Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Quick and easy way to set up connection string to database from outlook...
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
China the Beautiful
Main Room - China the Beautiful
[Use any Browser (Chinese Software not required)]
There are over 4,000 webpages in China the Beautiful....
...being a really big list of Chinese art...
Main Room - China the Beautiful
[Use any Browser (Chinese Software not required)]
There are over 4,000 webpages in China the Beautiful....
...being a really big list of Chinese art...
Friday, March 07, 2003
World of Ends
What the Internet Is and
How to Stop Mistaking It
for Something Else.
by
Doc Searls and
David Weinberger
These guys are really smart!
What the Internet Is and
How to Stop Mistaking It
for Something Else.
by
Doc Searls and
David Weinberger
These guys are really smart!
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt
Boy, do you think the tourism industry in the US might take a hit from the current hysterical tone? Who would want to visit people like this?
— NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.
According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.
"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.
When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.
Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions by refusing to remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house and that I was acting poorly.
"I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to night court where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my own recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in misconduct...
Boy, do you think the tourism industry in the US might take a hit from the current hysterical tone? Who would want to visit people like this?
— NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.
According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.
"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.
When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.
Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions by refusing to remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house and that I was acting poorly.
"I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to night court where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my own recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in misconduct...
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Access Tips: Working with Dates
Access has a number of powerful tools to enable specific dates and date ranges to be specified in criteria. Many tasks can be achieved with simple calculations, and there are a number of date functions to help in performing more complex jobs.
Make sure that any fields you have that contain dates know that their data type is Date/Time. This is vital when it comes to sorting, filtering and calculating dates. If you enter a date into a Text or Memo field it will still look like a date to you, but Access will treat it as a string of text. You won't be able to sort into correct date order, nor will you be able to calculate. If you have any problems with dates, check out the design view of the table in which the dates are stored...
Access has a number of powerful tools to enable specific dates and date ranges to be specified in criteria. Many tasks can be achieved with simple calculations, and there are a number of date functions to help in performing more complex jobs.
Make sure that any fields you have that contain dates know that their data type is Date/Time. This is vital when it comes to sorting, filtering and calculating dates. If you enter a date into a Text or Memo field it will still look like a date to you, but Access will treat it as a string of text. You won't be able to sort into correct date order, nor will you be able to calculate. If you have any problems with dates, check out the design view of the table in which the dates are stored...
Monday, March 03, 2003
An introduction to object prevalence
Object prevalence is a concept that was developed by Klaus Wuestefeld and some colleagues at Objective Solutions. Its first implementation, known as Prevayler, became available in November 2001 as an open-source project. (See Resources.) Today, Prevayler is at version 1.3.0 and has about 350 lines of code. You may think that the code is too small to do anything useful but, based upon my experience on a recent project, I can confirm that Prevayler is several orders of magnitude faster than one of the leading open source relational databases. It is all about simplicity.
Object prevalence is inherently and conceptually simple and can be implemented in any object-oriented programming language that can serialize an object -- a feature in many modern OO languages.
In a prevalent system, everything is kept in RAM, as though you were just using a programming language. Serializable command objects manage all the necessary changes required for persistence. Queries are run against pure Java language objects, giving developers all the flexibility of the Collections API and other APIs, such as the Jakarta Commons Collections and Jutil.org...
Object prevalence is a concept that was developed by Klaus Wuestefeld and some colleagues at Objective Solutions. Its first implementation, known as Prevayler, became available in November 2001 as an open-source project. (See Resources.) Today, Prevayler is at version 1.3.0 and has about 350 lines of code. You may think that the code is too small to do anything useful but, based upon my experience on a recent project, I can confirm that Prevayler is several orders of magnitude faster than one of the leading open source relational databases. It is all about simplicity.
Object prevalence is inherently and conceptually simple and can be implemented in any object-oriented programming language that can serialize an object -- a feature in many modern OO languages.
In a prevalent system, everything is kept in RAM, as though you were just using a programming language. Serializable command objects manage all the necessary changes required for persistence. Queries are run against pure Java language objects, giving developers all the flexibility of the Collections API and other APIs, such as the Jakarta Commons Collections and Jutil.org...
Thursday, December 19, 2002
COMP 320 Tutorial - X-Windows GUI
The purpose of this tutorial is to enable anyone with knowledge of C but without knowledge of the internals of X-Windows to write X-Windows applications...
The purpose of this tutorial is to enable anyone with knowledge of C but without knowledge of the internals of X-Windows to write X-Windows applications...
COMP 320 Tutorial - X-Windows GUI
The purpose of this tutorial is to enable anyone with knowledge of C but without knowledge of the internals of X-Windows to write X-Windows applications...
The purpose of this tutorial is to enable anyone with knowledge of C but without knowledge of the internals of X-Windows to write X-Windows applications...
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Microsoft Secrets
Abstract
This white paper discusses the approach used to convert the Hotmail web server farm from UNIX to Windows 2000, and the reasons the features and techniques were chosen. It will focus primarily on the planners, developers, and system administrators. The purpose of the paper is to provide insight for similar deployments using Windows 2000. We will discuss the techniques from the viewpoint of human engineering as well as software engineering...
Abstract
This white paper discusses the approach used to convert the Hotmail web server farm from UNIX to Windows 2000, and the reasons the features and techniques were chosen. It will focus primarily on the planners, developers, and system administrators. The purpose of the paper is to provide insight for similar deployments using Windows 2000. We will discuss the techniques from the viewpoint of human engineering as well as software engineering...
Sunday, November 17, 2002
--> Just a note...<--
... a lot of my web browsing this week revolves around jmusic, the wonderful Java musical tool from QUT in Brisbane.
... a lot of my web browsing this week revolves around jmusic, the wonderful Java musical tool from QUT in Brisbane.
Saturday, November 16, 2002
optimal web design
Criteria for optimal web design (designing for usability)
By Michael L Bernard
Designing a website that takes into account the human element requires both an understanding of our nature as well as our physiological limitations. Usable websites incorporate human tendencies and limitation into its overall design. The questions below are meant to address some of the more important human factors concerns in the design and building of usable websites...
Criteria for optimal web design (designing for usability)
By Michael L Bernard
Designing a website that takes into account the human element requires both an understanding of our nature as well as our physiological limitations. Usable websites incorporate human tendencies and limitation into its overall design. The questions below are meant to address some of the more important human factors concerns in the design and building of usable websites...
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Struts Introduction
Struts is an open source framework useful in building web applications with Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technology. It encourages software development following the MVC design pattern...
