Blogs

Since I couldn't locate any examples to control a Siemens Sirius 3RW44 soft starter via Profibus DP in an S7-300 system using Step 7 without PCS 7 or Soft Starter ES software, I decided to write my own reusable function block.

Since others may be running into the same problem, I decided to post the code here (project archive is attached). This allows communication over Profibus, which is far more advanced than reading and writing the standard 16 input/output bits.

Source unknown.

Meet our newest pack member, Reba.

She is an eight-week old German Shepherd cross. It is entirely coincidental but the resemblance with our German Shepherd that recently passed away is remarkable.

Today was the day I had to put Tucker, my loyal German Shepherd, down. He was in pain and no medication in the world could reverse this. It was not an easy decision but a necessary one.

We rescued him in 2004 and it took me a while to figure out what made him tick. But ever since I figured it out, we bonded. He always accompanied me on long horseback rides through the Rocky Mountains and he loved riding in the truck bed.

Over the years, he has taught me a lot. Mainly about myself.

And for that, I am grateful.

My wife's iPhone 4 came new out of the box at the telecom store. Neither of us have visual voice mail, in which case the voice mail button should just dial the voice mail. It does on mine, but it did not on my wife's. Instead, it displayed an error:

There is an issue with the Block Refresh module.

After installation and configuration I discovered that the auto refresh was not working. Firefox's Firebug extension showed that requests were made at the proper interval and data was actually returned, but the block's content was simply not being updated.

For me, iTunes is by far the worst software I have currently running on any of my computers. By far. It is such a contrast with the slick iOS devices from the same company.

Here are my iTunes gripes.

I ran into a technical issue on equipment I am not familiar with. I looked in the manual for clues to an error code and it suggested to contact the manufacturer. I chose to send an email because due to the noisy environment calling was not an option.

The first response from SEW Eurodrive: since I am not a "trusted contact" of theirs, I need to take action:

Milorad Momic was arrested in the French Alps where he had been living under a pseudonym. He was a member of the Serbian unit the Scorpions, a special unit controlled by the Serbian Interior Ministry that took part in the slaughter of 8,000 Bosnians at Srebrenica in 1995.

Source: UPI.

Former chief of the Yugoslav Army Security Directorate, Aco Tomic, was questioned in Belgrade on suspicion that he helped hide Ratko Mladic.

An investigation against Tomic and several others was first launched in 2006. The investigation was stopped after a meeting in the cabinet of then justice minister Zoran Stojkovic.

Serbian police also searched the home of Darko Mladic, the son of war crime fugitive Ratko Mladic, was ordered by war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic to find "evidence and clues pointing to the location where Mladic is hiding."

The EU mission in Kosovo has begun investigating allegations that Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebels engaged in organ trafficking. A report by Dick Marty was approved by the Council of Europe earlier.

The investigation will focus on the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict, including "numerous indications" that organs were removed from the bodies of prisoners held by the KLA on Albanian territory.

Source: BBC.

Leaked NATO documents from 2004 described Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaci as one of the country's "biggest fish" organized crime. This was reported by The Guardian. Kosovo dismissed the allegations. Xhavit Haliti, a close ally of Thaci, was described as the power behind Thaci and "highly involved in prostitution, weapons and drugs smuggling."

Dick Marty, a Council of Europe rapporteur, has reported these allegations in a recent report.

The Kosovo Central Election Commission announced that preliminary results of the elections in Kosovo showed that prime minister Thaci won with 32.4 percent. The Democratic League of Kosovo won 24.6 percent, while the Self-Determination Movement won 12.55 percent.

Voting was repeated in 6 municipalities.

Source: B92.