Sometimes technical, sometimes not, never a kitty

It's been three years since the release of DotNetNuke, and today Shaun announced the DotNetNuke Benefactor Program.  Basically, you can make a donation to support the project, and get some extra benefits in return.  DNN will remain open source and free, and becoming a benefactor is optional.

The DotNetNuke Benefactor Program was created with the intent to preserve the delicate balance between the needs of the open source community, the serious business ecosystem it has fostered, and the on-going management of the project. The Benefactor Program provides the ability for community members to gain access to a premium set of layered benefit packages; with each level designed to satisfy the needs of a specific stakeholder group.

Full information at http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Home/tabid/894/Default.aspx.

Now playing: Pearl Jam - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

If you were to take all of the chromosomal DNA in a single human cell, unwind the strands and lay them end to end, you'd have about 6-8 feet of DNA. If you were to take all of the chromosomal DNA out of a human body and lay it out the same way, you'd have a strand long enough to reach to the sun and back again (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1998/StevenChen.shtml).

Let me repeat that.  You have enough chromosomal DNA in your body to reach all the way to the sun and back!  That’s some serious distance all wrapped up inside of us.  It’s that wrapping I want to talk about in this post.  This will be a bit of a simplification, but you’ll get the point.

DNA exists as a double helix.  A corkscrew is an example of a single helix—there’s only one strand that is twisted up to form the helical shape.  A nautilus shell is another example of a helix.  In the case of DNA, there are two strands twisted around each other, forming a double helix.  Imagine a ladder, with the legs secured at one end.  You’re holding the legs at other end, and you start twisting the ladder—that’s pretty much what DNA looks like in its simplest form.

The example I used in my lab classes involved shoelaces.  Take two shoelaces and hold them closely together.  Secure one end (in a desk drawer, tape on the bench, or under that thick bio book).  Then, while pinching both ends together, slowly and gently twist the shoelaces around each other to form a double helix.  Stop when you have a helix all the way down the shoelaces.  This is your basic double helix.

Now, start gently twisting again, leaving a little slack.  After a few twists, the shoelaces will start coiling around themselves, forming irregular loops.  The more you twist, the more loops will be formed, and the more compact your shoelace helices will become.  This is how meters of DNA fit into each cell—very tight winding, around and around and around.  As you can imagine, the irregular coils-upon-coils could cause problems for DNA replication, since they may end up in knots.

Instead of forming irregular structures, DNA in higher animals is wound around proteins called histones (follow the link for a good illustration).  Wrapping DNA around histones helps keep in in regular structures, which are then wrapped around themselves, and so on.  When time to replicate, the DNA is easily uncoiled from its regular structures.  Much like your shoelaces, DNA does not coil and uncoil on its own accord—there is a system of proteins that perform this task, and the deeper science is truly intriguing.  It’s a very elegant and amazing system, and it has to be to pack millions of miles of DNA inside my 6’ 4” frame.  Elegant and amazing is the take-home message for this post.

On a similar note, if you want to see some really cool images of cells and DNA, check out the Invitrogen-Molecular Probes gallery at http://probes.invitrogen.com/servlets/gallery?id=18&company=probes.  These are examples of cells stained with fluorescent dyes for various proteins, organelles and nucleic acids.  These photos are as cool as the Hubble images, IMHO, and very similar in some cases.

Now playing: Budapest Strings - 2. Alla Hornpipe (Water Music Suite #2 In D, HWV 349)

In an effort not to write a Toltsoy-esqe blog post, I'm breaking some background information out into separate posts.  There's a point, I promise, it'll just take me a couple posts to get there.

The Scientific Method is a standard process which is used to properly frame an experiment and guide the experimenter (at least it should be, but there's a lot of junk being done these days).  Various descriptions of the Scientific Method give it a variable number of steps--from 4 to 7.  Those with fewer steps combine a few things that others break out into separate steps--there's no big divergence in process.  For the sake of discussion, we'll use the description at http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml.

One step, in this case #3, is always stating your hypothesis.  Classically, one wouldn't just make a single statement and test against it; one would make several statements, each predicting a different outcome of the experiment.  Usually there is a statement of no difference, called the Null Hypothesis, and abbreviated H₀ (that's H sub zero).  One would then offer Alternate Hypotheses predicting different effects, and abbrevizted H_a, H_b, etc.

Let's look at a simple example: will fertilizer help us grow bigger tomato plants?  We've made our observation that Farmer Brown grows nice tomatoes, and he uses fertilizer.  Our hypotheses would be:

H₀: Fertilizer will have no effect

H_a: Fertilizer will help our plants grow

H_b: Fertilizer will hinder our plants' growth

Simple, and easily tested.

