Xenia, Greene County, Ohio November 2010 Ballot

Here is the copy of Xenia's November 2010 Ballot. Please be informed when you vote.

Republican Primary Ballot May 4, 2010 Greene County Ohio

To promote education in the election process here is a copy and the Republican Primary Ballot May 4, 2010 Greene County Ohio (Xenia) ballot.

Commuting by Bike today.

Today I made it to work and back on my bike. Two other people joined me. We had a good time. The 26 mile round trip saved me nearly $4 in gas. In other news the guy who maintains the Miami Valley Ohio Rails To Trails web site has linked my map project of the trail to his site. He has also edited it as well. This is fantastic news! Open Source for maps


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Wiki Trail Sign?

For nearly 10 years the bike trail signs at Xenia Station have the mileage to the next town left blank until now. I personally decided that they need filled in. In the spirit of Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that any can edit. I wanted the trail sign mileage to be edited by anyone. I used dry erase markers to fill in the the mileage. I see two drawback to this: 1) My handwriting is not the neatest and 2) the black on green cannot be read far enough away. On the positive side: 1) It is very cheap, I already had the the marker, 2) It has easily be modified or removed without damaging the sign. I believe this is the first internet mention of "Wiki Trail signs". So far after about four weeks of testing the marker has stood up the the rain and sun.

To recode or not to recode that is the question

I've been learning python at work, the programming language not the snake :-) I've been using python to keep our Informix database synced with our new mysql database. I have learned a lot through the process and I do have it working. However, if I had it all to do again, I would have written my code differently. The question now is, should I take the time to rewrite something that is working great, to write it *correctly*. I sure programmers in *ages to come* would appreciate it written correctly.

Ohio Linux Fest 2006

This weekend I had the privilege of attending *the* Ohio Linux Fest. I was able to attend with 4 other people from work. The presentations were excellent, I learned some, but I also learned where I need to learn more, especially with MySQL performance tuning. It was fantastic to be around people who use, patch, create and *evangelize* open source software. Being a database programmer and interacting with both closed source and open source systems I know that advantages of working with open source. Working with a closed system is like going to an glass art store where you can't touch anything, they don't explain anything, and there are sales people telling you how great everything is, and signs all around saying you break it you leases it every year for more and more money; whereas working with an open system is going to a museum, where you can touch everything, everything is explained, and you can build and modify the exhibits, and copy them and take them home for free. I hope in the near future I'll be able to contribute code in the open source community.




The Columbus zoo also treated us to a Penguin Show. Which was fantastic since the Penguin in the mascot of Linux.

Yes open source is
free as in beer,
free as in speech
and yes and times free as in puppies.

Book Review: The world Is Flat a Brief History of the 21st Century

Book: The World Is Flat a Brief History of the 21st Century
Authors: Thomas L. Friedman
ISBN: 0-374-29288-4

This book was recommended to the staff at Asbury College by our president. I enjoy economics and technology and thought this book would be a good read. It was interesting to read impressions of people in older generations on how the world in getting smaller and more connected. He list 10 causes that *flattened the world* (made the world more connected and smaller) Including in his list was open source software. This of course in of interest to me. It is always interesting to read how non-computer geeks are in total amazement that 75% of the world web servers are run on software that *people just give away*. I would recommend reading this book. He has good points about free trade and the the effects of 9/11 and 11/9.