99% - An Anti-Meme

 I did this on my LUNCH BREAK (because I work for a living).

Feel free to do your own.

Windows 8

So I like it enough that I'm going to try using it as my primary OS for a while. I'm loading up Visual Studio right now so we'll see how this works.


Does anyone know how to get the classic start menu back? The Tile start menu is kind of chafing a bit.

Oh, instant type to search in the start tile! Nevermind, I could get used to this!

Now I just wish I had a tablet. :-(

Windows 8 Developer Preview

I just downloaded the Windows 8 Developer Preview and I'm really excited to start playing with it. For those of you that know me this shouldn't come as a big surprise because as you well know I am a neophile and an operating system whore. Seriously, there was a period of a couple of months at my last gig where I changed my OS about once a week. And I'm not talking small changes, either. I would jump from Windows XP to Ubuntu to Windows Vista x64 to Windows 7 alpha back to some other linux and you get the idea.

Anyway, I'm busy installing the Windows 8 Developer Preview on top of Sun's excellent VirtualBox virtualization software. Why don't you use Microsoft's Virtual PC you ask? Because the feature set is so much smaller than what I get from VirtualBox. Multiple CPUs, more than 3.75 GB of RAM on the guest OS, 3D acceleration, etc.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about it and I'll do a proper write-up on how to install it on VirtualBox once I'm done playing around a little bit.

Thoughts on Concealed Carry at a Waterpark

We went to Roaring Springs yesterday as a family. Naturally, the place was packed as it was a very nice day. I did my best to hide my distaste at mingling with the hoi polloi there. I try not to be elitist, but there were plenty of children there that I would not want my boys associating with on a regular basis.

The thought that occurred to me was, "When the zombies come not too many of you people are going to make it."

Which led to my next two questions:

1. How would you concealed carry at a waterpark?
2. What would you carry at a waterpark, assuming you would get very wet?

Discuss.

For the record, I don't really think a zombie apocalypse is a viable scenario, but it's a humorous way for me to think about preparedness and situational awareness.

Also- Parents, please teach your daughters to have some respect for themselves. They don't need to be baring every last inch of skin for the world to see. And fathers, please teach your sons to have some respect for women. You can't just tell kids these things, they have to learn it from your example.

Thoughts on Free Food in the Breakroom

"Free food," my friend said. "In the breakroom." He said this walking past a conference room where three of us were having a meeting.

The meeting immediately adjourned.

I'll admit, we were just chatting about how the project was going and not doing anything serious, and the meeting was wrapping up anyway so we adjourned to the breakroom.

What was there? Well, there were some cans of chili, a box of oatmeal, and some BIG noodle bowls and stuff. I snagged a pretty good noodle bowl, nice and spicy. Hey, who doesn't want a free lunch?

The first question I asked myself out loud was "Who left all this food here?" The second question I asked in my head: "Who quit?"

Amazon MP3 $2 Credit

Want some free (legal) MP3s from Amazon?

Use the code CLOUDMP3 at this link. Instant $2 credit.

Nothing like some free stuff, eh? But you have to use it by June 30, so you'd better get cracking.

Google Music

I'm really grooving on Google Music lately. I like that I can listen to any song I have anywhere I can get to a web browser.

Plus the draconian IT overlords haven't blocked it here at work yet. It fits the strict definition of a "music streaming service" which is totally legit.

Things I like:
Instant mixes
Access to all my music
Room for 20,000 songs
Runs in a web browser
Android app

Things I dislike:
Work proxy makes it slow
Android app is laggy sometimes
Doesn't print money (for me, anyway)

Mobile Templates

Blogger now has mobile templates? In the immortal words of William S. Preston and Ted Theodore Logan:

NO WAY!

If any of you have issues with the layouts shoot me a note (I know, I'm only talking to like 5 people here).

Wind of Change

I'm sitting at work, coding and eating lunch and listening to some music.* The song "Wind of Change" comes on, by Scorpions. (Is it "The Scorpions" or just "Scorpions"? I'm a terrible fan)

This song brings out some pretty powerful emotions for me. For one, I remember when the song came out and I first heard it on the radio. I was 13-14 (a very impressionable age), and the lyrics and events described in the song moved me. For those of you that aren't familiar with the song, it's about the fall of Communism and the changes in Eastern Europe ca. 1990. I very clearly remember riding with my uncle Steve and cousin Kevin in Poway listening to the news about the Berlin Wall falling not much before then. As a child of the end of the Cold War the Russians (Soviets, then) were always the enemies of my Army-brat childhood. To think of the people of Berlin reunited with friends and families they had been separated from by the Berlin Wall nearly moved me to tears.

Did you ever think

That we could be so close

Like brothers.

...

Where the children of tomorrow

Dream and wave

In the Wind of Change

I was able to see the effects of some of those changes firsthand on my mission in Bulgaria. I served there from the fall of 1998 to the late summer of 2000. When I got there I loved to hear some of the more experienced missionaries talk about how it had been in the 18 months previous to my arrival. Standing in line for food wasn't uncommon. Missionaries didn't work publicly as much die to pressure from the local authorities. The Brutalist architecture favored by the communists was everywhere, creating an oppressive atmosphere for life.

But the call of freedom was there. Whether it was in support of the "free" football team, FC Levski,** or in talking to the youth that had some hope for the future, you could always see freedom's undertones in Bulgarian society, or at least the potential for freedom.

I was told that Bulgaria was ruled by a corrupt political class. These politicians engaged in wholesale rape of the country's resources. It was a beautiful country; I marveled at what could be done with the proper investment and people. What could have been and what could be was frequently at the front of my mind.

And now as I sit and listen to the song I wonder what is in store for us as a people and a nation. You can't deny that the times, they're a changin', and I don't know what it will bring next. I am somewhat of a realist (a realist-idealist?), and I fear that it probably won't be full of happy times. The phrase "These are the good old days" comes to mind.

I intended to make some kind of statement here but ended up rambling a little.

* My listening tastes generally favor Electronic music while coding, or pipe organ music. I have been known to listen to Toccata and Fugue in D minor on repeat for hours on end while coding. I needed a mental break during lunch so I switched from Daft Punk to something I hadn't heard in a while and this is what I got.

** I'm a closet CSKA fan. In The Cardinal of the Kremlin I was slightly jealous of Filitov and his enthusiasm for hocky and the Red Army team. I got to live that dream in Bulgaria, too, but with football/soccer.

The Stove Obsession

I like gadgets. As a Scoutmaster I have the opportunity to go camping a lot. I don't have a stove.
So I built one.
I started looking into "pop can stoves" on them internets a while ago and decided to make one. My first attempt was mildly successful.
The basic theory is that you make some enclosure that will hold alcohol. This enclosure self-heats and the alcohol vaporizes and comes out of some holes or jets.
I used the bottoms of two pop cans. You fit one inside the other and poke some holes around the top one. Add a fueling hole and you're ready to go.
Well I want quite satisfied with my first one; it used too much fuel and wasn't very efficient. So I built a second one.

It looks nice, but the jets point out sideways too much, which expends most of the heat on the sides of the wind screen. Not ideal. But with fewer jets it burns much longer. Much more efficient than my first attempt even.
I'll make another one soon using a narrower diameter can (the new small Coke cans look perfect). Fiberglass inside seems to help moderate the flame a little, too.