The S Word Blog: A mostly 100% sort-of-semi-technical blog by Thin Guy. Mostly.

With a seized or stolen thin client, you've lost a device.  That's it.  You'd never "make the papers", but that's a good thing.  You can't hack/copy a stateless thin client because there's no there "there" to hack or copy. (Thanks Dave!),

I was invited to be on the panel of the first ever "Intel Great Debates".  The debate I participated in surrounded Thin vs. "Managed" Thick clients.  Enjoy.

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It's been said that adversity does not build character, rather it reveals character.

All I can say is that our adventures in autism have made me a different person.  Hopefully for the better.

Happy Fathers Day! 

As a follow on to my last post regarding RDP resolution, I thought I'd post some pictures of various multihead configurations using Sun Rays and the Sun Ray Connector for Windows.  Note that these resolutions work for normal Windows Terminal Server sessions as well as Virtual Desktop Computing (VDC/VDI).

Here's a Sun Ray 2FS Driving dual 24.1" LCD's.  Resolution is 3840x1200

Here's a 3x1 multihead group using Sun Ray 270's. Resolution is 3840x1024

Finally here's a 4x1 multihead group using Sun Ray 270's. The individual Sun Rays were constrained to 1024x768 in order not to exceed the max resolution width of RDP which is 4096. Resolution is 4096x768

When Microsoft introduced Service Pack 2 for Windows 2003 Server, they introduced a bug that prevented any RDP sessions greater than 1600x1200 from displaying in 24 bit color.  When Matt Hatley built a fresh Windows 2003 server for an event last August, we could not quite figure out why his full screen session on a dual headed Sun Ray 2FS would only display 8bit color even though we were telling the Sun Ray Windows Connector to connect in 24 bit color.  My server worked fine, his did not.  Turns out I was not current on my service packs and SP2 was to blame!  Sure enough, after applying SP2 to my server, I was limited to 8 bit color as well.  Since a customer just ran into this issue, I thought I'd post the fix and some answers.

Bear in mind that this is not just limited to the Sun Ray 2FS, which in a dual head setup runs 3840 x 1200, but this also happens on a multihead setup of any type Sun Rays.

You can apply this hotfix from Microsoft for Windows 2003 Server to get your higher color depth back for your larger RDP sessions.

For the record, you can go up to 4096x 2048 in an RDP session.  From a width perspective, that is about 3.2 Sun Ray 270's.  Four Sun Ray 270's would be 5120x1024 which is larger than the max resolution in width allowed by RDP.  If you wanted a four head setup, you could use four Sun Ray 2's with each screen limited to 1024x768 (4:3 maintained).

Just a few random thoughts I've had, but twitter has been down a lot lately including now.

• Sometimes I wish I had a van.  A cool 1970's van with a window in the back that looked like a club or a spade.
• It's 101F out right now and wind is about 25 mph.  We call that the hair dryer effect in Las Vegas
• Kids shorts with tags on the sides are of no help.  Front and back look exactly the same.

Now tell me you don't understand twitter.

 

It's been a while since our last update on Bellamy.

Bellamy has slowly progressed with the help of Nevada Early Intervention Services.  She has started attempting words, and seems to understand much more than she did even several months ago.  However, with her non-eating issues and sensory integration disorder needs, we thought it was time to do some private therapy on our own.

A friend gave us the name of a great occupational therapist, who has taken Bellamy under her wings.  Tania who runs the Achievement Therapy Center has become an angel to us, as well as her assistants, Jodi and Julie.  They are going to work on waking her nerves up, stimulating her vestibular sense, as well as her feeding skills.  We are taking baby steps with this process, but we can see little changes with every session.

We also went to see a DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) doctor.  DAN! doctors take a biomedical approach to autism.  It is the belief the too many antibiotics can destroy the gut, then add vaccines on top of this issue, and you have severe problems.  We share the belief with the DAN! approach that vaccine injury results in autism.  As a baby she had far too many ear infections and antibiotics to keep track of.  Then, right before Christmas in 2006, she had a shot while starting to get sick.  We really debated taking her to the ER on Christmas day.  The day after she was diagnosed with pneumonia.  She never really was the same.  She lost all her words, became less engaged and we truly feel that is when we lost her.