Struts is an open source framework useful in building web applications with Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technology. It encourages software development following the MVC design pattern...
Monday, November 11, 2002
Learning Debian GNU/Linux from OReilly
Learning Debian GNU/Linux
By Bill McCarty
1st Edition September 1999
1-56592-705-2, Order Number: 7052
360 pages, $34.95 , Includes CD-ROM
... this may come in handy...<--b
Learning Debian GNU/Linux
By Bill McCarty
1st Edition September 1999
1-56592-705-2, Order Number: 7052
360 pages, $34.95 , Includes CD-ROM
... this may come in handy...<--b
Debian up and running at my place...
There are lots of great Debian resources, but I found that I recently had to do some real digging to get my DEC alpha xl 266 up and running Woody, the latest Debian. Just in case there's anybody else trying this, here's a couple notes that may smooth your journey.
- you need to use milo, it's not an option; the one that worked for me was from the suse 6.3 release. Dig through /discontinued, and remember, sometimes alpha is referred to as axp...
-I downloaded the cd (approx 180 megs) and it worked great, once I figured out how milo was keeping track of the devices like the cd drive.
-You boot an installation system, then install. In order to get the installation system working I used a floppy for my root filesystem image... I used rawrite2.exe to write root.bin to my DOS formatted disk...
- milo booted the install system from the cd; I think the command was
MILO> boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
debian is cool. this was fun!
-b
There are lots of great Debian resources, but I found that I recently had to do some real digging to get my DEC alpha xl 266 up and running Woody, the latest Debian. Just in case there's anybody else trying this, here's a couple notes that may smooth your journey.
- you need to use milo, it's not an option; the one that worked for me was from the suse 6.3 release. Dig through /discontinued, and remember, sometimes alpha is referred to as axp...
-I downloaded the cd (approx 180 megs) and it worked great, once I figured out how milo was keeping track of the devices like the cd drive.
-You boot an installation system, then install. In order to get the installation system working I used a floppy for my root filesystem image... I used rawrite2.exe to write root.bin to my DOS formatted disk...
- milo booted the install system from the cd; I think the command was
MILO> boot sr0:/boot/linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
debian is cool. this was fun!
-b
Friday, November 08, 2002
Outfront - Tell Your Story
How to Pitch a story to CBC Radio's Outfront series.
- I've got a story in mind........
First, we need a written proposal. In it, we need to know a few key things:
-WHAT IS YOUR IDEA?
-WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE STORY?
-HOW DO YOU HEAR THE STORY ON THE RADIO?
How to Pitch a story to CBC Radio's Outfront series.
- I've got a story in mind........
First, we need a written proposal. In it, we need to know a few key things:
-WHAT IS YOUR IDEA?
-WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THE STORY?
-HOW DO YOU HEAR THE STORY ON THE RADIO?
Friday, November 01, 2002
Cook's Thesaurus
The Cook's Thesaurus is a cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions...
The Cook's Thesaurus is a cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions...
Friday, October 11, 2002
Castles Explained
Early castles were comparatively simple in layout. They consisted of a massive stone tower, or KEEP, built upon elevated ground, surrounded, or fronted, by a walled courtyard, known as a bailey, with a fortified GATEHOUSE. The whole was surrounded by a moat, or deep ditch, filled with water...
Soldiers occupied the first floor of the Keep as a Guardroom; below was a stone-vaulted basement.? On the second floor was the Baronial Hall and above that were chambers for use as dormitories and other domestic purposes.? From this simple fortification developed more elaborate and complex structures, varying greatly in design and plan.
Early castles were comparatively simple in layout. They consisted of a massive stone tower, or KEEP, built upon elevated ground, surrounded, or fronted, by a walled courtyard, known as a bailey, with a fortified GATEHOUSE. The whole was surrounded by a moat, or deep ditch, filled with water...
Soldiers occupied the first floor of the Keep as a Guardroom; below was a stone-vaulted basement.? On the second floor was the Baronial Hall and above that were chambers for use as dormitories and other domestic purposes.? From this simple fortification developed more elaborate and complex structures, varying greatly in design and plan.
Saturday, September 14, 2002
SRM Firmware Howto
Rich Payne, and David Huggins-Daines
This document describes how to boot Linux/Alpha using the SRM console, which is the console firmware also used to boot Compaq Tru64 Unix (also known as Digital Unix and OSF/1) and OpenVMS...
Rich Payne, and David Huggins-Daines
This document describes how to boot Linux/Alpha using the SRM console, which is the console firmware also used to boot Compaq Tru64 Unix (also known as Digital Unix and OSF/1) and OpenVMS...
Monday, September 09, 2002
Using Excel As A Backend For MS Access
Adding Database Tools To Excel Spreadsheets
by Garry Robinson
Microsoft Access supports Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets through the Link table manager. This article serves firstly to explain the techniques for utilizing this new functionality and also outlines the pros and cons of developing an Access to Excel application...
Adding Database Tools To Excel Spreadsheets
by Garry Robinson
Microsoft Access supports Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets through the Link table manager. This article serves firstly to explain the techniques for utilizing this new functionality and also outlines the pros and cons of developing an Access to Excel application...
Friday, September 06, 2002
"Cannot find vnetsup.vxd"
Error: Cannot find vnetsup.vxd
If networking components are missing from your system, you may see an error message that says Windows 95 cannot find a file called vnetsup.vxd.
Reinstalling the Networking software may fix this problem. Try the following steps...
Error: Cannot find vnetsup.vxd
If networking components are missing from your system, you may see an error message that says Windows 95 cannot find a file called vnetsup.vxd.
Reinstalling the Networking software may fix this problem. Try the following steps...
Sunday, September 01, 2002
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Mac Freak - System Problems
Wouldn't you know it; just as I'm thinking of my new Alpha-powered linux box, the old Mac gets wheezy - maybe this will help ;->
Wouldn't you know it; just as I'm thinking of my new Alpha-powered linux box, the old Mac gets wheezy - maybe this will help ;->
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Java Sound Programmer's FAQ
2.10.
I have a byte array and want to write these data to an audio file.
Create a ByteArrayInputStream object from the byte array, create an AudioInputStream from it, then call AudioSystem.write(). [TODO: code example, alternative approach via AudioOutputStream]
2.10.
I have a byte array and want to write these data to an audio file.
Create a ByteArrayInputStream object from the byte array, create an AudioInputStream from it, then call AudioSystem.write(). [TODO: code example, alternative approach via AudioOutputStream]
Java Sound Programmer's FAQ
This looks interesting, actually addressing some of the questions I have...
