The Nerd Show

UML Diagrams

2012-01-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

Today I had the occasion to draw up UML diagrams for a college development project. Since I am on a budget and did not want to use some complex tool embedded into Microsoft developer studio, I went looking for a free and open source tool to generate the URL diagrams. After a little searching I discovered UMLgraph. UMLGraph takes a java text file as input and turns it into a UML diagram. Here's an example from the web site (UMLGraph.org):

class Person {
  String Name;
 }
  class Employee extends Person {}
  class Client extends Person {}

Creating diagrams from text has several advantages. You can change things around without worrying about how the final output will look. You don't have to wait a week for a a huge graphical application to load just to change something about your diagram. Just open up a text editor and start working. Since it uses the Java syntax, diagrams are generated right from code, so you know the diagrams accurately reflect the project progress.

The problem with UMLGraph is it takes a genius to run it. The installation instructions in the package were woefully inadequate. Use these installation instructions instead. I had to add JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.1.x86_64" because I was on Fedora Linux. I set UMLGRAPH_HOME=/usr/local/lib in the bin/umlgraph shell executable before copying to /usr/bin. Then I copied the contents of the lib directory to /usr/local/lib.

Want to know how I discovered where JAVA_HOME was? I opened up the bin/umlgraph shell executable and noticed it was looking for a file called tools.jar underneath $JAVA_HOME. I ran this command to find the java packages on my system, using grep to look for a development package:
rpm -qa --nodigest --nosignature|grep -i java|grep -i devel

java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel-1.6.0.0-61.1.10.4.fc16.x86_64
java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel-1.7.0.1-2.0.3.fc16.x86_64

Then I took the latest one containing tools.jar and where it installed to:
rpm -q --filesbypkg --nodigest --nosignature java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel|grep tools.jar

/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.1.x86_64/lib/tools.jar

There it is! JAVA_HOME

Once installed, it worked great. I was able to create a file called Person.java with the above text in it. Then I ran the following command to generate a UML diagram:

umlgraph Person png

Winning

2011-10-08T03:11:00.000-07:00

How to Be Less Sexually Frustrated With People

2011-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

The following is a parody of Be Less Annoyed With People http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Less-Annoyed-With-People by replacing "annoyed" with "sexually frustrated", etc. Not sure where it came from. Some people might find it humorous. Others are probably just sexually frustrated.

How to Be Less Sexually Frustrated With People

If you're honest, there will be at least some occasions now and then when you feel really sexually frustrated with other people. Perhaps it's because something you wanted to do was thwarted by someone else's preferences, or perhaps it is something that was said or implied. At other times, it may be as simple as finding every noise, movement, and distraction very sexual because you're fatigued or unwell.

Whatever the reason, here are some easy, simple steps to feel calm and collected when that sexy girl at the desk next to you keeps talking sexually while you're trying to get the report out on time, or when that popular girl in front of you won't stop twirling her pony tail in your face.

