Category: VAULT Links

And thus it Never Ends

The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it.

–H. G. Wells

The problem with failing to archive all my bookmarks for the last year or so, is that all my posts seem to nothing but bookmark lists.  Unfortunately this may continue to be the case for a while.

  • 20 Things To Know — This is a short list of things that the author wished he had known when he was younger.  These kind of “if I could do it again” lists are pretty common but this one hit a couple bells with me.
  • Website to Know — A list of 9 websites you haven’t probably heard of but should check out.  Or that is what the title says anyway.
  • Building a Life on $25 — A really amazing story from ABC News about Adam Shepard who decided to test the American Dream.  After college he gave up everything (including his associations) and started living on the street to see if he could (within a year) have a steady job, a car, and $1000 in savings.  He stopped his experiment after 10 months; but had an apartment, a steady job, a truck, and close to $5000 in savings.
  • Object ARX manipulation in AutoCAD 2008 — A drop piece covering the new API interface for AutoCAD.  The new .Net interface is actually externally available and doesn’t require AutoCAD to be running.  This allow for more flexibility in customizing the system; especially during deployment.

My Bosses Computer

Quick Link, will update this post later as I have a couple others to put up:

  • Diploma Guide Linux — The link is to free Linux training but the site looks interesting for itself. Provides links to useful course ware in a variety of disciplines.
  • Montana Kaimin’s Ron Paul Apology — A couple days late, but at least they did better than most of the media.
  • The Invisible Candidate — Another story about the overall media blackout of Ron Paul. I had a hard time finding return results for Ron Paul on Tuesday; even when he came in second or third they would often skip over him when discussing “the three Republican candidates” returns.
  • 10 Year Old Reporter — Check out the 10 year old girl working to get a question to Ron Paul after the Reagan Library debates. Go get’em kid!
  • Nintendo Online — How many of you used to own (or like me still own) a Nintendo Entertainment System. Well now you can play all your old NES games online. Not the same without controller but still pretty awesome.
  • WordPress Automatic Upgrade — WordPress is the content management system I use for Vault.  It is very powerful, really easy to setup (well… easy for me anyway,) and has a huge list of custom plug-ins that do everything from tracking reading lists to filtering spam comments.  The link is to a new plugin for WordPress that allows you to install the newest version automatically.   It even creates back-ups before doing so; just in case.

Three For Feburary

We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.

–Arthur Schopenhauer

I had an insane couple days last week and never got around to posting these links.

  • 101 Desing Patterns — GREAT link. This website provides a list of common application development design patters and includes sudo code, flowcharts, and full process descriptions. A computer programmers best friend.
  • Linux Commands — A list of 77 Linux command line applications. A surprising number of them I didn’t know. Check out cmp and od.
  • Linux Home File Server — A Linux Journal article on building your own home file server on the cheep with Linux. You can configure NFS, Window File Shares, web management, FTP/HTTP access, and tons of useful file server stuff; all will old hardware you have lying around. I have two of these in my house (that I configured without this article) but this is a good tutorial for those who haven’t done it before.

Finally, I hope everyone who can, votes tomorrow. In spite of “Change we can believe in” there is really only one candidate that would bring about any meaningful change; and amazingly enough it’s a Republican.

A Belated Holiday

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-Martin Luther King Jr.

More links to unload from my bookmarks folder. It is always nice to clean up my bookmarks and putting them on the blog makes them very easy to find in the future. Why is it that I always have more to read than time to read it?

  • Destruction in Black America -This editorial by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe talks about the reality of violence in black America.
  • 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know -I know this is basically a publishing gimmick but it make for some interesting dictionary diving.
  • 75 Words Every Sci-Fi Fan Should Know -Now this is an interesting list of words. Something to appeal to the geek in all of us. Psychohistory is probably my favorite in the list, but I am a little bias towards Isaac Asimov.
  • How Software Companies Die -Software development is part art and part science. The “art” part of that equation takes special precedence when talking about cutting edge software engineering. Unfortunately those who do not understand IT (or even software development in particular) often fail to comprehend this fact. The tools of our past are often inadequate for the projects of our future. I run into this problem at my own company where those in charge are used to churning out a “product” and getting paid for that product
  • LISP, The Comic Book -I know the title doesn’t make sense but the link provides a very nice “high level” introduction into the most powerful (and unusual) programing language ever created.
  • Telephone Hacks -Nice list of features available to the telephone power user. The link is worth it just for the “tricking phone bots” tip.
  • A REAL Media Center Edition -Looking for a home media solution. Windows Media Center treats users like thieves, and Tivo is limited inflexible. Without exception LinuxMCE is the best home media management system in the world. If you don’t believe me check out the demo video. It will absolutely blow your mind. There is NOTHING like it anywhere else in the home entertainment world.

While Using Someone Elses Computer

I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

-Steve Jobs

Couple quick links:

  • 36 Startup Tips — List  of useful tips for entrepreneurs.  Topics include software engineering, infrastructure, PR, conferences, legal, and financial.
  • HyperPics — The definitive AutoCAD/AutoLisp customization site.
  • Introduction to AutoLISP — For those who have never developed for AutoCAD before.
  • Jeff Sanders AutoLISP — Another pretty basic AutoLISP tutorial site.  Was particularly useful in getting the syntactical highlighting working for AutoLISP.
  • CAD Digest, AutoLISP Archive — Old articles on using, developing, and working with AutoLISP.

Two points for anyone who can guess what I have been working on the last couple weeks.

The same mistakes, only sooner.

Yes, another set of links. I have a pretty massive bookmark list to empty out and everyone who visits suffers because of it.

