Robert Robbins Blog

ASP.NET Enumerate Query String Values

2006-10-20T14:58:00.000-04:00

Although it is fairly easily to get a single query string value, I recently found it was very difficult to get the entire querystring which I wanted to include in an error report. In order to store the querystring in a variable you need to create a NameValueCollection from the System.Collections.Specialized namespace:<%@ Import Namespace="System.Collections.Specialized"%>Dim param As

Recording Studio

2006-10-20T14:39:00.000-04:00

I don’t like how my voice sounds when recorded with a PC microphone so I ordered over $500 of audio equipment. I bought a PreSonus Firebox 6x10 FireWire Recording Interface, a Shure SM58 Dynamic Handheld Microphone, a Sony MDR7506 Large Diaphragm Foldable Headphones, and a CBI HiZ Microphone Cable.Unfortunately my computer does not have any firewire ports so I cannot try it out yet. I thought my

2006-10-01T14:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum rather than hang around the National Book Festival. The 2006 National Book Festival was pretty boring. You could only buy books by the featured authors, stand in a long line to have your books autographed, or watch authors read in various tents. I bought Thank You For Not Smoking by Christopher Buckley and Stone Bow Prayer by Amy Uyematsu

2006-08-16T17:44:00.000-04:00

Business ReportAnother blog entry converted into audio using Talkr with some pointless video added.

2006-07-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

Revolt!This is a video on YouTube, a web site for video blogging or vlogging. Text blogging certainly hasn't proven very effective for any of my goals. My blogs don't get any comments except for spam and they don't drive any traffic to my web site. I think text blogs are just being used to improve Google Page Rank by creating one way links to web sites which improves link popularity. Video blogs

Corel Linux Upgrade Woes

2006-05-08T19:12:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I tried to upgrade my Corel Linux system for PHP 4.0. Unfortunately I was unable to accomplish this because Corel Linux is so obsolete. All I managed to do was upgrade Apache from 1.3.3 to 1.3.35 and PHP from 3.0.5 to 3.0.16. I did document my Apache HTTP server configuration file, httpd.conf, in my notes and gained some experience but it was extremely frustrating. I ought to

X Bitmap Format

2006-05-07T19:42:00.000-04:00

The XBM image format is a simple image file format that can only be used for black and white line art. But the cool thing about XBM files is that you can create them through JavaScript. This means you can add an image to a web page without using an image file. Instead the image is text within the HTML source code. Although black and white line art isn't very fancy it does have the advantage of

Information Schema

2006-05-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I blogged about how to document a MySQL database by a rather involved process of importing the database into SQL Server and then Microsoft Access. Actually you could simply use phpMyAdmin 2.5.0 to display the same information by clicking the Structure and then the Data Dictionary links. However importing a MySQL database into SQL Server and Microsoft Access is still a useful task.

How To Document A MySQL Database Design

2006-05-05T19:08:00.000-04:00

My blog software is WordPress which is using a MySQL database. My task is to document the database design. Let us see how I accomplish this goal. My first step is to back up the database because I need a local copy to work with. I log into phpMyAdmin 2.5.0 and export the database as a SQL text file. There is no need to describe this step because it is well documented on the Internet. This gives

Applying Web Site Designs To ASPX Pages

2006-04-18T19:57:00.000-04:00

I've gotten a small job applying a fancy web site design to LaGarde's Storefront 6.0. So far I'm just tweaking the default design using Storefront's built-in design options (i.e. editing the style sheet and user controls). I've worked with web site designers who are not satisfied with that and we've totally scraped the limited Storefront design for some web sites. We get rid of virtually all the

Rapping Greeks - Lysistrata

2006-04-18T00:09:00.000-04:00

April 05 Rapping Greeks - Lysistrata Last night I saw Aristophanes' Lysistrata at the Lycoming College Theater. I didn't know the ancient Greeks were rappers! Yes, it was a modern production of the play and featured rap songs, dance numbers, modern military uniforms such as are worn by our troops in Iraq, etc. Some of the Greeks wore baseball caps worn backwards. The Greek women were scantily

Internet Explorer Favorites Icon Tip

2006-03-23T19:45:00.000-05:00

The problem with the icons for Internet Explorer favorites is that Internet Explorer stores them in its cache. Since the cache gets full eventually and starts overwriting older files, your favorites icons are also overwritten. The solution to this problem is to create a special directory for your favorites icons and save them all there. You can usually find the favorites icon for a web site by

2006-03-22T20:53:00.000-05:00

REM **************************************************************REM * VBScript To Use Regular Expressions For Search And Replace *REM * by Robert S. Robbins *REM * http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/ *REM **************************************************************REM create file system objectsSet fs = WScript.CreateObject("

2006-03-19T13:14:00.000-05:00

Web Site MarketingMost ecommerce web sites I have worked on have shown little interest in Search Engine Optimization or aggressive web site marketing. An exception has been Car Accessories which has four web sites;http://www.caraccessories.com/Description: car accessories, car accessory, car bras, floor mats, car covers, dash mats, seat covers, shelf it, rifle it, deluxe shelf it, pet pads, trunk

