Entries for jsampsonPC

Brilliant Code! Got Some? [Brilliant Code! Got Some?]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:41:48 GMT

"Billiant" is sarcastic - the code here is less-than-brilliant...far less than brilliant.

I wrote the following up as a joke to a friend. Curious if you .NET guys have ever written your own jokes?

The following code prints a link for each day of the current month: Day 1, Day 2, etc. The links direct you to another page that can do something with the query string...Enjoy.

(Oh, and yes, this IS a joke - so no flaming ;))

<?php

    getDays();

    function getDays() {
        $day = array("1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","11","12","13",
                    "14","15","16","17","18","19","20","21","22","23","24",
                    "25","26","27","28","29","30","31");
        $trueDays = array();
        $arrayLinks = array();

        for($i = 0; $i < count($day); $i++) {
            if ($i < date("t") && $i > 0) {
                if (is_numeric($i)) {
                    $trueDays[] = ($day[$i] > 0) ? $day[$i] : 0 ;
                }
            }
        }
        if (is_array($trueDays) && 1 == 1) {
            $dayString = implode(",",$trueDays);
        }
        if (strlen($dayString) > 0) {
            foreach ($trueDays as $day) {
                $arrayLinks[] = "<a href='getDays.php?day={$day}'>Day {$day}</a>";
            }
        }

        print "<a href='getDays.php?day=1'>Day 1</a>, " . implode(", ",$arrayLinks);
    }

?>

in reply to Brilliant Code! Got Some?

I can haz my liveid, plz? [I can haz my liveid, plz?]

jsampsonPC — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:11:41 GMT

Ceiling kitteh is sad, because when this account (jsampsonpc) was inaccessible, I had to use my liveid. Now that I have this account back, I can't use my liveid, because it's associated to (jonathan sampson) account.

Can haz delete FROM users WHERE user_name = "jonathansampson" :)

in reply to I can haz my liveid, plz?

Can Microsoft Advertise? [Can Microsoft Advertise?]

jsampsonPC — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:36:07 GMT

I'm curious if Microsoft can successfully market a product now. I don't mean to suggest that MS's marketing skills are horrible or anything, or maybe they are, I don't know.

My main interest is if you can advertise the name "Microsoft" with any degree of success today, no matter how much money is thrown into a fancy poster and bikini-clad women. I mean, is the name just exhausted in the tech-world where the average lifetime of a successful organization is a matter of years?

I look at Appe who just pops and "i" infront of whatever, and all of a sudden, "iChecks" start showing up. Yet they're pretty juvenile, only getting really popular in the last few years, unlike Microsoft.

Maybe Bill should start a new company, get another name out there?

I met a guy in Tennessee a year back or so who owns two companies, both are in competition with the other, and the public has no idea. He sits back and rakes in the cash, because he has multiple faces.

Dunno how great of a business plan this is, but it seemed to have worked for him.

in reply to Can Microsoft Advertise?

Extracting an array of keywords from a post... [Extracting an array of keywords from a post...]

jsampsonPC — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:26:12 GMT

Anybody know of a method that will find keywords in a post quickly, and intelligently?

I'm working on a form right now that will be used for people to submit messages, comments, questions, etc. When they submit a comment, rather than send the email to me, I want to first extract keywords from their text, search those against a database of articles, suggest the articles to them, and then submit the question only after they click "None of these help". So basically, I'm forcing them to use the resources already in place before wasting my time.

Any suggestions on how I should find the REAL keywords in these posts? Obviously I'll strip out 'a', 'and', 'of', etc...but I'm still a little in the dark on the full operation.

Thanks in advance.

in reply to Extracting an array of keywords from a post...

"Watch" doesn't work...but "Download" Does (Sort of) ["Watch" doesn't work...but "Download" Does (Sort of)]

jsampsonPC — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:39:47 GMT

I can't remember the last time I clicked "Watch" and got the front-page video to start playing in WMP. It always works inside the Silverlight app, but that thing won't go full screen, or detach from the browser, or anything - frustrates me.

I clicked download, and it opened up a new tab, with WMP embeded in the full space provided...it's now been loading forever...

Anybody else having simliar issues?

in reply to "Watch" doesn't work...but "Download" Does (Sort of)

Live Messenger, jackin' with my sound levels [Live Messenger, jackin' with my sound levels]

jsampsonPC — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:44:35 GMT

I use msn messenger on numerous computers in my house, but when I use it in the bedroom it always has some issue with the sound. It cause the audio to fade in and out. It will go from high, down to low, and then back to high. I thought it may have just been the video I was watching, so I ran over to YouTube, and had the same problem. I paused the video, turned off msn messenger, and went back to the video, and all was well.

Anybody know what the friggin' heck is going on with this P.O.S?

in reply to Live Messenger, jackin' with my sound levels

Programming Population Growth... [Programming Population Growth...]

jsampsonPC — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:38:54 GMT

I felt like writing a small application tonight to project populations over time. Problem is, the more I think about population dynamics, the more confounding this project becomes.

