Last night I saw Aristophanes' Lysistrata at the Lycoming College Theater. I didn't know the ancient Greeks were rappers! Yes, it was a modern production of the play and featured rap songs, dance numbers, modern military uniforms such as are worn by our troops in Iraq, etc. Some of the Greeks wore baseball caps worn backwards.

 

The Greek women were scantily clad and paraded around like whores. It reminded me of the last Oscars Award Show which featured a rap song about it's not easy being a pimp. One Greek goddess was dressed in over the top bondage wear and looked like the character Barbed Wire played by Pamela Anderson Lee.

 

Lycoming College deserves some credit for doing a Greek play but I would have preferred to see a classic Greek tragedy in an ambitious classical production that attempts to capture the Greek religious ritual.

 

There were a few women playing men's roles which was confusing because this play is about a battle of the sexes. The play was about mixing gender roles but that is all the more reason not to have women confronting women pretending to be men.

 

http://www.lycoming.edu/academics/theatre/Lysistrata.htm 

 

Exclude Files From Publish

---

Exclude Files From Search

Edit *.idq  file in _vti_script subdirectory.

[Query]
cirestriction=(%UserRestriction%) & ! #vpath *\_vti* & ! #vpath *\_private\* & ! #vpath *\_derived\* & ! #vpath *\_themes\* & ! #vpath *\_overlay\* & ! #vpath *\_fpclass\* & ! #vpath *\_borders\* & ! *browserversion.htm* & ! *default.htm*
ciscope=/rrobbins
citemplate=/rrobbins/_derived/SiteSearch.htm0.htx
cimaxrecordsperpage=10
cicolumns=DocTitle,filename,vpath,write,rank,hitcount
ciflags=DEEP
cisort=Rank[d]
cicatalog=F:\InetPub
cimaxrecordsinresultset=200

---

Exclude HTML From Theme

<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan -->
<p>No theme for me</p>
<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" endspan -->

---

Easter Egg

This Easter Egg can be activated using any 32-bit release of Microsoft
FrontPage or FrontPage Express. Just follow the steps below:

• Start the FrontPage Explorer.
•  Hold down the Shift key.
• Click Help and then click About.
• Click OK.
• Keep holding down the Shift key, click again on Help and click About for the second time.
• Click OK.
• Keep holding down the Shift key, click again on Help and click About for the third time.

Now you should see the credits screen and hear a song playing.

---

New Page Template

In Microsoft FrontPage, there is a file on your computer that is used as the 'template' for the new_page_1.htm that's created either when you open your web or when you hit the "New Page" button. The file is called "Normal.htm".

In a normal install of FrontPage 2000 and 2002, this file is in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Pages\normal.tem\

You can open this file in FrontPage and edit it like you would any other web page. Navigate to the directory where the file is located, open the file and choose File | Properties. You can add things that you want to be common to all the new web pages you create from this point on in all your webs, like Meta tags and DOCTYPE.

---

Numbered List Sublevel

To start a sublevel in a numbered or bulleted list, highlight the list items to sublevel and click the Increase Indent button twice.

---

Search And Replace Queries

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<fpquery version="1.0">
<queryparams regexp="true" inhtml="true" />
<find text="&lt;meta name=&quot;keywords&quot; content=&quot;.*&quot;&gt;" />
<replace text="" />
</fpquery>

