Heroes Season 2, Episode 1

Don't worry, this isn't a recap. Just some thoughts. Drivel really.

I finally caught the first episode. I had it DVRed because it comes on at the same time as K-Ville. Anyway, a buddy of mine saw it the night it premiered and didn't like it. I was expecting to be disappointed but I was disappointed about being disappointed. I mean I liked it.

Kinsei being a brit was a total shock to me. But I can see how Hiro will replace him and be the real Hero. I should have seen that coming.

Not so surprising is the little hottie Claire. She started a new school and has already found a new boyfriend. Somewhat surprising is the fact that he can fly.

The other plot twists are that Hiro's father and Nathan and Peter's mother are both marked for death by an unknown assailant. At the end of the show, a hooded intruder jumps with Hiro's father (I really want to call him Sulu) over the side of a building. Could it be Sylar? Someone else?

Not much going on with Suresh and copper Matt. They are baby sitting Molly, the girl who can find anyone. Looks like Matt is getting divorced and Suresh is going to work for the "Company".

New to the cast are Maya and Alejandro. Maya seems to have a power that kills large groups of people by making them bleed from their eyes. Sweet! That would be a bad skill for Sylar to pick up.

The show ended with several guys whacking a security guard over the head and opening a shipping container. Inside is Peter who is chained to a wall. He doesn't remember who he is.

The two plot points I am most interested in this season, so far anyway, are Hiro in 16th century Japan and Peter. How did Nathan live? Did he just drop Peter off and fly away before Peter blew up? Will Hiro take over for Kensei and become a legendary hero?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Sorry. I guess this did become a recap. Oops. ;-0

heroes tv

Review: Doomsday - The Death of Superman

Close to a month ago, I blogged about Doomsday - The Death of Superman. As I said in that post, I really wanted to see it. I just finished watching it a little while ago. I planned to buy the DVD but I noticed that it was on pay per view so I watched it with my son.

He is 4 and he lost interest within the first few minutes. This is a very adult cartoon. Not in language or sex or anything but in themes. There were a few brutal parts, Doomsday crushes a soldier's head for example. The movie shows Doomsday grab his head, the camera angles away and you hear the crushing sound.

It's not just the insinuated violence that makes say it's adult-themed. The relationship between Lois and Kal-El is very adult and the show spends quite a bit of time on that relationship. The reactions when superman dies are equally adult.

I'm not complaining. Though my son lost interest right away, I thought it was a very good movie. Great graphics and animation. Good color. The story and action were well done. I would watch it again.

It wasn't the book though. The book The Death and Life of Superman and the Graphic Novels were much deeper and contained several concurrent plots. There were many characters involved.

This movie mainly concentrates around the initial fight and death of Superman and then into Lex Luthor, Clone Superman and Superman rebuilding himself. That was kind of disappointing; to know how much story there was and for the movie to be so limited.

I think the only way to really do this justice would be to make it a mini-series. And while I would watch it, I'm not sure how many others would. It's too adult to hold a small child's attention and not many adults want to sit through several nights of cartoon.

I can heartily recommend this DVD to any genre fan though. If you are a fan of Superman, which I have always been, this is a must have. If you are a fan of comics in general, this is a good addition to the collection. If you don't really like animated movies or if you are thinking of a movie for your child, I would say to stay away.

superman movie review

Heroes Graphic Novel

If you were not aware of it, you can get your Heroes fix on nbc.com by reading the Heroes Graphic Novel. Of course, it's a little late now. Heroes Season 2 will be starting in less than two weeks on September 24. I am so looking forward to its return. I started watching it last season but missed a few episodes due to other commitments. Instead of picking it back up in the middle, I waited for the Heroes - Season One DVD. I watched the entire season in a nightly orgy of heroing over the course of a week. I was tired at work but it was worth it. Heroes is just about the perfect series. I was slightly disappointed in the ending of season 1. Is Nathan dead? Dis Sylar escape to the sewers? Who is the man who can see anyone anywhere? I kind of thought the "saved by love" thin was a bit of a cop out. I will not miss Hiro in ancient japan though.

heroes scifi tv monday nighttime dvd

9/11 Video Overcome

There's nothing I can really add to this. The video stands on its own.

