JavaDB Many-To-Many SQL Syntax

create table schema.table name(
column_id column_type (column_parameter(s)) references schema.primary_table_name (primary_table_column)
.
.
.
primary key (column_id, column_id)
)

foreign keys must be the same type and size as their primary key counterparts.

The Newest Driver is not Necessarily the BEST Driver

Just upgraded my computer to Windows 7 and my headphones stopped working. After downloading five different drivers, I backed into the solution.

Find your device manufacturer. If you are like most people in the world, you bought your computer as a complete system. Any manufacturer worth a dang will have the specs for your hardware on their website. Look up your particular model and get the manufacturer name for the component you need to work on.

Find the correct driver. Once you've found the component manufacturer, next step is to find the correct drivers. This does not always translate as the NEWEST driver available. For instance, Windows has a tendency to use a generic driver if the most recent driver for the component is older than the generic driver. This will pooch your component. If your computer manufacturer does not have a way to get drivers, the component manufacturer's website is just a google away. You are looking for the newest available driver for the specific component. For instance, I have an IntelGMA945 motherboard with integrated audio. I searched for drivers for that particular motherboard and got one dated 11/07. The windows generic driver was dated 9/10. In this case, I needed to use the older driver. And it worked.

Mostly this post is for when I inevitably forget, but if you got some use out of it, you're welcome.

Java Tree Recursion

This is the basic recursion algorithm for a tree in Java.

public Object recurse(Object obj){

Object result = obj;
boolean found = result == baseCase ||
result == baseCase2

if (found)
return result;
else {
ObjectList list = getObjectChildren(result);

for (Object child : list){
result = recurse(child);

found = result == baseCase ||
result == baseCase2;

if(found)
break;
}
)

return result;
}

Catholicism and Islam: Two Insane Peas in a Violent Pod

Note: This post is a year and a half out of date. Found the draft when I was working on another post. Figured I might as well post it.

Remember a while ago, fundamentalist Muslims got all up in arms over an irreverent depiction of that Muhammad dude? The news was filled with crazy fuckers who were rioting and burning effigies in the streets. Not to mention all of the calls for the guy to be fired/arrested/beheaded/anally raped and so on and so on. People over here were calling the reaction barbaric and couldn't believe how violent Islam was.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Some kid in Florida goes to mass and procures a communion wafer. The short version, the kid got assaulted by some of the Catholics in the church and faked eating the wafer just to get them to stop pawing at him. (Am I the only one that pictures a scene from some zombie flick?)

So what do all these fundamentalist Catholics, who likely condemned the whole Islam spectacle, do? They go batshit insane with rage. Bill Donahue, leader of the Catholic League, fell down in a fit of apoplexy over how this kid kidnapped the cracker. Whatever branch of the Catholic Mafia is based out of this kid's university have caused him all kinds of trouble, including death threats, trying to get him kicked out of the school over a hate crime (don't get me started on how that's an affront to actual hate crime victims,) and arrested. Even the kid's friend, who asked him to get the cracker, has been blocked from registering for classes.

Time for the standard disclaimer: If you are a Catholic who does not view this student as an agent of Lucifer and think the whole thing is blown way out of proportion, I'm not talking about you.

Another Missed Opportunity

So a church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma decided to have a youth rally.

No big deal.

To draw kids, they wanted to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle.

Hm.

You'd think a fishing pole would have been a much more symbolically relevant prize. Hell, for $800.00, they could have gotten a few top notch poles.

Ruby on Rails Errata

@pull_list = Pull.find(:all, :include => [:book, :customer],
:conditions => ["customer_id = ?", params[:id]])

When using a condition in RoR that relies on a passed in value from a link_to function, remember to use params formal parameter name to use it.

That is all.

Expelled: Integrity, Honesty and Competency Not Allowed

Have you heard about that movie called Expelled? (I COULD link to the actual movie site but I don't want to contribute to their page rank.)

Anyway, the stated premise of the movie is that there are some people whining about not getting tenure because they believe in creationism and not because they just aren't smart enough to earn their spot.

Of course, if you look at the reviews you'll discover the unstated premise: If you don't accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and accept the biblical account of how the world started you are morally equivalent to Hitler and Stalin, biding your time until the time is right to usher the poor, oppressed christians into ovens and gas chambers.

I was going to summarize all of the nonsense that has been swirling in the bowl with this turd of a movie but other folks have done a far better job than me. The short version is that from the moment this movie was conceived it has been an exercise in dishonesty, lack of integrity, and apparent incompetence. Take a look at Expelled Exposed or Pharyngula, the blog of PZ Myers.

From what I've heard of this movie, it only really plays to the pre-converted. The only positive response is coming from the folks that gnash their teeth over evolution and how it is destroying the moral fabric of society. I suppose there are enough of these people out there for the producers to make some of their money back. It worked for Mel Gibson and his snuff flick after all.

Regaining Momentum

Last week sucked. Due to various minor ailments and late nights at work I stopped working out for a little more than a week. I finally got back on the horse, so to speak, tonight.

I finally got around to signing up for digital cable and a DVR this weekend. Time will tell whether I get caught up in TiVo hell. At least I don't have to worry about coming home twenty minutes late from work and missing the first few minutes of various shows.