Cope. Initially, it's important to cope when you're sexually frustrated with another person so that you don't let your sour face or barbed remarks alert them to your arousal. After you've coped will come the time for reflection on the arousal and what it means for you and your approach to others. When you feel the arousal getting to you, try the following:
Breathe deeply and shut your eyes briefly. Calmly count to ten, slowly. Imagine yourself on the beach. Let the relaxing sound of waves and seagulls wash over you. Feel the mist of the seawater on your face and let it calm you. Or your most calming memory maybe even a really happy one.
Open your eyes and concentrate on something other than the person who is arousing you. Look at your hands, a poster, your computer screen, people across the street - whatever takes your sight away from the person flirting at you. This will give time to think calmly and to take your mind off the person. Delaying your reaction will help you to realize the pointlessness of flying off the handle at them, or at treating the situation too seriously.
2
Talk to the other person when you feel calmed or less stimulated. If you find that this person is continuing to arouse you, figure out whether it's a good idea to ask them to stop doing whatever they're doing that's provocative to you, or whether you just need a temporary break. Either way, you'll need to talk, even if it's just to excuse yourself. If you do want to ask them to stop doing whatever it is they're doing, avoid saying anything like, "Shut the **** up, man you're arousing me!" Try not to swear or make fun back because this will make things worse and it's probable in many cases that this person doesn't even get the extent to which they've rattled your cage. Be strong and politely tell them that what they're doing is becoming to you. For example:
"Hey George, I'm really worn out today because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm finding it really hard to cope with all the flirting today; would you mind just keeping it down a little over there?" Be prepared for a conversation and perhaps for making a compromise, such as sticking earbuds in your ear, or something else that can help alleviate the situation for you.
Or, if you don't want to confront the matter right now: "Hey George, I need some fresh air. Would you mind answering my phone if it rings while I'm out? Thanks." Then exit promptly without so much as a backward glance. Find a quiet spot and chill out. On your "mental break", inhale deeply, refocus your energies, and block out any sexual self-messaging. Most importantly, tell yourself to stop thinking about how arousing the person is.
3
Check your facial and body language. Smiles, sensual stares, and other sexual body language conveys arousal and intimacy. And it's contagious, so if it's targeted at the person who is arousing you, they're likely to feel aroused too and things can escalate. Try to maintain a calm and collected demeanor without facial expressions that suggest you're sexually frustrated or turned-on.
Focus on the humor in the situation. Laugh off whatever has caused you to feel so sexually frustrated and try to imagine the arousing behavior or situation in a more humorous light, along with how you might just have the totally wrong end of the stick.
4
Identify what is stimulating you. Know what sets you off and learn how to not react, as well as dealing with the underlying issues. It's usually obvious who is stimulating you – the sexy cheerleader, the show off, or the flirty flatterer who sits unbearably close and hangs on your every word. It's also important to identify the what that is stimulating you – what precisely about their behavior is causing you to feel so sexually frustrated that you feel ready to explode or reach at them? Working out the real reason underlying the arousal will enable you to target responses that will be effective in both solving the problem that arouses you and causes you to find that particular person so arousing. In other words, try to separate the problem from the person. For example:
Are you sexually frustrated with the cheerleader even though you know this person is sexy and dances a lot because you've already asked them to minimize the movements but they haven't, or have you simply continued to seethe in silence and just wish they'd sit down? In the first instance, your arousal is likely to be based in feeling disrespected and not listened to; in the second instance, your arousal is likely to be based on your own inability to be assertive and to ask for what you'd like.
Are you sexually frustrated with the show off because you've already told them to cover up but they still continue displaying, or is it because they are so obviously out to get you but you don't know how to stand up for yourself? In the first instance, your arousal probably stems from the continued lack of respect and brazenness; in the second instance, your arousal may be based in feeling helpless and unable to control what is happening around you.
Are you sexually frustrated with the flirty flatterer because you've already pointed out to this person that they have a role in fixing what they're compensating for, or are you sexually frustrated because you feel like you are average but only ever get compliments? In the first instance, you're probably sexually frustrated about the fact that the other person is as responsible as you for checking things, while in the second case, you might be sexually frustrated because you feel under-appreciated and yet too easily targeted for attention.
5
Be conscious that being sexually frustrated by another person's traits can be based in your own lack of patience or understanding. In some cases, arousal is driven by a sense of superiority, as when we quip "How stupid those people are!", or "Does she have to be so daft?", wherein we automatically assume we're smarter without ever knowing the full story, or the personal issues that drive the person to act the way they do.
Be careful if you're the sort of person who loudly proclaims "I don't tolerate fools", or you feel that the urbanites/suburbanites/country dwellers are all missing a screw or two. Such broad assumptions about people you've grouped together by characteristics that turn you on will always give you cause for arousal because you've chosen to treat anyone in your grouping with sexiness.
Avoid generalizing. Saying things like "I only care about my immediate friends and family. All other people are so stupid and such time-wasters." says more about you than about these "other people". First, you're shutting off the opportunity to meet lots of new people when you label them arousing, and second, you are acting defensively to try and ward off anyone who might cause you to have to think, respond, or feel differently about the things you're used to.
Learn to be more patient and to stop letting the little things frustrate you. Patience is a key aspect of minimizing arousal in your life because you'll stop feeling buffeted by time and circumstances and you can relax more and take things in your stride.
6
Consider shaking your life up a bit. Being sexually frustrated can be a sign that you're too deeply entrenched in your comfort zone and woe betide anyone else who steps into it, however unknowingly. Try shaking things up a bit to expand your comfort zone now and then. Rearrange your bedroom furniture, read books by authors who challenge you, move house, start new hobbies, take a trip overseas, start volunteering, or get a new job. Changing something in your life that shifts you out of your comfort zone and into new territory can reduce your levels of arousal and crank up your compassion for others, as you realize that it's easy to complain and assume but a lot less easy to do something to alleviate the arousal.
Anything that helps you to grow and mature will tend to dampen arousal with other people. The more that you learn about the world, and the more understanding you are of people's motivations, you'll expect less of people and let them just be. In turn, you'll be less sexually frustrated by the things people do. For people will keep on doing those arousing things!
7