This looks interesting, actually addressing some of the questions I have...
JavaSound
This (Sun tutorial) trail shows you how to use the Java Sound engine in JDK 1.2 to play audio data from both applications and applets. Java Sound enables you to play many types of audio clips, including AIFF, AU, WAV, MIDI, and RMF files.
This (Sun tutorial) trail shows you how to use the Java Sound engine in JDK 1.2 to play audio data from both applications and applets. Java Sound enables you to play many types of audio clips, including AIFF, AU, WAV, MIDI, and RMF files.
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Jazz Theory & Ear Training
-Art from This is Art on CBC radio 1 is also a teacher of music! This is his approach to jazz ear training
-b
Standard presentations of jazz theory start with a study of a few chord structures: major 7, 7, minor 7, minor 7 b5, diminished 7, and then go into the question of which type of scale (or "mode" as they often incorrectly call it) to play for each one. It has always seemed to me that, for someone interested in getting their ear together, this approach is singularly useless. Sure, armed with a saxophone, you can play a C major scale against any background you want, whether an F# minor chord, or a Boeing 747 crashing into your living room. But try singing it: that is a very different story, and one which I suspect most scale-wanking instrumentalists would rather not confront.
-Art from This is Art on CBC radio 1 is also a teacher of music! This is his approach to jazz ear training
-b
Standard presentations of jazz theory start with a study of a few chord structures: major 7, 7, minor 7, minor 7 b5, diminished 7, and then go into the question of which type of scale (or "mode" as they often incorrectly call it) to play for each one. It has always seemed to me that, for someone interested in getting their ear together, this approach is singularly useless. Sure, armed with a saxophone, you can play a C major scale against any background you want, whether an F# minor chord, or a Boeing 747 crashing into your living room. But try singing it: that is a very different story, and one which I suspect most scale-wanking instrumentalists would rather not confront.
Friday, July 26, 2002
An Introduction to the Java Media Framework Application Programming Interface
IBM developerWorks white paper on the JMF API
IBM developerWorks white paper on the JMF API
Thursday, July 25, 2002
JSyn Docs: Class WAVFileWriter
com.softsynth.jsyn.util
Class WAVFileWriter
java.lang.Object
|
--java.io.OutputStream
|
--com.softsynth.util.RandomOutputStream
|
--com.softsynth.jsyn.util.WAVFileWriter
com.softsynth.jsyn.util
Class WAVFileWriter
java.lang.Object
|
--java.io.OutputStream
|
--com.softsynth.util.RandomOutputStream
|
--com.softsynth.jsyn.util.WAVFileWriter
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
Wave Files - The Sonic Spot
The Wave file format is Windows' native file format for storing digital audio data. It has become one of the most widely supported digital audio file formats on the PC due to the popularity of Windows and the huge number of programs written for the platform. Almost every modern program that can open and/or save digital audio supports this file format, making it both extremely useful and a virtual requirement for software developers to understand. The following specification gives a detailed description of the structure and inner workings of this format...
The Wave file format is Windows' native file format for storing digital audio data. It has become one of the most widely supported digital audio file formats on the PC due to the popularity of Windows and the huge number of programs written for the platform. Almost every modern program that can open and/or save digital audio supports this file format, making it both extremely useful and a virtual requirement for software developers to understand. The following specification gives a detailed description of the structure and inner workings of this format...
Sunday, July 21, 2002
Scientific Sonification - DIASS
DIASS - a Digital Instrument for Additive Sound Synthesis - is the "Rolls Royce bulldozer" of sound synthesis. It provides a precision tool for the sonification of scientific data and is the most flexible instrument currently available to composers of experimental music. DIASS gives the user complete control over the details of a sound. It is written in C and assumes access to high-performance computing equipment...
DIASS - a Digital Instrument for Additive Sound Synthesis - is the "Rolls Royce bulldozer" of sound synthesis. It provides a precision tool for the sonification of scientific data and is the most flexible instrument currently available to composers of experimental music. DIASS gives the user complete control over the details of a sound. It is written in C and assumes access to high-performance computing equipment...
The Music in the Numbers
MusiNum - The Music in the Numbers
by Lars Kindermann
MusiNum is a free sonification program which turns numbers into generative fractal music. Everybody can create unique royalty free music for his homepage within few minutes. Interesting for mathematicans and other people who like to play. Fractal concepts, self-similarity and a new kind of symmetry are audible now!
MusiNum - The Music in the Numbers
by Lars Kindermann
MusiNum is a free sonification program which turns numbers into generative fractal music. Everybody can create unique royalty free music for his homepage within few minutes. Interesting for mathematicans and other people who like to play. Fractal concepts, self-similarity and a new kind of symmetry are audible now!
Sonification: A New Realm in Chemistry
by Michael Gelb
Examinations involving sonification have intrigued and provided musicians with an ability to let their minds roam as to where the relationship between sounds and data lie. With the use of sonification, actual data can be made into specific sounds and add a creative passage which can aid anyone, in this case however I will deal with how it can aid scientists. Sonification can be technically defined as applying musical sounds to analysis of raw data to detect patterns that may not otherwise be readily apparent. Sound can also reveal irregularities in data that are difficult to perceive visually. Moreover some psychological studies show that some types of data are more quickly assimilated when presented with sound. We must first delve into how data is made up and structured. Next we break it down into its simplest components, and finally we apply a unique sound to each single piece of data. Therefore, we can now begin to understand how sonification can be applied to words, letters, alphabets, and for this paper specifically, chemical data. Sonification can prove to be very interesting, and I will analyze this technique, focus on some known applications to chemistry data, and suggest further possible applications to chemistry.
by Michael Gelb
Examinations involving sonification have intrigued and provided musicians with an ability to let their minds roam as to where the relationship between sounds and data lie. With the use of sonification, actual data can be made into specific sounds and add a creative passage which can aid anyone, in this case however I will deal with how it can aid scientists. Sonification can be technically defined as applying musical sounds to analysis of raw data to detect patterns that may not otherwise be readily apparent. Sound can also reveal irregularities in data that are difficult to perceive visually. Moreover some psychological studies show that some types of data are more quickly assimilated when presented with sound. We must first delve into how data is made up and structured. Next we break it down into its simplest components, and finally we apply a unique sound to each single piece of data. Therefore, we can now begin to understand how sonification can be applied to words, letters, alphabets, and for this paper specifically, chemical data. Sonification can prove to be very interesting, and I will analyze this technique, focus on some known applications to chemistry data, and suggest further possible applications to chemistry.
