leo.notenboom.org http://leo.notenboom.org/ 2008-05-02T19:36:32-08:00 New unit of measurement: The Bible? http://leo.notenboom.org/2008/05/_new_unit_of_me.html The Bible turns out to be a handy unit of measurement, particularly when you're trying to help folks some grasp large storage media or data transfer rates.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in what's in it, of course, it's just that most folks have seen one. I'd wager that most folks have a reasonable concept of its size, even if only in heft or "thud factor".

I used it as an example way back when as I tried to convey some concepts to my parents. This disk? It could hold X bibles! And this connection here, we can send the entire Bible in Y seconds! Wow!

A random copy of The Bible, text only, from project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) "weighs in" at roughly 5 megabytes.

With that as a unit of measure:

]]> Leo 2008-05-02T19:36:32-08:00 Seattle Native Test http://leo.notenboom.org/2008/05/seattle_native.html OK, this is a test for everyone who claims to be a Seattle native/local.

What is this:

]]> Leo 2008-05-01T11:42:55-08:00 Seattle has no full time news radio station. http://leo.notenboom.org/2008/04/_seattle_has_no.html

Yes, yes, I know that the two heavyweights in the Seattle marker, KIRO 710 and KOMO 1000 both claim to be news stations. And yet...

KIRO changed branding some time ago from "News Radio" to "News Talk" to finally reflect more accurately what they really broadcast: News and Talk. More of the later than the former, I'm afraid. Fair enough, at least they're honest about it. (And I'm a fan of the talk part ... if that's what I happen to be looking for.)

The real offender, in my mind, is KOMO.

]]> Leo 2008-04-24T19:22:39-08:00 Why yes, I do live in Seattle. http://leo.notenboom.org/2008/04/_why_yes_i_do_l.html During my recent trip to San Antonio, I found myself in a small shop (gourmet dog cookies, if you must know) across from a Starbucks. I told the proprietor that I was visiting from Seattle, and she immediately said, "Yes, the home of Starbucks!"

Indeed.

It made me realize that I'm really, really from Seattle, because:

]]> Leo 2008-04-19T18:22:20-08:00 Geek is Good http://leo.notenboom.org/2008/04/_geek_is_good.html So my credit card company (or rather, the credit card company that issued the corporate cards used for my wife's business http://dollsandfriends.com) "upgraded" their card access web site recently.

Already you can see where this is going.

]]> Leo 2008-04-12T17:34:35-08:00 Half Century Mark http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/09/half_century_ma.html 50 years ago today, 9 months after a snowstorm hit the greater Victoria, B.C. area (or so I've been told), I showed up.

It's been quite the ride, so far.

An interesting thing to watch as you age are your beliefs and opinions. Some solidify (into concrete, if my father is any indication), and others meld and morph and turn into things you never would be predicted at an earlier age.

I think they call it growth. But I could be wrong. Or you may not agree. Whatever.

So, using this half-century mark as an excuse, I thought I'd jot down a few things...

]]> Leo 2007-09-10T08:00:00-08:00 The One Big Thing - In Your Way? http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/08/the_one_big_thi.html I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about what was coming next for her web site. She has a new site design. The design itself is ready to go, and I'd say that the "important stuff" has been moved into it, but not everything. A bunch of older content hasn't yet been moved. On top of that the older content needs updating as it's moved into the new design.

So she's been waiting to release the new website design until more (all?) of the old content has been revised and moved. And of course, that's just an overwhelming amount of work - all those pages. It's a big deal.

So naturally, since it's such a daunting task, it's not happening. Smile

My response? Just do it.

No, not the old content migration. That is an overwhelming task.

]]> Leo 2007-08-31T09:43:04-08:00 Those "Other" Questions http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/08/those_other_que.html Today's the fourth anniversary of Ask Leo!, and that means it's time to collect up some of the questions that you didn't see me answer. You'll soon see why. We've got quite the bumper crop this year.

As always, every question is a real question I've received via Ask Leo! within the last year, presented exactly as I got it (except that any potentially identifying information will have been removed). Each "answer" is the answer that I'd be oh-so-tempted to give...

[Warning: there may be "bad words" in some of the questions. Y'all been warned.]

Enjoy.

]]> Leo 2007-08-10T08:26:26-08:00 Relic http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/08/relic.html Cleaning out a desk drawer I stumbled onto one of these:

Intel MCS-86 Assembly Language Reference Guide

]]> History Leo 2007-08-09T15:09:16-08:00 DirecTV Take 1. Take 2. Take ... http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/05/directv_take_1.html As I mentioned elsewhere, my 11 year old big screen TV decided it was tired, and wasn't going work any more. That, of course, accelerated my HDTV education and upgrade timetable.

My replacement HDTV is on order.

But as I mentioned to Kathy, this is a slippery slope. Programming. Audio. Recording. Etc.

And so I found myself on the phone to DirecTV to upgrade our programming to their HDTV package with their HDTV DVR. No problem, they said. They'd be happy to take more of my money. No surprise really.

We scheduled an appointment for the upgrade, which includes a new (bigger) dish and the DVR. I made note to the representative to make sure to mention that a 30 foot ladder was going to be required, as the existing dish was at the peak of one end of our house. No problem, they said.

And here the enumeration begins by visit and technician contact... (you know it's bad when a numbered list is the right approach)

]]> Leo 2007-05-30T19:42:47-08:00 Geek Wars - Home Wiring Division http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/03/geek_wars_home.html Inspired by a post by a former colleague of mine I decided to grab the Canon (camera that is) and throw my volley into the "show us your geek" competition.

This is what's tacked up on a wall in a room in my basement:

]]> Leo 2007-03-10T18:37:30-08:00 <![CDATA[Empty Office & Clean Desk]]> http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/02/empty_office_cl.html We're having all of the woodwork in our home re-varnished. The time came for my office, which from the following picure you can see is mostly woodwork. We took advantage of having to empry the walls and bookshelves to go one step further and empty the office and move the carpet to a different room so it could be cleaned as well.

]]> Leo 2007-02-25T18:58:57-08:00 Finished: Fahrenheit 451 http://leo.notenboom.org/2007/02/finished_fahren.html Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books I thought I'd read. I'm a Sci-Fi fan, and ate up a lot of the "masters" of Sci-Fi years ago. I started with Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood's End was my first Sci-Fi read, what a way to start!), and quickly ran through most of the works of Heinlein, Asimov, and others, including, I thought, Ray Bradbury.

Apparently not.

My only thought is that perhaps I got sidetracked by the weirdness that is Something Wicked This Way Comes, and set Mr. Bradbury aside.

Fast forward some [mumble] years, and I find a reference to Fahrenheit 451 in the always popular and thought provoking This Is True weekly email.

]]> Leo 2007-02-16T16:46:22-08:00 Reflections on entering day 4 without power. http://leo.notenboom.org/2006/12/reflections_on.html If my math is right as I write this we're coming up on 80 hours without power after the windstorm that partied on the Seattle area Thursday night.

Various thoughts in no particular order...

]]> Leo 2006-12-18T09:39:58-08:00 On War http://leo.notenboom.org/2006/10/on_war.html The typeface was smaller than I expected.

But then it would have to be.

]]> Leo 2006-10-16T12:59:18-08:00