Tony's Microsoft Access Blog : Eclectic

resolver one – an insulting advertisement

Tony — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:03:11 GMT

While at StackOverflow I came across the following advertisement.

Note to resolver one advertising folks. I like VBA. There are improvements I’d like to see in the VBA editor but I do like VBA.

So kiss my ***

A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database

Tony — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:06:06 GMT

Ok, so this posting is not about Access but it is about a database/file with a lot of interesting historical information.

A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database

Sites pulling sneaky Flash cookie-snoop

Tony — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:13:15 GMT

“What's far less well known is that Adobe Flash software also features cookies that can be used in much the same way as HTTP cookies. Flash cookies can be used for storing the volume level of a Flash video but the technology can also be used as "secondary, redundant unique identifiers that enable advertisers to circumvent user preferences and self-help", the academics warn.

A significant percentage of websites including federal government sites use this Flash-based technology to track users, the researchers discovered. The technology is sometimes used as a means to "undelete" the information in browser-based cookies that a user might have thought they had cleared from their system when they deleted their browsing history, the academics explain.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/19/flash_cookies/

More info and a script here Online Privacy Tips

Added - Jim Mack informed me of the CCleaner (apparently the first C is short for cr*p) that cleans those up. I cleaned my system using the above mentioned script an hour or two ago and since found three flash cookies from a website ytimg.com for which no web page exists but is apparently for YouTube. Which makes sense as I had indeed visited YouTube in there.

Outsourcing troubles

Tony — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:51:08 GMT

Health workers file lawsuit over **** payroll system
Staff urge school board, health region to dump gaffe-prone **** payroll system

These are in my home province. The name of the company providing the troublesome service is irrelevant. The troubles with outsourcing are quite relevant.

I sure hope there is a final exam on this course

Tony — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:02:22 GMT

Project title: Need 15 Queries in Access

"I need someone who can make 15 queries in Access 2007 and have to be done in sql view (this is a must). I want this for school home work and need them fast, as soon as possible. I will provide you with the tables and the queries I need, they are attached so you can tell me if you can do it or not. Payment will be made in full after project is completed. I will not consider anyone without any reviews. Bid only if you can do this project, I need it fast so don't make me waste my time. I wil... "

And if you click through the link Place my bid for this project! you will see the replies. Wow.

Twitter and Swine Flu

Tony — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:13:00 GMT

Swine Flu

I don't get Twitter. There is so much crap on there I just don't care about. And my life is far too boring to post any such minutiae. So I laughed quite hard when I saw the XKCD cartoon.

Ok, so it is interesting reading about my sisters life over in Sri Lanka because it is so different than here. The lizard in the back yard was just cool.

Did you know you can right click on a scroll bar?

Tony — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:33:00 GMT

And you get some interesting options.

I never knew that. Some kind of blind spot is all I can think of.

Waking up Canadian

Tony — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:03:19 GMT

Waking up Canadian is a very cool and amusing video. I'm told this has gone low key viral. Thanks to Sasha the excellent Canadian Microsoft MVP lead for passing this one on.

1) I'm sure though that many Canadian bureaucrats had to go outsize their comfort zone to approve this on.

2) There was quite a lengthy and acrimonious discussion before the current Maple Leaf flag was finally chosen. The Wiki article doesn't do the fighting justice. Or so I'm told. I was too young then to notice.

I've always been skeptical about Cloud computing ...

Tony — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:49:00 GMT

I've never quite understood the allure of cloud computing for individuals or businesses. Although I backup my files, including emails, every few days. Most consumers don't do that. I can understand why folks would want to use Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.

Oh have I mentioned my mechanic friend who may have lost three years worth of emails and other files in his Hotmail account. It would appear that a malicious ex girl friend sent a bunch of ugly porn spam from his account and Hotmail shut his account down for TOS violations. Things are still pending on that one last I heard.

But cloud computing for businesses? If you're big enough to need a SQL Server then what's the problem with having your own semi-competent IT staff which run it? If there's a problem the CEO can look the IT person in the eye and ask what is going on.

Turns out McKinsey & Co, who are some kind of consulting outfit that are supposedly trusted by CEO types, agrees with me. McKinsey: adopt the cloud, lose money - Virtualize your datacenter instead. The summary done by the Reg of the Mkinsey report sounds about right to me.

My friend Jim, who run the IT department at his employer, loves the whole concept of Virtualization and such. As far as I know he is running all his servers as virtual systems under a high powered server against a SAN (or some such) with raided, hot swappable hard drives and daily tape backups. And if he likes them then that's good enough for me.

How the Air Force deals with blogs - relevant to newsgroups and forums

Tony — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:24:12 GMT

I read with great interest the blog entry How the Air Force deals with blogs as well as the referenced Bureaucracies and New Media: How the Airforce deals with blogs. I totally agree with the sentence "At the same time what strikes me is this handy little chart is codified good judgment.". The diagram done up by the Air Force is what goes through my mind every time I read a newsgroup or forum or blog posting in a flash of a second. Especially when dealing with trolls.

My Manhattan Project - How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street.

Tony — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:42:40 GMT

My Manhattan Project

How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street.

"Last month, my neighbor, a retired schoolteacher, offered to deliver my oysters into the city. He had lost half his savings, and his pension had been cut by 30 percent. The chain of events from my computer to this guy’s pension is lengthy and intricate. But it’s there, somewhere."

