I hear you’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. It’s tough trying to look like you can do something to actually solve the terrorist problem. Especially since anyone can be a terrorist: white guys, Asian guys, or maybe Islamic guys. Heck, you need a big list to keep track of whose who, and you need to update it daily…
I’ve been working a lot lately, scrambling to catch up with some application programming work. Part of this is a result of being behind the technological curve in terms of the particular programming environment I’m working in (J2EE/WebSphere/Hibernate/Spring). Suffice it to say I’ve been working some overtime.
I mentioned some months ago that I was experimenting with Windows Live Writer. This is an off-line blog editor, somewhat like Ecto or Qumana. I’ve been quietly using the Beta 1 version ever since, and have been very happy with its functionality.
A judge in Washington, DC, is apparently very easily stressed out. His life was ruined when a pair of pants he dropped off at the dry cleaners were lost. And the terrible mental trauma this has inflicted upon him is worth a mere $54 million dollars. He initially sued the ordinary working class owners of the dry cleaning shop for $67 million, but apparently concluded that he could shave $13 million off of that since the pants were used.
I mentioned in my review of the iLiad a week or so ago that I was experiencing some problems with the CF memory card I bought not being consistently recognized. About 50% of the time I started up the iLiad, my PYN 8GB Compact Flash memory card would not appear despite being physically inserted. Removing the card while the iLiad was on, powering the iLiad off, inserting the card, then turning it back on seemed to “correct” this problem…until the next time it failed.
My back problems flared up today big time. I have some hinky stuff going on with my C4/C5 vertebrae- arthritic growths/bony spurs, microfractures, and stuff like that. Once in a while something happens and the bones pinch the nerves that run through/near them, or at least that’s how it was explained to me.
I’ve added a new feature to my blog. If you look on the right side, you’ll notice a “Now Reading” section. You can also just click this link to go to the main summary page.
Earlier this week I was relaxing in the back yard reading a book. It was about 6:00 PM, and was starting to cool down after reaching 25 degrees Celsius or thereabouts. I heard a rustling sound in the vines and some odd “chuff” noises from the corner of our gazebo. I looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Mama Raccoon hanging upside down and peering at me.
Electronic books, or “e-books”, are coming. Some would say they are already here, with several major releases such as the Sony Reader and iRex iLiad over the last year or so.
What is the big deal? Haven’t we been able to read books on computers or electronic devices for years? Yes, but try reading pages upon pages of text on a glowing computer display for hours and hours: your eyes will suffer. LCD displays without backlighting have viewability and resolution limitations. Most of the attempts at electronic books until the last year or so have lacked a great deal of the convenience and eye-friendly readability of the paper alternative. That is, until the development of e-Ink.
E-Ink or “electronic paper” is a totally different kind of display technology that is far more like the paper it is attempting to replace than anything that has come before. I’ve been watching the various e-Ink based devices for some time now, and made the leap a couple of weeks ago: I ordered an iRex iLiad. I’ve had it for just over a week now.
So what is it like? Is it worth the price I paid? Read on…
Our cat, Rommel, died on Wednesday. Irene raced him to the vet when she found him in a diabetic coma early in the afternoon. The vet was unable to revive him.
Rommel has been with us most of his life: over 13 years. We adopted him from the SPCA in Edmonton when he was about twelve weeks old.