JMF 2.1.1 - MediaPlayer Bean
The Java Media Framework MediaPlayer Bean
For easy deployment of media player functionality with pre-Java 2 systems...
The Java Media Framework MediaPlayer Bean
For easy deployment of media player functionality with pre-Java 2 systems...
Friday, July 12, 2002
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Color Basics
Introduction to Color Vision
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An overview by Colin Ware
Data Visualization Research Lab, University of New Hampshire
Introduction to Color Vision
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An overview by Colin Ware
Data Visualization Research Lab, University of New Hampshire
Compression algorithms
JPEG compression
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is a standardization committee. It also stands for the compression algorithm that was invented by this committee...
JPEG compression
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is a standardization committee. It also stands for the compression algorithm that was invented by this committee...
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Tuesday, July 09, 2002
MIDI-Perl: Reading and Writing MIDI in Perl
MIDI-Perl is a suite of Perl OOP modules which allows MIDI files to be read in and manipulated, or composed anew, and written out as MIDI files....
MIDI-Perl is a suite of Perl OOP modules which allows MIDI files to be read in and manipulated, or composed anew, and written out as MIDI files....
A novice's guide to composing RMF music
If you know how to compose (or "borrow") and arrange Midi, then you know the basics of how to create RMFs. The only secret will be in selecting the instruments from the Beatnik Soundbanks or creating custom instruments in the Beatnik Editor 2.0 for your own use...
If you know how to compose (or "borrow") and arrange Midi, then you know the basics of how to create RMFs. The only secret will be in selecting the instruments from the Beatnik Soundbanks or creating custom instruments in the Beatnik Editor 2.0 for your own use...
[19] What is JPEG?
JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized image compression mechanism.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the
committee that wrote the standard. JPEG is designed for compressing either
full-color or gray-scale digital images of "natural", real-world scenes.
It does not work very well on non-realistic images, such as cartoons or
line drawings...
JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized image compression mechanism.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the
committee that wrote the standard. JPEG is designed for compressing either
full-color or gray-scale digital images of "natural", real-world scenes.
It does not work very well on non-realistic images, such as cartoons or
line drawings...
Monday, July 08, 2002
The world's ticking timebomb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earth 'will expire by 2050'
Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered so much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be colonised...
Mark Townsend and Jason Burke
Sunday July 7, 2002
The Observer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earth 'will expire by 2050'
Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered so much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be colonised...
Mark Townsend and Jason Burke
Sunday July 7, 2002
The Observer
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Enhancing Web Services Infrastructures with JMS
from the O'Reilly Network
JMS is used to deal with issues around robustness and persistence...
from the O'Reilly Network
JMS is used to deal with issues around robustness and persistence...
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
A Pattern Language pattern summary from the famous book by Christoper Alexander et al...
2002 FIFA World Cup tournament at-a-glance
I've had a hard time trying to figure out who plays who when... this should help!
I've had a hard time trying to figure out who plays who when... this should help!
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
The Village Voice: Features: Post-War Jazz: An Arbitrary Road Map
by Gary Giddins
The initial idea was to create an overview of jazz (and jazz-related) records from 1900 to 2001...
by Gary Giddins
The initial idea was to create an overview of jazz (and jazz-related) records from 1900 to 2001...
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
A Pattern/Framework for Client/Server Programming in Java
By Usman Saleem
Every now and then, we need to build a custom client/server model, especially if we are students and are required to submit some network project using Java's powerful network programming capabilities. In this article I attempt to provide a pattern/framework for developing custom client/server programming using the Java language. This article is divided into two parts: server development and client development...
By Usman Saleem
Every now and then, we need to build a custom client/server model, especially if we are students and are required to submit some network project using Java's powerful network programming capabilities. In this article I attempt to provide a pattern/framework for developing custom client/server programming using the Java language. This article is divided into two parts: server development and client development...
Wednesday, June 05, 2002
Monday, May 27, 2002
Fighting to Live as the Towers Died
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
They began as calls for help, information, guidance. They quickly turned into soundings of desperation, and anger, and love. Now they are the remembered voices of the men and women who were trapped on the high floors of the twin towers...
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
They began as calls for help, information, guidance. They quickly turned into soundings of desperation, and anger, and love. Now they are the remembered voices of the men and women who were trapped on the high floors of the twin towers...
Saturday, May 25, 2002
developerWorks : Web services : Education : Tutorials - Building Web service applications with the Google API
by
Nicholas Chase
The Google search engine can now be accessed via a SOAP-based Web service. This means that developers can now embed Google search results and other information into their own applications. Google also took this project one step further, creating an API and Java toolkit for accessing the data. This tutorial is for developers who want to use Google information from within their Java applications...
by
Nicholas Chase
The Google search engine can now be accessed via a SOAP-based Web service. This means that developers can now embed Google search results and other information into their own applications. Google also took this project one step further, creating an API and Java toolkit for accessing the data. This tutorial is for developers who want to use Google information from within their Java applications...
Friday, May 24, 2002
Thursday, May 23, 2002
Saturday, May 18, 2002
Contains important Perl Golf information
No matter the language, programming is fun!
/!\ Caution: the following text contains material that can hurt your mental health. Read at your own risks!
No matter the language, programming is fun!
/!\ Caution: the following text contains material that can hurt your mental health. Read at your own risks!
Relevés de chorus
Page of jazz solo transcriptions, from Sonny Stitt to Art Pepper, Keith Jarrett...
Page of jazz solo transcriptions, from Sonny Stitt to Art Pepper, Keith Jarrett...
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Geophysical Alert Message
:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt
:Issued: 2002 May 14 1507 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center
#
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 13 May follow.
Solar flux 172 and mid-latitude A-index 10.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 14 May was 3 (38 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.
:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt
:Issued: 2002 May 14 1507 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center
#
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 13 May follow.
Solar flux 172 and mid-latitude A-index 10.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 14 May was 3 (38 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.
Monday, May 13, 2002
XML.com: What is XSLT?
by G. Ken Holman
&qw; Now that we are successfully using XML to mark up our information according to our own vocabularies, we are taking control and responsibility for our information, instead of abdicating such control to product vendors. These vendors would rather lock our information into their proprietary schemes to keep us beholden to their solutions and technology....&qw;
by G. Ken Holman
&qw; Now that we are successfully using XML to mark up our information according to our own vocabularies, we are taking control and responsibility for our information, instead of abdicating such control to product vendors. These vendors would rather lock our information into their proprietary schemes to keep us beholden to their solutions and technology....&qw;
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
The really interesting web rides on the infrastructural back of the business web; as business adds interesting protocols, the human web will adopt (adapt) in strange and beautiful ways...
