Perri Nelson's Website 

Random stuff

Well. Thanksgiving day is over. The holiday weekend continues though with a day off on Friday. Now we'll eat leftover turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberries, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and all for a couple of days.

Today is "Black Friday", supposedly the biggest shopping day of the year. That in itself is a good enough reason for me not to go shopping. I'll put out Christmas decorations instead. Most of our shopping is already done anyway.

The anti-spam updates I put in place yesterday appear to have been a success. I'm still receiving notifications of trackback spam, but the quantity has been vastly reduced.

There were only about 70 or so notification messages in my inbox this morning instead of the usual thousand or so. Some of that may be due to the holiday, but most of it is from the user agent trap.

Internet Explorer is still a memory hog. It was in previous incarnations, and that hasn't changed. I wrote an application using it to do page scraping of some of the Blogshares pages. It runs continually, waking up every hour or so to gather and re-organize some information from the Blogshares site.

The problem is that it uses Internet Explorer and that application never seems to give up the memory it acquires. The result is that every now and then Windows want's to increase the size of my virtual memory paging file.

It looks like I've still got some work to do on that application.

Most of you probably don't remember when computers were primitive machines without monitors or keyboards. Once upon a time you had to program them using patch-cords or toggle switches. You had to read their output by interpreting arrays of lamps.

Hearing tales of those "heroic" days discouraged me from even approaching the things when I was in high-school and college. Now I've written a software simulation of a computer based entirely upon relays, toggle switches and lamps. It's become one of my favorite toys.

The simulation is based upon a description in Charles Petzold's book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. I basically stopped with the machine described in chapter 17 of the book.

Eventually I plan to add a bunch of features to it, but it runs too slowly to ever be of much use except as an educational exercise. Running at its top speed, the clock cycles about three or four times per second. Compare that to the clock speed of your computer!

That slider at the top of the screen is actually there to slow it down. Move it all the way to the right and each step of the clock (half a clock cycle) takes a bit more than five seconds. That makes it possible to look at what it's doing and explain it to someone.

This linkfest is for the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of November, 2007.

If you have something interesting you'd like to share, feel free to link it here and leave a trackback.

Just remember the trackback policy.

For the best exposure, go to the blogger's oasis and use the linkfest chooser to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.

Trackback URI for this post: http://perrinelson.com/track.aspx?postid=1082
Permalink URI for this post: http://perrinelson.com/2007/11/23/1082.aspx

The Uncooperative Blogger trackbacked with "The Uncooperative Radio Show! Nov. 23, 24 and 25,"

Live, Independent, Conservative Talk Radio! We are rocking over on Talkshoe Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8pm to 10pm Eastern Time. www.uncooperativeradio.com Special Guest: Saturday: Vito Vaccaro - The Loyalist Party I will be talking about impor...

Phastidio.net trackbacked with "France’s Thatcher? Not Exactly [Weekend Open Trackback]"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday claimed victory in the 10-day labour dispute over a pension reform as the strike called to protest the proposal appeared to be ending. “I promised this reform, and I have kept my promise,” Sark...

The Yankee Sailor trackbacked with "The Death of Duty"

During the run up to and early stages of the Iraq War, a debate raged in America on the role of uniformed military leaders during the political preparations for conflict. ...

Pirate's Cove trackbacked with "The Christmas Song"

Yeah, that was pretty bad. Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Is It Just Me?, 123beta, Right Truth, Stix Blog, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, Phastidio.net, Chuck Adkins...

Rosemary's Thoughts trackbacked with "Please pray for The Florida Masochist"

The Florida Masochist has fallen off the face of the blogosphere, and I am worried about him. He is a good friend and a great writer. I know he wasn't feeling well, so I am asking you to pray for his health and healing. I want him back here. Thank yo...

Right Voices trackbacked with "Saturday Morning Thoughts"

Noel brings up a great point about Scott McClellan’s book: Without peeking, do you think the now infamous excerpt from White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s not yet written book specifically referred to Valerie Plame Wilson, or anyt...

Tel-Chai Nation trackbacked with "No handshakes by Saudi and other Arabic countries"

The continuation to the Annapolis letdown is still going. Ehud Olmert is said to be leaving for the US tonight. And the Houston Chronicle (via Michelle Malkin) reports that, while Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, will be coming "begrudgingly",...

The Four Color Media Monitor trackbacked with "Tacoma News Tribune fawns over Brian Michael Bendi"

Bendis goes on a special signing tour in Washington state, and the MSM unsurprisingly provides him with sugary press coverage

Faultline USA trackbacked with "You and Credit Card Due Date Roulette"

Its just a matter of time before you get stung by the banks, especially if you happen to have a very low credit card interest rate. The banks are out to get their pound of flesh from you - the conscientious consumer!

