_The_Lone_Codeman_

Dancing queen

2008-05-16T13:46:00.004+02:00

I just had to share this one...

Ball control

2008-04-17T12:55:00.003+02:00

Is the ball glued to the guy?

The Lone Codeman

2008-02-22T22:31:00.001+01:00

I am still here. Just...what can I say...been very busy. How are you all?

By all means marry...

2007-11-12T14:19:00.000+01:00

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-Socrates-

Play Street Luge Online

2007-07-10T00:07:00.000+02:00

Warning! Very, very addictive game here:

Street Luge

Complete the Street Luge courses and take Gold.

Play this free game now!!

Street Luge

Complete the Street Luge courses and take Gold.

Play this free game now!!

Online Media Converter

2007-06-15T16:44:00.000+02:00

Don't remember how or why, but I came across a really great thing the other day - the online media converter. It is completely free, you do not need to install anything and you do not even have to register. Your converted files (maximum size is 150 Mb) are kept for download 24 hours. Fast, free and fun...

I had a look at it and actually used it to do some convertions already, the number of supported formats and media types is impressive. On one side you have the file convertion - images, documents, archive, movie/video and sound - but you also have the option to create sounds (perfect when creating your own ring signal etc) with the midi sequencer.

This is taken from the site (I can find better reasons though):


:: Why use Media-Convert?
* No software installation, Media-Convert let you read all kind of documents.

* Convert files, for example:
to read all Open Office files with Microsoft Office

or convert files into universal formats like Adobe PDF, PS (PostScript) or CSV to
print, fax ou simply read them on any computer, without special software.

* Insert a PDF into your web page by converting it into an SWF Flash file.
* Export easily Microsoft Access database to an Excel table.
* Capture a website as an image.
* Encode a text with UTF-8 codes or with one of 900 other charsets.
* Learn morse code with the text to morse converter ;-)

Should I be scared..?

2007-06-01T23:43:00.000+02:00

Just had a look to my statistics the other night and discovered something cool. Or should I be scared?

Someone (the name is the only thing I don’t have) in a military organisation read a post on June 1st this year at 17:15:38 (CET), namely the one about JFCCNW.

This organization, of which it’s domain was registered by verio.com (on 1998-03-27 and updated on 2006-04-11.), is no other then UNITED STATES TRANSPORTATION COMMAND !!!

I wonder if there is sitting someone there searching internet, checking what might be a threat. Can not be something serious since then I am sure it wouldn’t be so easy to track them. Or..?


“Hey boss, I found something interesting on the internet when doing my morning search. It’s this person called The Lone Codeman. Sounds suspicious to me... I’ll head over to the code cracking guys at X4-10 to look into possible suspects, then let them follow up and hand it over to the profiler guys.”

iRack

2007-06-01T23:14:00.000+02:00

Just got this one, absolutely brilliant. It's a must see...

Robert M Pirsig Quote

2007-06-01T16:43:00.000+02:00

Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organise themselves into a professor of chemistry? What's the motive?

Groups, the way to find answers

2007-05-09T17:50:00.000+02:00

I had to do some research on a very specific MS SQL server 2000 issue. Not really an issue at all, just something needed to be done. From the beginning it seemed to be a straight forward thing to do, almost an every-day admin task. How do I list all server logins (note, not user IDs) with access- and database- and object details tied to it. Further; how do I present/save result to re-use on a separate server, not necessarily in the same domain (I'll be happy when Active Directory is rolled-out)?

I started looking into it and of course you might think microsoft.com would have the answer. Could not find a decent answer. So I started do some Googling and came close but not all the way. I turned then to Groups. "What the heck, I'll just give it a go", I reasoned. I have found good answers before and I think it's something better then forums, especially since Groups is normally less of the "I-really-don't-know-but-look-at-me-and-my-cool-avatar-next-to-my-post", kind of attitude. OK, so I went to the Google Groups and started searching. It took me 5 minutes to have THE answer. Not only that, I had a great script ready to be modified and worked at for my specific needs. GREAT!

A couple of days later, back in Google Groups I found the possibility to create own Groups. One day I was reading one of the few blogs I frequently read, very interesting post BTW ;-), he basically asks for tips on good web store systems. I gave some hints by posting comment and... "hey, why not create a Group. That MUST be a better way of communicating stuff like these". So, without any further delay, I give you...

Visit this group

Please, feel free to join in, post an IT related question (or anything you like, but I can not guarantee the quality ;-) of answer) and I (or anyone in the group) will try to answer it.

Online office - Thinkfree

2007-04-26T22:36:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I wrote about the great service from Google sharing, creating documents and spreadsheets. That is a really nice online tool (sadly I am NOT payed by Google to write this). All the basic functions are there.

Well...

Now I found another one good enough to compete with Google. It is called ThinkFree, actually it IS better. More advanced functions, especially within sharing, editing and collaboration. Just as in the tool from Google you create and work with documents and spreadsheets, but with ThinkFree you can also create powerpoint presentations! Finally, it even looks more profesional...

I've been testing it now for a couple of weeks and I can not really complain about anything. I can really recommend it.

Freedom of speech...no more

2007-03-02T13:49:00.000+01:00

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

So, now there is a law in New York saying not to use the word "Nigger". The idea, I guess, is good but in practice this is just outrageous. It is more on a symbolical level (eventhough there will be actions against lyrics containing "nigger"), but just the idea. Where is it going to end? I don't like the word "greed"...

I understand there are a lot of historical issues tied to the N-word, but common. Is it just to prove a point or do Leroy really think this will help stopping the issue (is it an issue?). No, it is going more into an issue of Ethics. If we would ban the word "lie" do you think we will stop people from lying?

The key is to spread information and teaching people what "nigger" REALLY means. Maybe then, and only then, we'd truly know the meaning of it.

Another thought; I bet the first person getting in trouble for breaking this law will be an afro-American (not breaking any laws here) person – just check the lyrics in rap songs (no, I am not discriminating causations, but rap is just not the same when we try) or just listen to Chris Rock or ...

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger:

"In nineteenth-century literature, there are many uses of the word nigger with no intended negative connotation. Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad (who published The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' in 1897) used the word without racist intent. Mark Twain often put the word into the mouths of his Southern characters..."

Japanese Teamwork...

2007-03-01T17:33:00.000+01:00

I just had to share this one, absolutely brilliant!

Don't forget the volume - it's half of the experience!

The last day of 2006

2006-12-31T15:53:00.000+01:00

So, the last day of the year 2006; just wanted to wish you all (and especially some others, you know who you are) a really lone...ehh...good 2007!

What is there to say about 2006? Wait...ehhh...it was a SPECIAL, wonderful, great, awful, horrific year. Overall I must say it was a great one though! I hope all my efforts will pay off in 2007 :0

well, if I could ask you just one thing for 2007 - keep visiting (more often then my posts ;)) this blog. I promise to work more on it.

How much is it worth?

2006-10-25T00:17:00.000+02:00

So I took one of those online test. Based on...well I don't really know, but I guess it's based on something? Anyway it calculates somehow how much your blog is worth.

This is the result on my blog:

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

So, anybody interested???

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

2006-10-14T15:03:00.000+02:00

Google has "merged" with the web word processor Writely and the Google Spreadsheets and now launched the Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Look kind of interesting, but I wouldn't store my account information.

For you who's didn't get it activated yet, here is a sneak...

:: Google Docs...

:: and Spreadsheets

It took 37 years to find the A

2006-10-04T13:45:00.000+02:00

You maybe heard this before, "It's a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind", which Neil Armstrong spoke 1969 from the moon.

