Owner: Joe Enos URL:http://blog.jtenos.com Join Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:28:38 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A mix of software development, personal finance, entertainment, politics, and whatever else I find interesting. Site statistics:Click here
C# Extension Methods 2008-08-17 09:01:27 I apologize for not posting anything for a couple of weeks - I've been incredibly busy with work, and with a personal project which I hope to release within the next couple of weeks. I'm designing an "RSS feeder", which will allow users to view their favorite RSS feeds (blogs, news articles, etc.) in one centralized location. Once it's ready for initial beta release, I'll post an entry with more Read more:Extension
, Methods
Even the innocent should not talk to the police 2008-09-22 17:11:37 I came across an interesting lecture from Professor James Duane of the Regent University School of Law. The lecture is on why no one (specifically a suspect or potential suspect) should ever talk to the police during an investigation - they should instead exercise their Fifth Amendment rights, and remain silent. The audience for the lecture were law students, so the arguments are made from the p
DTV Converter Box Rip-Off 2008-09-21 05:14:56 As you probably know, standard television in the US will be 100% digital in February 2009, which means that old TV's will not work without cable, satellite, or a converter box designed for digital. I currently have cable, and plan to have cable or satellite indefinitely, so the cutover date should not apply to me. However, like a lot of people, I'd like to be prepared for the change by getting a
Proposition 200 - Payday Loan Reform Act 2008-09-16 18:45:01 In Arizona, proposition 200, named "Payday
Loan Reform
Act", will be on the ballot this November. I've received plenty of mail, and heard lots of commercials in favor of the initiative, but until I read the initiative myself, and the official arguments for and against, I had no idea what was really going on.
The proponents of the proposition say that this will make payday loans better for Arizon Read more:Proposition
, Payday Loan
The Simpsons Emmy 2008-09-14 03:39:12 Apparently some people think "The Simpsons
" is still good - it just won an Emmy for Best Cartoon (). In my opinion, the show hasn't been funny for at least 3 or 4 years - before that, it was hilarious, but it really declined quickly. The movie was very good, but the show is just unwatchable. But I guess some people feel differently. What caught my attention was the headline for the article on
Ray Barnes State Representative Ad 2008-09-11 18:02:39 It's that time again - politics are in full force. The primaries are over, and ads are everywhere. I guess I'll add my two cents about various local and national races over the next couple months, starting with the local legislature. There's a sign ad all over my district, for republican state representative Ray Barnes
. On the sign are several things that caught my eye: 1) AMMENDMENT is spe Read more:State
, Representative
Redflex DUI 2008-09-09 16:16:34 On Saturday, a photo enforcement driver was arrested for extreme DUI, after crashing into a curb twice and almost hitting another car. The driver was employed by Redflex, a Scottsdale-based company. Redflex is the direct competitor of American Traffic Solutions, another Scottsdale company, which I proudly work for. Since I'm in the business, I probably shouldn't comment too much about it - but
Google Chrome 2008-09-08 18:46:51 I've been experimenting with different web browsers lately, and just downloaded Chrome
, the recently released browser from Google
. It's still in beta, so I'm not expecting it to be perfect, but from what I've seen so far, I'm very impressed. Chrome is open source, which pretty much guarantees that it will be better than Internet Explorer, since it's built on open standards, and will be improved
.NET is a failure? 2008-08-31 22:01:23 Some blockhead at PC Magazine wrote an article called 21 Great Technologies That Failed. It gives 10 Microsoft and 11 Apple examples of "failure
s". Most of the stuff is reasonable, like WebTV and Mac G4 Cube - but they somehow slipped .NET into the list, saying everyone went to Java, and that .NET "has nowhere near the scope that MS had envisioned back in 2002". What an incredibly stupid thing
Dvorak 2008-08-30 19:09:30 I've been working on learning a new keyboard layout, the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. This is supposed to provide an alternative to the standard QWERTY layout, making it easier to move from key to key, thus increasing speed and reducing strain on the wrist and fingers. I bought stickers to put on one of my keyboards, which helped to get me started. After just a day, I memorized the layout, and s
British Tax Dollars At Work 2008-08-25 17:48:58 British scientists have discovered that herds of animals tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction - some scientific nonsense about magnetic fields at the north and south poles. My favorite line of the news article, possible the greatest thing I've ever read: The scientists were unable to distinguish between the head and rear of the cattle. The article can be found at: Read more:British
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Election 2008-10-10 15:57:57 One of the races on this November's ballot is for ArizonaCorporationCommissioner
. Three out of the five seats are up for grabs in this election, with three republicans and three democrats in the running.