  • Dijkstra’s Algorithm – Wikipedia is like a drug. Hello my name is Bob.
  • Beating Ubuntu – A editorial on how to take the Linux desktop title away from its current leader.
  • Desktop Linux: Mission Impossible – Editorial discussing if it is even possible for desktop Linux to ever win the OS war.
  • Kontact & Google Apps – Kontact is probably the best Outlook replacement on Linux and this tutorial by Linux.com helps you get it working with Google.
  • Retirement Mistakes – Ben Stein (look up his wikipedia bio, you will be floored by how smart this guy is) discusses the 3 biggest retirement mistakes people make.
  • Raising Smart Kids – Some tips on how to develop children with above average intelligence.
  • The POG Gallery – Glen Palmer first designed the closed bold semi-automatic paintball gun before the Auto Cocker had even been conceived. To this day his son makes the best paintball guns in the world (with not electronics in them.) Here are some beautiful examples.
  • Worlds Most Expensive Scotches – The title says it all.
  • Bill Cosby’s Rant – This is part of a speech Bill gave at the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court Decision.  It is an interesting commentary on the state of civil rights in the United States.
  • Are Rich People Parasites – An editorial by David Gordon that discusses the economic value of wealth in a free market society.

Sacred memories and future promise.

Got a couple links I have been meaning to post.

  • Coding Style – Is a post by Linus Torvalds about the success of Linux and why it should not be underestimated. The same explaination could be used to describe the success of capitalism.
  • Timevault – HowToForge article on getting desktop snapshots on Linux using Timevault. It’s Gnome/Ubuntu specific but still worth the read.
  • Ubuntu upgrade cycle and KDE – Is the initial article in hotly debated online discussion about the place of KDE in the Ubuntu world. I posted this for reference and not because I agree with the author, Stephen Shankland.
  • Webmin HowTo – Article discusses configuration and installation of Webmin, the most comprehensive web management utility in existence (for any OS.)  Webmin has been around for a long time and is an amazing management tool.
  • 20 Entrepreneurial Quotes –  Just like the title says.  A very nice list of inspirational quotes for the self motivated.
  • KWord Tips and Tricks – KWord is a word processing application for the KDE desktop enviroment.  It is lightweight, fast, and has some functionality that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Open Source world.  A nice little howto for some of its features.
  • KDE vs Gnome – Another in the long list of vs articles between KDE and Gnome.
  • Getting Quickfind Fixed – If you have ever used Firefox’s QuickFind, then you can appreciate this fix.  If you haven’t used it, they you should really try it out.
  • Donald Knuth –  This is just the wikipedia article on Donald Knuth.  I have been reading some of his papers and wanted to reference his wikipedia bio.

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance

Sorry for the long delay in posts. It took a while but someone finally created a Google Maps powered routing tool for runner and bikers. It even lets you save your route. Below are a couple routes I have been looking at around my house:

  • 15 Minute: A short timed route that takes just about 15 minutes for me to run.
  • Here is the default 2 mile route I run around my neighborhood.
  • 3 Mile Route: I have been looking for a good one for a couple years now. It took sixty seconds to find with this page.
  • 3 Mile Number 2: Because who wants to go the same way every time.
  • 4 Mile Route: Need a route that is longer than the 5k I will be running.
  • 5 Mile Route: My first long, post 5k run.
  • 6 Mile Route: This is a hill training route for my up-coming 10k.
  • 6 Mile Route: Flat campus route for daily marathon training.
  • 7 Mile Route: Final run before the Sept. 10k around Lake Hefner.
  • 8 Mile Route: My first route that takes me through OU campus.
  • 8.7 Mile Bike Route: When my shins get bad, and I have to take a break from running.
  • 10  Mile Route: Double digits at last, and it only to me 9 years to get back to them.
  • 11 Mile Route: At some point I am just going to have to circle the whole town.
  • 12 Mile Pre-Half Route: Longest run before the half marathon in Tulsa.
  • 14 Mile There and Back: Run out to lake Thunderbird rest stop and come back.  Good hill work.
  • 16 Mile Loop along Section Lines: Gotta love Oklahoma grid sections.  Sure makes it easy to figure long routes.  Sooner road and Depot Blvd mostly.
  • 18 Miles East/West Lake Loop: Many marathoners don’t run more than 18 miles before their first.  Hopefully this means I am within reaching distance.
  • 20 Flat Route: First time over I-35 and back.
  • 22 Mile Flat: Still trying to take care of my knee; so flat routes are the rule.  Actual milage is a little over 22 but I honestly am not that picky any more… well at least until 26.2.  Last long run before the OKC marathon!

Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.

When I first starting working as a computer programmer, I constantly ran into the problem of bosses who wouldn’t appreciate the severity of the problem I was describing to them. After a number of years I improved on the situation by modifying the language I used when explaining a problem. This didn’t solve all of my employment issues (at the time I didn’t fully appreciate how dysfunctional the communication chain was in my employers hierarchy) but it helped substantially.

To understand what words mean when you are talking to programmer I recommend this article by Charles Miller. Here is an excellent example of a software engineering concept that non-programmers often fail to understand:

To a programmer, a problem is trivial if there is a clear solution, and the only thing that needs to be done is to implement it.

The only caveat is that triviality refers to how hard the problem is to solve, not how hard it is to implement the solution. So there is no necessary relation between a task being trivial, and how long it takes. To the programmer, once the plans for the bridge have been drawn up, the materials chosen properly and the model tested for how it would survive wind, traffic and earthquakes, actually building the bridge is trivial.