Dear Dr. Tao,
Blessed is the Lord, King of the Universe, ruler of heaven and earth who commands me to inform you that EVERYTIME I try to log into this blogger account, I have to retry 6 times, and have to enter CAPTCHA EVERY TIME, before blogger will let me in.
This is completely unacceptable. If you know people who are associated with blogpsot/blogger, please have them fix this, or at least remove the CAPTCHA. Or in the very least, make the CAPTCHA an easily readable one.
But maybe this was the point of having us create a blogspot account. So we could see a strong example or poor functionality. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Now go fix it.
I'm not going to go fix this. it was your idea to use this in the first place. I was happy and content with livejournal and myspace. Nor do I have the connections (yet) to Google or blogspot admins who can effect change on this site.
If I had my way, there would be NO captcha on ANY site anymore. If a site gets spammed, close it down. Better to kill it off then make a user have to decipher garbage. This is net pollution at its greatest.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
AdSense
I created an AdSense account. Show me the money by clicking on the ads in the side bar on the right. It's the section that says "Ads by Google". If you have an AdSense account, lemme know and I'll click through yours too!
Thanks bunches!
Thanks bunches!
A Song That Captures the 80's
This entry answers the question, "Which song best represents the 80's?" I post it here because I did a google search for that string and found poor matches. So I see opportunity for traffic to this site by creating this entry.
Which song best represents the 80's?
There are many great songs from the 80's, but the one that is currently in my head is Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. The reason that I am so enamored by this song is on the surface because I like the song and it is a part of my skater youth. But deeper is, this song is not popular among the uninitiated. People that were into pop music would not have listened to the stations that would have played this song, nor would have hung out with kids that would have been listening to this kind of music. But this song is one of the most recognizable songs among the skater community, along with any number of Depeche Mode, Smiths and Cure songs.
The song is not political. The lyrics don't make much sense. The melody is trite and repetitious. Love Will Tear Us Apart, by all rights, should have never been released. But it was. Further, it was received well at the time by the target audience. The song became the anthem, and the Joy Division / Dead Kennedy / Misfits tshirts became the mode of recognition among the dour initiated.
I did a search on Youtube for the song and found covers to resolve first. This brought me to tears of joy. I watched the cover videos and they suck; my emotions ran high. It is a mark of supreme influence that cover bands could do such a horrible job of representing the original, and become so watched on Youtube. Let me say this again for it is the point of all of this. The song is so compelling that people do elaborate covers of it 20 years later, and those covers outperform the original, even though the covers make no effort to capture the original intent of the song.
The original scene of Joy Division was dark, anti-parent, anti-establishment, pro-skater, pro-tshirt, punk. The new renditions are slow, easy listening, coffee house, green party, pro-choice, vegan. The new artists pay only so much respect as to sing the original words, but do nothing to illicit the feel of the original.
Watch the original and then watch the covers. Tell me what you think. Were you moved to tears too? Did the song make you miss your youth? What song best represents the 80's for you?
Which song best represents the 80's?
There are many great songs from the 80's, but the one that is currently in my head is Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. The reason that I am so enamored by this song is on the surface because I like the song and it is a part of my skater youth. But deeper is, this song is not popular among the uninitiated. People that were into pop music would not have listened to the stations that would have played this song, nor would have hung out with kids that would have been listening to this kind of music. But this song is one of the most recognizable songs among the skater community, along with any number of Depeche Mode, Smiths and Cure songs.
The song is not political. The lyrics don't make much sense. The melody is trite and repetitious. Love Will Tear Us Apart, by all rights, should have never been released. But it was. Further, it was received well at the time by the target audience. The song became the anthem, and the Joy Division / Dead Kennedy / Misfits tshirts became the mode of recognition among the dour initiated.
I did a search on Youtube for the song and found covers to resolve first. This brought me to tears of joy. I watched the cover videos and they suck; my emotions ran high. It is a mark of supreme influence that cover bands could do such a horrible job of representing the original, and become so watched on Youtube. Let me say this again for it is the point of all of this. The song is so compelling that people do elaborate covers of it 20 years later, and those covers outperform the original, even though the covers make no effort to capture the original intent of the song.
