I love Scriptaculous, and mixing it with ColdFusion to create some very nice Rich Internet Applications. But at nearly 300KB, loading Prototype+Scriptaculous is kinda heavy. The workaround for that is shrinking the javascript libraries.

There are a few utilities around the net that will 'compact' or 'shrink' javascript. Variables are renamed, and all white space is removed - including comments and credits. Not too cool.

But here I'll show you how to take it a step further and serve javascript compressed with coldFusion. I am able to get Prototype v1601 and Scriptaculous v181 download size down from 288KB to 42KB - with credits intact. ColdFusion 8 is not required - I believe CF5 or better will do (maybe even earlier!). This is a great way to serve gzip compressed content when not being able to control the web server and you don't have CF8.

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Then I can work in a world without Windows™.

I've added a new download to my repo, http://www.webveteran.com/repo/

It is a wallpaper, poking fun at jailbreaking:

The graphics and text leave ample room for Springboard icons, the Dock, pages, and the unlock screen interface.

To get the full size, you need to load my repository into intaller.app, then look in the Wallpaper section for "Get Out Of Jail Free".

We have too many passwords all over the place. They are needed of course. But I think it is harder and more time consuming for me to remember or lookup or try password combinations, than it would be for a hacker to break in for me.

I learned a great way to randomize SQL results.

In the past, I would have followed this routine:

Run a query pulling all of the results (tens? hundreds? thousands?).
Create an array.
Loop until 5 good random results are made:
    Get 1 random query result.
    If it's not in the array, put it in.
    If it is in the array, ignore it and try again.
Then I'd output the data from the array, rather than the query.

I suppose I could simply fill an array then randomize it. But that's not really the point.

As you see, with this version we have to pull back so many more results than we're actually going to use. That's wasteful - especially if you want to pull back lots of data in each row.

So what's this great super duper new way I've discovered to simplify code, only pull back the 5 results from SQL Server, and run fast? It's really simple: tell SQL Server to do the work for you, with one word. No post parsing needed!

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Wow how cool is this?

Scriptaculous' modified version of my JS Audio Engine is being used by NASA!
EX: http://www.nasa.gov

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The problem

As you use your virtual machine, it will continue to grow in size. I have my virtual XP machine to maximum of 10GB. All I really need it for is testing sites in IE6 (ick) and connecting to a SQL Server (ew). After installing a few things, running all Windows Updates... my vanilla XP is using 8GB. Wha? All I have installed is WinAmp, Cisco VNC Client, and SQL Manager. Whats going on?

The solution

What we want to do is remove all unneccesary files. Caches, installer temps, restore points, and useless software. Then use VMware's Shrink utility to reclaim the disk space. Other virtualization vendors will have similar solutions which may vary. But the build up to the final 'shrink' is the same. All steps are carried out in the guest Windows XP virtual machine.

Results and Benefits

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I must have been good. My wife surprised me with an iPod Touch for my birthday. Time to start hacking

I've created my own repository for software. Enter this address as a source:
http://www.webveteran.com/repo/
There is nothing to see there in a web browser.
But I did make a temporary (or not) browser page for the repo: http://www.webveteran.com/repo/index.html

The first item in my repository is a replacement battery image.

It uses the same UI as iTunes' device capacity indicator:

But slickened up for the iPod Touch:
The best guess as to the iPod Touch's battery capacity is 1134 mAh. So instead of using a percent, I did the math, and show the mAh charge.

More gui do-dads to come - stay tuned!

"MRSA infections troubling, but not surprising"

Stories By DAWN ZERA Times Leader Correspondent

An antibiotic-resistant infection nicknamed MRSA, an acronym for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infection, has made headlines recently. But local medical professionals have known for years that there has been an increase in patients with MRSA.

Kevin Buck, principal of California-based Emergent Success , conducted training sessions on MRSA last week at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Township.

Continue reading at timesleader.com

http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=104057

It can be hypothesized that users of this type of site are very smart and concerned about security. That being true, these numbers tell how people feel about security implementations in their browsers!

Surely a huge population of this site is also 'normal' people looking for pirated media, and have no clue about security. I wonder how the numbers would be more affected if all of the users knew of the differences in IE and FF.

SOURCE: Emergent Success, Inc.

Sep 26, 2007 14:32 ET

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - September 26, 2007 ) - Emergent Success Inc. today announced the launch of ES-Extranet a proprietary web-based collaboration tool for use by their clients, partners and consultants. Since the email "inbox" was not designed as a collaborative work environment, this technological solution creates the open space where discussion, calendaring, asset sharing and other collaborative activities are easily practiced and navigated.

Emergent Success, Inc. is a collaborative consulting company that facilitates dialogues to assist clients in solving their real-time problems. Even though the preference is to do this work in vivo, the addition of the ES-Extranet will allow anyone involved in a current collaboration to participate in an asynchronous manner. The principals at Emergent Success believe that in the same way that there is enormous value in gathering people together for in-person dialogues, there is also significant value to "virtual" dialogues. Principal Kevin Buck explains "Experience has shown that to engage people with an online tool once you have engaged them in person maximizes any collective effort -- it is not an either/or, but a both/and."

With an eye to collaborative integrity, Emergent Success engaged with David Muro, designer, and Jules Gravinese, web developer, to co-create this new tool. Each brought the best of their knowledge and experience to bear as they developed the intuitive feel and ease of use of this online workspace. Since collaborations are an iterative process, we look forward to the ongoing learning for our company, consultants and clients.

About Emergent Success, Inc.

Emergent Success assists clients to solve their real-time issues by liberating the collective wisdom, talent and energy from within their organization for the emergence of strategic success. Its senior consultants facilitate collaborative dialogues that create systemic integration amongst the unintended silos present in most organizations. The Company is headquartered in Mountain View, CA with consultants located across the United States. www.emergentsuccess.com