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.
May
24
A recent comment I made regarding to another blogger regarding my interest in getting an MLIS: Huh… Back in college, MLIS was part of my career path. That seems like forever ago, but it was only less than eight years?
It was a natural fit for me. As a university student, working in the library, I worked the Reference desk for fun. One summer, four of the eight Reference Librarian positions needed to be hired, so they hired me as a staff member to work full time on the desk to answer questions and help people. That was the best job I’d ever had at that point. It was definitely something I loved doing. The University Librarian offered to hire me should I go off to library school and apply to work there.
Computers won. I got a job I loved just a little bit more working in Information Technology. So I was hooked.
The possibility of going back in the library direction seems ever present. At first it was the possibility of turning my IT experience into a great admission into an Automation Librarian MLIS degree. Later, when I become full time staff at a university, my graduate school thoughts turned towards other degrees I could get for free. Eventually, the university started an MLIS program. While observing its likelihood of obtaining accreditation, I left for another job.
Maybe I’ll get an MLIS eventually? Maybe I’ll go another route? Who knows. Futurology has never served me well.
May
24
Waste Not
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of forwarded or group invites for kinds of things about not buying gas for a day, not buying gas from the two largest oil companies, or even everyone not using electricity for an hour (One Hour NO Power). These are ambitious endeavors for problems I agree are present.
My power consumption is fairly conservative, I think. Everything is electric rather than gas. My are turned off computers every night. The shredder, coffee maker, cell chargers, computer speakers, scanner, two printers, and external hard drive all remain turned off unless I need them. I wash clothes in decent size loads. I avoid running heat, air conditioning, or long showers. Admittedly, some devices remain on all time which bother me: TiVo, DVD player, range clock, cordless phone charger, and microwave. I can be better about the DVD player and maybe microwave.
My gasoline consumption is defintitely high. I don’t carpool, but I do live close to work. If I’d picked a better location and were in better shape I might could ride a bike to work. Downtown isn’t anywhere near walking distance. Nor are those state parks and historical landmarks.
Chain letters are worthless. People rarely get so excited that they think All my friends and even strangers must absolutely hear about this! Instead, its a few who continue it on. Chain letters are a numbers game. You have to hit a large number of people who are going to ignore it in hopes of reaching a few who will pass it along. You have hit a massive amount of people for any of these initiatives to work. Maybe I’m wrong about this means of communication? Anyone have numbers on how many people you can reach using chainletter emails? I’m thnking they are a massive waste of electricity.
May
20
Moon and Star
Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
May
17
OpenOffice Is Like Mikey
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment
Remember the commercials for the cereal where the kids decide to give Mikey the stuff to see if he likes it? Someone sent me a WordPerfect document. Its been years since I got one of those. Office XP obviously doesn’t open it without scouring the Microsoft web site for the coverters.
Before subjecting myself to such propaganda, I thought, What about OpenOffice? Its open source, it should be able to open anything! Sure enough, it opened up the file! I keep meaning to make OO my default editor. I just don’t deal enough with Office documents except Excel to bother. Easily 95% of the files I directly edit are plain text files (logs, notes, SQL, scripts, etc.). None of those do well in a word processor which is for memos and letters.
May
12
Parasol
Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
She liked this photo. She and her friend had me take a similar one with their camera.
May
12
Important Birthdays
Filed Under Humor / Weird | Leave a Comment
Call me crazy. I’m not that huge a fan of decimal. We use it, I accept it. Any time the leading tens or hundreds changes, we feel the need to celebrate it over the others. So, 20th, 30th, 40th… 100th are more important birthdays.
Oddly 16, 18, and 21 are also important. Well, 16 is 24 and the base of hexidecimal. 18 is 2*32. 21 is 3*7.
So I would like to celebrate the positive integer exponents of two… 25 (32), 26 (64), and maybe 27 (128 could be possible soon?) … as important birthdays. We could throw in some others such as 32 (9), 33 (27), 34 (81), 52 (25), 62 (36), 72 (49), (82 is 26 and 92 is 34), and of course 102 (100).
Nevermind… I’ll just call myself crazy…
May
12
Snow Queen
Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
May
7
Thistle Watshes Schme
Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment
It reminds me of the ship’s computer in Flight of the Navigator.
May
6
Reactions
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment
The Athens NEWS: Athens’ Only Locally Owned Newspaper:
Ohio University would be safer with concealed weapons on campus if those gaining such a permit had to be subjected to a strict screening process that included an annual mental-health checkup; criminal background check; and training in said firearms use, marksmanship and safety, including an inspection of the weapon to be carried.
Ummmm… If background checks are so effective, then how did Seung-hui Cho get one? Last night, I was watching 20/20 where they discussed myths, one of which was on whether gun control reduces violent crime obviously spun towards it not.
The example of success? The Appalachian School of Law Shooting where a gunman killed three people before other students with guns stopped him. Many more people would have been killed had these other students not stopped him. Police cannot be everywhere at once, so its better to have a gun to save yourself. They don’t mention that it was after he was done killing that the students with guns got to him and apprehended him. Its not much different than police arriving at the scene.
There are no available numbers on how many mass murders are prevented by people who are not able to acquire a gun.
Its not like either side is going to point out where their side has failed in this issue. 
May
4
Who’s Online? Me… Chatting With Myself
Filed Under Work | Leave a Comment
Investigating an issue with Blackboard Vista’s Who’s Online feature. Its a chat tool. So why do I feel like a tool by chatting with myself?
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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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