Julia and I are heading off to Philadelphia, New York, and DC for a bit of a vacation. Neither of us have been to Philly, and Julia has never been to New York, so it will be a lot of fun. I’m taking my camera of course, and I’m looking forward to taking photos in… Continue reading On Vacation
Month: September 2009
Controlling form access in Access 2007
I do a fair bit of programming in Access 2007, after having started in Access 97 and moved on to 2000. The 2007 versions of Office programs had many significant changes, including the Ribbon, but one change that slipped under most people’s radar was the removal of user-level security. Access 2007 files no longer used… Continue reading Controlling form access in Access 2007
HDR photos
I’ve been playing around with Qtpfsgui, the freeware HDR generator. I’ve tried Photomatix but didn’t care for it, plus it costs money. I’m all about free and open source. Through my experimentation, I’ve discovered an important revelation: 16-bit TIFF files are far, far better source images than 8-bit JPG. I was using 8-bit JPG files… Continue reading HDR photos
Missile defense shield: still a stupid idea
A little more than nine years ago, when I was a columnist for the Minnesota Daily, I wrote a column expressing my opposition to a planned missile defense shield. In the wake of President Obama’s decision to cancel the planned defense shield in Eastern Europe, I went back and re-read that column, and what was… Continue reading Missile defense shield: still a stupid idea
You can’t have it all
I’m sure everybody’s heard the old joke that goes along the lines of "Your ideal spouse: Rich, Educated, Beautiful. Choose Two" or "Computer software: Fast, Easy, Affordable. Choose Two". No matter how much we want everything, it’s almost impossible to find something that has every positive aspect you are looking for. The same goes for… Continue reading You can’t have it all
My increasing disgust with fellow bikers
I’m a biker. Living in Minneapolis is a real treat for bikers, as we have dozens of miles of trails to take advantage of: the Grand Rounds circling the city, the Midtown Greenway, the Kenwood Trail, the path along Hiawatha and the LRT, not to mention all of the on-street bike paths there are. With… Continue reading My increasing disgust with fellow bikers
President Obama’s Target Center visit
Yesterday Julia and I had the exciting pleasure of volunteering at President Obama’s first White House rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis to argue for health care reform. We we asked to volunteer on Wednesday shortly after the visit was announced, and we jumped at the chance. Following a training session on Friday night,… Continue reading President Obama’s Target Center visit
Why health reform requires mandated universal coverage
If we are to have serious health care reform in this country, it will require everybody to have coverage. Universal coverage isn’t just a nicety, or “the right thing to do”, it’s an essential. Without it, real reform won’t be harder; it will, quite simply, be impossible. The reason is purely economic, and revolves around… Continue reading Why health reform requires mandated universal coverage
The tempest over Obama’s school speech
The controversy surrounding today’s speech to school children by President Obama really did become ridiculous. In the end, I hope that the text of the message, and its non-political content, will put to rest at least some of the more reality-based opposition to it (of course, a good deal of the opposition was completely insane… Continue reading The tempest over Obama’s school speech
Photos of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River
I took last Friday off, and instead of sleeping in like a normal person would do, I decided to get up as usual and instead take some photos just after daybreak. A couple hours after sunrise and a couple hours after sunset are the best times to take photographs, and Friday morning was no exception.… Continue reading Photos of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River