gdp's Comments

The FN Dish : Team Bobby vs. Team Anne: Who Will Win Worst Cooks in America?

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 22:30:50 +0000

The past three seasons have been quite educational in terms of what one could learn from watching. (I brushed up on my culinary skills watching this.) However, this past episode was more entertainment than educational, and the results were quite predictable from the start. Not what I expected from a Food Network program. But then, stranger things have happened on Iron Chef America as well, such as the creation of the infamous Golden Trout Ice Cream from years ago. (I would serve that to my cats.)

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Us Out! Music Overload

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 22:46:52 +0000

Captain Ed's in Michigan City, IN (US) has a large selection of vinyl and CDs in excellent condition. The store also sells rent-to-own furniture, chrome accessories for automobiles, and a large selection of coffee and candy.

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Us Out! Music Overload

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 04:47:51 +0000

I do check out various online radio stations such as Smooth877.com, I Heart Radio.com (operated by Clear Channel), V103 FM, and even the Last.fm service (the premier site for suggestions for new music). Also, Chitown Smooth Jazz has a section for upcoming artists (called New Releases). Accuradio (operator of Chitown Smooth Jazz) is a good source for new music, and you can create your own custom online station. This service has twelve custom channels specific to the Chicago market, and Accuradio is based in Chicago.

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Us Out! Music Overload

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 04:44:19 +0000

Thanks for the rather awesome suggestion. I have this bookmarked now.

Spark | CBC Radio : Spark 167 – January 8 & 11, 2012

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:25:28 +0000

Agreed, and just in time for US Congress to vote on a bill that would effectively shut down the Internet as a venue of free exchange. This bill effects EVERYONE, not just US citizens. On January 18th, Google, Amazon, Reddit and others plan to shut down their websites for twelve hours on that day to make people aware of the effects of Internet censorship. The vote on this bill comes January 29th. What you will see on that day at Reddit is a list of links on what you can do to oppose this bill. http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/stopped-they-must-...

Spark | CBC Radio : Full Interview: K remembers R - Brian Kernighan on Dennis Ritchie's legacy

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:50:34 +0000

Dennis Ritchie was one of the people whose works I have studied. It was through the book "The C Programming Language" where I learned and mastered the C programming language, of which became part of the foundation of my applications and web development skills, along side of Pascal, assembly language, Java, C++, (X)HTML and PHP. One could argue that Dennis Ritchie was in part responsible for the foundation of the Internet as we knew it back in the day, and as we know it now. Though my first hands on experience with computers was on an Apple II+ (the product of another true innovator who also passed away recently, the late Steve Jobs), my real interest was with UNIX, and hence it makes sense for me to use Linux on my home machines. My first exposure to UNIX was on a Sun 386i running SunOS 4.0 and the NeWS desktop (this was in the late 1980s). That machine was originally part of a local network, and later became the first web server for my alma mater I have since worked with machines running HP/UX (for a collections system), Xenix (as part of a voice mail system) and Solaris (of which I purchased a second hand copy ten years ago) before venturing into FreeBSD and Linux. My first experience with Linux was with Red Hat 5.2, and that was on a second hand AcerFrame 500, converted from a server running NetWare 3.x to a Linux workstation. Today, I use PCLinuxOS, and contribute in many ways to that community. Hence, I could (and will) say that I owe much of my computer experience to Dennis Ritchie. Rest in Peace.

Spark | CBC Radio : What Does "Tech Savvy" Mean to You?