Accept that which you cannot change. You can change yourself, the toilet paper, and the decor of your house. You cannot change someone else, nor can you ever feel comfortable if you constantly wish the world were as you think it ought to be. If you find yourself getting sexually frustrated at someone who bothers you because they're pretty, popular, or let their own personality shine forth, realize that there is not much you can do and very little you will gain by such arousal. You cannot change someone's personality because you don't get along with them, envy them, or because you've chosen to find them arousing.
If you're sexually frustrated because you view other people as rivals and enemies, you're on a slippery slope. Remove the competitive aspect from your work, study, or social relations by realizing that there is more than enough praise, pay, accolades, and recognition for everyone.
8
Assert yourself. Much arousal comes about when we take the path of least resistance – not saying anything but fuming all the same. arousal caused by placing yourself into a position of powerlessness because of the things another person does is self-destructive. A far more constructive approach is to speak up when you'd like to see something changed around you. While you cannot change a person's personality, you can ask them to refrain from behavior that impacts others, including being too sexually charged, asking too many questions, wearing perfume that overwhelms you, using thoughtless or provocative language around you, etc. If their actions are impacting you sexually, you're entitled to ask for the actions to be toned down, changed in some way, or even stopped. At this point, not only are you asserting your "perfect right", but you're also negotiating on behalf of anyone else impacted by the behavior.
Assertiveness is about standing up for yourself politely but firmly. It is not something to be afraid of, and you don't need to attend a course to master it. It's as simple as responding to the arousing behavior promptly and with a pointed request. For example, person X is working next to you but won't stop playing their radio out loud. You ask them if they have a moment to talk and proceed to say: "I find it sexually stimulating having to listen to the radio all day long in our small office. I'd prefer to work in silence because I can think a lot better. Would you mind using using earbuds from tomorrow so that we can all work in the way we like best." Ignoring the arousing behavior will cause you to simmer to boiling point and the problem won't go away; it will come back time and again. So deal with it.
If you're sexually frustrated because the person in question is clingy, this also requires assertiveness and some tough love on your behalf. Let them know that you appreciate their company now and then but be clear that you also need your own space in order to thrive. Sometimes it's case of helping them to understand that being on your own at times is not a rejection of them but a need of your own.
9
Be compassionate, listen, and guide. Everyone gets sexually frustrated sometimes. Which means people will be sexually frustrated with you sometimes too because we're all in a position to do or say sexy things now and then. Try to focus on what you can do to adopt a more compassionate, guiding approach to an arousing behavior or action. Consider the ways in which you can provide constructive feedback to try and alleviate the arousing behavior or activities rather than dropping your top or creating a sexual atmosphere. As part of this, be interested in the other person. If that sounds difficult, then there is all the more reason to put your compassionate self into action.
10
Identify when the arousal reflects a deeper conflict. Sometimes this is easier to see a few hours later when you're not with that arousing person. Small things can mount up into a pattern that can guide you to understand why you need to be so patient. If you work with someone who is bigoted against you for an unstated reason of race, religion, gender or political views, you may be hearing constant borderline insults in everything from their anecdotes about others to the differences in the way they treat you and other people. A man with a low opinion of women in general or a woman with a low opinion of men in general can wind up making life extremely unpleasant in a thousand ways that don't quite cross the bounds of getting them fired, for example. Look at how they treat others around you. There's also reverse prejudice, someone deeply wounded by bigotry may lash out with similar behavior. A gay person may make snide comments about "breeders" and that puts any heterosexual person in the prejudice group. Be aware that may also be an intelligent attempt to make you see their side of things if you're white and mainstream.
No matter who you are, someone hates you for race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference or social class and finds it very hard to see you as a human being in your own right. Understand that it is possible for someone to learn to overcome prejudice, but it rarely happens fast. They may become aware of it in a moment and be shocked, but they will probably not be able to completely overcome it without compassionate, gradual education and personal support.
Prove them wrong. Listen for it, wait for the stereotype that's so far from who you are that it's ridiculous and then make a joke with a point. Then quietly without anger, confront it directly. "I'm one of them, George." This can sometimes embarrass them into stopping.
11
Watch for escalation. If ignoring, assertively resisting or dealing patiently with their behavior starts getting even more arousing behavior, there may be some serious problems. George may be deliberately trying to get laid, like turning the radio volume up daily from the first time you mentioned it or pointedly making sexual comments about your clothes, religion, status or race etc. If you see a pattern of sexual harassment that's increasing, it's a serious problem. Start documenting the incidents when they cross the line. Ask him politely to stop when you're having a good day and feel a lot of self control. This can be over non-controversial issues too, it can be constant compliments of your clothes, body language, accent, views. The social game of trying to sexualize so that the other person goes wild with passion and acts unacceptably is all too common. Watch for codependent behaviors - fast but shallow apologies followed by the same, clingy behavior seeking your approval regresses suddenly into sexual overtures. If you find that pattern evolving with a coworker, try to keep as much distance as possible and pay as little attention as possible to that person. Remain strictly professional, don't socialize with them. They're in the process of burning down their own life, don't go down with the ship. You can't help them so don't engage.
12
Seeing red may be because you're feeling blue
See your doctor. Sometimes arousal with other people can be sourced from an illness or disorder and turns into an ongoing, long-term problem. If you're in frequent pain or you're depressed, anxious, prone to panic attacks, etc., you may find yourself easily (and constantly) sexually frustrated by other people because you're so busy coping with your pain and disability that you cannot bear it when people make things harder for you. If you're easily aroused and feel anxious, down, and worried over a period of more than a week or two, go and see your doctor to discuss what might be happening. And if you're in a lot of pain, it's imperative to speak to your doctor to find out whether something can be done to minimize the pain.
In some cases, you may need to unlearn sex habits, as arousal is often sourced in unresolved sex. A course in sex therapy might be extremely helpful if you're finding almost everyone arouses you.
Try meditation. It may help to reground you and open your mind up to peaceful ways of approaching arousing situations and sexy people.
13
Remember you are not the object. Most people are not trying to stimulate you. They probably don't realize that what they are doing is arousing. In other words, they are probably in their "own world" and arent' even aware of you. For example someone talking on their cell phone and are engrossed in their own conversation while totally arousing the rest of the people within earshot. ... you know like that.