The democrats advertise themselves as a single package. The trio consists of Sam George, Sandra Kennedy, and Paul Newman. They have a fortunate combination of names, going by "George, Kenned Read more:Election
Proposition 300 - Commission on Salaries for Elected State Officers 2008-10-10 15:04:28 Arizona Proposition
300 would increase state legislator salaries fromm $24,000 to $30,000.
Supporters ask you to consider the fact that their salaries haven't been increased in 10 years, and that $24,000 is not enough for people in these positions to survive on. They believe that higher salaries will help prevent corruption in the legislature by giving them a more fair salary.
Opponents, includ Read more:Commission
, Salaries
, Elected
, State
Proposition 202 - Arizona Stop Illegal Hiring Act 2008-10-10 14:21:58 Arizona Proposition
202, known as the Arizona Stop Illegal Hiring
Act, is a gigantic scam that will do exactly the opposite of what it says. It's one of the worst propositions to make it on a ballot in years.
Supporters give us plenty of arguments that sound good on the surface, but in reality are bold-face lies. The arguments state that the initiative is "aimed at stopping employers from hirin Read more:Arizona
10,000 Hits 2008-10-06 10:35:03 I just passed ten thousand hits on my blog. Many thanks to my regular readers and commenters for getting me this far. Of course, I realize that most of those 10,000 are not legitimate visits to the site, but it's still kind of cool to see my hit counter dive into the 5-digit range.
Some statistics on these hits:
Google has hit my blog 4,154 times. That explains why Google loves me so much. M
Arizona Cardinals: This Is Their Year! 2008-10-05 17:50:33 The ArizonaCardinals
have shown that they're serious this year. They've had a lot of talent on their team every year for a long time, but this year they are really showing the heart of a winner. They are now 3-2, in first place in the NFC West.
Week 1 was a big win against the San Francisco 49ers. Week 2 was a blowout against the Miami Dolphins. The Cardinals looked great in both of these ga
Proposition 102 - Marriage Protection Amendment 2008-10-02 18:43:54 Arizona Proposition
102 is basically a duplicate of proposition 107 from two years ago. The amendment defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Although this is already part of the law, the amendment would put it directly into the constitution, to prevent the law from being overturned later.
Supporters claim that this amendment will protect Arizona's families and children by not allowi Read more:Protection
, Amendment
Proposition 101 - Medical Choice for Arizona 2008-10-02 17:52:00 Arizona Proposition
101, known as "Medical Choice
for Arizona" or "Freedom to Choose Act", is designed to protect patient freedom in choosing their medical providers, and prevent socialism from taking over the medical industry.
Supporters make their position very clear - freedom of choice is absolutely crucial to the health and well-being of the American people. The government should not decide Read more:Arizona
Proposition 100 - Protect Our Homes Act 2008-10-02 16:56:42 Arizona Proposition
100, known as the "Protect
Our Homes
Act", would amend the state constitution to prohibit the government from charging a real estate transfer tax on sales of properties.
Supporters of the proposition have basically a single argument: The government already imposes a regular and predictable tax on homeowners annually, which adds up to a single budgeted amount. A real estate tr
Website Rebuild 2008-09-28 18:04:29 I have rebuilt my personal website, The color scheme now more closely resembles this blog. In addition, the entire back-end application has been redesigned and rewritten to use newer and better technologies than before. I won't get into the details, but you'll notice some nicer looking things like virtual message boxes instead of real ones, faster response time, and a general cleaner feeling.
