What is this?
With very few exceptions, everything we do is derivative. Although there is often a lot of overlap from person to person with regard to what we find interesting, we all have a unique set of things that interest us. This page documents some of the things I have used and things that I just find interesting. At some point, I may separate the links into categories, I'm thinking a simple list is a good start.
I love my 13-inch MacBook Pro. I have embraced the compromise between a modern windowing environment with the power of my second-favorite flavor of operating system: Unix. Confidentially, I do tend to buy the refurbished models. The Apple bleeding-edge is a little too pricey for my tastes.
I've had nothing but Canon cameras since my old Pentax super-program was stolen in New York City [maybe 1993?]. I have been very happy with the quality of the bodies, the lenses, the printers and the images they allow me to capture and reproduce.
This is the client-side gallery/album plugin that works with jQuery that I used for this site.
This is the client-side (browser) library used on this site. It provides a base for very rich interaction with the user and takes care of a lot of browser compatibility issues letting me concentrate more on content and functionality rather than making sure something works with every version of a particular browser.
I used the DiMage Scan Elite 5400 scanner produce digital copies of my slides and negatives.
A great way to unwind at the end of the day.
I've made a lot of money over the years using and programming in Windows environments. It would be ingracious not to include them in my links. (And no, this is not my favorite operating system.)
This is the database backend used to help keep track of the content for this site.
Oracle's free office suite. It is incredible. I use it as a word processor and to connect to MySQL databases to fill and edit tables (I'm using it right now).
My favorite operating system. I don't get to use it any more, but I sure miss it. I just smile when I see the latest "new" thing available in the more popular operating systems on the market. Once you've gone VAX, you never want to go back! (Yes, I know I'm dating myself.)
I've tried to use lots of other things due to the extreme cost of the software for how I use it, but I simply cannot get around the fact that it really is the best photo manipulation software on the planet. And I am just a novice. In the hands of a skilled user, it can be magical to watch.
This is the scripting language available from my service provider. I make the pages PHP even though there is virtually no server-side dynamic content. The nice thing is my ISP does not stick things on the bottom of my PHP pages, but they do append dross to the HTML pages they serve on my behalf.
This is the personal site of an open-source developer friend of mine. One of the most creative and frenetic individuals I've ever met.
A former full-time employer and a current client.
It's a pretty sweet little editor for Mac OS X.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City. It was my professional and academic home for about 18 years. Have to include them on my collection of links.
Another web developer friend of mine does the programming for this site. Historically, he's been a Cold Fusion guy, but lately he has dabbled with ASP.NET. Not sure if he has any production code done in it yet.
This started out as the Computer Science and Telecommunications Program (CSTP) under the College of Arts and Sciences, long ago. Many of my years at UMKC were spent in the CSTP.
Whether I'm trying to google the syntax for a VBScript, JavaScript, CSS or virtually anything that you need to create a modern Web site today, a page on this site is almost always in the top hits. The quality of the information is outstanding.
One of the tools I use to build this site. Ruby is not my favorite programming language, but the framework has advantages over some of the simpler alternatives for building Web sites.