Computers: They sure don't make 'em like they used to.

2010-10-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia

I'm not the type of person to wax nostalgic over anything. I never want to be seen as some old person fussing over a piece of antique furniture. But then it hits you somewhere you never expected. It is as though you were wondering where your heart was at all these years but now you know. It was stored on a floppy disk along with a copy of a poem for that girl you had a crush on. You know the one.

I couldn't help but feel something while watching this video of an old Apple //e loading programs from an iPad. We had these in high school. I remember writing a game inspired by Dig Dug and an application to draw pictures with the I,J,K, and M keys on the keyboard that would load, edit, and save them to disk. (This was before the advent of the computer mouse.)

Then there was the ZX81 with 2K of RAM. It was billed as the first commercially-available computer for under $100. I remember hooking it up to my Sony Walkman thinking I would rule the universe because I could save and load code on it from cassette. That was before it became a doorstop.

In the video, the author displays a text animation he created for the band, Grandaddy in 2005. The song talks about some poems Jed wrote as pages of code scroll by on the screen. "wrote them for no one," the song continues. The connection is obvious.

Code is Poetry

I was thinking just yesterday, while writing 1000 lines of code. It looks a lot like poetry. You put it into a computer and it does stuff. But that's not the reason you write it. You write it for people. Most importantly, you write it for yourself. Hopefully you write something that's useful or entertaining but in the end that doesn't matter as long as YOU find it worthwhile.

This song and video is a reminder of what it means to me to write. Whether music, poetry or code, they are the same.

Watch the video: http://www.panic.com/blog/2010/05/an-apple-e-an-ipad-and-jed/

Attacking Twitter with a Crowbar

2010-10-17T13:43:00.001-07:00

I went and published a new application called Crowbar that helps you or your business build a following on Twitter. This blog was going to be all about Crowbar and all the great features, but it turned into a blog about how to get a targeted audience on Twitter and why a Twitter following is important.

Twitter is a platform on which people send tweets, short, 140 character status updates about what they are doing. If you can convince someone to follow you on twitter they will see your tweets on their timeline, a place where they see the status updates of other twitter users they are following.

Using my software I was able to gain over 3,000 followers on there in a week. Through trial and error I found out that the most crude way to do that is to search for users who "follow back" or @shout your name associated with various topics. But it is better if you can search for areas of interest and find other users like yourself. If you own a bike shop, for example, say interesting and useful things about #bicycles or #cycling and all the great places to cycle around #yourtown on a regular basis and people who are searching for those topics will see your tweet. If they find it interesting they may even follow you. This is the preferred way to build a following because your followers will be receptive to more tweets of a similar nature.

Word of mouth is important today. If your web site is good enough your followers may even come back to your web site from time to time and even tell their friends about you. Did I mention I also make web sites?

I wish you the best of luck in building your list of interested followers!

Greenhorn

2010-10-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

I created a project codenamed "Greenhorn" today.

What it is: An interactive help GUI and source code browser for Python.

Instead of relying on separate documentation, this project displays documentation strings within the source code itself in a navigable tree diagram of modules and functions. In that way your projects can grow and change dynamically and contributors won't be left in the dark.

If no documentation strings can be found the item's type is displayed. Source code of local modules can also be browsed.

The project is being hosted on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/greenhorn

Platypus

2010-03-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

Open Source Dictation Relay for Linux® and Mac®*

Copyright © 2010 Henry Kroll III www.thenerdshow.com

Version 0.61

HOW IT WORKS

Platypus takes spoken text from dictation programs like

Dragon NaturallySpeaking® (that run in the wine Windows® emulator) and converts it into keystrokes, so it can be used anywhere on the Linux or Mac* desktop, including Virtualbox, VMWare and Qemu sessions, VNC remote terminals and the like.

