I saw this guy give the commencement address nephew's high-school graduation. Basically, the theme of his speech was "I've always been at the right place at the right time" and "everything always works out for Jason Calacanis." Absent were any inspirational anecdotes about working hard or otherwise having any personal character. It was more "as long as you get an internship at Sony" (or whatever) "you're golden!"
Whatever happened to the "golden boy" that hits rock-bottom (his words in the speech, btw) and then decides to dedicate himeself to philantropy. Instead, this guy wants to "monetize" (remember that word?)...blogs?
WWL: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"?
NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."
Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.
And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.
They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.
You truly put the "Coward" in Anonymous Coward. You think that resources of one (relatively small) US city is supposed to somehow fend off a continent-spanning Act of God? You're out of your fucking mind.
THE REAL NEWS The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:
"Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
So you're executing script in a JVM? Gosling: Yeah. All the Java libraries are available to things written in Groovy. And Java applications can use Groovy. They can incorporate Groovy scriptlets.
Scriptable Java! Why wasn't I informed?!? 0__0
Does anybody have any practical experience/advice using Groovy in a production environment?
Just wanted to let you know: I think I met your evil twin this past Saturday.
Last week, I started a job at a Wall Street software company. Even though we have a casual dress code, I had to go buy a suit to wear on field trips to Big Clients.
While trying on suits at $DEPARTMENT_STORE, I mentioned to the sales associate - a middle-aged fellow - that I needed the suit for my new Wall Street software job. The salesman instantly replied: "Consultant, eh? I was a consultant on Wall Street for 34 years. Mainframes."
Erm?
Even though I feared the answer, I just had to ask: "Why did you stop being a tech consultant? What happened?"
I was hoping his response would go along the lines of I made my fortune years ago and now I sell suits because I love clothes (he wouldn't be the first I've met with a story like that).
Unfortunately, it was as I feared. His story went something like this:
I used to program in assembler and COBOL on Wall Street back in '74. I did everything in DB2, VMS, PDP [insert a half-dozen made-up sounding computer systems and/or languages I've never heard of]. Well, it turns out that if you don't focus on taking specific courses, pretty soon they figure out that instead of paying somebody $100-thousand dollars here in the United States, they can pay them $11-thousand in India.
At this point, I interrupted him to ask "well, somebody has to be doing some programming here. They can't offshore everything, right?" With a wry smile, he replied
Well, now they don't even want real programmers - they want some kid to do things in VB6 by clicking out functions
As he said "clicking out functions" he poked in the air at an imaginary Visual Studio GUI. I laughed and said "yeah, that's what I've been doing for the last four years" and then instantly regretted it.
I think that the most important ramification of this announcement is that Java will not die should Sun falter.
The fact is, a lot of Fortune 500 corporations are nervous that Sun's waning profits and recent legal problems will result in their Java code being unsupported. Furthermore, they are seriously looking at Windows Server 2003 and Longhorn as a an alternative to their current Solaris and Unix solutions. As a result, there is currently a lot of hype about.NET, and.NET programming is currently the hot skill set.
Well, I think an open source Apache implementation of Java 5 will reverse the current course. Look at the continuing popularity of Apache httpd. The marriage of Java with the IT "brand recognition" of the Apache Foundation is a slam dunk that will ensure Java's perpetuity.
I just hope they can resist the temptation to look in the Src.zip that comes with every Java SDK;^)
I have changed a MS Access database to use SQL Server tables keeping the MS forms. It was super easy to do and it works well for the group.
You definitely make a very good point. It's something I've thought about from time to time. We have the same issues with our ACT! database, which also runs off local files.
On the other hand, the file-based architecture of Access can be one of its strengths. Deployment, backups, and upgrades consist of simply copy-paste. Consider what time and effort like operations would cost on a "real" database (especially if your operation has to hire a full-time certified DBA:\).
Anyway, I use the "Hide Database Window" and "No Full Menus" options in my deployment, and fortunately my users aren't sophisticated enough to get around these features or even find and edit the *.mdb files directly (they haven't found out about "Shortcut: Find Target" yet...ignorance is bliss I tell ya).
The problem is resouces...we can't justify buying a SQL Server license for this dinky app...and our IT director manages the network really tightly, so I can "just" set up a Linux box running Postgres and plug it into the network (although I've done so on my workstation).
For now Access gets the job done and my users are well-behaved, so I'll stick with it.
Microsoft's latest SQL Server Express offering is the focus.
Read the spec sheets - SQL Server Express is a straight database with no frontend. Microsoft is pushing it as the database to use with Visual Studio, which provides the frontend reporting and app development tools.