I'm thinking, well if we have an average of 3 kids per two parents every 50 years, those kids will then do as their parents did and have an average of 3 kids per 50 years. But then at 70 years the parents are dead.

This application wouldn't consider terminal illnesses or diseases. That would make things a bit more complicated I'm sure.

Just curious how you guys would do this.

in reply to Programming Population Growth...

Robots Compete to save Dolls in Destress (Video) [Robots Compete to save Dolls in Destress (Video)]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:46:17 GMT

in reply to Robots Compete to save Dolls in Destress (Video)

Mass video file output app? [Mass video file output app?]

jsampsonPC — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:32:55 GMT

Anybody know of an application that can take an avi, and output wmv's, mov's, flv's, etc all at once?

in reply to Mass video file output app?

Psychology of Internet Memes & Sociology of Internet Populations [Psychology of Internet Memes & Sociology of Internet Populations]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:23:51 GMT

I was laying in bed last night thinking about the Internet (wow...I am a geek), and all of these fads that come and go. Rick Rolling being one of the most recent. Before that we had, and still have today, odd videos being submitted to youtube, which are then re-done over and over by countless other people.

"I like turtles" being another. The list goes on and on. But why do we do this? Why do we feel so compelled to follow somebody else so easily?

Curious about your guys' thoughts on the psychology behind this and why the internet population is so easily manipulated to do strange things.

A Few Examples

in reply to Psychology of Internet Memes & Sociology of Internet Populations

Browser Refresh Wars (FF2,IE7,Safari-Win, and Opera9) [Browser Refresh Wars (FF2,IE7,Safari-Win, and Opera9)]

jsampsonPC — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:46:13 GMT

I've been working on a small project all day, and I noticed after an hour or so, my machine was running considerably slower. IE was responding fine, but FireFox was dragging its self around.

I checked the memory usage, and FF2 was 300,000+!!! IE was a strong ~30,000, so I was a bit confused. Both browsers had the same page opened, but FF was freaking consuming ridiculous amounts of memory, so I decided to investigate.

Looks like FF2 increases its memory usage everytime you refresh a page - even if the page is in cache. IE keeps its memory usage pretty stable.

I decided to test 4 popular browsers with a single page and see how they do after 5 refreshes (most web-designer/developers do some serious refreshing all day long).

Browser	Starting	Refresh 1	Refresh 2	Refresh 3	Refresh 4	Refresh 5
Firefox2	31,536k	38,432k	41,912k	47,068k	51,564k	56,700k
Internet Explorer 7	29,316k	30,244k	29,552k	30,356k	29,752k	30,212k
Safari for Windows	31,408k	34,036k	34,624k	34,880k	35,588k	36,132k
Opera 9	24,356k	28,788k	28,924k	29,020k	29,020k	29,116k

in reply to Browser Refresh Wars (FF2,IE7,Safari-Win, and Opera9)

Awesome Portal Remix Song [Awesome Portal Remix Song]

jsampsonPC — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:33:20 GMT

Ever heard a song that you could play on repeat for hours and not get sick of?

http://www.tindeck.com/audio/filestore/c/cbyr-Victims_of_Science_-_The_Device_Has_Been_Modified.mp3

in reply to Awesome Portal Remix Song

My FIRST Bad Vista Experience [My FIRST Bad Vista Experience]

jsampsonPC — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:35:53 GMT

I was working on the computer one day (In Photoshop, I think), when (for some unknown reason), my desktop flickered, and all icons with the exception of my Recycling Bin vanished.

I think, oh, maybe I need to "show desktop icons", but it was already checked. Just to be safe, I unchecked, and rechecked - still no icons.

Did they get moved off the screen? I turned on "Auto arrange" - still no icons.

WTF!? Where are my icons? Did they all get deleted? I navigate to my desktop in windows explorer, and whammo, they are ALL THERE.

I've even used the old "reboot" trick - no help at all.

in reply to My FIRST Bad Vista Experience

Is "April Fools" any fun anymore? [Is "April Fools" any fun anymore?]

jsampsonPC — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:59:28 GMT

I mean, we all expect absurdity, don't we? And in the IT-world, where dream connections are made and broken everyday, we all expect to hear crap like "Microsoft purchased 38% shares in the iPhone!" or something silly...can anything be trusted on April 1st? Is the day any fun really?

* I did convince my wife I had a son in another state living with his grandmother. Jacob Riley Sampson was the name I came up with on the spot - I even had a Phone Number for "Nanna & Jacob" to show and all.

So maybe there are exceptions.

in reply to Is "April Fools" any fun anymore?

Has Scoble Increased in Popularity, or Decreased? [Has Scoble Increased in Popularity, or Decreased?]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:45:41 GMT

I, like many others probably, am subscribed to Scoble on Twitter, so I constantly get messages about his where-abouts, and stuff. I'm just curious as to what people thing regarding his attractfulness now...if it's increased, or degreased with time.

I mean, he left MS to go to podtech, which if I'm not mistaken isn't as financially successful as he had hoped? And now he's with "FastCompany" or something?

Does it seem like his candle is fading, or am I just drifting away from its luminescence?

in reply to Has Scoble Increased in Popularity, or Decreased?

