Recent Comments
- george: Very true. Indeed this is what airlines need to do. Thanks for the link, Ez!
- Ezra F: Blackboard is fully aware we run query against the main application tables part of the main application and not just the PowerSight Kit....
- J: Thanks for that. We don’t query against the database apart from the views supplied as part of the PowerSight Kit as I was under the...
- Ez: The easiest way is a SQL query combining trk_person, trk_action, trk_user_action , trk_page, trk_session, and learning_contex t. The...
- J: Saw a demo of Blackboard NextGen at BBWorldEurope and it looked like an improvement. v9 will be the start of Project NG culminating in v10. I...
- J: Most error reports find their way to me after the user has logged out and therefore cannot find out what node they are on. Have you found a...
- J: Interesting. We have not yet had a request like this. Like you we only create new users and not update from our student information system....
- mattl: thank you, exactly the problem i just had and now a solution
- Wannabe George: “The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.̶ 1;...
- John A Arkansawyer: You’ll like this.
Jul
28
Determination
Filed Under Work | Leave a Comment
This has only happened once:
I received an email asking whether or not I received the email telling me the person left me a phone message to set up a meeting.
Jul
28
Your Next Keyboard?
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment
This Optimus keyboard looks tight.
Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.
Perfect for those people who need to look at the keyboard! It has a Sun keyboard style of a block of 10 keys on the left. Very nice.
Jul
11
Great Site Ranking in Google
Filed Under Interweb | Leave a Comment
Only recently have I come to accept toolbars as something quasi useful. Previously, the trouble they caused more than outweighed the benefits.
A web page on how Google works has me considering recommending the installation of the Google toolbar on all local computers (~3,000) with seeded bookmarks, cache, and temporary files for our web sites. Also, were we to offer a package that would seed the bookmarks for employees and clients, then we could see tremendous increases in our ranking.
[Click through rates] may now be monitored through cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites via the Google toolbar or desktop tools. Many have suspected for some time that sites are rewarded for good CTR with a raise in ranking.
Great Site Ranking in Google The Secret’s Out
Ugh. Probably down the road Google will figure out a way to make that appear to be people abusing the system and heavily dock us…. 
Jul
11
Nokia’s open source advantage
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment
The lesson here is that innovation doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. For Nokia, and Apple, open source isn’t an end in itself. It’s a beginning — one that allows these companies to concentrate on what they do best: delivering great products. Ask yourself whether your company is focused on doing the same. Are you using open source to your best advantage?
Nokia’s open source advantage
Jul
4
Frivolous Lawsuits
Filed Under The World | Leave a Comment
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian astrologist who says
NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported on Monday.NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.
“It is obvious that elements of the comet’s orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope,” Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday’s collision.
A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.
Source: Russian astrologist sues NASA over comet crash
Bolding my own.
According the NASA scientists on NPR’s Science Friday, the anticipated change in the Temple 1 comet’s orbit would 33ft. Wow… that is about $10 million a ft.
Jul
3
Forethought
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment
Technologies are not well thought out.
Podcasters host MP3s on a web site. So any time a listener grabs it, they download it from the web site. In the case of someone with a limited bandwidth hosting plan, it is very possible for the bandwidth to be exceeded. Events like a major software provider (iTunes) and service provider (iTunes Music Store) suddenly listing the podcast could result in the creators exceeding their bandwidth. There is no facility for distributing the podcasts so that any one locationo bears the brunt of the downloading.
Oops.
Apparently no one anticipated the possibility of hundred of thousands or even millions of computers grabbing the RSS feeds associated with blogs.
No one predetermined someone would actually want to send an email under a forged or even non-existant identity.
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Author
Ezra Freelove
Learning Management System (LMS) DBA, amateur photographer, amateur epistemologistDisclaimer
Any views expressed in this blog are my own. My employer(s), coworkers, and associates naturally hold their own views. Feel free to seek their opinions for a more complete picture.
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