Random Notes 19Jan05

Comments | Share

Mr. Kent Sharkey informs everyone who may be interested in working with the latest ASP.NET 2.0 bits that the November 2004 CTP is better than the December 2004 CTP package. Where do you get these Community Technology Previews btw? From logging onto your MSDN subscription, that's how!
Bill Gates is trying to arrange a meeting with the President of Brazil in order to convince him about the evils of open source and why they should stick it out with Microsoft. Interesting read here on this topic. I would *love* to be a fly-on-the-wall for that meeting (if it takes place).

The Airbus A380 was released yesterday to much fanfare by the various EU nations that run (and shadily funded ... at least some say) this organization. In a specific configuration, this plane can hold more than 800 people! Incredible, but is it needed is my first question. How can anyone ensure the safety of all those people getting on a single aircraft - it only takes one messed up person to cause havoc. I have spent many years working in the Russian aviation industry doing ***** and ******, so it is interesting to see how big technology is taking these planes. The Russians have used the biggest cargo plane, the AN-225, for awhile now. Man, do I have some interesting stories about this aircraft! But, back to the A380 ... it's like a flying city! Can you imagine 850 people descending on customs or baggage claim all at the same time!?!

Girl Scouts

The Girl Scouts of America started their annual cookie drive last Saturday. My daughter is on the hunt for buyers! ;) Watch out! They use this money to go do things like day-camps and the likes. The interesting stats on the cookies was that 45% of the cookie box goes to the parent organization while only 15% goes to the local group. The rest covers cost. Oh well.

Still the greatest gadget story EVER, the mars mission is still on and sending back some spectacular data and imagery. It's too bad that the Mars Rover Missions are being ignored by the press these days. Also interesting is the European Space Agency's landing on the moon Titon - a moon with an actual atmosphere! Here is the first color photo from Titon. They think they have found large balls of ice on the planet as well as places water had to be flowing. Pretty incredible stuff.

Posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 10:00 AM ASP.NET , Social Life , Microsoft , Gadgets | Back to top