IBM developerWorks : Web services :The Tao of e-business services
by Steve Burbeck, Ph.D.
Emerging Technologies, IBM Software Group
The concept of Web services is the beginning of a new service-oriented architecture in building better software applications. The change from an object-oriented system to a service-oriented one is an evolutionary idea that sublimated from the global Internet and Web system. To understand how to build Web Services into your computing architecture, you need to carefully understand the role they play. This article details the software engineering concepts behind the Web Services architecture, how it has evolved, how it is structured, and how it can be brought into your existing computing infrastructure
IBM developerWorks : Web services :The Tao of e-business services
by Steve Burbeck, Ph.D.
Emerging Technologies, IBM Software Group
The concept of Web services is the beginning of a new service-oriented architecture in building better software applications. The change from an object-oriented system to a service-oriented one is an evolutionary idea that sublimated from the global Internet and Web system. To understand how to build Web Services into your computing architecture, you need to carefully understand the role they play. This article details the software engineering concepts behind the Web Services architecture, how it has evolved, how it is structured, and how it can be brought into your existing computing infrastructure
e-business services are loosely-coupled computing tasks communicating over the Internet that play a growing part in business-to-business (B2B) interactions. Companies are enclosing traditional computing tasks, such as database access or commercial transaction systems, in wrappers as software services to connect them to the Internet at a rapid pace. At the same time, companies are also introducing new tasks, such as computerized auctions and e-marketplaces, as business services. Simply put,
e-business will be based on a service-oriented model.
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
O'Reilly Network: Blogspace Under the Microscope
by Jon Udell
05/03/2002
The culture of blogspace is evolving in near-realtime. Last week, a new mutation brought backlinks into a more prominent role. At Disenchanted, inbound links were automatically reflected outward. Each article grew a tail of backlinks that pointed to pages referring back to it. Suddenly a new kind of feedback loop was created. With a twist of the lens, conversations that had been diffuse and indirect came sharply into focus. Almost immediately the meme replicated...
by Jon Udell
05/03/2002
The culture of blogspace is evolving in near-realtime. Last week, a new mutation brought backlinks into a more prominent role. At Disenchanted, inbound links were automatically reflected outward. Each article grew a tail of backlinks that pointed to pages referring back to it. Suddenly a new kind of feedback loop was created. With a twist of the lens, conversations that had been diffuse and indirect came sharply into focus. Almost immediately the meme replicated...
Sunday, May 05, 2002
The Atlantic | November 2001 | The Crash of EgyptAir 990
The Atlantic Monthly - November 2001
The Crash of EgyptAir 990
Two years afterward the U.S. and Egyptian governments are still quarreling over the cause?a clash that grows out of cultural division, not factual uncertainty. A look at the flight data from a pilot's perspective, with the help of simulations of the accident, points to what the Egyptians already know: the crash was caused not by any mechanical failure but by a pilot's intentional act
by William Langewiesche...
The Atlantic Monthly - November 2001
The Crash of EgyptAir 990
Two years afterward the U.S. and Egyptian governments are still quarreling over the cause?a clash that grows out of cultural division, not factual uncertainty. A look at the flight data from a pilot's perspective, with the help of simulations of the accident, points to what the Egyptians already know: the crash was caused not by any mechanical failure but by a pilot's intentional act
by William Langewiesche...
Saturday, May 04, 2002
Earthweb Networking and Communications: Standard Java Technology: The Essence of OOP Using Java, Polymorphism and the Object Class
by Richard G. Baldwin
Includes information on The Java Collections Framework
Java supports a framework, known as the Java Collections Framework, which you can read about in other tutorial lessons on the web site.
Without getting into a lot of detail, the framework provides several concrete implementations of interfaces with names like list, set, and map.
The classes that provide the implementations have names like LinkedList, TreeSet, ArrayList, Vector, and Hashtable. As you might recognize, the framework satisfies the requirements for what we might refer to as classical data structures...
by Richard G. Baldwin
Includes information on The Java Collections Framework
Java supports a framework, known as the Java Collections Framework, which you can read about in other tutorial lessons on the web site.
Without getting into a lot of detail, the framework provides several concrete implementations of interfaces with names like list, set, and map.
The classes that provide the implementations have names like LinkedList, TreeSet, ArrayList, Vector, and Hashtable. As you might recognize, the framework satisfies the requirements for what we might refer to as classical data structures...
Friday, May 03, 2002
BPMI.org: BPML
The Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) is a meta-language for the modeling of business processes, just as XML is a meta-language for the modeling of business data. BPML provides an abstracted execution model for collaborative & transactional business processes based on the concept of a transactional finite-state machine...
The Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) is a meta-language for the modeling of business processes, just as XML is a meta-language for the modeling of business data. BPML provides an abstracted execution model for collaborative & transactional business processes based on the concept of a transactional finite-state machine...
Unfazed by Defectors, Sun's Chief Charts Next Era (NYT requires free subscription)
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, May 2
Under pressure to revive Sun Microsystems after the collapse of its two strongest markets, telecommunications and Internet commerce, Scott G. McNealy, the company's chairman and chief executive, made the rounds among his senior managers recently insisting that those who were not ready to sign up for the next five years, step aside.
On Wednesday morning, the departure of Sun's president and longtime second in command, Edward J. Zander ? the company's fifth major departure in two weeks ? provided new evidence that Mr. McNealy is intent on clearing the decks of a generation of Sun management as he begins a drive to regain the company's dominance in many aspects of corporate computing.
Mr. Zander has provided a calming, business- and sales-oriented counterpoint to Mr. McNealy's passionate and charismatic approach for almost 15 years. He said he waited to leave until the company's revenue began to rebound, and was doing so now because it was clear that Mr. McNealy would not be stepping aside anytime soon. Several Sun executives confirmed that Mr. Zander has repeatedly talked about leaving the company during the last five years.
But what is behind the recent run of senior departures, Sun executives say, is a new focus by Mr. McNealy on building his team for Sun's next era, an approach he adopted after joining General Electric's board and becoming deeply influenced by the succession-planning process of G.E.'s chairman, John F. Welch Jr...
"Scott realized that Sun didn't have anything equivalent in place," said John Gage, one of Sun's most visible executives, "and he began going around the company and telling people, `We need you to be committed for a period of time; I don't want any surprises.' "
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, May 2
Under pressure to revive Sun Microsystems after the collapse of its two strongest markets, telecommunications and Internet commerce, Scott G. McNealy, the company's chairman and chief executive, made the rounds among his senior managers recently insisting that those who were not ready to sign up for the next five years, step aside.