Very interesting reading about software from a different perspective.

Package from Malaysia?

Tony — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:09:15 GMT

Did anyone send me a package from Malaysia? If so please email me.

Otherwise I'm taking it to the RCMP for them to open it.

There are a few people on the Internet in the newsgroups who really, really don't like me.

Scammer - Domain Registry of Canada (DROC)

Tony — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:37:11 GMT

Just got my annual letter for one of my domains from these scammers. But it's a duplicate of the one mentioned on this page Be Aware: Domain Registry of Canada Snail Mails so I can't be bothered to scan it in myself.

"They look like a government official domain name authority with a Canadian flag on their envelope. They also have the same color envelope that you would expect from Canadian Government. "

Or you can do more Google searches or Live.com searches.

What puzzles me is how they can afford to do this given the cost of postage. Even with bulk mail discounts.

Note that they appear to be affiliated with Domain Registry of America so the USA readers should be aware of this.

Speaking of which I got a phone call from someone confirming my contact info for some "business directory" website. Yes, yes, and yes I said as she was rattling off the info. I was already visiting their website with an official sounding name as we were chatting. Then she said "It's $175 per year to be listed on our website." <click> And I hung up.

I really should've kept her on the phone for another five or ten minutes leading her on. And then saying some rude words and slamming down the phone. But I didn't have the patience.

Windows Live Family Safety Filter is an enormous pain

Tony — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:52:14 GMT

Windows Live Family Safety Filter is an enormous pain. I was called by a friend telling me that she couldn't get into her Internet banking. Turns out that some kind of Windows Live ID screen belonging to the WLFSF is obstructing every possible Internet access. Including coming up in the middle of games. Frequently. Very frequently. As in every 10 or 30 seconds. She had absolutely no idea how it started happening. And she was quite vague as to when this started.

Every Windows Live ID and password that she knew about made no difference. I created a Windows Live ID myself and was told I wasn't part of the family. Well frig. Ok, that makes sense but geez, I'm trying to disable this very frustrating screen.

Next to no help on the Windows Live ID screen that was popping up. I certainly don't recall seeing any and I looked.

So I start searching Windows Help. Nothing.

Oh, and I can't research this problem on the Internet because it won't let me on the Internet. Aaarrrghhhhh

Did this have any thing to do with Windows Parental Control? Didn't look like it.

I tried disabling all the Windows Live toolbars and other "helpers" in IE. No difference.

Finally I started looking through the registry for the word family. Ahh, some registry keys with DLLs with that word in there.

Well, DLLs have to be installed I assumed so I poked about in the Add/Remove Programs (or whatever the equivalent is in Windows Vista.). Aha, Windows Live Essential Tools and a few other downloads installed about eight days ago. And there's an option to uninstall just the WLFSF.

Now I'm quite expecting Microsoft to automatically send down updates in a few months which will re-install the entire thing including the WLFSF. <sigh>

I charged her $10 for the hour and a half. It's not her fault.

Children sleep through smoke alarms

Tony — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:20:32 GMT

"In the first house, David and Louie, ages five and eight respectively, were still asleep after 3.5 minutes despite the squawking alarm outside their bedroom."

"In the second home, one of the seven-year-old boys awoke 10 seconds after the smoke alarm sounded. He called to his brother and then left his bedroom in a sleepy state of confusion, walking up and down the stairs four times, not knowing what to do."

Building a better, safer home

Microsoft's Fargo campus mocks Redmond's snow

Tony — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:43:47 GMT

Microsoft's Fargo campus mocks Redmond's snow - A highly amusing mock emergency alert.

I should add that in the last few weeks we've had a few days of wind chill temperatures of -40 as I walk to the coffee shop. And at those temps it only takes about 15 seconds of removing a mitt, pulling out the car keys, inserting them into ignition and starting the vehicle to get painful fingers. Not quite frost bitten but pretty close.

Typically -30 with the wind chill in the last few weeks though which is more reasonable. A bit of an unusual cold spell.

Unusual software bugs

Tony — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:26:34 GMT

Thanks to fellow Access MVP Graham R Seach for showing that these kinds of bugs really do have a name. And that it's not just me.

"Unusual software bugs are a class of software bugs that are considered exceptionally difficult to understand and repair. There are several kinds, mostly named after scientists who discovered counterintuitive things."

Heisenbug, Bohrbug, Mandelbug and Phase of the Moon bug are among the bugs mentioned.

Do You Really Need A Christmas Tree?

Tony — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:03:48 GMT

Do You Really Need A Christmas Tree?

A Training Issue

Tony — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:36:28 GMT

A Training Issue <chuckle> Folks much younger than me won't necessarily get this one as they've never seen punched cards.

I recall a client nearly thirty years ago telling me how they'd lose data if the tapes snapped. They'd splice the tapes back together but would be missing a block or two of data.

Meteorite search update

Tony — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:13:04 GMT

Very interesting. Meteorite search update It was estimated to weigh 10 tonnes when it entered the atmosphere at 14 km/sec. Possibly football sized chunks.

I sure hope the local farmers aren't troubled too much by *rsehole souvenir hunters but I know they will be. They might as well get any cattle, horses and livestock off the fields until the snow falls. And even then there'll be folks out there leaving the fences open or just plain cutting the fences. I'd like to see the scientists get the rocks first before the folks who want to sell chunks.