As part of the initial DAN! work up, we had several labs drawn, including a urinalysis for heavy metals.  We recently received this back, and found that she is both moderately toxic with mercury as well as xenobiotic toxic (most likely from antibiotics).  We are still feeling sick about this.  We have a plan of attack with the DAN! approach.  We started her on MB12 injections to try to stimulate some more language (she has been attempting many more words since we started).  We are also treating her internally for yeast that was caused by antibiotics and has seeped through her gut into her blood.  Once we can try to heal her gut, we will then try to pull some of the toxins out.  A long process, but it must be done one step at a time.  For those that believe that Thimerosal (aka mercury) was removed from all vaccinations, that is bad information.  Starting in 1999/2000 it was starting to be removed, but it is still present in some vaccinations, including infant flu shots.  If you want to watch a story that nearly mirrors ours, watch the story of the Hannah Poling.  Ask your doctor if there is any thimerosal in the shots.  If they don't know, wait until you can get a 100% sure answer.  Demand proof.  We are huge believers in changing the vaccination schedule.  Do one shot at a time.  There is no reason whatsoever that a child should be subjected to 5 or more vaccines at one time.

Just this last week, we finally got into the best doctors in Las Vegas for diagnosing kids.  They have private practices, but the cost is upwards of $2000 per doctor.  Fortunately they team up for a nonprofit organization called the Lili Claire Foundation, and do the clinics for free.  The only problem is an extensive waiting list.  After 9 months of waiting, we got in last Tuesday.  The doctors spent about 3.5 hours interviewing us and observing her.  We got the words that no parent should ever have to hear: Autism.  In a way we are actually relieved, because we really have known this in our hearts for some time.  There were no tears on Tuesday, just an energy that lit a fire under us that will propel us to do anything and everything possible to help her.  We do not know yet exactly where she fits on the spectrum, this is something we will find this out during our feedback appointment within the upcoming weeks.  We have hope that it will be on the milder end, as the doctors noted that she had some promising skills already going for her.  They also noted that possibly with six months of ABA (applied behavioral analysis) therapy, that she will most likely be unrecognizable from where she is today. We are  now starting the process of searching for hidden funding programs, and trying to qualify, as professional ABA therapy usually starts at about $60,000 per year.  No, it's not covered by insurance.  At least not in most states, including Nevada.  Yet.

We are doing fine despite of it all as we knew an autism diagnosis was already a real possibility.  It's stressful and our lives have changed in ways we could have never imagined, but we are coping.  Her sisters are a wonderful support for her, and have more love and patience than we could have ever imagined.  Every little new word out of Bellamy's mouth is like a party for all of us.  We are working on balancing out time for each of them, finding that balance is tough, as Bellamy needs constant guidance.  We are taking one day, one word, one little piece of progress at a time.  Our hope is that within the next few years she is indistinguishable from her peers, and she will be lucky enough to lose her diagnosis (which many kids have with early intervention and good therapy).

Where Have You Gone?  This song is written and performed by Richard Femenella, the GM of the Las Vegas Charlie Palmer Steakhouse about his son Joey affected by Autism.  Our connection with Richard is we both strongly feel our children were affected by vaccination injury.   This song played during a "presentation" of children affected by autism in Southern Nevada.  It was heart breaking for so many reasons (I'll admit I cried), but one of the biggest was the fact that so many of the pictures of the children showed direct eye contact.  It's hard to understand just how hard, direct eye contact that is, for children who are on the spectrum of autism.   I think that fact was lost on the all the rich people that attended (read donors).  But for a fundraiser, that's what you want...Rich people. 

Please have a listen.

 My wife and I were proud "donor" recipients of tickets to the $1000 per person "Autism's Angels Gala" hosted by F.E.A.T. (Families of Effective Autism Treatment) of Southern Nevada.  Yes, I wore a suit.  Pictures here.