Neil and co 1969

Well, Neil always claimed he said "It's a small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind" and always wondered why the little a was lost in the recording. Now the Australian scientist Peter Shann Ford claims to have found the missing a (in a 35 millisecond fragment of the recording).

Neil today

"We share the same shadow..."

2006-09-27T16:04:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I saw a documentary about Kim Peek, a savant with a photographic memory and developmental disabilities.

Some things he said is still in my mind…

“You don’t have to be retarded to be different, everybody is different.”
~Kim Peek~

Kim also once said the following to his dad; “We share the same shadow”

Big news for Lumberjacks...

2006-08-23T18:10:00.000+02:00

The official tree-cutting championship was held last week in the Estonian town Otepää. It was the 27th time; the first tree-cutting world championship was held 1970.

28 countries and 80 participants were present to compete for the gold.

The participants were competing in 5 different areas, such as tree cutting, trimming of trees, changing chainsaw chains. The winner is the one who scores the best totally in these areas.

Before it started the big favourites were of course (?) the Russian Ilya Shvetsov and Vadim Imankulov and the German Gottfried Schädlich. However, no one of these got any medals; it went instead to the Italian chainsaw-virtuoso Johann Raffl.

Hang on...are there actually people giving a crap...how can this be "big" news in a newspaper?

What is true?

2006-07-10T23:28:00.000+02:00

"You are a difficult person to live with, not an easy person at all..."
-My wife-

"You are the greatest person, you know everything..."
-My son-

A Third Doesn’t Know the Basics

2006-06-22T17:16:00.000+02:00

More than a third of the adult population
in EU lacks the basic computer knowledge. This is what the result of a study
is showing done by EU recently (between April and June last year).

Sweden and Denmark scored best where 90% of the population in ages between 16 and 74
showed good enough knowledge. Greece
was the worst with only 35%.

We’ll see if the government will act on this to increase the basic knowledge to
be able to A) keep up with member countries of EU B) be more competitive
against US and Asia [I doubt though that these regions would score better..? Would be
interesting to see how they would score on the same test].

Uhhh... Universal

2006-04-24T14:27:00.000+02:00

I never get tired of these "jokes". It's even getting more fun when you know it's actually no jokes...

These are all taken from About: Politicalhumor

"The relations with, uhh — Europe are important relations, and they've, uhh — because, we do share values. And, they're universal values, they're not American values or, you know — European values, they're universal values. And those values — uhh — being universal, ought to be applied everywhere."

—George W. Bush, at a press conference with European Union dignitaries, Washington, D.C., June 20, 2005

Have a look at the top 25 Bushisms

Wireless, funny how that is

2006-04-17T22:53:00.000+02:00

so now I can be anywhere in the house connected to my little network or internet. I can move my "office" to any corner of my house...heck I can sit in the garden-house if I like. Actually this is witten and published sitting with the feet on the tv-table relaxed in my favorite sofa. It's possible due to the wireless "toys" I just got.

It's amazing how "the market" works. How a "need" is created. I mean I can still remember before the cell phone, how perfectly well I could manage not being arround the phone. I even remember before the e-mail...and that worked too. Are we that much more productive these days? Going back to the beginning of the cell phone; the first contact with it I still remember like it was yesterday - me and a couple of friends calling each other from one car to another asking if they could hear me ok. Same with e-mail; first sending it and then called the person asking if he got it. Funny how it goes.

I mean I am NOT against gadgets and technical progress. I do have some problems when people just can not use it correctly. One perfect example is having a VPN solution - remote connection - but the company policy is against people working from home!!!??? "Maybe you're not working when you're home"... Hahahaha, yes we're still at school. What a mentality!

This article took a different turn somewhere. Funny how that is...

Your Messenger on the Web

2006-03-13T13:26:00.000+01:00

AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber, GTalk or MSN Messenger are all supported from this great service...and it IS free and you do NOT need to even register!

So, you have your, let's say, MSN account and you're going into an internet cafe, surf to www.meebo.com and simply logon to your MSN and you have access to your MSN Messenger. Start chatting right there. You can even logon to multiple accounts, it is all gathered nicely in the menu. Super nice!

Swap your sketch

2006-02-14T17:04:00.000+01:00

Just came across this site where you draw a sketch and on submitting you'll get one from someone else.

If you have a minute to kill, this is the perfect site!

Tagged for Experimental Pervasive Communication

2006-01-30T17:27:00.000+01:00

I was 'tagged' by Howl@ the Moon to be in a little experiment. You can read all about it in the link below for details.

The only problem I have is to find 4 people to tag...if you're interested you can always comment this post and I'll add you!

Mother of all memes

1) I would like to see the Internet used to empower the individual.

2) I wish that everyone would recognize that we are all stuck on this planet together and we need to work with each other to be able to survive. We do not have a backup planet.

3) I believe the news media should present us with the actual facts of any news event, and allow each of us to decide how to interpret the facts, without the media filtering or slanting the information.

If you have been tagged on the following dates, report to the top post on less people less idiots, and enter the information requested.

Tag Dates:
02/04/06
02/18/06
03/04/06
03/18//06

Visit this page for more details.

The target sites I’ve selected to include in this little experiment are as follows:-
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]

Stupid Teacher

2006-01-26T16:35:00.000+01:00

Teacher: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
Donald: H I J K L M N O.
Teacher: What are you talking about?
Donald: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

Voltaire Quote

2006-01-05T09:58:00.000+01:00

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

~Voltaire~

Heavenly Holiday Wishes

2006-01-02T13:20:00.000+01:00

A little bit late, but I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! …Or should I maybe say Happy Holidays not to offend anybody?

But it is, isn’t it? Santa Claus does exist!

Samorost 2

2005-12-16T21:58:00.000+01:00

The people who gave us the great casual web/online game Samorost have done it again, they are
back with Samorost 2. I just started with it, ok at the moment I am stuck on the pipeline. Got to figure out what to do with that fly...well, back to these games.

So they are called Amanita Design and have som other great web games, just click the link Flash Games
and...

:: To be honest, I have not yet played the first Samorost, I learned about it today. But I will continue playing the first after I have cracked the current one I am doing. I had a sneak preview of it already, looks promising:

:: Back to Samorost 2; it's a free Flash game, at least chapter one is, chapter 2 is 9.90 US. The design and graphics is nice and playful, it keeps you hooked.

The little guy - you - is just too cool!

Happy playing..!

Here you go, a free book!

2005-11-21T16:14:00.000+01:00

Yes, indeed there are free book(s) out there. Just follow this link and download it. It's not just any book either, it's called God's Debris and is written by Scott adams. Scott adams...you know the guy behind Dilbert?!

What's it all about? Sounds really cool, here is the Synopsis:

"Imagine that you meet a very old man who you eventually realize knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn’t the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what’s wrong with the old man’s explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage."

Here's a cool quote from the author:

"If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?"

-Scott adams-

The E-Mail Time Capsule - say hi to yourself 20 years from now

2005-11-14T18:02:00.000+01:00

I just came across a site, or rather a service, at Forbes. It's called The E-Mail Time Capsule. So basically this is how it works (by Forbes):


"Most time capsules involve cramming stuff into a metal box and burying it in a hole in the ground. It's a method that works --but it's so primitive. What if you could write an email to yourself, and be assured of receiving it twenty years in the future?

That's what we've done with this email time capsule. Simply fill out the fields below, decide how long you want the capsule to be sealed for, and hit send. We'll do our best to make sure the message gets delivered."

You can choose to send a message to yourself in 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years from now. Simple enough. Would you do it? Is this interesting, funny or just plain stupid?

