October 2008 Archives

Call this week eventful would be an understatement. Monday was the anniversary of Mom's death. Wednesday night the Phillies win the World Series, yesterday my friends's 2 month old son has a successful surgery to address an intestinal issue, and today it is Halloween (wait till you see Emma) and the Phillies parade (which we will hopefully get a chance to attend - we're leaving now!), all the while, work continues hot and heavy.

And next week, with the election and me seeing a college admissions councilor looks to be almost at hectic.

Wow.

Be seeing you, memento mori, happy Halloween.

Two great pieces that I'll be sure to reference in the future (expecially when I redesign this blog):

Stefano's Linotype: Why Programmers Suck at CSS Design

niqos design studio: CSS for Programmers (and anyone else who appreciates clean, approachable CSS)

Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports says Baseball's crown event is beyond repair due to the handling of the game in face of the weather.

Phil Sheridan at the Inquirer, in a much linked to piece, says it's the league's pursuit of television ratings that's to blame.

Jayson Stark at ESPN says that now, no matter what the story of this World Series will be about the weather.

Maybe all this is true.

What isn't however, is Michael Radano's characterization of Philadelphia, in light of this, as the angriest place on Earth. I'm so tired of the stereotypes branded about of Philly sports fans and Philadelphia. Anger relies on being surprised by something that you don't expect. Most folks I know looked at what happened and simply said "only in Philadelphia". Everyone I know is looking forward to the game. Not angry. Anxious about yet another letdown. But that's it. I think most just simply stand behind the team and believe.

Go Phillies!

I didn't say it. xkcd did

The maintainer of VIM on Debian has switched to Emacs!

Two Mac users switch to Emacs.

Vimeo: What You Can Learn From ido.el

Today might be the day that Carlton, Schmidt, McGraw, Rose, get some company in Philly sports immortality.

Today is that one year marker I mentioned in a previous post.

Go Phillies!

(Oh, and I haven't shaved since Friday. Not going to until this is over. So it is a scruffy manic Monday!)

The guitar scale version, the software engineering version.

Related:

Mozila Developer Center: Class-Based vs. Prototype-Based Languages.

Wikipedia: Prototype pattern

JavaWorld: A look at the Composite design pattern

Fluffycat: Java Design Patterns

The year has gone by so fast, and it still seems like yesterday. Maybe it always will. At least now, when I dream of Mom, I end up waking with a smile and a bounce to my step.

So...

Hi Mom,

I'm doing good. Work is going well, Emma and Richelle are doing great. Dante and Katie say hi. So do Brendan and Matt. You should see their house. You'd be so proud. Al and family say hi too. My back is feeling a bit better. Just have to keep working at it. Anyways, I bet you've made some friends, and ruffled a few feathers here and there. That's okay ya know. Not everyone will like you, even if you'd like that to be true. But ya know, those people that know you love you. I miss your giggles and wicked sense of humor. I swear I see it in Emma more every day. And I've been known to crack a goofy smile more myself these days. As for the world, Obama might win, and the Phillies are one game away from doing the same in the World Series. I can see you right now in some over sized Phillies jacket enjoying the show. I know you'd be calling me after every game if you could to share some joy. Ya know, you once told me that it was I who was the adult, and you who was the child, but in the end, that can't be true, because even though you may not think so, it was you who taught me much.

Love you Mom,

Shane

As part of their Women In Tech series, Blogher's Virginia DeBolt interviews Shelley Powers. It's a terrific interview. Check it out.

Old news on my Twitter stream, but thought I should share here: SOAWorld republished a piece of mine I wrote a while back on principals I've picked up from programming.

More and more families are facing homelessness. According to Reuters, Wal-Mart customers are delaying buying necessities till payday, including infant's formula. It wasn't that long ago I can forget, where I was living payday to payday, check cash to check cash. But I didn't have a family to support back then. It would be a terrible struggle to be in such a place in this day and age.

Meanwhile: $150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image - yeah - keep on believing she's someone you can relate to.

CIMer and friend Aaron Held writes a great post on specialization and the issues it raises in a development organization.

The Heinlein quote he shares is a keeper, and so is the podcast he linked to: Escape Pod: EP179: Arties Aren't Stupid. I'm new to Escape Pod, which, apparently is a podcast where a sci-fi story is read and then discussed. The comments thread on this one is hot and heavy with folks arguing the effect of the narrator's accent and slang - I think they transport you deep into the story's universe. It's an awesome fun recording. I typically don't find the time for podcasts, but in this case, I'm subscribing.

Susie Madrak commented on the possibility some folks just may not care about this World Series since the two teams involved aren't the usual suspects - but like last night shown - you're going to get get great baseball. Every game is going to be a nail biter.

Interesting places to get some World Series news:

Ballbug from Memeorandum.

Philly Future: Phillies Search - see what the Philly blogosphere is saying.

It went great, but there's some lessons to be learned to manage and grow it into the success it deserves to be.

Three links from two Comcasters:

codeartisan: Jon Moore: Measure your improvements

codeartisan: Jon Moore: Cracking down on technical debt

code zen: Arpit Mathur: Isn't quality code a feature?

