For the past few months I've been working on a new book. Actually, its the second edition to one of my most popular books. Introduction to Neural Networks has been out since 2005, and its time for a second edition.

Tracy showed me a cute site that gives you a quick test and tells you what sort of dog you would be. We both took it, and as it turns out, we are both German Sheperds.

Its been out for awhile, but I just found this very cool site that allows you to upload a photo and automatically convert yourself into a Simpson. Here you see myself, my girlfriend Tracy and her sister Lori. Kind of fun!Jeff, Tracy and Lori as Simpsons

Chicago Just got back from a trip to Chicago. We took a 6-hour train ride from St. Louis to Chicago on Amtrak. Amtrak provides outlets for laptops to be plugged into. I was able to use my Mac Air laptop much of the time there and back. This made the time go by considerably faster than air travel. While in Chicago we saw Wicked. The show was great.

While I was in Chicago, IL, they there were many St. Patrick's Day celebration activities going on. One of the most unusual was the green Chicago river. Every year, for St. Patrick's Day, the people of Chicago dye their river green! I had never heard of this tradition until we walked over the river the day before St. Patricks. I made a short YouTube video of it. You can see my YouTube video of it here.

A user sent me a link to a nice YouTube video that he made based on some of the source code in one of my Second Life books. You can view the two parts to the video at the following URL:

Second Life Jet Bands

I jsut published by 100th Amazon review. I have been reviewing products on Amazon for several years, but reached a new milestone today. As of today, I have published 100 Amazon reviews. I do not plan on stopping here. You can read my review of the MacBook Air's Power Supply.

I've been experimenting some with XMLRPC in Second Life.  This allows me to create a web page and send a message directly into the Second Life world.  It does not have to be a web pages sending information.  I could also use any sort of computer program.  

I am the author of several books. I've offered ebooks as well as paperback for several years now. While my ebook sales are much lower than my paperback sales, I consider the ebooks worthwhile. One reason is international sales. Heaton Research books are produced at two locations: the USA and the UK. These two locations still leave much of the planet with very high shipping costs. For example, shipping costs to Asia cost more than the actual book! Many of these customers buy Heaton Research ebooks.

I am not one to buy too many Second Life avatars, but I could not resist a Dr. Who avatar. Tom Baker(4th Doctor), no less. I've already taken Encog back to his regular Avatar shape. The doctor Who avatar might make for a good "halloween costume".