Would you keep an email address for 20 years? Maybe, I would be 52 and stinking rich still having good health. My kid would be 22 and in perfect health and very good in school, my parents would be, hopefully, very old. Hummmm, interesting and scary at the same time. How would I feel reading my 20 years old email..?

Cute Puppies For Sale!

2005-10-04T17:54:00.000+02:00

A friend of a friend just got some puppies. Cute little puppies! For one or the other reason, all of them are still for sale. Wouldn't this be the perfect surprise for your little kid?

Imagine their faces when you bring home one (or MORE) of these. After a long day of playing (keep them away from cables, lamps, small animals, chairs, fabrics, anything made of glass, wood, plastic...) together; just picture your self seeing them cuddling up together.

They are only 10 Euro (or 2 US $ if you promise to keep them in US) each (can be discussed) or just 1 Euro for all of them (can also be discussed). If you also take their "mom" they're all for free (I am willing to pay, just to get rid of these giant rats!!!!!!!!). HELP!..

Are You an Illustrator?

2005-09-28T14:26:00.000+02:00

So, I was surfin' the great world weird web, reading some blogs in general. Of course I have to pass by some friends and one in special. I really like those illustrations. Got me thinking though; is it really that difficult, do you need all the professional tools like drawing pads, special software, experience..?

I think not, you just need to be creative. Have a look at this great illustration. That's another thing; you need to find something you do want to illustrate. I fell in the staircase the other day and hurt my foot. Perfect thing to illustrate! My creative mind started racing. I think this illustration answers all questions; "an image says more than a thousand words..."

How did I create this great illustration? Did I use expensive equipment? Do I have years of experience? Nope, and yet I was able to do this. It only took me 10 minutes using only Paint...who could have guessed that?

No, no, no! Now to the actual point of this post! YES you do need a lot of everything - you need a good drawing pad, good software, a lot of experience and, maybe the most important thing, TALENT! You can sit with the best equipment for years and it still looks like crap. That's what I did found while surfin' blogs. There are a lot of them out there trying to do it, thinking it really looks great. If I would give an advice, do not bother or keep it for your self until it does look professional. Spend the time writing instead, get the layout nice and clean because it puts people off to have images, animations and what ever clogging the page. Read up on basic web design and color usage!

I Finally Fixed It!

2005-09-27T17:16:00.000+02:00

Yes, I am very pleased. As you might have noticed the first post always started with a huge blank area. I knew it had something to do with the menu layer on the right side. Probably something with DIV size, float right or well, just a typo mess-up. Anyways it annoyed me every time I had to look at it...until today.

I finally grabbed the horn by the bull..ehhh. Well, actually that's what I did, in a way. I started out trying to fix how it was. I fiddled around with the sizes, found a setting in Blogger to turn off the use of float and then tried to fix it from there, analyzed the code. But in the end I got really tired of all the hassle - I copied the code, pasted it in Dreamweaver MX and started from scratch! I saw that the menu to the right is actually inside the main DIV layer. Hum, why not just "lift" the whole menu layer out from the main layer? I tried it, did some final fixes...and, 37 minutes later, here is the result! It's also looking fine both in Firefox and MS IE - I am pretty happy.

Next thing is to start working on the logo. Anyday now...sure I will...promise...

Rust In Peace

2005-09-23T17:51:00.000+02:00

It's done, it's over. It's a sad, sad day today. My Niva
is sold.

What a brilliant ca...ehh...vehicle you were. I only have
the best of memories my dear little Russian friend. You came into my life at
the same time when my life changed, just before so much happend. Together we
share those great memories. Is that why I feel so much? Sure, but also because
you absolutely ROCK!

I will miss you greatly!

Bathroom Break

2005-09-16T16:35:00.000+02:00

So, the UN top meeting is well on its way. All the top leaders are there, only the very important issues are on the agenda. Very intense! Some people can not hold it, some people need to go to the bathroom! Some...ONE person can not take this decision himself. I have the picture to prove it!

In the middle of the meeting George writes a note to Rice and hands it over. I'd love to see her face when reading these words "I think I may need a bathroom break. Is it possi..."

It makes me wonder ... well ... WHAT?! Where do I start? Here we have one of the most powerful (or so they say) person in the world! decisions, decisions...

JFCCNW

2005-09-01T16:40:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I wrote about the 16 year old boy who hacked into several servers (NASA, FBI etc).

Well, by chance I came across this article about the top secret elite hacker group. Their task is basically to defend the network against hack attacks, but also to carry out "attacks" themselves, even though it's never admitted. Apparently it's a group of people from FBI, CIA, NSA...very secret. Very James Bond. They are known as, since March 2005, the JFCCNW - Functional Command for Network Warfare.

It was also mentioned that "some civilians" are included in this "formidable hacker posse". THAT made me wonder, thinking back on the post I wrote about the boy. I am pretty sure there are young "talents" out there with similar "knowledge" who's now sitting, rubbing their shoulders with an FBI agent. Their enemy #1 in youngER years!

Read the article, it's really interesting. Do not forget to clear all cookies and close the browser when done. You never know who's watching....just a joke :)

World of Stupidity

2005-08-10T13:18:00.000+02:00

:: Stupidest Statement of the Year
"They never stop thinking of new ways to harm our Country and our people, and neither do we."
- U.S. President George W. Bush

Read more at World Stupidity Awards

Follow Astronaut Stephen Robinson live!

2005-08-03T12:52:00.000+02:00

:: BBC
"Astronaut Stephen Robinson is carrying out an unprecedented spacewalk to the underside of the Discovery shuttle.

The astronaut will remove two ceramic strips sticking out from between the heatshield tiles."

Leeeroy and the Singer

2005-08-03T09:35:00.000+02:00

Today I have two absolutely hilarious movie clips.
After coming back from holiday I usually have a lot of e-mails, like this time I had around 700 of them. Going through it takes a lot of time and a lot of them are jokes where most of it is crap, filling your mailbox. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I get really great ones. Some of them I have posted here (go ahead, send the link to this post to all your friends, spread the word of the Lone Codeman, fill up some mailboxes ;) ) and today here are two more.

:: The Singer

This clip is showing the difference between professional bands and, well, the ones which probably never will even get close to becoming professionals. I just liked this one, the atmosphere, the ...well have a look.

:: Leeeeroy

This one is absolutely, super, mega funny! Some background first; you have this online game called World of Warcraft. It’s a huge game, a lot of fans. It goes so far that some people need to get connected with headsets. I guess to get into the game even more and to communicate with your team mates even faster. Well, before seeing this clip, you need to know that these are people taking it dead seriously, they have been playing for months to reach the current level. To lose is not an option! Here they are planning an attack; they are gearing up to enter the room full of 'bad guys', just the last briefing and...

Help me to be nice...

2005-07-27T16:17:00.000+02:00

I just received this joke from a female colleague.

Dear Lord

So far today, I am doing all right.

I have not gossiped, lost my temper,

been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or self indulgent.

I have not whined, bitched, cursed, or eaten any chocolate.

I have not charged on my credit card.

However, I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes,

and I will need a lot more help after that.

Amen.

Greetings from Bush

2005-07-12T23:35:00.000+02:00

OK, I am off on holiday to France tomorrow morning. Trying to pack and plan all the stuff that need to be sorted before I leave. Somehow that's very low on the priority list...always the same story; last second, panic packing.

When I was busy not packing, I came across this little nice greeting...

e-Mail Update: Happy yesterday, disappointed today

2005-06-29T17:20:00.000+02:00

:: e-Mail update
Puhhh, the e-mail works...kind of. Sad I can not include HTML
formatting in the message body. Maybe an idea is to check the email
style class...

:: Blank area
The fix (blank area for the most recent post) only works for MS IE
browsers. Still have to see how to do solve it for other browsers...

