Quay Valley A.K.A. Redneck Heaven

Wikipedia: "Quay Valley, also referred to as Quay Valley Ranch, is a proposed planned community consisting of about 12,000 acres (18.75 square miles) in unincorporated Kings County, California, located approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and about two miles (3 km) east of Kettleman City. It is planned to be a new, sustainable, solar-powered, model town of about 150,000 people in which residents will not have to pay an electric bill." - The opening paragraph caught my eye, but it really looks like it's going to be redneck[1] heaven. The first two bullet points are all about cars and what looks to be a NASCAR style track. Man, that would go over huge here in the valley. But those same folks typically don't care about being green in their daily lives, so it's an interesting mix. I figure they put in the green initiatives to get government interest, and more importantly, government funding.

I've always thought it would be interesting to be a part of something like this, planning a new city, and the community around it. When we were back in Virginia a couple of years ago we stayed in Reston with family. Reston is not very old, only 45-years.

From with Wikipedia page:

Reston was conceived as a planned community by Robert E. Simon. Founded on April 20, 1964 (Simon's 50th birthday) and named for his initials, it was the first modern, post-war planned community in America, sparking a revival of the new town concept.

The planners of Quay Valley should definitely take a look at Reston for inspiration, it's a beautiful city.

1 - I'm descended from rednecks, aka okies and arkies, so it takes one to know one.

Labels: Fun, Life

IE8 video was real?

geek.com: "In total four adverts were made with Dean Cain starring in all of them and proclaiming IE8 can solve many of the problems regular users have when surfing the Internet. The reception the adverts got has been mixed, but it is one video in particular users either found funny, offensive, or off-putting." - I thought this was some sort of joke, put on by some random joe blow making fun of Microsoft? I finally saw it. Microsoft paid someone to shoot this crap, and then used it?

Why is it the worlds largest, and by all accounts, most successful software company in history can't make a decent commercial? I like the new Bing commercial, it's funny, and gets the point across. But how does a wife throwing up on her hubby get the point across about a feature in the browser. I know my wife would probably vomit if she saw it.

Labels: Microsoft, Stupidity

Movie line of the week answer

Good morning movie liners. Yesterday's line came a bit late, but we had a couple of guesses, one via Twitter, again, and our winner, and MLOTW old timer...

Congratulations to RAD Moose, no I don't know who he really is, wish I did!

The correct answer was...

Back to the Future Part III

See you next week.

Labels: MLOTW

The evil side of the GPL

Daniel Jalkut: "Now for the most controversial point of this article, where I suggest that the GPL does more to harm collaborative development than it does to help it." - Developers beware. If you incorporate GPL'd code into your code base you could be in trouble. This is the evil side of the GPL. Proponents of the GPL like to talk about freedom, but it's not free, there's big cost, namely the distribution of your source code.

There are many different license types floating around out there. Pick the right one for your project so you don't end up in court.

Labels: Development, Open Source

Movie line of the week

Sorry folks, got busy with the day job. I've been sitting on some major changes for a while now and needed to get them tested, and checked in. Long story, and I know you're here for a movie line, so here it is!

Clara was one in a million. One in a billion. One in a googolplex!

Ok, quick, what movie! Send your guesses here.

Labels: MLOTW

Exeter Office Space

Based on a Tweet from Christopher Hawkins I decided to go do an office space recon mission for him at lunch. I took some pictures of what I think are the best places to rent office space, that I know of, in our little town. [Read more...]

Labels: Life

Mac Development Job

jobs.joelonsoftware.com: "We are looking for a software engineer who has a passion for creating innovative high quality software using the latest tools and technologies. You must be a self starter who loves solving problems in a logical self-disciplined manner. We are looking for someone who will fit well with our development team and remain courteous and friendly with both staff and customers at all times." - I also love the the following bullet points...

• Want to work with the latest tools and a 30 inch screen?


• Want to work for a company where innovation and software development is taken seriously?


• Want flexible working hours and no silly dress code?