Not every hypothesis can be tested.  The human lifespan is too short, and the vastness of space and time and the complexity of our own bodies (let alone the ethical considerations) make some hypotheses virtually untestable.  In these circumstances, even with some solid evidence, the discussion is more academic and philosophical than scientific, especially if there are equally strong (or preposterous) interpretations of the same evidence.

Additionally, another important component of the Scientific Method is repeatability.  Performing an experiment numerous times, and getting the same (or wtihin statistical probablity) answer each time is essential.  In our tomato experiment, we can easily reproduce this hundreds or thousands of times under very controlled conditions.  Referring again to vastness and complexity, some experiments can’t feasibly be repeated.

Quod erat demonstratum ("that which is to be proven") sometimes always remains as such.

 <background information>

For anyone who’s new to the conversation, I hold a BS in Environmental Science and an MS in Biological Sciences.  I earned my MS studying the genetics of pollution-degrading bacteria and the external proteases of a pathogenic bacterium.  While in graduate school, I was both a teaching and research assistant; I was awarded two teaching awards, and was rated “excellent” by my students when I taught MCAT prep classes for The Princeton Review.  After graduation, I worked as a molecular biologist in medical research for many years before switching to computer programming.

</background information>

Now playing: BoDeans - True Devotion

This is for people who get the following error either immediately after you create a WSS site, or when you try to access a WSS site or SPS portal:

You are not authorized to view this page
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following:

Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.
Click the Refresh button to try again with different credentials.
HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical Information (for support personnel)

Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 403.
Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled About Security, Authentication, and About Custom Error Messages.

If you are using SPS, try to access http://<portalname>/default.aspx instead of http://<portalname>/.  If you can access the URL with the pagename, then the problem may be in your application pool settings.  Likewise, if you try to access a WSS site and get this error, see if you can add default.aspx to the URL.  If that works, same problem.  You might also get this error immediatelyt after you create a WSS site, at the point where you are supposed to pick the site template.

Fortunately, the fix is really easy.  You need to open up the IIS manager on the server, and the open the properties for your virtual server.  On the Home Directory tab, you probably need to change the Application Pool the site is running under.  There's probably one named SpsAppPool or something like that.  If there are several and you're unsure, try choosing them one by one, and trying to access the URL (the one without the default.aspx) after each change.

For more technical information, I recommend

Now playing: The Calling - Wherever You Will Go

We're happy to announce the lauch of the completely revamped Designer Display Cakes (http://www.displaycakes.com/).  Designer Display Cakes is a local creator of artifical wedding, occasion and everyday cakes, and her cakes have been featured in commercials for Saturn and on the TV Show "Ed".  The new website is powered by CandyPress shopping cart, with some tweaks and modifications.  The photo gallery is nGallery with a customized theme.  If you're looking for a fake wedding cake, Designer Display Cakes is the place to find one!

Now playing: BoDeans - True Devotion

First, let me traingulate you on my feelings for similar books.  “Who Moved My Cheese” – hated it.  I thought it was puerile and condescending, but I’m not a person who has change issues either.  “Good to Great” – excellent book, and I’ve used the advice in my business dealings.  “Everything I Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”– not a big fan of the entire book, but some of the chapters were though provoking (haven’t seen it in many, many years though).

The Big Moo is the brainchild of Seth Godin, but credited to “The Group of 33”.  It’s not written in traditional chapters, but rather short vignettes—written sound bites, if you will—in some cases, possibly originally scrawled on a napkin at a bar and later transcribed verbatim.  Perfect bathroom reading.  Not being in formal chapters means I can’t do my usual chapter-by-chapter technical overview, so look for a short review here.

Some of the vignettes are the “what if” type of philosophy like you got in your freshman dorm after a lot of beer from people you barely knew.  The ones I found the most interesting covered actual situations, such as Rockport shoes or the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Some made me think, some inspired me, and some were just plain dumb (and I don’t mean in the good way as talked about in the sketch entitled “The Power of Dumb Ideas”, which was a good vignette).  Thankfully, there were more of the interesting or thought-proviking ones.  It doesn’t matter which stories did what, because I think everyone will take something different away from the book.  Perhaps my opinion of some of the dumb ones would be different if I weren’t on the loo, but rather in a place in my life where they would inspire me.  This isn’t a book that changed my life, but it is one I’ll keep around and flip through from time to time.

Readers are encouraged to share the book with their coworkers to try and inspire them to be remarkable.  Assuming you have coworkers who can be inspired to be remarkable, this book could really be a good thing.  Everyone will take something different from the book, and that makes for good conversation at the coffee pot or over lunch.  In my experience, good communication on anything is the basis for a cohesive group, and those are the groups that become remarkable ones.  Reading this book isn’t going to help you turn anything into something remarkable single-handedly.  But look around, and if you have a few coworkers you think can help you overcome stagnation, definately share this with them.  Make sure to read it first yourself. 