Take care!

e-Mail Post: Finally found it!

2005-06-28T16:53:00.000+02:00

:: e-Mail Post Test
With this; I am checking if the e-mail posting works. This would be a
nice feature...if it would only work. Since I am lazy, I don't like
logging on to Blogger all the time, just to create a post. If this
works fine, I'll update this blog more frequently...I promise....I do,
I do....

:: Blank Area In Most Recent Post Issue
Also, something Blogger related, I finally figured out what the
problem was why the most recent post always gave me a whole area of
blanks, then only started the blog content at the end of the menu (the
menu layer to the right)!

Well, within the DIV layer called "post" Blogger adds a layer with
clear:both style in all posts. This added a area and "line" until the
end of the menu layer, but only for the most recent post. I was trying
for some time to bypass this by changing the style, change the
floating style...etc. This didn't do too much (but screw it even more
;) ).

Then(!), I was playing around in the .post style section. That proved
to be the source of the problem. I JUST needed to add .width=95% to
the style to solve it. Don't know if I screwed up the style previously
when editing it, but I don't think so...since TheLoneCodeman never,
ever screws up ;))

Take care!

hilarious

2005-06-28T13:07:00.000+02:00

Just thought this was absolutely hilarious..!

Is it 25 or 250 MB?

2005-06-23T16:54:00.000+02:00

Today MSN Hotmail announced that the inbox capacity will increase to 250 MB, even though it says 25 MB for me??? Nice I had 2 MB for such a long time, always struggling to keep within this limit. They also say that the limit of outgoing mail is now 10 MB from previously only 1 MB. One small step in the right direction...

In the meantime the capacity at GMail is 2.3 GB and growing. Hotmail has still a long way to go. For the almost 10 years I had my Hotmail account it took to reach the 250 MB (or 25 MB), GMail is doing a better job. While I am writing this I can see it growing all the time. Impressing!

Oohhhhhh, wait. I just now saw the fine print. It says something like; it's first going to be 25 MB for 30 days. THEN, if you're "capable" to handle this huge size, it will be increased to 250 MB.

The unwanted People

2005-06-16T15:15:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evening THEY rang the doorbell! I've seen them before examining the area. Wanting new blood (not literally of course), more money, more power! I figured it was just a question of time. The time was yesterday and of course LATE evening at the worst timing - when putting my son to sleep!!! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, the doorbell went and uaaaaaaahhh went my son. For f@#$#$ sake!

No matter where you are, you will always find three things - Coca Cola, McDonald's and, this is the only BAD thing of the three, Jehovah's Witnesses. Doesn't matter,

you can be sitting on the most remote beach in Sierra Leone - one of the most poor country in the world - and all of a sudden a little boy is there asking me if I want to buy a bottle of Coke. That bottle of Coke tasted damn nice, I can tell you!

You can be driving for hours through the roughest and most remote area of the

Australian outback and all of a sudden you'll the M sign in the horizon. Two hours later you find you’re self driving up to McDonald's. That Big Mac tasted damn nice, I can tell you that!

THEN, where ever you live - Sweden, Belgium, USA, Australia or, I bet, even in Sierra Leone at the worst time, you'll have two people (why are they always at least two?) ringing your doorbell wanting to talk about the situation in the world (that's what they start with). Never will they say "Hi, we're from Jehovah's Witnesses and we want you in our sect! We refuse

giving blood to our sick children and you have to give us all your money too. Interested?". No, they start by wanting to have a dialog, first and only time; when you're hooked it's all a monolog! It’s always about the problems in the world. I actually had to ask them where they came from, even though I knew, and after a long "explanation" it was confirmed. Are they ashamed? Do they know that 99.9% of the people find them to be like hemorrhoids - a pain in the butt? I actually wonder how successful it can be, how many lost souls, depressed, weak people falls for it? Would you?

I think I will visit all 'churches' of Jehovah's Witnesses and ask them if they want to join my sect..ehh..Organization called PAJW - People Against Jehovah's Witnesses! Every week I'd go there at the worst time. Ohh, then I have to print out some flyers, create a logo... Cool!

How would the world look like without people to hate?

Fedora Core 4 is here

2005-06-14T13:59:00.000+02:00

We've heard about the next Windows version...for a long(horn) time. It's going to be released any time now. You just wait... In the meantime here is a product which is actually comming out with new realeases - Red Hat Fedora.

The latest Linux (free) version from Red Hat is here - the Fedora

Core 4. It's based on the Linux Kernel 2.6.11. Maybe the most interesting feature is that it now can use power processors and also run on 32-bit and 64-bit chips.

One of the many applications in this release is the Xen application - which makes it possible to run multiple operating systems - virtual installations. Xen is competing against VMware and MS virtual machine applications.

How not to plan and run IT Projects - a success story

2005-05-31T15:43:00.000+02:00

One thing, in the IT professional world at least, I find very interesting is IT Projects. Especially projects in my area - software/application projects - from analyze to development and testing to finally rollout. Did the project plan reflected reality, what development model was used and how successful was that compared with others, how was it executed, what roles are involved, what are the costs - in time and money, timeline and ETAs, where are the bottlenecks, how are the members of the team doing…questions on that sort.

::Be Aware!
In this line of work you have to deal with a lot of nice hype wordings, abbreviations and acronyms.

Be aware; the use of "nice" wordings is often a measurement on the level of a person's knowledge - the more it's used the less knowledge. Like baking; mix all the hype development- and project terms and you have a really nice looking cake. "This is a RAD project were we will use XML Web service using WSDL through SOAP, UDDI is not necessary. Important is to use XP people in XP, OOD and OOP. The ETA is ASAP".

Very often the cake looks great, but it lacks in taste.

::My current Project
I am currently running a world wide project (analyzing, development, initial testing and rollout) and, up until now, it the best project I've ever been involved in. Everything runs smoothly and, believe it or not, I am ahead of time. The only weak spots are where I am dependant on others. That's where my bottlenecks proved to be.

::The DIAA Project Model
How is this possible? Do I use a brand new project model? Maybe a new development model? No, I am doing it all alone. If you need a name of my model, hey let's call it the DIAA (Doing It All Alone) model.

So, is the DIAA model a good way of working. The answer would be a big fat NO! It basically goes against all rules of good practice. The risk factor is enormous, technical backup and support is limited. Huge workload… I can go on forever. So, why am I doing it? To test my model, create some new terms, wrap it all in a package and sell it for big bucks of course! ;)

::Summary for smarties
- Except for testing; include as few people as possible.
- If possible, use ONE person representing the business/user side. Use one point of contact to business!
- Do not let business people in technical discussions. Don't waste time and effort!
- Use experienced "hands-on" people. Learn to select the good people!
- EVERYTHING can be simplified. Do not hide behind terms and hype wordings!
- Eliminate dependencies.

Bright future for young hacker

2005-05-12T21:30:00.000+02:00

Read an article today about a hacker who broke into thousands of servers - US military, NASA and Cisco were amongst them. Do I even have to mention that these servers contain sensitive data and that security on them SHOULD be 'top of the line', 'sate of art'? Not only that; but also it took FBI more than a year to track down the hacker, or at least give a good direction of who it might be.

"Government investigators and other experts watched helplessly while monitoring the activity, unable to secure some systems as quickly as others were found compromised...."

It was reported (Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet) that the main goal for the hacker was to get the program which controls the internet traffic. But since it's still under investigation it can not be confirmed. Some of the information was published on a Russian site.

How was this possible? The hacker used security holes which were reported to be plugged. OK, fine. What was taken? Well, that's not so clear either. At this moment, one year later, it’s still not clear exactly what was stolen or destroyed.

