01.Blogs :
AlfredTwo  
A blog about life, Microsoft, random technology and general academic stuff.

May 2004 - Posts

Week end is over
Monday, May 31, 2004 9:27 PM
It is still fairly early in the day (17:15) as I write this but basically the week end is over. A long week end and a good one. The weather held up nicely for three glorious days. Besides me planting the vegetable garden, my wife weeded the flower and
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Memorial Day Week end
Sunday, May 30, 2004 9:24 PM
This is Memorial Day weekend in the US. It means a lot of things to a lot of people. [Memorial] Obviously the big thing is that we remember those men and women who fought and died in America’s wars. My father and both uncles were in World War II. My
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

History lesson Part I
Saturday, May 29, 2004 11:02 PM
My first connection to a computer was a 110 baud modem. This involved a connection a terminal and the telephone. The telephone was placed in two rubber cups and the modem translated the sounds to/from signals. Then we got a 300 baud modem that connected
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Where are all the CS students
Friday, May 28, 2004 5:10 AM
I am on a list server for people who teach high school computer science. Like many of the college faculty members I talk to, high school teachers are seeing fewer CS students. This worries me. Part of that is because I think that programming (AKA algorithms
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

I'm not at TechEd
Thursday, May 27, 2004 2:37 AM
I'm not at TechEd. About half of my group is there and there are a couple of people from colleges that I work with there. But I had business that I thought was more important. But as much as I think I made the right choice I feel a bit left out. Microsoft
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Better in VB .NET
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 1:53 AM
Rob showed some interesting code in some C-family language. It's the kind of code that trips a lot of people up because the problems from a minor error do not show up easily. C# will give a warning (or an error I forget and did not double check). Java
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

What a great job
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 1:30 AM
I really do have a great job. I get to visit college campuses and talk to people doing all sorts of interesting things. Last week I was at Dartmouth for example. Dartmouth is way out in the western part of New Hampshire. It is amazingly beautiful out
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Some things are worth paying for
Friday, May 21, 2004 3:34 PM
As I type this there is a man outside my house cutting the grass. I pay him of course. I used to cut my own grass but a few years ago I decided it was better to pay someone else to do it. Cutting it myself took several (2-3) hours of my week end. It meant
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Schools are getting out
Friday, May 21, 2004 2:18 PM
A lot of schools are finishing up around now. Many colleges are already done. I know that some finished a couple of weeks ago. Some are finishing this week. And more will finish over the next few weeks. I even know some students in summer school already.I
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

The Beach
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 8:26 PM
Forbes magazine has an article on the best beaches in the world. MSNBC has a link to it. One of the beaches, Main Beach in East Hampton NY USA, is in the town my father lives in. That is also the town I was born. We of course always liked it because it
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

1001
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 12:46 AM
Some time in the last 10 minutes (I've been waiting) my blogs read count went from 999 to 1001. It took over 4 months to get 1000 reads. But the last several weeks have shown a steady increase in readership so I am hopefull that the next 1000 reads will
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Programming for everyone
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 12:07 AM
Once upon a time I thought that programming courses were only for the select few. Most people are never going to write their own programs so what value does a programming course have for them? But all that changed based on my experiences as
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Creative Writing
Monday, May 17, 2004 10:39 AM
I've been writing a bit lately. Short stuff. One piece, Snow Day, is posted in the Creative Writing message board. Several recent pieces are off a page at my personal web site.
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Breakfast
Monday, May 17, 2004 12:49 AM
I am not a morning person. I joke that “a good day starts with a good lunch.” But when I am up in the morning, which is of course most mornings, I really enjoy a good breakfast. This is especially true when I am traveling. If someone else is doing the
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Not all travel is exotic
Friday, May 14, 2004 3:49 AM
I'll be traveling tomorrow. Now a lot of you are used to reading about exciting and exotic travel to locations like Brazil and Redmond but this is not that sort of travel. I will spend the first part of my day in Amherst Massachusetts and the University
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Working outside
Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:16 PM
Through the magic of wi-fi and a good battery I have been working outside on my back deck for the last hour or so. The house was getting hot and I haven't taken the time to install the air conditioners. And it's not THAT hot anyway. But the cool breeze
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Welcome Monday readers
Monday, May 10, 2004 5:20 PM
Those of you who only read blogs during the week have some catching up to do. TheSpoke seems to have been busy this week end. I know I've had more comments on my Sunday blog than I have on just about any other blog entry I've written. My Friday blog,
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Worm writer caught
Sunday, May 09, 2004 3:31 PM
It seems that German Police arrested the cracker (I refuse to dignify him by calling him a hacker) who wrote the Sasser worm. Officials describe him as "highly intelligent." Well I don’t believe it. I think the officials want to believe that someone
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Writing good software
Saturday, May 08, 2004 2:24 AM
Bad software bothers me. The reason is bothers me is that it is so unnecessary. We know how to write good software but people choose to do things we know will not work. Well that is not completely fair. Some people don't know. Some people are told to
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Addendum
Thursday, May 06, 2004 4:16 AM
One problem I found teaching computer science was that to many kids did not care about learning. They wanted to get good grades with a min of work. In a lot of classes they could BS their way to a good grade. Thinking was not required. You could
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Why school?
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 11:44 PM
Why do (or did) you go to school? Especially post secondary school? Was it to learn, to get a degree, to avoid going to work or perhaps to find a spouse? Something else? I went to college at first because I was not ready for the work force. Once there
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

The Test
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 1:54 AM
Today several thousand (probably around 20,000) American high school students took the Advanced Placement Computer Science exams. Those who do well on the exam with get advanced standing at some universities. Others will get credit for as many as two
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

Answering the Bells
Monday, May 03, 2004 3:18 AM
I posted a short story I wrote at my web site. http://www.acthompson.net/theBells.htmIt's about firemen in my home town - the City of New York. Love to hear what anyone thinks of it.
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 

The Home Office
Saturday, May 01, 2004 8:17 PM
I work out of a home office. No, not the company’s main office. I work out of an office in my home. Now you may be wondering what that is like. A lot of people do and I get asked about it a lot. So let me tell you about it. The good, the bad and the "is
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posted  by  AlfredTwo  (Comments Off) 


 
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