Owner: Terry Pearson's Blog URL:http://blog.terrypearson.com/ Join Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 12:30:10 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Technology, gadgets, programming, and more! Site statistics:Click here
Securian Financial 2007-05-05 04:55:32 During my final semester as a business minor / computer science major at Southwest Minnesota State University, I have been quite busy. Part of that busyness was in the form of job hunting. I had a few interviews, and received three job offers. It was a very hard decision, but I eventually decided on a programmer analyst position at Securian Financial
in St. Paul MN.
Securian has some of the best policies in the industry when it comes to their employees. They really take pride in maintaining a work life balance for their employees. Also, the training given to new employees will thoroughly equip them for the tasks they will be asked to do.
One thing that I particularly enjoyed was the opportunity that the company gives for you to meet with employees during your interview. They pay for your meal, and you go eat and talk with an employee. This employee is only there to answer questions. They are not actually evaluating you. So, the idea is that you get more raw, unpolished information abou
Graphical Web Search Engine 2007-04-09 05:56:49 Photo sharing site Riya.com has pioneered new technologies in graphical search engine technology. Using highly advanced facial recognition, they are able to auto detect faces from within your online photo album.
It works through a training program. This is not unlike other similar technologies such as speech recognition. It requires several pictures of a person to be “identified” and then it can begin to “find” the person in other pictures.
Overall, the algorithms involved in such a search can be highly complex. This is a much higher complexity than fingerprint analysis. In fingerprint analysis, a program can map points where ridges split or join, and then calculate a distance and direction between each. When recognizing a fingerprint match, it simply checks for a proportional picture of these points. If it is basically the same, the software identifies a match. If not, the print is rejected.
Facial recognition is vastly more complicated. For more details on fa Read more:Graphical
, Search
, Engine
, Search Engine
Realistic Looking Robotic Chicken 2007-04-06 20:37:42 You have probably seen little chicks in the spring time at a farm or at a county fair and thought how wonderful it would be to have your own pet baby chicken. Of course the problem with this is that eventually they turn into full size chickens.
There is a solution to this. Don’t worry, this does not involve giving your pet chicken a medication to prevent growth hormones or anything like that. Instead, it involves electricity!
Now that I have you really worried about what we are going to do to this chicken, I will explain in greater detail how to go about having your own pet baby chicken.
A company called Segatoys has created an extremely realistic robotic chick. It is slightly similar to an earlier story about Leonardo, the Muppet-Like Artificially Intelligent MIT robot, in that a casual observer would probably conclude that these baby chickens are actually alive.
According to RemoveTheLabels.com, the product entitled “Sega Dream Chick,” is designed to simulate a 20 d Read more:Realistic
, Robotic
, Chicken
Test your Java Skills 2007-04-05 02:41:21 I am currently in a Java class at my university. This is a language that I think is just wonderful. Java (and .NET languages) truly utilizes Object Orientated Concepts to the fullest.
When you are learning a language, it is sometimes difficult to test your skills. You certainly think you know a lot about the language, but how do you know that you are an expert? Possibly the best way, besides certification, is to take online tests on the language of your choice.
A great place to look for these online tests is on text book publisher websites. For example, my textbook entitled “Introduction to Java Programming” by Daniel Liang, has a website with source code and tests available to all. This tool makes it very easy to assess your current skill set, and helps identify areas in which you need to improve. Read more:Skills
Things to Know Before You Graduate - For Computer Science Majors 2007-04-03 06:44:00 As a computer science major, there are many things you should know before you graduate. To land a job, it is important that you have a broad base of knowledge when it comes to computer science. Below, I have compiled a list of some key things to know before you graduate.
By the way, these are mainly from questions that were asked during my interview with Avanade last week.
SQL Transaction
The combination of several SQL statements into one atomic group. It allows for an all or nothing approach.
SQL User Defined Functions
Functions that are run on the SQL server that are created by the user of the DBMS.
