Moving Computer Programming Content

I started this blog thinking about posting Technical Articles. The focus would be around Programming in .NET and other Technologies.

Over time I found myself too busy to blog so I mostly Tweet on Twitter.

A lot of times I found myself just posting jokes or rambling rants here so I decided to keep it that way.

"A Little Something About Nothing" will continue as it is, a blog about nothing. Whatever I decide to post here will get posted when I get time. This could be anything... jokes, news or just general rants.

All of my Programming or Technical related posts will now go to my new blog:

KevinDarty.NET

I opted to go with a .NET Domain as my primary focus is with Microsoft .NET Technologies, including cross-platform Development using Mono and C#

For my followers who are also Bloggers, you might be interested in where I have hosted my new blog.

I considered just using Google's Blogger as that is where this one is parked and it suits me well.

A lot of people are using WordPress these days and their are tons of Themes and Widgets for it but it doesn't work well for hosting on your own domain, that is unless you actually pay for a Hosting Service, install WordPress and run it all on your own. Well, that costs money, something I don't have much of.

So one day I sort of stumbled into Tumblr

I really like Tumblr as it was designed to deal with all sorts of media. You want to post a video? Most likely it is not hosted by you... probably YouTube or Vimeo. Just copy/paste the URL into a new Video Post and Tumblr will figure out what to do to embed the Video right on your site. That's right, no futzing around with HTML or Scripts, just copy/paste a URL and you are done.

The same applies for posting Photos and Music. Each are equally easy to do.

Tumblr also is RSS Feed Friendly. By this I mean that if you want to syndicate content to your blog from somewhere else, just add a Feed and you are in business.

I played around with it for a while and then made the easy switch to hosting it on my new domain. I bought the domain for only $7.95 for a year so not much to put out for what I now get out of it with Tumblr.

Setting up Tumblr to use your own domain or sub-domain is relatively painless. You simply login to your Domain Registrar's web site, go into the DNS Entry Administration and simply change out the A Record to point to Tumblr's IP Address. Once that change takes affect (from minutes to hours to days, mine took a couple of hours) you can tell Tumblr to use your Domain and you are in business.

All in all, I am happy with Tumblr and will be posting all my Technical/Programming Articles there.

Check it out, follow me or subscribe to my Blog Feed to keep up with my posts.

Enjoy :)

The Pasta Diet

Here's another one from an Email I received recently. -Enjoy :-)

' The Pasta Diet '

The Pasta Diet and Your Health

ITALIAN PASTA DIET -- IT REALLY WORKS!!

1.. You walka pasta da bakery.

2... You walka pasta da candy store.

3.. You walka pasta da Ice Cream shop.

4.. You walka pasta da table and fridge.

You will lose weight!

AND....

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health.


1. The Japanese eat very little fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than
the English.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.

5.. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats
and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.

CONCLUSION
Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Good-Bye Mom

A Friend of mine Emailed this one to me so I thought I would share with everyone.

I hope this touches you the way it touched me!

GOOD-BYE MOM





A young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little old lady following him around.

If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore she kept staring at him.

She finally overtook him at the checkout, and she turned to him and said,

'I hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease; it's just that you look so much like my late son.'

He answered, 'That's okay.' 'I know it's silly, but if you'd call out 'Good bye, Mom' as I leave the store, it would make me feel so happy.'

She then went through the checkout, and as she was on her way out of the store, The man called out, 'Good-bye, Mom.'

The little old lady waved, and smiled back at him.

Pleased that he had brought a little sunshine into someone's day, he went to pay for his Groceries.

'That comes to $121.85,' said the clerk.

'How come so much? I only bought 5 items..'

The clerk replied, 'Yeah, but your Mother said You'd be paying for her things, too.'

Don't trust little Old Ladies!!!



GOTCHA!

Fireworks Now And Then (aka I'm Old)

On this New Years Eve as I sit in my house with my faithful dog cowering behind my computer desk in fear from all the loud noise from the obscene amount of fireworks outside, I am reminded of the fact that Fireworks are indeed illegal.

I know I'm getting old when I say this, but when I was a kid, you got small firecrackers or bottle rockets (if you were lucky) and sparklers and you were happy. Fireworks were illegal due to safety concerns.

Now, there is a Fireworks store/tent setup on every other corner and some actual Fireworks stores that stay open 365 Days out of the year. Keep in mind that the laws haven't changed, Fireworks are still illegal but our very own government has created a massive loophole to allow the sale of pretty much any form of "fireworks" one may desire.

This loophole says that it is not illegal to sell Fireworks, it is just illegal to use Fireworks. However, there is one provision which makes using Fireworks perfectly legal. The one caveat, you have to be a "Farmer". Yes, our government has decided that "Farmers" may have the need for deadly explosives to fend off dangerous rodents which may destroy their crops.

