mikedalrymple.com http://www.mikedalrymple.com/ en-US Copyright 2009 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:09:29 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification FAR 91.145
The FAA will issue a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) designate an area of airspace in which a temporary flight restriction applies when it determines that a temporary flight restriction is necessary to protect persons or property on the surface or in the air, to maintain air safety and efficiency, or to prevent the unsafe congestion of aircraft in the vicinity of an aerial demonstration or major sporting event.  These events may include:
  1. United States Naval Flight Demonstration Team (Blue Angels)
  2. United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron (Thunderbirds)
  3. United States Army Parachute Team (Golden Knights);
  4. Summer/Winter Olympic Games;
  5. Annual tournament of Roses Football Game;
  6. World Cup Soccer;
  7. Major League Baseball All-Star Game;
  8. World Series
  9. Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta;
  10. Sandia Classic Hang Gliding Competition;
  11. Indianapolis 500 Mile Race
Say what?  World Cup Soccer, Balloon Fiesta and Hang Gliding but no Super Bowl!  Reading the regulations can be pretty hilarious at times.  What they decide is important and what isn't can be baffling at times.  There must not be any American Football fans working for the FAA.

Fret not, a NOTAM has already been issued for 2/1 and 2/2 to cover the Super Bowl. 

]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2009/01/far-91145.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2009/01/far-91145.html Flying Flying Super Bowl Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:09:29 -0800 http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2009/01/post.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2009/01/post.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:09:29 -0800 BlackBerry OS 4.5... Why Bother? http://vzam.net/blackberry

I searched the web and found positive reviews that talked about HTML email, improved AIM, document viewers and not a whole lot else.  After installing the update here's how I found it affected my (minimal) usage.

  • Browser - No noticable difference
  • Email - No difference
  • Games - My solitaire stats were gone (probably a good thing) and a typing tutor called "Trooper Typing" was installed.  It gets old quick.
  • Documents To Go - This was installed but I don't really know what to do with it.  I use Open Office and I imagine this works mostly for Microsoft Office documents.
  • UI - I heard there were updates to the themes but I can't find them.  I did notice that the battery icon got smaller but I'm not sure if that's an improvement.
  • MP3 Player - This had some slight UI improvements.  The biggest being the addition of a STOP button.  It's still pretty to navigate but it is improvement.
I think I failed to mention that the download (70MB) took 2.5 hours.  That would normally take a few minutes on my connection.  That could be the biggest contributor to my disappointment.
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/blackberry-os-45-why-bother.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/blackberry-os-45-why-bother.html Tech BlackBerry Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:14:55 -0800 Eclipse Server and Console Views
To fix this, go to the Preferences dialog (Window -> Preferences) and select the top level Server option.  In there you'll see that the only option is "Show Servers view when server state changes."  De-selecting this option solved the problem. 

server_prefs.jpg

It would be nice if there were a way to set this preference directly from the Servers view.  I knew there was a way to do it and have done it before but I couldn't remember how.

]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/eclipse-server-and-console-vie.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/eclipse-server-and-console-vie.html Tech Eclipise Java Tomcat Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:01:07 -0800 SFGate.com Has Gone Mobile
Well it seems that they've come to their senses and opened up mobile.sfgate.com, a free mobile version of the paper in a streamlined format. I'm guessing this has been made possible by their recent update of the main website and their accompanying use of stylesheets.  The style appears to be modeled after the New York Times, one of the more usable mobile newspapers.

Congratulations and thanks to the team that worked on this.
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/sfgatecom-has-gone-mobile.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/sfgatecom-has-gone-mobile.html San Francisco Tech San Francisco Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:56:26 -0800 Change of Seasons
We had a new entrant in outdoor festivities this year with the addition of the Outside Lands festival.  Outside Lands is what they used to call the portion of San Francisco that is now primarily Golden Gate Park.  This was also marked the first time a band was allowed to play in the park after sunset.  I was initially skeptical about the concert since they blocked off a sizable portion of the park with chain link fencing that was up for two weeks or more.  With some minor hassles getting in and getting out and minor sound glitches, the event went off pretty well.  My favorite part was watching Steve Winwod crank out some old traffic tunes.  The man still sounds great.  If they put on the event next year, they should take some notes from the Dave Matthew's Band's sound guys, DMB sounded much better in the polo fields.

