Dave’s Guide to the Best of the Web

    My real job is as a network engineer for Collages.Net Inc. As anyone who works in the industry will know the field of knowledge is vast and the challenges continuous. How does one deal with the continuous expansion of knowledge and challenges? One way is by subscribing to Informit’s Safari Tech Books Online.

Safari is an online bookshelf with hundreds of titles from many of the most renowned publishers (O’Reilly, Addison-Wesley, Sams, Que, Cisco, Microsoft) and authors (Gary McGraw, Michael Miller, Jesse Liberty) in the industry. Topics covered include applied sciences, artificial intelligence, technical certifications (e.g. A+, CCNA, MCSE), computer science, databases, desktop publishing, desktop applications, e-business/e-commerce, enterprise computing, internet, programming, multimedia, networking, and security amongst others.

Here is a quick sampling of the sort of volumes you can expect from Safari:

• Programming Collective Intelligence, Toby Segaran (Artificial Intelligence).
• Cisco ASA, PIX, and FWSM Firewall Handbook by David Hucaby  (Networking/Security).
• Beautiful Code by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson (Computer Science).
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Unleashed by Ray Rankins, & co. (Databases).
• Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan (Programming).

Okay, those are some pretty technical volumes, but for those just getting started there are some excellent volumes as well. Whether you need to learn basic web design, how to edit multimedia files, it management skills, or any of dozens of areas of expertise - Safari InformIT can help.

It does cost money - but the cost is reasonable. Technical volumes don’t sell many copies (how many people want to read about low-level kernel details?) so authors and publishers have to make up for this lack in readership by increasing the price of volumes. A good technical volume can oftentimes run $50 or more at a traditional bookstore. With Safari InformIT you can read several books at a time for $9.95 per month, or get even more at a higher price. You really can’t argue with the price.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower.

War. The war is so civil and hides behinds its mask an ugly monster. Humans, individuals normally united by common bonds and interests are split apart and become driven by man’s most basic instincts. Thrust, slash, run, shoot, dig, kill, die. Blood pours upon the ground and fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters die. The statistics are easy to press into the back of our mind. What does a thousand mean? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Millions? Bar charts, graphs, numbers - impersonal, till a loved one never returns.

“War is hell.” - William Tecumseh Sherman.

In spite of its horror it is still something which draws the focus of our minds. We have made some of our greatest artistic works about it - consider Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Our heroes are oftentimes those whose greatest achievement is the role they played in a deadly conflict - George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchhill. As a little child I know I picked up my wooden gun and for hours and days I would embark on grand battles against imaginary enemies with my siblings and friends. It would take some years before I would come to realize that there was nothing so grand about war.

Still, as adults many of us engage in a practice known as wargaming. In this practice it is usual to simulate historical (as well as fantasy or science fiction) warfare. What is it that attracts the human mind to such a practice? I do not think it is a love for violence or death, but rather an interest in conflict and competition. But, I will not too long indulge in the reasons for our interest in wargaming, it is beyond the scope of this article. Rather, my purpose is to acknowledge this interest and point towards one of the best resources on this subject - The Wargamer.

The Wargamer is the most prestigious website dealing with wargaming currently on the internet, though Grognard holds a close second place (mainly limited by its focus on more hardcore wargaming). It was established in 1995 and over the years has seen significant growth and expansion. To briefly note, here are a few of its key features:

• Daily News - The Wargamer provides daily updates on the latest developments on the wargaming front, letting you know ahead of time what is happening in the world of wargaming and providing reports after important conferences, events, etc.
• Reviews & Articles - The Wargamer is a vast repository of reviews on wargames. While the games are mainly computer wargames there are also a number of board and card games as well. Whether you are looking for a review of a recent game or one that came out ten years ago - The Wargamer is a good place to look. They also offer interesting historical articles on various battles and historical events.
• Forums - The Wargamer has very active forums where you can discuss all aspects of wargaming as well as chat with those of similar interest about casual topics.
• Downloads - There are also a large number of scenarios and campaigns hosted by The Wargamer. These can be downloaded at no cost and offer significant additions to the built-in capabilities of many games.
• Opponents - If you have mastered your computer opponents, The Wargamer can help you find an unlimited number of human opponents to test your mettle against.

The Wargamer is a great place to learn about wargames and extend your current wargaming experience. I would encourage those (such as myself) who partake in this hobby to ensure that this gaming is never done without a ready acknowledgment of the horrific nature of the actual conflicts…That computer pixels or miniatures have no life and come back to combat another day, but that mere mortal humans have no such luxury.

Thanks to The Quote Cache for the quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower.

For philosophy students, those interested in philosophy, or those who are forced to learn about philosophy, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy may be a great starting resource. Hosted by the University of Tennessee it was founded by Dr. James Fieser (UTM Department of Philosophy) who currently also serves as a general editor. He is joined in his endeavors by a wide number of philosophy professors in composing and editing the articles such as Dr. Bradley Dowden (California State University), Dr. Ed Grippe (Norwalk Community College), and Dr. Stephen Schneider (Harvard University).

As one can quickly see from the credentials of those who work with and submit to The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, this site maintains high academic standards and would be considered a valid source for most scholarly papers. They only accept materials written either by Professors at institutions of higher learning (e.g. colleges, universities) and on rare occasions from A.B.D. graduate students. All documents are peer-reviewed and edited given a high quality of work.

So what exactly does The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy cover? Well, it is an encyclopedia so it would be difficult to summarize all of its contents. But to briefly sum up, it covers individuals (e.g. Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Cicero, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Thomas Aquinas), concepts (e.g. time, fallacies, and humor), and philosophies (e.g. humanism, middle platonism, and relativism). From simple to complex, the encyclopedia offers in-depth articles written by qualified authorities on philosophical topics and offers additional bibliographies to point students in the right direct for further study. So what are you waiting for? Go read up on Jean-Jacques Rousseau or open theism.

