Grogo's Random Views

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-192509632011-07-28T10:13:10.135-07:00Grogo's Random ViewsA place to write down the random thoughts that plague my brain.Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-14238062392015618182010-04-30T21:45:00.000-07:002010-04-30T21:49:45.087-07:00CURDATE() in Oracle and MySQL

There's a big difference between CURDATE in Oracle and MySQL: Although they look similar, in Oracle, the following will work:CURDATE + 1 or CURDATE -1 wil give you today's date +/- 1 dayHowever, in MySQL, the following seems to work:CURDATE() + 1However, it doesn't actually do a date calculation, it just adds 1 to the integer returned by CURDATE()! So that, if today is 2010-04-30, thenCURDATE()

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15898161084473442577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-25980683315469962362009-04-19T19:28:00.000-07:002009-04-19T19:37:37.781-07:00How the banks are impeding economic recovery

The following article from the May 2009 Atlantic is a must-read for anyone who's curious about how we got into the present economic mess: The Quiet Coup, by Simon Johnson.Johnson is a former IMF economis, now working at MIT's Sloan school, who has seen many other countries, mostly third-world, going through the same economic crisis that we now see in the US and worldwide. The usual cause of the

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-58374396635270557032008-07-01T08:40:00.000-07:002008-07-01T08:48:30.747-07:00Kill -9

If you don't know that "kill -9" refers to, I don't recommend listening to this, because it won't make any sense...(not safe for kids or work)http://www.monzy.com/intro/killdashnine_lyrics.htmlHere's a sample of the lyrics (though you gotta listen to the song for the full effect):My posse throws down like leaky bucket regulators;I was coding shit in MIPS while you were playing Space Invaders.With

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-18692822534568826082008-07-01T08:39:00.000-07:002008-07-01T08:40:26.551-07:00Awesome CompSci rap artists from Stanford

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-21817072655338272032008-06-24T21:54:00.001-07:002008-06-24T21:55:06.930-07:00George Carlin clips

A prophet once said: “The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they’re an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-79269637300060911032008-06-22T10:10:00.000-07:002008-06-22T10:15:26.145-07:00Why I'm voting Republican...

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-58099060571129048932007-05-06T15:11:00.000-07:002007-05-06T15:12:25.317-07:00The Genius behind W.

Here's a hilarious movie about the genius behind George W. Bush's speechwriting.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-3291029691826511652007-04-05T07:44:00.000-07:002007-04-05T07:55:12.428-07:00The US allowed North Korea to build more nuclear weapons!

In an interview on Fresh Air on NPR, nuclear weapons expert Joseph Cirincione states flatly that by refusing to negotiate with North Korea in 2002, the Bush administration directly caused North Korea to quadruple its weapons fuel stockpile and to carry out a nuclear test. He argues that if the USA had continued to negotiate with the Koreans, that would not have happened. This is exactly what

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-36745332619691753442007-03-21T15:47:00.000-07:002007-03-21T15:49:30.501-07:00Slobs rule! At least, we're more productive...

A new book described in this article on ExtremeTech.com argues that slobs are more productive than neatniks. I always knew it... ;-)

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1830136251972277462007-02-08T16:17:00.000-08:002007-02-08T16:22:01.873-08:00Myth of Megapixels

See David Pogues' excellent article on why more megapixels isn't necessarily a good thing.In my experience, there's definitely a trade-off. I used the Nikon D-100 extensively, a 6MP camera, before getting the D-200, 10MP. Although the D-200 definitely has higher nominal resolution, it's optimal ISO speed is 100, lower than the 200 speed of the D-100. When I set the ISO for 400 on the D-200 for

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-55886573732853321512007-01-20T12:34:00.000-08:002007-01-20T12:38:21.375-08:002004 Presidential vote recount was rigged in Ohio county

The vote rigging case in the 2004 election in Ohio is finally going to trial, according to an article in an Ohio newspaper. "The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. "They did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount, he said.It's unlikely that a real recount

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-31920365906690024342007-01-12T20:56:00.000-08:002007-01-12T21:02:17.376-08:00"Hypermiling" - getting the most out of a tank of gas

