Jim's Ramblings

It's no real surprise that the US economy is spiraling down the crapper. Prices for everything has gone up and wages have dropped and/or stagnated. The biggest increase (and impact both to the economy as well as to each individual person) has been in the cost of energy. With gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, I don't know of anyone who isn't significantly changing their driving habits.

But for the most part, there is one "habit" that is very very hard to change, even when you really want to. It's the drive back and forth to work. Mass transit in the vast majority of the areas around the US is a joke and although people would love to use it, it's not a viable alternative. You would think that companies and businesses would be smart, realize the pain and seriously look at such obvious alternatives as compressed work weeks or telecommuting (for the benefit of the employees, the economy and the global climate).

But no.

Except for some rare exceptions, the management of most companies agree that it will result in significant savings and benefits, but still refuse to offer the option. After all, we all know how devious and untrustworthy employees are. You need the watchful and ethical eyes of management on them at all times, to ensure that they do their jobs. I hope readers appreciate the sarcasm.

What really got me going about this topic was an articles in today's Baltimore Sun about this very issue. It appears that one county government actually has a flexible workweek option available for employees (including compressed), but they *actively discourage people from using it*! A spokesman states, "We're comfortable where we are." Yeah, I bet you are, but what about the employees? What a joke.

Make no mistake, of course. There are some positions where telecommuting (my favorite alternative) does not make sense. But if you are in front of a computer terminal for most of the day, either as programmer, developer, designer, administrator, accountant, etc... then there is really no valid reason why you cannot do a lot of your work from home. Heck, people bring work home all the time, to "catch up."

When will the powers that be get smart enough to realize that the days of 9-5, Monday-Friday, in the office are on their way out. We, as a society, can no longer afford such old-fashioned concepts.

Disclosure: I have been lucky enough to be able to have telecommuted for several years now... My past and present employer see the obvious value and benefits of the arrangement. Of course, one never knows what the future will bring...

Some interesting news/links:

• GPL vs BSD
• How NOT to do REST
• Protocol Buffers
• Apache HTTP Server 2.2.9

I've had facial hair (a beard and mustache, henceforth just called "a beard") for a long time. A real long time. Something like 30 years.

I first started growing it in my senior year of high school. Facial hair of any kind was forbidden at Archbishop Curley (my school), but I was able to convince my dermatologist to write a note excusing me from this rule, due to "skin irritation when shaving". There was some truth to that. But the real truth was, I wanted to grow a beard. The note worked.

It also worked when I got a new college job, which also did not allow facial hair. I never understood stupid rules like that so, in addition to simply wanting to have a beard, I also felt like a rebel, and bucking the system.

I wanted a beard because, well, I thought (and still do) that I looked better with one. It gave my face that quality called "character." Back then, any sort of facial hair was rare, mostly mustaches if anything, so it made me feel somewhat unique but also helped define my jawline, which I always felt was too weak.

Over the last 30 years, I've only shaved it off once. Maybe 15-18 years ago Eileen decided she really wanted to see what I looked like without one. So I shaved it off (such is love!). She liked it. I hated it. I grew it back (love has its limits after all!). Since then I've switched between full beards and goatees (presently I'm in full-beard mode). Sometimes I let it go a little longer, and sometimes I keep it very trimmed, almost like stubble. This reminds me of another good reason for beards: you can skip shaving for a day or so and it still looks OK. Even so, I've never been able to have it fill in as much as I'd like. For example, my cheeks don't fill in much, so I tend to keep my "full beard" focused on around the jawline and chin.

When I started going gray (I didn't go gray early, but I did go sooner than I expected... I guess I started in my mid 30s), it took awhile for my beard to catch up. I used to be a light brown (back in the day, it was called "dirty blonde"... I can't recall the last time I heard that phrase, but it used to be a common description), but now am mostly gray, both on top as well as my beard. I don't mind; it gives my face character.

Oh joy. ICANN has decided to accept an explosion in the number of TLDs.

The reason, of course, should be obvious: money. Now even more people, companies and organizations will be obtaining these new TLDs to protect their marks or, more than likely, grab them so to be able to sell them to others.

I realize I'm old. I recall a time when obtaining a domain name actually required some justification. For example, you couldn't just "grab" a .org; you had to actually show you were a non-profit. If you were an ISP, you were allowed a .net, unless you could prove that your business was more "commercial" and thus be allowed a .com.

This maintained some sense of sanity and consistency in domain names. Now it's all catch as catch can. And all in the name of cashing in, even more, with this whole Internet thingie.

Each language has its own personality, advantages, warts and inconsistencies. But each also seem to have an almost singular aspect that, if you really wish to be proficient in the language, you must know really, really well. Here's my list on my top 4:

• C: pointers
• Python: name space rules
• Java: Interfaces
• Ruby: Ducking

Of course, this is far from complete, and "expertise" in each topic doesn't imply expertise in the language itself, but without getting your head around these, I feel that you are limited by what you can do.

For most men my age, a rite of passage when young was listening to "Class Clown". Even more so that sneaking a peek at a Playboy or Penthouse, a George Carlin LP signified your transition from being "a kid".