So I'm back to working out and what not. That's good.

A Moment of Clarity

About two weeks ago, I was getting ready for the slog to work. I looked at myself in the mirror and I had a moment of clarity.

I'm tired of being overweight. Like an old professor of mine who had quit smoking the first semester I had taken classes with him. A middle aged state prosecutor who taught law classes on the side (and did some work for BMW in exchange for a new beemer every year), he was in the shower hacking up another piece of lung when he decided it was time to stop. He never smoked another cigarette.

Although I'm probably classified as morbidly obese, I'm not one of those shut-ins who has to have his meals brought to him by a put-upon partner between blubber fold hygiene maintenance. I'm 5'10" and around 290. Most of my fat is stored in the stomach region, also known as a heart-attack gut.

So how do I deal with this new reality that I've thrust upon myself? Do I take the route of Kevin Smith and go on a liquid diet to lose a bunch of weight and then put it right back on? Do I sign up for some diet where someone else brings me tiny meals? Do I spend lots of money to go work out with people who are really only there to be looked at? Especially when I have a perfectly good elliptical machine in the basement?

Of course not. I'm a reasonably smart guy. I know myself well enough to know that none of those things will work in the long run. That's almost as insane as a god-belief (didn't think I'd work it in, didja?)

It seems to me that the only real way to lose and maintain weight is to simply change your habits. As trite as it sounds, you have to watch what you eat and be active. If nothing else, eating what I've been eating and not moving around too much has caused me to pack on nearly 80 pounds in seven years, eating less and being more active should reverse the trend.

Does that mean I'm going to starve myself? No. Am I going to give myself a heart attack by working out? No. Watching what you eat doesn't have to mean starving yourself. Working out doesn't mean running yourself into the ground.

I have an elliptical machine in the basement that hasn't been used in four years. At least it hadn't been used in four years. Now I make it point to use it every other day for the length of two songs. When I feel comfortable at two songs, I'll bump it up to three. Rinse and repeat. I tried doing it every day but that doesn't really work for me. But that's fine. It's better than not working out at all. Maybe in a few months I'll drop some cash on a good second-hand weight set and do something about my noodle-arms.

I also stopped making honking big sandwiches. I still make sandwiches for lunch or sometimes for dinner. Now I just make them with half as much. I stopped using mayo and mayo-like products in favor of mustard and a variety of related products. Brown mustard and honey mustard are good, dijon tastes like ass. I try to put some kind of veggie on them, usually pickles. I'm not all the way there as far as diet. I still eat too many potato chips, even though I've cut back. I still drink too much Pepsi. The next step is to make the transition to diet. It tastes like ass, but everyone who drinks it now assures me you get used to it fairly quickly. I've also started taking lunch to work. Not only does it give me more portion control and keep me away from the greasy-as-fuck fast food joints around the office, I also save about fifty bucks a week.

After two weeks, how's my progress? I still don't have a bathroom scale and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting one. But I have noticed that my skin is a little looser around the belly. It's a start.

I may or may not keep whoever might be reading this informed. I'm not really doing anything that will produce dramatic results. I'm okay with the idea that it may take a couple of years to get back down to a reasonable weight. The longer it takes, the stronger the habits will be. I know I'll never be buff. I'll probably never even get slim because of genetics. But I can bring myself to the point where I feel reasonably healthy.

That's it for that.

Smell the Christian Love

If I ever get motivated enough to read that book, I wonder if I'll find the passages where Jesus tells his followers to vandalize your neighbors property if they don't believe like the same stories.

Long story short. Cowardly christian chops down a plant in atheist neighbors yard just because. Tries to hide evidence in another neighbors trash (they were on vacation.) When politely confronted, admits to deed and remains hostile towards atheist.

I hope Kazim scraped the Christian Love off his shoes before he went back into his house.

Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Indeed.

The Ordeal of Voting as an Atheist

Welcome to the world of voting as an atheist. I was listening to a podcast this afternoon about the religious stances of the presidential candidates. The page is exactly how I felt while I was listening to it.

I'm not against someone who is religious and wants to run for President. Really, I'm not. It just saddens me when these folks feel the need to sully their integrity by pandering to the worst instincts of people.

I don't believe for a second that Hillary Clinton is that interested in the Bible. Yet, she has claimed that she reads it and prays every day. She doesn't just read it, she studies it and studies various commentaries by other people on it. I call bullshit.

Edwards and Obama have both made an effort to wear their religion on their sleeve. John Edwards has also stated that the theists have a right to force their nonsense on me. (Sorry, Mr. Edwards, but you can't have freedom of religion without freedom from religion.) Obama is sort of on the right track but he doesn't dare state the truth that America is NOT a christian nation. He'd rather mollify the sensibilities of a rabid electorate than teach Americans the truth. None of them want to give the impression that they won't be guided by the superstitious nonsense of ignorant sheepherders who have been dead for thousands of years.

The rest of the Democrats don't matter. They're vanity candidates.

The Republicans, of course, surprise no one with their stance. And frankly, I wouldn't trust any of them to safeguard my rights.