Following Outside Lands, I made a last minute trip up to Burning Man and couldn't have been happier that I did.  Thanks to a ticket from my roommate I was able to drive up on Thursday and enjoy a few days of roasting/freezing in the desert with 45,000 of my closest friends.  I'm beyond trying to describe the event since it really defies description. If you have hearty spirit and enjoy a good time, it's something you should put on your calendar.

I only made it out to the Power to the Peaceful concert for a few hours but thoroughly enjoyed the music and seeing old friends.  Next year, hopefully I'll remember to show up prepared with something to drink... anything will do.  I'm actually curious if they'll end up doing it in the same place (Speedway Meadows) considering the size of this year's crowd.

Treasure Island Music Festival popped up again at the end of September with what appeared to be a limited budget.  I think they shot their wad on putting Outside Lands together so they couldn't draw the kind of acts they did last year.  Still, Treasure Island is a great place to see a show and it was an excellent opportunity to connect with friends and watch the sun set over the beautiful San Francisco skyline.

This was the first year I've actually made it to LoveFest and whoa... talk about a party.  Nothing like a few tens of thousands of people partying out in front of City Hall.  We missed most of the parade down market street but stuck around until they shut it down at 8 PM.  The party moved on to multiple locations and I finally got home around 5 AM.  As much as I would have liked to have gone to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in the park the next day, I was content to sleep on my couch.

Are you exhausted yet?

Next we have FleetWeek and Decompression jam packed into a single weekend.  Watching mega-million dollar aircraft zoom around San Francisco is really quite entertaining.  Especially hearing the die hard hippies bitch about it.  I don't know how many Blue Angels shows I've seen now but it just doesn't get old.  The things they do and the speeds at which they do them are just phenomenal. 

For those of you that aren't aware, Decompression is a post-Burning Man local party intended to let you group up with your friends and people you've met on the Playa.  They have them all over the world now but I imagine the San Francisco party is one of the biggest.  The Space Cowboys and Deep End crews were out there playing some great music, there was fantastic art including a few things from the always amazing Flaming Lotus Girls.  This is a party that is really hard to top.

The following weekend, we had a new one for me, the Red Bull Soapbox Derby.  On a beautiful sunny day we saw some insane folks cruise down the streets of San Francisco near Dolores Park.  Absolutely hilarious.  I'm already planning my craft for next year!

And finally, we come to the crowing moment of the San Francisco party season, Halloween!  It tried to rain on our parade but failed!  On Halloween night we went to the Spider Ball at the Bentley Reserve (an old bank) in the Financial District.  An excellent venu with great music all night.  The next night found us back on Treasure Island for what I hope is only the first of many editions of the Ghostship party put on by the Space Cowboys.  They managed to secure a huge hangar for a night of frolicking to great music with great friends.

Phew... so what's next?  Some quality time on the East Coast around Thanksgiving, who knows where for Christmas but I've already bought my ticket for the Sea of Dreams New Year's Eve party featuring Thievery Corporation.  That should be a fantastic party!

Oh and where are all the pictures?  They're around....


]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/change-of-seasons.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/11/change-of-seasons.html Me Burning Man Fall Parties San Francisco Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:11:24 -0800 OMG It's Been So Long
  • We had my brother's bachelor party in Montreal in July... and that's about all I can say about that.
  • I finished the half marathon without severely injuring myself.  I wasn't terribly psyched about my 2 hour 11 minute time but considering it was the week after the bachelor party, I don't feel too bad about it.
  • I snuck off to Burning Man at the last minute and had an absolutely incredible.  I'm not going to kid myself into thinking I won't go next year.
  • I whacked my Ulnar Nerve (aka Funny Bone) while I was on the Playa.  I was sitting down on a futon (while mostly sober) and caught my elbow on the arm rest.  Two weeks later, I'm just now starting to get feeling back in my ring and pinky fingers.
  • I have no new pictures because I lost my camera on the Playa.  Not to self: hip pockets in the orange jumpsuit aren't pockets at all... I guess they're just there to provide easy access for playing with one's self.
  • Brian is getting married in a little over a week so I guess I need to get a new camera.
  • I just got a new laptop and have given up on Vista and switched to Linux.  Not a completely painless process (nor a completed process) but I felt it had to be done and I wasn't quite ready to jump on the Apple bandwagon.
That's about all for right now.  If time permits (it usually doesn't) I'm going to post some guides for configurig some of the more annoying pieces of hardware on Linux (Ubuntu 8.04.1 in case you cared).
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/09/omg-its-been-so-long.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/09/omg-its-been-so-long.html Me Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:12:34 -0800 I want one! one of these things. It has nothing to do with the models in the cheesey 3D renderings.  I just like the idea of a compact two seater that you can land on a runway or in the water.  Runs on Auto or Av Gas too.  The useful load is pretty light so my passengers better be small...  one of these days... ]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/06/i-want-one.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/06/i-want-one.html Me Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:33:06 -0800 Election Day Thoughts
Several years ago I signed up to be a permanent absentee voter (called Vote-By-Mail here in San Francisco).  At the time it was because I was frequently traveling and unsure if I would be in town on election day.  Since then I've discovered another benefit from voting by mail. 