9/11 live video

Video: Combine multiple RSS Feeds Using Yahoo Pipes

I've been playing with Yahoo Pipes and creating some RSS feed aggregators. I decided to create a video showing how easy it is to create a pipe. In this video, I create a pipe that takes the feed from two sites, OraBlogs and OraNA. I join them together using a Fetch, I de-dupe using a Unique and then sort descending by publish date using a Sort. You can get the code for the pipe I created in the video here: Sorted Unique Oracle RSS Feed. You can see some others I have created also. Database Pipe, Oracle Pipe, Postgres Pipe, EnterpriseDB Pipe, DB2 Pipe, MySQL Pipe, New Orleans Pipe. To see the video, go to Blip.TV. Let me know if the video helps at all. Also, please let me know if there are other videos that you think might be useful. LewisC

yahoo pipes tutorial rss aggregator

My Recipe: Light and Spicy Grilled Chicken

This is my recipe for a light and spicy grilled chicken. It's spicy but not hot. I cook it on a hot grill. Prep time is about an hour and the cooking time is about 10-15 minutes. Feeds 4 (with sides). Ingredients:

• 1 lbs Chicken - Breasts cut into thin strips or tenderloin, skinless and boneless
• 1 tsp Curry powder, Red, Yellow or Garam Masala. I prefer red curry powder.
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 1 tsp Garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp Thyme
• 1/4 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp fresh Ground Cinnamon

Mix all spices in a zip lock bag. Shake until well mixed. Add chicken. Shake until totally covered by spices. This amount of spice should completely cover the chicken and have some left over. If you have more than 1 lbs of chicken, just double the spice mixture. Any extra will just be thrown away and doesn't hurt anything. Refrigerate the zip lock bag for an hour or more. The longer the better up to about 4 hours. Then you get diminishing returns on time. Fire up the grill. Turn it up high on all burners. I cook these at at least 500 degrees. Remove the zip lock from the fridge and let it rest while the grill heats up. When the grill is ready, toss the chicken on and throw away the zip local and left over spices. Cook on each side for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the chicken and make sure it doesn't burn. After the chicken is cooked, take it off and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. This chicken goes great with spicy, grilled veggies (I will post a recipe for that in the future) and/or brown rice.

recipe cooking chicken spicy grill bbq

Humorous Post of the Week

With all the "how to get a job" sites out there, I am glad to see someone has started a site for the other side of the story. SimplyFired.com's tagline is: If You Don't Laugh, You'll Cry. This is a fun site (at least for those not recently fired) with stories about getting fired. There's a blog, stories and videos. Some of the videos are killer funny. Check out the video, "Job Interview Gone Bad (You've been Googled!)" A fun way to waste some time.

jobs humor

Top 10 Reasons History Will Be Kind to George W Bush

Before leaving his job, Karl Rove said that he thinks history will be kind to Bush.  I agree.  I decided to put together this list of the top 10 reasons that history will be kind to George W Bush.

History will be kind to George W Bush because:

10.  It wasn't his fault.  It was that mean kid in Iraq.

9.  Presidents are not responsible for hurricanes.  And apparently not responsible for responding to hurricanes.

8.  No matter who is elected in 2008, they can help but look good in comparison.

7.  It wasn't his fault.  It was that mean kid in North Korea.

6.  He tried to help America by setting a new standard for vacation days.

5.  He didn't shoot any friends in the face.

4. It wasn't his fault.  It was that Axes, Axial, Axs group of evil guys.

3.  He saved so much money by not rebuilding the Gulf Coast.

2.  Even people who hated Clinton now look back fondly on his term.

And the #1 reason history will be kind to George W Bush: because history's mama said that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!

Doomsday - The Death of Superman

I have been a sci-fi freak for decades but even before that, I was a Superman freak. When I collected comics, I had a stash of about 3000 and many of those were Superman, Action Comics, Superboy and other superman related comics.

A few years back, there was a graphic novel called Doomsday where Superman dies. It was rewritten as a regular novel (which I have laying around here somewhere). It was a very good novelization with a very good story line.

Warner Bros is coming out, 9-18-2007, with a new animated movie, Doomsday - The Death of Superman. I don't have all the details but I believe it is a feature length animated movie. Check out the trailer:



LewisC



superman movie

SBA Offers Free Business Training

The US Small Business Administration now offers free business training. They offer quite a few different types of classes: STARTING A BUSINESS 1. Small Business Primer: Guide to Starting a Business 2. The Beginning: Developing a Successful Business Plan 3. Starting Your Small Business* 4. Business Plan Workshops 5. Identify Your Target Market 6. My Own Business (A Free Course) 7. How to Start a Business on a Shoestring Budget - trump University BUSINESS PLANNING 1. How to Write a Business Plan - Trump University 2. Business Plan Workshops 3. Creating a Strategic Plan 4. Business Plan Templates 5. Strategic Planning & Execution - PA SBDC - Kutztown University 6. Developing a Business Plan (en español) PA SBDC - Kutztown University BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 1. Managing the Digital Enterprise 2. Developing a Successful Business Plan 3. Business Plan Workshops 4. Growth Strategies 5. Maintaining an Agile Company - South-West Texas SBDC FINANCING & ACCOUNTING 1. How to Find Start-up Funding - Trump University 2. Assessing Financial Needs - South-West Texas SBDC 3. Cash Flow 4. Accounting 101: The Fundamentals - PA SBDC - Kutztown University MARKETING & ADVERTISING 1. Building Your Brand 2. Marketing for Small Business - Maine SBDC 3. E-Mail Marketing 4. Marketing 101:The Fundamentals - PA SBDC - Kutztown University 5. Conduct a Marketing Analysis - PA SBDC – Kutztown University GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING 1. Steps to Accessing Contracts & Subcontracts 2. Guide to Government Contracts 3. INSIGHT: Guide to the 8(a) Business Development Program RISK MANAGEMENT & CYBER SECURITY 1. Computer Security E-COMMERCE 1. Building Your Website - South-West Texas SBDC 2. Managing the Digital Enterprise INTERNATIONAL TRADE 1. Breaking into the Trade Game 2. A Primer on Exporting 3. International Business Opportunities FEDERAL TAX TRAINING 1. Introduction to Federal Taxes for Small Businesses 2. Understanding Taxes 3. Tax & Accounting Basics 4. Small Business Tax Workshop 5. Small Buisness Tax Center 6. Small Business Tax Workshop (en español) SMALL BUSINESS RETIREMENT 1. Retirement Planning

education training sba

What if a corporation was run like comments on a blog?

This video is incredibly funny. Be aware that the language is adult even though the humor is juvenile.

humor video

Weekly Funny - Sarcastic Wednesday

Have you ever heard of Hoops and Yoyo? They are a couple of characters that Hallmark uses in e-greeting cards. There is one card called Sarcastic Wednesday. I was introduced to this card in the middle of an all day business meeting. I laughed so hard I was crying. After you finish watching that one, check out some of the others. Apparently, they are so popular, they even have their own website in the UK, Hoops and Yoyo UK. You can even get lessons on manners such as how to sneeze in public. ;-) I just did a youtube search and you're in luck! Hoops and Yoyoy are have several videos on youtube including Sarcastic Wednesday: Enjoy, LewisC

humor hoops and yoyo

Open Source BI Wiki

I was recently pointed to a new wiki for Open Source Business Intelligence (OSBI) tools, the OSBIWiki. This is a new wiki and right now it doesn't have a lot of content but I'm hoping it will grow. I would like to see a wiki like this that covers all of the BI tools, proprietary or not. Right now, this wiki has some very basic info for Mondrian, JPivot, BIRT and JasperSoft. I'm hoping it will catch on and be updated frequently. If you are into Open Source BI, check it out. LewisC

osbi business intelligence open source wiki

Man loses leg, fails to notice

From the realm of, "I bet that leaves a bruise!", comes this story from CNN: Japanese biker fails to notice missing leg. According to the story, a Japanese biker was tooling along, minding his own business, when he hit a safety barrier. Ok, at this point, I'm thinking he may have been a little tipsy. Hey, it happens. Have a few brewskis, lose control of your motorbike. Been known to happen. This one, however, gets better. Our Japanese biker guy continues on after hitting the barrier for 1.2 miles. He only stopped because he was at the next junction. His buddy stops and picks up the first guys leg. Can you imagine his reaction? "Holy crap dude! You left a floater!" When he stops, he notices that he feels a bit lighter. Have you ever had that, "I feel like I'm a foot lighter" feeling? He and his, newly liberated, appendage are shipped off to the nearest hospital but the leg is unable to be reattached due to the amount of damage. How can you not feel that your leg has been crushed completely off? In all fairness, the story does say he was unable to negotiate a turn, not that he was drunk. He says he DID feel excruciating pain. I would have to be so stoned, I couldn't even start the bike. This happened in Tokyo. LewisC

news strange humor

Would you like a firmer butt? Give your butt a lift!

I kid you not, you can now give your butt a facial! Spas across the US are now offering "Butt Facials". These reverse facials promise to tighten, lift and tone you flabby butt. Fortunately, these are advertised as "non-invasive", as a butt facial should be. According to one recipient, "it's a stress reliever and relaxing." At anywhere from $65 per session to $650 for a treatment, it better plate my butt in gold!

butt facial humor

Funny Gadget of the Day

I found this incredibly annoying yet funny gadget. It's called Mad Cows. You need to click on 30 mad cows in 60 seconds.

humor

Certegy/Fidelity News

According to SCMagazine, Online forum claims Certegy breach led to ID theft. The article says:

But a number of posters in a Bed, Bath and Beyond online forum accuse Certegy of not being honest. According to the forum, a class-action lawsuit against the company is taking shape over the breach.