Proposition 201 - Homeowner's Bill Of Rights 2008-09-27 13:47:58 Arizona Proposition
201 is another initiative scheduled for the November election. This proposition, known as the "Homeowner's Bill Of Rights
", is designed to make home builders more accountable for their work, by providing free 10 year warranties, giving homeowners more options for cancelling contracts, and other ways to help the home buyer instead of the home builder.
Several of the elements t
Avoid ING Direct 2008-10-29 16:27:24 About a year ago, I signed up for a checking account with ING Direct
. At the time, it seemed like a great deal - some of the features of this "Electric Orange" account were:- 4% interest - a whole lot more than anyone else offered for a checking account, even a savings account- overdraft line of credit, which works as a fee-free credit card so you don't need to always pay close attention to your Read more:Avoid
Back To School 2008-10-26 17:18:37 Last week I started my Linux class at Mesa Community College. It meets twice a week, 4 hour sessions, for 8 weeks, so I'll be keeping busy for the next couple of months. So far we haven't done much more than an introduction to the operating system and the open-source industry, but I'm expecting a lot more in the next few sessions. The class is supposed to be a decent foundation toward Linux cer Read more:School
Credit Mess 2008-10-25 16:37:30 Over at A Slacker's Quest For His First Million is an excellent post summarizing the events leading up to the financial mess this country is currently facing. With so many factors involved, the situation can be confusing, especially if you haven't been following it since the beginning (defined as March 2000 in the article). The article is very readable, and provides a clear picture of some of th
2008 Election Recommendations 2008-10-19 14:29:47 Below are my personal recommendations for this November's election. These are my selections for my ballot, which contains state and local races - so unless you're in my district, many of these will not apply to you.There's still a couple weeks before the election, but unless something drastic changes, these will be my choices.Federal:President: John McCain (R)U.S. Representative: John Shadegg (R) Read more:Election
Javascript getElementById Behavior In Browsers 2008-10-19 12:05:14 I came across an issue not too long ago that caught my attention - using javascript to access elements behaves differently in IE and FireFox/Safari/Chrome. IE accepts casing differences - FireFox, Safari, and Chrome (let's call them the "good browsers") do not. For example: <span id="span1"></span><input type="button" onclick="clk();" value="clickme" /><script type="text/java Read more:Behavior
John McCain For President 2008-10-18 04:36:31 As my regular readers already know, I am a Republican with mostly conservative values and ideals. Therefore it should come as no surprise that I am supporting John McCain
for President
.In my opinion, Barack Obama a huge threat to America. As the most liberal senator, he has shown his disdain for this country, and as President, I believe he would take steps to destroy freedom, invite world-wide t Read more:John McCain
Re-Elect Joe Arpaio 2008-10-15 16:01:13 Sheriff Joe Arpaio is up for re-election with this November's ballot. Arpaio is one of the most famous law enforcement officials in the country, known for such tactics as building a "Tent City" jail in Arizona, pink underwear and handcuffs for inmates, and getting his name and face in as much media as is humanly possible for a sheriff. Arpaio is a media hound, but he is very good at what he does Read more:Elect
The Happening 2008-10-13 17:21:03 I don't know why I keep watching M. Night Shyamalan's movies. Every time I think that maybe this time will be different. Today I rented The Happening
, hoping that maybe it would be good. Instead it was exactly the same as every other one of his movies - terrible overacting, unbelievable dialogue, and not-so-interesting supernatural twists.The Sixth Sense really wasn't terrible, even with the ov
No title 2008-11-15 18:09:51 It's been awhile since I've been able to post anything - I recently moved, and most of my free time has been spent on the move. Everything has gone very smoothly, and I'd like to thank all the companies and people I worked with - most are local to the Phoenix area:Kate Teske at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage: Kate was my real estate agent for this purchase. I worked with her in the past,
Recommend Site To A Friend
