With a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science my work's concentration is on web development, UI design and relational database management systems. My languages of choice range in everything from SQL, PHP and PERL to Java and .NET. I have a LAMP server at home running Ubuntu Server Edition. It's used for numerous testing, development, and other oddball tasks.

As awkward as it is to try, I do have a life outside of my work. There's the motorcycle that I've taken everywhere there's pavement. Then there's target shooting at the Mass Rifle Association. I also love to help poor, crazy, homeless people by paying them to take pictures of me when I travel. I'm also a big political junkie. You'll have to buy me a beer if you really want to know where I stand.

Ron Paul Media Blitz @ Tea Party 2007

Posted Wed, 2007-12-12 23:58 by Jozef Nagy







The Ron Paul Boston Meetup Group has gathered money for a media advertising blitz and needs your help. We'll be putting ads on local and Southern NH radio stations. These ads will be related to Ron Paul in general as well as the Boston Tea Party 2007 event.

Pub Cheese Recipe

Posted Sat, 2007-12-08 17:39 by Jozef Nagy



This cheese is great as a spread, but not thin enough to be a dip.

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese (softened)
1 8 ounce plastic tub of sharp cheddar cheese (softened) (preferably Wise Spread brand)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (depending on taste)
1/2 or 1 teaspoon horseradish (depending on taste)
Combine all ingredients into a stand mixer (if you do not have one you can use a blender or a food processor) and mix together until well blended.

Place into a plastic container and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.

Chocolate Ron Paul coins may violate official Ron Paul Liberty Dollar gold coins

Posted Wed, 2007-11-28 13:12 by Jozef Nagy

Amir, a brilliant young MIT student, has produced chocolate Ron Paul coins to spread the word and get our man elected. He is currently selling them at cost. However, he is using the likeness of Bernard von NotHaus' existing gold and silver Ron Paul Liberty Dollar coins to help sell the chocolate ones. Bernard's website states "All Rights Reserved". This is a problem.

Bernard's email

RE: Ron Paul Liberty Dollar Chocolates http://ronpaulchocolate.com/

I am interested, amused and concerned... If you intend to use my
copyrighted designs and/or the trademark: LIBERTY DOLLAR, please
contact me immediately. If you are going to do this... it must be
done right... with permission.

Bernard von NotHaus
Monetary Architect

Trademark
Here's what's happening. Amir is using the phrase "Liberty Dollar". This phrase may be trademarked by Bernard. If it is, and Bernard has done due diligence in protecting that trademark in the past, then this is a necessary step in retaining the trademark. Trademark and copyright are 2 different things. I'm not sure you could copyright "Liberty Dollar", however.

Copyright
As for the design on the coin. You can't copyright the likeness of a public figure. That's based on precedent. However, you can copyright a specific design or logo. In this case, the design on the website for the chocolate coins is the same as the design on Bernard's Liberty Dollars. If Bernard has a copyright on that design, then yes, Amir is in clear violation in using Bernard's work to promote his own. However, I don't know what copyrights and trademarks Bernard has secured. Nor do I know how similar the 2 designs are when you compare what's actually printed on the chocolate foil. I do know that Amir is using the exact digital images of Bernard's Ron Paul Liberty Dollar on his own website in promotion of the chocolate coins. Because this is a non-profit enterprise, that changes things a bit. However, a non-profit entity still can't violate copyright.

One Man's Struggle
Amir is not selling these coins as part of an official non-profit enterprise. Like the rest of us, he's an enterprising young man doing what it takes to help get his candidate elected. He is doubtless putting in many hours of his own time with no compensation. Nevertheless, he did not initially secure Bernard's permission. He's currently doing so. Let's hope Bernard allows this in kind faith.

Automated Visitor Stats from a Drupal Website

Posted Wed, 2007-11-28 00:56 by Jozef Nagy

Drupal Statistics On Your Cell Phone

Some web statistics are so fundamental to webmasters that they can't live without them. For me, a basic measure of how a site is doing is it's daily count of unique IPs. That's a count of how many individual computers visited the site. I have that and other summary statistics text messaged to my phone every morning. In this post I'm going to show you how to do this on a Drupal based website using PHP, SQL, and CRON. According to it's About page:

Selective Colorization - 1st Attempt

Posted Sun, 2007-11-25 16:04 by Jozef Nagy

My lazy Sunday afternoons are a constant quest to learn something new. This particular day it was about digital photographic post processing. More specifically, isolating a subject and making the rest of the photo black and white around it. In my case I have a picture of a girl with a slightly blurred tree in the background. To further isolate the model from the background, I've decided on this approach.

Original


Using Shutter priority mode on my Nikon D50, I blurred the tree as much as I could. The kit lens has a maximum aperture of 3.6. Unless I want to begin introducing camera shake I can't increase depth of field too much.

Flickr's API and software hybridization

Posted Sun, 2007-11-18 19:20 by Jozef Nagy

Part of Flickr's success can be directly attributed to their opening up of their API. After doing so, numerous third party apps and websites were able to integrate Flickr's services with their own. If this were to ever become a growing trend (see Facebook) we'll start seeing more hybridization of web services with client software.

More websites, and especially web services companies, should let 3rd parties create their own front ends to their service. You might have to deal with consumer confusion between who's product they're actually using. For example, someone might not even be aware of the company whose API is being used.

Mustang Air Filter Replacement [PIC]

Posted Mon, 2007-11-12 23:37 by Jozef Nagy

I usually replace my air filter every spring. This year I let it slide until just this past month, October. Needless to say, the air filter was a mess. I can't stress enough how important good airflow is into a car. Anything >= 6 cylinders needs good airflow. With a 4 cylinder car you just need to make sure to feed the hamster once in a while.

Top 10 UI Design Principles

Posted Fri, 2007-11-09 14:07 by Jozef Nagy
  • Know your user
  • Let the user control the interaction
  • Capitalize on what the user already knows
  • Maintain consistency at the interface
  • Provide effective feedback
  • Expose the interaction to the user
  • Minimize reliance on user memory
  • Minimize the impact of user error
  • Aesthetic matters
  • Always test your interface with users

    • Nikon D50 Usability Assessment

    Posted Mon, 2007-11-05 23:32 by Jozef Nagy



    Nikon D50

    Product Description

    The Nikon D50 is a digital SLR (dSLR) camera. It uses the same large lenses as older 35mm film cameras use, but has a digital sensor instead of film. Because of its digital sensor, it's able to display the images it has taken on a large LCD on the back of the camera. There are more specialized controls on this camera than on a beginner's “point and shoot” camera. The large number of settings also requires additional feedback to the user which is not relevant on a point and shoot camera.

    MIT supports Ron Paul

    Posted Mon, 2007-11-05 11:45 by Jozef Nagy

    According to DailyPaul.com:

    Early this morning a group of MIT students decided they would take a
    stand against the emerging police state. Some supported Ron Paul and
    dropped a 60' long "Ron Paul rEVOLution" banner over the main campus
    building visible from the Charles river and much of Boston. Others
    chose to display a banner reading "Remember Remember the Fifth of
    November." Together they make an extraordinary sight. Please see the
    photo below.

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