My homepage (index.php) started redirecting to the page I had just created. Since the page had been deleted, what I actually saw was my 404 page. Uncool!

I tried changing to the default WordPress 3.0 theme, but that didn’t fix the problem. I disabled the All-in-One SEO pack, but that didn’t help either. Out of desperation, I disabled every plugin, and — viola! — it worked.

I reenabled everything but Redirection and everything was still working. So, the Redirection plugin was the culprit. I reported the issue. We’ll see if it gets fixed.

Note: If you add a parameter to the request, like http://usefullittlethings.com?x=y, the problem goes away.

As an experiment, I added a prompt at first launch of the program asking the user what they planned on using the application for (business, personal, both, evaluation).  The prompt can be dismissed and no information is sent.  If the user responds, the answer is pushed to this site (see the widget in the bottom right of the home page).

Let’s see if we can find out what people are doing with the software, shall we…

On the Amazon site, they describe how to “restart” the Kindle by holding the power switch for 15 seconds.  I tried this, and when I started it back up, the title bar returned!

I’m guessing some widget or setting got corrupted and the title bar just stopped showing up.  Whew!

I tried it with a bunch of exam notes I had saved as PDF files and it seems to have worked well.  Painless and simple.

I’m not certain I would upload proprietary or personal information to such a site, but for anything else it would be just the thing.

Strangely, the author of the site seems to have cloned the site as PDF Merge also.  I guess they’re covering all the major Google search terms.

1. Install Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.
2. Download Irvine samples (“Example programs and link libraries (designed for Visual Studio 2008)”) and install in C:\Irvine.
3. Copy Irvine lib and include files to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\ (*.lib files go in lib folder and *.inc files go in the include folder).
4. Open an Irvine sample project.
5. Compile.

To create a new project, simply use the Save As option from one of the existing Irvine solutions/projects.  It is much easier than trying to create a project from scratch.

http://www.johanvanmol.org/content/view/39/37/1/2/

Update: Used this information to add collision detection to my second assignment in COMP 6400 – Fundamentals of Computer Graphics.  Let’s hear it for extra credit!

1. Installed Visual Studio Express 2008 C++ Edition.
2. Verified that video driver had installed opengl32.dll in %WinDir%\System.
3. Downloaded GLUT zip file (dll, lib and header files) from http://www.xmission.com/~nate/glut.html.
4. Copied glut32.dll to %WinDir%\System.
5. Copied glut32.lib to $(MSDevDir)\..\..\VC98\lib (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\lib).
6. Copied glut.h to $(MSDevDir)\..\..\VC98\include\GL.
7. Downloaded glext.h, glxext.h, and wglext.h from http://www.opengl.org/registry.
8. Copied glext.h, glxext.h, and wglext.h into C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\include\GL\.
9. Created new Visual C++ Win32 Console Application (unchecked Precompiled headers).
a. Delete all the generated files.
10. Added HelloOpenGL sample .c file and compile.

#include <windows.h>

#include <GL/gl.h>

#include <GL/glext.h>

#include <GL/glut.h>

#include <stdio.h>

#include <windows.h>#include <GL/gl.h>#include <GL/glext.h>#include <GL/glut.h>

#include <stdio.h>

void drawPolygons() {

glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);

glColor3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);

glVertex2f(1.0, 0.0);

glVertex2f(1.0, 1.0);

glVertex2f(0.0, 1.0);

glEnd();

}

void display(void) {

glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

drawPolygons();

glFlush();

}

void init() {

glClearColor(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0);

glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);

glLoadIdentity();

gluOrtho2D(-5.0, 5.0, -5.0, 5.0);

}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {

glutInit(&argc, argv);

glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_SINGLE | GLUT_RGB);

glutInitWindowSize(500, 500);

glutInitWindowPosition(0, 0);

glutCreateWindow("simple");

glutDisplayFunc(display);

init();

glutMainLoop();

return 0;

}

The actual coding took a bit more time than I anticipated.  As usual, almost daily I “discovered” new features the site would need.

The service is free and I will not be placing any ads on the site, unlike every other service I saw out there.  The reminders are short and to the point, again without ads.  In the future, I may include a short, text-only ad at the end of the email reminder.  Or I may not.  Time will tell.

The thing I like most about the site is its simplicity.  I deliberately designed a site with minimal use of graphics to save on bandwidth.  This results in lower costs for me which makes it easier to keep it free to the users.

Regardless of how “profitable” this site may or may not be, I plan to keep it running for a long time.  My wife is it’s first subscriber (I’m the second) and it’s currently running off the excess bandwidth of my server anyway, so it’s costing me virtually nothing.

Check out the site and if you have any suggestions on how to improve the service, leave a comment below.

Update (4/13/2009): The Red Dot Calendar has probably flat-lined, as the visitor count is less than one a day and the only non-family member to sign up has opted out.  Alas, it has fallen victim to the demands of my PhD program.  Oh well, I never really tried to market it.  I’ll leave it running, nonetheless.

I approached the topic with a critical eye toward its aspects, strengths, and weaknesses.  Hopefully, this could serve as an unbiased reference for someone interested in the topic of task scheduling, EBS, and Monte Carlo style simulations.  Keep in mind that this paper was not written to be submitted to a journal publication and, therefore, is more of an expert opinion on the subject, rather than a definitive piece of research.

The paper is available online and as a PDF.

Note: The online version has a few formatting problems, for which I blame Microsoft Word, since I let it do the conversion.  The PDF version is the truest rendering of the work.