SQL View
A view appears like any database table, and can be operated on just like any table, but is actually a portion of a database table.
CREATE VIEW myview AS
SELECT name, age
FROM students
WHERE age = 5
Definition of Inner Join
A join of two tables that returns records for which th Read more:Graduate
, Computer
, Science
Instantiating a CFC 2007-03-19 05:11:04 Coldfusion has certainly progressed over the years. As it moves closer to object orientated design, it also becomes more complicated.
One important part of Coldfusion web development for me is the CFC. A CFC is a Coldfusion Component. Essentially similar to a class, the CFC provides a mechanism to store and reuse code. It also, when used properly, facilitates a much more efficient product life cycle.
We have been using CFCs at my work for about a year now, and they are a big hit! If you are familiar with Coldfusion, you may know that there is more than one way to use a CFC. You can either invoke a function from a CFC using a <cfinvoke> tag, or you can instantiate a CFC for use across a session or application scope.
Though more complicated, instantiation allows for better use of the processing power of your server. This is especially true if you invoke a CFC multiple times throughout the course of a page.
For more on this topic, check out Adobe Livedocs.
Make MLA/APA Citations Quickly and Painlessly 2007-03-15 22:04:57 Everyone who has gone to college should be familiar with MLA or APA citation techniques. I am not saying that everyone knows how to do citations, just that they know what a citation is.
Citation techniques tend to be very specific. If you have indentation, numbering, capitalization, or underlining is done wrong, the whole citation is wrong (at least from my professors’ points of view).
There are ways to ensure that your citations are always correct. One such method is to use a “citation machine” like the one found at Citationmachine.net.
It takes you through a web based wizard, and asks a few questions. From those questions, it formats a citation in the in the exact format that is needed. You can then copy and paste the resulting citation to your bibliography page.
Testing your Domain Name Server 2007-03-15 19:39:03 I recently transfered all my domain names to a new hosting provider. In the process of moving the domains, I forgot to change some of the domain name server info, and it caused some domains to be unavailable for a few days.
Fortunately, these were not ‘critical’ domains. If they were, I would have searched for the problems sooner. But, they were basically projects that I was putting together on my own. So, I was maybe the only one that was disappointed when they did not work.
In the process of discovering the problem, I came across a website called DNSReport.com. The site performs 56 tests on a domain, and provides feedback on each. It will let you know what you are doing right, and what you are doing wrong on your DNS.
I ran the test on my domain, and did happen to find a few errors and warnings. After reviewing the information, I was able to correct a couple of the problems fixed, and am still working on a few others.
Then I checked another website. One that I do not ow Read more:Testing
, Domain Name
Starwars Ascii Art Animated Movie 2007-02-28 06:35:15 I was talking to a friend of mine the other day that is obsessed with Starwars. It caused me to remember about a site I had once seen.
The site entitled “Star Wars ASCIIMATION” is perhaps one of the coolest Star Wars fan sites to date. The creators of the site have built ASCII Art and animated it to show the story of Star Wars.
This may be one of the ultimate nerd hangouts, but I thought it was awesome!
After looking into it a little bit, it appears that you can get the same ascii show through telnet (without opening a web browser). Nathan at nathanr.ca explains how to do this on his blog:
“You can try this yourself by going to Start / Run and type: telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl”
He also explained that some people were claiming that this was a hidden feature of windows, but actually it is not. It is simply using the telnet program built into windows to connect to the server that provides the movie.
Be sure to check it out, it is pretty cool!
What is Second Life Anyway? 2007-02-25 01:59:35 I have been wondering for ages what Second
Life really is. Today, I signed up for an account with the site.
It is funny, because a couple years ago, I thought that making a site like this would make the creators some serious money. I guess I was right. When logging in through the web, it shows how much money was spent in the past 24 hours. At the time I looked, it was over 1.3 million US dollars!