Since Access is part of Office, are most small businesses going to buy a copy of Visual Studio after they've already paid for Access? Obviously, they shouldn't. For them, Access will do the job.
Of coures, I think what you're getting at is that SQL Server Express will soon replace the Jet Database Engine. However, the MS Access product and interface itself is here to stay.
I have to agree, with an addendum. A large part of my current job has been migrating cobbled-together Excel spreadsheets into Access applications. I'm by no means an Access evangelist but it gets the job done - and for a lot of teams, Access is all they'll ever need.
What bugs me is the knee-jerk reaction everybody has when I tell them I developed $APPLICATION in Access. "Why don't you get a *real* database?" Ummm...huh?
Explanatory Anecdote: My employer's Asset Management department (five people) was mis-using Excel to put together its quarterly Asset Portfolio Report. Besides the fact that only one person work on the file at a time (a real annoyance), they constantly had problems with sorting, formatting, page layout, etc. etc. You get the idea. They were spending more time managing the report then doing analysis.
So, I moved the whole thing to Access - and it wasn't a straight import job, either. Planned out a database schema and normalized the data, recreated the Excel workbook format as an Access report, and finally built a forms interface. Put it on the network, and soon the Asset Management department was humming along updating their data. A report that used to take two weeks now takes 15 minutes.
Finally, the moment of truth arrives: we show our new Asset Management application to our outside consultant. We spend 20 minutes or so demonstrating the forms interface and some reports, receiving a lot of "oohs" and "aahs." Then comes question and answer time. What're the first words out of the consultant's mouth?
"Have you thought about moving this to a real database, like SQL?"
(Yes, he really said just "SQL" - I immediately knew he meant SQL Server. Still, WTF?)
Why oh why would we want to move to SQL Server? Only five people use the database, and usually only two at a time. No need for clustering or advanced analysis. It's secure enough inside our password protected network drive. It's not an enterprise application! Fortunately, our CEO knew better and brushed off this suggestion.
Still, I feel for those business that have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on systems they didn't need because some consultant thought they should use a "real" database.
All that said, somebody pleeeease port Knoda to Windoze?:)
...or quickly/easily finding duplicate entries (and I ain't just talkin' about the "Find Duplicates Wizard" as convenient as that is...)
...or quickly sorting a list in Excel without screwing the whole thing up (remember to select every column!)
...or having more than one person at a time edit an Excel spreadsheet (especially when "the meeting's in 20 minutes!!!")
...or having users that use cell colors and font formats to organize their Excel data (ummm...how do you sort blue, orange and yellow?)
...or (my personal favorite) getting those &$%@ing page breaks set exactly how you want them.
When I am Supreme Chancellor, Excel will only be used for financial analysis. Those who mis-use it as a "database" will be whipped in the public square. No, I'm not bitter:\
Lucas hiring Genndy Tartakovsky to work on Clone Wars is one of the few things he'd done right since the Prequels. For me, the series exceeded all expectations - lots of Jedi action! This new development - an ongoing Tartakovsky series - can only be a good thing.
The full 3-D series on the other hand...not so much.
Hah. More like chuck the P.O.S. system out the window and get myself a PS2 or XBox so I can game without having to worry about these bullshit "upgrade" issues.
Why? Because it stopped working for no reason at all, and now I can't play the game that I paid for (I bought the retail version of CS a few years back, which has no offline single-player mode)! Here is the email I sent Valve support (no response yet):
On March 26th I enjoyed a game of Day of Defeat.
Tonight, April 06th, without having installed anything or otherwise changed my system, Steam no longer works. Intead, it displays a Windows OS message window that says:
Then I see the good ol' "Could not connect to Steam" message.
I am using a Win98 (version 4.10.1998) box, PII 500 Mghz with a RAGE128 32MB graphics card. However, I don't think it is a hardware problem as I have been playing CounterStrike for the last 3 years on this box.
Steps I have taken (all failed):
- Reset my Steam password - Deleted ClientRegistry.blob - Ran Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software (nothing found) - Configured my Router firewall to allow traffic to Steam UDP/TCP ports - Uninstalled & Reinstalled Steam - Rebooted multiple times
Did you guys do anything between March 26th and April 6th that I should know about?:(
I only use this PC for gaming, and I didn't install any new hardware or software - or even used the pc between my last successful gaming session and when this situation started. I know my account isn't hijacked or banned, because I was able to reset my password multiple times.
Slashdot Mirror
http://souptonuts.sourceforge.net/sshtips.htm
Really good for the beginner - includes information on accessing Samba shares over ssh.
