ESRI has made an interesting web application available that allows you to plug a map into your own page. After navigating to the “Make A Map” site,
So, here’s my customized map 
We’re taking a slight break from the techno stuff today…
I wrote this preamble as an introduction to the song “Belleau Wood” by Garth Brooks (Sevens – 1997) as many people have asked me about the background story:
“I’ve always been an avid book reader. And so it was that I was ten years old when I came across a true and surreal story.
“The year was 1914 and the major European powers were fighting the ‘Great War’ or the ‘War to End All Wars’ – what we know now as the ‘First World War’. What began in the early summer of that year was only expected to last for a few weeks or months at the most. Instead, it would drag on for four years with some of the bitterest and bloodiest fighting the world had ever seen.
“On that cold, Christmas Day of 1914, an informal truce was declared – there would be no fighting on this day. And something magical happened.
“Eighty-three years later, Garth Brooks released a song that resurrected the memory of that moment in history for me. And so I dedicate this to the memory of those in harm’s way – and to those who believe we can do better.”
I had a more descriptive narrative for the third paragraph written but removed it so as not to ruin any surprise the listener may experience when hearing the tune for the first time:
“On that cold, Christmas Day of 1914, an informal truce was declared – there would be no fighting on this day. And something magical happened. With a reprieve from the fighting, soldiers from both sides of the barbed wire laid down their arms and turned their backs on the war, gathering together in ‘No Man’s Land’ to sing Christmas Carols, toast each other, exchange photographs, and even play a few games of soccer.”
To this day I am still awestruck by the historic event – and I am given hope.
If you’re interested in learning more about the “Christmas Truce” there’s a great article available at Wikipedia as well as a children’s book and several movies: Joyeux Noël (Fiction); The Christmas Truce (History Channel) .
For those who didn’t get to attend the San Diego User Conference in person this, ESRI spent some time putting on local presentations of the Plenary Session. My co-workers and I attended the one given in Bellevue today and came away quite impressed. T.J. Abbenhaus, Heather Glock, & Leah Saunders were outstanding in going over the highlights. The only thing missing were the freebies.
Quite a few things from ArcGIS 9.3.1 were reviewed although the refresher was nice. Besides the significant improvements to the ArcGIS Server rendering I think layer packages and ArcGIS Online (which Jack Dangermond described as “GeoFlickr”) are going to go over big. We’re going to have to start enhancing our FTP site by providing layer packages which include the symbology that so many users have asked for in the past. Also mentioned was an ESRI Business Solution named MapIt. This was developed by ESRI to take advantage of Microsoft platform & technology such as SQL Server 2008 spatial datatypes, SharePoint, Bing maps, Excel & Silverlight to implement GIS-enabled enterprise solutions. Very interesting.
Next up was ArcGIS 9.4 rumored to be available around the time of the 2010 User Conference. Many changes to the user interface will be introduced – most for the better as long as it doesn’t go “ribbon” on us. I especially liked the dockable windows (which don’t cause a screen refresh) and the addition of edit templates. The map book capability has been greatly improved. Other changes or additions include an open API to the file geodatabase, replication of SDE data (non-versioned and multiple schemas), a new mosaic imagery catalog, the inclusion of some features from Image Analyst (the ENVI rooftop demo was awesome), and the ability for non-licensed clients to view Maplex labels. An interesting Python script was also shown that allowed reconnecting the data sources for multiple map documents – very cool.
After that, there were introductions to and demos of the Map Templates followed by a short overview of the “Creating Effective Web Maps” seminar.
All in all, a fully worthwhile use of the day!
I came across the article “Fifteen Classic Game Console Design Mistakes” and was blown away. The RCA Studio II was the first video game console we had as a family. I believe my dad brought it home for Christmas – either 1977 or 1978. To indicate how surprising that charitable action was we didn’t get an Atari 2600 until 1983, cable until 1984, or a VCR until 1989. So the fact my dad, not being either an electronics or games guy, bought this console with three game cartridges (Baseball, Blackjack, & Tennis) was surreal.
To be honest this unit wasn’t anything really special. The unit only displayed in black & white, the graphics were blocky & unattractive, most of the games required two players, and the games had some quirks:
If you’re really interested in learning more about this ancient piece of the hardware, there are pages for the emulator, technical information, screenshots (where these images were linked from), and an FAQ.
Just some of the lists (in no particular order) I’ve collected from the various newsletters I subscribe to. I’ll update this as I come across any more interesting lists. So without further ado:
Note: all links will open in a new window.
Went to a free seminar hosted by ESRI titled “Creating Effective Web Maps“. The handout (PDF) and slides (PowerPoint) are available from the seminar’s website. Here’s what I got out of it:
All in all, a very worthwhile half-day seminar especially considering it was free. Many people, including myself, would have gladly paid for the content. Thank you ESRI!
I read an article over the weekend that had me waxing nostalgic over the good old days of programming – except they weren’t all good. Here’s just a few items from the article (and some of my own) that I can relate to:
In many ways, things have improved and gotten easier. But I also think that without the benefits and the trial & error of yesteryear I wouldn’t have the insightful knowledge that I have today which in the end makes me a better software developer – and more appreciative. What was unthinkable yesterday is possible today.
Sometimes it’s necessary to change the name of the registered owner and/or company for a Windows installation. Unfortunately, there is no built-in utility for doing so. Instead, as described in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article, you’ll have to use the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to do so.
That’s it – no reboot necessary.
Been busy installing W7RC but before doing anything else I ran the “Windows Easy Transfer Tool” to backup personal files and settings. Then it was on with the install.
Nothing new to report with the installation. Everything went smoothly and it even discovered a couple new devices the Beta had not. I Still can’t get the fingerprint reader to work so I’ll have to investigate further.
Updates for my past postings on the Windows 7 Beta:
Through trial and error I believe I’ve found a pattern of success in managing the Start Menu with UAC set to the Default setting.
Fire up Windows Explorer and navigate to the “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs” folder. If you don’t see the “New Folder” button to the right of “Organize” then you won’t have much luck doing anything else which happened to me the first few times. If so then close Explorer and run it as Administrator. To do this right-click on the Windows Explorer icon on the Taskbar. Right-click again on the Explorer icon that shows close to the bottom of the context menu but above the “Unpin” icon. From the second context menu that pops up select “Run as administrator”.
Again, verify you can see “New Folder”. If you see it then you should be able to create all the folders and sub-folders you want. You cannot paste an existing folder into “Programs” – you have to create a new folder.
Adding program shortcuts seems to operate the opposite. You can copy/cut/paste as well as drag and drop shortcuts. But you cannot create a new shortcut.
Other posts have stated you can drag a shortcut onto the Start Menu by using a series of hover moves over the Start button (for lack of a better name), “All Programs”, and sub-folders. I’ve tried this and sometimes it doesn’t work and other times when it does, it’s added to a folder in my profile’s Start Menu and not the system’s.
On a related note, I’ve found this behavior in managing the wwwroot folder to be the same. I found I could create sub-folders but I had to create the actual pages in my user space first and then move them into the folder. Once there, I could edit the files as long as the program I was using was running as Administrator.
All that said, this is one behavior I really don’t like in W7B and believe it’s totally unnecessary and just complicates an Administrator’s or competent user’s life.
This has been my experience thus far – YMMV.