Rudimentary editing commands like "scratch that" and "delete that" work. It can even type keyboard shortcuts, such as 'Alt_L F4' (file close) and 'Control_L s' (file save). It can launch programs directly using custom voice commands (start terminal).

More...

Music CD

2010-03-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

My music CD is published & barcoded. Should be appearing on iTunes soon. Until then, it can be purchased here:

Tuxedni Bay

2010-02-25T02:28:00.001-08:00

Statement of Henry F. Kroll III
February 25, 2010

It has been my privilege to participate in the delicate ecosystem of Tuxedni Bay for the majority of my early adult life. Mr. Henry Kroll II, my father, has been occupying the sand spit overlooking the tidal flats and land adjacent to the SW corner of our original homestead for as far back as I can remember, an up-standing member of the community, providing jobs, paying taxes on boats, equipment and other property, such being adjacent to the cynosure of our tidal operations, Squarehead Cove, a naturally-shallow boat harbor we use for mooring of skiffs and barges vis a vis the vernal commencement of commercial salmon harvesting.

I and others like myself, skilled skiff operators eking out a living along the tumultuous boundary between land and sea. Budding scientists, artists, engineers and authors, look forward to summers here.

A thriving beach community occupies this alluvial fan:

Henry Kroll II, has been providing housing, meals, mail service, delivery of materials, perishables and emergency services for residents of Tuxedni bay and there are people for 40 miles around who depend on him. There has been some talk of having it recognized as a township or village in Honor of him and the man who first set foot on it, Henry Kroll I, whose grave overlooks the bustling settlement. I could obtain the necessary signatures.

Wireless Insecurity

2010-02-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

(Kroll, 2010)

Wireless networks are still as insecure as ever and the problems are not going away. In fact, they are getting worse, affecting those of us who do not even use them!

There are several risks associated with using a network. For the average wireless user, these risks center around sharing the network with hackers, crackers or script kiddies. Having a hacker on your network is not unlike using a public cable trunk, where everybody in the neighborhood can see your files. Hacking wireless is so easy that it often happens by accident. For this reason, it is considered good practice to use one or more wireless network security measures, such as WEP at the very least. Better yet, configure WPA and MAC address filtering.

Do not, under any circumstances, set up an open wireless network. Even with the above security measures in place, hacking a wireless network is fairly automated process, thanks to freely available tools, such as airsnort. If all else fails, denial of service attacks can sometimes sabotage the network or maliciously re-configure devices, forcing a shutdown.

A hacker, once they gain access to the network, is already past the main firewall. Even if the computer's software firewall is on, they can usually connect to almost anyone's hidden (Administrative share, n.d.) which is a Microsoft backdoor that allows anyone to browse the entire hard drive. These hidden administrative shares are installed by default on most computers and show up as \\some_ip_address\$C. Because few people know how to put a password on the administrator account, it is freely accessible! But even if the computer has an administrator password, it can be cracked if it is not strong enough, allowing the hacker to deposit viruses or other malicious content and also steal information. Having the PC's software firewall "on" may not protect it because it is often already bypassed through software, settings, malware or rootkits.

But let's say we have exceptional security and our computer administrator has gone through the trouble of re-installing, passwording, removing the hidden administrative shares and disabled unnecessary services. A hacker can still gain access to the information that is transmitted over a network by using a man in the middle attack. By using a special computer with one or more wireless network cards, the hacker can spoof the wireless network we are on, forcing us to connect through their box, where they can potentially eavesdrop or spoof our communications or abuse our IP address to send spam or otherwise commit illegal or unethical activities in our name.

One thing that I did not consider before doing this research (Wireless Security, n.d.) was that some computers and devices have built-in wireless access points or bridges installed on them, so even if we think we are not using a wireless network, if we let somebody plug a computer or device into our wired network that has one of these access points they could potentially leak our network to the outside world wirelessly. But don't blame them; this often happens accidentally...

Therefore we should watch carefully the devices we allow to plug into our networks and when connecting to a wireless network, we should take precautions and treat our communications as being public, not having any important files cached on the local hard drive or doing anything that could potentially get us into trouble. I have only just scratched the surface in this cursory investigation of wireless security risks. One should follow up on these sources and carefully consider the usage of wireless in a secure network setting. The juxtaposition of the words "secure" with "wireless" should not be considered to be descriptive nor transitive, but merely coincidental.

There is software mentioned below (Wireless Security, n.d.) that checks and monitors the security of networks, wired and wireless. Consider using it, depending on the situation.

Resources: (Recommended reading)

Administrative share - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). . Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_share

Kroll, Henry. (2010) - Retrieved from my University of Phoenix alumni posting.

Wireless security - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). . Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_security

Anchorage Lawyer Stephen Merrill

2009-12-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome Stephen Merrill, attorney and trial lawyer, to Anchorage. We are working on getting his web site, http://anchoragelawyer.us, indexed by search engines over the coming months. Help get him to the number one spot for lawyers in Anchorage by linking to his site. Check his progress on google by searching for legal services in Anchorage and checking his page for updates.