Note:  All Rights/Credits to the song: Richard Femenella and David Vella

(No copyright info on the CD that was given in the Swag bag.  But I felt it would be a better "good" for more people to hear this song than not)

I'll be pulling booth duty (Tues and Weds), giving chalk talks (Tues 2PM in MS IVA Booth) and also a featured speaker in a session with Foundry, Mitel, and Microsoft (Weds 3:15-4 PM Mandalay Bay Room L).

 

If you're waiting for an update on my big "Take Your Daughters to Work Day" Sun Ray eco/green project, don't bother.  Haven't seen them all day.  I didn't check with my "Work From Home" boss first and apparently even though I went through all the trouble to get the forms done, she had other plans for the "workers".  It's a scam I tell you, a SCAM!  :)

Tomorrow is Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.  But what if you work from home?  I'm allowing my girls to come to work with me (i.e. stay home), but I want them to get a better understanding of what I do for a living and why I believe in my product.  Our project for tomorrow will involve figuring out how much using a PC costs and why Sun Ray is a better option (even with the "server" and storage requirements).  I've got my Kill-A-Watt meter ready and we'll compute the savings a household that makes heavy use of sites like Webkinz, NickJr, and the like can get if they switch over to thin client technology.  Tune in tomorrow for our results.

Please give a warm welcome to our Virtual Desktop Engineering team member, Matthais Müller-Prove! Matthais is filling the role of our first ever usability architect for all things VDI, Sun Ray, SGD and the like.  While he didn't have me at "hello", he sure got me with this line "...sooner or later both 'remote' and 'virtual' will become obsolete concepts for the end user."

If you're into the whole themed avatar movement, consider supporting Autism by creating an avatar with a puzzle piece in it.  April is Autism Awareness Month.

 

Just an observation if you are always hungry.  I see candles that smell like sugar cookies, shaving cream that smells like tropical fruits, and lotions that smell of chocolate.  Something to think about if you are having trouble sticking to your nutritional goals.

w00t!  Our very own Linda Skrocki (Not one to brag, but a personal friend of mine!) is being called one of the "New Scobles" by TheReadWriteWeb. Congrats Linda!

Via Linda on Twitter. 

General Motors is donating money to Autism Speaks if you watch a commercial for the new Chevrolet Malibu.  Please watch, every penny counts!  (Yes, I've found my cause).

 

Today is the first ever World Autism Awareness Day as designated by the United Nations.  CNN is doing a really good job with coverage of family stories, doctor interviews, and (my favorite) grilling of insurance companies who refuse to cover treatments for autism.  The personal stories give you hope and pull at your heart (and for some reason are making my eyes leaky).

Learn the Signs, Act Early. 

Bad things are often afoot when normally noisy kids go quiet.





Like a good dad, I sprung to action (i.e. grabbed the nearest camera) after hearing her starting to hum the Barney Cleanup song.

And when you take away the "toys", you can get the tantrum to stop by letting them play with computer games on the computer...desk.

Fried Rice is probably at the top of everyones list when it comes to favorite Chinese food items.  The problem with it in most cases is that it's really unhealthy.  Here's another healthier spin on a classic.  It's also a great way to use up leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 4 Oz Cooked Lean Steak, cubed.
• 3 Egg Whites
• 1 Cup Cooked Brown Rice
• 1/2 Cup Frozen Peas
• 1 Teaspoon of Fish Sauce (substitute Soy Sauce if needed)

Directions:

• Cook Egg whites in a non-stick pan, breaking up with a wooden spoon
• Add steak, rice, and fish sauce.  Mix together and bring up to temperature
• Add frozen peas and cook for additional minute or so.
  

Nutritional Information:

• Calories: 525
• Protein: 50g
• Carbs: 44g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.4g
  
• Fat: 16g

Note:  This is one serving for me.  Depending on your nutritional requirements, you might make this two servings.

Earth Hour is going global this year with a whole bunch of cities turning non-essential lights off.

I've got a better idea. Turn off *AND* unplug non-essential computers.

And while you've got them off, replace them with a Sun Ray that uses less power than your PC in powersave mode.