kdmurray.blog

The crossroads of life and tech

Monthly Archives: March 2006

And for dessert… Wiki on a stick!

For those of you who have a burning desire to have a wiki that you can take with you anywhere, anytime Wiki on a stick is for you!  The wonderful folks at WikiMedia have put together this article which describes how to load up a memory stick or USB Flash drive (known to some as a memory pencil) with everything you need to run a wiki.

The setup looks pretty clean, a full installation of:

When I started writing this I hadn’t intended to try it out… but my curiosity got the best of me and I gave it a shot on my iPod(!) this evening, and within 10 minutes I had the Uniform Server up and running.

Once I got in to the admin screen, after stopping IIS (duh), I was impressed with the amount of control provided in the web-based interface.  The interface gave control over all the components of the server (apache, php, phpMyAdmin) and had several other add-on tools as well (version checker, download manager, migration tools, error log viewer).

After running through the installation directions in the Wiki on a stick article, I had everything configured and my PocketWiki was born!

Now that I got it… what do I do with it?!

The wiki on a stick implementation has lots of possibilities:

  • Portable Training Documentation
  • Group Collaboration Platform
  • Personal Documentation
  • Kiosk (Used with CD-based WinPE/BartPE for a hard-diskless solution)
  • The list goes on…..

Also, the installed package is completely portable.  You can pick it up and transfer it to another drive, a PC or even (like I did) your iPOD!

Admittedly most wikis will make use of the Internet for collaboration purposes, but if you need a small, self-contained easy-to-deploy wiki solution, check this one out!

  

Key Techie Tidbits…

  • Total Disk Consumption (no articles): 33.3MB
  • Total Install time: 10-15mins
  • Current Version(s): Apache 2.x, PHP 5.x, MySQL 4.x, phpMyAdmin 2.6.x, ActivePerl 5.x, MediaWiki 1.5.x
  • Supported OS: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003
  • OS Note: Should work with other systems as well, but the packages above are the Win32 implementations of the server components (i.e. PHP, MySQL, Perl)
  • Supported Environment: Any valid FAT or NTFS partition including removable media.  Could be paired up with a Windows-PE instance for a no-hard-drive solution.

Sources: WikiMedia Meta

Doomed Star Eta Carinae

There’s no good reason for this post except to show a really cool picture of Eta Carinae. This was taken in 1996 and shows the two-bulb nebula attached to the star Eta Carinae. Astronomers feel that this star is a really good candidate for a full-blown supernova.

Sources: APOD

UB313 – Planet ‘X’?

For many years rumours of a tenth planet in our solar system have been the stuff of tabloids and science-fiction writers. In 2003 a new planetoid was discovered beyond the orbit of Pluto. Officially named 2003 UB313 this small chunk of rock and ice is about 30% more massive than Pluto.

Now that it has been discovered, the real controversy begins. There is great debate around whether UB313 should be classified as a planet. Since it’s even larger than Pluto, some have even called into question Pluto’s status as a planet. One suggestion is that anything orbiting further out than Neptune and against the regular plane of the solar system be classified a Kuiper Belt Planet.

The final decision on whether or not to classify UB313 as a planet rests with the International Astronomical Union and is expected to be made in September 2006.

Sources: APOD, Wikipedia, Space.com

ASP.NET 2.0 Blog

OK, OK… Those non-technical folks out there may have the first instinct to skip over this post… but this one’s more of a story…

Last year, almost a whole year ago, I was looking for some blogging software that I could run on my site that was written in ASP.NET (preferably the experimental ASP.NET 2).  Much to my dismay, the closest thing I could find was .Text, and it really wasn’t what I wanted.  So I decided I’d create one.

I started a project on SourceForge and put together the start of a plan.  I uploaded the plan to the website and then things got busy…  The project was ignored for almost an entire year when I went through the same search: find an ASP.NET 2.0 Blog solution.  I still can’t and .Text still is the closest option I could find.  Imagine my surprise however, when I went back to SourceForge to do a search, and when I searched for “blog c#” the application at the top of the search results was: My Project!

It’s slipped from the top spot this week, but this was inspiration enough for me to resume the project.  Aparently there is enough demand for a solution like this that it needs to get done…  Keep your eyes peeled for ChromiumBlog!

