“Mourners at a chapel of rest in Belgium were shocked when a mobile phone started ringing inside the coffin. Relatives of Marc Marchal have now lodged a complaint against the undertaker, says Gazet van Antwerpen. Mr Marchal, 32, from Rochefort, died instantly when his motorcycle crashed into a tractor between Rochefort and Saint-Hubert. Because the body was badly mutilated, the undertaker suggested the family say their final farewell with the body already in the coffin. They were all gathered around the coffin at the undertaker's premises on the evening before the funeral when the phone started ringing. Some members of the family were so startled they ran outside while the undertaker had to reopen the coffin to empty the dead man's pockets. The relatives want police to charge the undertaker who they say cannot have prepared the body properly. Story filed: 09:48 Tuesday 18th November 2003“

“Jump-Start Your Java Development on Linux“

I found this article while looking for a way to configure the path statements Java on Linux. The script file solution is an elegant solution.

Backward compatibility hinders the evolution of software's primitive core

This is a nice article which reminds us that a lot of current problems can be traced back to backward compatibility with the software's primitive core(aka “lizard brain”). It also questions the progress we have made in twenty five years by comparing the features of Visicalc with Excel 2003.

Bengals Hand Chiefs First Loss. Cincinnati's Peter Warrick eclipsed Kansas City's celebrated playmakers with a 68-yard punt return and a 77-yard touchdown catch. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

This was a great win for a team that hasn't had a great win in over a decade. For a sports crazy city like Cincinnati this shows that the roller coaster does go back up eventually. For the owner, Mike Brown, it shows that the most important decision is knowing when to let go and trust your people.

George Jackson. “Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.” [Quotes of the Day]

Oops, been there! Done that!

Abba Eban. “History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” [Quotes of the Day]

I wonder what this says about the war in Iraq as part of the continually increasing threat of worldwide terrorism. France and Germany felt more alternatives should be investigated. The US and Britain felt that the war in Iraq was just a speed bump on the way to the inevitable worldwide confrontation. Considering the recent trend of terrorists to pick on peaceful targets, France and Germany should be worried.

Yahoo tests pop-up blocking toolbar [CNET News.com – Front Door]

I have been testing the Yahoo! Pop-up blocker for about two weeks. It works pretty good but has problems with some sites. The problems go away for the most part if you allow that particular site through or click a second time. The biggest problem site was media.yahoo.com site. I had a very difficult time getting through despite allowing it to go through.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday reading and researching a pending project to convert from Peachtree to QuickBooks Pro. The Habitat for Humanity affiliate I have been volunteering for has been using Peachtree for many years but really doesn't have much accumulated knowlege on using it. I have been recommeding that they convert because:

1. They do not have much accumulated knowlege in Peachtree so they aren't losing much if they convert.
2. QuickBooks Pro is the accounting package HFHI recommends and has published several documents to help affiliates use it correctly and efficiently.
3. I have been using QuickBooks Pro for about five years and am very familar with it. I believe I can convert their files with a minimum of fuss.

After reviewing the present chart of accounts and the recommended HFHI financial policies, I suspect that this affiliate is not using Peachtree effectively to collect the information needed for the annual tax return(Form 990) and the various managerial reports. I suspect they use Excel and hand calculations to work around this problem. They will probably get a lot of administrative and some managerial relief by moving to the recommended chart of accounts and letting QuickBooks extract and organize the information.

A collection of CSS resources and CSS sites that help to inspire and teach every designer.

E. F. Schumacher. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” [Quotes of the Day]