Mother Jones ran a great article about "Hypermiling" - squeezing out every ounce of energy from gas in a car, be it a hybrid or regular internal combustion engine. I've tried some of the techniques, and I can get about 50 mpg in my Honda Civic Hybrid. The subject of the article can get 59mpg in a regular Accord, though! He recently broke a record of getting 150mg in a Honda Insight hybrid.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-66495240465696627172007-01-03T06:04:00.000-08:002007-01-03T19:33:25.614-08:00Selling America's Infrastructure to Foreign Corporations

MotherJones.com published an article called The Highwaymen about the selling of American roads to foreign businesses, to be operated as toll roads. The trend is being spearheaded in Indiana.The one thing everyone agreed on was that the Indiana deal was just a prelude to a host of such efforts to come. Across the nation, there is now talk of privatizing everything from the New York Thruway to the

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-78999631939043986172006-12-31T19:25:00.001-08:002006-12-31T19:25:25.304-08:00Hilarious video on Google: Panda Sneezes

Sneezing panda, priceless!

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-89019606434183850352006-12-31T10:10:00.000-08:002006-12-31T10:13:06.142-08:0010 Most Outrageous Civil Rights Abuses of 2006

Slate magazine assembled the "Bill of Wrongs": the 10 worst civil rights abuses of the past year. Well worth a read. Some of these are a stretch to round out the list, but my favorite is #6, the state secrets doctrine, under which the Bush administration gets away with just about anything...

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1165208156773625372006-12-03T20:53:00.000-08:002006-12-03T20:57:51.723-08:00Colbert at the White House Correspondents dinner

YouTube removed my previous video links, but here's one that persisted on Google Video:Google videoIt's a hilarious speech be Stephen Colbert ridiculing Bush's flaws. You have to watch it to see Bush squirm under the ridicule.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1164662157422075772006-11-27T12:52:00.000-08:002006-11-27T13:20:14.833-08:00The Distributed Capital

Washington DC and many other world capitals were built in the days before the telegraph, much less phones, radio, and the Internet. Back then, all the important functions of the government like the White House, Congress, Supreme Court, etc, had to be close together to be able to communicate at all without waiting for the Pony Express to shuttle letters.This of course leads to problems: having

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1161619425094734262006-10-23T09:01:00.000-07:002006-10-23T09:03:45.106-07:00Excellent recommendations for the 2006 California Ballot Propositions

Here's an excellent website by Pete Stahl with thorough reviews and recommendations for the confusing 2006 California ballot initiatives. His explanations are clear, and arguments persuasive. Even if I don't agree with everything he says, his reasoning is very helpful in making up your own mind. If you're confused by the propositions, give this site a try.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1160110853111103192006-10-05T21:49:00.000-07:002006-10-09T16:21:10.433-07:00Time for some investigatin'

Here's a great reason to elect a Democratic House and/or Senate: some exciting federal investigations have been much overdue lately. This is by far not a complete list, but here's a good start on all the issues that the Republicans have been getting a free ride on: Iraq: who lied about the WMD pretext for war? Who's to blame for the atrocious post-war non-policy? How are we ever going to get

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1159805008184764292006-10-02T08:59:00.000-07:002006-10-02T11:57:41.546-07:00Was the 2004 Election Stolen???

You read that right: not 2000, but was the 2004 election stolen?! That's the question asked in a Rolling Stone article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."...what is most anomalous about the irregularities in 2004 was their decidedly partisan bent: Almost without exception they hurt John Kerry and benefited George Bush. After carefully examining the evidence, I've become convinced that the

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1159722142636454782006-10-01T10:00:00.000-07:002006-10-01T10:10:20.020-07:00Bush knew about impending bin Laden attack 2 months before 9/11!

According to this Washington Post article by Bob Woodward, Condi Rice was warned by CIA director Tenet 2 months before 9/11 happened, but failed to do anything about it! From the article, the CIA director:...did not know when, where or how, but Tenet felt there was too much noise in the intelligence systems. Two weeks earlier, he had told Richard A. Clarke, the National Security Council's

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1158606269493683672006-09-18T11:47:00.000-07:002006-09-18T12:04:29.510-07:00Voting Machine Fraud with Frightening Ease

The Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy has issued a damning report of the virtual lack of security and auditability in Diebold Systems voting machines. The group of technologists and computer programmers write that...an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1157847922151455402006-09-09T17:18:00.000-07:002006-09-09T17:25:22.150-07:002006 Election Polling Data

Here is a great web site for keeping track of current polling data on the upcoming midterm 2006 Congressional elections: http://www.electoral-vote.com:2006/ They present the information as a map, with states in the red or blue category, as well as a prediction for the makeup of the Senate and House if the race were held today. They also keep track of the polling trends in the states over time.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1157847053953059402006-09-09T17:07:00.000-07:002006-09-09T17:10:53.966-07:00Why are these "idiots" running our country?