On Wednesday morning, the departure of Sun's president and longtime second in command, Edward J. Zander ? the company's fifth major departure in two weeks ? provided new evidence that Mr. McNealy is intent on clearing the decks of a generation of Sun management as he begins a drive to regain the company's dominance in many aspects of corporate computing.
Mr. Zander has provided a calming, business- and sales-oriented counterpoint to Mr. McNealy's passionate and charismatic approach for almost 15 years. He said he waited to leave until the company's revenue began to rebound, and was doing so now because it was clear that Mr. McNealy would not be stepping aside anytime soon. Several Sun executives confirmed that Mr. Zander has repeatedly talked about leaving the company during the last five years.
But what is behind the recent run of senior departures, Sun executives say, is a new focus by Mr. McNealy on building his team for Sun's next era, an approach he adopted after joining General Electric's board and becoming deeply influenced by the succession-planning process of G.E.'s chairman, John F. Welch Jr...
"Scott realized that Sun didn't have anything equivalent in place," said John Gage, one of Sun's most visible executives, "and he began going around the company and telling people, `We need you to be committed for a period of time; I don't want any surprises.' "
Sunday, April 14, 2002
O'Reilly Network: Using AppleScript to Compile and Run Java Code [Mar. 01, 2002]
Automating java development on the Macintosh
Automating java development on the Macintosh
Saturday, April 13, 2002
ZDNet: Tech Update: IBM, Microsoft plot Web Services takeover
IBM and Microsoft have been quietly busy behind the scenes for the last two years building a toll booth that could position the two companies to collect royalties on most if not all Internet traffic.
IBM and Microsoft have been quietly busy behind the scenes for the last two years building a toll booth that could position the two companies to collect royalties on most if not all Internet traffic.
Thursday, April 11, 2002
Google Web APIs
Develop Your Own Applications Using Google
With the Google Web APIs service, software developers can query more than 2 billion web documents directly from their own computer programs. Google uses the SOAP and WSDL standards so a developer can program in his or her favorite environment - such as Java, Perl, or Visual Studio .NET.
Develop Your Own Applications Using Google
With the Google Web APIs service, software developers can query more than 2 billion web documents directly from their own computer programs. Google uses the SOAP and WSDL standards so a developer can program in his or her favorite environment - such as Java, Perl, or Visual Studio .NET.
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Reason Online Leaping the Abyss
Stephen Hawking on black holes, unified field theory, and Marilyn Monroe.
By Gregory Benford
Stephen Hawking on black holes, unified field theory, and Marilyn Monroe.
By Gregory Benford
Les interpretes des chansons francaises et francophones
ABC de la Chanson Francophone
Les Interpretes de www.paroles.net
Go here for Jacques Brel lyrics
ABC de la Chanson Francophone
Les Interpretes de www.paroles.net
Go here for Jacques Brel lyrics
Thursday, March 21, 2002
Super Nintendo MIDI sequences
This is a complete listing of all the files in the Super Nintendo directory, as of 03/14/2002 01:23:34 CDT.
There are 3040 midi files in the Super Nintendo directory.
This is a complete listing of all the files in the Super Nintendo directory, as of 03/14/2002 01:23:34 CDT.
There are 3040 midi files in the Super Nintendo directory.
How to increase your intranet usage 98 percent
Brian Livingston writing a piece in InfoWorld about the top ten intranets as decided by Jakob Neilson
Brian Livingston writing a piece in InfoWorld about the top ten intranets as decided by Jakob Neilson
Monday, March 18, 2002
Brand USA
Naomi Klein, AlterNet
March 13, 2002
TORONTO -- When the White House decided it was time to address the rising tides of anti-Americanism around the world, it didn't look to a career diplomat for help. Instead, in keeping with the Bush administration's philosophy that anything the public sector can do the private sector can do better, it hired one of Madison Avenue's top brand managers.
As undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, Charlotte Beers' assignment was not to improve relations with other countries but rather to perform an overhaul of the U.S. image abroad. Beers had no previous State Department experience, but she had held the top job at both the J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather ad agencies, and she has built brands for everything from dog food to power drills.
Now she was being asked to work her magic on the greatest branding challenge of all: to sell the United States and its war on terrorism to an increasingly hostile world. The appointment of an ad woman to this post understandably raised some criticism, but Secretary of State Colin L. Powell shrugged it off. "There is nothing wrong with getting somebody who knows how to sell something. We are selling a product. We need someone who can re-brand American foreign policy, re-brand diplomacy." Besides, he said, "She got me to buy Uncle Ben's rice." So why, only five months in, does the campaign for a new and improved Brand USA seem in disarray? Several of its public service announcements have been exposed for playing fast and loose with the facts. And when Beers went on a mission to Egypt in January to improve the image of the U.S. among Arab "opinion-makers," it didn't go well. Muhammad Abdel Hadi, an editor at the newspaper Al Ahram, left his meeting with Beers frustrated that she seemed more interested in talking about vague American values than about specific U.S. policies. "No matter how hard you try to make them understand," he said, "they don't."
Naomi Klein, AlterNet
March 13, 2002
TORONTO -- When the White House decided it was time to address the rising tides of anti-Americanism around the world, it didn't look to a career diplomat for help. Instead, in keeping with the Bush administration's philosophy that anything the public sector can do the private sector can do better, it hired one of Madison Avenue's top brand managers.
As undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, Charlotte Beers' assignment was not to improve relations with other countries but rather to perform an overhaul of the U.S. image abroad. Beers had no previous State Department experience, but she had held the top job at both the J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather ad agencies, and she has built brands for everything from dog food to power drills.
Now she was being asked to work her magic on the greatest branding challenge of all: to sell the United States and its war on terrorism to an increasingly hostile world. The appointment of an ad woman to this post understandably raised some criticism, but Secretary of State Colin L. Powell shrugged it off. "There is nothing wrong with getting somebody who knows how to sell something. We are selling a product. We need someone who can re-brand American foreign policy, re-brand diplomacy." Besides, he said, "She got me to buy Uncle Ben's rice." So why, only five months in, does the campaign for a new and improved Brand USA seem in disarray? Several of its public service announcements have been exposed for playing fast and loose with the facts. And when Beers went on a mission to Egypt in January to improve the image of the U.S. among Arab "opinion-makers," it didn't go well. Muhammad Abdel Hadi, an editor at the newspaper Al Ahram, left his meeting with Beers frustrated that she seemed more interested in talking about vague American values than about specific U.S. policies. "No matter how hard you try to make them understand," he said, "they don't."
