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January 22, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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Intelligent are thoughts better than Intelligent Design

January 21, 2007 by Leave a Comment

In the January 2007 issue of The Lutheran, in the “Letters to the editor” section on page 56, Kari Stadem of Blomkest, MN, wrote:

Upper- and lowercase

There are two kinds of evolution: Evolution with a capital E, the idea that people came from rocks by random chance over billions of years–and evolution with a small e, the theory that species adapt and change through random mutations and natural selection. I fully agree that evolution has been shown through scientific observation. But I strongly disagree that Evolution is anything but a religious view. It can’t be repeated because it’s a question of origins. It can never be observed because it supposedly takes billions of years. And it violates at least two of the most fundamental laws of science: the law of biogenesis (life only comes from life) and the second law of thermodynamics (everything in the universe is gradually increasing in chaos, not in order). Let’s get the whole question of origins out of the science classroom. It has no place there because it’s a question of history. Teach evolution, not Evolution, and I don’t think anyone will argue.

(I added the links in the text above.)

When I read this, I couldn’t help but say to myself, “This is exactly
right.” The argument shouldn’t be whether Intelligent Design or Evolution is
right: it’s unprovable, thus pointless. The question is really whether
Evolution (with the capital E) is actually science–clearly, it’s not. It’s a
set of beliefs held as true in the absence of observable facts. It’s a
religion. And, in a science classroom, as Kari points out, it has no
place.

It’s this kind of intelligent thinking and discussion that we need. Not
more useless debate as to whether Intelligent Design or Evolution is actually
correct: they’re both religions and neither are provable. Let people freely
believe what they want to believe. Lets just make sure that what’s taught in
the classroom as “science” truly is just that.

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The end of an era: goodbye, Network Solutions

January 19, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I transferred all my domain names to GoDaddy.com from Network Solutions. It was actually quite sad … finally giving up my “ETS2” NIC handle. I still remember emailing “hostmaster@networksolutions.com” a plain-text form to update all my WHOIS information. Yes, I have a domain as old as 1994. I remember my first netblock, 198.6.113.0/24, a Class C from UUNET. Back in those days, the yearly domain name registry fee was $35, and Network Solutions had the monopoly on it.

Sure, their prices have come down a little since then, but in over 10 years now, I’ve given them close to $300 for that one domain alone. In comparison, my next 10 years with GoDaddy.com will only cost me close to $70. There’s very little value-add in the area of domain name registry itself, so price is certainly my major decision point. In that regard, GoDaddy.com wins–they have a smooth, usable web interface for managing domains. Their interface is pleasant to use for bulk management of domains, too. And, they’re cheap.

So, goodbye and farewell, Network Solutions. It’s a good, long, just barely 13 years, but it’s time to move on. Lets hope that GoDaddy.com is as maintenance-free and reliable for the next ten years as Network Solutions has been for me for the last ten years.

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I’m shallow and empty

January 18, 2007 by 6 Comments

During this past Monday’s therapy session, I said something which has
been stuck in my head, so I’m writing it down. I said:

I’m shallow and I’m okay with that. But, I’m empty. I’m shallow and empty. Now, that’s pathetic.

I don’t hate my wife and kids. I have a wonderful wife and great kids. I hate myself. That’s what it really is. That’s the sad truth. I don’t know what “love” is. Before you can love someone else, you have to be able to love yourself. And, I don’t.

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Filed Under: Dossy, Dossy and more Dossy! 6 Comments

del.icio.us/dossy links since January 1, 2007 at 09:00 AM

January 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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Debugging Java with Eclipse 3.2

January 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I realize the subject of debugging Java applications with Eclipse is nothing new:

What is new is that I’ll be giving a presentation on this subject at this month’s Northern NJ Java Meetup on Tuesday, January 16th, sometime after 7:00 PM. This month’s meetup will take place at the Robert Half Technologies office in the Mack-Cali office park at 61 South Paramus Road in Paramus, NJ.

The presentation is intended for folks who are already familiar with the basics of Java programming, but assumes no knowledge of Eclipse. In other words, I’d say this is a very introductory-level preso.

