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My Day at School with Professor Mathew Kabatoff

It was another incredible day at Production Management. Weird things happen in that class, its like entering the Twilight Zone. Anyway despite the tension and insanity, I think I at least learned a couple of important lessons.

  1. There is a time and a place for criticism directed at an instructor. This time and place is not in class even though in this case he specifically asked each student for their opinion. I don’t know why I didn’t just button up.
  2. Since I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, I wish I would have at least made a comment about something that mattered.
  3. Since I felt the dire need to speak up, and since I picked something that didn’t mean anything anyway, I could have at least bowed out a little more gracefully when he started to yell.

I did my best and realize my mistake. Well after everything is said and done I can at least say I learned something in Production Management today.

Update: It looks like my prof, Mathew Kabatoff, took the concerns I shared to heart. He updated his web page outline, and in doing so rectified my concerns. That seems so weird given his hostile reaction in class.

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Host File – There’s No Place like 127.0.0.1

Here is a copy of the host file that I use. (Right click Save As) and then save it over your old host file (making sure it has no extension). The old host file can be found at:

Windows XP = c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
Windows 2K = c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc
Win 98/ME = c:\windows

This file contains a list of web sites you’d rather your computer not bother to look up. For example a site that uses advertising from the DoubleClick advertising network would show it’s own content but not the ads if you had the line 127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net in your hosts file.

The host file can also prevent tracking which sites you use. I can’t tell you what a big difference a good hosts file can make in your browsing experience. Find out more about host files.

Update: By default, if you try to modify your hosts file in Vista, it will not let you save it. It tells you that you don’t have permission. To successfully modify the hosts file, run notepad.exe as an administrator and open the file.

  1. Browse to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
  2. Right click “Notepad” and select “Run as administrator”
  3. Click “Continue” on the UAC prompt
  4. Click File -> Open
  5. Browse to “C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc”
  6. Change the file filter drop down box from “Text Documents (*.txt)” to “All Files (*.*)”
  7. Select “hosts” and click “Open”
  8. Copy and paste the text from my hosts file into yours. Save and close Notepad.

The above instructions also work for Windows 7.

Also note that I try and update my hosts files from time to time so even though this post is old, the file may not be.

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Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes

The Museum of Hoaxes has the Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of all time. The picture here is ranked number 1 and it comes from the BBC news show Panorama. As part of the April 1st, 1957 broadcast they announced that because of very mild winters and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper crop. I remember my dad telling me that he saw this during a news clip when he was a kid going to see a movie. I guess in those days you got news at the theatres instead of worthless ads before the show.

With April 1st coming right up, I’m thinking of some possible pranks to pull, but alas I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not much of a prankster. Plus I’m going to Calgary with Anna-Maria to see the BareNaked Ladies or BNL, if you prefer. I saw their show the last time they were in Calgary and I must say, they put on a great performance. I’ll have reviews of this upcoming show posted here in the first week of April.

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Swiss Army Knife with USB

Victorinox has created a version of the classic Swiss Army Knife that has a USB key as one of it’s tools. This, for those that don’t know about USB devices – like my parents, would allow you to connect your knife to your computer and transfer data to and from your knife. So if you’re thinking about burning your favorite MP3’s to CD to take to a friends house, with this invention all you would need to do is download the files onto your knife and then plug it in to your pals computer. I already carry my knife with me everywhere anyway; this would be way more useful than say a corkscrew or nail file.

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Easy Ipod or a Clever Guerilla Marketing Campaign?

“I’ll buy you an IPOD if you be my GF for one and 1/2 weeks – $300” reads the headline of an apparently desperate 24 year old single white male from New York City. His parents are coming to visit and he “needs” someone to play the part of the love of his life that he has told his parents so much about. Is it a real plea for help or a new marketing technique trying to increase the perceived value of an Ipod. You be the judge.

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How Things Are Going in the Whitehouse

“Who’s on First” for the next generation.

George: Condi! Nice to see you. What’s happening?

Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.

George: Great. Lay it on me.

Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.

George: That’s what I want to know.

Condi: That’s what I’m telling you.

George: That’s what I’m asking you. Who is the new leader of China?

Condi: Yes.

George: I mean the fellow’s name.

Condi: Hu.

George: The guy in China.

Condi: Hu.

George: The new leader of China.

Condi: Hu.

George: The Chinaman!

Condi: Hu is leading China.

George: Now whaddya’ asking me for?

Condi: I’m telling you Hu is leading China.

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More Changes

I have been making some subtle changes today. The Google Search is now customized with a graphical interface (as opposed to the default form) and I added a couple of links to webpages that I have created. I created them a couple of years ago before I signed up for New Media. Anyway I haven’t checked the page in any other browsers yet so if you notice anomalies with the Google Search on the left side of the page, please let me know via the comments. Thanks.

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Trackbacks and Their Value

I think more blogs should have trackbacks. What is a trackback you ask? Well the Wikipedia defines it as a system “that alerts and allows bloggers to see who has blogged about his or her posts on his or her blog. The system works by sending a ‘ping’ between the blogs, and there[by] providing the alert.”

In other words it’s a nice way to keep up with what other bloggers are saying about your posts. So far, I haven’t had any trackbacks (except for the ones I pinged myself), maybe that should tell me something. Anyway there’s a possibility that it’s just because not enough people know how to use trackbacks. I want you to know, though, it’s easy to ping a trackback – and you don’t even need to have trackbacks on your site.

The process goes something like this (assuming the trackback is from Haloscan): You read something on someone’s site that you would also like to write about. You then write a post on the same topic on your own site. Now you want to add a trackback, so you just copy the trackback link from the other persons site to the clipboard and ping it at Haloscan. To do that, first you must login to Haloscan and secondly Click on “Manage Trackback” in the navigation bar. There you can click on “Send a Trackback Ping”. Fill out the pertinent data like the URL to ping (the one on your clipboard) and your permanent link URL and then your trackback will be on its way. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Really.

Haloscan has a graphical tutorial, but in the meantime here is a list of other sites that also support trackback pings:

Update: I got rid of the trackbacks. The problem with trackbacks is that they allow comment spammers or in this case trackback spammers to change the content of your site without your permission. I had tons of trackbacks on my stairway to heaven page and many of them were unrelated and, for whatever reason, that just really bothers me.