# Monday, September 10, 2007

8 years later, Gruska...

If you create software development tools, you’ll want to consider building on the Visual Studio 2008 Shell. A streamlined Visual Studio development environment, the Visual Studio Shell provides the core foundation so you can focus on building your application’s unique features. Flexible customization options help you deliver optimized experiences for specific markets.

[ Visual Studio 2008 Shell ]

Meaning, since you love Visual Studio and want to just get used to one IDE, you can now use the Shell and educate it for other platforms (like ColdFusion!). Previously that would have cost over $10,000 to get the rights from Microsoft to Frankenstein their IDE, but now:

Q: How much will the Visual Studio Shell cost?

The Visual Studio Shell will be freely available as part of the Visual Studio SDK starting with the release of Visual Studio 2008. Building and deploying applications based on the Visual Studio Shell will be royalty-free.

So we're ready for you to download the VS2K8 Shell SDK and build us an awesome CF editor, Gruska...

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# Sunday, September 09, 2007

New Silver Spring

I grew up in Silver Spring in the 1970's and 1980's and as I keep telling everyone, it's no longer the Silver Spring I grew up in. Here are some prime examples, and some places that haven't changed in 30 years.

[ New Silver Spring - a photoset on Flickr ]

Hey look, I'm quoting myself! But seriously, Silver Spring is so nice now, check it out!

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# Friday, September 07, 2007

New Camera!

Coolpix S50

Camera Type: Point & Shoot
Megapixels: 7.2 Megapixels
Optical Zoom: 3 X
LCD Size: 3 in
Media Type: SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital (SD) Card

So perhaps my Flickr will get something more than crappy cell phone pix and game related wallpapers...

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# Tuesday, September 04, 2007

VW HQ DC?

Barring a last-minute delay, Volkswagen of America will announce plans to move its headquarters to the Washington, D.C. suburbs, during a news conference several well-placed VW sources tell TheCarConnection.com will be held on Thursday.

[ Volkswagen Moving to D.C. Area - The Car Connection ]

Hot!

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Revolutionary, perhaps

But such a great idea. It would take a ton of people to get on board with this, and lots of planning over many years, but the potential is well worth it, if not just to stop us from lugging transformers around for each of our devices.

  1. Develop a universal standard around 12 volt dc for all electronics.
  2. Develop a standard wall plug or distribution system for 12 volt DC.
  3. Provide a secondary wiring system in all new houses at 12V DC.
  4. Revise our current wiring codes to reduce the number of 110V outlets and circuits required.

    [ Big Steps In Building: Change Our Wiring to 12 Volt DC (TreeHugger) ]

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    # Saturday, September 01, 2007

    Apple Pie

    In a bottle. With carbonation. Really.

    Reed's Spiced Apple Brew uses 8 grams of fresh ginger root, the finest tart German apple juice, and such apple pie spices as cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Spiced Apple Brew is 50% apple juice and sweetened with fruit juice and fructose.

    [ REED'S Ginger Brews ]

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    # Thursday, August 30, 2007

    Kowabunga!

    The word evolved from “kawabonga,” a word used by the character Chief Thunderthud on the United States children’s television program Howdy Doody in the 1950s. “Kawagoopa” was an all-purpose exclamation of the Tinka Tonka Indians, the fictitious tribe of Princess Summerfall Winterspring and Chief Featherman, and “kawabonga” was the equivalent exclamation of Chief Thunderthud, who was of the Ooragnak Tribe. By the 1960s, surfers who had grown up watching Howdy Doody adopted it for surfing use, turning it to “cowabunga.”

    [ Cowabunga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ]

    Why, you may ask, did I look this one up? Oddly the reason is also on the Wikipedia page:

    Cookie Monster of Sesame Street, began to exclaim “Kowabunga!” in the 1970s. (Note the “K” spelling. He used it during a Letter of the Day segment as an example of a “K” word. When challenged by Prairie Dawn that it was not a word, he replied: “Kowabunga too a word. It esoteric, but it poetic in its own right.”)

    So Cookie Monster is a surfer? Or just loved the Howdy Doody show?

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    # Wednesday, August 29, 2007

    Meal Options

    Korean Air has 22 special needs meals plus 2 or 3 choices for the standard meal and 2 or 3 for the first class passengers. That includes 6 types of vegetarian meals (one is listed under Hindu).