Conservative Cat trackbacked with "Don't Look at the Universe or it May Go Away"

Whenever I see a story like this, I immediately become suspicious. The headline is Mankind shortening the universe's life, and the thrust of the story is that because quantum theory implies that observation affects the state of subatomic particles, the...

Woman Honor Thyself trackbacked with "Support OuR TroopS…MorE"

Whatever inimitable “gift” you have to offer sweet friends…: Offer it. Do it now. ...

123beta trackbacked with "Hudna"

In English, the term is most frequently used in reference to a cease-fire agreement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly one that would involve organization ...

Planck's Constant trackbacked with "Holocaust at the University of Kentucky"

There never was a Holocaust - If there was one, there were much fewer than 6 million Jews killed - If there were 6 million Jews killed, they Deserved it

Big Dogs Weblog trackbacked with "Democrats Cannot Embrace Victory"

The problem with the Democrats, besides their weakness on national security, is that they want to win so badly they will say of do anything to get elected. This includes slandering our troops and changing their points of view in order to refocus the a...

The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "Where have I been"

Why haven't I blogged since November 11th? Here's an explanation.

Cao's Blog trackbacked with "Move America Forward’s “Honoring Heroes at the Holidays Tour”"

What a wonderful idea Move America Forward has come up with! Honoring our Heroes at the Holidays, by making sure everyone gets a kind warm word of love from home. Check out Move America Forward for details. ...

Cao's Blog trackbacked with "What a disaster: Saudis calling the shots at the Annapolis peace conference"

Arafat must be smiling; the Saudis are calling upon Israel to evacuate Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem–at the Annapolis “peace conference”. ...

Cao's Blog trackbacked with "Sunday OTB"

Sunday Open trackback party, come on and join the fun! ...

Shadowscope trackbacked with "Sunday Linkfest!"

This is my open trackback post for Sunday November 25th. Holy cow, the year is almost over! If you would like to share something you've written with more folks and get your blog noticed, consider heading over to Linkfest Haven...

The Virtuous Republic trackbacked with "Sharia Law as a selling point for tourism"

Usually, when a city or country advertises reasons to visit them, they mention warm weather, sandy beaches, or great food. But not Indonesia, they think Sharia Law will be a great selling point to increase tourism. I think not.... But then again, ...

Right Truth trackbacked with "Sunday Reading 11/25/07"

For today's Sunday Reading, let's look at what's going on in the world. An unclassified threat assessment written by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in advance of the Middle-East peace conference at the U.S. Naval Academy on

Cao's Blog trackbacked with "The Haditha Marines needs our help"

The last untreated casualties are Lt. Col. J. Chessani, SSt F. Wuterich, Lt. A. Grayson, LCpl Stephen Tatum, who face prison and expenses-not to mention emotional scars. ...

walls of the city trackbacked with "aiding and abetting criminals"

"Gun control" activists are willing accessories before the fact. What am I trying to say with that sentence? Well, consider the world around you. There are always going to be predators in this world, whether they bear more of a...

Woman Honor Thyself trackbacked with "“Redacted” protracted & the Annapolis “Diss”"

Is anyone in Hollyweird makin honest films bout the “Death to America” countries? ...

Blue Star Chronicles trackbacked with "Not Enough Parking for Private Jets at UN Climate"

Newsbusters is reporting that there wasnt enough room for private jet parking at the United Nations Climate Conference. The LearJet Liberals who were gathering at a perfectly lovely tropical island to discuss their dire concerns for the environment ...

Leaning Straight Up trackbacked with "Thoughts on Tasers"

The recent slew of reports and controversy regarding Tasers has made me a bit reflective. I have to confess that I do not come to this unbiased.  My father was a cop. During the time he served I do not recall any hint he ever discharged ...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "Happy Thanksgiving"

Today, in the United States, is the holiday known as Thanksgiving. From a Christian standpoint, it is a holiday to give thanks to God for all the blessings upon which He has given. And both my wife and I are thankful for so many things. First and forem...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "Godly Wisdom — November 23, 2007"

Go Looking For Trouble And It Will Crash Down On You ...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "Godly Wisdom — November 25, 2007"

Neglect The Opportunities That Come You Way, And You Will Regret It ...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "PhotoHunt 85: Hot"

The latest PhotoHunt category from tnchick.com is “Hot” which can be interpreted as one sees fit. For me, the choice was obvious: hot sauces. The picture above is a small sample of hot sauces I have yet to taste. I have been using hot sauces on foo...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "Did You Shop On Black Friday?"

Did You Shop On “Black Friday”? ...

The World According To Carl trackbacked with "College Football — Rivarly Weekend"

The Ole Miss-Mississippi State game, better know as the Egg Bowl, resulted in not only an exciting game but a very satisfying Bulldog win of 17-14. And apparently that was the final straw for Ole Miss officials and they fired Rebel head coach Ed Orgero...

Stuck On Stupid trackbacked with "Thanksgiving Linkfest 11/21-11/25/2007"

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