Fixing the Grade Books
Fixing the Grade Books
I was able to unsnarl my school grade books today. The task was relatively simple but it took a longer time than I thought would be necessary. I finished and update three of my four classes. I will finish the fourth class on Thursday afternoon.
I made a simple error and all it took to correct was a click on a button and then save click.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Holy bloat Batman!
The Service Pack 1 that I downloaded and installed today was over 430 MB fat. I think that was close to twice the size of the Windows XP program. If the SP1 was supposed to fix all of the known bugs, problems, conflicts, and plug the sieve called security by Microsoft, then there must have been one ginormous hole somewhere.
Frankly, this bothers me in some degree.
Microsoft has been babbling like a baby about improved security and more stable platforms for years now. I am beginning to wonder if this talk is all just smoke and mirrors and wishful thinking on the part of Microsoft.
Yes, I know the program is huge and that is partly to blame. There has to be a simple and yet elegant solution to program bloat.
Here’s my two cents worth of an idea, instead of having us download as the normal download, why not offer a slimmed down version without all of the bloat that the vast majority of users will not be able to use or even care to use.
If we wanted the section with all of the kazoos, we could download it at our option and be very happy.
I doubt anyone from Redmond, besides the Princess and the Golfer, will care what I have to say.
So far, I haven’t seen any speed improvements after downloading SP1. I have experienced more hang ups and not responding programs.
I have been using Outlook as my email and calendar program for about two weeks now because I got feed up with Windows Live Mail. Live Mail was or is an unstable program that was prone to freeze up. I also hated that I could not delete an old email. I did appreciate being able to view video clips sent to me by my friends.
For some unknown reason, Outlook is not allowing me to open some video clips now. I know the sender and I trust the sender. I am a big boy after all and should be able to make my own decisions on what files to open. I am willing to assume full responsibility for my actions.
But, paternalistic and singularly uncooperative Outlook has apparently unilaterally decided that it knows what is best for me.
Doug
Doug seems to be gaining some traction with his new Internet writing job. He is getting good view volume. On Monday, two of his posts were among the top three most viewed posts of the day. This morning, one of his posts had almost a 1,000 views in less than an hour.
Sweet.
Being a good parent, I read his posts and I think I understand most of them. I noticed that his name is now on the masthead of the site as a Contributor which I suppose is better than being just an anonymous free lancer.
Good work Doug.
Predator Pilots
I was reading my local newspaper over the weekend and I ran across an article that the United States Air Force was having trouble training pilots or controllers for the Predator reconnaissance aircraft. The article said that there were not enough qualified controllers available to meet the demands.
I use the term controller and not pilot because you sit in an air conditioned trailer in a hopefully comfortable chair while you run your flight. You take off and land on a 7,000 foot – 2,100 kilometer long concrete runway.
What could be so hard about that?
The flight missions seem to be extended versions of the Microsoft Flight Simulator program. You aim the drone in the proper direction, make mid-course corrections, conduct your observations, and maybe drop some ordinance on a bad guy.
Let’s see, I think it takes a couple of hours to learn Flight Simulator so we should allow the Air Force a full week of training. Oh yes, you don’t need commissioned officers as controllers; just find some gamer nerds and they will be fine.
So, what’s the supply problem?
Like many overly myopic military services, the Air Force can only think about pilots and planes and the undying need to preserve the role of manned air craft in combat. Hardly a logical argument, a bomb dropped from a drone will kill just as well as a bomb dropped from a manned aircraft.
I do speak with some authority on this matter. In my misspent youth, I served in the United States Navy as the Gunnery Office on the good ship USS Leonard F. Mason. One of my side jobs was to be the ship’s primary controller of a drone anti-submarine helicopter. I had all of six weeks training on the drone and the equipment. Then, it was off to the war in Vietnam again and time to try out our new drone with the television camera mounted on it.
It was a live video feed so you could see whatever was in the field of vision. One day, I had the drone track a North Vietnamese infiltrator. The ship radioed the Marines and they caught him as soon as he crossed the DMZ.
I didn’t have a nice long concrete runway to land the drone on. I had a patch of deck that was about the size of a half volleyball court. Of course, the deck was always moving out from under the drone as the ship sailed forward; the ship was also rolling; and the ship was also pitching. Then, there was the turbulent wind that swept around the deck house and blew out of after stack to contend with.
We stood on steel decks for the entire mission but we did have good air conditioning; we turned our bodies into the wind.
The drones were never designed to do this type of mission. They were heavily modified for the task. They were notoriously unstable and had an annoying tendency to blow up with the controller was near bye. One of my shipmates on our sister ship lost an eye when his drone blew up on him.
We called out drones Ulcers 26C and Hemorrhoids 26C. Those were very appropriate names.
Woman of the Moment Encore
I am going to have Eiko Koike act as the Woman of the Moment Encore person tonight. She reminds me of my days when I was young and in the Navy and when the Mason was based in Yokosuka, Japan.
