Duck Hunt

Woo-hoo! I just got 294,900 on Duck Hunt. That's up to a whopping round 15.

Ok, so it's out of date, but Harry and I needed a break. Maybe we'll bring it down to G&G's for Thanksgiving. Then we have something to do besides watch TV.

Java Communications API and Eclipse

Has anyone gotten the Java Communications API to work with Eclipse? I'm trying to develop some Java code to work over either the serial port or the parallel port, but Eclipse refuses to recognize the libraries.

For instance, I can open the type CommPortEnumerator but not compile - the import statement has the following error message:
The imported type javax.comm.CommPortEnumerator is not visible

I do have my system setup correctly. I can go to the command-line and compile and then execute code that sees the API fine. Eclipse just refuses to recognize it.

I posted this at the Eclipse.org newsgroups. Hopefully someone will point out what I'm missing.

UPDATE: The light finally came on when I realized that I was using two differenct classes - one that was package scoped in Eclipse and the other was a public class. Damn, I hate it when I miss something like that!!

For future reference on installing the Java Communications API, here's what I've determined for placement of files in relation to a JRE:
1. <JRE>\bin\win32com.dll
2. <JRE>\lib\javax.comm.properties
3. <JRE>\lib\ext\comm.jar

Where JRE is one of:
a. C:\j2sdk1.4.2_06\jre
b. C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_06

I'm changing my mind...

I'm going to flip-flop a little bit. After some more thought, reading the articles and discussions on Slashdot, and a simple realization, I'll drop my thought that Intelligent Design is a science. From my perspective, it is essentially evolution wrapped by faith. That is fine if you wish to believe in a greater creative force (and it is difficult not to think there is with all the "coincidences" that exist), it still isn't science. Once faith or belief comes into play, you're out of the realm of science.

Teacher of the Year

I forgot to congratulate Lisa on her earning the Teacher of the Year award this year.

It'd a double-edged sword, though. Now she's the one that gets to represent the school for the Kohl Scholarship. That means lots of extra work.

Robinson Crusoe

That was really cool. My son and I just finished reading Robinson Crusoe together. We read it in less than a week (4 or 5 days, I think).

He was interested enough that he would ask to have it read to him. I was a little leary of the cannibals as well as the fighting - but I'd rather it come from me, where I can discuss this stuff with him and have Harry understand why they are bad. Plus, the book was published by Scholastic and is mine from when I was a kid.

Anyway, that's 127 pages. He then asked if I could read it to him again! Wow.

If anyone has ideas of stories that are actually good for an almost 6-year-old, I'm interested. We've read the Thomas stories umpteen times (and that's the mega-book of all Thomas stories). I'm trying to keep the stories under 200 pages (I figure that will be the maximum Harry can handle before losing interest in the story). Obviously, I'd prefer something a bit more kid-friendly. Robinson Crusoe just happened to be the first book I found that I thought he'd listen to for the entire book.

I'm thinking I still want to wait on the C.S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe stories for a while. They're about 200 pages apiece, the font is smaller, and there aren't as many pictures.

Evolution vs. Creationism

This is a sad story. I have no trouble with Creationism, but to tout it as a scientific theory is a sad state of affairs. To my knowledge, there is no scientific theory of Creationism - it is solely based upon ones faith. It should not be taught in any science class. It makes sense to teach it either in a religous setting or in a class about (one or many) world religions.

Intellegent Design, on the other-hand, does appear to be a valid scientific theory. I can understand people who may want to put this into the science class. As long as there is evidence for it and it is coming from scientists and not theologins.

This PDF document entitled "Sabotaging Science: Creationist Strategy in the '90s" may be of interest to others.

I live in Wisconsin, and I don't want to see faith over-riding science. Science should be an unbiased view of our world. If evolutionary theory is wrong, it will be disproven by science itself. Not by literal interpretation of the Bible.

