Check It Out

Small Basic – An introduction to programming…

Dave Noderer — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:12:54 GMT

I was happy to find Small Basic from Microsoft that comes with a programming manual that is simple enough for anyone to follow.

Download and more information here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx

As of today the program is in CTP but makes writing windows programs very easy. First “Hello World” program is very simple:

TextWindow.WriteLine("Hello World")

When you start the program a very nice and simple dev environment comes up. Here with a program from the book showing nested looping, turtle graphics (a feature not required) and an event handler.

This is fun to play with with intellisense and help on the right as illustrated below:

Starting to think how I can introduce a bunch of kids to programming with this!

Rochester Institute of Technology Imagine Festival – 2009-05-02

Dave Noderer — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:18:01 GMT

Visiting son Michael here in Rochester this weekend, he “scored” a couple of VIP Passes to the RIT Imagine Festival (http://www.rit.edu/imagine/) a free event that over 20000 will attend.

We got there early to see the start of the energy race. The idea was to see which vehicle could travel the 3 mile campus course using the least amount of energy. The winning entry used 27.5 watt hours of energy from solar charged batteries.

The entry below did not win but i thought it was an interesting vehicle.

There were two winners one took Dr Destler’s 1800’s banjo (I hope they give it back!) and the other got a $1000 prize.

This was of particular interest because I graduated RIT in 1975 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. The campus has expanded dramatically, perhaps by a factor of 4. Had to get this picture of me in front of the Gleason Engineering building.

The number of projects and innovative things the students are doing is mind boggling. Here are a few of the things i thought were interesting. The great part is that many of them combine multiple disciplines to build real things. This list is a very small set of things, the range of things on display was simply amazing!

Women in engineering middle school educational sessions teaching kids about fuel cells and electronics
Investigation into the ways that nanoparticles can enter the body through the lungs.
Building real hybrid rockets and related telemetry and electronics
A number of internet developments like http://www.newdigs.com and http://bookmaid.com
Biomechanics simulating human hand operations. I did not ever see some of this close up before. To simulate a contracting muscle they use what look like fiber covered 1/2” or so balloon tubes. When they pressurize it with air it becomes fatter and contracts longitudinally. When you let the pressure out it relaxes and stretches out.
The robotic hot dog assembler but that was packed and it was hard to even get a glimpse of it.
The concrete canoe
A visit with the off roaders club with a collection of killer jeeps.
http:tagg.rit.edu is a way to track the most popular exhibits. By texting the exhibit number, votes are automatically tallied and displayed on screens around the festival. And you can go to the website, enter your phone number, and not only see what you have tagged (try my cell: 9542701186) but also see what other exhibits you might want to visit.

Here are a couple more pictures from the day:

Take a close look at the hat, yes we had propeller heads there!

Computer Science Lobby displays:

Guy from Boston on WTKK!

Dave Noderer — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:13:04 GMT

http://www.bostonradiowatch.com/

Guy from Boston gets new web site...

Dave Noderer — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:36:42 GMT

The new site will be at: www.theguyfromboston.net

STS-123 Launch...

Dave Noderer — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:00:29 GMT

About 1 1/2 years ago I emailed a request to one of my senator's in Florida, Bill Nelson - D, for a pass to watch a shuttle launch. I got a fairly quick response, they had received the request but that the next flight was already booked. I would be on the wait list...

Fast forward to Feb 2008 and I got a call to see if I was interested in the Mar 11 (planned) STS-123 launch... Yeah!!

The launch is scheduled at 2:30 am which may be why I bubbled to the top of the list.

I got a written inviation from NASA and eventually detailed information on what to do.

This invitation is for the Banana Creek VIP Viewing area, where the countdown clock is, near the launch center and 3.3 miles from the launch pad.

One bad thing is I cannot take my laptop there so no real time reporting!

Report:

It was really great, this veiwing area is adjacent to the Saturn V visitors center with bleachers for a couple hundred.

There is a grassy area in front of the bleachers and that is where I sat/stood on the grass next to the 3' high fence. You could see the Vehicle Assembly Building to the right and the pad straight ahead. The launch was awesome, the only thing wrong was that there was a fairly low cloud ceiling, we figured about 10000 ft so the shuttle promptly dissapeared after laucnh.

This area is where the astronaut families watch from too (i'm 90% sure on this point) but they had a section of bleachers roped off at one end.

The visitors center was open for business and there were a number of conssessions.

I met a lot of really great people including a college engineering professor from New Orleans and his wife and college age son. As we were all professional nerds, the time went by fast talking about the shuttle, amps, robots and software. It turns out the son had done a summer internship a Michoud and worked on the pesky Engine Cutoff Sensors.

A big thanks to my Senator, Bill Nelson for making the trip possible!!

Photos: http://noderer.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!E8348157304BCE63!346/

The camera could just not deal with the initial launch brightness but there is a great picture of the plume after the shuttle has gone through the clouds.

In one of the most inventive moves I've ever witnessed, they had an annoucment before the launch that the solid rocket exhaust plume filled with Hydrocloric Acid would take 25 min to reach the viewing area so everyone should move quickly to the busses!

South Florida Code Camp 2008 - 2/2/2008

Dave Noderer — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:39:41 GMT

FREE - 4th Annual South Florida Code Camp - Register Now - Spaces are going fast!

To attend this free, all day .NET Developer mini-conference register at: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=122048 ! The Code Camp will be held on Saturday 2/2/2008 and include breakfast, lunch, giveaways, valuable raffle items and of course lots of great content!

The sessions are now listed on the agenda page. A big thanks to all the speakers that have stepped forward and volunteered to come speak at their own expense. We have already scheduled 70 of 72 sessions. There will be something for everyone... from the person who is new to .net to advanced architecture and software process sessions. For the second year we will have an all Spanish track. Dedicated tracks include "Into to .NET", "Silverlight" and "Agile / CI". Sessions include Ajax, MVC, Visual Studio 2008, Powershell, Windows Workflow and .NET reflection.

Find more information at http://codecamp08.fladotnet.com . We have many sessions lined up. The track chairs will get them organized and on the website agenda over the next couple of weeks.

Way to go Joey!

Dave Noderer — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:08:50 GMT

It was amazing to watch the The Guy From Boston on the Tonight show last nigh. Bobbi and I struggled to stay awake but it was worth it!

You can watch the video at: http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/video/episodes.shtml

Go to the Jan 17th (2008) episode and the Joe Ligotti Chapter.

The Guy From Boston on Leno - ReScheduled for Thursday 1/17/2008

Dave Noderer — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:34:23 GMT

For Thursday 1/17/2008

Stan Schultes - MVP Insider July 2007

Dave Noderer — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:34:55 GMT

Florida's own Stan Schultes featured as this months MVP Insider. This rarely is someone from the US and there has never been a Florida MVP given this honor as far as I can see in the archives.

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpinsider

Congratulations Stan!

My day with Gately - www.mydrivefm.com

Dave Noderer — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:20:00 GMT

Monday, January 15th, 2007 - Rochester, NY

Sitting in the studios of Clear Channel atop Midtown Plaza as he starts his show.. it is 5:20 am.

Check out the pictures as I add them during the day...

http://geekswithblogs.net/dnoderer/gallery/6073.aspx