Here’s a recent opinion piece in the local paper about the importance of Green businesses in Vermont. I keep harping about how green the software industry is at VTSDA meetings and want to get the state to include us in all of their efforts around promoting green industry here. It’s so good for Vermont. I will eventually get my message through! 馃檪
From the Feb 23 Legislative Report of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce
David Winslow, CEO and President of EpikOne, Inc. was recruited by the Chamber and GBIC to testify from a businessperson鈥檚 perspective about what business expects from our educational and workforce development systems. David鈥檚 story of being an underachieving high school student to becoming an entrepreneur who owns a knowledge-based technology business employing 15 people fascinated both the House Commerce and Education committees. The Committee members peppered him with questions about his experiences and what can be done to foster other entrepreneurial-minded young people. The essence of his testimony was that the education system should expose students to business during high school, encourage skills-based training and internships and better align the curriculum with the business needs and technology of today. He also spoke of the need for businesspersons to become more involved in the educational system to provide these opportunities.
From the Burlington Free Press an interesting look at Vermont’s “lopsided” economic evolution:
Vermont is the most entrepreneurial state in the country, according to the study. However, Vermont is last in creating high-wage service jobs; the service industry includes restaurant positions, financial and legal services, publishing and advertising. Connecticut, Delaware and New York lead this category.
I saw mention of this new version of the command line tool in this forum post so I went looking in the MarchCTP. I modified some of the desciriptions a little to fit them onto a powerpoint slide, so this is a tad different than the real tihng
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5.20209>edmgen /help
Microsoft (R) EdmGen version 2.0.0.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2006. All rights reserved.
EdmGen Options
/mode:ValidateArtifacts Validate the ssdl, msl, and csdl files
/mode:FullGeneration Generate ssdl, msl, csdl, and objects from the database
/mode:FromSsdlGeneration Generate msl, csdl, and objects from an ssdl file
/mode:EntityClassGeneration Generate objects from a csdl file
/mode:ViewGeneration Generate mapping views from ssdl, msl, and csdl files
/project:<string> The base name to be used for all the artifact files (short form: /p)
/connectionstring:<connection string> The connection string to the database that you would like to connect to (short form: /c)
/incsdl:<file> The file to read the conceptual model from
/inmsl:<file> The file to read the mapping from
/inssdl:<file> The file to read the storage model from
/outcsdl:<file> The file to write the generated conceptual model to
/outmsl:<file> The file to write the generated mapping to
/outssdl:<file> The file to write the generated storage model to
/outobjectlayer:<file> The file to write the generated object layer to
/outviews:<file> The file to write the pre generated view objects to
/language:Vb Generate code using the VB language
/language:CSharp Generate code using the C# language
/namespace:<string> The namespace name to use for the conceptual modely types
/entitycontainer:<string> The name to use for the EntityContainer in the conceptual model
/help Display the usage message (short form: /?)
/nologo Suppress copyright message
This month’s desktop calendar is really nice. They are done by photographer Paul Hansen of ecopixel for the Green Mountain Club.
[A DevLife post]
There are dreams that are common for people; the one where you are flying, the one where you suddenly realize you have no clothes on and the one where you walk into college or high school class and there is a big test and you realize you haven’t been to any classes all year.
Since I’ve been speaking at conferences, the last one of those has shifted, not once but twice.
I have often dreamt that I walked into a room to do a conference session and realized I hadn’t even prepared it!
Last night I dreamt that I gave a new talk at a user group and was about to give it again about 1/2 hour later. I thought the talk had gone really well. While I was setting up to do the 2nd iteration of the talk, I asked someone (I think it was Dave Noderer) how he thought the first talk went. “Okay,” he told me, “but I think it would have been nice if you had done some demos.”
Luckily something woke me up from my sleep while I was trying to figure out how I was going to solve this problem with only about 10 minutes before the session started.
I do actually have a talk that is totally codeless; it is a session that explains some basic security concepts. But in this dream, I was doing a talk on ADO.NET, so no code demos probably wasn’t such a good thing.
In December, Deer Leap Books in Bristol VT , a wonderful local independent bookstore, closed it’s doors. It wasn’t for lack of local support, but it still wasn’t enough to compete with Amazon, etc.
Today, I saw in the local paper that another fabulous indy bookstore, The Book Rack & Children’s Pages (this one in Essex, VT) is also closing. Very sad. I thought their formula was strong enough to keep them going. (Here’s the article.)
These are wonderful community places. The store’s owner is going to get involved with a recently formed organization called Local First Vermont, to help other Vermont businesses.
The Flynn is our major arts center in Burlington. They have an urgent need for some tech support. If you know anyone that can fill this, send them their way!
Computer Support Assistant
This is a temporary job needed immediately. This person will be responsible for on-site user support for various software and hardware related issues. We are looking for someone who has enough technical knowledge to relieve some of the technical support issues from the current staff. Some data entry may be required. The qualifications for this job include:
路 Experience supporting users in a variety of applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.
路 Experience with Windows XP and Windows 2003. Experience with Macintosh OS helpful.
路 Experience supporting a variety of hardware issues including HP printer support.
路 Excellent troubleshooting and decision-making skills.
路 Strong communication skills and ability to prioritize and multitask.
High School Diploma and experience in Information Technology is a must.
30-40 hours per week, for 3-6 months. Flexibility with schedule possible.
Send resume and cover letter to:
Carol Custard
Systems Support Specialist
Rev 01/29/07
Frances Allen’s Turing award has rightfully created a big buzz as she is the first female in the award’s 40 year history to get this incredibly prestigous technology award. (I love Larry O’Brien’s comment about Grace Hopper (which Kate pointed out to me)!)
But you probably didn’t hear that the Vermont Engineer of the Year award, which has been in place for 46 years went to its’ first female recipient this year, too.
Katherine Norris worked at IBM for 38 years. She started in Fishkill in 1967 and moved up to Vermont to work at the IBM plant eleven years later. She retired only last year.
Can you imagine being a woman in Engineering at MIT in the 60’s? That’s not just engeineering, it’s pioneering!
Read more in this Burlington Free Press article.