http://www.masterpiecemysterys.com/Website/Toplevel/stars.shtml

I'm near the top of the list.

I googled myself and found a credit for one of my first gigs in Vancouver way way WAY back in the day. I don't remember what year it was... sometime in the 90's.

It was a pretty cheezy gig at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. A murder mystery where I played a reclusive woodsman who also counterfeited money... (coins?)... Not only that, I was a shifty fellow and master of slight-of-hand.

HAHAHAHahahaha. I was used to street performing and working the magic shop. I was somewhat out of my element following a loose script for a musical mystery and somehow trying to seem reclusive while approaching guests at the party to drop hints and do tricks with money... Kind of seemed the opposite of what a recluse would do.

No I did not sing... thank god! My character was too mysterious for that at least.

I thought the whole thing was a fiasco and never did another one. It wasn't the worst gig ever but it was probably a close second. It's interesting to see myself listed as a "Shining Star". I can't visit the bridge without remembering that day vividly.

I think I should contact them again after all these years and offer to rebuild their website. It needs work.

Meteor (or something) crash lands out side of Edmonton AB!

Has the invasion begun?

What secrets will this bring from far away Galaxies?

Is this just a publicity stunt for "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? :D

Check out the video.

What's better than Google Search? Ok, I can think of lots of things I like better than Google Search; my wife and daughter, my guitar, pumpkin pie ... But what could be better for searching for stuff online than Google Search?

Well, I happened to meet the President of Semanti Corp. at the Fast Track Business Super Conference a couple of weeks ago. He had an answer to that question and it's called SemantiFind.

So Google is worth how many billions? Their database is how huge???

63,272 Machines
126,544 Processors
253,088 GHz Proccessing ability
126,544 GB Memory
5,062 TB Hard Drive Space

I found these stats on a forum page. I don't know if they're accurate but someone on the forum "verifies" they are, for around the year 2006. I'm sure they've grown a LOT since then. These numbers are staggering. I find most people can't wrap their minds around how big a Gigabyte really is, never mind 5 Petabytes!!!

Ok, with this knowledge how does a little start-up like Semanti Corp. out do Google? By making Google better of course! My company is all about leveraging technology so Semanti Corp is cool to me, because they REALLY leverage technology. Not only that, they enhance technology WITH technology!

How's all this going to help you? Well, Google Search is a "Search" tool. SemantiFind is a "Find" tool. They explain it much better than I can so check out their website and download their browser plugin.

http://semantifind.com/index.jsp

Last I heard, this was a public beta and might only be available for the Firefox Browser. Not using Firefox? You should be. Get it here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfirefox

Try out Semanti Find see if it makes finding what you're looking for easier. Send them feedback so they can make it better.

A few weeks ago, my good old friend Dave (Emphasis on "old"), was bragging about how Textmate for the Mac was such an awesome editor that could do fancy things like write half your code for you, cutting your development time down drastically.

I thought nothing of it. So what if I get carpal tunnel syndrome. By the time that happens I'll be paying smarter, younger people to write code for me. :) Secretly though, I was jealous. Why do Mac users get to have all the cool stuff?

Anyway, I suppressed my feelings of inadequacy and continued with the repetitive stress, busily getting my company ready for launch this fall. As is usually the case, my chi lead me to a Linux alternative. In the process of researching something else, I stumbled upon instructions for turning my Gnome text editor "gedit" into a more powerful development tool. The "snippets" plug-in was there the whole time, waiting to save me keystrokes. All I had to do was turn it on.

Edit > Preferences > Plugins Tab

Check the snippets box and also the File Browser Pane for good measure. You'll have to have gedit and the plugins package installed of course.

Now you'll have fast access to common functions for a wide variety of programming languages. Plus you can add your own snippets for common functions and code you use in your work.

If anyone has a set of Drupal 5.x or 6.x snippets for gedit I'd love to hear from you. Of course, I'll be working on my own and when I have a decent set, I'll post it here.

My clients thought I was fast before! Wait till they get a load of me now. :D

Happy(er) coding.

I finally updated my Linux machine to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

Jumped online with Firefox 3 and the speed difference is insane! I'm not sure if it's a combination of the new Ubuntu under the hood or just the upgrade from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3 but complex sites that used to take maybe 8 seconds to load every element and javascript or flash are popping into existence in 2 or 3 seconds.

So it WASN'T a crappy internet connection after all!

I don't expect to really be affected too much by the Ubuntu update but if anything does make me take notice, I'll post it here. Because I should probably start using this site for something....

Check out the old and the new Windows ad.

Windows 1.0

Yes that's Steve Balmer acting like a jack-ass.

Windows.... Cake???

Yes that's Jerry Seinfeld AND Bill Gates acting like jack-asses.

If someone wants to explain this commercial please feel free.

George Carlin - The Planet Is Fine

My good old friend, (emphasis on the old :), is heading up a cool project AND challenging the system at the same time. He's collaborating with artists and writers from around the world to produce an independent comic with a twist.

I think it's cool. I have the first issue in my hot little hands and I see potential. If you're into comics, and RPGs, you might like to check this out on the ground floor so 10 years from now you can say, I was there in the beginning.

He's got a lot of work to do to make something that will stand though. Check it out. Support it if you like it.  ...continue reading »