I’ve never been skilled artistically. Part of this is because I took an absolute minimum of artistic classes and never cultivated this skill - something I sometimes regret. Still, as someone who has for years worked on websites I have had to do quite a bit of my own graphics work. In the past I could never afford Adobe Photoshop, so I used JASC Paint Shop Pro - starting with version 7 and then jumping to version X after Corel acquired JASC. I wasn’t doing much - creating or manipulating simple logos, resizing or cropping photos, removing red eye - the simple stuff. JASC’s Paint Shop Pro was a pretty good web designer suite, but eventually I got tired of the slow startup times, reinstalling it every time I reformatted my computer (because of its size), and paying out money for upgrades. That’s when I began using Paint.NET - an application PC World listed as #19 in its Top 100 Products of 2007.

Paint.NET was originally a project by several students at Washington State University mentored by Microsoft. Created utilizing Microsoft’s .NET framework technology, under an open source license, and intended as a replacement for Microsoft Windows’ built-in Paint application it has since grown into a robust and feature-filled application. While it is by no means an Adobe Photoshop, or according to the reviews I’ve read, even a GIMP - it is still an intuitive and useful application - especially for those of us to whom image design is more of a duty than a love.

Paint.NET is capable of opening images in the most popular formats - Bitmap (BMP), GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF amongst others. Besides being capable in supporting a variety of image formats it has an active community. In just one of several forums discussing Paint.NET on the official site there are currently 30,000+ posts. There are numerous tutorials such as “Make an Animated GIF with Paint.NET,” “HDR Image Blending,” and “Easiest way to make realistic eyes.” These tutorials seem to be written in such a manner that even I could follow them to completion.

Additionally, there are numerous plugins available to extend the built-in capabilities of the software. While there are many traditional filters (such as Shape3D and Curves+) perhaps one of the most interesting is a plugin that allows one to view and edit Photoshop files.

Okay, enough about the community and extendability of the application. What does the application itself allow that makes it so great? As already noted, it can open and edit most common file formats and is also extremely intuitive to use (especially compared to GIMP, the previously dominant open source graphics editor). It offers the usual palette of tools including selection tools, paint bucket, gradient, paint brush, shapes, and a color wheel. You can crop, resize, and rotate images. Changing an image to black and white or sepia can be performed with the click of a button. Layering, an advanced feature is available as well as any number of effects (e.g. noise, emboss, frosty glass). I could go on, but I’m already stretching myself far beyond my artistic capabilities.

The point is - Paint.NET is free and may be just the application you are looking for if you need a quick and easy way to create or manipulate graphics or photos. Its much better than the software that came with your digital camera and for those of us who don’t know any better, will hold its own against Photoshop for our simple needs. It isn’t yet a professional image editing application, but that doesn’t mean that someone using Paint.NET couldn’t make some beautiful work. So, stop reading and go download now!

I am indebted to the following blog posts for some of the technical information as well as verifying my own opinions on the usefulness of the application: Mushly, Graphic Identity Gallery, Nuvve Nuvve, Peachykeen, SpamRipper, Your2ndPlace, and Everybody Loves Your Money.

As a child I was afflicted with a strange problem - something to this day I do not fully understand. My speech was purely monotone. Many of the other children referred to me as “the robot” and once when I spoke with Rush Limbaugh on the radio he referred to me as a “froggy little rascal.” Eventually I outgrew this, sometime before puberty, but not before undergoing some excruciating voice lessons at the hands of a well-meaning piano teacher and school principal. This combined with my unique education (which we won’t get into now) left me with little training or interest in all things musical and I have managed to make it thus far in life without musical talent - either vocally or via instruments. While some might state, “Almost everyone says they can’t sing…but usually they can.” I would generally agree with this - but in my instance I am regularly told by diverse individuals that I cannot sing.

Okay, so the point is - I don’t sing, can’t play musical instruments, and don’t even know how to read music. Which brings me to Ricci Adams’ MusicTheory.Net. Recently I decided I’d like to understand how music works, how to read music, the theories behind music, and perhaps even someday be able to sing. I began searching for websites on music theory on Google and was directed (amongst others) to none other than Ricci Adams’ MusicTheory.Net…And I must say, this site “is da bomb.” (no, I don’t really talk like that)

He has a number of Flash based lessons, trainers, and utilities which help non-musical individuals such as myself understand music and may be useful for any number of individuals - even teachers who are seeking to teach young or untrained students.

The site includes short, simple, visual, and audio tutorials that help you understand music. For example, there are tutorials on, “The Staff, Clefs, and Ledger Lines,” “Rest Duration,” “Odd Meter,” “Steps and Accidentals,” “Generic Intervals,” “Triad Inversion,” and “Building Neapolitan Chords.” I must admit, when starting these tutorials I had no idea what most of these terms meant - nor now amongst those tutorials I have not taken do I even now understand the terminology - but with each lesson I draw closer and find myself infinitely thankful to Mr. Adams for his hard work.

Besides the tutorials Adams has created a number of trainers which are essentially visual and audio quizzes that allow you to test your understand of various concepts. These trainers include topics such as a “Key Trainer,” a “Keyboard Trainer,” and an “Interval Ear Trainer.”

Finally, he offers three utilities - a Chord Calculator, Staff Paper Generator, and a Matrix Generator.

He also offers the entire site in an offline format for those who are not continuously connected to the internet. The site is also available under a generous Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial license. Finally, the site is without advertising of any kind - thus entirely focused on training the student in music theory.