<meta name="keywords" content=".*">

---

Code Snippits

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- Code Snippet Configuration File -->
<snippets><snippet keyword="database">
 <description>ASP Code for Database Connection</description>
 <text>&lt;%
' Connect to table in database
Set cn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Set rs = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
cn.Open "|DSN Name"
strSQL = "SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE Field= '" &amp; Trim(Request.Form("field")) &amp; "';"
rs.Open strSQL,cn,adOpenStatic,adLockPessimistic
While Not rs.EOF
 rs.MoveNext
Wend
' release system resources
rs.Close
cn.Close
Set rs = Nothing
Set cn = Nothing
%&gt;</text>
 </snippet>
 <snippet keyword="email">
  <description>ASP Code for CDONTS</description>
  <text>&lt;%
Set Mailer = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
Mailer.To = Request.Form("FullName") &amp; " &lt;" &amp; Request.Form("Email") &amp; "&gt;"
Mailer.From = "Robert Robbins &lt;" &amp; "rrobbins@kolbnetworks.com" &amp; "&gt;"
Mailer.Subject = "|Testing Automated Email" 
strBody = "" &amp; vbCrLf
strBody = strBody &amp; "" &amp; vbCrLf
Mailer.Body = strBody 
Mailer.Send
Set Mailer = Nothing
%&gt;</text>
 </snippet>
 <snippet keyword="adovbs">
  <description>ADOVBS Constants Include File</description>
  <text>&lt;!--#include file="adovbs.inc" --&gt;</text>
 </snippet>
 <snippet keyword="confirm">
  <description>JavaScript to confirm deletion</description>
  <text>&lt;script language="javascript"&gt;
function confirmDelete(rec) {
 var answer = confirm("Do you really want to delete this record: " + rec + "?");
 if (answer == true) {
  return true;
 }
 else {
  return false;
 }
}
&lt;/script&gt;</text>
 </snippet>
</snippets>

Application Data/Microsoft/FrontPage/Snippets
Ctrl + Enter (in Code view)

---

Restore Theme and Borders

The easiest way to restore a theme and shared borders without messing with hidden folders or complicated recreation of the theme is to do a search and replace of two lines in the HTML code of every page:

 No theme, theme is lost:
<meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="none, default">
<meta name="Microsoft Border" content="none, default">

 Restore theme from info found in a backup:
<meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="capsules 0111, default">
<meta name="Microsoft Border" content="tlb, default">

---

_vti_bin Directory Permissions

In Internet Information Services - Microsoft Management Console, the _vti_bin directory needs "Scripts and Executables" as the Execute permissions or the web or sub web will not open in FrontPage.

---

Tracing Image

Select View | Tracing Image | Configure to display a transparent image in the Design view.
Select View | Ruler and Grid | Show Grid to display a grid in the Design view.

---

Web Templates

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\WEBS11\clientweb.tem

---

Frontpage Forms

If your form contains a field that collects the site visitor's e-mail address, you can use that address as the sender's address. Next to Reply-to line, select the Form field name, check box, and then in the Reply-to line box, type the name of the form field.

Don't forget to specify a form field name for the Reply-to line. The Form field name checkbox will be checked by default!

Most ecommerce web sites I have worked on have shown little interest in Search Engine Optimization or aggressive web site marketing. An exception has been Car Accessories which has four web sites;

 

http://www.caraccessories.com/ 

Description: car accessories, car accessory, car bras, floor mats, car covers, dash mats,  seat covers, shelf it, rifle it, deluxe shelf it, pet pads, trunk organizers, cargo liners, pet barriers, steering wheel covers, gear shift boots, leather driving gloves, sun and heat shields, convertible covers, bug deflectors, side window deflectors, garage floor mats, parking mats, dent door guards, car mirrors, mini van accessories, van accessories, antique and classic car accessories

 

http://www.limocovers.com/
Description: Limousine Accessories And Limo Accessories And Limousine Covers and Limo Covers

 

http://www.accessoriesfortrucks.com/
Description: Accessories for trucks has the largest selection of custom-made and tailored truck accessories, pickup accessories, pickup truck accessories from truck bras, truck covers, truck floor mats, truck seat covers, bug deflectors, mud guards, truck tonneau covers to cab coolers.

 

http://www.accessoriesforsuvs.com/
Description: Accessories for SUVs has the largest selection of custom and tailored SUV accessories, sports utility vehicles, utility vehicles from suv bras SUV covers, SUV seat covers, SUV floor mats to SUV dash mats and dash covers.

