This is the last entry for this blog. My blog has moved to here. Actually it's been at this location for quite some time, I just haven't updated this one for quite some time. So, 30 seconds after you have reached this page, you will be redirected to the new location.

There seems to be a problem with that last post. I tried to correct it, but it still came out with problems. The correct location for the new blog site is blog.opencg.org

Well, I've been enjoying the flexibility that I get with MoveableType, so I'm going to be posting to my blog on my local domain instead of here.

In his article Why I dumped Norton Antivirus for McAfee VirusScan, Robert Vamosi comments on the resons that he moved from Norton's virus software to McAfee. I admit that I have also changed software allegance this year as well. However, I moved from both of those to a different virus scanner. I had Norton installed at home and McAfee installed at work.

One day I was at home and was looking at the virus database and saw it was woefully out of date. Fearing for the safety of my computer, I decided I would update the database. Unfortunatelly, when I went to do so, I discovered that in order to get the latest update, I had to pay for it. Incensed, I decided to check out the offerings from other people. McAfee was the first I check out. I used it at work, so I was familiar with it. There I found that the prices were about the same, but I still was not satisfied. I knew that while these two were the market leaders there may be other players out there. So I went looking.

Well, I found something. AVG. The price was right (FREE), I could get downloads of the virus database for free, I could use it at home as well as work, and I could have it run a scheduled test everynight if I wanted to. All the things that I used the others for anyway. Then it had another feature that I didn't know about. It would scan my email before I sent it, as well as email that I got. BONUS!

I cound't see any catch, and it looked like they kept it up to date on a regular basis. So I made the jump. I've been using it now for a number of months. It's been nice. There have been a couple of times I've gotten emails from people that have had viruses, but have I gotten infected? Nope. Do I feel comfortable with it? Yes. It does exactly what I wanted.

Mr Vamosi says,

REALLY, IT'S SCANDALOUS that these companies charge not only for support but also for subscriptions to the latest antivirus signature files. I say charge the corporate customers for these services, but not home users. Besides breeding goodwill (and increased loyalty) among customers, free support would aid the worthy cause of keeping all systems on the Internet virus-free.

That describes my attitude exactly! I suggest that if you are getting tired of shelling out money for updates to software that you have purchased to keep your computer clean, then try AVG. Make you dissatisfaction known with your consumer dollars.

Try it! It's better then McAfee and Norton.

There are two articles on slashdot about a glass computer, one here and the other here. Looks like the products may be here sometime in 2005. Pretty cool....but probably not all that good when it comes to durrable computers. You know, the ones that you can run over with a tank and pick up and still use.

Well, I found a Palm OS version of PGP. There is an evaluation of 1.5 on PGPi. I downloaded it and have been using it for a bit. I like it! It is what I expected. If I could change one thing, it would be the ability to encrypt any text on the screen at any time via the system pop-up bar (the one that comes up when you start a system command). With that one additional feature, it would be perfect. Try it, you won't be disapointed.

I changed the style sheet associated with the moveable type blog. The other was a bit hard on the eyes, and this seems to be a bit nicer. The only problem with this one is that the stuff on the right doesn't work well if there aren't a lot of posts to handle the content over there.