I used it to install Norton Antivirus...and it rebooted my computer without a prompt. I had six tabs on FireFox open! WTF?!?
I saw this guy give the commencement address nephew's high-school graduation. Basically, the theme of his speech was "I've always been at the right place at the right time" and "everything always works out for Jason Calacanis." Absent were any inspirational anecdotes about working hard or otherwise having any personal character. It was more "as long as you get an internship at Sony" (or whatever) "you're golden!"
Whatever happened to the "golden boy" that hits rock-bottom (his words in the speech, btw) and then decides to dedicate himeself to philantropy. Instead, this guy wants to "monetize" (remember that word?)...blogs?
Yes.
Not exactly, but some people are building something like it in Java:
https://trails.dev.java.net/
Why is it a "plucky" robot? I think a better adjective might be "disturbing" or perhaps "horrifying."
New ways to kill large quantities of human beings, horray!
Do you think they'll update the exhibits at Dinosaur Adventure Land?
It's where Dinosaurs and the Bible meet!
Funny you suggest that Since that's exactly what he's offered to do: You truly put the "Coward" in Anonymous Coward. You think that resources of one (relatively small) US city is supposed to somehow fend off a continent-spanning Act of God? You're out of your fucking mind.
So you're executing script in a JVM?
Gosling: Yeah. All the Java libraries are available to things written in Groovy. And Java applications can use Groovy. They can incorporate Groovy scriptlets.
Scriptable Java! Why wasn't I informed?!? 0__0
Does anybody have any practical experience/advice using Groovy in a production environment?
Last week, I started a job at a Wall Street software company. Even though we have a casual dress code, I had to go buy a suit to wear on field trips to Big Clients.
While trying on suits at $DEPARTMENT_STORE, I mentioned to the sales associate - a middle-aged fellow - that I needed the suit for my new Wall Street software job. The salesman instantly replied: "Consultant, eh? I was a consultant on Wall Street for 34 years. Mainframes."
Erm?
Even though I feared the answer, I just had to ask: "Why did you stop being a tech consultant? What happened?"
I was hoping his response would go along the lines of I made my fortune years ago and now I sell suits because I love clothes (he wouldn't be the first I've met with a story like that).
Unfortunately, it was as I feared. His story went something like this:At this point, I interrupted him to ask "well, somebody has to be doing some programming here. They can't offshore everything, right?" With a wry smile, he repliedAs he said "clicking out functions" he poked in the air at an imaginary Visual Studio GUI. I laughed and said "yeah, that's what I've been doing for the last four years" and then instantly regretted it.
PS - I didn't buy any of his suits
...a major financial institution clumsily lost millions of sensitive customers data records???!?!
Hmmm. Must be Tuesday.
However, when it came down to actually doing it, and learning to code, they all, except for one, said "We're just more interested in playing games."
Hrm, sorta like those goof-offs at MIT who developed Space War, huh?
Of course, we all know that nothing good ever resulted from that effort...RIGHT?
The two stars "merged," there was a "black hole," and then an "afterglow."
;)
Am I alone here in thinking that the Astronomers who made this discovery might be a little frustrated?
I think that the most important ramification of this announcement is that Java will not die should Sun falter.
.NET, and .NET programming is currently the hot skill set.
;^)
The fact is, a lot of Fortune 500 corporations are nervous that Sun's waning profits and recent legal problems will result in their Java code being unsupported. Furthermore, they are seriously looking at Windows Server 2003 and Longhorn as a an alternative to their current Solaris and Unix solutions. As a result, there is currently a lot of hype about
Well, I think an open source Apache implementation of Java 5 will reverse the current course. Look at the continuing popularity of Apache httpd. The marriage of Java with the IT "brand recognition" of the Apache Foundation is a slam dunk that will ensure Java's perpetuity.
I just hope they can resist the temptation to look in the Src.zip that comes with every Java SDK
One, if a literal interpretation of the Bible is correct, what about all these fossils?
Silly, God put them there on purpose to test the Faith of his children!
Or was it Satan..?
Anyway, the point is: Stop thinking for yourself!
Office is the front end for SQL Server, but Excel will be the front end tool, not Access.
For dumb people.
I have changed a MS Access database to use SQL Server tables keeping the MS forms. It was super easy to do and it works well for the group.
:\).
You definitely make a very good point. It's something I've thought about from time to time. We have the same issues with our ACT! database, which also runs off local files.
On the other hand, the file-based architecture of Access can be one of its strengths. Deployment, backups, and upgrades consist of simply copy-paste. Consider what time and effort like operations would cost on a "real" database (especially if your operation has to hire a full-time certified DBA
Anyway, I use the "Hide Database Window" and "No Full Menus" options in my deployment, and fortunately my users aren't sophisticated enough to get around these features or even find and edit the *.mdb files directly (they haven't found out about "Shortcut: Find Target" yet...ignorance is bliss I tell ya).