 

Car Accessories has been quite aggressive with their web site marketing. They regularly update their keywords, descriptions, and web page titles. I've heard that many search engines are ignoring the meta tags now. Therefore I am investigating new and innovative ways of marketing their web sites. Today I discovered http://del.icio.us a web site for tagging your favorite links. Adding your links there can help your web site's ranking in the search engines.

 

I have created and maintain a Froogle product feed for Car Accessories. I use Froogle myself. It is a great way to find obscure products at the lowest price.

 

Lots of web site marketers are using blogs to market their client's web sites. That is what I'm doing here!

I have created a fancy new web site for myself at http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/. It only cost me $8.10 to register the domain name, $23.56 for a year's web hosting, and $2.50 to submit the site to the search engines. I may have to go into business for myself as a web developer.

 

The company I'm currently working for does not appreciate the fact that IT expertise is a major business asset. This might be understandable in a small business in some other industry but this is a technology company whose business is offering IT services. I am the sole technical guru working at the company and they are letting me go without finding a suitable replacement. This is such a stupid move that it almost defies belief. The company is literally throwing away half the business out of sheer stupidity. They will have nobody to manage their servers which include an ISA Server, an Exchange Server, two IIS Web Servers, a SQL Server and the domain server.

 

They will have nobody to make changes to my programming projects which include Storefront 6.0 customizations done in ASP.NET, over 200 ASP scripts in one project alone, a web service that transfers data for the local government's stream level readings, election results which may be changing due to voting machines, an annual human resources survey done in ASP, etc.

 

The owner apparently thinks it is entirely reasonable to hire an intern or somebody to administer 5 server products, take ownership of dozens of programming projects, and handle upwards of 40 clients while continuing to offer the same services as before. She expects to hire a poor sap with those kinds of qualifications for $10.00 an hour. I explained this situation to somebody at a job interview and they could not believe it. The owner thinks her business is all that because she owns a lot of Microsoft software and servers and has many clients. These are not assets when you do not have the technical expertise to make good use of them.

 

Her clients will probably quickly realize that she has jetisoned her technical expertise and can no longer meet their demands. I don't know what they will do then but hopefully one of them will realize that they can hire me.

I've been buying many used textbooks. It is cheaper than going back to college. Higher education has been priced beyond most people's means. The cost of tuition has risen faster than inflation. But textbooks are still affordable and you find them very easily on the internet. I mostly buy college textbooks although a high school textbook would be easier to read.

I don't manage to finish reading very many textbooks because they tend to be thick books and take too long to read. Most college courses would not expect you to read the entire textbook. I like to buy textbooks on many subjects because as a working adult I'm forced to focus upon my area of expertise. I miss the variety of my school days when I would go from class to class and be introduced to the various arts and sciences. It is a shame that most of one's education never goes beyond the introduction. You are given the impression that your life will be rich in sources of stimulation and then you left with a monotonous and limiting existence. But it doesn't have to be that way if you don't let your career define you to the point of narrowing your interests.

I have the luxury of only studying the subjects that interest me. I've bought textbooks on biology, American history, Greek history, many textbooks on literature, many textbooks on art history, chemistry, physics, western civilization, theater, media studies, graphic design, music appreciation, psychology, and abnormal psychology. I prefer the humanities and probably won't finish the science textbooks.

I'd like to buy my old high school and college textbooks and finish reading them but I don't remember what textbooks were assigned and students aren't allowed to keep textbooks. College students have to buy their own textbooks and may keep them but most students need to sell them for the money. That is why you can find used textbooks on eBay so easily. I do still have a few of my computer programming textbooks on RPG, COBOL, and Pascal. Needless to say, I don't use any of those languages in my work.

Some of the textbooks I did manage to finish reading, a real slog, include; History Of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason, Marla F. Prather, Art Fundamentals: Theory And Practice by Otto G. Ocvirk, Robert E. Stinson, Philip R. Wigg, Robert O. Bone, David L. Cayton, A History Of Graphic Design by Philip B. Meggs, and Two Centuries Of Progress by Carlton L. Jackson, Vito Perrone (a high school American History textbook).