Thursday, March 14, 2002
MacPerl 5.6.1 Released
It's been over four years since a new MacPerl has been released, and it has been at least five years since MacPerl has been updated to the latest perl source (at the time, perl 5.004).
So today, we reset the counter with MacPerl 5.6.1r1.
It's been over four years since a new MacPerl has been released, and it has been at least five years since MacPerl has been updated to the latest perl source (at the time, perl 5.004).
So today, we reset the counter with MacPerl 5.6.1r1.
Saturday, March 09, 2002
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Panopticon
by Cory Doctorow
03/08/2002
How much ass does Google kick? All of it.
Remember when searching the Internet was hard? The dark days when we relied on dumb-as-sand machine intelligences, like those on the back-ends of AltaVista and Lycos, to rank the documents that matched our keywords? The grim era before Google, when searching was a spew of boolean mumbo-jumbo, NEAR this, NOT that, AND the other?
God, that sucked.
Lucky for the Internet, Google figured out the One True Way to make sense of the Internet, to defeat gamers of the system and send info-free brochureware plummeting to number n - 1 out of n results.
by Cory Doctorow
03/08/2002
How much ass does Google kick? All of it.
Remember when searching the Internet was hard? The dark days when we relied on dumb-as-sand machine intelligences, like those on the back-ends of AltaVista and Lycos, to rank the documents that matched our keywords? The grim era before Google, when searching was a spew of boolean mumbo-jumbo, NEAR this, NOT that, AND the other?
God, that sucked.
Lucky for the Internet, Google figured out the One True Way to make sense of the Internet, to defeat gamers of the system and send info-free brochureware plummeting to number n - 1 out of n results.
Friday, March 08, 2002
Callbacks
One of the most vexing problems facing C++ programmers is the that of passing a function to a function. In computer science lingo, the function passed as an argument is called a callback, since it is "called back" by the other function. For example, suppose you have a function that finds the minimum of another function:
void Minimize( double (*f)( double), double initial_x,
double &x_at_minimum, double &minimum_f);
Here, the function to be minimized is f, the initial guess of the independent variable is initial_x, while the answers are given in x_at_minimum and minimum_f. This works fine so far, but what if the function that you want to minimize is a member function of a class? In that case, you cannot use the minimizer described above. So, now, you might write another minimizer that does the same thing but to a different type of function; you can even use templates to make it generic to all classes.
template< class Class, class Sub_Class>
void Minimize( Sub_Class &object, double (Class::*f)( double), double initial_x,
double &x_at_minimum, double &minimum_f);
Since we are dealing with a function that is now bound to a particular object object, we must let the minimizer function know about that object. Also, object may belong to a sub-class of the class Class, so we allow for that in the template arguments. But that isn't all. We also must allow for const member functions, so we need a third function:
template< class Class, class Sub_Class>
void Minimize( const Sub_Class &object, double (Class::*f)( double) const, double initial_x,
double &x_at_minimum, double &minimum_f);
We now have all of our possibilities covered, but we have to write three minimizer functions instead of one. Most vexing of all, if we use only function pointers, the functions all must be written from scratch; it isn't possible to have all three functions call one common function containing the guts of the minimizer. But thanks to a very nice class library by Rich Hickey, it is now possible to wrap these different types of functions into one common object called a functor, and then use the functor as an argument to one minimizer function.
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Midi In Flash Controlling Midi Files In Flash
For Flash 3 or 4
A javascript implimentation that uses the browser to play midi files with a flash movie.
For Flash 3 or 4
A javascript implimentation that uses the browser to play midi files with a flash movie.
Monday, March 04, 2002
Sunday, March 03, 2002
Historica - A Web Site dedicated to Canadian History
Historica is a new foundation whose mandate is to provide Canadians with a deeper understanding of their history and its importance in shaping their future.
Giving Our Past A Future
At the turn of the millennium, one thing is evident: history matters. A proper recognition of the contemporary challenges facing a community requires an understanding both of past events - how we got to where we are - and of what is going on in the world around us. Education in the history of Canada is essential preparation for responsible citizenship and is the basis on which to build understanding among this country's diverse cultures and backgrounds. Canada's history - with all its passions and complexities - echoes in the evolving dynamics of our present and will resonate in our future...
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and DHTML
We'll divide these lessons in 3 pages guiding you through the building of objects and association of funtions to them. At the beginning we'll just use pointer variables to explain what objects do, and then we'll explain how to properly build objects to assign functions and properties to them, in order to save up some space and make the code reusable. Finally, before we start to discuss the library code, we'll show you a simple, usable, example to move objects around the window. So here we go.
We'll divide these lessons in 3 pages guiding you through the building of objects and association of funtions to them. At the beginning we'll just use pointer variables to explain what objects do, and then we'll explain how to properly build objects to assign functions and properties to them, in order to save up some space and make the code reusable. Finally, before we start to discuss the library code, we'll show you a simple, usable, example to move objects around the window. So here we go.
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
The mental image of the flaming train, lighting up the nile - and the screaming, barely heard over the engines, rising to ghastly as the train roars past...
Hundreds Killed in Train Fire in Egypt
February 20, 2002
Hundreds Killed in Train Fire in Egypt
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:01 a.m. ET
REQA AL-GHARBIYA, Egypt (AP) -- A train crowded with Egyptians leaving the capital for a religious holiday caught fire and sped on in flames for miles Wednesday, killing 373 people, including some who died as they jumped from the burning cars, police said.
The fire was reportedly started by a cooking gas cylinder that burst and swept through last seven of the train's 11 cars. Workers in gloves and masks pulled charred and twisted bodies from the wreckage. Firefighters said some of the corpses were found curled up under seats.
Maher Abdel Wahid, who led a team of state investigators to the scene, said he did not expect the toll to rise much beyond 373.
Officials called it the worst train accident here in decades.
``There has been nothing in the recent or distant past like this,'' Ahmed al-Sherif, director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, said at the scene. ``I've been with the railway for 32 years and never seen or heard of an event of this size.''
Egypt's Middle East New Agency said the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder using for cooking in the dining car. But al-Sherif said the cause had not yet been determined. He said the third-class train had no dining car, but that passengers often brought gas cylinders and small stoves aboard despite regulations forbidding it.
Each car designed to hold about 150 passengers was crammed with twice that number, police said, which would have put more than 3,000 people on board. Survivors said the train was so full that they were sitting on the floor. Al-Sherif put the number aboard lower, at about 1,200.
