digitalBush

For the past 5 years I've been head down in C# and I really enjoy the language.  While I consider myself a C# developer primarily, there are plenty of other languages I use on a day to day basis.

• C# - Server side code for ASP.NET websites, internal windows forms applications, and utility applications which load and export data.
• SQL - Database querying for CRUD operations (not so much anymore, NHibernate rocks my world) and for ad-hoc reporting.
• PL/SQL - Triggers and a few user defined functions in the database.
• Javascript - Client side code to make things move and to retrieve data asynchronously.
• HTML - Web page markup.
• CSS - Web page styling and positioning.
• Regular Expressions - Pattern matching in strings.
• XSLT - Transforming XML documents into other outputs.
• XPath - Querying XML documents.
• Batch Files/Scripts - Command line programming to automate tasks, move around the file system, and do stuff to files.

There may be a few more that I'm not thinking about.  The point is that I'm not really "just a C# developer." I'm sure if you sit down and think about it, you use quite a few languages yourself. So, while I'm most comfortable in C#, I feel confident that I could bang out code in just about any language.  I'm only more comfortable with C# because it's what I've been using the most frequently as of late.

This is a personal challenge to myself.  I want to explore a few languages and see what I can learn.  The .NET (C#, VB.NET, F#) languages should be easy just because they all share the same base libraries.  Beyond that, who knows what I'll discover.

(Queue cheesy TV announcer voice)

Are you a javascript developer?

Do you graciously host demos of your stuff on your own website?

Have you been wondering where your bandwidth has gone?

Do your web logs show people hotlinking to your scripts?

If you answered yes to these questions, then boy do I have a product for you. It's hotlinkr; the revolutionary javascript hotlink countermeasure that's sure to make the web a better place!

hotlinkr is targeted towards hard working open source javascript developers who provide demos of their work only to have them hotlinked from people on other sites.  You could just pull the script and have the offending site lose the functionality your script was providing. What's the fun in that? Teach them a lesson about executing code which you don't have control over.  Replace the script with hotlinkr!

hotlinkr will deface the website in one of many ways.  What you choose to do to the offending site is entirely up to you  You could be polite and just pop up a tiny alert.  You can be sneaky and overlay a div which makes nothing on the website clickable.  You could be funny and rick roll the site. Or just let the script choose at random!  The possibilities are endless! (That is, if you consider 18 possibilities endless.)

Special thanks to:

• Jared Barboza for contributing the fail, move, spaz and vroomvroom functions as well as several IE fixes.
• Mike Alsup for contributing the rickroll function as well as being the first to try this out on a large scale.
• Cornify for supplying us with an unlimited number of unicorns and rainbows to distribute to the offending hotlinkers.

What are you waiting for?  Go check your logs and see who is hotlinking your javascript files right now!  Download now so you can take advantage of the special introductory price of free! That's right FREE! But wait there's more. If you download now within the next 5 minutes, we'll double the offer. That's right ladies and gentlemen, download within the next 5 minutes for free and you'll be able to download a 2nd copy for the same price as the first, FREE!

(Some restriction apply, see site for details.  Offer may apply to certain areas.  Authors are not responsible for the rage from website owners that you will inevitably piss off.  No animals were harmed in the making of this script.)

Unless you've been under a rock, you should know that Massachusetts elected a Republican senator to replace the late Ted Kennedy. Hopefully you also realize that the state has been democratic since the 80's. This election has disrupted the democratic majority in the senate and has essentially killed the healthcare reform bill in it's current state. The people have spoken; very few people in this country are comfortable with the current healthcare reform bill. The bill is huge; it's doubtful that any of the people voting on the bill have actually read it; and no one is sure if the country can even afford it.

courtesy of brykmantra

So, now what?
I'm personally not a fan of universal healthcare. With that said, I still feel like the healthcare system needs some reform. Actually, given that I work in the healthcare industry, I KNOW how messed up our healthcare system is. Now it's back to the drawing board.  It's definitely not time to give up on fixing healthcare.

Quit Whining!
Lawmakers, you should be thankful that this out-of-band election took place.  Now you can see just how far you've strayed from the path of real America.  We elected you to represent us, so now you had better start.  The Massachusetts election is your warning: Stop working for the special interest groups and start working for us or we'll find someone else who will.

Let's Start Small
In order to regain support for healthcare reform, the country as a whole needs to understand what's actually being done. My challenge to you is to go back and not try to reform healthcare in one failed swoop.  Write smaller bills which focus on a particular area.  Keep it small and simple so that those of us who want to know what the bill represents can actually sit down and read it in an hour or two.  My water cooler conversations should be able to talk about the "Healthcare Tort Reform" or the "Children's Healthcare Coverage" bills.  You see the difference there?  I can talk about the bill in a simple statement and know the general idea of what we're trying to do.  "Healthcare Reform" is such a broad term that you could be doing anything in that bill; it's just too hard to understand what you're doing.

