Ice Palace

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Free Oracle SQL Developer

Oracle SQL Developer is a free and fully supported graphical tool for database development. With SQL Developer, you can browse database objects, run SQL statements and SQL scripts, and edit and debug PL/SQL statements. Find it @ http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/index.html

On US Economy

American Enterprise Institute’s September 30, 2008 seminar "The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part IV: Where Is the Bottom?"

Car Designs - Yesterday & Today

Harley Earl and the 1938 Buick. This picture was taken 70 years ago.

1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt

1951 Buick LeSabre. What would you give for this car now?

1951 Chrysler K310

1953 Buick Wildcat

1959 Chevrolet Brookwood Stationwagon

1954 Buick Wildcat II

1954 Dodge FireArrow

1958 Lincoln Premiere

1956 Ford Sunliner

1955 Nash Rambler Cross Country Wagon

1951 Hudson Hornet

1959 Plymouth Fury

1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser

1951 Studebaker Champion

1971 Buick Rivera Boattail

1958 Edsel Convertible

Recent Models from 7 Different Manufacturers

Sprite Image Aggregation

This is a consolidated list of web references to the CSS Sprite (image) aggregation technique that allows packaging an “unlimited” number of small images into a single file. This technique DRASTICALLY decreases page load times for sites with many images.

CSS Sprite Tutorial
http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites-what-they-are-why-theyre-cool-and-how-to-use-them/

Many CSS Sprite documents via Google
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS295&q=css+image+sprite+create&aq=f
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites/
http://websitetips.com/articles/css/sprites/


Online CSS Sprite Generator(s)
http://spritegen.website-performance.org/
http://www.csssprites.com/

Desktop CSS Sprite Generator(s)
http://smartsprites.osinski.name/
https://launchpad.net/css-sprite-generator/
http://www.ajaxperformance.com/2008/02/23/yay-the-css-sprite-generator-is-open-source-lets-play/

http://drupal.org/project/sprites


Don’t forget that there are other techniques to speed up web page load times … Such as:
· additional domains (for browsers with 2 port / domain limitations)
· using TCP keep alive
· adding expirations dates (to avoid round-trip HTTP 304 time waste)
· using compression
· aggregate CSS, JavaScript, XML, and other page components (allows TCP window size to reach MAX throughput);
JavaScript can be treated a bit separately, as it can be written “out of the html engine”
· reduce packet loss (avoid connection packet (SYN) disruption);
SYN packet loss can add 10-100 fold more time for page load than a lost data packet

Lastly, look into the multitude of tools (some free, some fee) for continued assessment. Start with MS VRTA, it requires .Net Framework 3+. Read Jim Pierson’s newest Nov 2008 MSDN article before firing up the utility.

The list below doesn’t get into toolsets for: Web Cache / Server; Application JVM / Java analysis (recommend CA Wily); Network Appliances (packet shapers, load balancers, firewalls, proxies, reverse proxies, routers, LDAP, DNS, DHCP, …); Network Security (IDS, IPS, …); Application Security (grey, black & white-box, …); Storage (SAN, NAS, …); Platform (*NIX, Windows, zOS, OS/400, VMS, …); DBMS (Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, UDB, …); Middleware (); Capacity (); Simulation () … oh boy – what a list ….

As always, your mileage may vary …


Router & DNS Tools
VisualWare – VisualRoute (network path, latency, and packet loss traces)
http://www.visualroute.com/support/newrelease.html
Note: V13.x will have my adaptive ICMP packet loss included !!

DNSstuff – DNSreport (server health check)
http://member.dnsstuff.com/pages/dnsreport.php

IP server / protocol
Microsoft – PortQry (port analysis for various features such as LDAP, DNS, DHCP, …)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310298
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832919
http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Mastering-PortQryexe-Part1.html
http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Mastering-PortQryexe-Part2.html

Microsoft – pathping (ICMP ping with packet loss)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/cnet/cnbd_trb_vxmb.mspx?mfr=true

Portal / WAN performance
HP - SiteScope (portal / WAN analysis)
Product Pages
https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_content.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1-11-15-25%5E849_4000_100__
https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpdc/fetchPDF.do

WAN Monitoring Services
http://www.websitepulse.com/
https://www.alertsite.com/aslp_perf_mon.html?ascamp=web+site+monitoring

Microsoft - Virtual Round Trip Analyzer (web page load analysis)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd188562.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=119F3477-DCED-41E3-A0E7-D8B5CAE893A3&displaylang=en

HTTP / HTML / JavaScript
Simtec – httpWatch (trace utility)
http://www.httpwatch.com/

IEinspector – HTTP Analyzer (trace utility)
http://www.ieinspector.com/httpanalyzer/index.html

IEinspector – IE WebDeveloper (trace utility)
http://www.ieinspector.com/dominspector/index.html

httptrace – TCP/HTTP (trace utility)
http://httptrace.sourceforge.net/

Firefox add-ons
Firebug https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
Yslow https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5369
Web Developer https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60
YAPA http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/


IP packets
WireShark – WireShark (packet trace & analysis)
http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

A Neat Chip

IntellaSys has released a 40-core processor in which the cores operate asynchronously. Each core has got it own ROM, RAM, and inter-processor communication. Together, they can deliver upto 26 billion operations per second.

The chip is designed for embedded wireless, portable, and distributed data processing applications and is programmed in FORTH!

Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done (commonly abbreviated as GTD) is an action management method created by David Allen, and described in a book of the same name. GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks. Learn more @ http://www.gettingthingsdone.com/

Sexist and Offensive

From Software Development Times (11/01/2008)

"As I’ve read through a slew of posts and articles on women and IT in the past few months, I’ve discovered two things: First, that they are almost always written by women, and second, they are all just as sexist as they claim the IT environment to be."

Al Fombra - Belgium Style