I have not actually used second life yet, but I am told it is similar to the Sims. The only difference is that it is entirely online. The world is virtually created by it’s members. In it there are real businesses (like IBM) and more. It looks like it could be interesting.
If you want to sign up for second life, just click here. Read more:Anyway
, Second Life
Terry Pearson’s 7 Steps To Bittorrent Success 2007-05-10 05:28:08 Bittorrent (pronounced and sometimes spelled “Bit Torrent”) has the potential to completely change the way files are served on the internet. Bittorrent was created by genius programmer Bram Cohan. It allows large files, like open source software distributions, to be downloaded quickly from several “grassroots” file sharers.
This technology is closely related to Peer to Peer file sharing. Bittorrent differs from some file sharing programs in that it breaks up the files into several bite size pieces and allows users to partially download files from several sources.
One major problem with sharing large files over the internet is that many broadband web hosting companies significantly limit your upload speeds. This means that you may be able to download a file at 8mbps but only upload the file to your friend at 0.8mbps. Thats like saying you don’t have a speed limit, but the guy in front of you does (in the no passing zone of course).
This bottleneck is so Read more:Terry
, Pearson
, Success
Java Interview Questions 2007-05-12 07:10:38 Computer science students learn about a wide range of topics during their time at school. There are several things a programming student should know regarding Java. There is a great review for Java programmers found at http://www.interview-questions-java.com/. These are questions and answers to many Java interview questions. It is also a good refresher for those experienced in the Java language.
read more | digg story
How To Mountain Bike Yellowstone 2007-05-11 16:34:31 In about a week, I will be traveling to Yellowstone National Park. I am excited to use my new Mountain
Bike, and found a great guide to help plan the trip.
This is one of the best guides on Mountain Biking in Yellowstone. I like that it lists mileage, difficulty, and some great description (with pictures) of what you will see.
read more | digg story
Vacation: Gingko Petrified Forest State Park 2007-05-21 10:30:52
After finally making it through Montana, we began to travel across Washington. I will say that Washington is much more interesting than Montana. It’s not that Montana is all bad, there is just so much that is the same.
Part way through Washington, we stopped at a lookout point in Gingko Petrified ForestState
Park. The views were AMAZING! Be sure to stop by that point along I-90 just before the bridge to cross the Columbia river. There is a nice park with some great plants (and lizards) all around you.
Read more:Vacation
Vacation: Wall Drug 2007-05-20 23:09:31
Of course, we had to make the traditional Wall Drug stop. We got their just as a nice lightening storm was starting. Unfortunately, we also arrived as all the shops were closing up.
We plan on making another stop to wall drug on the way home. Hopefully we will get to see more next time, and possibly grab a glass of free water!
Read more:Vacation
Vacation: Cabella’s in Mitchell South Dakota 2007-05-20 22:28:53
IMG_3125, originally uploaded by terrypearson.
Over the course of the past week, we have traveled over 2700 miles out the the west coast and back. Most of this time, I have been deprived of the internet.
It is ironic that I am now sitting outside, in a tent, at the West Yellowstone KOA, and I finally have internet access. Anyway, I will be posting some highlights of the trip.
It has been a lot of fun so far!
On the first day of the journey, we stopped in Mitchell
, SouthDakota
at Cabella’s. This was an awesome experience, especially since we were actually on vacation, and therefore in need of some camping stuff.
Read more:Vacation
Vacation: Temperature Keeps Falling 2007-05-23 01:04:29 The temperature in Yellowstone is FREEZING tonight. We are staying in a tent, and it has been snowing off and on all night. In order to stay warm, this post will be short.
I have uploaded a few pictures of our Thunder Knob Trail hike in the North Cascades National Park to Flickr.com. Later this week, I will be posting more details.
Until that time, I will be attempting to stay warm here in West Yellowstone! Read more:Vacation
, Temperature
Having fun at Securian 2007-06-07 21:06:20 It’s been almost two weeks since I started at Securian and it is going great.
