Peter Bromberg's UnBlog

Thelonius Monk once said “Wrong is Right”. I say, “Less is More”. All too often we as software developers do data collection of one sort or another, often storing results in a database table or tables, and we suffer from self-induced overkill. We collect too much data, data that we probably will not need. Or, instead of storing the same data and simply updating it’s count on a unique column value via an Insert or Update SQL statement, we end up storing hundreds of unique rows that, because of the data collection overkill we’ve engineered, take up lots of space but don’t really contribute to the “cause”. In addition (and I have certainly been guilty of this) we store our data in database tables that are not normalized, thereby exacerbating the situation. We end up with wide tables with a lot of columns that are inefficient. It is often much easier (and simpler) to start out with a minimalist approach. Less is More. If we determine at a later point that we actually do need “More”, ...

Recently my Acer Aspire One Netbook with Windows 7 on it crapped out. I have no idea why, but if you’ve got a netbook, then you know that to reconstitute everything you need to do it from a bootable USB Stick, because there isn’t any “DVD” drive on these little puppies. I tried a number of solutions that I found online, but the only one that worked for me was the following:   1) insert your USB stick (4GB or higher). 2) FORMAT – NTFS 3) Copy the contents of the Windows 7 DVD onto the USB stick. 4) Set your netbook BIOS to Boot from “USB HDD” as the first option. 5) Boot off the USB, let Windows 7 setup come up, and do a new installation (the “Repair my computer” option only comes up if you run Windows setup from an existing instance of Windows 7, which I couldn’t get). 6) Install Windows 7.   NOTE: during the install, WIndows 7 needs to reboot. You need to change your BIOS settings on the netbook to now let it boot from the netbook’s hard drive, NOT the USB...

Recently my Acer Aspire One Netbook with Windows 7 on it crapped out. I have no idea why, but if you’ve got a netbook, then you know that to reconstitute everything you need to do it from a bootable USB Stick, because there isn’t any “DVD” drive on these little puppies. I tried a number of solutions that I found online, but the only one that worked for me was the following:   1) insert your USB stick (4GB or higher). 2) FORMAT – NTFS 3) Copy the contents of the Windows 7 DVD onto the USB stick. 4) Set your netbook BIOS to Boot from “USB HDD” as the first option. 5) Boot off the USB, let Windows 7 setup come up, and do a new installation (the “Repair my computer option only comes up if you run Windows setup from an existing instance of Windows 7, which I couldn’t get). 6) Install Windows 7.   This may seem overly simplistic, but it worked for me. Of course, since you have a new windows 7, you’ll need to install all your favorite software.

Lazy, unethical people who republish RSS feeds and similar content and surround it with advertising for profit abound. In general this is an annoyance, but you probably can’t do much about it.  However where I believe this “crosses the line” is when somebody deliberately copies all of  your original content, removes all identifying links and author attribution, and then republishes this wholesale on their site or blog for expected profit. This happened to me recently. This person, Calla Degennaro , residing in Larchmont N.Y.: Calla M Degennaro 7 Rebeau Dr Larchmont, NY 10538-1337 (914) 834-0236 --  republished not one -- but two of my articles written and originally published on  eggheadcafe.com, without permission: http://tusforyou.com/fluent-nhibernate-automapping/ and http://tusforyou.com/silverlight-3-note-taker-app-with-local-storage/ You can see that this person has carefully removed all identifying traces of where the articles originated...

Washington has attacked the current economic downturn with Keynesian economics - the theory that you fight an economic downturn by pumping money into the economy to "encourage demand" and "create jobs." The result? The longest recession since World War II — 21 months —  with no clear end in sight. The government  borrowed close to a trillion dollars out of the private economy —  yet it has done squat to increase incentives for investment and entrepreneurship. In February 2008, Bush cut a deal with congressional Democrats to pass a $152 billion Keynesian stimulus bill based on countering the recession with increased deficits. The central feature was a tax rebate of up to $600 per person.  It had no significant effect on economic incentives. In fact, looking back a year, it was a joke. Learning nothing from this, Barack Obama came back in February 2009 to support a $787 billion, purely Keynesian stimulus bill. Congress, like lemmings, followed a...

  And don’t forget the meaning of the word LIBERTY. ServicePeople, Thank you for your service to our country!