet/eating plans and the diet/eating plans of all the other experts out there.

Twice a day for 10 days

I like how the vet made it sound so easy...

First fill her ear canal with the cleaning solution. Cover it gently with your thumb then massage under the ear to work the liquid around. Allow her to shake the liquid out then dry the ear and apply two drops of the antibiotic. Massage the antibiotic into the ear canal.

Oh yah - no problem. I'm sure you can guess what happens the second the cleaning solution makes contact with this 65lbs creature's ear:

Hell, now all it takes is for her to see me with the bottle and it's on. How do I explain to her this probably won't be needed again if she will just stop pursuing burrowing animals face-first?

Halloween Costume

I was Steve Jobs

When it comes to costumes I like to take the lazy route.

Drop Zone Photos

I recently rappelled off one of the Sun Life towers in Calgary for charity. I was The Unstoppable Geek. I raised $1,900 and the total raised from the event was over $160,000.

Drop Zone

Silly Thog

This comic makes me laugh, but the sad reality is how many people have died over the centuries because of that disagreement.

Still a few dollars short

I'm still looking for sponsors for the Easter Seals Drop Zone event. Can you spare $10?

Penn Jillette at This I Believe, Inc.

Maybe I'm biased because I admire that giant entertainer so much. Still, I think it's a good read.

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

Two games left, hang in there big guy

I've mentioned the R&D poker league before. We play one no-limit Texas hold 'em freeze out tournament a month for six months and your placement each night earns you 0 to 10 points. After the sixth game, the players with the 3 highest cumulative scores are "in the money".

This is our 3rd "season" and my first place finish on Tuesday has left me slightly in the lead with two games left.

Begging For Pledges

I am the Unstoppable Geek and I will rappel down a sky scraper for charity! It's happening Sept. 6.

Click here to pledge online

But I need your help to raise money. It's for the Alberta Easter Seals. Here's some event info. And remember, it's a tax deduction :)

Click here to pledge online

Alberta Easter Seals provides Camp Horizons, a camp for kids with special needs.

Easter Seals Camp Horizon was really fun. Also the kids were very nice to each other. We all had disabilities, and we all respected each other. I made some great friends at camp and I hope I get to see them again next summer. I felt safe and this was the first time for me away from home and my mom after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I had three favorite parts, the giant swing, horseback riding, and most of all, the counselors. They were really nice and lots of fun. I’m glad there is a summer camp for kids who have disabilities. We can just go and get away from things and just be kids and teenagers. Thank you Easter Seals. Levi Barron

My favorite Dawkins interview yet

The Hour, of course.

Part 1/2

Part 2/2

Software for a new Windows computer

A family member has purchased a new laptop. Unfortunately, most new Windows machines require someone to set it up. This involves removing all the junk and installing some best-of-breed free software. Time to review my list:

• The PC Decrapifier. I'll try this for the first time.
• Foxit PDF reader. Just say no to Adobe Reader.
• Anti-virus & anti-spyware... This changes all the time, but thankfully Tech Support Alert keeps an updated list of the best free software. I'll probably go with the AOL Active Virus Shield (AOL not required) for AV since it is a trimmed-down version of the best AV engine there is, Kaspersky (which I pay to use and am pushing my work to adopt).
• Picasa. the best photo management app for the personal photo collection of the average user. Seriously, that's including non-free photo organizer software you have to pay for.
• Firefox as the default web browser and I'll make sure the IE is 7.
• This time I'll also install something to let me take remote control for future tech support. Probably LogMeIn, although TeamViewer looks good too.