Saturday, October 16, 2004

Cleaning up my web host

What a pain in the arse! All I wanted to do was clean out some old files/directories before uploading a new .Net app. The only way I can get to my files on my host is via FTP. This seems fair, FTP does all I need to do anyway.

Well, little did I know I have some nasty hidden Front Page Extension directories scattered throughout.

Since these files are name "_vti_cnf", when you try and delete its parent directory you get "The directory is not empty" error. I scratched my head for a while, pinged google on it and finally discovered the silly FP extension folders. !Grrr!

I finally did get my host cleaned up and as a bonus I discovered a nice open source FTP client called
FileZilla.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Review: The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

A very hard book to set down. I wrapped the book up late last night(1:30am). I just simply could not put the book down.

I enjoyed the whole story as Dan Brown tied his informative "facts" with his fictional story. While following an American Symbologist and a French cryptologist as they tried to solved the mysteries of the Holy Grail and discover why members of the Priory of Sion secret society were murdered, Brown makes many points about Leonardo Da Vinci paints, European architecture and Christian theology.

I found myself looking up some of these details. Some I found particularly interesting were the paintings done by Leonardo; How the Last Supper really shows us some interesting hidden clues, How the Virgin on the Rocks painting was originally done and what the Mona Lisa is really smiling about.

This is exactly what I want out of a nightly read.

I have previously read another of Browns fictions, Deception Point. I was told before going into The Da Vinci code that it is a much more polished book. I guess I agree to some point but I think Deception Point held up pretty well.

Will I continue on and read ANGELS & DEMONS? The odds are certainly pretty good.


As far as The Da Vinci Code goes: a strong 10/10


Thursday, October 07, 2004

Life on the campus today!

I found my way to a blog produced by a student attending Stanford. He talkes about the CS class he is enrolled in and how it has video feeds for each lecture. I checked out the classes site and sure enough, each lecture is stored and can be streamed to your PC. The availability of class material is pretty impressive. All slides, assignments and lechture notes are available in the Online Classroom. Along with chat, Discussion Group and a Course announcements section a student certainly has all the information he/she needs right in front of them. Couple this with a tablet PC and going to school might actually be fun.

It was neat to actually watch (and !understand!) a lecture performed by a Stanford Prof. Certainly something I never thought I would be able to do.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

A couple more books

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of The Da Vinci Code yesterday. I have been waiting patiently for a friend to finish reading it. Each time I ask the friend says, "Oh, I haven't started it yet!". *ug*

I guess I will shelve
Sick Puppy until I have completed it. I am already into the third chapter and so far, have not been disappointed!

I also got my hands on
The O'Riley Factor. Don't know where it will fit into the rotation. Political books just tend to anger me more then anything. They always seem to point out two things; the negative points of the opposing party and the things that are wrong with America. I end up feeling angry and not entertained. The little time I now have to read, I want to be entertained all while being informed. So I might switch back to Sick Puppy and then begin The O'Riley Factor.

For now, I'll be heads down in the
Dan Brown book.