    We prepare a selection of special meals, catering to a wide variety of tastes as well as ethnic, religious and dietary needs. Special meals will be available in the flights with meal service only. Orders for special meals should be made at the Korean Air reservation center at least 24 hours before your scheduled flight.

    [ Welcome to Korean Air ]

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    # Sunday, August 26, 2007

    If you're not part of the solution...

    You are part of the problem. Apparently some news sources don't get it. When covering horrific acts of extremist fringe groups most if not all news outlets will not discuss or publish the goals of those groups, and for a good reason, to help them get their message out, or lend credence to their movement, would be a crime by assisting those who perpetrated the horrible acts. However US news outlets don't seem to understand that is exactly what the do when covering stories like the recent bombing in Hyderabad, India.

    First a little background of the city:

    Hyderabad is a unique cosmopolitan city and home to people practicing Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism. Hyderabadis have developed their own distinctive culture, which is a mixture of ancient Hindu traditions of Telugu people and the centuries old Islamic Culture.

    ...

    The cities population is estimated at 3.6 million or more in 2006 while the population of the greater metropolitan area is estimated at over 6.1 million. Religiously and culturally, the city is united with Christians, Hindus and Muslims. The main languages spoken are Telugu, Hindi,Tamil,Urdu and Deccani.

    Wikipedia ]

    Basically Hyderabad is a true success story of a people of different cultures and religions working together for the common good, just the sort of thing that extremists who pretend to have an Islamic bent, just can't stand. How to deal with this "blemish" in their rhetoric of the "two worlds"? Simple, drive a wedge between the Muslims and their neighbors with a terror act. If people die, and it's determined that the "Muslims" did it, the other communities will trust them less and withdrawal from cross-cultural and cross-religious engagements where they can.

    So then, what are the voices of reason to do to fight this? Don't highlight the cause of these extremists by labeling this a "Muslim" or "Islamic" act. If we treat these vile extremists as just that, and make sure to use labels that aren't divisive, we hopefully act against their desires and help to invalidate their actions, and at least we don't assist them with their evil intentions. So who can we rely on to just not "get it"?

    News Organizations References to the Terrorists

    With reference to Islam

    Without reference to Islam

    CNN
    Fox News
    MSNBC
    Washington Post
    USA Today
    ABC News
    CBS News
    Deutsche Welle
    US News & World Report
    Reuters
    AP
    Time

    BBC
    NY Times
    France 2

    But, you may say, some of these sources are just quoting Indian officials who are saying that themselves. It's a tricky game these militant extremists play and just because the Indian government has fallen for their trap, doesn't mean news organizations should follow. Does this act make any more sense to anyone by using the self proclaimed label of the organization responsible? And certainly does this act represent, in anyone's mind, what any self-respecting, honest, Muslim from the majority of Muslims ever consider acceptable behavior? This linkage of the words "Muslim" and "Islam" to acts like this is the goal of these organizations. They want you to believe that this is what Islam stands for so that you will distance yourself from the Muslims of the world. Then they will have a much easier time to recruit additional followers and create a larger and larger rift between the decent people of the world, and we're helping them.

    And before you jump all over me for this rant, ask yourself why a story like this one on CNN.com doesn't refer to these bombers as "Christian Terrorists".

    Note: my survey was very unscientific I simply picked the first story about the bombings in India that I found on each site. Oh, and I was very surprised by the Washington Post and Reuters.

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    # Thursday, August 23, 2007

    Ramadan 1428 AH - 2007 CE

    The astronomical New Moon is on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 12:44 Universal Time (3:44 pm Makkah time). Sunset at Makkah on September 11 is 6:28 pm local time, while moonset at Makkah is at 6:24 pm local time (4 minutes before sunset). This does not meet the new criteria adopted by Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and European Council of Fatwa and Research (ECFR). On Wednesday, September 12, 2007, sunset at Makkah is 6:27 pm local time, while moonset is at 6:55 pm local time. Therefore, first day of Ramadan is Thursday, September 13, insha'Allah.

    [ Announcement Detail About Ramadan 1428 AH ]

    And if you don't believe me, just ask Crayola, American Greetings, Blue Mountain, or Wikipedia. It wasn't so long ago that my blog was one of the few places you could see this announcement; what a long way we've come.

    Update: I am actually surprised by the Crayola page. It is clear that they've done their research and actually understand the holy month. They have activities to share with children to impress important lessons upon them, not just stupid coloring activities based on trite symbolism, but actual activities and exercises designed to educate and enrich. Kudos Crayola, and color me impressed.

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