Be well and stay happy.
I was able to unsnarl my school grade books today. The task was relatively simple but it took a longer time than I thought would be necessary. I finished and update three of my four classes. I will finish the fourth class on Thursday afternoon.
I made a simple error and all it took to correct was a click on a button and then save click.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Holy bloat Batman!
The Service Pack 1 that I downloaded and installed today was over 430 MB fat. I think that was close to twice the size of the Windows XP program. If the SP1 was supposed to fix all of the known bugs, problems, conflicts, and plug the sieve called security by Microsoft, then there must have been one ginormous hole somewhere.
Frankly, this bothers me in some degree.
Microsoft has been babbling like a baby about improved security and more stable platforms for years now. I am beginning to wonder if this talk is all just smoke and mirrors and wishful thinking on the part of Microsoft.
Yes, I know the program is huge and that is partly to blame. There has to be a simple and yet elegant solution to program bloat.
Here’s my two cents worth of an idea, instead of having us download as the normal download, why not offer a slimmed down version without all of the bloat that the vast majority of users will not be able to use or even care to use.
If we wanted the section with all of the kazoos, we could download it at our option and be very happy.
I doubt anyone from Redmond, besides the Princess and the Golfer, will care what I have to say.
So far, I haven’t seen any speed improvements after downloading SP1. I have experienced more hang ups and not responding programs.
I have been using Outlook as my email and calendar program for about two weeks now because I got feed up with Windows Live Mail. Live Mail was or is an unstable program that was prone to freeze up. I also hated that I could not delete an old email. I did appreciate being able to view video clips sent to me by my friends.
For some unknown reason, Outlook is not allowing me to open some video clips now. I know the sender and I trust the sender. I am a big boy after all and should be able to make my own decisions on what files to open. I am willing to assume full responsibility for my actions.
But, paternalistic and singularly uncooperative Outlook has apparently unilaterally decided that it knows what is best for me.
Doug
Doug seems to be gaining some traction with his new Internet writing job. He is getting good view volume. On Monday, two of his posts were among the top three most viewed posts of the day. This morning, one of his posts had almost a 1,000 views in less than an hour.
Sweet.
Being a good parent, I read his posts and I think I understand most of them. I noticed that his name is now on the masthead of the site as a Contributor which I suppose is better than being just an anonymous free lancer.
Good work Doug.
Predator Pilots
I was reading my local newspaper over the weekend and I ran across an article that the United States Air Force was having trouble training pilots or controllers for the Predator reconnaissance aircraft. The article said that there were not enough qualified controllers available to meet the demands.
I use the term controller and not pilot because you sit in an air conditioned trailer in a hopefully comfortable chair while you run your flight. You take off and land on a 7,000 foot – 2,100 kilometer long concrete runway.
What could be so hard about that?
The flight missions seem to be extended versions of the Microsoft Flight Simulator program. You aim the drone in the proper direction, make mid-course corrections, conduct your observations, and maybe drop some ordinance on a bad guy.
Let’s see, I think it takes a couple of hours to learn Flight Simulator so we should allow the Air Force a full week of training. Oh yes, you don’t need commissioned officers as controllers; just find some gamer nerds and they will be fine.
So, what’s the supply problem?
Like many overly myopic military services, the Air Force can only think about pilots and planes and the undying need to preserve the role of manned air craft in combat. Hardly a logical argument, a bomb dropped from a drone will kill just as well as a bomb dropped from a manned aircraft.
I do speak with some authority on this matter. In my misspent youth, I served in the United States Navy as the Gunnery Office on the good ship USS Leonard F. Mason. One of my side jobs was to be the ship’s primary controller of a drone anti-submarine helicopter. I had all of six weeks training on the drone and the equipment. Then, it was off to the war in Vietnam again and time to try out our new drone with the television camera mounted on it.
It was a live video feed so you could see whatever was in the field of vision. One day, I had the drone track a North Vietnamese infiltrator. The ship radioed the Marines and they caught him as soon as he crossed the DMZ.
I didn’t have a nice long concrete runway to land the drone on. I had a patch of deck that was about the size of a half volleyball court. Of course, the deck was always moving out from under the drone as the ship sailed forward; the ship was also rolling; and the ship was also pitching. Then, there was the turbulent wind that swept around the deck house and blew out of after stack to contend with.
We stood on steel decks for the entire mission but we did have good air conditioning; we turned our bodies into the wind.
The drones were never designed to do this type of mission. They were heavily modified for the task. They were notoriously unstable and had an annoying tendency to blow up with the controller was near bye. One of my shipmates on our sister ship lost an eye when his drone blew up on him.
We called out drones Ulcers 26C and Hemorrhoids 26C. Those were very appropriate names.
Woman of the Moment Encore
I am going to have Eiko Koike act as the Woman of the Moment Encore person tonight. She reminds me of my days when I was young and in the Navy and when the Mason was based in Yokosuka, Japan.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 9:13 PM
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