Todd's Blog

I installed this upgrade to Windows XP Friday night on one of my PCs.  Installation, including download time (cable modem), was about an hour and a half.

One of the first things you notice is the new security features, including firewall and popup blocker for Internet Explorer.  Both seem very well integrated.

So far no problems, and I'd recommend anyone who uses XP do the update.  If you're a dial-up user, you should be prepared to setup your computer to do the download and update overnight.  Better yet, sign up for a cable modem!  (DSL is the second-best choice.)

I have added the ability to sort predictions by game type when viewing predictions for a state.

Next up is I'm going to try to add a feature to filter out "All States" predictions from those predictions shown for a state.

Hopefully these two things will help a couple of people who have told me that the predictions page is "useless".

Today I had a new exhaust system installed on my Vette, that I'd been wanting to do for a long time.  It's a Borla Stinger cat-back system, and I also installed a Magnaflow x-pipe.  This thing makes my car really sound awesome!

Here's a pic of the final result from the back.  I'll post some more detailed pics in the future on my personal home page.

Whew!  I just finished programming that last major feature for the new memberships.

The last feature is a LotteryPost.com e-mail address for Platinum members.

Once you become a Platinum member, you just go into Control Panel, select E-mail Settings, and then enter what you want your new e-mail address to be.  For example, if you enter lotterywinner, your new address would be lotterywinner@lotterypost.com.

You will be able to change your e-mail address as many times as you like.  Changes are instantly active.

I think this new feature will be a nice elite designation for those who upgrade to Platinum.  A real "feather in the cap."

For the techie-heads out there, this took a bit of effort to get the Web server to talk to the e-mail server to add and change addresses.  Now they're both using SOAP to talk XML.

The last step before launch is to create all the administration stuff necessary to track payments and membership levels.  It's all stuff that no one but I will see, but it will make everything work.

Just checked off one of my little to-do items: Top 100, Top 50, and Top 25 posters now have special graphics next to their posts.  Kind of like a seniority thing.

After more thoroughly testing the new search feature, I decided to add some more features that let you specify the amount of numbers to match in each row, plus the amount of bonus numbers to match, if the game includes bonus numbers.

I also added a feature so that if you're not a platinum member, you can still use a date-range-limited version of the search tool to try it out.  Basically, all of the features are intact, but it limits all searches to the month of April, 2004.

Now only two things left until I can launch the new memberships:

1. A feature that will give all Platinum members a Lottery Post e-mail address (membername@lotterypost.com), and,
2. Some internal accounting and administration features to track payments and memberships, and to "turn on" certain features when people upgrade their memberships.

I'll probably also need to write a bunch of description and instructions pages to describe all the new features and what you get when you upgrade.

It's getting closer!

After a marathon programming effort tonight, I think I'm finished with a search feature for Platinum members.  It has some features I've never seen on any lottery site, so it should be pretty exciting.

It's now 3:00 AM, and I think I'm going to collapse, so this is going to be a short entry.

The completion of the Platinum Search brings us much closer to launching the Gold and Platinum memberships, so this is a big step.

For those looking to retrain for another line of work....

http://www.j-walk.com/other/spamu/

Check out the campus!

I just finished the new Statistics page that will be available for Platinum members.  I am really happy with the way it turned out - very easy to use, and still contains a good amount of powerful features.  It works with all games that people can post predictions for, which is also pretty cool.

I'm sure there will be room for improvement, and there will be additional stats pages, but for "version 1.0" I think it's good.

Next up is the search page for results (another Platinum feature).  Once that's finished, I have a couple more relatively minor programming tasks, and then I should be ready to launch the Gold and Platinum membership levels.

Can't wait...

Today Lucasfilm announced the title of the last Star Wars movie ever - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.  From what I've seen, the movie shaping up to be awesome.  This Star Wars fan can't wait.

I recently picked up some collectable Revenge of the Jedi posters.  Lucas originally named Episode VI Revenge of the Jedi, and then later changed it to Return of the Jedi - but not before producing a few marketing materials (mainly small posters).  Those posters are now highly collectable, and I have two different ones!

The entire report is available for free online.  I have read through a few chapters, and I must say it is sad, compelling reading.  The document is extremely well-written, and from what I've seen, strikes a very impartial, factual tone.

Chapter 1, "We Have Some Planes," brings all the emotion of that day back.  Each flight is detailed with exactly who was on board, the situation, and what transpired.  I was glad to finally read in detail about the heroism aboard the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.  True American heros.

Here's a link to the complete report:

http://www.9-11commission.gov/

I had an idea for a prediction activity graph, so people could see how active a predictor was in the recent past.  I added the graph to the Prediction Statistics page for each member.  It shows a bar graph for the past 90 days, with the total number of picks for each day.

Maybe sometime next year (when we get a longer prediction history) I'll add a rolling 13 months graph as well.

For those who like to know the technical details, I was able to do it stictly using HTML table constructs and 3 1-pixel graphics.  The result is that is should appear consistent in any browser, and it should load pretty fast.

Jul 15, 10:01 AM (ET)

DALLAS (AP) - Eight soldiers flying home from Iraq for two weeks of R&R flew in style instead of coach after first-class passengers offered to swap seats with them.

"The soldiers were very, very happy, and the whole aircraft had a different feeling," flight attendant Lorrie Gammon told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions.

The June 29 seat-swap on American Airlines Flight 866 from Atlanta to Chicago started before boarding, when a businessman approached one of the soldiers and traded his seat.

When the swapping was done, "the other two first-class passengers wanted to give up their seats, too, but they couldn't find any more soldiers," Gammon said.

Another flight attendant, Candi Spradlin, said she was impressed with the acts of good will.

"If nothing else, those soldiers got a great homecoming," she said.

Jul 15, 7:25 AM (ET)

BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - Warning: smoking in the toilet can be dangerous. A portable toilet exploded Tuesday after a man who was inside it lit a cigarette.

Emergency workers said the man was not severely injured and drove himself to Clay-Battelle Community Health Center. He was later transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His name and condition were not available Wednesday.

The explosion, which occurred in Blacksville, resulted from a buildup of methane gas inside the portable toilet. The methane did not "take too kindly" to the lit cigarette, said a spokeswoman for Monongalia Emergency Medical Services.

Well, too bad.  It looks like Ditka is out of the Illinois Senate race as quickly as he was in.