By rights, I should be studying in my area of expertise which is computer programming and networking. If I were to study those subjects, I could take some certification tests and get something out of it. I do spend a few hours on the weekend writing up notes on anything that I learn at work. My knowledge tends to advance incrementally in my area of expertise. Unfortunately, you get bored to death with your area of expertise. It is like a college class that takes up your entire day and lasts for years on end. Eventually it is no longer stimulating and you become desperate for a new class. Even showing off one's expertise becomes a bore. Of course, this is not to say that you should start a new career because that would be to lose a considerable investment. I find it refreshing to acquire a little bit of the expertise of another profession. I think you need such stimulation to maintain your interest in continued education.

I've begun to study music. I'm really into some types of music and I revere musicians but music has always mystified me. To play music seems to require incredible skills that should be beyond most people. I don't see how anybody can develop an ear for different pitches or manage the coordination required to hit the right keys or memorize the notes to a piece of music. But I hate to be completely ignorant on a subject so I'm only looking to expand my knowledge of music to the extent that is possible.

It seems that you can at least study music theory to improve your understanding of music without any great skill. I've recently read the book The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory by Michael Miller. I learned how to identify the keys on an unmarked keyboard; C is always the white key to the left of two black keys and F is the white key to the left of three black keys. I've also memorized the position of the notes on the staff; F, A, C, and E are the notes between the lines which you can remember because they spell FACE. I still have to memorize some of the scales.

I've bought the standard college textbook for an introductory course in music, The Enjoyment Of Music, Nineth Edition, Shorter Version by Joseph Machlis and Kristine Forney. It covers music theory and music history with an emphasis on classical music although the latest version of the textbook is very up-to-date with a chapter on internet radio, MP3, webcasting, and Napster. Most of the book's illustrations are of famous artworks making it almost seem like a typical art history textbook. It seems a bit pretentious to me. I bought a used, cheap textbook on Amazon but it did not come with the student resource CDROM or the four music CDs so I have to order them separately before I can get started. The book frequently refers you to a CD to listen to something so you can't read the book very well without the other materials.

There are many web sites for music students. If you need blank sheet music for practicing your notation you can print some out by going to http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/. You can get free music notation software at http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/. There are many tutorials online for music theory http://www.8notes.com/theory/.  If you don't own a musical instrument, you can at least download the Musical Keys program at http://www.bapuli.co.nr/ which is a piano keyboard with 128 instruments.

I've recently read the book Psychology And The Occult by Carl Gustav Jung. The occult phenomenon that he considers is mostly the spiritualism and seances that were popular at the turn of the 20th century. Jung describes how some mediums were found to be unconsciously moving objects via automatic movements, as in table turning, "if a fairly heavy object is moving, the muscular tension is immediately apparent".

 

I've been very impressed by how relevant Jung's observations about the psyche are to my inner life. Unfortunately Jung has fallen out of favor and the current attitude towards the unconscious is to suppress it and fear it. Although I read a lot of books, I have encountered few references to supernatural reverie, entrancing dreams, or other indications of a profound connection to the life of the psyche. You have to read 19th century Romantic poets to find the right sensibilities.

 

There were two passages in this book that I found noteworthy; "When a complex of the collective unconscious becomes associated with the ego it is felt as strange, uncanny, and at the same time fascinating. At all events the conscious mind falls under its spell." This is a good description of a supernatural reverie when the soul seems to fall under the spell of some eerie recollection or a fascinating, poetic vision. Another accurate description is the following passage, "An integral component of any nocturnal, numinous experience is the diming of consciousness, the feeling that one is in the grip of something greater than oneself, a most singular feeling which one willy-nilly hoards up as a secret treasure. This is the purpose of the experiece - to make us feel the overpowering presence of a mystery."  The most interesting point made here is that a numinous experience is treasured, profoundly mysterious, and kept to oneself. Jung genuinely valued the unconscious.