Fri, 9 Sep 2011 14:29:12 +0000

When we think of "tech savvy" people, we tend to think of them as all-knowing when it comes to technology. This is not necessarily the case. One can learn to program in several languages such as Java, C, C++, or Python, yet not know a thing on how an MP3 or an Ogg Vorbis file is created. Anyone can use a tablet such as an iPad or Samsung's Galaxy series tablets, yet not know that Android was built on the Linux kernel. You might be able to install a home entertainment system, yet not know how each component is supposed to work. Do any of these examples make one "tech savvy"? To some, yes. But this is a limited form of what is "tech savvy". To me, this does not make one "tech savvy". To me, being tech savvy is more than just knowing how something works, or actually using the products. Being tech savvy also means knowing how the technology was developed. Anyone can use a tablet, media player, or a laptop. To truly understand about these devices, one should learn how these devices came to be. How many of you know who Grace Hopper was? ...or Donald Knuth? ...or Niklaus Wirth? These were three contributors to the evolution of computer science. Grace Hopper was an officer in the US Navy who first coined the term "bug" when a moth was found inside the mainframe (which took up an entire room at the time) that caused the running program to fail. Grace also contributed to the development of the FORTRAN language. Donald Knuth was a professor of computer science at Stanford University. His contributions were the TeX typesetting system for publication, the Web literate programming language, Tangle to produce documentation from source code, the MIX machine for teaching of assembly language (the latter evolved to MMIX as the next generation). Niklaus Wirth was responsible for the Pascal and Modula 2 programming languages, meant to teach good programming practices and structured programming. ...and then there were others, well before Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who contributed to computer science. Ken Thompson wrote the first UNIX system back in 1969. Dennis Ritchie wrote the first C compiler and collaborated on UNIX back in 1970. UNIX is important here as Linux, Mac OS-X (yes today's Macintosh systems), FreeBSD (on which the current Mac OS-X was built), Android, WebOS, Solaris, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and Plan 9 (The current project out of Bell Labs) were all derived from UNIX in one way or another. One who has this knowledge could be called a "Digital Native" (per a previous comment), but then would you travel to another country or province/state without knowing at least some knowledge, or being willing to learn about that place? This is my definition of "tech savvy".

Spark | CBC Radio : Survey Results: Online Privacy and Your Queasy Button

Sat, 4 Jun 2011 17:25:02 +0000

This is more proof that profits and ethics don't mix. As long as there is money to be made from personal information, this will continue to be an issue.

Spark | CBC Radio : Survey Results: Online Privacy and Your Queasy Button

Sat, 4 Jun 2011 17:16:38 +0000

When it comes to the issue of what information I give out, I give it out on a need-to-know basis. For payment information, I give out the necessary information only to companies that have proven themselves worthy of my trust. Personal information has become a commodity, and the Internet in general has made this commodity easier to buy and sell. Facebook makes sharing of personal information easier for marketers to access detailed information on people simply by granting access to profiles already established without having to create separate mailing lists. If you are on Facebook, there are some things you can do to control what information you supply. The first, is obviously to supply as little information as possible. The second is to be discreet as to whom you allow your profile to be accessed. Third, clean up your profile at least once a week (I do this almost daily), removing irrelevant, unnecessary, and potentially damaging information. When it comes to branding, I give out only relevant and supporting information. As for the image, I typically "google" myself to see what image I have been projecting. Here is a challenge for you. Without going to Facebook, try to figure out my profile over the past 15 years.

Spark | CBC Radio : Full Interview: Jay Ferguson on Musical Rarity

Sat, 21 May 2011 23:18:48 +0000

I do record directly from cassette and vinyl using Audacity, and encoding in Ogg Vorbis, FLAC or MP3. The resulting files are either stored directly to my laptop, or sent to my Sansa Fuze. Among the cassettes I have recorded is Herbie Hancock's 1978 release "Sunlight", of which the tracks "I Thought It Was You" and "Come Running To Me" popularized the use of the vocoder.

Spark | CBC Radio : Full Interview: Jay Ferguson on Musical Rarity

Wed, 18 May 2011 06:46:29 +0000

It sure makes me glad I have kept my old vinyl in storage. I am wondering if cassettes and reel-to-reel tape will come back into style. It was not that long ago when magnetic tape was used to store user data, and the first UNIX systems were distributed on tape. To this day, I have a sizeable collection of vinyl and cassettes (as well as a CD collection), and rather than purchasing USB turntables and cassette decks, I have a turntable and cassette deck connected to a mixer, which is then connected to the line input jack on my laptop for audio recording. I am glad to see that vinyl is making quite a comeback, and I am glad to see this type of thing happening, even if it is a compromise for the recording industry. At least, I can still visit antique shops and second hand stores for vinyl and cassettes.