2006-01-21T09:10:00.000-05:00

Studying MusicI've begun to study music. I'm really into some types of music and I revere musicians but music has always mystified me. To play music seems to require incredible skills that should be beyond most people. I don't see how anybody can develop an ear for different pitches or manage the coordination required to hit the right keys or memorize the notes to a piece of music. But I hate to

2005-11-16T11:44:00.000-05:00

The House Of Blue LeavesTonight I saw John Guare's play The House Of Blue Leaves at the Lycoming College Theater. I have not been to the theater in a long time so it made more of an impression upon me than usual. I was feeling more poetic about the experience rather than feeling bored. The set was your typical kitchen and living room realism which gives one the impression of being a fly on the

2005-09-29T18:32:00.000-04:00

The Frustration Of The Autodidact I spend a lot of my time reading literature and studying in the humanities. I'm currently reading a college textbook on the history of Ancient Greece. Some people would consider it strange to read a college textbook when you are not in college and will not be getting college credit for studying the subject. Therefore I would like to discuss the motivation of the

2005-06-12T17:55:00.000-04:00

49th Annual Ways Garden Arts Show Today I attended the 49th Annual Ways Garden Arts Show sponsored by the Coalition of Independent Artists and Artisans. I was wearing the CIAA black t-shirt with the quote from René François Ghislain Magritte "Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist." We helped several artists set up their tents and easels and I helped a stained glass

2005-05-06T00:50:00.000-04:00

A Streetcar Named Desirereviewed by Robert S. Robbins – May 5, 2005I saw Tennessee William's "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Community Theater League tonight. Although the sexuality theme may have been quite shocking when the play was first produced, it seems rather melodramatic now. The only aspect that seemed relevant was the fact that Blanche was a school teacher who seduced one of her

2005-05-05T17:52:00.000-04:00

Museum Of Modern Art Reviewby Robert S. Robbins – April 30, 2005In order to make the case for the cultural value of trips to major museums, I will describe in greater detail than usual my impressions of a visit to the Museum Of Modern Art. The bus chartered by the Friends of the James V Brown Library arrived in New York City at about 10:45 AM. There was a light drizzle all day and the tops of the

2005-01-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

How To Fathom The Unfathomable How do you fathom the unfathomable? You don't! You contemplate the unfathomable. The whole point in seeking the unfathomable is to shock the rational mind into stunned silence. You don't want a metaphysical explanation for the unfathomable because that is just more thought. The intellect can be tiresome, relentless, a real nag. Training the mind to nag you about

2005-01-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

Zen, Spiritual Realities, The Joyous Cosmology I read Alan Watts' book The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures In The Chemistry Of Consciousness last night and later I entered my deepest meditative state. I realized that my spiritual reality is always characterized by desolation; mental imagery of desolate streets, empty rooms, deserted ruins, isolated landscapes, etc. My soul inhabits a desolate

2004-12-31T11:51:00.000-05:00

No Comfort In Bad ReasoningOccasionally I encounter bad reasoning in attacks upon the materialistic, scientific worldview. The bad reasoning goes something like this; we are immortal because our physical bodies will always exist even if that existence is in some other form. The argument is based upon the fact that the material being does not vanish upon death. The argument may also be illustrated

2004-12-24T16:03:00.000-05:00

Remote ViewingRemote viewing is the paranormal ability to see in your mind's eye places that are separated from you by vast distances or by time. I would argue that this is just an altered state of perception. Remote viewing is just a misinterpretation of the mystic's vision or the artist's imagination. It is merely a matter of mental imagery coming to mind of places that seem real but unfamiliar

2004-11-29T20:08:00.000-05:00

A Buddhist Interpretation Of Rimbaud As far as I know, no Rimbaud scholar has ever drawn any comparisons between Rimbaud and a Buddhist. However, as I've been studying Buddhism a number of striking similarities have come to mind. Like the Buddha, Rimbaud sought to make himself a seer. The Buddha succeeded where Rimbaud failed. Rimbaud sought to make himself a seer through a long, prodigious and

2004-11-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

On The Sublime I am spiritually repressed. My intellect raises its sword to the monk and the priest. It refuses to acknowledge the existence of spirituality even in the face of incredible inner experiences. However, my intellect does lower its sword to the artist. It has fewer reservations about the creative spirit. Art is a form of spirituality that does not threaten reason. Art does not

2003-10-11T23:13:00.000-04:00

Tonight I saw Henrik Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" at the Lycoming College Theater. The play featured some gunshots fired from a real gun (blanks I assume) which was very startling. The actress playing Hedda Gabler also burned some paper on stage and for awhile I thought there was a spark of fire onstage but it must have been some stray glitter from her gown. The windows were merely indicated by

2003-10-07T21:39:00.000-04:00

I received a pretentious advertisement from The Yale Review today. It asked such questions as: "Are you thrilled to come across a first edition of a Eudora Welty novel in a used bookstore?" Not particularly "Sales letters such as this one are almost never mailed out of our office. Frankly, we just don't have the budget - or the stomach - for much marketing." Yet, here we are. "If I have guessed