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----

Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use 



qANQR1DBwU4Dy9xNsxBWRqsQB/9Q5hsk44Dk7wnqx4ExCckSMKD+/nc4cwZUIamQ

qWf5y6mfXRZzWwyv/rCG7Z56Xp6znH6iNHnCfCOzXGM2a9qYCvqiAE60RkZUBao7

zbXoO4s5cqM084lxbpfq0uxucMOnx/bGy5Bwwq03SuBUM1P4vCaS6o8HbIcbvyKB

2UlJuNsVLLOGNqtcJpCkCoKL1LE9932VLFNejKQ0F8//X6gDGSAW9E5Mu9uh/Fws

Y6z1i4aS3cJwnVve8v4oc1jPF7vnNQgScWnntIwXP8//2a1iGzrK8wMyoDD9OjCE

ZH0WZP8sdVBEDNPiLPe6MDkPrypPbKQSyolxji1pv7skFzFTCAC2uvlb6qvq3IqQ

XTEKUO8pEu8156fFI2tdvmB4rGNMgqnnFaCyj4iavsDwqZ35yF78SeyJIF2V0WzB

QlLgImQrH9ogNSD9cjtg9o9OlS0kg2t5FPwL+2Rvq2QvYc0ac0rIwiGM1rqGYsP4

5g4bF5bbrFWu6g2ituQOjzUFow8PSet5qo167A36xInEVE2+oTlO7SMtWidQOirM

PEvjZYox22hdnJIiGY8fVQynGGPEF10r3MSWYrV8CSmz9U/ur3ZrCMZkyw5dvXSD

QMJlZx/Dxuq6Z2MgH7O1gi+4hbHoZr9xRqwh5OtuplGfu0265M8MWxXgMOUlT3Gv

x09AfD5nycEXdHzZKsJ/W2VNSULzQ911ezEcpZRvkENoxO62PfPpzSSqL+5Z+AoF

ekoPyCL+7B2QDBYVcgeC2n4O2ORBcvLQt1vkoKncua3eBuKqnwZJVuLSpEb9r3nW

6B/YZ8kxipdssWDsfTGeiUOzJkxnms0PRm6OlsCNsJGkxw7CUbNIziV0tqLf8OGM

TFS9SSRiLCyKayAIiYNZ9UtjJ3QPZvyoRvdfSwOihX+WOBw7BO+ssydkK8wzcODV

2Yw3qWamX2M4DIRJOwiDOgk/tdGJGDI6Z/sZUiQuLLJciMvhDDf84rrUzvhVRd13

rEElaq8PcvqMcCmLPbIniNbcuqZRE7XVBXI2KxjUO/3KeyKom/OaX4m1WR5/s7j1

3RpIMxnwUQB2++L7D8HrA4VbJ4S9FZYtKYqTJcO3X0cjX0XzBlHmG8aFTdOqXxLz

Nmh94VB+JwxYOdZPYXJsC4wkQDoh06/nzpVedFTrLq/JvoO5tWZ3mwhmIZVGSA8P

DW2bXvgh4BuwkVhcP2nroHZLZQB66kAQF29rGgKqm9x6t9e68+2S6oPJb4Z594HB

//4mnYdnG3KNd7jh0JsEvywgsRFUxgtQGEXb/onNKJJJU8TTtb8Cte7xJUw0hrJH

=9Use

-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Well it has happened. I've seen the job I would really like to do. The whole reason I got into computer programming was because of the games and the fun I had as a kid with games on the computer. I used to get the source code for games in magazines, and then I'd type in the code from the game, just so I could learn how to program the games. Anyway...this would just be a cool job.

Technical Designer

Our Jobs at Bioware page has information on how to apply and several other helpful resources.

Bioware Corp. is seeking a technical designer to help further development on our ground breaking
title Neverwinter Nights

Duties:

• Primary Task: Scripting dialogue and in-game events. Setting up and
  populating game levels.


• Secondary Tasks: Updating documentation that details the level design in
  the game. Data entry for creatures, items, etc.

Education:

Minimum education: Two to four year programming degree or diploma.

Preferred: Experience with database design and implementation.

Experience:

• Familiarity with the fantasy genre and role-playing games is a must.


• Must have practical programming experience.


• They must have completed programming projects on their own time.


• Familiarity with C++


• Must have some experience with the NWN editor.


• Examples must be provided (see below).

Examples: Resume submissions not including an example Neverwinter Nights module will not be considered.

• Make the module short.


• All scripting must be well commented.


• The
  module must have at least one puzzle. A puzzle is an obstacle that the player
  must solve to continue through the adventure. Should involve complex scripting.
  Must be stable.
• The module must have at least one event. An event is a set of
  actions that a group of NPCs perform when the player sets off a trigger.
  Should involve complex scripting. Must be stable.


• There must be at least one store, XP handout, dialogue file, journal entry and encounter.


• There should be at least two areas.


• We will be judging the complexity, stability and organization of the scripting in the module

All submissions must be accompanied by a signed and completed Product Submission Agreement

I was listening to the radio today and heard about a book called Summerland. Looks like a good book, and sounds fun. I'll have to check it out.

Moveable Type is now installed. To take a look at my blogs with Moveable Type, check out blog.opencg.org. Looks good and it wasn't too hard to set up either.

Well, the new server is back up, and this is the first post that has been made to the new configuation. The next thing....making a blog that everybody can use to post to this if they want to.

Dry Creek Ward changes. There have been a lot of rumors that there was going to be a change in the Stake to one or more of the wards in the last few months. Well, yesterday a member of the Stake Presidency came into our ward and said that he wanted to set the record straight on all these rumors. He then said that they were true and that we were invited to a meeting at 5 pm next Sunday after our regular block meetings. We will be meeting with another ward, the 16th Lehi ward.