So who is able to do this then? Terrorist? A fanatic group of underground hackers? How about a 16 year old school boy?! That's the person FBI is now focusing on. Apparently it was traced back to the network of the University of Uppsala in Sweden. In March the boy was charged with breaking into university computers. “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Does this mean the university has better security than NASA?

The technology used was not new, but the way it was executed was done in a very clever way. Apparently more clever than the NASA and US military security specialists put together. Let's say FBI can prove that this boy is the hacker, I'd say this boy has a bright future within computer security. Who wouldn't like to have this guy on their side? Imagine the CV of this guy:

:: Personal Data
- Age: 16 (and a half)
- Sex: Seen it on Internet
- Driver license: Not yet, have a moped though.

:: Experience
- Playing Doom 3 nights non-stop.
- Building a 7 foot tower using Pizza delivery boxes
- The biggest hack attack ever recorded.

:: References
- Mike; who also played with me.
- I have published a picture of the tower on internet (my Russian site)
- FBI Report: CISCO, US Military, NASA

Project Planning - Learn it the hard way

2005-05-04T00:16:00.000+02:00

Planning a project is very difficult; there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Therefore I have put together a 4-step guide of what to especially think about and keep in mind when planning a project.

It took months of investigation and design to finally come to the following pedagogical table……….not ;)

	ALWAYS have a backup plan. A project can take unforeseen turns at ANY time.	P L A N N I N G
	ALWAYS use good equipment and make sure you have the tools to do the job. Quality pays off! "The short term gain, is a long term pain." -The Lone Codeman-	E Q I P M E N T
	Do NOT take on too much, don't let the project be a burden on your shoulders. Sooner or later it will fall back on you.	W O R K L O A D
	Keep focused, don't get side-tracked! It's easy to waste time on details on a n early stage, this will blow up in your face in the end.	F O C U S
	Keep your both feet on the ground, both pointing forward.	F O C U S

Spell Google wrong and you might get virus

2005-04-29T12:53:00.000+02:00

Just saw an interesting article in the Swedish newsletter Uppsnappat. It's about another way of spreading Trojans, virus, worms etc. According to F-Secure internet users could get Trojans if they by mistake spell google.com wrong. One example is the site googkle.com (do NOT try this one now ;)). These boys picked a name which is easy to accidentally type since 'k' is just next to 'l'.

F-Secure reports that the visitors will get pop-up links which leads to websites trying to install Trojans. Apparently they are to be of the 'phishing' type and were created to especially get details about internet banks from the visitor. Another is reported to show false virus warning messages to get users to visit links which will only lead to new infected websites.

News Review #2

2005-04-24T14:07:00.000+02:00

:: Microsoft will Support Linux (IDG News)
First news that MS will support Linux will be included in Server 2005 SP 1 and the tool called Virtual Server. It's scheduled to be delivered end of this year.

With this support it makes it possible to run several virtual servers from one physical server. According to Steve Ballmer this makes it possible to administrate environments with different operating system installed, such as Linux.

:: MySQL against Software Patent (EWeek)
In an interview with the founders of the database product MySQL David Axmark and Michael Widenius criticise the software patent proposal. According to them it's negative for innovation. A good example of this is the law suit against Blackberry where fees on 450 million dollar had to be paid just because it's possible to send e-mail with it.

:: Adobe buys Macromedia
It's now settled, Adobe will buy Macromedia for 3.4 billion dollars.

:: IBM Re-organize in Europe (Wirtschafstwoche)
IBM is planning to re-organize in Europe. 2500 jobs will be 'moved' to east-European countries where the costs (salaries) are lower.

DO NOT REBOOT ON WINDOWS 2000!

2005-04-14T13:45:00.000+02:00

...and this is why.

A HUGE bug in the latest Windows update for Windows 2000! You might be interested in this...

Today, just a couple of hours ago my machine was notified that there are new updates to install. I received an email warning about rebooting the system after the installation. It causes an memory error message and from there you can not do very much. If this happens you probably have to re-install the OS.

Now, with a little bit of luck I found the issue, or rather where the issue is located. Even better I also found out a fix for it. Before you reboot your machine you need to manually go an remove (from Add/Remove programs) the update named KB8930086. There are some dependencies (KB842773 etc) accept these also and, once prompted, it now should be safe to reboot.

Happy One Year!!!

2005-04-11T13:23:00.000+02:00

I just saw that my blog is one year old. In fact it was one year the 1st of April. No, it's not an April fool's joke...

Happy birthday (and 10 days) to me...

Now I have to go and eat my birthday cake and blow out the one candle. I guess an extra cup of coffee will also do. ;-)

Fun links #2

2005-04-10T21:12:00.000+02:00

:: FUNNY movie clip
If you've seen the Rocky movies you'll laugh to this...guaranteed.
- http://theteatime.free.fr/talc/rocky.html

:: Are these for real?
I have no words for these. Well what can you say about a society dedicated to ...ehhh... clouds? Or the next one who love colours. But the most pathetic one must be the pro-america clip. It just crack me up, it must be meant as a joke...
- http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/
- http://colourlovers.com/
- http://americawestandasone.com/video.html

:: Aril fool's day joke list
- http://urgo.org/aprilfools.html

R.I.P Karol Wojtyla

2005-04-04T10:24:00.000+02:00

After some time of sickness Karol passed away age 84. I am NOT catholic (I am not religious at all for that matter. What is being religious anyway?). So, who is Karol Wojtyla, a normal polish person? In fact, yes. At least until 1978 when he was elected to pope and became Pope John Paul II. In fact I don't know too much about Karol before he died.

Anyway, I have to admire Karol, to be the first non italic pope since 1522. He did 104 official visits abroad and met more leaders than anybody else (he even met the person who tried to kill him in 1981!). So this man did a lot of good (no wonder, he is the man of god;-)) but he also, to me, had a lot of strange and old fashioned views; like he kept on condemning homosexuality (in an official letter he referred them as 'il male'- the evil) and was strongly against abortion.

So now, after 26 years as pope (only one has been longer - Pius IX with 32 years) it's over. I wonder who the next will be? What will he be called, John Paul III? Can a woman become a pope?

The Einstein-Freud Correspondence

2005-03-31T09:17:00.000+02:00

Have you read the published correspondence between Einstein and Freud? It was Einstein who first sent a letter to Freud in 1931 or early 1932. The basic message was simple - why do we tend to use violence and what rights does political leaders/governments have.

:: Einstein:

"...Political leaders or governments owe their power either to the use of force or to their election by the masses. They cannot be regarded as representative of the superior moral or intellectual elements in a nation..."

The reply from Freud in September 1932 goes in the same attitude that indeed the importance of pacifism is and will be one of the key issues in the world. He goes one small step further and link it to why the human instinct is to use violence.

:: Freud:

"...You begin with the relations between might and right, and this is assuredly the proper starting point for our inquiry. But, for the term might, I would substitute a tougher and more telling word: violence..."

How right these great men were. This is a highly present issue in the world of today. I can not stop thinking about George W(ar) Bush - what right did he have to force people, a nation, into war and go against what most nations expressed concerns about, the use of violence.

Here you can read most of the Correspondence!

Comments, thoughts?

2005-03-30T22:33:00.001+02:00

Monschau: Main street.
The Code Slinger

Some Pics From My Easter Trip

2005-03-30T22:33:00.000+02:00

So, here are some (13) pics I promised in this earlier post.