I have learned a little bit of JCL and PL/I. We have classes every day. But, it is much better than school!
I also have been figuring out how to get around in St. Paul. Well, that is my summary! Read more:Having
Free Open Source Games 2007-07-04 19:14:24 So today I was curious what sort of open source games are available. Specifically, I was looking for an open source computer version of Settlers of Catan.
To my very happy surprise, I came across just that, and much more! Source
forge, the popular open source uber site, has loads of opensource games that can be found.
I know what your thinking: “But I have to install Ubuntu, Right?” But lucky for you you don’t. The site has a list of games that run on Windows.
Hope you enjoy browsing the selection. It can be found at the SourceForge Open Source Games
for Windows site.
The biggest scam on the internet 2007-07-18 22:43:31 You may not realize it but you are potentially a customer to one of the biggest scams on the internet. It is a money laundering scam in which a company agrees to be an intermediary between buyers and sellers.
This company creates links to your bank accounts and credit cards, and then funnels money between your accounts and others. This is usually done when you request it, but sometimes it is done at other times.
This is where the scam comes in. The company places information in their fine print which gives them sole discretion on how to deal with your complaints about fraudulent money transfers.
Many times, their solution is to ‘freeze’ your account with all the money in that you have placed in their online accounts placed in limbo. They are then free to gain interest on this money without having to worry about you withdrawing the money any time soon.
Furthermore, this scam company fails to post customer service numbers, and only allows contact through email forms on their
Mountain Biking and Heat Stroke 2007-08-05 00:17:49 Last week, my wife, sister, brother, dad, and myself all mountain biked the Minnesota River Bottoms Trail. This is an amazing trail, and recommended to all. My brother, Trevor, and I had a great time trying out some of the jumps and twisting around the singletrack sections of the trail and lightening speeds.
We all had fun taking the wooden rope raft across mouth of Nine Mile Creek to continue on the other side of the creek. We were also impressed by the giant old trees along the path. It was a great time. Jessica and I plan on going out again tomorrow. We have a couple trails in mind, but I am leaning toward the Lebanon Hills trail in Dakota County.
You can check out more trails in the twin cities here.
Besides the great time that we had on the trail, I had an interesting experience. I had forgotten my water, but figured that I was not thirsty, and could survive without (first mistake). After completing the approximately 11 mile long course, we were all exhausted.
Unfortunately, our Read more:Mountain
, Biking
, Stroke
The 411 on 411 2007-08-09 20:46:02 I never understood 411 service. Why would you pay someone an arm and a leg to tell you a phone number that you can find in any public phone directory online or offline?
Now, companies like Google(1-800-GOOG-411), 1-800-FREE-411, BetterThan411.com(513-701-6918), and others, are closing in on the 411 market. But, their service is different. They offer their service for free. Usually this involves listening to some advertising in return for their service.
This really makes sense. If you get lost on a way to a restaurant, and are not near your destination, you would definitely have time to listen to an advertisement.
Saving my Drowned Cell Phone 2007-08-15 21:07:40 A few weeks ago, Jessica and I went to ValleyFair with some friends. I was very careful to bring a snack size ziplock bag along to keep my cell phone dry on the water rides. It was perfect. At the time of leaving the park, my cell phone was dry!
We then headed over to their house to use their new hot tub. We thought that would be fun. I had wore my swimsuit that has Cargo Pockets on it to ValleyFair, and did not think much about it. However, on the way there, I made a phone call. Consequently, I never placed my cell phone back in the plastic bag.
When we got to the house we all jumped in the hot tub. After about a minute, I quickly jumped out. I had realized my new Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman phone was in my pocket, IN THE WATER!
One thing I realized was that the battery is very hard to get out on the phone. When it came out of the water, it was flashing the white screen of death. After a week of drying, my phone was a brick. I had read some suggestions on drying out a wet phone, but h Read more:Saving
MeeTimer: Firefox helps you organize your web surfing time 2007-08-20 21:05:52 Do you waste time online, surfing through meaningless blogs dealing with technology, mountain biking, etc?
