How to rip a DVD: A Tutorial

A nicely done tutorial for ripping DVDs. (DVD Shrink is far less complicated - but in some situations you'll need to know this method)

Other Links of interest:
DVDShrink (do a google search to find a download site)
FaurUseWizard

POG - Php Code Generator

Php Object Generator - Open Source Object Relational Mapping PHP Code Generator

Generates PHP/Database code. Includes support for PHP 5.

Database Comparison - Oracle, MySQL, DB2, SQL Server

Here is a rare article that provides nice details (clear cost figures) and evaluations of 4 of the major database platforms.

Perhaps PostgreSQL should have been included, but I'm not complaining. A nice read.

Open Source Project Management App

Open Workbench

Open Workbench is an open source desktop application that provides robust project scheduling and management functionality. Already the scheduling standard for more than 100,000 project managers worldwide, Open Workbench is a free and powerful alternative to Microsoft Project.

UK Oil Depot Fire - Sat Image

Satellite photo of Britain oil depot fire...clearly visible from space. Not sure of the image resolution.

London_Smoke_MER_H.jpg (Direct Link to JPEG Image, 1.4Mb, 1070x1070 pixels)

Portable Firefox - Run from USB Drive

Portable Firefox 1.5

Portable Firefox is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser packaged as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you.

It certainly works great, as I am posting this blog entry from Firefox that is running on my USB drive.

Installation: To install Portable Firefox, just download the ZIP file at the top of the Portable Firefox page and unzip it anywhere on your portable drive.

Copy Current Local Firefox Settings: If you're using a local copy of Firefox, you may wish to just copy your local Firefox settings right into Portable Firefox. Your local Firefox profile is usually installed in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.???\ Just copy all of those files except the cache directories to the profile directory within Portable Firefox.

First Map of North America (Pre Columbus)

Brookhaven National Lab - Scientists Determine Age of New World Map: “Vinland Map” parchment predates Columbus’s arrival in North America

Scientists from the University of Arizona, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Institution have used carbon-dating technology to determine the age of a controversial parchment that might be the first-ever map of North America. In a paper to be published in the August 2002 issue of the journal Radiocarbon , the scientists conclude that the so-called “Vinland Map” parchment dates to approximately 1434 A.D., or nearly 60 years before Christopher Columbus set foot in the West Indies.

US Govt Seeks Vehicle GPS Tracking

E-tracking may change the way your drive | Tech News on ZDNet:

ZDNet has a story on how the US Department of Transportation is funding state-level pilot projects to track vehicles using GPS.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees."

This is coming around MUCH faster than I thought it would. How much longer before it is a requirement? First it starts as a traffic monitoring mechanism. Then as the big-fat heads consider new faux crisis to get elected on, they will push for it to be mandatory in all vehicles.

I can hear the rationale now: traffic violations can be issued by the GPS monitoring system, track suspected criminals, save the children, and a thousand other short-sighted reasons. In all the noise, the simple fact that this is supposedly a "free" country and its people are citizens and not subjects will certainly be lost.

Sold as a convenience - transformed into a noose...

(and now cue the chorus of "well if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" government apologists)

Details of the tracking systems vary. But the general idea is that a small GPS device, which knows its location by receiving satellite signals, is placed inside the vehicle.

Some GPS trackers constantly communicate their location back to the state DMV, while others record the location information for later retrieval. (In the Oregon pilot project, it's beamed out wirelessly when the driver pulls into a gas station.)

The problem, though, is that no privacy protections exist. No restrictions prevent police from continually monitoring, without a court order, the whereabouts of every vehicle on the road.

No rule prohibits that massive database of GPS trails from being subpoenaed by curious divorce attorneys, or handed to insurance companies that might raise rates for someone who spent too much time at a neighborhood bar. No policy bans police from automatically sending out speeding tickets based on what the GPS data say.

The Fourth Amendment provides no protection. The U.S. Supreme Court said in two cases, U.S. v. Knotts and U.S. v. Karo, that Americans have no reasonable expectation of privacy when they're driving on a public street.

GeoDa - Free Spatial Data Analysis Software

GeoDa - Spatial Data Analysis Software:

This was a nifty free software app that I wasn't expecting to stumble across. A nice list of recommended GIS software can be found at the mapz: a gis librarian blog.

The free program provides a user friendly and graphical interface to methods of descriptive spatial data analysis, such as spatial autocorrelation statistics, as well as basic spatial regression functionality. The latest version contains several new features such as a cartogram, a refined map movie, parallel coordinate plot, 3D visualization, conditional plots (and maps) and spatial regression.

Linux for Kids - Edubuntu

Edubuntu - Linux for Young Human Beings

Edubuntu is a version of Linux that is designed for 2-12 year-olds. It is free, fits on a single CD, and comes with a lot of educational games, student/learning applications, productivity/office software and pretty much everything a young student would need.

This version of Linux looks to be something that elementary school IT person should consider for implementation. I tried it out, and it really is perfect for the target age group.

Note: You don't need to use this specific version of Linux to get the applications that it comes installed with. You can download and install these apps separately for your favorite brand of Linux.


Screenshots & Descriptions of included youth/student-oriented software.

(Edubuntu is a version of the very popular Ubuntu Linux.)

Source: Slashdot Article

Minnesota Dept of Education - Data Downloads

MN Dept of Education: Data Downloads

I was pleasantly suprised to find that Minnesota's Department of Education has posted a lot of data for download. There is a lot of info there and the site is nice and clean.

Once again, kudos to Minnesota for making public data easily available on the web. It might not always be the most recent or easiest to track down...but it's available and you can usually find an email address to contact the person that can (and almost always will) get it to you.

Firefox 1.5 Upgrade Note

Mozilla Corporation - Home of the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client

Just a quick note on upgrading a current Firefox installation to 1.5.

At first I was hesitant to upgrade to 1.5 and risk loosing my extensions and settings. However, Firefox didn't let me down.

You can install the new Firefox right over your current version (same/default location). It has a built in mechanism to handle your currently installed extensions (and of course your bookmarks and all saved everything). It was an extremely clean install/upgrade. Everything ported over great.

If a compatible version of a currently installed extension is not yet available, the installer will tell you and disable the extension temporarily. Firefox will notify you when a compatible version has been released. I had about 2 dozen extensions installed, and only 5 of them did not have a compatible version yet. It seems all the popular/major extensions have a 1.5 version available so most folks shouldn't even notice.

Firefox 1.5 Review

1337tech.org - Firefox 1.5 - Is It That Good

Here is an interesting review of the new Firefox 1.5 and it's new features. (It's worth upgrading - the new tab browsing features are great)

GetFirefox.com to download new version.