The new version automatically rewrites links on the page that match URLs for contacts you have defined. This makes it zero-effort to implement - just link to various contacts, and their contact card will automatically be associated with that link.

Go get it!

I’ve been on a mission for spare parts for this RC helicopter I got. A mission, I tell you! I found the manufacturer in China (good luck tracking that down), I called the store where my dad bought it… all to no avail. Spare parts don’t seem to be locally available, and shipping them from China directly in the quantity I’d have to purchase in would be more expensive than just buying a new chopper.

So… I guess it’s time for a new chopper. Maybe something just slightly higher-end, possibly a three-channel entry-level thing that has spare parts available. Looks like a trip to Tammie’s Hobbies is in order this weekend.

net comments edit

Just got wind that Kevin Downs of the NDoc project is removing himself from the development of NDoc, leaving no one actively developing NDoc. Further, that means there’s no NDoc 2.0 on the way.

That’s bad news in a lot of ways. First, I feel bad for Kevin since it sounds like he’s done a lot of widely used but not-directly-appreciated work and got a lot of abuse for not moving faster on NDoc 2.0. Second, that means folks who currently use NDoc in a lot of extended ways - via NAnt build scripts, in other automated utilities, etc. - are screwed for .NET 2.0 functionality. In a particularly personal bit of bad news, that means I’ve got to figure out what will happen with CR_Documentor

  • if .NET 2.0 isn’t supported in NDoc, what do I render? (Input on that topic is welcome…)

I guess Microsoft has some sort of less-feature-complete documentation rendering engine codenamed “Sandcastle” they’re coming out with that will generate MSDN style documentation similar to NDoc but in a more cumbersome-sounding process. It obviously won’t have instant NAnt support, meaning there’s going to be some hacking around to get that to work.

I feel like MS is showing up late to the party on this one. If you’re going to release a product, at least make it full-featured enough to be competitive with similar products. I’ve thought about writing my own blog engine for a while now and I wouldn’t release it until it did all the stuff standard blog packages do today; if you couldn’t leave comments, for example, it’s not a full blog package.

Of course, it will most likely become the de-facto standard with the vacuum that NDoc will be leaving. Which is unfortunate, but c’est la vie.

I took the RC helicopter out last night to adjust it a little more and get my practice on. There was just the slightest bit of wind, but for the most part, it was a clear night and I really wanted to get it going.

I flew several shorter flights, trying to fine-tune this little potentiometer on it to get the thing to stop tail-spinning. I think I had it, too. Took it up for a bit, got it under a reasonable amount of control (very mild spinning, probably more me just over-correcting) and was bringing it down when this tree in my front yard violently attacked the helicopter, bringing it crashing down.

Either that, or maybe I sort of flew into the branches there… you choose. My vote is for the Whomping Willow version.

Anyway, that wasn’t the first time I had hit the tree, but it survived all the other times. Not this time. This time this little bar that balances out the helicopter’s main rotor broke cleanly in half, bringing my flight to an end. Just when I was getting good, too! (Jenn can attest to the fact it was flying with some mild amount of control.)

So now I have to go searching for replacement parts. The owner’s manual says you can get them, I’m just not sure where. (“Items to be purchased are lined below. You can order them by their item name, purchase them from local distributors.” The owner’s manual is in Engrish. I think my favorite is the warning about flying in wind - “Do not fly in strong winds. It can limit the helicopter’s fly and confuse your control. Flying in strong winds. The chopper will be missing or cause damage.”)

Time for a Google search.