Thanks George! We'll miss you.

Hot off the stove: Apache HTTP Server 2.2.9.

Yum. Good pudding.

The ASF just finished our annual members meeting. During the meeting we elected in a new board and new members. The list of new members isn't public yet, allowing time for them to be contacted, etc... But the roster of the new board can be announced now. It is:

   Bertrand Delacretaz    Justin Erenkrantz        J. Aaron Farr

   Jim Jagielski          Geir Magnusson Jr.       William A. Rowe, Jr.

   Sam Ruby               Henning Schmiedehausen   Greg Stein

Of the above, Bertrand is the "new guy", taking over for Henri Yandell who decided not to run again this year.

Congrats!

I went ahead and upgraded my Macs to 10.5.3 yesterday (using the Combo Update, of course).

Unfortunately, even though many things are better, the most annoying bug in Mail has NOT been fixed... doing a search causes Mail to forget the field width settings in the Message Viewer window. Ugg!

Will someone please explain to me this "Internet Freedom" that Viacom's challenge is supposedly threatening?

What freedom is that? The freedom to steal copyrighted data? How did all that is good and noble about the Internet get somehow associated with the concept that "as long as I can make a copy of something, I should be able to do whatever I want to do with it whether I have permission or not."

Yes, the Internet is all about sharing information, but it doesn't also mean that copyright now flies out the window.

Let's be clear, if I create something (music, video, code, whatever) and I choose to share it, then great! If I also decide to let others share it as well, even better! But the sharing of that information is mine to choose, not yours. Don't lump my exercising my rights in protecting my property, with your perceived "rights" to take what is mine and do whatever you want with it, without my permission.

Really, that sort of mentality is totally embarrassing.

From Bileblog:

Were you so unloved as children that you’re so desperate to squeal out your emotions to every inanimate object you come across? Are you THAT insecure that you so desperately plead for attention whenever you sense sentience nearby?

Most likely crafted during an instance of clarity whilst looking in a mirror.

Geir posts this interesting blog entry. If Sun and others are really interested in figuring out how to improve the situation within the JCP, especially in really encouraging community involvement and interaction, I wonder who-oh-who could they possibly ask?

Through the years, I've used lots and lots of UPSs. Lots.

I have never had such troubles as I have had with the Cyber Power units. They are basically worthless. They have a lifetime of maybe 1 year (with basically NO usage at all... Maybe a total of 3 cycles, down to only say 75% capacity) and fail without warning. Power hiccup and they simply die. You plug 'em back in, run the diagnostic tests and "Lordy Lordy All is in perfect operating condition!"... unless, of course, you unplug the unit from the wall at which point it will go belly up and die with nary a whimper.

I can see UPSs failing... it happens, sure. But with every other UPS type I've ever used I've gotten advance notice when the unit is starting to go south. Not with these. You have absolutely no idea if it's good or bad. It will fail at the drop of a hat and with no warning at all.

Avoid 'em.

One of the many very cool things about being involved in Open Source is that you get to meet and become close to many other people who share a very similar world view with yourself regarding volunteerism. Heck, when you think about it, most of the really successful Open Source projects are based on people sharing their time, energy and talents to create code that is then used by numerous entities to impact the world. If that's not a core concept of volunteerism, I don't know what is. I've known, and been humbled by, people who have expanded their involvement in Open Source to other more "traditional" concepts of volunteering, transplanting themselves (and their families) to remote locations to improve literacy, reduce hunger, or increase the usage of technology to improve living conditions.

There is one non-profit which is especially near and dear to my heart: The Maryland State Boychoir. The MSB offers young men the opportunities to grow in their musical ability, but, even more importantly, the opportunity to understand and appreciate the arts (via the boychoir choral tradition) and grow in self-confidence. We have boys and young men from pretty much every social, religious, racial and economic background, and yet despite these "differences", they grow as a team, as a group, as a choir. They create life-long friendships. So more so than the musical training, these incredible young men learn that it's OK to be musical or "artistic" and that you are still masculine, that being "a man" is not just sports (although most of our boys are very successful there as well), and that cultural "differences" aren't divisive at all.

I volunteer quite a bit of my time to the MSB; I use vacation time to attend and proctor camps and tours, I volunteer at events and serve as proctor of the Concert Choir and on the board of the MSB, and help out financially. If you are located in the Maryland region, I encourage you to get to know the MSB and attend a concert. And with the economy the way it is, it is getting harder to find people willing and able to financially help out as well. If you can, then that would certainly be most appreciated!

But even if the MSB isn't your cup of tea, I encourage to find something to volunteer for. It makes a big difference, not only in your life, but also in lives of the people you touch.

Although I've been "on" Twitter for awhile, it's only recently that I've really used it. For me, I find it much easier to take a minute or 2 to write up a short 1-2 phrase tweet regarding something on my mind, than spent more time to craft something larger and longer to "warrant" a blog post.

A blog post seems like just too much work.

A tweet is just fun.

If you want to follow me, my Twitter ID should be pretty obvious.