• Want a career where what you achieve really matters?


• Are you a clever problem solver with an enthusiastic and positive attitude?


• Are you a self starter and still able to work in a team?


• Can you get things done?



Labels: Development, Job, Mac, Objective-C

Posted by Rob at 3:53 PM | 0 comments |

iPhone Dev Camp

Mike Sax: "Join me at iPhone DevCamp 3, July 31 - August 2 (yes, that's a weekend) on Yahoo Campus in Sunnyvale, CA." - I may have to go to this, since it's on a weekend. Hmmmm...

Labels: Development, iPhone

Developer opportunities in medicine

Jerry Fahrni: "Our most recent upgrade offers a significant step backward in usability while offering virtually no additional benefits. In addition to the serious lack of functionality, the customer service, programmer support, consulting support, and all around implementation leadership offered by Siemens Healthcare (at a significant cost of course) was the worst I've experienced in my 12 years as a pharmacist." - My brother is a geeky pharmacist that deals with IT issues related to the pharmacy systems at the hospital he works for. He one of the smartest people I know, is a great problem solver, very passionate about what he does, and all around good guy. This problem just about drove him to upgrade to drinking the hard stuff, yes that's right, I'm talking about regular Pepsi vs. Diet. That's saying a LOT, I haven't seen my brother drink regular Pepsi in ages, so you know this must've been frustrating, but I digress.

There is an opportunity here for some really good software development shops to step in and design web, or desktop based, systems that integrate all these disparate systems into a cohesive workflow. I've seen some really GOOD integrations and I've seen some really bad ones. The hospitals seem to always get the bad integrations, which is a real bummer. They really need their systems to work consistently day in and day out.

Wish I knew of a way to help you brosephus, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I think it's time you learn to develop software, I think you'd be really good at it. It's just a bunch of bits, right?

Labels: Applications, Design

Half-Blood Prince Countdown

Labels: Movies, Potter

Half-Blood Prince Review

Hollywood.com [via HPANA]: "However, if Radcliffe is the heart, Michael Gambon is the film's soul as Albus Dumbledore; Gambon gives a powerfully subtle performance as the de-facto father figure to young Mr. Potter." - Either Michael Gambon has figured out Dumbledore or Mr. Dergarabedian has never read the books. I hope it's the former but I'm not going to bet on it. I think Michael Gambon is a fantastic actor but his portrayal of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore has been less than stellar to date, especially in Goblet of Fire. Now, that may not have been entirely his fault, but in the end he's the guy on the screen, so it's easy to blame him.

I really hope he's pulled a rabbit out of the hat this time, it's his final shot at nailing the character, and it would be nice to see him go out on a high note.

I am definitely looking forward to the film, it could be the best Potter yet. In just over 14-days we'll know.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Adobe closes for a week

San Jose Mercury News: "The San Jose software company, which makes editing, graphic design and Web development tools, said the shutdowns are part of a larger effort to control costs in the face of a global recession. Adobe's sales have declined for the last two quarters, although it still reported $126.1 million in profit on $704.7 million in revenue for the quarter that ended May 29." - Wowzer, that's interesting news. Apparently it's not the first one week closure this year, nor is it the last. In April Adobe closed for one week and later this year they'll do it again. At least the employees can use their vacation. Sounds all too familiar.

Labels: Adobe, Recession

Listen to your users

Nick Bradbury: "If you've never supported your own software, spending just one day doing tech support will be an eye-opening - not to mention humbling - experience. You'll have to keep your ego in check, because most people who contact tech support do so because they're having problems with your software, some of whom will use colorful language to describe the annoyances they're running into." - Nick is right, on all accounts. I did developer support for a couple of years at Visio and most of the time people called because they'd run across some edge case, or wanted something we plain didn't do. On rare occasion the language could become quite, as Nick puts it, colorful. In the end it helps you create a better product and keeps you interested in pleasing the people you really work for, the users of your product.

Labels: Development, Good Advice, Tricks and Tips