Spark | CBC Radio : Spark 148 – May 15 & 18, 2011

Sat, 14 May 2011 13:09:38 +0000

Handwriting had been made obsolete when computers started appearing in homes around the continent. How many of us actually handwrite a letter these days? One thing I do see that is obsolete is the art of THINKING. I have been one to be able to think for himself rather than have someone else tell me what to think. When we take in a a source of news and information, be it Twitter, Facebook, or even the Fox News Channel, how many of us actually think about what is really going on?

Spark | CBC Radio : Designed Deteriorization

Mon, 9 May 2011 20:15:55 +0000

I have quite a list of "gadgets" that have been worn in. Among these are: Pentax K-1000 (35mm SLR camera) Sony Cybershot DSC-H10 Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart M22 SanDisk Sansa Fuze, used often thanks to support for Ogg Vorbis and Flac music formats. Handspring Visor Platinum (PalmOS device) Palm Zire Palm VII Hewlett-Packard LX-200 (handheld PC running embedded DOS 5.0)

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Us Out: The Future of the 30 Second Ad Spot

Mon, 9 May 2011 19:44:15 +0000

On a MySpace playlist, a thirty second ad is played after the first song before the playlist continues, then ads are inserted after every five songs are played. This is an example of how these ads are relevant in the age of social media. Hence, 30 seconds is still sufficient for advertising time. One of my favorite jingles of the past was the Meow Mix (as sung by cats) jingle. The one jingle I remember that best signifies what we are all about is Burger King's "Have It Your Way."

Spark | CBC Radio : Full Interview: Jason Scott on online video and digital heritage

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:38:27 +0000

This is a perfect example of why we should keep local copies of all content we upload to content sharing services (or cloud computing services for that matter), either on our local machines, or on medium such as CD/DVD discs, portable hard drives, or flash drives. This way, if a service such as a video sharing service is to close down, at least you can reclaim material you submitted so you can upload it somewhere else...and if you already have a local copy of that material, that is one less task you will have to worry about.

Spark | CBC Radio : Full Interview: Brett Solomon on Digital Freedom in North Africa and the Middle East

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:15:50 +0000

Quite well, indeed. On my website, "Digital Freedom Lives Here" is the tagline I use to promote digital freedom as in creative freedom and collaborative freedom (that is the user has control over content and what can be shared). This article represents another type of digital freedom that makes a lot of sense to me, and gives me a whole new perspective of digital freedom on which to work with.

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Wanted: Do You Have Coupon Fatigue?

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:52:34 +0000

Without having signed up for any of these group services, I already get tons of coupons with one of my e-mail accounts. I get them simply by signing up for rewards programs from Sears Holdings, Office Depot, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walgreens, and SuperValu, the latter being a grocery distributor out of Eden Prairie, Minnesota that serves several grocery store chains (Jewel/Osco in my area). Most of these wind up being deleted, but some of them I actually use when I really need them.

