You could find the link to my notes and files for my presentation, “Data Integration with Flash Interfaces,” at the following forum thread on FlashSupport.com :

http://www.flashsupport.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1591

If you are loading a SWF file containing V2 components (i.e. components from MX 2004), you might experience problems with the component(s) if you don’t set the _lockroot property of the holder MovieClip instance to true. For more details, see:

http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flash/mx2004/main_7_2/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Flash_MX_2004&file=00002017.html

If you use MS Windows XP Pro edition and use IIS to develop web sites on your machine, you can use IISAdmin to setup more than one site definition. You can still only have one site active at a time, but the tool has a system tray site switcher so you can easily change which site is active. Download the tool at:

http://www.mindxpand.be/iisadmin/

This is “old news” by Internet standards, but if you missed Jon Stewart (from the Daily Show on Comedy Central) on CNN’s Crossfire, you can watch it for free online at ifilm.com:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831 (Thanks, Peter!)

And you can read the transcript here:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html  (Thanks, Elenor!)

If you haven’t discovered this neat little utility for Windows XP, I’d suggest giving it a try. It greatly improves the Alt-Tab application switching UI, providing thumbnail screenshots of the apps as you cycle through them.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

This morning as we left with one of fav brunch spots in Hollywood, Highland Grounds, I got a glimpse of Richard Schiff from the West Wing (he plays Toby, the Communications Director). He was by himself, wearing a blue baseball cap. I’ve seen him at the cafe before, and I’m pretty sure he lives in the nearby Hollywood Hills.

Last night, we drove down to Long Beach to see Sandra Bernhard. The venue was great–not terribly large, and our seats were about the middle row, nearly dead center. We last saw Sandy at Joe’s Pub in NYC a few years ago, so it was a treat to see her again. She was a bit more cynical than usual, and maybe even a bit “down” over the current socio-political climate in the US (and its effects abroad). I wished I had bought her new CD, Excuses for Bad Behavior Part 2, at the show, but I ordered it this morning at her online store (see http://www.sandrabernhard.com). I especially liked her rendition of “Here I Go Again”.

If you’re in the Ottawa or Montreal area, and are looking for a one-day dose of extreme Flash, then consider going to this Flash in the Can event. I’ll be presenting my “Data Integration with Flash Interfaces” session, updated for the latest advances in Flash Remoting AS2 and Flex. For more details about the events, see:

http://www.flashinthecan.com/

For more information, see http://track16.com/track16nights.html.