Employing your Virtual Self

A new practise is cropping up in HR departments and recruiters offices around the world.  In addition to the typical resume reviews and background checks, recruiters are now beginning to search through your on-line profile.

By using personal networking services such as Friendster or Myspace and also through other avenues like Blogs and personal websites prospective employers can get a look at what you really think, without giving you a chance to provide that all important “proper context”.

The lesson in this really is very simple.  If you don’t wish to be known for strange antics or strong views on sensitive issues, there’s no reason you have to tag the articles with your real name.  If you’re going to maintain an virtual presence representing your not-so-virtual self, make sure that you have comport yourself in a manner in which you wish to be recognized… If you don’t want a potential employer to know about that time you and your buddies got drunk and crashed a car into a dumpster, don’t talk about it online… (or don’t use your real names. ;) )

Don’t give anyone the opportunity to wonder whether they’re hiring the spit-polished version of you that they met at the interview, or the spit-up version of you drunk in your friendster photo gallery.  Really people… a little common sense!

Sources: New York Metro, Morpheme Tales

A Nostalgia Moment – RetroJunk.com

It’s amazing what will trigger a reaction in people.  I was browsing through RetroJunk.com tonight and on a whim decided to look through some old commercials.  These were all made before I reached the age of 10, and it’s amazing how many of them I remember.

What about you, are you a chlid of the ’80s?  Do you remember:

Some of these products aren’t around any more.  In each case these marketing campaigns are long over, but it shows the power that television has on young minds.  It makes me shudder to think that youngsters (and the rest of us) in 20 years are going to have memories of shows like Survivor, America’s next top Model and American (Canadian) Idol. Shudder

Creating Outlook Calendar Appointments

I was just reading through Dan Fernandez’s blog and came accross a very interesting article for any of you who work in an environment where MS-Office is prevalent.  Though there are many ways to interface and interact with Outlook with .NET products, here is a very short tutorial which demonstrates how to create Outlook calendar items by using a simple flat file.

The example itself is quite simple, by generating a .vcs file that a user can click on, any web-based application can create calendar items.  Here is a sample of the VCS file format:

<

p style=”font-family: Lucidia Console,Courier New,Courier”>BEGIN:VCALENDAR BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20060314T163000Z DTEND:20060314T173000Z SUMMARY:Product Launch GO/NOGO LOCATION:Conference Room – F123, Bldg. 002 DESCRIPTION:The GO/NOGO decidion for the launch of our newest product takes place on Tuesday. Bring all of your action log items, and completed TPS reports with you. Johannes and Louisa will co-chair this meeting. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR

Armed with this knowledge it should become even easier to implement Outlook calendar appointments in your solutions.

Sources: Dan Fernandez’s Blog, IMC RFC 2445

DJ Bolivia – Music to Code By

Dj Bolivia has released another volume in his series of music entitled Music to Code By.  This is the fourth in what appears to be a six-volume set.  To download the first four volumes, as well as other DJ Bolivia tracks visit DJ Bolivia’s Web Site.  Volume four is dedicated to the power of blogs and blogging in modern media.  It is entitled: Partisan Scream Fest.

I’ve got all four volumes of MTCB on my iPod.  They’re good dance/rave tracks that keep the blood pumping and the brain-cells firing.  Also good for workouts at the gym if you can find the time to get away from your keyboard. ;)

Water on Enceladus

The Cassini space-probe has recently completed a fly-by of Saturn and its moon Enceladus.  Early indications are that the moon contains pockets of liquid water only tens of metres below the surface.  The stunning image from the APOD site shows the “tiger-stripe” crevasses from which plumes of debris are being emitted.  The suspected cause: liquid water.  If the discovery pans out it will certainly be exciting, but it isn’t the first instance of liquid water detected outside of Earth.

The Wedding Site

I’ve been working feverishly on the Wedding website for the past couple of days. This is about the 7th attempt I’ve made to get this site going, and finally opted to use another copy of WordPress to get the site built and templated.

Everything seems to be working fine except for the forms… Aparently it’s a bit tough to embed forms into a WordPress page post… ah well, I’ll figure something out. ;)

Any comments or constructive criticisms are always welcome!