Spark | CBC Radio : Spark 140 – March 6 & 9, 2011

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:59:39 +0000

As far as what makes computers hard can be said not just in terms of software, or hardware, but in terms of how to explain what it does. The kitchen mixer, toaster, food processor, and the griddle are easier to explain than a computer as the purpose for these housewares is simple. The kitchen mixer is used to mix in ingredients when preparing sauces, batter, dough, or whatever you are cooking for that meal. The toaster has one function, namely to toast breads, bagels, waffles, or tortillas (I have done this). The food processor and griddle have similar functions in a kitchen. What is common to each of these is that they are familiar tools we have used in the kitchen for many years, and their basic function has not changed over the years. The television and radio also have one purpose, to entertain and inform, and their basic function has not changed over the years, either. The computer, however, is different. What is the equivalent basic function? There really isn't any. Part of the problem I had over the years is explaining in non-technical terms what a computer can do and cannot do, as there are many technical aspects to getting the software and hardware to work properly. While Apple and Microsoft have made computing easier for anyone, it is still not without the numerous problems (not to mention the political battles only the technically savvy can identify with). The iPad and the series of Android tablets and smartphones solved some of these problems. These devices were designed with simplicity in mind, whereas the typical PC, and the older generations of home computers (Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari, TRS-80) were designed with hobbyists in mind. Apple had some success with the Macintosh line (and its predecessor Lisa). In 1988, Steve Jobs left Apple to create the NeXT system, which was ten years ahead of its time, and was hardware compatible with the Macintosh. The software that ran on that system (NeXTStep) survives today as Mac OS-X (now running a BSD kernel). Recent efforts from Canonical, in the form of Ubuntu, made Linux accessible and easy to use for non-technical people (as an alternative to Windows). Ubuntu has done a great job in that aspect, but not as much as what is going on in the PCLinuxOS community. PCLinuxOS is a Linux distribution that is very easy to install and maintain. Originally a Mandriva spinoff, PCLinuxOS is an independently developed Linux distribution with several desktop variants (the original being KDE and the latest version at that), PCLinuxOS makes a great attempt to make computing easy for non-technical people. We have a friendly support forum, an online magazine, and a software source that is a single repository with numerous mirrors, and always kept up to date with the latest packages available for Linux. In short, all of us in the Linux community have worked hard over the past decade to make computing easier, though getting the Linux name as a brand is difficult as it is not tied to one company, but to many companies and individuals involved in its development. In some ways Linux has succeeded. If you are using an Android device, be it a tablet or a smart phone, you are using Linux. If you have a PlayStation 2 or a Tivo (video recording device) machine, you are using Linux. If you have a Pandigital Novel (e-Reader), you are using Linux. The same is true for WebOS devices (now manufactured by Hewlett-Packard).

Spark | CBC Radio : Spark 140 – March 6 & 9, 2011

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 22:57:55 +0000

Good job, Nora!!! Brian is a person that I looked up to for the many years that I have been in the business.

Spark | CBC Radio : Help Us Out: The Future of 3D Printing

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:30:14 +0000

After giving this issue some thought, I do see a parallel between 3D printers and the introduction of Linux to the masses back at Fall 1998 Comdex. Since 1998, Linux has penetrated the consumer market in numerous ways, namely: 1. Installation of Linux as a replacement for (or an addition to) Windows or Mac OS-X, extending the life of desktops, laptops and netbooks. 2. Bootable CD/DVD to try out Linux before installing Linux (e.g. PCLinuxOS, Mandriva One, SimplyMEPIS, and Ubuntu among others). 3. Android-powered smart phones, e-Book readers and tablets. 4. PlayStation 2 and early PlayStation 3 game consoles 5. Tivo digital video recorders 6. Numerous standard cell phones and messaging phones (especially the ones sold on the low end market). 7. Some wireless routers in the consumer market. 8. Distributions that can be downloaded and installed on older gadgets such as PalmOS devices and early generation iPods. ...and that is just an example of what has already happened since 1998. To this date, you can still purchase commercial software (mostly games) in stores, Windows still comes standard on most computers sold (although that is starting to change with tablets and netbooks thanks to Android), and there are still some hardware manufacturers that will have nothing to do with Linux. Enter the 3D printer. While this may be a threat to the manufacturing sector (at a time when jobs are needed to be created rather than destroyed), the retail sector can find a way around the threat. For example, retail stores such as Kohl's, Target, or even Hudson's Bay Company (the world's oldest retailer) could install 3D printers in each department to customize customer requests for items that are either out of stock in the store, or are not available for purchase. This means that if (for example) a shoe is not in stock, the 3D printer could be used to manufacture the shoe to customer specifications, and in a matter of minutes, that pair of shoes would be available for purchase to the customer. As a result, the customer leaves the store satisfied, and hence is more likely to not only recommend the store to other customers, but to return to the same store for future purchases. If such a plan were to be implemented, this could save jobs in the retail sector from becoming extinct due to advances in technology.