In addition, Steve Goguen will be doing a presentation on “Unobtrusive Javascript using jQuery” the same night. jQuery is a beautiful JavaScript library, originally written by John Resig, which makes writing client-side JavaScript for web applications downright enjoyable and easy. If you do any client-side JavaScript, especially DHTML and AJAX, if you haven’t looked at jQuery yet, you definitely should. Steve’s preso should serve as a gentle introduction to some of the basics behind jQuery.

If you are in the Northern NJ area and would like to attend, please feel free to stop by. As a courtesy, it would be nice if you could either RSVP for the meetup, or leave a comment below letting me know you plan to come and how many guests you may be bringing. This is because our gracious hosts–Robert Half Technologies–who donates the meeting space to us, also provides pizza and soda, so it’s nice to have an idea of how much food to order based on how many attendees there will be.

I’ll post the slides from my preso after I give it on Tuesday. Check this space for updates.

Update: Here are the slides —

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The business of kicking ass

January 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

(… and, yes, business is good!)

I’m now in my third month of being self-employed after leaving AOL and things are looking good. I am very thankful for everyone who has been incredibly supportive of me, starting with my wife and children who have been awesome. I’m fortunate to have a large network of friends and clients who have helped me find work and I don’t know what I would have done without them.

Ironically, several years ago, my friend (and at the time, client) Terri-Ann told me that I should have gone independent, that “work will come to [me],” but I just wasn’t prepared for that kind of risk. But, years later, I’m pretty sure she was definitely right. I may not have been ready at that time for other reasons, but I am blessed to have met so many great people along the way. I know I don’t say it often enough: thank you for everything.

Having said all that, it’s now the middle of January 2007. For now, I’m using Quicken 2006 for my invoices and it’s working out well. The irony of being a web application developer is the classic “shoemaker’s children” problem: Panoptic’s website looks like crap. It didn’t bother me as much before, since it was only a part-time thing. Now that it’s my primary business, I really want to pay more attention to it. In the upcoming weeks, I’d like to:

  • Create a more professional logo for the Panoptic brand
  • Clearly define what Panoptic’s business is
  • Create business cards for myself

Long ago, I’d created and used some business cards that I designed myself, but never really took it seriously. Again, it wasn’t a problem, because folks rarely asked me for them. However, lately, I find people ask me for my card a lot. Having to say, “sorry, I don’t have any,” makes me feel awkward–unarmed, almost naked. I’m sure it’s equally hard for potential clients to take me seriously as a professional if I don’t take my business seriously enough to commit to having business cards, right? So, I’m going to make some. It’s time.

I don’t have the cash flow yet to hire professional brand and identity management folks, but if you’ve got some time to spare and would like to help out for free, I’d gladly accept the help. If you’re good at what you do, I’m sure folks will want to know who you are and I’ll be happy to hook you up. I’m also sure that as my business grows, I’ll have paying work to send your way: business networking is a fantastic way of finding work! Lets help each other out.

To everyone else who has left AOL, I wish you all the best of luck. It’s a small world out there, so keep in touch and lets all do the best we can!

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What I sang for Christmas 2006

January 2, 2007 by Leave a Comment

So, for the past several months I’ve been playing guitar with the Sunday school children at church. It’s been going really well and it’s helped me get more comfortable playing in front of people, which is good. We’ve done all sorts of songs, like “Fishers of Men” and “Away in a Manger” … the kids are just fantastic.

I also joined the church choir in December, so this was my first Christmas where I was more involved than just being there. It definitely amplifies the amount of frenzy of the December holidays it was surprisingly gratifying to be part of it all. I think I really felt the Christmas spirit this year: the sense of togetherness, of celebration, of anticipation and love.

I still find myself humming the songs we sang for Christmas choir. I know myself well enough that I’ll forget the relevant details to be able to remember these songs a month from now, so I’m just going to jot it down in the blog here, so I can find it again later. We sang “Angels’ Choir” by John Rutter and “Were you there on that Christmas night?” by Natalie Sleeth. The latter is much shorter but it’s still stuck in my head, but in a good way. I hope it’ll stay with me longer than most of my poor, fading or forgotten memories.

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January 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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I wonder if Saddam is saying, “Oh, Satan …” right about now

December 30, 2006 by 2 Comments

So, apparently Saddam Hussein is dead. I wonder if this is what he’s doing now:

South Park Episode 410

I can just hear it now … “Oh, Satan …”

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Filed Under: Obituaries 2 Comments
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