Abdel Wahid, Egypt's prosecutor general, said that if his 25 investigators and 45 coroners determined ``there was any kind of negligence, and that's what we are looking into, the punishment will be severe.''
President Hosni Mubarak was quoted by the Middle East News Agency in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik as expressing his ``deepest regret and profound sorrow'' to the families of the victims.
Prime Minister Atef Obeid, who came to the scene, told reporters his government ``has mobilized all its efforts to help the families of the victims and alleviate their suffering.''
Al-Sherif said the train left Cairo on its 300-mile journey to Luxor about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and the fire broke out about 1 a.m. Wednesday. The train traveled in flames for 2 1/2 miles before finally stopping at Reqa al-Gharbiya, a village 60 miles south of Cairo. Al-Sherif it was not clear why the emergency brakes were not applied immediately.
The flames were put out hours later.
Wednesday afternoon, a warning siren blared repeatedly in Reqa al-Gharbiya as workers placed bodies, many burned beyond recognition, into ambulances.
Corpses had melded together in piles on the train. Among charred luggage collected nearby, a Bible, children's clothing and what appeared to be a wedding dress could be seen...
Hundreds Killed in Train Fire in Egypt
February 20, 2002
Hundreds Killed in Train Fire in Egypt
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:01 a.m. ET
REQA AL-GHARBIYA, Egypt (AP) -- A train crowded with Egyptians leaving the capital for a religious holiday caught fire and sped on in flames for miles Wednesday, killing 373 people, including some who died as they jumped from the burning cars, police said.
The fire was reportedly started by a cooking gas cylinder that burst and swept through last seven of the train's 11 cars. Workers in gloves and masks pulled charred and twisted bodies from the wreckage. Firefighters said some of the corpses were found curled up under seats.
Maher Abdel Wahid, who led a team of state investigators to the scene, said he did not expect the toll to rise much beyond 373.
Officials called it the worst train accident here in decades.
``There has been nothing in the recent or distant past like this,'' Ahmed al-Sherif, director of the state-owned Egyptian Railway Authority, said at the scene. ``I've been with the railway for 32 years and never seen or heard of an event of this size.''
Egypt's Middle East New Agency said the cause of the fire was a burst gas cylinder using for cooking in the dining car. But al-Sherif said the cause had not yet been determined. He said the third-class train had no dining car, but that passengers often brought gas cylinders and small stoves aboard despite regulations forbidding it.
Each car designed to hold about 150 passengers was crammed with twice that number, police said, which would have put more than 3,000 people on board. Survivors said the train was so full that they were sitting on the floor. Al-Sherif put the number aboard lower, at about 1,200.
Abdel Wahid, Egypt's prosecutor general, said that if his 25 investigators and 45 coroners determined ``there was any kind of negligence, and that's what we are looking into, the punishment will be severe.''
President Hosni Mubarak was quoted by the Middle East News Agency in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik as expressing his ``deepest regret and profound sorrow'' to the families of the victims.
Prime Minister Atef Obeid, who came to the scene, told reporters his government ``has mobilized all its efforts to help the families of the victims and alleviate their suffering.''
Al-Sherif said the train left Cairo on its 300-mile journey to Luxor about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and the fire broke out about 1 a.m. Wednesday. The train traveled in flames for 2 1/2 miles before finally stopping at Reqa al-Gharbiya, a village 60 miles south of Cairo. Al-Sherif it was not clear why the emergency brakes were not applied immediately.
The flames were put out hours later.
Wednesday afternoon, a warning siren blared repeatedly in Reqa al-Gharbiya as workers placed bodies, many burned beyond recognition, into ambulances.
Corpses had melded together in piles on the train. Among charred luggage collected nearby, a Bible, children's clothing and what appeared to be a wedding dress could be seen...
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
The Perltidy Home Page
Perltidy is a Perl script which indents and reformats Perl scripts to make them easier to read. If you write Perl scripts, or spend much time reading them, you will probably find it useful.
Just a thought...
It would be nice if my text editor made agreeable noises as I coded... maybe musical, maybe lifeform noises, maybe a combination... hmmmmmm.......
It would be nice if my text editor made agreeable noises as I coded... maybe musical, maybe lifeform noises, maybe a combination... hmmmmmm.......
Monday, February 18, 2002
blue sky: miscellaneous
Intertwingle can be seen as a unification of a search tool and an address book. It is not, however, a mail reader. The presentation of query results could be done through a mail reader, but the intention is that ones choice of mail reader should be orthogonal to the use of this tool. The two kinds of tools just happen to operate on the same data.
The design philosophy is that any time there is a visual representation of an object, the corresponding object should be accessible with a gesture: That chasing links is easier than composing search terms (but both are needed.)
Intertwingle can be seen as a unification of a search tool and an address book. It is not, however, a mail reader. The presentation of query results could be done through a mail reader, but the intention is that ones choice of mail reader should be orthogonal to the use of this tool. The two kinds of tools just happen to operate on the same data.
The design philosophy is that any time there is a visual representation of an object, the corresponding object should be accessible with a gesture: That chasing links is easier than composing search terms (but both are needed.)
Thursday, February 14, 2002
perl.com: Optimizing Your Perl [Feb. 12, 2002]
Optimizing your Perl: Some Simple Complexity Theory
Before we can talk about speeding up something, we need a way to describe how long something takes. Because we're talking about algorithms that may have varying amounts of input, the actual "time" to do something isn't conclusive. Computer scientists and mathematicians use a system called big-O notation to describe the order of magnitude of how long something will take. Big-O notation represents a worst-case analysis. There are other notations to represent the magnitude of minimum and actual runtimes.
Optimizing your Perl: Some Simple Complexity Theory
Before we can talk about speeding up something, we need a way to describe how long something takes. Because we're talking about algorithms that may have varying amounts of input, the actual "time" to do something isn't conclusive. Computer scientists and mathematicians use a system called big-O notation to describe the order of magnitude of how long something will take. Big-O notation represents a worst-case analysis. There are other notations to represent the magnitude of minimum and actual runtimes.
Thursday, February 07, 2002
May be the king of the dinosaur painters -b
All of these images of meat-eating reptiles are paintings by the artist Joe Tucciarone.
All of these images of meat-eating reptiles are paintings by the artist Joe Tucciarone.
Tuesday, February 05, 2002
screen
the
up
fill
to
trying
foo, baby
Monday, February 04, 2002
Java Certification Tutorial This section covers the aspect of arrays, variables, and modifiers. Also describes about correct declaration of arrays, packages, import statements and class declaration.
Saturday, February 02, 2002
This is a first post