When you go to a Fireworks store or road stand, you can buy wondrous things that are as powerful and at times even more impressive than what you may see at a "Professional" Fireworks Display. All you have to do is sign a little form that says "I am a Farmer".

Keep in mind, that it is illegal for non-farmers to actually use Fireworks but that is the brilliant part about the "loophole", nobody checks.

That's right, you can set off a Fireworks Display in your very own front yard that rivals that "pro" Fireworks Display downtown and no cops will ever come to verify that you are a "farmer" and attempting to use the Fireworks to fend off rodents. Sure, your neighbors may get upset and they may even call the Police but nothing will ever happen.

This just doesn't seem right. I remember once when I was 10 years old I was foolishly playing outside on July 4th with a friend that had a miniature gun powder cannon. It was about a foot long, nothing big. We fired it off and then instantly a Cop showed up to warn us of the laws we were breaking. Being kids and stupid, we did it again later and yet another Police Officer showed up to make sure we understood the laws.

Today, that just doesn't happen. I could stand outside with a Roman Candle in my hand and put myself in the Hospital and never so much as get a warning or worse, a ticket for the violation.

Am I getting old and losing my sense of adventure? Maybe, but a law is a law. If we casually turn the other way and toss in "loopholes" to make ourselves feel better about lawbreakers, where will that end?

Every year Fireworks use grows more and more around July 4th, Christmas and New Years. And every year more and more people end up in the Emergency Room because they were drunk, stupid and shooting off Fireworks.

Fireworks are so easy to purchase and obviously cheap because around my house people start shooting off Fireworks anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks before a holiday and continue shooting them off for the next 1 to 2 weeks following the holiday.

I remember a story from New Years a couple years back where a friend of mine couldn't get to sleep because it was 3:30am in the morning and some fool was shooting off Fireworks like there was no tomorrow. After walking around the neighborhood it was discovered that some guy was sitting out in his driveway completely drunk shooting off Fireworks and he had absolutely no idea what time it was. He didn't even have friends or family around him.

Am I making too big of a deal about this? Maybe so but again, if the government is going to create a Law they shouldn't follow that up with a loophole that allows any idiot to go blow his paycheck on explosives and beer.

That's my rant for the Evening.... Happy New Year

Give Me The Good Stuff

So I went to the break room here at work this morning and while I was waiting on my coffee, I opted to check out the vending machine.

The service people had refreshed it's contents over the weekend.

I look around for a Snickers Bar but none can be found and then just before giving up, I notice a pack of Skittles with a Twix Bar behind it and then directly behind the Twix, you guessed it, the beloved Snickers Bar.

Why oh why must they torture me by hiding what I want behind assorted snacks?

Not that I really wanted a Snickers this early in the day but its the principle of the thing

I think I should go buy all three and take the Skittles and Twix Bar up to the front desk and ask for my money back since I only wanted the Snickers because as you know, "Snickers really satisfies"

Google Chrome - Another Missed Opporunity?

Google released their very own Web Browser today, September 2, 2008.

Google Chrome is the name. Not quite sure how the word "chrome" fits in with the title but unlike the visions of shiny chrome that may come to mind, Google Chrome still needs some buffing around the edges.

The concept of Google Chrome is very novel and a long time coming. We have seen the focus on speed from browsers like Firefox 3 and Opera but no browser has focussed specifically on Web 2.0 Application Technologies such as those used in Google Apps, Digg or the like.

As anyone knows from trying to surf heavy JavaScript (i.e. Web 2.0) web sites on an iPhone or iTouch, Safari will go down faster than Sarah Palin's daughter. Heavy JavaScript laden web sites tend to choke web browsers. Fortunately, Firefox has made great strides in improving the user's experience with such sites and they have worked hard at handling multiple Browser Tabs but their approach may not be the best.

This is where the concept behind Google Chrome paths the way for a better browser.

You can read more about these concepts here.

Google is attempting to give the user a web browser that is fully cognizant of process threading, process encapsulation and a level of system error handling that is usually expected with an Operating System but not really talked about in terms of a Web Browser.

Web Browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer still make use of a single process thread for all browser Tabs but as we have seen with Firefox 3, they have managed to reduce Memory Load with their latest efforts.

When you run Chrome you will find a new process instance of "Chrome.exe" for every Tab you have open. The nice thing about this concept is that if one Tab is behaving badly it doesn't take the whole browser down. As the system is still new, this hasn't truly been the case but is a good goal.