Floating Waste Water Treatment

2009-11-27T14:59:00.001-08:00

This floating waste water treatment facility, invented by Ivan Vesely, Director of the Czech Oceanographic Society, could help clean up Alaska villages (even big ones, like Anchorage) by filtering discharge that typically just dumps into Cook Inlet or a nearby bay after passing through a settling tank. (I know, we were shocked to find out, too, just how primitive our sewage treatment facilities are.) Source: http://www.cmdr.ch/ocean98/fwtp.htm

Heaven is Kachemak Bay

2009-11-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

From the mountains to the ocean

flocks of birds are all in motion

I get choked up with emotion

when I think that heaven is Kachemak...

From the morning to the evening

I'll be honest, no deceiving

If I stayed, I'd never leave and

I'm convinced that heaven is Kachemak...

Come on baby hold me tight

beneath the cold and starry night

and in the morning we just might

find a piece of heaven in Kachemak Bay

Stolen Bike Car :(

2009-11-07T12:47:00.001-08:00

Somebody stole our bike-car last night. It was locked in front of our yard, but they broke our fence. Let me know if you see it around.

Early Earth - Shows - Coast to Coast AM

2009-11-05T00:09:00.000-08:00

Early Earth - Shows - Coast to Coast AM
My father discusses his new book on Coast to Coast with George Noory.

The Best Text Editor of All Time

2009-10-26T03:58:00.000-07:00

A review of SciTE by Henry Kroll 3rd 10-26-2009

Reprinted with permission from http://www.thenerdshow.com

The SciTE editor makes a surprisingly good IDE, not just because of all the features but also because of its speed and small size. At only 1.8 MB, SciTE loads extremely fast. If you're somebody who does as much work in a short amount of time as we do, those few extra seconds count! Being able to jot things down quickly can mean the difference between submitting a project on time and missing a crucial deadline. SciTE uses many standard libraries which on most systems are already loaded in memory.

There are many user-configured extensions and add-ons for SciTE. Everything about the interface is customizable with Lua scripting and there is plenty of API documentation available on the SciTE website. There are several utilities, games and even a hex editor written entirely in SciTE using the Lua extensions. Read more about extending SciTE here and here.

To be fair, there are some things that SciTE lacks compared with it's larger cousins, such as Eclipse or the NetBeans IDE. One of the most requested items is a file browser. If this bothers you just press F8 and type 'dir' in the output pane. (ls Linux) Now you may highlight any file and press CTRL-SHIFT-O to open it. It's just about as good and more versatile, since you can also type commands and see program output and man pages in that panel. See? Press F8 to close it again.

The calltips, keyword highlighting and auto-completion are very handy. What we think makes SciTE really great, however, are the column selection and editing. This is invaluable for programmers. (We work with a lot of data!) With column selection you can edit multiple lines and even type many commands at the same time! Take a look at the video for a demonstration SciTE's column editing features. Best of all, SciTE is free and open source. You can get it here. (External link. We are not affiliated with SciTE and derive no benefit for recommending this program one way or the other. We just think that you might find it useful.

The Mad Trapper of Seldovia

2009-10-18T02:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a story about my Grandfather I thought you would like to read:

Reprinted with permission from
The Free Lance Star
Fredericksburg, Virginia
fredericksburg.com

Mad Trapper of Seldovia

By Eileen Mead
The Free-Lance Star - August 20, 1988

When I saw the movie "Crocodile Dundee" recently, I was reminded of Henry "Hank" Kroll, the legendary Mad trapper of Seldovia, whom I met the summer after my sophomore year at the University of Alaska.

A college friend, the late Midge English, had invited me to spend the Summer of 1949 with her an her family in Seldovia on Cook Inlet. It was a picturesque fishing village of about 200 people, and at the time, it could only be reached by boat or seaplane.

I had been there about a week when Midge and I joined some of her friends at the movies. Shortly after we were greeted, someone behind me suddenly grabbed two clumps of my long, curly hair and yanked.

"Scooch down in your seat. I hates bushy-haired women," a man growled into my ear.

I whirled around expecting to see one of Midge's friends, but found myself looking into the glowering face of a bearded older man, a stranger to me.

I "scooched" down and looked questioningly at Midge, who appeared not to have noticed the encounter. I stayed in my crouched position during the.movie, until I forgot and sat up in the midst of an exciting chase scene.

I felt a hand pushing down on the top of my head and heard the man behind me say, "I knew you wouldn't sit still." I was afraid to get up and leave, so I sat cowering.

Finally, the movie was over and the lights went on. I told Midge, in a whisper, what had happened. She laughed out loud and said, "Oh, that was only the Mad trapper." As we walked outside, thee bearded man, Kroll, came forward and introduced himself.