 

Today you will find the greatest interest in the occult, the Romantic poets, and the dark and mysterious depths of the soul in the goth subculture. Although goths don't generally cite Jung, except for the more educated ones, they do show a marked fascination for anything that expresses a certain sensibility. For example, the vampire chronicles of Anne Rice are quite popular because it is the only fiction being written in the Romantic vein, pardon the pun.

Tonight I saw John Guare's play The House Of Blue Leaves at the Lycoming College Theater. I have not been to the theater in a long time so it made more of an impression upon me than usual. I was feeling more poetic about the experience rather than feeling bored. The set was your typical kitchen and living room realism which gives one the impression of being a fly on the wall, a voyeur looking through the window at somebody's private domestic life. The audience was like a circle of ghosts silently watching the living go through the trials and tribulations of life. I found this to be very sad. However, the play does call for some lines of dialogue addressed to the audience so the living did occasionally acknowledge the ghosts witnessing their fate.

According to the college the play is "a comedic story of how far people will go to find fame". I thought the play was more of a tragicomedy rather than a straight comedy because it has some tragic moments. I did appreciate the social commentary the drama makes on how our worship of celebrity undermines our own sense of self worth but the play doesn't really offer any answer or clear advice about how to develop an appreciation for the average, anonymous life. I would suggest that you come to appreciate the extraordinary aspects of your life and personal qualities even if nobody else recognizes it. But the theater is certainly guilty of celebrating pointless displays of talent and treats even polite applause as a major accomplishment that represents the greatest dream a person could have. What bull! For this reason, there are many plays that present failed dreams as a major tragedy without really getting into the value or purpose of the dream in the first place.

But John Guare really developed some exceptionally powerful scenes to sharply criticize the vapid. For example, in one scene Bunny is berating Bananas for not knowing suffering as a film star who can't find her curlers knows suffering. Bananas is mentally ill and to lecture her about mental suffering shows incredible insensitivity. On the other hand, Bananas is strangled by her husband at the end of the play which shows a certain insensitivity towards domestic violence and violence perpetrated against the mentally ill.

Just to mention some other things I noticed. There was a small black and white television on stage which was actually turned on to show film footage of the Pope even though most of the audience would have been unable to see that. And then there was the typical madcap comedy involving nuns running around and acting all hysterical. The usual nunsense.

The latest cool thing I've found to do with my computer is electronic music. There are many software synthesizer programs available that can turn your computer into a virtual synthesizer. A software synthesizer can generate digital music just like a hardware synthesizer and it will even respond to MIDI input from a keyboard plugged into your computer. You can play around with drum machines, virtual instruments, beat boxes, and sampled sounds for your own custom mixes which can be recorded as WAV files and eventually MP3s.

Software synthesizers are a new wave geek's dream. They faithfully reproduce the look of very expensive and complicated electronics; complete with hundreds of knobs, digital readouts, sliders, digital numbers, LEDs, waveforms, wheels, and VU meters. They are also very nostalgic and invoke memories of 1980s new wave and synthpop rock groups like Joy Division, New Order, Soft Cell, The Human League, ect.

You can get started in software synthesizers without spending a dime by downloading SynthEdit at www.synthedit.com and the Crystal VST Instrument at http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/. If you follow the tutorials you'll be listening to spacey music in no time.

Propellerhead Software also provides prebuild software synthesizers that are slightly better designed. I have Reason version 1.0 and ReCycle version 1.7. I have ordered a Creative Labs White Prodikeys MIDI Music & PC Keyboard.

I don't have much musical talent which is why I like the idea of programming drum machines and synthesizers to fake it. Much of my favorite music is synthpop anyways. My favorite song is "New Dawn Fades" by Joy Division. I first started listening to music in high school back in 1983 when synthpop groups like The Human League were all the rage. I've recently bought the album "The Idiot" by Iggy Pop which has served to remind me that I like dark music which has a heavily distorted sound. A lot of David Bowie's music is like that and it shows in this Iggy Pop album he produced.

