Sometimes win-win doesn't work out

As part of my next project, I'm probably going to have to learn some JavaScript. I'm not all that good at learning programming languages either by reading the books, nor by working on silly exercises that don't either interest me or have a real consequence (like a grade or work commitment).

But it occurred to me that I could use JavaScript to fix the way that the search function is implemented on the web front-end to the DucKon registration database. Currently, when a user presses a search button, it loads a new page with the search form. This should be easily fixable with JavaScript to make the search buttons pop up a request dialog and enter the search data, then submit the form.

But before I even got into trying to find out how to do a form submit from JavaScript, I ran into a problem with the way I implemented the search servlet (the web front end is in Java/JSP). For a search I need two pieces of information: which field I'm searching on, last name or badge name, and the search string. As implemented, the search field is put into the session information table in the database, and only the search string is passed as a form parameter. And, the session information table only gets updated when data is posted to a servlet. So, in order to make this change, I'd have to update both the servelet and the main page. Still very doable, but not easy to accomplish from work due to the way I can work on this stuff (through an SSH session). It also pushes beyond the idea that since I'm building up skills for my work project while working on an outside project, I can do it at work.

Oh well.

Another weird idea from my dreams

Once again, this morning I awoke from a dream trying to, at least sort of, make what I dreamed practical.

In this case, I was dreaming that I was trying to help get my parent's house ready to host a number of Worldcon room parties. Specifically, I was trying to do some last minute picking up of my old bedroom (not in its current use as my Dad's computer lab) while some other group I basically didn't know was starting to set up their party in there.

( From just weird to Star Trekish technology )

County/State size over time

In his Live Journal jrittenhouse posts a link to a map showing how much stimulus money each county in the US is receiving for projects.

Two people (so far), including myself, have commented about how this map, like many that show counties on a country-wide basis, emphasizes how counties get larger as we move from East to West.

I suspect that both the size of the states, which also grow as you move from East to West, just not always as noticeably, are factors of when the lands were divided up for governmental purposes. I once heard, somewhere, that, with three exceptions, the all of the states could be crossed in about one day by the most common method of transportation at the time their current boundaries were set. I suspect that the states were divided into counties, parishes, boroughs, etc. in a similar way. So as we move from east to west, the states and counties get larger because of the changes in transportation over time.

FWIW, the 3 exceptions are Texas -- which normally would have been 3 or 4 states -- California (2 states) and Alaska (3 or 4 states). Montana may also be an exception. I think at least two of these states were left in tact as much due to issues around the slavery debate as for any other reason. Alaska, and Montana if it should have been 2 states, were probably population density issues.