Let's take a look at Google Chrome:

As you can see by the User Interface, it doesn't follow a traditional "Windows" UI. It doesn't make use of the Operating System Window "frame" which makes me wonder how it will look on Linux and Mac OS X. It has the standard "windows" like Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons in the top-right. I'm not sure if this will be the same on all flavors of Linux and their multiple window layout managers or Mac OS X. Utilizing the same UI across each Operating System would make sense in one respect but there is such a thing as "fitting in" and while Chrome does look decent on Windows, it would stick out like a sore thumb on Mac OS X with this UI.

You may have noticed the Tabs at the top of the browser. Yes, they are above the "address bar" thus signifying that each tab is it's own "browser window". Most other Tabbed Browsers have the tabs listed below the "address bar" but oddly enough, the contents of the "address bar" change as you switch between tabs. This is a welcome change and it fosters the idea that a Tab is a browser process instance in itself and not just a different "tab". Each "tab" is specific to its contents as you would expect.

Overall, the layout of the Chrome UI is clean and simple, just as you would expect from Google. However, it does leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Firefox users are used to being pampered with all kinds of FREE Addo-ons (Extensions) while IE has some of its own but Firefox rules the roost there. Oddly enough, Google Chrome doesn't have any Addo-on capabilities with this release.

A really odd thing I have noticed with Chrome is that Google didn't even try to build in the best features of their popular "Google Toolbar".

One feature I really can't live without is Google Bookmarks. I have been using that for years and when I was testing the beta releases of Firefox 3 I felt naked not having Google Toolbar and settled for less than adequate 3rd party Google Bookmarks addons but was exited when Google finally updated their Toolbar. Upon first launch of Google Chrome I just knew I would be asked if I wanted to use Google Bookmarks but alas no. Instead, I was given the ability to import Firefox or Internet Explorer Bookmarks but no Google Bookmarks integration.

For me, this was a big let down and I personally feel it is a missed opportunity for Google.

With that said though, I myself have noticed that while I love Google Bookmarks that that Application doesn't tend to get the love it deserves from Google. In fact, with the last iteration of Google Notebook they failed miserably at integrating Google Bookmarks into Notebook. They did it in a way that makes it seem as if they view Bookmarks as "unfiled notes" which really takes away from the "bookmarks" concept.

I'm not sure if Google is up in the air about the "bookmarks" concept but I still believe this was a missed opportunity.

You may notice in my screenshot that there are icons across the top for Gmail, Google Reader and other Google Apps. Those are just bookmarks imported from Firefox, don't get your hopes up. There is absolutely no integration with any other Google Application within Chrome. Very sad indeed.

I wouldn't want anyone to come away from this article thinking that Google Chrome is no good or that I hate it or something. It is a decent enough browser and does illustrate some new concepts but so far it isn't the pedigree you would expect from Google.

I have read posts on Digg and other sites that Chrome is super FAST. This is just not true. Yes, in some cases it can be fast but so can Firefox. I have tried all of the Google Apps and Digg with Chrome and so far I haven't seen huge increases in speed. Some yes, but nothing to write home about yet.

Google Chrome is definitely something to keep an eye on but so far I would say it is a niche market application and won't be replacing anyone's default browser for now.... especially if you are a Firefox user.

I invite you to give it a try. Take it for a spin and see for yourself.

One word of warning though, WebSense does currently log any and all downloadable Google Applications as "freeware" and thus will block the Google Chrome download at most places of business using WebSense.

Another word of caution is installing on Vista or Server 2008. Most Install Applications these days are "Vista ready" and will notify you when Administrator rights are needed but not Google Chrome. You will get an error during the install even if you are a user within the Admin role. You will need to right-click and select "Run as Administrator" to install Chrome.

Read more about Google Chrome here and download it here.

There are tons of videos here to get you started but be warned they are through YouTube which is typically blocked in most places of business.

Give it a spin, kick the tires and let me know what you think. Don't forget to visit the Google Chrome Help Discussion Group via Google Groups to get help and to help out Google and your other fellow users.

And by the way, this article was authored through the Blogger Web Site using Chrome.  And interesting thing to note, upon first login to Blogger, I was presented with an Error message which stated that my browser didn't support JavaScript or Cookies.  Go figure :)

You Can Be Replaced - By Chocolate

Its Saturday morning and I wake up at 7:00am to hear my 2 year old calling out "Mommy, Daddy" so even though I could have used another couple of hours of sleep I get up to go take care of him.

I open up his door and walk in thinking he would be happy to see Daddy but I'm greet with "No, Mommy" over and over and over.

While I attempted to calm my son down all he would do is yell "Mommy, Mommy".

After a good 10 minutes of this my son switches his moaning to "chocolate milk".

So, I get up, take him to the kitchen to fix him up some chocolate milk (Ovaltine of course) and everybody is happy.

The moral of the story... don't kid yourself, you can always be replaced, by chocolate :-)