Top Secret, Apparently

 Computers  Comments Off
Sep 162008
 

   MsRdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.BitmapCacheSize    = 48000
   MsRdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.BitmapVirtualCacheSize = 48

Preload Your Cache

 Computers, Main  Comments Off
Sep 152008
 

Might as well use the cache — that’s what it’s there for.  Like Vista’s Superfetch, or XP’s prefetch, or precompiling JSPs, or what have you.

For example, to load up your squid http proxy cache, just run:

 wget -r -nd -H –delete-after http://your.portal.company.local/

or

 wget -r -nd -H –delete-after -i some_file_with_URLs.html

wget’s –no-cache will force the proxy to download fresh copies, too.  Try loading popular pages.

One More Thing for the Resume

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Aug 102008
 

Just saw a Coke commercial that said if I have had a Coke within the last 80 years (which I have), then I’ve had a hand in making every Olympic dream come true.  I’m going to add that to my resume.

Kansas City Open ’08

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Aug 032008
 

My uncle taught me how to play chess when I was 5 or 6, but I didn’t stick with it and only played occasionally in the 30 years since. My neighbor got me interested in chess again two or three months ago, so I picked up a copy of Chessmaster and sat up playing quick 10 minutes per side games against the computer.

So my neighbor and two of his brothers and I drove from St. Louis over to Kansas City to play in the KC Open ’08 at the Kansas City Chess Club.  I was afraid of being pumelled, but if I waited until I was comfortable it’d probably be another 30 years. I wanted to see how I’d compete, given I was more or less at the same skill level I’d have been at at 6, if I’d have hunkered down.

Didn’t do too bad, and had a grand time. I thought it would be a complete waste of time to spend six hours on a single chess game (my longest only took three hours); six hours is four full-length movies, or one or two good books. A decent nap, too.  Contrary to my expectations, my three-hour game was by far the funnest; it was actually enjoyable.  It was the only game I lost, but I reviewed and caught my error and promise to never pick capture an unpassed pawn over a passed pawn.

Hung out at the Argosy Casino afterwards Saturday night and spent exactly $20 on beer and quarter slots.  Went back to the hotel and tossed and turned.  Woke up, ironed my clothes, and went to the lobby for a ‘continental breakfast’ (“How can we feed an entire building for $15?”).  Came back to my room, opened the door, and was greeted by a pretty big spider sitting on the ironing board.

Played two games Saturday and two Sunday.  Won 3, lost 1.  USCF 1421, provisional.  Hope to do better with some more study and lot more sleep next time.

Sick of Cable

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Jun 252008
 

Sick of cable.  Sick of paying for cable.  Sick of the worthless shows on cable.  Sick of entire swaths of channels on cable.  Blockbuster‘s deal is fine — $20/month for 3 movies out at a time.  For regular TV, the only shows worth watching are House, Lost, and Family Guy, and I’m going to get them over the air.   I have to switch my Internet access to AT&T DSL first.  Goodbye, cable!

Now, per month: $100 for cable.  $40 month for cable Internet.  $20 month for Blockbuster. ($160/month)

Later, per month: $0 for TV, $25 for AT&T DSL.  $20 for Blockbuster.  ($45/month)

Difference: $115/month.  $1380/year.  After-tax money, obviously.

Document Format Conversion at the Gateway

 Computers, Main  Comments Off
May 152008
 

Corporate mail should be filtered for viruses and spam at the gateway — that’s just a given.  It’s much more efficient to filter incoming email in one spot than to check it at 300 or 25000 desktops.  Web browsers should go through a scanning, filtering proxy.  Again, it’s much simpler to secure and maintain.

So, what if you have a corporate standard document format and don’t want the cascading issues with users receiving and opening/converting/saving non-standard files?  Wouldn’t it make sense to convert the document on the way in?

A rules-based system makes sense.

Consider a resumes@example.com address that receives resume submissions for HR.  You do not want HR bugging you about weird documents.  I’d set a rule that any attachment (Microsoft Word .doc, Microsoft Works document .wps, RTF, OpenDocument, etc.,) gets automatically converted to PDF — they’re resumes to be read or printed, and should be read-only.  Email gets scanned, attachments are analyzed and extracted, attachments are converted and reinserted, a note is added that it was automatically converted and the archive document is at such and such for so long if there are problems, and thank you.

Rules wouldn’t be terribly complicated, either.  Off the top of my head:

  • All Postscript (*.ps) convert to PDF.  Simple.
  • Pass all compressed (*.zip, *.gz, *.bz2, etc) unmodified.
  • Convert to Open Office XML all (*.doc, *.wps, *.rtf, WordPerfect, and other text formats).
  • Same goes for Lotus 1-2-3 docs and kin.
  • Image formats convert to PNG.  Example, with rule that the Graphics department is exempt.
  • And so forth….

I haven’t checked the Microsoft Office license, but I’m pretty sure you’d only need one licensed copy for the gateway, so I’ll check.  Image conversion is simple enough, using ImageMagick, NConvert, and others.

Eight Days A Week

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May 152008
 

ABC reports that Americans fit 31 hours of activity in each 24 hour day. Driving and cell phone usage are the most obvious doublings. Watching TV, working on the computer, and ignoring the wife is the most obvious tripling.

On my lunch hour I go to the gym and walk on the treadmill, but I can’t do it unless I have something to read — it drives me nuts just staring around.  An idea whose time has come: night college courses where students are on treadmills instead of desks. You heard it here first. I’d like to take an electronics course. I’d also like to take a calligraphy course, too, but that probably wouldn’t work on the treadmill.

Detect and Fix Java Bugs

 Computers, Main  Comments Off
Apr 062008
 

Java developers and testers should use FindBugs to find and fix Java bugs.  It’s free, and the FindBugs team has concentrated on having a high hit ratio, as developers won’t use lint’ing tools that spew out pedantic non-errors.  FindBugs can run standalone or as an Eclipse plug-in.  Watch the Google Labs video linked on the front page for a good 45-minute introduction. Continue reading »

Use a Color-Safe Palette for Colorblind People

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Apr 062008
 

When making charts, graphs, or other figures to be presented to an audience, use a safe color palette, and use color-alternate hints to differentiate data (e.g., shading, hatching, varying line thickness).

“How to make figures and presentations that are friendly to Colorblind people” is the best document I’ve seen on the topic.  Save the PDF for handy reference.  The authors point out that protanopes and deuteranopes can’t see red laser pointers very well or at all, so use a green laser pointer instead.

Dimming the Lights

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Mar 302008
 

At church, after the singing and liturgical items are done, the lights are dimmed and the sermon begins, which struck me as odd the first few times.  But having been stuck in business presentations with glaring overhead lights, it really is better — you relax more and can concentrate better.

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