April 2006 - Posts

• Another test passed!

  Today I successfully took the Microsoft exam 70-300, Analyzing Requirements and Defining Microsoft .NET Solution Architectures. My pride took a minor blow, however, because I only just achieved the passing grade with nothing to spare. But passed is passed. The next exam is about security (70-340, Implementing Security for Applications with Microsoft Visual C#.NET) and that's going to be a real tough one. The book alone is 900 pages thick or so. Then there are the practice exams included in the book and the practice exams from Transcender. I consider this security certification a real asset on my CV, more important than everything I have now: security will become more and more important in the forseeable future. I hope to do that exam late August. If I pass that one, I can call myself "Microsoft Certified Solution Developer for .NET". After that, there will be two exams to upgrade my MCSD certification from .NET 1.x to 2.0. After that, I'm sure other exams will present themselves. ;-) Posted Apr 28 2006, 01:06 by Dirk with no comments

• Half a GP of Imola

  I watched the first half of the Imola GP yesterday.  That first half was so boring that I switched off the TV and went to bed for an afternoon nap.  So I don't know how thrilling the fight between Alonso and Schumacher was.  I also didn't see how Jenson Button drove away from the gas station without paying and had to stop again to remove the tank nuzzle. Winner of the day: Michael Schumacher and Ferrari of course.  They have reason to celebrate after their first "real" win since the end of the 2004 season. Loser of the day: the Honda team. Scoring only a seventh place after getting both drivers in the top 3 in qualifying is simply not enough. Posted Apr 24 2006, 10:11 by Dirk with no comments

• Easter: The Return of the King

  The Return of the King is a phrase more usually associated with contemporary epics like The Lord of the Rings and The Belgariad. Or event with Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. In all these epics, the King is a symbol of a golden age, when a benevolent King ruled and everything was better. The people have since fallen on hard times, but they are waiting for the King and the golden age to return. They have been waiting for a long time, and “The Return of the King” usually becomes akin to “never”. There is another epic story, however, several thousand years old, where people are waiting for the King to return. That epic story is the Bible, and Israel are the people. Their Kings are long gone, even 2000 years ago. They were waiting for their savior, the one who would be salved King, the Messiah. Then someone enters the picture who seems to fit the bill. He fulfills several prophecies. Could he be the long awaited King? It all sour, though, when those who feel threatened by him join forces with those who feel let down by him. They put him to death on a cross, the death penalty reserved for the lowest of people. But then the story tells of a miracle: he comes back from the undiscovered country and proclaims himself King, although his kingdom is not of this world. The King has returned, both from centuries of absence and from death. Some chose to reject him, and they are still waiting for the return of the king. Others chose to recognize him. The King stayed with them for little over a month, then left again, promising to return yet again, this time at the end of times. Posted Apr 16 2006, 08:00 by Dirk with no comments

• The Inmates are Running the Asylum

  Or: Look Ma, that bear can dance! I'm currently reading The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper. He talks about Apologists and Survivors, and I would most definitely classify myself as an Apologist. So my comments on the book will be biased. Cooper basically says "computers and software are too difficult, and the reason is that there's not enough investment in interaction design." I can agree with that. I have mastered computers and software (at least the Microsoft flavour of it) but I see people around me struggle every day. Some of Cooper's comments don't sit well with me, however. Cooper says "Computers don't remember". A friend of his lives in Photoshop, yet Photoshop doesn't remember his preferences. Every time Photoshop is started, the program gives equal weight to all features, regardless of how often or not they are used. So what is the solution? Cooper didn't say so yet (I just finished part 2), but it would appear to be that the program should remember which functions are used and display those. Lesser used functions should be removed from sight and reappear after a short time. Microsoft created such a product, it's called Office 2003 and Jensen Harris tells us why that isn't the Holy Grail either. If a program should remember, isn't it logical that a program should remember where you last opened or saved a document? Office 95 and later do that, and yet Cooper complains about this very feature earlier in the book because it made Jane lose track of the place where her documents were stored. The solution would probably be to make the software offer a list of "here are some places where you recently worked, you'll probably find your documents in one of them." I like constructive criticism, and I welcome ideas that will help me make better software. I do have a certain dislike for inconsistency, and I feel Cooper is stuck there from time to time. That being said, I just finished part 2 where Cooper presents the faults of software for all to see, and part 3 promised to begin offering advice to make things better. Posted Apr 11 2006, 07:35 by Dirk with no comments

• Paris-Roubaix

  Tom Boonen lost Paris-Roubaix. I watched the last 30 km on Eurosport. When tuning in, all was still well with Tom Boonen in the leading group of eight riders including two other Belgians (Van Petegem and Hoste). With 20 km to go Cancellara (sp?) answered a charge from Gunov and Tom did not follow. Some moments before I had seen a close-up of Tom's face and I thought "He looks like he's suffering" but I didn't want to believe it. As the gap grew bigger and bigger, I had to start accepting that my initial suspicion was correct. Then there was the incident with the train, and everything was over. Tom won the sprint for fifth place, which may have earned him a second place after the disqualification of Hoste, Van Petegem and Gunov (they crossed the train track under red light and with barriers down). Fifth or second, what difference does it make? The fact is that Cancellara was the best man on Sunday, and Tom just wasn't good enough. Posted Apr 10 2006, 07:59 by Dirk with no comments

• The Source of All Evil

  I was innocently surfing the web, when all of a sudden I found myself on this website: http://thesource.ofallevil.com/. I compared the URL to the content of the website, and burst out laughing ... Posted Apr 04 2006, 07:07 by Dirk with no comments

• GP of Australia

  Yesterday's Grand Prix of Melbourne was an entertaining bit of F1 action, though some would say for all the wrong reasons. Lots of crashes, safety car phases and consequent compressions of the field.  Funny to see that even in the high-tech world of Formula 1, people still use brooms to clear the track of debris.  The most confusing moment of the race was after the third safety car phase (after Schumacher parked his car in the wall): the safety car came in, everybody started racing and overtaking again, but the marshalls were still frantically waving yellow flags and showing the SC sign all over the track. Were they mistaken? Probably not, because Liuzzi had called in the tow service as well, necessitating a redeployment of the safety car.  This is probably the moment that cost Scott Speed his maiden point. Oh yes, Montoya doing a 270 degree turn to warm up his tires was priceless too. Lucky for him that Fisichella stalled his engine on the grid. Winner of the Day: Difficult to call. I was going to say "Scott Speed" but he lost his point because of overtaking under yellow flag.  Ralf Schumacher would be another candidate for scoring an unexpected podium. But I'll go for Fernando Alonso: after each safety car phase, he cruised away from the others without any apparent trouble, opening a 10 to 20 second gap. Loser of the Day: No difficulties here at all. I had high expectations of Jenson Button after his pole position. I knew that winning the GP would be difficult with two Renaults and two McLarens breathing down his neck, but a podium should have been possible. Alas, Button lost a place after each safety car phase, and ultimately lost everything with only meters to go. Closing remarks: the tires are IMO once more turning into a risk factor. They were too soft two years ago, leading to the "one tire set per race" experiment. This year, we have the problem that they cool down to quickly, and lose grip too fast because of that. During this race alone there was two times the situation of a safety car phase, and someone crashing when restarting the race, prompting another safety car phase. Posted Apr 03 2006, 06:51 by Dirk with no comments