Monschau: River and houses.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:31:00.000+02:00

Monschau: Some houses along the main street.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:30:00.000+02:00

Monschau: the 'red house' again and a castle on the edge of the cliff behind.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:29:00.000+02:00

Monschau: The river
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:26:00.000+02:00

Monschau: The river, the most famous house of this little village - the 'red house' - it's Monschau in Germany. The only thing missning is christmas time and one of their markets.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:24:00.000+02:00

Trier: A cool painting hanging on the wall in the hotel I stayed in.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:21:00.000+02:00

Trier: A market place, blue sky and nice historical buildings.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:17:00.000+02:00

Trier: Just on a wall along a shopping street. It's St Nicolas.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:15:00.000+02:00

Trier: The hotel I stayed in. Really nice one with friendly people. Germans CAN be nice ;-)
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:12:00.000+02:00

Trier: just standing inside the ancient city walls looking at Porte Nigra.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:11:00.000+02:00

Trier; just inside the Porte Nigra - the black gate.
The Code Slinger

2005-03-30T22:09:00.000+02:00

aaaaa
The Code Slinger

New model - the Neonode N1m cell phone

2005-03-29T16:57:00.000+02:00

Earlier I wrote about the amazing cell phone Neonode N1, now it seems there is a new updated model called N1m. The differences are, as I see it the first glance, some additional and upgraded software, trippel band support, updated camera resolution (1024*1024), video player (MPEG 1, MPEG 4, WMV - with the 1GB SD card you can watch a complete DIVx movie ;-)), vibrator and so much more.

Further it now supports Windows CE 5.0 operating system and the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. This is great for me who would start developing .NET applications...AT ONCE!

My Easter Weekend in Germany

2005-03-28T22:06:00.000+02:00

For Easter weekend I went to Germany's oldest city Trier. It has really some interesting sights and historical buildings from the roman time. When walking around in the city/town, I couldn't help thinking about the latest book I read, the Da Vinci code. Don't know why, but that's what I was thinking about seeing the OLD churches, cathedrals etc. Trier is one of the first cities along the river Mousel coming from north (Koblenz is the last in the district). This district is THE wine area of Germany which gave a great view on the hill sides driving there.

On my way back, going north, I also stopped in Monschau, a great little German town/village close to the border of Belgium. This is a tiny little place, but a really nice spot. Over-looking the village, which is situated in a valley, there is a real genuine castle and right through it runs a river.

I’ll update this post with some of my pictures of Trier and Monschau soon…

Where did my logos go?

2005-03-24T09:42:00.000+01:00

Just noticed that all references to my logos are broken, this is due to maintenance work on the hosting server where they are located! I don't have an eta yet...

The server is up and running again. Should work now.

The Code Slinger

Fun links

2005-03-22T12:45:00.000+01:00

Just got some fun links for you.

:: The Hate Sites
The first set is people who really, really, REALLY hates a company.

www.ms-eradication.org - Microsuck. People who just hates Microsoft.
www.paypalsucks.com - The URL says it all.
www.allstateinsurancesucks.com - Same with this URL.
www.amexsux.com - and here too.
www.walmart-blows.com - and how about this one?
www.untied.com - Target; United Airlines.
www.unitedpackagesmashers.com - New name for UPS.

:: Tokyo Underground
This is just an amazing set of pictures of how Tokyo looks underground. Is it sci-fi? No, this is how it looks for REAL.

http://www.g-cans.jp/photo/11.html

::Postcard Viewer
This is a cool postcard viewer with search functionally. Really nice Flash site.

http://www.airtightinteractive.com/projects/flickr_postcard_browser/app/

Enjoy!

Softwarepatents - Dreamers vs. the Businesses?

2005-03-22T11:59:00.000+01:00

So, I received a new message from NoSoftwarePatents.com again with the latest news about the infected situation.

This time it's the concern that EU doesn't have the understanding that this is a commercial issue, not only for the 'little dreamers' or the open source community only!

:: Quote from the message


"...On the one hand, we have some good points to make against software patents, and decisions by various parliaments are quite helpful. On the other hand, we can't win unless our concern over software patents is fully understood to be a commercial issue as opposed to "the dreamers vs. the businesses". Many members of the European Parliament consider themselves pro-business, and some of them unfortunately are under the false impression that it's exclusively (or almost exclusively) the open-source community that is critical of software patents.

We know that countless businesses are worried about software patents but we have to prove it to the European Parliament. Generally speaking, unless business put their money where their mouth is, they will be much less likely to win..."

Read this press release from two sponsors of NoSoftwarePatents.com which is basically a call for action.

New look, old engine - The Avant Browser

2005-03-17T17:28:00.000+01:00

.
::Add-on Browser
The browsers are popping up everywhere. After having a look on a lot of them it seems they can be divided into two main groups - add-on browsers and 'stand alone' browsers. Add-on would be browsers which are based on 'stand alone' (Firefox, Opera and MS Internet Explorer etc) engines.

I am going to highlight one called Avant Browser; an add-on to MS Internet Explorer. If you're changing browser because of, let's say, security issues of MS Internet Explorer, do NOT chose this one. This is just if you want some new features and another look and feel.

:: Features
Avant Browser has useful functions, such as a pop-up blocker, grouped favorites, an RSS reader, and tabbed browsing. It also comes with a nice skin as default and you can choose from many skins in the Tools menu.

The tabbed-browsing feature lets you quickly switch among Web sites, rather than going through several browser instances in the taskbar. When you shut down the program, Avant Browser remembers which windows were open and launches them the next time it starts up. You also can automatically refresh all windows, or only the current one, at regular intervals. A simple pop-up blocker works OK, but not against some banners other pop-up methods.

If you want to have a 100% IE compatible browser with more functions and features, I’d recommend the Avant Browser.

Have been sick...

2005-03-15T13:27:00.000+01:00

I really, really, REALLY should write something. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, in fact I have 3 posts to finish, it's just that I've been sick for some time now. I'll soon have something more.

:: I was thinking of writing something about starting up a web site using PHP/MySQL and where to find the FREE providers.

:: Another post is going to be about the browser called Avant Browser. New interesting MS IE based "add-on", but with some nice features.

:: And the third is about some specifics about MS Access and MS SQL - things to think about when using both of them...and why it sometimes can be a good idea to use both of them.

OK, until soon...

Disturbing news about Software patents proposal in EU

2005-03-05T13:01:00.000+01:00

The software patent issue is really heating up in EU. What's happening there is nothing else than a crime, to be frank it sickens me!

As I've already mentioned, I am a supporter of NoSoftwarePatents.com and I just got an update from them. Since this issue is now making EU history (of stupidity in the most apalling and disturbing way) I am going to share the message with you.

:: Message starts:

"The political struggle over the EU software patent directive
is making EU history. EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who
supports our opponents in an appalling way, told the press a
few days ago that this political process is in "chaos" without precedent in the history of the EU. That's the way it should be: A major injustice like software patents must not happen without strong resistance from responsible politicians and citizens."

:: What's happening in EU:
"...On Friday, Reuters reported that the EU Council has its proposal for the software patent directive on the agenda for Monday,
as an A item, which means "for debateless approval".
To be very precise, it's a proposal for a proposal. If it were
to be adopted, it still wouldn't become law. It would, however, become the EU Council's proposal that gets sent to the European Parliament, and that is a very important step toward a directive..."

:: Latest development on the proposal

"Now, the latest news is that Denmark will side with Poland (which is absolutely against the current proposal but said this week that it can't fight all alone), and those two countries, most probably with support from others, will stand up on Monday in the EU Council (the legislative body in which the EU member country governments cast their votes) and prevent a decision. Those countries will ask for a renegotiation so that Europe will hopefully see a much more balanced and well-thought-out directive on the patentability of software concepts and functionalities..."

