Tuesday, August 30, 2005

[tech] mod_Rewrite for IIS

mod_Rewrite is such a smart feature. Fortunately there is a way to get it in IIS too (http://www.isapirewrite.com/) Here is sample usage right from the ISAPI Rewrite site:
[ISAPI_Rewrite]
RewriteRule /doc(.*)\.htm /XMLProcess.asp\?xml=$1.xml

Now to access documents use URL like http://www.mysite.com/doc/somedir/somedoc.htm. Search engines will never know that physically there is no somedoc.htm file and content is dynamically generated.

How cool is that?

Later I learned that you can achieve the same effect by creating a customized 404.asp. Options = Good.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

[happy hour] Barney's Beanery (West Hollywood, CA)

Who's the genius who thought up such a cool place? Many a Monday nights, I have spent screaming and cheering for my football team of the week. Jeans and t-shirt, beer and fries. The crowd is always low-key and energetic, and the happy hour menu very generous.

If you have friends who like to hit on cute waitress, this is the definitely the place to take them. Don't forget to check out the massive menu of international beers. It can easily inspire a drinking challenge or three.

Barney's Beanery
8447 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, Ca 90069
323.654.2287

Monday, August 22, 2005

[report] Virtualization technology

Once upon a time, server hardware was so hard to come by, each data center can only have a couple of mainframes. Now, you can order servers like McNuggets, and data center are glutted with hundreds of servers. So we lament about the management and utilization, and we want to go back to the world of fewer, larger servers.

Hehe.

- InformationWeek's Article
- Intel's doing it
- And of course, these days, there is bound to be someone is doing it OpenSource.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

[report] Lego Star Wars

Lego Star Wars. Now that's entertainment. If seeing mini-maul and mini-obiwan running around can't make you laugh, then you need medical attention. The cinematic sequences are so smart. I couldn't put the game down because I must, see, the, next, cut-over scene. And the co-op play --- is just Absolutely Delicious fun!

Here is the official site.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

[find] Google envy

Google does Earth. This is just out of control. Rather, this is making my Google envy grow totally out of control.

http://earth.google.com/sites/

Google Maps in Hybrid mode. They overlay street and landmark names over satellite maps. It is incredibly cool.

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h

Google's tribute to the first moon landing. I really envy the shadow that they put with the "info bubble".

http://moon.google.com/

Google on Yahoo Group. This is very old news, but still, the Google guys are so smart for using the best that is available before they have their own. Even (especially?) if the tool comes from their number 1 competitor.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/google-friends/

[tech] DOS batch notes

Ask for user input
echo Enter the report date in mm-dd format ...
set /p ReportDate=

Print a blank line
echo.

Verify with Y/N
choice Continue?
IF errorlevel 2 GOTO End

Assign and use of variable
set ReportDate=%1
echo Downloading reports for 2005-%ReportDate%

Call multiple batch jobs from one batch file
call [batchfile1]
call [batchfile2]

Check for null
IF "%1" == "" GOTO :Ask-for-date

Dedupe lines in a sorted file
FOR /F %%i in (requestlog.all) DO (
FOR /F %%j in (requestlog.tmp) DO (
IF not %%i equ %%j echo %%i >> ToDo.%TargetDate%.txt
IF not %%i equ %%j echo %%i > requestlog.tmp
)
)

Delete files only if they exists (so you don't end up with the error msg)
FOR %%F in (requestlog.*) DO DEL %%F

Great reference site
http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

[eats] Guelaguetza (Los Angeles, CA)

Ole Mole! This is the real (Oaxacan) deal. Instead of chips with salsa, it's chips with red mole sauce and fresca cheese. I find the mole sauce terribly addictive. The tortilla soup, excellent. The tamale, super smooth (but the chicken is a bit dry, so I'll go for the vege tamale next time).

In the end, it's all about what vehicle you choose to deliver that mole sauce with. So doesn't exactly matter if its chicken, rice, chips, or just a plain spoon!

p.s. The $6 giant goat burrito is pretty darn good too. But still. I'd go for the mole.

11127 Palms Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(Palms and Sepulveda)
(310) 837-1153