"Sorry, I just loves to scare pretty girls," he said, laughing. He invited our whole group to his house for some "good music." Surprisingly, Midge and everyone else started walking toward the house, pulling me along with them. Midge explained that the trapper was harmless, but very unpredictable. He and his wife, Lois, a public health nurse, owned and operated a large floating cannery at Snug Harbor and a goldmine near Mount McKinley, and he often carried around a fruit-jar filled with gold nuggets. They had several "nice, normal" little kids.

She said Kroll was considered to be a true genius. He had taught himself to play every instrument from the violin to the tuba.

Hed also taught himself to fly an airplane, and he built his own airplane from spare parts. after Kroll had been flying it for some time, she said, he flew the airplane to Anchorage and hired an instructor do take him up for a "refresher course." Once They were airborne, Kroll started asking questions about flying that prompted the instructor to ask him who had taught him to fly. When Kroll said he'd taught himself and had built the airplane, the instructor bailed out. Some time later, Midge said, the engine fell out off the airplane near Valdez and Kroll managed to glide in and land on a glacier.

the trapper earned his title, she said, because he was an excellent trapper. once a movie company came to town to shoot some scenes and said they needed some live wolverines. Kroll went out into the woods and a short time later came back with one wolverine strapped to his backboard and leading another by a makeshift leash. He had muzzled the animal by strapping a stick between its teeth. Another U. of Alaska alumnus, Dick Inglima, who now lives in Homer, Alaska, recalled the time he flew with Kroll to Anchorage. Midway there, he said, Kroll said he was tired and asked him if he would fly the airplane. Inglima sald he didn't know anything about flying, so Kroll gave him a few instructions and told him to follow the cliffs into Anchorage then fell asleep. As they approached Anchorage, Inglima became nervous and awakened Kroll.

"Kroll thanked me for waking him and told me he was glad I hadn't tried to land it myself," Inglima said. Once, Inglima said, Kroll had a dispute with a fishing partner,but he told the partner that they would wait until they got back to Seldovia where they could fight it out under the boardwalk, where all disputes are settled in the town.

"His partner was younger and more agile and he won the fight. Kroll got up, brushed himself off and asked his partner if he wanted to fish with him again the next Summer," Inglima said.

The night I went to Kroll's house with Midge and her friends, he insisted upon making us his "special" drink. He poured Eagle Brand, a sweetened condensed milk, and cherry Kool-Aid into a seltzer bottle and inserted a charge.

A thick, pink substance billowed out of the container into our glasses and, although it was sickeningly sweet, we politely drank it.

When we finished, he laughed and slapped his knee saying, "Isn't that horrible stuff? I only make it to watch people squirm while they drink it."

I forgave him for everything after I heard him play the violin and then the piano. Like I was told, the man was a genius.

2009-10-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Balloon Boy: "We did this for the show" thenerdshow.com

Watch full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eULhHl6bDoc

Transcript: (Kroll, 2009)

Henry Kroll 3rd, October 17, 2009

Hi it's been a busy week and it's time to do another radio show. To recap the events that unfolded recently, the nation watched helplessly as a little boy flew solo cross-country in a makeshift balloon shaped like a UFO. Yeah... that's about what it looked like, or so we thought. That was until everyone's prayers were answered when it was discovered he was safe. Apparntly, he had been in hiding for four hours, an unusually long time period for someone that age. I think the longest I ever ran away from home was for like 2 hours and then my mom started baking cookies.

Falcon Henne, (6-year-old, 2009) also known as the balloon boy and the boy's inventor father, Richard, who looks a little bit like Brad Pitt, were interviewed by news crews outside the family's home. They said he had been hiding in the garage. The camera kept zooming in on the missing ceiling tile during this sequence for dramatic effect. Presumably, the boy was hiding up there. Apparently Richard, billed as an amateur scientist in a 2007 article in the Denver Post, (Gallegos, Simona. 2007) is an avid storm chaser and documentary film maker researching the possibility of detecting magnetic fields in storms.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed the family and when asked why he hadn't come out when he was called the little boy said, "we did this for the show." Now that just made it look like a total publicity stunt, but after interviewing the family some more, the news people sided with the father who maintained that the boy was probably talking about the camera crew that was there earlier. Now, it's hard for me to take any particular side. The boy seems little out of it or maybe he is stressed out about the whole affair. He keeps glancing around at the ceiling like he's looking for a place to escape. I can't say that I blame him.

