December 2009 - Posts

• Patrick Stewart to be Knighted

  I first saw Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation and I was instantly captivated. The Queen of England must think he is pretty neat also because she is bestowing knighthood on him. He will now be known as "Sir Patrick". He was amazing as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. I was sorry to see the TV series and movies end. But he came back as Charles Xavier in X-Men. I've even watched bad movies like Dune and Lifeforce just because he was in them. Most of the time he plays very commanding roles; he has that kind of aura about him. Even dressed in sack-cloth, he could lead armies with that voice. I think he is all-around yummy. I named one of my cats "Jean-Luc" after him. Posted Dec 31 2009, 11:31 AM by Blogette with 3 comment(s)

• Always Visible DIV Tags

  It is very easy to make a DIV tag which stays visible on a web page even if the page is scrolled up or down or left or right. There is an ASP.Net AJAX Toolkit control called "AlwaysVisible", but anyone can do it with simple HTML. All that is required is a position:fixed attribute in the div tag's style. To place the div tag in a particular position on the page, you can add attributes of top, left, right, and bottom. If you don't want to display your div tag in a corner, it is still easy to place it more towards the middle; it just takes a little extra coding. You would still use the top or bottom placement, but on your left field you would use a value of 50% instead of a number of pixels. If you don't want it displayed smack dab in the middle of the page which would likely hide text, you can use a negative number of pixels in the margin-left field to move it off to the left, or a positive number of pixels to move it off to the right. position:fixed top:10px left:10px position:fixed top:10px right:10px position:fixed bottom:10px left:10px position:fixed bottom:10px right:10px position:fixed top:300px left:50% margin-left:-614px position:fixed top:300px left:50% margin-left:478px Posted Dec 30 2009, 03:51 PM by Blogette with no comments Filed under: ASP.Net, HTML

• Another Good Reason to Not Use Drugs

  Federal agents found that 69% of cocaine shipments they seized entering the U.S. were laced with levamisole, a drug used to deworm opossums. In humans, this drug can lead to a seriously weakened immune system called agranulocytosis. Twenty-one cases of agranulocytosis have been linked to the use of cocaine laced with levamisole, including one death. Many more cases go unreported. Canada is also finding levamisole in its seized cocaine shipments. Posted Dec 28 2009, 02:47 PM by Blogette with no comments

• HP's Webcam Doesn't Follow Black People

  The HP Webcam uses facial recognition and motion tracking sensors and is supposed to stay centered on the person's face as they move in front of the camera. In this video, two co-workers, one white, one black, demonstrate how badly the HP webcam works. I'm sure HP will get a lot of bad press for their inability to do proper testing before releasing a product. Posted Dec 23 2009, 09:58 AM by Blogette with no comments

• Christmas Gifts in a Lousy Economy

  At Christmas time everyone normally goes shopping for all his or her close friends and acquaintances. It is a given that shopping will be done for everyone on his or her Christmas list. This year, because of the strange economy, more people are shopping more cautiously and the old Christmas list is taking a hit. Instead of buying gifts for everyone, some people are concentrating only on the children and not so much on the parents and other adults. The holidays really ought to be just for the kids anyway; adults need nothing. They usually have everything that they want or need and it is very difficult to come up with something new and exciting. Kids, on the other hand, always need staple items like clothes, shoes, and things for school. In the past, it would be unthinkable to remove someone from the Christmas list because it would be seen as an insult or a lack of caring. This season, however, the economy is so shaky, so many people are unemployed, and there is so much uncertainty, that it seems to be tacitly understood that trimming the Christmas list has nothing to do with a lack of caring, but more of surviving in this changing economic time. So, buy the kids something because they need things, and for the adults, a nice card with warm, personal sentiments, and maybe a celebratory drink, will let everyone on your list know that they are cared for and appreciated. Merry Christmas! Posted Dec 18 2009, 06:39 PM by Blogette with 1 comment(s)

• Things I Would Change in the Design of the Human Body

  My first change would be to have our bodies covered in fur. It works so well for dogs and cats. They don't have to shop for summer clothes or winter clothes, casual clothes or dressy clothes; they are perfectly dressed for any place or occasion. They don't even need a special outfit to go swimming. We would save so much money by not having to buy clothes and it would save time in the morning by not having to decide what to wear or fix our hair. Plus you would still have the option to wear something if you wanted. My second change would be to require an additional action to start a pregnancy. Right now it is too easy for just about anyone to get pregnant. I think pregnancy should be a well-thought-out and prepared-for event. I'm not quite sure what the deliberate action should be. Maybe to add a certain chemical to the diet to make it possible, or press on a place on the body to trigger the release of a hormone, or perhaps a different hole. In the movie and subsequent TV series Alien Nation, the aliens had three types of people in their species. The third type of person/alien was the necessary catalyst to cause a pregnancy to take place. I don't think I'd want to go to that extent though. My third change would be to breathe less frequently. We have to take quite a few breaths every minute. If we go without air for just a brief time, we wind up brain damaged or dead. That seems a bit too fragile for my taste. There are mammals such as whales and dolphins that can last for 20 minutes or longer underwater on one breath of air, why not us? We could do more marine exploration if our oxygen needs were met more efficiently. My other choice would be to have both lungs and gills. Our planet is about 78% water. Wouldn't it make more sense if we could breathe in the water? Posted Dec 15 2009, 05:27 PM by Blogette with no comments

• Why I Hate The Song Little Drummer Boy

  I went through six years of elementary school as the smallest kid in the class. To make matters worse, my mother, for some diabolical reason known only to her, always cut my hair very short so that I was constantly being mistaken for a boy. I was the natural choice to play the "Little Drummer Boy" for the school Christmas play when I was in 4th grade. One kid brought in an old tunic-looking thing that smelled funny, and another brought in a little toy drum. The whole school assembled in the gym to watch the play. The play opened with the song "Little Drummer Boy" playing over the sound system while I walked from the back of the gym to the front and up on stage, tapping on that stupid drum. Since I was the only thing happening at the time, all eyes were on me. I could feel them staring. My cheeks were burning and the blood was roaring in my ears. Step-tap, step-tap, step-tap. I was SO humiliated. Even now, over thirty years later, hearing that song makes my teeth clench and my stomach churn. Posted Dec 08 2009, 11:36 AM by Blogette with 2 comment(s)