Just once, when asked a question about their religion, I'd like to hear a candidate say, "I'm running for President, not Pope."

Jerry Falwell Called Home (I guess God needed an asshole.)

The Reverend Jerry Falwell died this morning.

May he receive every inch of the compassion he gave others during his life.

For a taste of his compassion: Positive Atheism Scary Quotes, Falwell Edition

One More Lap

And then there was one. Just finished up the penultimate semester before graduation and I am exhausted. I didn't take as many credits as the semester before but this one kicked my ass a little bit harder.

At least I never have to speak French like a performing monkey ever again.

I have three weeks to prepare for the last burst around the track. That means the resume is getting updated and the list of companies is being compiled, the Monster and Dice accounts are being re-activated. Should probably put up a regular kind of website as well.

Next semester is gonna be glorious.

Hey Jim Nussle,

GO FUCK YOURSELF!

You smarmy, greasy political climber. I hope you choke on it as you waddle your fat ass off into political obscurity.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only things missing are pizza puffs and piles of book bags

Ever miss the good old days at the arcade?

This guy missed them a whole lot.

Internalized Barriers to Accomplishment

I started writing again last week and here I sit, after stringing together three days of work on a story, I ran into a big honking roadblock, me.

When you read about writing (something I do way too much of) one of the cardinal tenets of the faith is that you have to write something every day, no excuses. The reason for this bit of dogma is two-fold. First, writing everyday develops a habit. If you write everyday, not only does the quality of your writing improve (theoretically), you are more likely to brush aside the transient distractions of the moment to sit down and start typing. The second reason is that it's harder to get back into the groove if you skip a day.

So what's the deal? Why have I honked off the past couple of days and gotten out of my little groove? I'd like to think that it was because life got in the way, but that wouldn't be the truth. The only real thing I've had to do this summer was show up at eight a.m. for a two hour calculus class.

Why am I sitting here typing this out for free when I could be putting some work in on a story that could be sold?

Why do I sit at the computer and create an excel spreadsheet to track what work I've done like record ideas, keep tabs on my progress on those ideas and hopefully track submissions down the line? I could be working on one of two stories that are already open in Word.

Why do I sit down and cruise the internet, reading message boards and blogs that I'm only marginally interested in?

Why do I continue to sabotage myself? Why do I consistently step on the little seedling of writing aspiration that pops up from time to time?

Interesting Quotable

I saw Clerks II yesterday. Overall a good flick which I think might actually be the best one yet. I was worried that the fat guy who made Clerks back in '94 wasn't going to be able to make a movie in the same spirit because he was so far removed from the place where his main characters were at. I was wrong, he did a good job, but I still don't know how the fuck that movie made it past the MPAA.

Anyway, I was reading his blog and went backwards a ways until I came across an entry about all the good ideas he had, but never acted on. This quote jumped out at me:

"When you’ve got what you feel is a cool, original story to tell… fucking tell it quick. Because if you don’t, sooner or later, someone else will."

"Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis"

One of the things that annoys me about the True Believers (tm) is their insistence that any criticism of their religion (fuck the other ones) is somehow an attack, even when it's a legitimate criticism. "How can you be so cruel as to say that religion may not be the best thing to ever happen to humanity?" they wail and cry, gnashing their teeth for theatrical effect. Instead of taking a critical look at their religion (both the tenets of their faith AND the history of their respective institutions) they just piss and moan about always being under attack by the moral degenerates who don't agree with their particular brand of superstition. All the while, they remain blissfully ignorant of the real reason they piss a lot of people off.

If you are a True Believer (tm), I'd like you to lean in closer and read the following very carefully. I'm about to lay some wisdom on you. Take this information to heart, and you may no longer get the eye-roll from many of the people that you talk to. This could lead to a much healthier social life that expands beyond your fellow Sunday morning faith warriors. Get ready, here it comes:

Some people aren't interested in your god.

There it is. Now go ye forth and cease to annoy.

BTW, check this little ditty out. I think it sums up pretty well how most people feel about the True Believers (tm) and their insistence that everyone else play by their rules. (First time I've tried to embed a YouTube. Hope it works.)



**Disclaimer: Many religious people are perfectly content to keep their religion to themselves and go about their business without being an annoyance (as far as religion goes, anyway.) If you are one of this seemingly vast, silent majority, I'm not talking about you. You're fine, go forth and leave me the fuck alone.

Let's try this again

So I started writing again. I've been playing with it on and off since I was in high school, but was never able to keep it up long enough to get published. Oh shit, who am I kidding? I haven't been able to finish a story yet.

Why the change now? I finally got the DVD for American Splendor a couple of weeks ago and it may seem strange, but it kind of inspired me. Yeah, Harvey Pekar may not be a paragon of publishing success like the Harry Potter chick, but he was able to get off his ass and DO something instead of spending his life as a down in the heels government file clerk flunkie.

I guess that means that I will maybe start writing about my writing as an exercise and maybe even post updates about my progress. Maybe that would actually be a decent motivator, who knows? Probably also add some links to writers resources I will find down the road.

Wish me luck, fellow ponderers.

BTW, 401 words.