By voting early I put myself above the influence of all of the campaign material that is distributed in the run-up to election day.  For the past two weeks there hasn't been a day (other than Sundays) when I haven't received at least one piece of campaign material in the mail.   All of it is wasted because I voted almost a month ago.  Sure, I have to spend a few hours pouring through the voter information booklet to find out who and what I really want to vote for but isn't that what it's all about? 

If you have the opportunity to vote by mail, I encourage you to do so.  You will find it more convenient but more importantly we the people may be able to reduce the influence of the media and campaigning.

Don't forget to vote!
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/06/election-day-thoughts.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/06/election-day-thoughts.html Me election politics voting Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:19:59 -0800 Michael Clayton: Great Movie... Bad UI Michael Clayton over the weekend.  I had heard a few good things about it but I was surprised at how good the movie was.  I won't spoil it for you but if you haven't seen it, I recommend getting it.

I was a bit disappointed with user interface of the disc menu.  It was as if a bad web designer made the disc menu.  Check boxes?  The separation between the options was really tough to make out and there was really way too much text.  I think sticking with simple (and large) buttons is the way to go.  Just because there's a Java runtime the BD players doesn't mean we need to be recreating a computer experience... please.

michael_clayton_menu.jpg

]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/michael-clayton-great-movie-ba.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/michael-clayton-great-movie-ba.html Blu-ray Blu-ray Wed, 21 May 2008 17:08:47 -0800 SF Half Marathon SF Marathon in August.  There's no better incentive than forking over $80 in race registration fees (yeah, yeah, healthy living yada yada... funny how money is the bigger incentive).
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/sf-half-marathon.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/sf-half-marathon.html Me Half Marathon San Francisco Wed, 21 May 2008 12:55:29 -0800 Sun Announces Support for BDLive.com EngadgetHD has an article about the recent announcement regarding Sun Microsystem's support for the BDLive.com platform.  We've been working with Sun for some time now and it's great to have them supporting our development efforts.

The Engadget guys didn't notice me but I was up there on stage with Jeet and Zane too!  Ok, I was hiding behind the computers making it all work... really, I swear.  You can check it out in the video at about the 26:00 minute mark:

]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/sun-announces-support-for-bdli.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/sun-announces-support-for-bdli.html Blu-ray BD Live Blu-ray Java Sun Tue, 20 May 2008 20:59:31 -0800 We Launched BDLive.com
Here's a Java Minute featuring yours truely talking about Blu-ray and BD Live.
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/we-launched-bdlivecom.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/05/we-launched-bdlivecom.html Blu-ray BD Live Blu-ray Java JavaOne Tue, 20 May 2008 20:47:52 -0800 Ew... Ouch!
I just got back from a few days in New York where I got a little present I could do without.  When I woke up on Monday morning I had slight soreness and itching in my eyelid.  Two days later it has turned into this nasty thing.  I called it a pimple on my eyelid but apparently it's officially called a Stye.  I know its gross and you probably didn't want to see it but sharing is caring and I wanted to make sure you knew I cared.


exploding_stye.jpgUPDATE: In case you couldn't get enough, the warm compresses seem to have done the trick.  And fortunately for you I happened to have my camera handy at the time.  It was pretty remarkable the amount of junk that came out.  Hopefully I got it all.

]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/04/ew-ouch.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/04/ew-ouch.html Me Ew Gross Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:44:26 -0800 My Future Is Blu The Related Content Database Inc.  I'll be working with a great team to develop tools and infrastructure to support network connected Blu-ray players and BDLive enabled Blu-ray discs. 

I apologize in advance if I start to slack a little on my postings here.  I'll try to do my best to keep up.
]]> http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/04/my-future-is-blu.html http://www.mikedalrymple.com/2008/04/my-future-is-blu.html Me Tech Blu-ray RCDb Work Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:54:47 -0800