"I just found out a few days ago that my husband and I are now the victims of identity theft," an Oklahoma woman using the alias "Class Action Suit Ready" wrote last week on the bulletin board. "As he called his credit card company to prove his innocence, I realized it was only a few days after the notification letter [from Certegy] that all of the fraudulent checks were written on his account. That is not a coincidence. I’ve never had any identity theft issues until a few days after I received that letter from Certegy."

The would be bad for the company that's for sure. They are really banking on no ID theft coming from this. The article reads like a class action lawsuit might be on the way. That also might explain why they are looking for "alternatives for its check services business". This press release says that the FIS Board of Directors also authorized management to investigate strategic alternatives for its U.S. and Australian Check Services businesses.

I predicted that Certegy's Check Services would be sold off after a while. That's the main reason I left last year. It did take longer than I thought it.

certegy fidelity information systems fis

Every blog needs an "about" entry, so here is mine.

About LewisC

For an updated bio, please go to lewiscunningham.com. This page is not really being maintained and my home site contains better information. This page last updated July 19, 2008. Lewis Cunningham is an Oracle Ace, author of EnterpriseDB: The Definitive Guide and a Database Architect. Lewis writes several blogs:

• Databases In The Cloud

• How to Make a Blog
• Oracle DB News
• LewisC's Random Thoughts
• PostgreSQL DB News
• MySQL DB News
• An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
• Weird News
• Free Stuff

Lewis's specialties are Oracle, PL/SQL, SQL, XML and other words with Ls in them. Lewis also has a fondness for SOA, security and most anything related to databases. Lewis is an Oracle 9i Certified PL/SQL Developer and is a member of ODTUG, IOUG and ACM. Lewis has been a developer, DBA, manager, team lead, architect and consultant. He has worked with Oracle since 1993. He currently works as a data architect designing and building OLTP and large-scale analytical using Oracle 10g. Lewis lives in Florida with his wonderful wife and son. Lewis also has two huskies. lewisc bio

An Oracle Expert's Guide to Learning Oracle

Check out my Squidoo lens, An Oracle Expert's Guide to Learning Oracle. This lens contains link to Oracle tutorials and more. You can also check out the Squidoo Oracle group. oracle tutorial

Tutorials to Learn Oracle

Below are links to some articles that I have written on IT Toolbox that will help you learn Oracle. The most common question I get is, "How do I learn Oracle?" I am going to start a series this weekend that will guide people in their quest to master the Oracle database and Oracle programming. The links below will help get you started: Learn Oracle: General Learn Oracle - What is Oracle? (8/22/2005) What is the difference between Oracle, SQL and PL/SQL? (5/30/2006) Accessing Multiple XE Databases from a single machine (12/8/2005) Database Links: A Definition in Plain English (12/21/2005) Oracle Security: A Definition in Plain English, Part 1 (4/4/2005) Oracle Security: A Definition in Plain English, Part 2 (4/7/2005) Oracle Security: A Definition in Plain English, Part 3 (4/17/2005) Oracle Security: A Definition in Plain English, Part 4 (4/28/2005) Advanced Queues and Streams: A Definition in Plain English (3/30/2005) Oracle Advanced Replication: A Definition in Plain English (3/24/2005) Cryptography in the Database (12/16/2005) Learn Oracle: SQL Introduction to Basic SQL, Part 1 (8/24/2005) Introduction to Basic SQL, Part 2 - Joins (6/6/2006) Introduction to Basic SQL, Part 3 - Complex Joins and Sub-queries (6/8/2006) Merge (AKA Upsert) - A Definition in Plain English (8/3/2005) Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Numbers Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Strings Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Dates Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Boolean and Large Objects (LOB) Learn Oracle: PL/SQL Learn PL/SQL: Structure and Comments (7/7/2006) Learn PL/SQL: Declaring Variables, Named vs Anonymous Blocks (7/14/2006) Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Numbers Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Strings Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Dates Learn Oracle: Datatypes for SQL and PL/SQL, Boolean and Large Objects (LOB) Learn Oracle: Procedures and Functions Overloading Procedures in PL/SQL Oracle Collections: A Definition in Plain English Part 1 (9/27/2005) Oracle Collections: A Definition in Plain English Part 2 (10/4/2005) Oracle Collections: A Definition in Plain English Part 3 (10/11/2005) The Sorcerer of OO (Object Oriented Programming), Part 1 (5/5/2005) The Sorcerer of OO (Object Oriented Programming), Part 2 (5/14/2005) The Sorcerer of OO (Object Oriented Programming), Part 3 (5/26/2005) The Sorcerer of OO (Object Oriented Programming), Part 4 (7/19/2005) XML and OO in Oracle, A Scenario (11/17/2005) Oracle and XML In Action - A Real World Example (8/10/2005) oracle learn tutorial sql pl/sql xml