HoodedHawk

I heard this on a Scientific American podcast I was listening to on the way in to work this morning. Hysterical! And *soooo* true; I’ve often wondered about the budgets of these CSI teams, and have often commented about scenario 2. Enjoy!

CSI agent 1: “I’ve got some trace evidence for you to analyse. Run Sample A through the Mass Spec.”

CSI agent 2: “We don’t have a Mass Spec”.

CSI agent 1: “OK, run Sample B through the gas chromatograph”.

CSI agent 2: “Um, we don’t have one of those, either”.

CSI agen 1: “Well, let’s do a DNA analysis of Sample C”.

CSI agent 2: “OK, we can do that. I’ll send off the sample; we should have the results back in about a month”.

CSI agent 1: “Well, can we run these fingerprints through a database to look for a match?”

CSI agent 2: “Sure, but we only have access to the state db; our system doesn’t really connect well with other states’ or the national registry…”

*sigh*

CSI agent 1: (2pm) “I’m entering the house now…” *click*, *click*, *click*. “Damn, my flashlight has dead batteries”.

CSI agent 2: “Um, why don’t you just, um, flick on this here light switch?”

The monthly Columbia (Maryland) BEA user group meeting was tonight, and Marty Hall (coreservlets.com) gave a very engaging and interesting talk about the new JSP 2.0 (Servlet 2.4) expression language. Now you can replace the verbose:

<jsp:useBean id="someName"
type="somePackage.someClass"
scope="request, session, or application" />
<jsp:getProperty name="someName"
property="someProperty" />


with:

${someName.spmeProperty}

-That’s the best reason for JSP 2.0 Expression Language. You’ll need an app server that supports the servlet 2.4 spec (i.e. Weblogic 9)…

I recorded Marty’s lecture, and have a link there to the materials from his website.

Ok, I don’t have a new Intel-based Mac (yet; saving my pennies), but here’s yet another reason why Apple rocks: They are going to officially support running Windows on their hardware. The software, “Bootcamp“, is in public Beta now, and will be included in the next major version of MacOSX. All you’ll need is a copy of the Windows XP (home or pro) SP2 disk. This brings with it all the issues with Windoze software, as Apple states:

Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes.

The wonderful Polish Science Fiction writer Stanislaw Lem has died. Great writer, whose works include:

• 1961 Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub); Powrot z gwiazd (Return from the Stars); Solaris (Solaris)
• 1964 Niezwyciezony (The Invincible); Summa Technologiae
• 1965 Cyberiada (The Cyberiad)
• 1966 Wysoki Zamek (Highcastle)
• 1968 Opowiesci o pilocie Pirxie (Tales of Pirx the Pilot); Glos Pana (His Master’s Voice)

No, other than the setting, the movie “Solaris” (even though “based on the novel”) is nothing like Lem’s book. The book is so much better!

It’s not often that I need an online word-processor, but if I do I’ll use ajaxWrite. It’s fast, and was able to open up some fairly complex Microsoft Word documents I threw at it. Seems to have all you need to create a “rich-text” (ala Microsoft Word) document online. It’s not perfect (it’s a V 0.9 release) but it’s free. I wouldn’t use it to edit something private, as it does send info back to a server. Also, it may be awhile before I relinquish desktop apps for online apps, but this would do in a pinch.