Apparently in the past, there have been moves where parts of our current ward have been pulled off and put into other wards, like the 16th ward. I've also heard that they may take the 16th ward and dry creek and make a third ward. I don't know, but I guess this week will see a lot of speculation on what the changes are going to entail. Does it matter a whole lot to me? A little, but my guess is that I'll still be the scout leader for the 11 year olds, and I'll still be teaching in Elders quorum for a while as well.

Here are a couple of answers to questions that I've had in the past week.

Adam is not walking, but he can stand and can walk if you help him with his balance.

Amy is going to be doing the SCUBA, but I was unclear as far as my participation as well....I'll also be learning with her, so it's one of those "we're" doing it...I just mentioned Amy because it is something that she has wanted to do since High School. Me? Well it sounds fun, but never really had an oprotunity to do it, but this was just too good a chance to pass up.

We're scheduled to do the first class on the 5th of November!

Thanksgiving. It looks like we may end up being here in Utah with Amys family. Her dad has been going to the doctor quite often for his eye, and he was thinking about scheduling an appointment around that time. Everything on that end it still up in the air, but I plan on keeping everyone up to date on what our plans are via the website.

Well, my server is back, but there is still a lot that I have to work on with it. First priority is to get all the stuff from the old site back to the new site, and then from there I'll be putting in the Moveable Type blogger. Should be fun.

The install was a pain. I ended up having to install RedHat because the boot floppies that I created for the Debian install didn't work, and I can't boot off a CD for that particular machine (BIOS was too old). So I installed RedHat, and then setup another Kernel location for the machine to boot off of. That worked fine, and then something went wrong with the install and so I had to go in and finish the install process myself....thankfully it had installed the base system so that was not that hard to finish the install...just had to run apt-get a couple times, delete the install scripts, and change the inittab file and I was off. Woot! All in a days work ;)

I saw an article titled, "Researchers see strides in biometrics. It was interesting. Reminded me of the sociology class I took in high school. Interesting stuff.

I mentioned earlier that I was considering using Moveable Type for a blog on Culhaven (once it is rebuilt). Well it looks good, but there is one problem. It doesn't implement the Blogger API.

I'm thinking of writing some code in Java that will let me manage the blog via the API. I'll use the Java code to manipluate the Moveable Type database, and that way I can still use Radio for all my blog stuff, and not worry about loging into Moveable Type via their web interface.

Ever though about an individual using a patent to stop a software company from putting certain features in its software, before the software was even created? Well it has happened.

I'm just about to head out for the weekend. Tonight I've got a campout with the scouts. I hope they do okay. They sprang this on us last week, saying, "We want to go camping....Next week." So it just happened that the leaders didn't have anything that couldn't be changed, so, we're going. I do have a concern though.

I'm not sure all these boys have been camping before...so I'm a bit anxious to see how prepared they come for meals and sleeping. So, it is with a bit of trepedation that I'm heading out here in less then an hour. Wish me luck!

Well, I finally had some time to read an article titled "Retire at 45". Pretty cool what you can do when you set your mind to it. And what this guy "Steve" did is certainally something to shoot for.

You may or may not have noticed that culhaven.opencg.org is down. Besides doing some stuff here at work, I've been working on installing debian on the machine. I think that, compared to RedHat and other Linux flavors, that Debian is much easier to maintain....It is a pain in the neck to install however.

There is, of course, a reason for all this.

1. I can maintain it without much problem


2. There was a lot of junk on the system and I wanted to get rid of it


3. I wanted to make sure the system was clean before I start putting some of the new stuff on it that I want on it (Apache webserver, Moveable Type, and a new version of Tomcat)

WOW! I posted a feature request on the Phoenix site for mouse gestures, and within a short time there were already two responses. Not only that, but they have an extension for it already implemented. Awsome. I've been converted! I'm moving Phoenix to be my default browser....Now I just have to move all those bookmarks over. ;)

There is a new version of Phoenix. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Phoenix is "a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to Galeon, K-Meleon and Chimera, but written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform"

Looks like EarthLink is going to be offering comercial blogging software

I cound a good definition of what a klog is.

Well, I got the answer to that JSP problem. Programmer error. I was getting the object, but then I was calling a method on a different object. When I changed the object it worked like a charm. What does the code look like?

RequestDispatcher dispatcher = getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/" + filename);

dispatcher.forward(request, response);

The variable filename is a temporary file created based on content from the database. The content is queried from the database, and then saved to the filesystem. Then the above code is called and the page is processed. After the page has been processed, the file is deleted. I should call dispatcher.include(), but the current code works...so....I'm keeping it until I have a chance to really put it through its paces.