The original scene of Joy Division was dark, anti-parent, anti-establishment, pro-skater, pro-tshirt, punk. The new renditions are slow, easy listening, coffee house, green party, pro-choice, vegan. The new artists pay only so much respect as to sing the original words, but do nothing to illicit the feel of the original.
Watch the original and then watch the covers. Tell me what you think. Were you moved to tears too? Did the song make you miss your youth? What song best represents the 80's for you?
Website Issues: User Expected Functionality
At the advice of my brother, I created a profile on JDate. I found that the site limits the users' choices as far as content. For example, I tried to add a picture of my motorcycle, which was rejected because I was not in the picture. I also tried to add a link to my website so other users could contact me without having to sign up for a JD account. In the About Me section of the main page, I tried to make the following entry:
The darlings at JD modified the paragraph to this:
But as a computer science professional, I need to look at this debacle and say, "Why would I want to make a site that held people hostage?" How can it be that a website is so "good" that they people still use it, even as they are being surpressed? Why would someone put up with artificial limitations? I think this is really the key to understanding a related subject: economics.
We the people of any given trade nation put up with the limitations of money such as disparity and uncertain value. We are conditioned from birth to think of money and products in certain ways so as to promote the continuation of the buying and selling process. This process, however, seems to be collapsing as shown by the recent fall of major financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, AIG, Washington Mutual, etc.
It must be, said I, that others are also discovering the question that has been masked for so long, "What is anything worth?" This leads to a deeper discovery, "What questions am I not asking regarding the value of some thing?" I think money is a game created by the government, but I do not yet have the words to articulate this in a way that does not come across as a conspiracy theory.
Positively, I do not think the money game is unwinnable. I think that if you introduce the concept of win and lose into the game of money, then you will find winners and losers (such as Bill Gates vs. any peasant in Zimbabwe). But the game itself is harmless and fair.
I would extend an invitation to Econ majors to comment on this, and you may, but I am only casually interested in the answer. My current real concern is finishing an 8-page essay that is due tonight.
The true value of something is the amount of life you give to it.
Life (bret) has (leduc) been (dot) really (com) good for me so far. I just learned how to grab my fingers behind my back. I can do a cartwheel. Wanna go for a ride on my bicycle built for two? JD rejected a picture of my motorcycle, so you will never find me on here.
The darlings at JD modified the paragraph to this:
I just learned how to grab my fingers behind my back. I can do a cartwheel. Wanna go for a ride on my bicycle built for two?This is wholly unacceptable from a user standpoint. I will never recommend this site to anyone. If asked about the site, I will claim the site offers a whole string of malware including Klez, Mydoom and Sasser.
But as a computer science professional, I need to look at this debacle and say, "Why would I want to make a site that held people hostage?" How can it be that a website is so "good" that they people still use it, even as they are being surpressed? Why would someone put up with artificial limitations? I think this is really the key to understanding a related subject: economics.
We the people of any given trade nation put up with the limitations of money such as disparity and uncertain value. We are conditioned from birth to think of money and products in certain ways so as to promote the continuation of the buying and selling process. This process, however, seems to be collapsing as shown by the recent fall of major financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, AIG, Washington Mutual, etc.
It must be, said I, that others are also discovering the question that has been masked for so long, "What is anything worth?" This leads to a deeper discovery, "What questions am I not asking regarding the value of some thing?" I think money is a game created by the government, but I do not yet have the words to articulate this in a way that does not come across as a conspiracy theory.
Positively, I do not think the money game is unwinnable. I think that if you introduce the concept of win and lose into the game of money, then you will find winners and losers (such as Bill Gates vs. any peasant in Zimbabwe). But the game itself is harmless and fair.
I would extend an invitation to Econ majors to comment on this, and you may, but I am only casually interested in the answer. My current real concern is finishing an 8-page essay that is due tonight.
The true value of something is the amount of life you give to it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Jean Forrest
I sat in class today and listened to Jean Forrest, a representative of DMDC, give a presentation on why we should consider an internship at DMDC. As I was listening, I could hear the faint whispers of something evil grow louder and louder. It began with Jean's overall tone and demeanor. She seems to simply not like dealing with people - or doesnt understand people - or is one word away from getting fired, so shes deathly afraid, or all of the above.
