Record as I Am

Mysql Client more powerful than I thought

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:14:42 GMT

So far, the article I've learned the most from in this year's edition of PHP Advent is PHP Advent 2008 / MySQL Client Tips. Did you know you can use your favorite text editor from the mysql command line client? Or get help on the syntax for SQL commands? I didn't before reading this article, and I prefer using the command line interface whenever possible. Every developer should be familiar with it, one day you'll have to diagnose a poorly executing query without phpMyAdmin.

Ripping is more convenient?

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:17:00 GMT

I just read Easy, Efficient Hi-Def Video Playback, and after reading through all the "Convenient" steps required to rip and watch a movie, I'm left shaking my head. This is more convenient than putting a disc into a player? You also lose DVD chapters and menus this way, so good luck watching part of a movie one night and picking up where you left off later. I guess that's why I still prefer Tivo to building my own MythTV/DVR box.

Tips for working with jquery

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:31:38 GMT

I'm a fan of jQuery because it promotes unobtrusive markup and functionality and has a wealth of plugins to take care of common web development/ajax functionality. Marc Grabanski offers some tips for working with it effectively. I'll need to look at livequery in some apps I've put together. If you need to attach events to elements, and re-attach the same events when parts of the page are updated, it should make keeping track of it all a lot easier. My tip for working with jQuery?

Practical use of message queues

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:49:31 GMT

I stumbled on this post over at the flickr developers blog while chatting with Jo about web applications designed and built for "the cloud". An article earlier this week piqued my curiosity about message queues, and got me thinking about how they can be used to move processing tasks out of the way. I'd known already that minimizing those tasks within, let's say, a PHP script that builds a page can help your application scale or seem more responsive.

To do so, I've relied on cron jobs, but the main problem with that approach is either that your cron job runs when it has nothing to do, if you run it too frequently, or it has too much to do and you run the risk of one job starting while another is in progress and working with potentially the same data.

We dodged a (Palin) bullet

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:31:15 GMT

If McCain has won, We could have had a VP that made Dan Quayle look like a Rhodes Scholar. I don't want to be jumping on the "America you did the right thing" bandwagon, since all we did was vote for a president, but I'm soooo relieved Palin is nowhere near the White House. I hope this puts a fork in the Republicans party pandering to Social Conservative extremists, although I seriously doubt it.

Palin Didn't Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News Reporter (VIDEO)

According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.

Check out rsync.net for backups

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:31:00 GMT

I've been using rsync.net to have nightly offsite back ups for configuration files, database snapshots, and web sites on this server. They provide a great service that works really well and helps me sleep a little better at night. If you need a backup service, I'd recommend you give them a serious look, especially after the latest email I received from them.

There are also new developments in pricing and service. We have lowered our prices by 25% across the board, and as is our practice, we have given all existing customers 30% more space in their accounts.

Linux video editors might be improving

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:46:00 GMT

My last attempt to edit video in Linux, sent me back to iMovie on my Mac and Magix Movie Editor in wondows. It might be time to revisit video editors in Linux.Open Movie Editor: Linux Video Editor with Plot Twists | OStatic

In general, Linux video editors, admittedly, aren't where Mac video editors are presently. Kino and Jahshaka, two popular "end user" video editing applications for Linux, seem fairly comparable to some of the common "consumer targeted" proprietary applications available for other platforms in terms of features, function, and ease of use.

Conservatives eating one of their own?

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:37:31 GMT

Go read Christopher Buckley's explanation of his NR resigation - its a fascinating look at how one conservative thinks of the "modern conservative movement." The latter now apparently means, think as we tell you to think, and disloyalty must not be tolerated. A lot of people are realizing that the current Republican leadereship, with its concentration of executive power, expansion of government spending, and theocratic totalitarian tendencies is not what used to be called the "Republican Party" just a few decades ago.

Comedy Central leads the way

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:25:33 GMT

Good to see someone is finally asking their users to upgrade to IE6. I hope more websites start ignoring support for IE6 soon, since its such a headache to cater to. Of course, each will have to make its own cost-benefit decision, but we're pretty close to the point that for most sites, supporting IE6 isn't worth the time and effort. Just let your page degrade, and provide an avenue for users to upgrade.

Yeah, about that bailot/rescue plan ...

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:05:04 GMT

Seems it probably won't work so good. Glad to see Bolivia bucking the trend here. Seems like privatizing, oops, I mean purchasing shares in a bank is more effective.

RGE - Nouriel Roubini's Global EconoMonitor

But government purchase of bad assets was the exception rather than the rule. It was used only in Mexico, Japan, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Jamaica, Malaysia, and Paraguay. Even in six of these seven cases where the recapitalization of banks occurred via the government purchase of bad assets such recapitalization was a combination of purchase of bad assets together with other forms of recapitalization (such as government purchase of preferred shares or subordinated debt).

Power Plants in China

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:23:48 GMT

Market forces could be used to clean up power plants in China by encouraging the use of cleaner burning coas. We need China to clean up its power sector if we want to make a real dent in global Carbon emissions. On CARMA, you can see the best publicly available data on the Chinese power sector's emissions. There are over are 2,162 plants, emitting 3.12 billion tons of CO₂.

Unintended consequences of relaxing lending standards...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:10:10 GMT

If you're trying to figure out why we're in the financial mess we are in, I highly recommend reading the report linked below. From what I can gather, its a systemic failure, and one cause came from relaxing lending standards. While it helped many people who couldn't afford a home afford one, a lot of them, obviously couldn't keep their homes once their adjustable rate mortgages readjusted. I think a lot of people had an interest in a few metrics focused on measuring home ownership and didn't consider other potential effects of their policies, namely the influx of speculators and flippers who took advantage of said standards.

Some good news for TiVo stockholders

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:57:30 GMT

TiVo and EchoStar, of Dish Network fame, have been embroiled in patent litigation for a number of years, regarding a number of patents that TiVo uses to implement some of its DVR features (AFAIK, these are not trivial patents but IANAL so don't quote me on that). TiVo got some good news today, as the Supreme Court refused to hear EchoStar's appeal and letting the preevious judegement stand. The stock, unlike most of the rest of the market,

Bolivia: Talks yield no resolution

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:11:43 GMT

I sincerely hope that both parties are negotiating in good faith and trying to prevent further violence and bloodshed. But that's me, I'm a bit of an optimist that way. When Morales says he will get his constitution approved "Por las buenos, o las malas", essentially translated as "By any means necessary", its difficult to believe that the opposition would come to the table and make many concessions.

Here's the thing, I agree that most, if not nearly all, Bolivians of European backgrounds hold very disturbing and racists views towards indigenous people.

Unrest in Bolivia - any solution in sight?

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:08:56 GMT

Things continue to deteriorate in Boliva. First, Evo's government expels the U.S. ambassador - but at the same time sent a letter to Dept. of State indicating that Bolivia wants to "maintain bilateral relations." Me thinks someone should explain to him what expelling an ambassador indicates. The eastern provinces are in basically full rebellion against the central governnment.

Both sides have all the rhetoric, but at the heart of this dispute is who controls one of South America's largest natural gas reserves and the revenues that it generates.