The title is not just an idle use of the word "idiot"--for a fascinating read on the origins of the word, check out this wikipedia article.From the article:"Idiot" was originally used in ancient Greek city-states to refer to people who were overly concerned with their own self-interest and ignored the needs of the community. Declining to take part in public life, such as (semi-)democratic

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1156458959112663772006-08-24T15:28:00.000-07:002006-08-24T16:00:56.690-07:00SuperSize my Gas Guzzler!

McDonald's has been giving away toy Hummers with kid meals - Theo even got one when we went to McD's before getting on an airplane. Well, someone took notice of this, and created this satirical website about it -- ronaldmchummer.comThe funny thing is, the Hummers were billed as "Hydrogen" vehicles -- wishful thinking!

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1156450014464183212006-08-24T13:05:00.000-07:002006-08-24T13:06:54.480-07:00Milwaukee Voted "America's Drunkest City!"

Check out this link from Lycos News. I wonder if it's because of all the beer people consume there?

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1156439539022594892006-08-24T10:08:00.000-07:002006-08-24T10:16:08.753-07:00Republicans Pushing for War with Iran!?!?

This New York Times story quotes numerous Republicans in Congress and associated with the White House as saying that we need to start another war in the Middle East, this time with Iran! Haven't they learned anything from Iraq? Or the recent Israel-Hezbollah war? It boggles the mind that they're willing to ignore all evidence, including the CIA's, to throw the country into another war! These

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1155918319808153772006-08-18T09:22:00.000-07:002006-08-18T09:25:19.820-07:00Excellent read: The One Percent Doctrine, by Ron Suskind

This fascinating book (link to Amazon) is an inside look into the clandestine world of the CIA and FBI after 9/11. It's a scorching indictment of the way the Bush administration, including W himself, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Powell, mishandled the actual war on terror to further their own goal of invading Iraq. Informative and sometimes frightening, it reads like a spy novel. Read the

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1154743679079456672006-08-04T18:42:00.000-07:002006-08-04T19:07:59.090-07:00Proxy war in the Middle East: The Cold War revisited?

The current war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon reminds me of nothing so much as the so-called "Proxy Wars" waged during the Cold War between client states of the US and the USSR. Israel is practically the 51st US state, and Hezbollah is really a proxy for Iran, which, as this article from Mother Jones explains, is really a proxy for Russia and China.In other words, the US is in

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1151039714353359032006-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:002006-07-11T20:00:05.233-07:00Nikon D200 Digital SLR from a D100 user's perspective

I've recently had a chance to use the Nikon D200, the latest-generation digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera from Nikon. As the title suggests, I've been a long-time user of the Nikon D100, the predecessor of the D200. Both cameras are aimed at the pro and "serious amateur" photographer, although they are very different beasts.I've used the D100 since 2003, and have created almost 10,000

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1150932907759966312006-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:002006-06-21T16:35:07.766-07:00Hummingbird

.flickr-photo { }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Hummingbird, originally uploaded by grogo. The hummingbirds are back on our deck again! Here's a cool photo of a hummer coming in for a landing on our feeder. The kids love to watch them.

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1150913482999733672006-06-21T10:55:00.000-07:002006-06-21T11:37:06.663-07:00iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum review

We recently bought the Roomba robotic vacuum from iRobot, a company started by Rodney Brooks from the MIT Robot labs. I have to admit that it was an impulse purchase from woot.com. If you have problems with impulse buying, stay away from this site!!!The idea behind the Roomba is that you have an autonomous machine which periodically vacuums your house, with a minimum of intervention on your

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19250963.post-1133819504067991182005-12-05T13:46:00.000-08:002005-12-05T13:51:44.066-08:00Cyborg brains

A cyborg is a (currently only hypothetical) functional blend of biological organism and mechanical contraption that functions as a whole. Of course, people with various implants exist already, but is it possible to create a being with only a human brain and a mechanical body, with no other biological elements?This might be possible if a brain can be transplanted and somehow reconnected to the

Grogohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683989349993694308noreply@blogger.com0