What are you waiting for?  Go back to the beginning and figure out what needs fixing and fix it already.  Lawmakers, this is your job.  To everyone else, please make sure that you vote for people who you think will make a difference and will more closely represent your values.  It's time to stop voting based on party lines and start looking at the people and what they stand for.

I had the most awkward conversation the other day and it was so awesome that I just had to share. I wish I could give you some kind of funny back-story which ultimately leads to this conversation, but there isn't one. Ladies and gentlemen, this conversation just happened randomly and without warning. I can't make this stuff up.

Person - So, did you go to school to learn about computers?
Me - Actually I went to school for Computer Science.
Person - So you learned how to, like build computers and stuff?
Me - No, I learned how to write software. This whole building computers thing is just kind of a bonus my employer gets from me. I kind of just picked it up along the way.
Person - (Light bulb dimly lights up over her head) Oh! So you could work for Microsoft!
Me - Yeah, I guess I could.
Person - So, I bet that Bill Gates is your hero, isn't he?!
Me - No, not really.
Person - So, then you must be a Mac guy then, right?
Me - No, I kind of use both. I'm not particularly tied to Macs or PCs.
Person - oh! Oh! OH! You could work for Disney!
Me - I suppose I could. I mean, I could work just about anywhere considering that businesses these days run off computers and all kinds of companies need software developers.
Person - (Blank stare)
(Awkward Silence)
Person - Oh, I guess you're right.
Me - (Swift Exit)

Image courtesy of Bruce Tuten

The funny thing for me if just realizing how little people understand about computing.  Since I have a "degree in computers", I'm qualified to write software, repair broken hardware, fix your recipe spreadsheet, and design microprocessors.  There is no difference really.  After all, it's just a computer, right?  In the same spirit, I fully expect a marketing person to be able to maintain the books of a fortune 500 company.  After all, it's just business.

Similarly, I received a phone call at work because an electrical outlet wasn't working.  Since computers run off electricity, then naturally I must be an electrician also. How nice. I'll be sure to email my past professors and let them know how much my degree helped with flipping a breaker.

This is definitely worth putting out there since I had to dig a little to come up with the correct information. I have a 2005 Nissan Xterra and the rear hatch lifts were shot. It has gotten cold here lately and the hatch would only hold itself up about 4 foot from the ground. I'm 6'5" and this resulted in several head bonkings! Normally you can just run to your friendly local parts store and pick these things up for $20-$25 each (you need 2). However, as I've found the case to be for most of my Nissan parts needs, none of the parts stores carried them.

A few calls to my local dealerships priced these from $30 and up (each!) with a 2 day wait for them to be ordered. If I'm going to have to wait, then I might as well get them cheaper. A few google searches and I figured out that McMaster-Carr sells generic versions of these which they call a "gas spring." It's slightly longer than the stock, but it works on my truck with no clearance issues.

The part number I got was 9416K146 which is listed as a "Gas Spring with Threaded Ends, 150 Force, 18.18" Extended Length, 7.87" Stroke". I was able to purchase them shipped to my door for $37 for both lifts. Here was the process for me:

1. Prop up the rear hatch with a ladder.
2. Unclip the stock lifts from the hatch and vehicle (Stick a screwdriver underneath the metal clip to disengage the ball socket).
3. Unscrew the ends from the stock lifts and screw them onto the new lifts.
4. Snap the new lifts onto the vehicle and hatch ball tips.
5. Remove ladder and open and close the hatch several times while admiring my work.

Like I said earlier, these are longer than stock. You'll want to check out for any clearance issues when you install these. My rear hatch now lifts a few inches higher than stock which is just fine for me with my height. At the top hinges I have approximately 1/4" clearance before the backside of the hinge would be able to contact the hatch lip.

Also, this worked for my 2005 Xterra. Others are reporting that it works for other year models (I saw reports for 2005-2008 year models). Some people reported needing to purchase 2 of part number 9416K79 because there was different ball socket sizes between the liftgate and the vehicle body. This is supposed to be the correct size socket that will thread onto the M8 threads on the lift spring. I didn't need those, but I would suggest pulling off your old one and looking at the ball sockets of each end before ordering.

Finally, I'm just putting this out here for general knowledge. This may or may not work for your Xterra. I'm not responsible if your hatch rips off or cracks you in the head. I just felt like $60+ for these was a little pricey. McMaster-Carr delivered these to me in 2 days which is the best the dealership could do as well. I hope this helps and you were able to find this quicker than I did digging through the message forums.