Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Back in one piece...
Spent the weekend near Tahoe in Truckie. We got 1.5 ft of snow between saturday night and sunday afternoon. Nevertheless Emily and I decided to drive back as soon as I-80 opened so we could get back Sunday night and not miss Monday at work. Tire chains are a real pain in the butt. Both my chains snapped. Fortunately I was able to pull to the side of the road in a relatively safe location (meaning semis were roaring by like 4 feet from me as I crawled under the car to disentagle the chains from the half axle - getting fairly mired in much at the same time). Tire chains are required at times on I-80, but they honsestly seem like very unsafe garbage. The road is littered with broken chains. My theory is they are designed to be a deterent to drivers, more than an actual functioning safety mechanism. Anyway, chain chaos aside, we had a very relaxing weekend watching snow fall on evergreens (I was tempted to say Snow Falling On Cedars, but I refrained).
Actually, I just checked the DOT report for I-80:
"Enter Highway Number(s)
You can also call 1-800.427.7623 for current highway conditions. Mobile
I 80
[IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & THE SIERRA NEVADA]
WESTBOUND TRAFFIC IS BEING HELD AT CISCO GROVE (PLACER CO) - DUE TO AN
ACCIDENT - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
CHAINS ARE REQUIRED ON ALL VEHICLES EXCEPT 4-WHEEL-DRIVE VEHICLES WITH SNOW
TIRES ON ALL 4 WHEELS FROM 1 MI EAST OF BAXTER (PLACERCO) TO THE
DONNER LAKE INTERCHANGE (NEVADA CO) "
Actually, I just checked the DOT report for I-80:
"Enter Highway Number(s)
You can also call 1-800.427.7623 for current highway conditions. Mobile
This highway information is the latest reported as of Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 21:50 .
I 80
[IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & THE SIERRA NEVADA]
WESTBOUND TRAFFIC IS BEING HELD AT CISCO GROVE (PLACER CO) - DUE TO AN
ACCIDENT - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
CHAINS ARE REQUIRED ON ALL VEHICLES EXCEPT 4-WHEEL-DRIVE VEHICLES WITH SNOW
TIRES ON ALL 4 WHEELS FROM 1 MI EAST OF BAXTER (PLACERCO) TO THE
DONNER LAKE INTERCHANGE (NEVADA CO) "
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Photos From Scotland
In 2006 I took a trip to Scotland for an OGC meeting, and had the weekend to roam around. I visited the National Library and did a little geniological research. After a fair bit of cross-referenced parish records, pre-census, I believe I located the birth records for my great, great, great, grandfather and grandmother. Unfortunately the library closed right when I pieced it all together, but that's my next trip I guess. The microfilm will still be there!
One of the most fascinating aspects of Edinburgh and Glascow was there role in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nuveau movements. Phoebe Anna Traquair (P.A.T) was one of the female artists who figured prominently in this movement. If you ever have a chance to visit the Mansfield Traquair church, do not miss it.
You can get a better look, here: http://www.mansfieldtraquair.org.uk/nav/cag02.html
If that doesn't blow your hair back, get a look at this amazing painting by P.A.T.. Oh, wait, take a second look, it isn't a painting! It's SILK EMPROIDERY!!
It's almost incomprehensible that a few years ago, the Mansfield Traquair church was being used as a brick storage facility. Thankfully, it was recently rescued an restored. For the life of me I cannot understand why P.A.T. and John Duncan are not better known. Please read this blog to see some more breathtaking work by P.A.T.
I am so awestruck by John Duncan's St. Bride that I recently aquired a canvas reproduction of it from an obscure source on the web. Here is a shot of it gracing my living room.
Scotland has lots of badass wildcats, which came to America as stowaways, and became the big Main Coon cats.
Loch Ness... of course. On the way there we passed the spot where the Battle Of The Shirts (or lack thereof) took place. It turns out that fighting a clan battle in sweltering heat with armor is a good way to die of heat stroke. So it probably seemed like a reasonable idea is to call for a "time out" because of the heat, and take a dip in the loch. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very bad idea to agree to fight the second half of the battle without armor because of the heat. The horrific mutual slaughter that ensued, fought with claymore broad swords and battle axes left just 12 survivors in total, and the Loch was litterally red with blood for days.
Edinburough....
One of the most fascinating aspects of Edinburgh and Glascow was there role in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nuveau movements. Phoebe Anna Traquair (P.A.T) was one of the female artists who figured prominently in this movement. If you ever have a chance to visit the Mansfield Traquair church, do not miss it.
You can get a better look, here: http://www.mansfieldtraquair.org.uk/nav/cag02.html
If that doesn't blow your hair back, get a look at this amazing painting by P.A.T.. Oh, wait, take a second look, it isn't a painting! It's SILK EMPROIDERY!!