The problem is resouces...we can't justify buying a SQL Server license for this dinky app...and our IT director manages the network really tightly, so I can "just" set up a Linux box running Postgres and plug it into the network (although I've done so on my workstation).
For now Access gets the job done and my users are well-behaved, so I'll stick with it.
Microsoft's latest SQL Server Express offering is the focus.
Read the spec sheets - SQL Server Express is a straight database with no frontend. Microsoft is pushing it as the database to use with Visual Studio, which provides the frontend reporting and app development tools.
Since Access is part of Office, are most small businesses going to buy a copy of Visual Studio after they've already paid for Access? Obviously, they shouldn't. For them, Access will do the job.
Of coures, I think what you're getting at is that SQL Server Express will soon replace the Jet Database Engine. However, the MS Access product and interface itself is here to stay.
I have to agree, with an addendum. A large part of my current job has been migrating cobbled-together Excel spreadsheets into Access applications. I'm by no means an Access evangelist but it gets the job done - and for a lot of teams, Access is all they'll ever need.
:)
What bugs me is the knee-jerk reaction everybody has when I tell them I developed $APPLICATION in Access. "Why don't you get a *real* database?" Ummm...huh?
Explanatory Anecdote: My employer's Asset Management department (five people) was mis-using Excel to put together its quarterly Asset Portfolio Report. Besides the fact that only one person work on the file at a time (a real annoyance), they constantly had problems with sorting, formatting, page layout, etc. etc. You get the idea. They were spending more time managing the report then doing analysis.
So, I moved the whole thing to Access - and it wasn't a straight import job, either. Planned out a database schema and normalized the data, recreated the Excel workbook format as an Access report, and finally built a forms interface. Put it on the network, and soon the Asset Management department was humming along updating their data. A report that used to take two weeks now takes 15 minutes.
Finally, the moment of truth arrives: we show our new Asset Management application to our outside consultant. We spend 20 minutes or so demonstrating the forms interface and some reports, receiving a lot of "oohs" and "aahs." Then comes question and answer time. What're the first words out of the consultant's mouth?
"Have you thought about moving this to a real database, like SQL?"
(Yes, he really said just "SQL" - I immediately knew he meant SQL Server. Still, WTF?)
Why oh why would we want to move to SQL Server? Only five people use the database, and usually only two at a time. No need for clustering or advanced analysis. It's secure enough inside our password protected network drive. It's not an enterprise application! Fortunately, our CEO knew better and brushed off this suggestion.
Still, I feel for those business that have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on systems they didn't need because some consultant thought they should use a "real" database.
All that said, somebody pleeeease port Knoda to Windoze?
...or constraining user input in Excel
...or quickly/easily finding duplicate entries (and I ain't just talkin' about the "Find Duplicates Wizard" as convenient as that is...)
...or quickly sorting a list in Excel without screwing the whole thing up (remember to select every column!)
...or having more than one person at a time edit an Excel spreadsheet (especially when "the meeting's in 20 minutes!!!")
...or having users that use cell colors and font formats to organize their Excel data (ummm...how do you sort blue, orange and yellow?)
...or (my personal favorite) getting those &$%@ing page breaks set exactly how you want them.
:\
When I am Supreme Chancellor, Excel will only be used for financial analysis. Those who mis-use it as a "database" will be whipped in the public square. No, I'm not bitter
It's just ungodly bad, perl has nothing against access for being able to write bad code.
Access is like a box of crayons vs. the set of oil paints (Oracle, et. al)
The Artist is certainly limited by the crayons but can still use them to create a masterpiece...
Meanwhile, the Amateur will create a sloppy, haphazard mess no matter what the medium.
Lucas hiring Genndy Tartakovsky to work on Clone Wars is one of the few things he'd done right since the Prequels. For me, the series exceeded all expectations - lots of Jedi action! This new development - an ongoing Tartakovsky series - can only be a good thing.
The full 3-D series on the other hand...not so much.
Hah. More like chuck the P.O.S. system out the window and get myself a PS2 or XBox so I can game without having to worry about these bullshit "upgrade" issues.
I only use this PC for gaming, and I didn't install any new hardware or software - or even used the pc between my last successful gaming session and when this situation started. I know my account isn't hijacked or banned, because I was able to reset my password multiple times.
W T F?
Well, if you're a fan of Vladimir Nabokov, DON'T try googling for "Lolita" :\