Not giving to too much of this disturbing development, but there it is. The whole idea with EU and the it's setup is to have a democrasy in Europe, were the people also have a say. Well, that went out the door in this case. Call me naive; but maybe if this reaches enough people we could make a difference??? Would you please help and spread the awareness.

You can read about the latest development in detail here.

You can also read this rather amusing fake press release about the de-facto acquisition of a part of the European Commission by Microsoft here.

I finish this off with another citation from NoSoftwarePatents.com:
"Now let's see what happens on Monday in Brussels. We're in for a really big thing."

REBOL - Scripting Internet

2005-03-03T21:59:00.000+01:00

So, years ago, 2 or something like that, I was using this script language called Rebol. What function specifically I was working on, I don't remember. It's not important. Now, 2 days ago I had to do a quick 'little something'. By chance my thought went to Rebol and how it would fit perfectly for the task.

The 'little something' was basically to do checks on a set of .ASP files in different folders on multiple web servers. Aldready when writing the little function I was thinking I have to write about it here, Rebol is such a great environment. Everything about it - from installation to the functianllities...and the cost (free) .

Rebol offers a lot too - the free stuff; Core (command line environment) and View (GUI interface). The professional and enterprise products; Command (enterprise and professionals), SDK (developers) and finally even their own OS - Rebol/IOS. I've been using the Core and View and that's what I am going to write about here.

:: INSTALLATION:
Just go to Rebol download, download the files accordingly, extract them and start. You'll be prompted for the basic settings when started up the first time. Core and View installed is taking less than 800 KB...

:: SCRIPTING:
It's really easy, if you're somewhat into programming you'll get it in no time. What is so cool is...well...i quote Rebol.com "...You're already familiar with how web browsers let you surf the Internet. With REBOL you script the Internet." You have 14 standard protocols like http, pop, smtp, ftp, nntp, whois, finger built in, just use them without files or function declarations. If you want to send a message via SMTP, simply execute send CodeSlinger@send.com "this is a message". Couldn't be easier. To view an webpage execute print read http://thelonecodeman.blogspot.com or to save it locally execute write %file.htm read http://thelonecodeman.blogspot.com. That was just a scratch on the surface. You can do rather nice stuff, even CGI and execute scripts cross servers through http protocol etc. etc.

If you need a fast, easy scripting language have a look at it. I can recommend it for specific small network/internet functions. If you have questions, just drop me a line or comment and I'll try to answer.

The Predictable Oscar's

2005-03-01T13:40:00.000+01:00

OK, it's done. The Oscar's have been handed out within the 26 categories. I especially like the 2 categories called Writing (adapted screen play) and Writing (original screen play). What the !@#% is that all about? I wonder if the person who wrote the original screen play will share the prize ...or at least have a part of it? I doubt it though.

For the best foreign language movies the Swedish one AS IT IS IN HEAVEN didn't win, it went to the predicted Spanish one. Anyways, cool to see that Clint Eastwood got 2 awards, even though his movie 'Million dollar baby' is, more or less, unknown to me. But now days I don't have too much time for movies, I am not in the loop any more. The movie

Another thing with Oscar's is the criticism it gets. Predictable (I wonder how the game predict the winners ended?), being too internal (I guess when selections for nominees are made etc) and the lack of interest from public; are some of what critics claim. Well, I partly have to agree to that. Let's say I would never select a certain movie over another based on number of Oscars it received.

BTW: What do you think about the site? Interesting choice of colours! Orange, green, pink and cyan...I can not stop being reminded about those cheap-under-the-belt kind of sites.

Generat traffic to your Blog with friendly BlogExplosion

2005-02-27T11:32:00.000+01:00

I have now been using the great service called BlogExplosion for about a week. It's going to sound like I am selling a product here, but I can not say anything else then great stuff about it. I found that even the members are all making it a friendly and interesting community to be in. Really nice! If you're a friendly individual ;-), you have a Blog and you want more traffic, check it out!
The Code Slinger

Create fonts, Explorer, best Flash movie, Oscar and Paris Hilton

2005-02-27T01:06:00.000+01:00

:: http://www.pentacom.jp/soft/ex/font/edit.html - Create your own bit fonts here and save the ttf file to your PC

:: http://www.explorerxp.com/index.html - A great free Explorer-type software called ExplorerXP can be downloaded from here.

:: http://www.tgsnt.com/tgsnt_II/pca/index.html - "The greatest story never told" is where you can vote for your favorite Flash movie. Do it here.

:: http://oscar.com/ - "...and the winner is...", yes you can figure out where this goes.

:: http://www.parishiltonsmobile.com/ - If you managed not to hear about Paris Hilton's hacked phone...well here it is.

Blogger have commenting - HaloScan R.I.P.

2005-02-27T00:05:00.000+01:00

I am just checking how the comments work...

...OK, it seems to work fine. I have removed the HaloScan comments service (lost all comments!!!) from the template and re-published it all. HaloScan is very nice but I prefer to stick with internal solutions. If you have a blog with no comments (or you want it in your own site), I can recommend it.

Get Detailed Statistics in real-time for free

2005-02-25T14:28:00.000+01:00

I have now been using this internet web statistics service/tool called StatCounter.com and I now understand why it keeps getting awards and great reviews (Internet Magazine, Tucows etc) - it's just great and completely free.

You only need to register, do basic setup and add the generated snippet to your site. That's it, sit back and learn more about your visitors.

:: Here are some of the features (taken from StatCounter.com):
- Completely Free, Fast, Responsive, Quick loading and Reliable Service
- Invisible Tracking
- no ads on your website
- Accurate real-time website statistics with detailed visitor tracking and analysis
- Detailed breakdown of pageloads, unique, first-time and returning visitors
- Popular Pages - what webpages get viewed and what ones don't
- Zoom in on your visitors' locations and watch in real-time as they navigate through your website!
- Search Engine/Keyword Analysis
- what keywords are people using to find your site?
- Drill Down - Incredibly Powerful Tool. What navigation paths, referring links and keywords are leading to conversions?
- Do you have multiple websites? Manage them all from one account
- Configure email stat reports to be delivered to you and your clients
- Grant individual user access to your staff or clients
- Enable public or private website stats
- Incredibly easy to use
- no software to install or huge log files to parse
- Referring links - do you know how your visitors are finding your site?
- Country Stats - does your website have a lot of international visitors? What percentage of domestic visitors do you get?
- Browser/Resolution Info
- is your website optimized for your visitors?

I can really recommend StatCounter to anybody who wants detailed statistics in real-time!

News Review #1

2005-02-21T10:58:00.000+01:00

Now and then I'll try to write and comment IT related news. Here is the first post. These news are all taken from the Swedish magazine called "Computer Sweden":

:: Nokia through out Explorer:
Since a couple of months ago the employees of Nokia (55000!) are using the web browser Firefox. More and more companies are doing the same due to the security holes of MS Explorer. Microsoft is answering this by releasing a new version of their browser (which they said they wouldn't do earlier) by summer.

(I wrote a little message earlier the MS is buying up security companies...)

:: No plans for Microsoft to move from Denmark
The 15th of February a rumour spread saying the MS would stop the Navision-center if EU wouldn't legalize software patents. The day after MS is calling it all speculations and even the Danish prime-minister is taking distance from the rumours.

(I have been following the software patents battle in earlier posts...)

:: Sony Ericsson will soon have a Walkman-cellular
Sony Ericsson will have a new "walkman" model out within a couple of weeks.

:: Swedish search engine bought by American Interchange
The Swedish search engine Inspire is bought by Interchange.