IBM developerWorks: Documenting software architecture, Part 1: What software architecture is, and why it's important to document it

IBM developerWorks: The architecture of Web applications

W3C: Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One

w3.org: Web Architecture from 50,000 feet

Gabor Cselle: "The Future of Email" Talk in Sydney

Identity Management Manifesto: via robert_francis

Burningbird: This Week's Semantic Web, Burningbird style

Waxy.org: Memeorandum Colors: Visualizing Political Bias with Greasemonkey

slacktivist: They need help: Information -- facts, reality, the rebuttal and debunking of lies -- is one kind of help that the captives of unreality need. That information is necessary, but not sufficient, for those who have chosen their own captivity. What else is necessary, and what might be sufficient to help them choose not to make that choice, is something I want to continue exploring.

Planet RDF

Penny Arcade! posted a comic that summarizes what many think of online anonymity and the Internet: John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory: Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad.

Up until the past few weeks, I would have agreed. But now I am starting to adopt a more nuanced view.

I don't want to get into what has triggered the change of heart, and no - I am not anonymously blogging - my name lends credibility that I am not willing to trade. However, I have come to realize there are those who need to be able to speak out, and without anonymity cannot do so.

It's confusing subject matter, so here are a few links of various viewpoints:

CNet: U.N. agency eyes curbs on Internet anonymity

Business Week: Busting a Rogue Blogger: Troll Tracker has been unmasked as a patent lawyer for Cisco. Now they're both facing litigation

SSRN: Anonymous Blogging and Defamation: Balancing Interests of the Internet: It is important not to silence communication on the Internet, but it is just as important not to silence victims of defamation. Therefore, this comment argues for the protection of libel plaintiffs facing defamatory comments from anonymous bloggers.

Media Bloggers Association: Announces Libel Insurance For Bloggers - huge news for those who intend to pursue acts of journalism independently.

Must See Video: Hope2604 - Steve Rambam Pt 1 - Privacy Is Dead - Get Over It

Must See Video: Hope2604 - Steve Rambam Pt 2 - Privacy Is Dead - Get Over It

Wired.com: 'Anonymous' Member Unmasked, Charged With Web Attack on Scientology

Bruce Schneier: Essays and Op Eds

Time Berners-Lee's new World Wide Web Foundation

Global Voices Online: Global Voices Advocacy: A project of Global Voices Online, we seek to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.

Reporters Without Borders

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Risks Digest

Slashdot: Your Rights Online

Metafilter: If information is power, then access is empowering

NYTimes: Overfeeding on Information

NYtimes: Spinning a Web of Lies at Digital Speed

NYTimes: The Rise of the Machines

Andrew Sullivan: Why I Blog

Reason.com: Every Man a Derrida

Rough Type: Googling and intelligence

Techdirt: Is Web 2.0 About Exploitation Or Empowerment?

I've been dealing with a few things, including migrating all of my personal sites to a new web host (next - upgrading my templates to meet latest MT versions), that have kept me away this past week, but hopefully today will catch up on my blogging.

Chron.com: Answers come too late for Ike worker's daughter: Clear Lake woman uses Web to track down adult child of man killed while saving dogs from freeway

Funny post over at Mind Hacks.

Calvin Coolidge famously said: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Seth Godin: Is effort a myth?

Overcoming Bias: Make an Extraordinary Effort

All we can do is play the cards we are dealt the best we can. And try to do so with every hand.

Lots of material out there to read to understand what is going on. Here are some of the more interesting ones I've found:

The Money Meltdown - a set of links that attempts to summarize the situation and how we got here.

Slate.com: Subprime Suspects: Puts to rest the idea that poor homeowners are somehow to blame for this.

60 Minutes: A Look At Wall Street's Shadow Market

Megan McArdle: How did it all happen? - some cognitive science behind this.

Forbes: The Economics of Trust - Capitalism requires trust. Break the foundations of trust between people and institutions and something like this is inevitable.

And the best two explanations I have heard so far were on This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money and Another Frightening Show About the Economy

I have a problem on my host. This came in handy.

Google's Matt Cutts asked this very same question a while back and followed up. Know any yourself? In particular, those that you can donate to via the United Way?

Lawton Elementary was the exception to the norm of my Philadelphia educational experience. While I pretty much have forgotten everything of my 5th grade Latin studies, I bet it had a positive effect on my problem solving and communication skills. NYTimes: Latin Returns From Dead in School Language Curriculums

I have some links to share about ukulelies today. Scroll to the end of the post for why :)

Metafilter Thread: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performs the theme to "Shaft" (SYTL). Really, is any description needed?

YouTube: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Shaft

YouTube: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - The Good the Bad the Ugly

Philly.com: Tiptoeing no more - A revival of the sweet-sounding ukulele is stimulating Philadelphia's music scene, with classical, jazz and even rock sounds.

YouTube: Ukulele weeps by Jake Shimabukuro

YouTube: Sci-Fi Ukulele: Doctor Who Theme

YouTube: Run to the Hills, Iron Maiden (on ukulele)

We bought Emma a Uke almost a year ago and she strums along while I play guitar or to just about any music playing in the house, but sometimes she just rocks out :)

Check it out: OpenPyro: OpenPyro is a pure AS3 framework for creating RIA's. Open Pyro draws a lot of inspiration from Flex but aims to be more expressive as well as have a smaller filesize and memory footprint.