Then she's going through her powerpoint and explaining this and that, and on one of the early frames she stops to make a big deal about the cac cards. Jean spoke of these carda as if they were the major part of one's job as an employee at DMDC.
I bit my tongue as long as I could because my soul was on fire. I wanted to scream out but could not find the words until now. I dont care about a cac card. If I need to care about a cac card, I dont want to work at dmdc. To me a cac is the same as a drivers license.
With a drivers license, you start with a need. You want to drive. You go down to the dmv and get a license. Then you put the license in your pocket and never think about it again, because the purpose of the license is fulfilled simply by having it.
EVEN IF you needed to physically insert your license into the dashboard before your car will start, the license itself still would not be a major part of driving. I can not emphasize this enough, and I want a formal apology from Jean Forrest for raising my level of irritation beyond bounds.
When I could bite my tongue no longer, I raised my hand and asked Jean, "Why is the cac a good thing?" trying to be positive. She immediately, without the slightest composing in her mind of comprehensible, human language and words, went into another long explanation on privacy matters. I did not follow up, but of course I wanted to say straight up, the cac card is a CARD. If privacy is an issue, then make things private. The card itself is not the holy grail. If someone wanted to move information out of DMDC, even if they have proper authorization, they could. It's not hard. Ive worked there. All you need to do is simply write down the info as you see it on the screen. You, who have a cac card, were able to see the info. You with the cac card were able to read it - the capacity of your job requires you to read it.
If you write it down, put the slip of paper in your pocket, with bubble gum wrappers, and leave work, and go home, and throw your trash out into the garbage, and some bum rummages your garbage and finds the paper, then the security has been breached, even if you did not intend to breach it... and especially regardless of a cac card.
Further - I need to say that I think DMDC, if they are so concerned with security, should simply be secure. Or maybe the problem is, they know they hire idiots that dont have common sense about "security". Jean said it herself, the people in the phone center are "lower". DMDC must be deathly afraid of one of those idiots doing something stupid, so each and every one of the stake holders (Jean presumably included) must be downing a gallon of pepto bismol every single night because the reality of a security breach is just a breath away - and apparently their jobs hang in the balance.
I think this is stupid!
Solution:
1) Dont hire idiots that tend to make irreparable mistakes.
2) If the information is indeed not very secure, then admit it. Lets lower the peoples expectation of "security". Just admit that human beings work at the office and sometimes information can fall into the wrong hands. Matter of fact, most mishandling of sensitive information never results in any harm.
3) If the information is in fact secure - theres nothign to worry about! You dont need to be a B**** to the cac card anymore. Just, as an after thought, happen to mention, "Oh yeah, we got these really neat looking cards. There computerized and everything!"
Uggghhhh,.....
But thats not why i walked out of class today.
I walked out of class because Jean had Rett explain what he did at the DMDC. Rett said he writes web pages. Jean asked if he uses databases. Rett said yes, that he uses MySql. Jean immediately jumped in with... and I am not making this up...
"Yes. We store our data in databases because it is more secure."
I laughed. I got up. I left the room.
But in the big scheme of the things, I cant put words to that kind of mentality. What do you call a person that is caught up in something, such that they dont see or care about anything else (such as what data actually is, and how it is stored, etc). I guess the word is "fanatic". "Jean is a security fanatic". I think that might sum it up nicely.
If I am not a security fanatic, would I want to work at DMDC? Would you all want me if I was not a B**** to the cac card?
Then she's going through her powerpoint and explaining this and that, and on one of the early frames she stops to make a big deal about the cac cards. Jean spoke of these carda as if they were the major part of one's job as an employee at DMDC.
I bit my tongue as long as I could because my soul was on fire. I wanted to scream out but could not find the words until now. I dont care about a cac card. If I need to care about a cac card, I dont want to work at dmdc. To me a cac is the same as a drivers license.
With a drivers license, you start with a need. You want to drive. You go down to the dmv and get a license. Then you put the license in your pocket and never think about it again, because the purpose of the license is fulfilled simply by having it.
EVEN IF you needed to physically insert your license into the dashboard before your car will start, the license itself still would not be a major part of driving. I can not emphasize this enough, and I want a formal apology from Jean Forrest for raising my level of irritation beyond bounds.