MakeUseOf.com explains that there may be a way to help you feel better about that wasted time. A new add-on for Firefox
, called MeeTimer, will track your usage of the web.
You can even categorize sites. For example, if some sites are simply time killers, maybe while you are procrastinating doing more important things, you can specifically monitor your time on those sites. You can give them all a label: Procrastination, and then see how much time you have procrastinated on the web!
This is one of those goodies that would not have much purpose to most people, but it could be useful. If the computer was a company computer, the usage could be tracked. Or maybe a person setting a goal to do two hours of studying a day, could check how much time they spend on more studious sites (i.e. Wikipedia).
read more | digg story Read more:organize
Lebanon Hills is Amazing 2007-08-26 20:10:46 I know I have said this before, but I can’t get enough of LebanonHills
Mountain Bike course. Today, my dad and brother (Trevor) went on the trail. It was great. This was Trevor’s and my second time on the trail and it took us about one hour and ten minutes. My dad did it a little faster.
The best part was when Trevor ran into a tree. He actually cut his rear break cable and his hand in the process. He also discovered the significance of shifting gears. This was a good thing.
I think we did much better on the technical riding than last time. I went off a medium sized multiple log jump with no problem, and we all did better avoiding the rock gardens along the way. I usually could pass through these without stopping.
One thing is for certain, biking this trail on a regular basis would get you into shape pretty fast! It’s a trail that tests your skills and endurance, but when you are finished, you feel great about it! Read more:Amazing
The Future of Audio Books on the Internet 2007-08-28 22:12:06 I used to subscribe to Audible.com, and really enjoyed it. I could get a couple audio books every month and really enjoyed it. But it was a little spendy. At $15 per month, it adds up really fast. So I canceled my subscription.
I still enjoy audio books but I tend to get them from other places. For example, libraries often have a good selection of books on CD. Also, you can purchase individual books from a few sources.
Now, I have found that more companies are offering audio books online. I came across LearnOutLoud.com, and it looks awesome. LifeOptimizer.com has rated them in the top five best learning tools on the internet (They placed third).
They have a combination of free and for fee audio books. They also include some bonus features, like giving customers the opportunity to either download or purchase a CD.
To top it off, they host podcasts and allow publishers to sell their audio productions online. Then they give you a 60% royalty on the sales.
Keep an eye on this company, they Read more:Future
, Audio
, Books
, Internet
More Intelligent News Sources. 2007-08-27 21:40:49 Everyone has gone to Google or Yahoo news at one time or another, these sites are great, especially if you need to find the latest headlines fast.
But, if you want more from your news, there are many sites that bring real intellect to the news stories. One that really stands out is The National Review Online. They have a well designed website that is easy to navigate and filled with great news stories. The National Review will have you talking like an expert as you talk to your friends about the news.
Another great site for news is NewsMax. They have news and commentary on U.S. and world news that is updated frequently. Read more:Intelligent
2008 Politics: The year of the Political Web 2007-09-25 22:24:23 You probably think I am crazy if you read the title of this article. Right now, I bet you are saying “Of course the subject of politics is online. Just ask John Kerry or Dan Rather what a bunch of bloggers equipped with your dirty secrets can do. Or look how much influence the fascist run move-on.org has on politics.”
But I am referring to the main political candidates and politicians. I recently moved to Inver Grove Heights, MN and I had the hardest time finding out about the local political scene in the area. In fact, my congressional district is different depending on if I look at Congress.org or House.gov. It is strange that it is so hard to find who your representative is.
Politicians are even harder to find. Yes, big name candidates have websites, but even those are sometimes hard to navigate and void of real meaning. But try searching for a candidate’s personal campaign site. It is almost non existent.
Going even further down the line, look for your local BPOU
Recommend Site To A Friend