It's almost incomprehensible that a few years ago, the Mansfield Traquair church was being used as a brick storage facility. Thankfully, it was recently rescued an restored. For the life of me I cannot understand why P.A.T. and John Duncan are not better known. Please read this blog to see some more breathtaking work by P.A.T.
I am so awestruck by John Duncan's St. Bride that I recently aquired a canvas reproduction of it from an obscure source on the web. Here is a shot of it gracing my living room.
Scotland has lots of badass wildcats, which came to America as stowaways, and became the big Main Coon cats.
Loch Ness... of course. On the way there we passed the spot where the Battle Of The Shirts (or lack thereof) took place. It turns out that fighting a clan battle in sweltering heat with armor is a good way to die of heat stroke. So it probably seemed like a reasonable idea is to call for a "time out" because of the heat, and take a dip in the loch. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very bad idea to agree to fight the second half of the battle without armor because of the heat. The horrific mutual slaughter that ensued, fought with claymore broad swords and battle axes left just 12 survivors in total, and the Loch was litterally red with blood for days.
Edinburough....
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Another Gem from William Morris
For the Bed at Kelmscott
The wind's on the wold
And the night is a-cold,
And Thames runs chill
'Twixt mead and hill.
But kind and dear
Is the old house here
And my heart is warm
'Midst winter's harm.
Rest then and rest,
And think of the best
'Twixt summer and spring,
When all birds sing
In the town of the tree,
And ye in me
And scarce dare move,
Lest earth and its love
Should fade away
Ere the full of the day.
I am old and have seen
Many things that have been;
Both grief and peace
And wane and increase
No tale I tell
Of ill or well,
But this I say:
Night treadeth on day,
And for worst or best
Right good is rest.
The wind's on the wold
And the night is a-cold,
And Thames runs chill
'Twixt mead and hill.
But kind and dear
Is the old house here
And my heart is warm
'Midst winter's harm.
Rest then and rest,
And think of the best
'Twixt summer and spring,
When all birds sing
In the town of the tree,
And ye in me
And scarce dare move,
Lest earth and its love
Should fade away
Ere the full of the day.
I am old and have seen
Many things that have been;
Both grief and peace
And wane and increase
No tale I tell
Of ill or well,
But this I say:
Night treadeth on day,
And for worst or best
Right good is rest.
ProPublica: Jouranlism in the public interest
I'm replacing my daily reading of the New York Times Online Edition with that of Propublica.org
Basically, none of the major news outlets can be trusted. This is just a fact. Remember before we went into Iraq how the New York Times ran breathless stories on Sadam's vast underground bunker complex. It was all just a load of shit.
So now I'm going try getting my news from ProPublica, because their mission is to reinvigorate investigative journalism.
Basically, none of the major news outlets can be trusted. This is just a fact. Remember before we went into Iraq how the New York Times ran breathless stories on Sadam's vast underground bunker complex. It was all just a load of shit.
So now I'm going try getting my news from ProPublica, because their mission is to reinvigorate investigative journalism.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Developers are starting to catch on!
Here is a link to a blog post written by a developer at SolutionSoft, about NextDB.
http://blog.solutionset.com/wpmu/2009/03/11/nextdb-a-front-end-database-solution/
It's a great post, and I think it illustrates how easy nextdb is to learn, and use. Nextb is getting preety close to exiting alpha and entering Beta. During the Beta we will have our "subscribe" buttons up on the site. We are targeting price points that are basically below the noise for even a personal account, so affording nextdb should not be a problem for anyone.
Brent is busy developing and refining a new set of utilities for adding forms to your AJAX apps. The forms will automatically configure themselves based on the content of your table or query, and will be CSS friendly.
I'm working on a notification system that will allow you to receive email when data is inserted into a table. You'll be able to request digests, as well as create email templates that receive data from the inserted row in order to create a personalized, pretty email.
http://blog.solutionset.com/wpmu/2009/03/11/nextdb-a-front-end-database-solution/
It's a great post, and I think it illustrates how easy nextdb is to learn, and use. Nextb is getting preety close to exiting alpha and entering Beta. During the Beta we will have our "subscribe" buttons up on the site. We are targeting price points that are basically below the noise for even a personal account, so affording nextdb should not be a problem for anyone.
Brent is busy developing and refining a new set of utilities for adding forms to your AJAX apps. The forms will automatically configure themselves based on the content of your table or query, and will be CSS friendly.
I'm working on a notification system that will allow you to receive email when data is inserted into a table. You'll be able to request digests, as well as create email templates that receive data from the inserted row in order to create a personalized, pretty email.
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