Storing text for online article database... [Storing text for online article database...]

jsampsonPC — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:55:47 GMT

Hey Niners,

I'm working on an article database right now, and have introduced a bit of frustration into my day when I decided to offer the web-article as on-the-fly PDF's too.

The article were all stored in the database as HTML. It's ugly, trust me. So I'm deciding what I want to do with them. The HTML is all wrong also, so I do have to go through and do some clean up regardless.

But I recall being told in the past that articles should never contain ANY markup or css, but if that is the case, how would you write ²³⁸Pa without using the SUP tag?

Just curious how you guys would design an article database beyond simply making a field for the title, author and text :)

in reply to Storing text for online article database...

Why close the "Ding Ding"? [Why close the "Ding Ding"?]

jsampsonPC — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:11:39 GMT

I just noticed

in reply to VirtualMachine not seeing localhost, by name or ip...

When will C# Express support WPF? [When will C# Express support WPF?]

jsampsonPC — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:52:52 GMT

I would love to develop WPF applications and Silverlight applications at home, but the C# Express Edition doesn't currently support either of the two - does anybody know when it's coming? Or is there already a free tool that facilitates the development of WPF and Silverlight applications?

in reply to When will C# Express support WPF?

Your top tech-moment of idiocy... [Your top tech-moment of idiocy...]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:13:59 GMT

What's the dumbest tech-moment you've ever had? Here's mine:

While in highschool I started getting into graphic design, and wanted to get into web-development. Problem was, I had absolutely no clue what web-development was, or how to go about getting started.

I had a friend of mine who has a couple years developing pages when I had absolutely no experience what-so-ever. I asked him, "Darrell, will you make me a webpage for $20?" to which he responded, "Just learn the code and do it yourself."

"The Code" he says? There's a code that is needed to make webpages? This was just a few weeks after getting my very first computer, so I was still and all-around computer-idiot.

"Can you give me the code?" I asked, thinking there was a short series of keystrokes you type into MS-DOS, and *pop*, out comes a webpage. Yes, I seriously thought that.

Along with that, I thought "HTML" stood for "Hotmail"*, and "SWF" Stood for "Star Wars File", since one of the earliest flash websites I visited was a Star Wars Website.

So what was your pinnacle of stupidity in history?

*when I finally started learning HTML, I told my friends I could write "Hotmail", and they should learn to do "Hotmail" with me

in reply to Your top tech-moment of idiocy...

Developing Silverlight w/o VS2008 [Developing Silverlight w/o VS2008]

jsampsonPC — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:58:12 GMT

I don't have VS2008 at my new job, but I would like to work with silverlight as an possible medium of presenting videos. Is there another way to develop silverlight without VS2008 that isn't a complete headache? I found out today I cannot use the Expression versions to develop Silverlight apps, so I'm kinda sitting on my hands right now...

in reply to Developing Silverlight w/o VS2008

Prado (PHP) framework and .NET (Any cross-users?) [Prado (PHP) framework and .NET (Any cross-users?)]

jsampsonPC — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:45:55 GMT

I'm doing some research on different PHP Frameworks, and I came across Prado today. I checked out Symfony, CodeIgniter and some others, but Prado stands out in that it resembles .NET pretty closely. Check out this example provided on their website:

Codebehind:
class LoginPage extends TPage {
    public function loginclicked($sender,$param)
    {
       $username = $this->Username->Text;
       $password = $this->Password->Text;
       //do login stuff
    }
}

Markup:
<com:TForm>
    <fieldset>
       <legend>Login</legend>
       <label>Username:</label><br/>
       <com:TTextBox ID="Username" /><br/>
       <label>Password:</label><br/>
       <com:TTextBox ID="Password" TextMode="Password" /><br/>
       <com:TButton Text="Login" OnClick="loginclicked" />
    </fieldset>
</com:TForm>

Anybody ever used this framework? What are your experiences with it?

in reply to Prado (PHP) framework and .NET (Any cross-users?)

Tracing Vista in Untraceable, The Movie. [Tracing Vista in Untraceable, The Movie.]

jsampsonPC — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:25:02 GMT

I watched Untraceable last night and counted four instances of the Windows Vista "The Wow Starts Now" webpage. It was getting a little funny.

The movie is about a Cyber-crime FBI Agent, etc. She's a 1337 h4x0r, basically. At home, while she's off doing something in the bathroom, you see her computer right next to her window in the bedroom. All of a sudden, a new browser window opens to the Vista homepage, stays for a second, then closes. Nobody at the computer.

When she's at work, she has the "The WOW Starts Now" webpage as her default homepage, so when she opens IE7 to catch some predators, it by default goes to the Vista homepage.

I counted 4 instances of this. Additionally, Windows Vista was VERY prominant in the video. Whenever you see a computer, it's clearly vista. Large Criminal-catching monitors in the office plastered in Vista.

At one point the FBI Agent is discussing tactics with a room full of other FBI Agents watching as She stands infront of a brightly illuminated screen of Aero and the default Vista wallpaper :)

in reply to Tracing Vista in Untraceable, The Movie.