I saw another interview (6-year-old, 2009) with the boy's father where he talks about his inventing, science and the Bifield-Brown effect. Now I have to stop here and totally debunk this. Those of us who have done any actual Science know that the (Biefeld–Brown effect, n.d.) is really just ion wind. He says there is some wires and high-voltage hooked up to it, though I did not see any fine wires or electrical insulators around the edge of the balloon in the footage. That's another thing about this story that doesn't check out. He even talks about how he is afraid one of the boys would get in there and electrocute himself, not the best thing to say in front of a news crew. However, after giving it some thought about what kind of story I would want this to be, I would rather have this turn out not to be a publicity stunt and have the world quietly forget this even though something tells me deep down that won't happen. It just fits too closely to my cynical world view.

What struck me about this story is I had already created another video (Kroll, November 2008) featuring a vaguely similar design to this balloon and I'm always afraid someone will try to build it and fly away like this, go crashing into power lines or worse. I leave several key details out of my published material for this reason. Like it isn't really apparent that the upper section of this model is filled with helium to make it almost neutrally buoyant. The landing gear is not shown. Controls are not shown. I figure if people are smart enough to fill in the missing details they might be smart enough to take some basic safety precautions and use a little common sense, such as building models first, lots of them, keeping it tied down securely in 3 places during testing, filling out their last will and testament and a flight plan before departure, being away from kids, civilization, especially airports and military bases would be good. Unless of course they want to turn it into a publicity stunt. Ok, fine. Let's all play with large balloons. Just don't put wires in them and keep them tied down OK?

Copyright:

Copyright (C) 2009 Henry Kroll 3rd. This video and transcript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license. You are free to share and make derivatives of this work under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it. Any of the above conditions can be easily waived if you get permission from the copyright holder, Henry Kroll 3rd, thenerdshow.com or themanyone on YouTube.

References:

Gallegos, Simona. (August 30, 2007). 2007 Profile: Balloon boy's father a weather chaser - The Denver Post. . Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.denverpost.com/extremes/ci_6530596.

6-year-old Colorado boy found alive in attic after balloon lands - CNN.com. (October, 2009). . Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html#cnnSTCVideo.

Biefeld–Brown effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). . Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biefeld%E2%80%93Brown_effect.

Kroll, Henry, 3rd. (November, 2008). YouTube - themanyone. . Retrieved October 17, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/themanyone

Kroll, Henry, 3rd. (October 16, 2009). YouTube - themanyone. . Retrieved October 17, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eULhHl6bDoc

My Bio

2009-10-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! :)

My name is Henry Kroll 3rd, a.k.a Henry Kroll III. I grew up in an isolated and rocky enclave called Halibut Cove, a 1 hour journey across Kachemak Bay from Homer Alaska. The interesting thing about Halibut Cove is there are no roads there. Everything is connected by water. Houses are perched on steep cliffs with attached docks, pulleys and boat ramps for access. Things that you take for granted like parks and tennis courts were nonexistent. I never did become good at basketball, but climbing and swimming is second nature. I spent a lot of time on my dad's crab boat fishing king crab and tanner crab. At an early age I was a navigator, coiler, hydraulics operator, mechanic and electrician. Every summer we would journey 60 miles across Cook Inlet and fish commercially for salmon along the shores of Tuxedni Bay.

After a boating accident, I was crippled with a bad back that would not heal for 10 years. I also suffered from pneumonia, colds, allergies, and flu along with a horrible rash, called morgellons, that would not heal. I sought help from the local Scientology Center in Anchorage Alaska, where I volunteered for 10 years, learning office skills. I didn't have a place to stay so they put me up in the basement. I donated a bunch of money to them which my family thought was a mistake, but I have been gradually improving. I attained the much coveted state of "clear" which signifies freedom from bad memories and experiences and the ability to pick up new skills and abilities. I opened up a computer business and moved into a small trailer which later burned down. My brother-in-law and his family decided to help me out and now I stay in the add-on of a bigger trailer next door to them and their six kids.

Some years after I quit Scientology, I discovered how to heal my bad back, get rid of the colds, flus, allergies and chronic rashes that bothered me all my life and I am now perfectly healthy! I am now working on putting my solutions into a book, so people will know you really can overcome.

Almost all jobs, other than minimum wage, in Alaska require a degree now. I'm a smart guy. It is hoped that with some education I will be able to land a job worthy of my capabilities or at least lend some credibility to my business and go after bigger clients. To this end, last year I embarked upon an degree program with the University of Phoenix Online. My folks would be happy to know that I am doing great and getting straight A's.

I do a lot of computer programming, inventing, video production and graphic design in my spare time. I've started a YouTube channel and video diary, where I'm cataloging my progress with over 80 videos on Linux, Computer Programming, video games, Animations and other fun stuff. I also own the domains, thenerdshow.com, anch.org, eq2.us, comptune.com and mixculture.org, which are hosted on another computer that doubles as my entertainment center.

You can subscribe to my video feeds here:
http://thenerdshow.com

or here:
http://youtube.com/themanyone

Henry

2009-10-15T18:41:00.000-07:00