Sonny’s Blog

I have a thought: I have observed that nature has 3 main mechanisms for culling overpopulation of a species, which are starvation, disease, and violence, in that order. Each is used in succession, and if the first one fails, the next is employed, often overlapping, until the numbers of individuals is returned to stable level.

Human population, for instance, have increased to staggering numbers. Using intelligence, we have overcome most starvation, disease, and violence. That’s not to say that we have totally eliminated all of these mechanisms, but rather we’ve managed to keep them under control well enough to reach a population 6.8 billion plus, and is still climbing rapidly. (US Census Bureau : http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html).

Current food production, if disturbed evenly, can just sustain 6.8 billion. (Wisenet.com: http://www.wisenet-australia.org/issue59/Feeding%20the%20world.htm ). Everyone knows about the advances in medicine that have saved many lives and, although not perfect, we have governments that keep people from being violent enough not to kill one another in extremely large numbers, such as in large scale wars.

So how much longer can we do this? With our intelligence, humans are the most adaptable creatures on earth. Can we keep our numbers growing at the current rate and continue to stave off natures population controls?

Note - This assumes that Tomcat is installed in c:\tomcat and the JDK is installed in C:\Program Files\Java. If you have installed these file in other locations, you will need to change your ClassPath accordingly.

Note: all these drivers, java servlets and jsp APIs are included. There is no harm in including these, even if your not using them.

For all –

1)    Create folder: C:\jdbcDrivers
2)    Make the a ClassPath in Environment Variables  if one isn’t already there. (Right click My computer> Properties>Advanced> Environment Variables  button).
3)    Add the following into the value.:

.;..;..\..;C:\jdbcDrivers\mysql-connector-java-5.1.12-bin.jar;C:\jdbcDrivers\sqljdbc.jar;C:\jdbcDrivers\ jtds-1.2.5.jar;C:\tomcat\lib\servlet-api.jar;C:\tomcat\lib\jsp-api.jar;C:\tomcat\lib\el-api.jar;C:\Servlets+JSP

MySQL

1)    Get mysql-connector-java-5.1.12-bin.jar from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/ . Download the mysql-connector-java-5.1.12.zip file.
2)    Extract the zip file. Copy the mysql-connector-java-5.1.12-bin.jar file
3)    Copy  mysql-connector-java-5.1.12-bin.jar file into the following files:

C:\jdbcDrivers
C:\tomcat\lib
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\jre\lib\ext

SQL Server - jdbc
1)    Get the driver from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C47053EB-3B64-4794-950D-81E1EC91C1BA&displaylang=en
2)    Agree to the license and download the sqljdbc_1.2.2828.100_enu.exe file
3)    Extract the zip file and navigate to \Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver\sqljdbc_1.2\enu
4)    Copy sqljdbc.jar into the following files:

C:\jdbcDrivers
C:\tomcat\lib
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\jre\lib\ext

SQL Server – jtds
1)    Get the driver from http://sourceforge.net/projects/jtds/files/jtds/1.2.5/jtds-1.2.5-dist.zip/download
2)    Extract the zip file an copy the jtds-1.2.5.jar into the following locations:

C:\jdbcDrivers
C:\tomcat\lib
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\jre\lib\ext

Although UBI has already produced an Avatar game, they missed the mark by not making it an MMO. I have no intention of even buying the game unless it is a persistent multiplayer online world. I grew bored with first-person shooters and player vs computer strategy games a long time ago. MMOs are the only games I play now and face it, they are the wave of future gaming.

Avatar would make a really great MMO. I bet that it could even give WOW a run for it’s money. As the game is now, I predict that it might gain popularity for a brief time because of the movie’s success, but it will fade fast. An MMO on the other hand, I predict, would have real and lasting popularity.

If you feel the same way as I do, go to http://avatargame.us.ubi.com/#/dashboard, log in (or make an account), and post it on their forums. There is a thread already for this at http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6391049957/m/7421042628. If enough people show an interest, maybe UBI will come up to the 21st century and make a truly modern game of Avatar; a MMO!

Saw Avatar last night at the Cobb theater in Westly Chapel, Fl. What an awesome movie!! What an awesome theater to see it in!!

The theater had a balcony with large, comfortable chairs. We where served a meal and drinks at our seats. The lobby was magnificent and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Theaters really need to step it up a notch to compete with other media, and this one, in my opinion, has done just that. I highly recommend going there, not just to see a movie, but to experience it.

Now for the movie. It’s really beyond words. It’s 3 hours an 14 minutes long, but seemed much shorter. The integration between what was filmed and the special effects was seamless. The story was captivating and the scenes breathtakingly beautiful. It was tempered with the right amount of action, drama, and love scenes. You don’t have to be a fan of scifi to really enjoy this movie.

If you interested in joining Free Masonry, search “Grand Lodge of <insert your state here>”. Although I haven’t checked all states, I’m pretty sure that each has a Grand Lodge website where information about membership can be found. Here in Virginia, the URL is http://www.grandlodgeofvirginia.org/membership/index.htm

The basic requirements are that you must be a man, 18 years or older, have no felonies, must not be an atheist, and must believe in one all mighty being.