Linux desktop with X-Win 32

I did a tiny bit of fishing and found that with X-Win32 (and any X software I presume) I can sit at my Windows XP desktop and launch a window that contains the full Linux desktop. For the few that are interested, here's the support document describing how to set it up.

The only thing I did after running through the directions was to change my SSH connection to run the gnome-desktop instead of xterm.

/usr/bin/gnome-session >/dev/null 2>&1

I got a lot of error messages. Not knowing if I should care, I just funneled the messages away. Like any good user!!

I didn't know this...

...and I wouldn't be surprised if this were true.

According to this story, somewhere around May of 2001 our erstwhile nation gave $43 million dollars to a certain country ruled by the Taliban. The rabid dog then bit the hand that fed it.

Ironically, I was just telling somebody at work that I've got to quit it with any political-type blogging. There's plenty other sources that are much better that my meager scraps.

Something funny happened in the network...

This actually happened a couple of days ago, but I thought I should post about it - I'm sure someone will tell me what I was missing.

First off, networks aren't my thing. I'm very happy the magic of DHCP was created. It makes life a lot easier for those of us that aren't TCP/IP (et al) wizards. It makes life easier for those of us who don't want to be TCP/IP wizards. I fall into both categories.

Now that the groundwork has been laid, here's the story: I was setting up my "new" server. To facilitate the process, I kept it in my office and grabbed an old router since I only have one network connection in the office. Not a big deal and it should work great... right?


(Not the best picture, but MS Paint isn't the best tool!)

Anyway, the BEFSR41 router was initially connected via the Uplink port. I turned off the DHCP server from the BEFSR41 at some point during my testing.

The Windows XP box had no interference from the BEFSR41 machine and use the WRT54G as its gateway. My terminology may be wrong, but when I opened a web browser to http://192.168.1.1, I would see the WRT54G pages.

The Fedora Linux box saw the BEFSR41 router as its gateway. Again, my definition is by opening a browser window and hitting http://192.168.1.1. I changed the GATEWAY variable (/etc/sysconfig/network) to be 192.168.1.1 late in the game.

The Windows XP machine had full connectivity with the internet. The Fedora Linux box did not.

Here's the weird part: I'm certain the Linux box worked for one evening. The next morning - not rebooting - it couldn't get to the internet again. I have no idea why.

When I tried hooking the BEFSR41 to the network through the WAN port, it didn't work for either machine. This was more like what I was expecting.

After toying around with it for a couple of days, I decided I didn't really need it in the office anymore (once Linux was installed, I don't need physical access anymore). I put it in the basement, booted it up, and I've been just fine! I also removed the extra router (BEFSR41) from my office since I don't need it anymore.

I'm just puzzled. If it didn't work (which I sort of expected), I would expect to see both the Linux and Windows XP machines not have access to the internet. Or both work.

I guess I didn't expect to get it both ways! ;-)

Etching your own circuit boards...

This is a really cool discussion on how to etch your own circuit boards! Now that I have a laser printer, I should give this a try. Being in Wisconsin, I suppose I may have to wait until summer.

Harry's wrist...

We were out shopping for furniture today and found some barstools for the kitchen. We were picking out fabric when something happened to Harry elsewhere in the store. (I forgot to mention that he had wandered off.) "Somehow," a sofa table had tipped over onto his left hand. Long story short, we went to the walk-in, and were fortunate. He may have something chipped - but no fracture and no breaks. He's in a splint for the next few days. Unless, of course, we get a call that the x-rays show something more serious... here's hoping!

Vote!

Don't forget to vote! Don't let either party tell you not to vote. Don't let anyone intimidate you. Just do it. I don't care if you vote for Mickey Mouse - I just want to hear that you did it.

It's a family event - so take the kids too. I'm going before work with my son. My wife is going after work with him. Our schedules are such that we cannot vote together, but we'll vote non-the-less.

It's your duty.
It's your freedom.
It's your country.

Take a stand.