When I could bite my tongue no longer, I raised my hand and asked Jean, "Why is the cac a good thing?" trying to be positive. She immediately, without the slightest composing in her mind of comprehensible, human language and words, went into another long explanation on privacy matters. I did not follow up, but of course I wanted to say straight up, the cac card is a CARD. If privacy is an issue, then make things private. The card itself is not the holy grail. If someone wanted to move information out of DMDC, even if they have proper authorization, they could. It's not hard. Ive worked there. All you need to do is simply write down the info as you see it on the screen. You, who have a cac card, were able to see the info. You with the cac card were able to read it - the capacity of your job requires you to read it.
If you write it down, put the slip of paper in your pocket, with bubble gum wrappers, and leave work, and go home, and throw your trash out into the garbage, and some bum rummages your garbage and finds the paper, then the security has been breached, even if you did not intend to breach it... and especially regardless of a cac card.
Further - I need to say that I think DMDC, if they are so concerned with security, should simply be secure. Or maybe the problem is, they know they hire idiots that dont have common sense about "security". Jean said it herself, the people in the phone center are "lower". DMDC must be deathly afraid of one of those idiots doing something stupid, so each and every one of the stake holders (Jean presumably included) must be downing a gallon of pepto bismol every single night because the reality of a security breach is just a breath away - and apparently their jobs hang in the balance.
I think this is stupid!
Solution:
1) Dont hire idiots that tend to make irreparable mistakes.
2) If the information is indeed not very secure, then admit it. Lets lower the peoples expectation of "security". Just admit that human beings work at the office and sometimes information can fall into the wrong hands. Matter of fact, most mishandling of sensitive information never results in any harm.
3) If the information is in fact secure - theres nothign to worry about! You dont need to be a B**** to the cac card anymore. Just, as an after thought, happen to mention, "Oh yeah, we got these really neat looking cards. There computerized and everything!"
Uggghhhh,.....
But thats not why i walked out of class today.
I walked out of class because Jean had Rett explain what he did at the DMDC. Rett said he writes web pages. Jean asked if he uses databases. Rett said yes, that he uses MySql. Jean immediately jumped in with... and I am not making this up...
"Yes. We store our data in databases because it is more secure."
I laughed. I got up. I left the room.
But in the big scheme of the things, I cant put words to that kind of mentality. What do you call a person that is caught up in something, such that they dont see or care about anything else (such as what data actually is, and how it is stored, etc). I guess the word is "fanatic". "Jean is a security fanatic". I think that might sum it up nicely.
If I am not a security fanatic, would I want to work at DMDC? Would you all want me if I was not a B**** to the cac card?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
notes on reading for 495
i want to learn this stuff
i can see that i am behind - and i am having trouble deciding how to start to get back on
track
i havent been reading the book diligently.
i tinker with some code, glance at the book for a few minutes, tinker with the code a little
more
get frustrated
then give up and do other homework
i can see how this is the same kind of challenge as spanish
i want to just go through and do things from one to the next like in 201 lab
i think i know strings
but then i look and i see new stuff - even i n chapter 2
i think i can do the assignemnt - then i look and have trouble making heads or tails of the simplest of questions assigned.
in 201 lab - i breeze through the assignemnt because i know the lingo already
im not fluent in the lingo of python - but i know enough to get myself in trouble/
i can see that i am behind - and i am having trouble deciding how to start to get back on
track
i havent been reading the book diligently.
i tinker with some code, glance at the book for a few minutes, tinker with the code a little
more
get frustrated
then give up and do other homework
i can see how this is the same kind of challenge as spanish
i want to just go through and do things from one to the next like in 201 lab
i think i know strings
but then i look and i see new stuff - even i n chapter 2
i think i can do the assignemnt - then i look and have trouble making heads or tails of the simplest of questions assigned.
in 201 lab - i breeze through the assignemnt because i know the lingo already
im not fluent in the lingo of python - but i know enough to get myself in trouble/
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Assignment 2A - 9/4/08
I checked the pathways. I found that Web Design and Development path is aligned with my education goals. I want to create web sites that do stuff, rather than look nice. I also want to do non-web processes. I have a great idea for capstone, but I dont want to give it away here. I can definitely say it's a BIG goal that would bring credit and honor to CSUMB.
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