Arpit Mathur, one of the most brilliant developers I know and a straight up Flash guru is leading the Open Pyro project. He recently posted about OpenPyro on his personal blog and includes a screencast of him using the framework to develop an app.

Kevin Fitzpatrick another CIM Flash master, and lead developer of another open source project at CIM, LogBook, comments about OpenPyro.

Tech Crunch: Big Blogger Pay Cuts At b5Media

Valleywag: Valleywag cuts 60 percent of staff

Gawker: Friday Is Always Black

Hopes and prayers for all those affected.

In software engineering we have a concept called 'Duck Typing'. Basically, some languages trust developers more so than others (lets say Python versus Java), and you can trust that if an object 'walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck'.

You end up writing far less code due to the trust you have that things are what they appear to be.

In this year's Presidential campaign, you have a candidate that looks like a normal Joe, walks like a normal Joe, and talks like a normal Joe, but whose income is anything but.

Can you guess who?

CNBC.com: Warren Buffet explains the credit crisis to Charlie Rose

FREE FOR ALL! the movie - watch it online. Roger Ebert's review.

Andrew Sullivan: Confronting Racism Against Obama (Powerful video)

NYTimes: Tom Davis Gives Up

YouTube: SNL VP Debate (via akkamsrazor)

YouTube.com: 5 Friends Uncensored - Don't Vote

YouTube.com: Bob Dylan: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

If you've been keeping your Subclipse Eclipse plugin up to date on Leopard, sooner or later you will be met with a situation where your svn cli client will report an incompatibility and lead you to upgrading it.

The problem starts when you download and install the universal binary at CollabNet.

Installation goes well, but it doesn't upgrade the original installation you have on your machine.

The simplest solution found in the comments in this post was to override path so that /usr/local/bin/ takes precedence over /usr/bin/ . In addition, I took the additional step of moving the original svn binaries from /usr/bin to a backup folder, to avoid any possible conflicts.

Check out the new version of Google's Blog Search. I'm looking forward to seeing what this evolves into. About time there was some new competition in this space.

Other meme-trackers I visit all too often:

Memeorandum.com

Blogrunner

Technorati

Megite

There's a great series on applying RESTful concepts in application design at TheServerSide.com by Randy Kahle and Tom Hicks that's worth a read:

A RESTful Core for Web-like Application Flexibility - Part 1

A RESTful Core for Web-like Application Flexibility - Part 2

A RESTful Core for Web-like Application Flexibility - Part 3

Links on a theme in today's roundup.

Union Square Ventures: Why The Flow Of Innovation Has Reversed:

. It used to be that innovation started with NASA, flowed to the military, then to the enterprise, and finally to the consumer. Today, it is the reverse. All of the most interesting stuff is being built first for consumers and is tricking back to the enterprise. I suggested that one reason this is happening is that the success of a web service is more often determined by its social engineering than its electrical engineering.

Jeremiah Owyang (of Forrester Research): Why 'Friending' Will Be Obsolete:

Like a baby, we're teaching the 'system' our language, how to walk, how to coexist in our real flesh and blood world, the 'system' is just starting to show intelligence. One primary example of this is the use of hashtags in Twitter. We use the # sign to tag content so it's easily to organize and find. That one # character isn't native to our tongue (unless when you recite your grocery list and say "hashtag") it's another example of us speaking machine language in order to teach the system.

For example, I started a social experiment on Sunday, where I encouraged folks to tweet related music artists using the tag "#relatedmusic" you can see the database form when you search for that term -If we had enough people do this in my -and your- network we'd be able to build a reference engine that other music reccomendations services could pull from.

Search Engine Land: Danny Sullivan: The Google Hive Mind:

As Google turns 10 years old, that important birthday sees the company more powerful than ever before. With its competitors in disarray, the Big G seems likely to grow even further. The secret to its success? For me, it's what I've been calling the "Google Hive Mind. " Rather than follow a rigid top-down master plan, the company's direction and success has been shaped by decisions often taken independently of how they'll benefit the company as a whole. But collectively, those decisions DO form a master plan, a hive mind that dictates what the company will do.

Phil Windley's Technometria: Alan Kay: Is Computer Science an Oxymoron?:

One of Alan's undergraduate degrees is in molecular biology. He can't understand it anymore despite having tried to review new developments every few years. That's not true in computer science. The basics are still mostly the same. If you go to most campuses, there is a single computer science department and the first course in computer science is almost indistinguishable from the first course in 1960. They're about data structures and algorithms despite the fact that almost nothing exciting about computing today has to do with data structures and algorithms.

The Internet is like the human body. It's replaced all of its atoms and bits at least twice since it started even though the Internet has never stopped working. Attacks on the 'Net aren't really attacks on the 'Net, they're attacks on machines on the 'Net. Very few software systems, maybe none, are built in ways that sustain operation in spite of being continually rebuilt and continually growing.