(The search engine market is apparently still hot business)

Software Patents Outcome

2005-02-21T10:04:00.000+01:00

To get back about the EU software patents directive and the proposal to have it "legalized" in EU. It was a reading the 2nd and 3rd of February 2005 and the outcome was the following (quoted from my contact in the EU Parliament):

“…The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament decided today to apply the article 55.1. (see below) of the Rules of Procedure and ask for a new first reading on the Computer-Implemented Inventions directive. The decision was reached with an overwhelming majority of the Committee, and with the support of all major political groups. Before taking the decision, the Committee had an exchange of views with Commissioner McCreevy, during which the majority of Members asked the Commission to withdraw its proposal due to the institutional blockage it has created…”

Rule 55
Renewed referral to Parliament
Codecision procedure
1. The President shall, at the request of the committee responsible, ask the Commission to refer its proposal again to Parliament
- where the Commission withdraws its initial proposal after Parliament has adopted its position in order to replace it with another text, except where this is done in order to incorporate Parliament's amendments; or
- where the Commission substantially amends or intends to amend its initial proposal, except where this is done in order to incorporate Parliament's amendments; or
- where, through the passage of time or changes in circumstances, the nature of the problem with which the proposal is concerned substantially changes; or
- where new elections to Parliament have taken place since it adopted its position, and the Conference of Presidents considers it desirable.

Any comments about making it fully possible to take patents on software/application solutions?

Superstar

2005-02-21T09:40:00.000+01:00

Could this be the next super-star? He is really going for a super preformance...Click the image to see the clip!
The Code Slinger

What happened that day?

2005-02-14T19:25:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share this cool link. Just select a date (your birthday etc) and whappash you have a list of other people birthdays, people who died that day, important historical happenings...etc. Pretty handy to have somewhere buried in your bookmarks...

http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/

How to become a market leader

2005-02-11T13:53:00.000+01:00

So Microsoft bought another company. This time it's one called Sybari (no, not the car brand) which is...sorry...was providing antivirus solutions and applications. If this deal goes through, it will be the third (the others are GeCAD and Giant Company Software) antivirus company taken over by Microsoft.

With this Microsoft will compete with companies like Symantec, McAfee and F-Secure. My concern is, is this really honest? I mean the competitors to Microsoft worked their way up in this specific market, branch and here you have a giant with loads of cash just buying its way in...don't know. The legal instances should see this, right? It's not always the one with the know-how and skills nor the one with the best solutions that necessarily is market leader. This is no news though, look at so many Microsoft products. Are we in the grey zone of monopoly (don’t mean the game)?

...and for us who’s not got the cash (yet), we’ll just make sure we’ll get the know-how and skills and provide great solutions and wait for that moment when a huge company buys us out so that we’ll have loads of cash to buy other companies to compete with....

2005-01-29T21:35:00.000+01:00

Have a good look at this amazing piece of movie clip...from 1984 and it's something called a computer. Time flies............
The Code Slinger

Software Patent

2005-01-27T13:32:00.000+01:00

So, big things are happening on the 2nd and 3rd of February - whether software patents get legalized in the EU!!!

Since I am just now getting more and more involved in the www.NosoftwarePatent.com, I have spent some time going over the position of different members and, let's say, acted accordingly. I can NOT stress this enough, everybody working- or are involved in this business, would speak up against it. It's such a CRAZY idea...to have patent on specific software solutions. Greeeeeeeeeeeed, that's what is driving this forward.

Please support this in any way you can - send e-mails, phone them...get active. How? Visit www.NosoftwarePatent.com and you'll get all the info you need...like I did.

OR...

Do you have comments about this? You want to be heard - you are welcome to comment here and I can forward it to the correct people.

Bill Gates

2005-01-24T10:39:00.000+01:00

What a hunk.

Guess who it is? It's the Bill Gates himself from 1983... Is it a fake or is it really him???

The Human Clock

2005-01-24T10:33:00.000+01:00

I just want to share this cool link - www.humanclock.com. Great idea, anybody from anywhere can submit an image. The only rule is that the picture need to show time...really fun to have on as a screen saver.

A happy new code year

2005-01-01T15:58:00.000+01:00

First day of 2005. Hum, I can not stop thinking what this year will bring, 2004 brought me personally so much - a house, my first son, happines, sadness (how 2004 ended in sadness - I am thinking of the disaster in Thailand, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives etc...my heart goes out to all the people effected by the Tsunami around the world!!!)

My promise (I'll probably break it) would be to work more on this Blog, also to finish The Lone Code Man site and it's forum. It's getting kind of cool actually, but I have some stuff still to do before launching it. I'll let you know ASAP.

Another promise is to continue working and to take my own new projects to "the next level", trying to find a better path to fit my life style and family.

To each and everybody, have a great 2005!!!

A must have

2004-12-31T11:14:00.000+01:00

It's finally here, the mega cool cell phone Neonode N1 (and I read that the N2 is expected in 2005). The size of a credit card, runs with MS CE, 2mm thick touch screen, camera, Internet, MMS, SMS, play MP3, you can even watch DIVX movies on it...the works. MUST HAVE!

I have actually heard about this for a long time, when it was on planning stage. How is this possible? well, I know the guy who started this project!

Have a look at it here http://www.neonode.com

Software Patents - from bad to worse!

2004-12-23T10:50:00.000+01:00

So, I wrote an little article here (on the 20th of April) about my worries on the software patents. An absolute absurb proposal. It's gone from bad to worse, there are actually already accepted patents and some cases already ended in favor for companies and individuals who is the owner of the patent. I wonder if people REALLY know the importance of this issue, this HUGE problem. Think about it; almost every shopping site will have 'problems' if a case is filed against the owner of the site. Scary!

Anyway, there is a great site, and organization, which highlights and inform us about this problem. This will hit back on all of us in a near future. Please have a look at www.nosoftwarepatents.com and, even better, support them like I did...

I am working on it...

2004-12-05T20:52:00.000+01:00

OK, enough about politics. It just brings me down to see where it fails so incredibly much. I can not promise I'll never write about politics again, but I DO promise only to write about it when it's absolutely neccessary to...well, get if off my chest.

So, what's been happening lately. A lot, maybe too much. It seems I do not have any time left for doing some blogging. Well, I have to start prioritize I think. Any suggestions?

Actually I have so much to write about, just need to get it all sorted. I am working on it.

For today I just have a cool link for you; it's this http://www.readthefuckingmanual.co.uk/ I strongly suggest you to visit it if you're into development (especially web and JavaScript). The site has a cool attitude and you'll maybe learn something too.

That's all for now.

Don't you see..?

2004-11-04T13:43:00.000+01:00

George W(ar) Bush will continue for 4 more years. It is truly a sad time...and I thought the American people would learn from history. Don’t you see what a disaster this is? This is what he ‘managed’ to achieve:

(taken from the Web)


-I attacked and took over 2 countries.



-I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury.



-I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!).



-I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.



-I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.



-I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.



-In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).



-After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history.



-I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history.



-In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.



-I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.



-I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.



-I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.



-I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV.



-I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.



-I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.



-I cut health care benefits for war veterans.



-I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.



-I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.



-I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.



-Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.)



-I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.



-I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.



-I am the first president in US history to order a US attack AND military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.



-I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States, called the "Bureau of Homeland Security"(only one letter away from BS).



-I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but I did it!!).



-I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.



-I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.



-I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.



-I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant. I withdrew from the World Court of Law.



-I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.



-I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.



-I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.



-The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).



-I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.



-I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)



-I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.



-I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).



-I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.



-I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.



-I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts.



-I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.



-I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.



-RECORDS AND REFERENCES: I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).



-I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war.



-I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use. (wink,wink)



-All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.



-All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.



-All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.



-Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

...I wonder what future brings! Let me know; how is this possible?