Now playing: The Clarks - Mercury

If you haven't read the article "CodeSnip: Opening Crystal Reports in a New Window in ASP.NET" (http://aspalliance.com/525), do that before you read this.  I received this comment recently:

When I tried this, it was blocked by Windows XP SP2. When I said to temporary allow blocked items, it stated it had to refresh, and then nothing happen.  I got the original page back, not the new page containing the report.

Any suggestions.

My first suggestion is to make sure there are no other pop-up blockers installed and running.  Many antivirus programs install pop-up blockers (sometimes called "ad blockers"), and every search engine toolbar I know of also includes a pop-up blocker.  I use this codesnip in an application I wrote and support; on one support call, we found four pop-up blockers installed (XP SP2, McAfee, Google and Yahoo toolbars).

I also suggest permanently allowing pop-ups from the site you're working on--add your site to the "allowed sites" list (Tools >> Popup Blocker>> Popup Blocker Settings, then enter the URL of your site).  This will always allow pop-ups from the site in question, and will make debugging easier.

If you are exporting to PDF, XLS, etc. in this window, there are a couple of other settings you may need to adjust.  Go to Tools >> Internet Options >>Security, and choose the zone your website is in (Internet or Local Intranet), and click "Custom Level".  Scroll down about 1/3 of the way, to the Downloads section, and Enable both "Automatic prompting for file downloads" and "File download".  In my case, I've had to adjust these settings for both zones, since I develop and test in Local Intranet, but deploy to Internet.

I have yet to have a problem after doing all of these things.  You may need to close and restart IE to get all the settings to take effect.

Now playing: Marc Broussard - Home

New Location!

Communifax has graciously offered to host us in their conference room.  They're located just a minute or two down 228 from BC3; find directions at http://www.communifax.com/company/directions.aspx.  Thank you Communifax!

Tool of the Month ("use one, don't be one"): Excel XML Writer

It's a safe bet more business decisions are made in Excel worksheets than in all the boardrooms and golf courses in the world, combined.  If you spend any time at all querying data from ERP systems or data warehouses, and think there has to be a better way than VSTO, you'll want to see this free library in action.  Rich Dudley will make your life a little better.

Main Presentation: nHibernate

We'll all feel like hibernating come late January, but no time for naps yet.  nHibernate is an "object persistence library for relational databases".  Basically that means you can use nHibernate to keep database stuff in memory, and get at it very easily, to build more scalable ASP.NET applications.  Eric Kepes will show us how.  We'd write a better description, but we don't fully understand it ourselves.

Full details at http://badnug.org/Events/tabid/54/ctl/Details/Mid/370/ItemID/13/selecteddate/1%2F26%2F2006/Default.aspx.

The launch videos asked if we were ready to be rocked, and I know one person who was totally rocked by The Launch.

A little background: one of my consulting clients wants to upgrade their website, with multiple branding based on URL used to access the site.  At my suggestion, they waited on the upgrade until the .NET 2.0 was launched, since I felt the versatility of Master Pages and other new additions would make our lives a tremendous amount easier.  They didn’t want to buy new software, so I told them to register for the “Best Of” event in Pittsburgh, which was held Thursday (12/1), and they’d get a copy of VS 2005 for free.  Their guy attended both the SQL Server and VS sessions, and the MS Events folks can claim “Mission Accomplished” with at least one person.

At the SQL Server 2005 session, my client saw for the first time SQL Server Integration Services and Reporting Services.  The company uses an old Oracle-based ERP system that doesn’t provide much in the way of business intelligence, which hurts their competitiveness in today’s environment.  All morning, visions of a new data warehouse with a reporting front end danced through my client’s mind.  Knowing they just added a new Windows 2003 file server, I suggested they look into Windows Sharepoint Services as an intranet, and explained a little of the integration with reporting services and WSS.

Once he saw Master Pages in action, he felt my recommendation to take advantage of technology was very sound, and wondered when could we get started.

My client walked away from one day’s events with a whole new outlook on how to make use of his company’s data, and the tools to provide a proof-of-concept to the decision makers.  He was rocked.

tags: Visual Studio 2005 : SQL Server 2005 : Rock The Launch

Now playing: Povertyneck Hillbillies - One Night In New Orleans

Naked Conversations covered it in depth, and now Downloadsquad's Ten Things We Love About Microsoft includes Microsoft embracing employee blogging:

So many Microsoft employees write blogs. Whether it is an astute marketing ploy or not is yet to be determined, but hearing from the likes of Omar Shahine and Chris Pratley is a good thing. The spread of blogging throughout Microsoft has added a humanizing quality to the company that you can't imagine coming from other tech behemoths like IBM or (especially) Apple.

Besides humanizing, the information in these blogs will be a huge driver of another entry on the list: Microsoft's wealth-creation machine.