Software synthesizers, graphics programs like Painter, and movie editing and creation software are great ways to unleash your creativity with the help of the digital revolution.

I spend a lot of my time reading literature and studying in the humanities. I'm currently reading a college textbook on the history of Ancient Greece. Some people would consider it strange to read a college textbook when you are not in college and will not be getting college credit for studying the subject. Therefore I would like to discuss the motivation of the intellectual and his place in our society.

Most people do not read books for knowledge or pleasure. Most people consider their education to be over and done with after high school or college. The intellectual continues to do a lot of reading and pursues his studies throughout his life. I never thought much about this until I read something startling by the poet and writer Charles Bukowski. He very simply wondered what compels the people he knew to pursue their literary interests. I'm not going to hunt for the passage but it was a fairly long and impassioned rant in which he questioned himself about his literary ambitions and questioned pretentious cultural aspirations in general. Although I've often wondered why I bother to be so high brow, I'd never known anyone else to express such disgust with culture as one's own preoccupation. Even the meanest peasant pretends to value the arts so it was a revelation to ask oneself in one's heart of hearts why it should be pursued as an interest or a vocation.

After giving it a lot of thought, I've determined that the intellectual doesn't really choose to waste his time with intellectual matters or the fine arts. The life of the mind is not to be avoided if you are cursed with a certain degree of intellect. Your level of reading comprehension pretty much dictates what you will predominantly be reading and whether you will read at all. To the extent that you can pick up information from your reading and find the topics interesting or enlightening, you will continue to read at that level. However, occasionally I find myself bogged down in a very tedious read, forcing myself to finish the book, and wondering why the hell I'm putting myself through this torture. It is tempting to be cynical and suppose that there is a lot of vanity in this pretentious scholarship, but the truth of the matter is that it is very hard to do nothing but play video games and read detective novels if you could be reading Dostoyevsky. To be honest, a Dostoyevsky novel might be very engaging for a few chapters but eventually becomes a real slog. Once the reading of it has become a chore you only continue for the sake of finishing a Dostoyevsky novel which is a very slight accomplishment but at least more of an accomplishment than watching TV. The intellectual reads and writes and thinks due to the lure of the occasional enlightenment and minor accomplishment.

Unfortunately our society does not offer any recognition for the slight accomplishment of reading a Dostoyevsky novel. You were not expected to have read it and there will never be an occasion to demonstrate any knowledge of the book. You are unlikely to ever come across any references to the book except in your further reading. If you were enrolled in college and taking a course in World Literature, you could get some credit for having read the book but nobody outside the classroom can read the book and expect to be praised for it. This may seem like a strange complaint but I'm making the point that knowledge is not valued for its own sake and isn't seen has having enough intrinsic value to be validated except in the context of the institution of higher education. Therefore to read a college textbook when you are not enrolled in a college course is seen as being bizarre or eccentric because it seems a thankless chore. The intellectual may be inclined to pursue such knowledge for its own sake but he isn't given much encouragement to do so.

In the Information Technology industry it is possible to get credit for what you know or have learned through experience by taking a certification test. It is possible to study on your own for these certification tests and gain official recognition of your knowledge. You then have credentials which have value in the workplace. This encourages many adults to study and learn on their own without requiring them to spend a lot of money for college instruction. This system came about because technology changes too rapidly for professionals to keep up their credentials through the institution of higher education. If our society really prized education and cultural refinement and wished to encourage it in every way possible, it would expand the certification concept into many other areas, including the humanities, and thereby encourage many more adults to study for recognition. It is not that the institutions of higher education have become too authoritarian in their hold on knowledge because all the materials and textbooks are freely available to the general public. But they have become too authoritarian in their hold on intellectual recognition and they have priced it well beyond the means of the average person.