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This gift-getting stuff is serious business

Posted on 2005-12-31 at 20:58

I've centered my chi and I am prepared for the excess of presents that you have purchased for me. Commence with your offerings so that I may show you that I am pleased:

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Considering the success of the Intelligent Design push...

Posted on 2005-12-31 at 13:46

The state senate is considering expanding the initiative to the periodic table:

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Shifting Values - Resource Worth in the New Economy

Posted on 2005-12-30 at 16:14

Abstract:
Concerning the New Economy and the rise of virtual property valuation. This paper was written in February of 1998 during the swelling of the Dot Com Bubble. Though the figures are dated, the thesis is, I believe, still defensible.

Paper:
So you say you want a revolution? Well, here you go. Welcome to the New Economy---yes, capital N, capital E. I know, why have a New Economy when we haven't figured out the old one yet. Perhaps that's true, but it doesn't seem to concern the next-generation digital bean counters whose hopes seem laced with visions of information and trust-based commerce at the expense of the integrity of the manufactured product. A revolution, indeed.

What is this New Economy exactly? It's no less than the shift from things and machines to people and ideas. From competition to coopetition. From causality theory to complexity and chaos theory. What does all this jabber mean? Have a seat, and let me tell you.

Twenty-five years ago, any billion-dollar company would've had suits strutting in, slumping out, and moving throughout all day long. A day in the life of a Ford engineer would likely have been prescribed from a recipe of 1 part incremental innovation, 2 parts posturing, 3 parts corporate politics, and a dash of middle-managerial excess sprinkled in for good luck. Red Tape was the protein of a good company. Order, management, control, and manufactured products were the building blocks used by every successful business to survive in the dwindling last days of the industrial age. Now, these blocks seem like wrecking balls.

Order can't be maintained when management hasn't any idea about how to measure productivity. Earlier in the century productivity was simply the ratio of produced materials to the cost of production. This formula is forced into obsolescence by a shift from manufactured goods to collected information. How much is an idea worth? How much did it cost to produce that idea? These seem to be the questions plaguing fortune 500 companies. Traditional ideas of supply and demand cannot be superimposed onto this economic model. Oh, that's to say we don't try. Look at IBM. Once the undisputed champion of the technological arena, IBM kept its old-world business model and lost this title to Microsoft and Intel. What happened to the IBM-Compatible system? It's called the Wintel system now. Go figure. As for IBM itself, though it produces over US$76 billion---far more than Microsoft's US$11 billion---it is valued at only US$100 billion compared with Microsoft's US$150 billion. Now you tell me something hasn't changed. Look at General Motors. Producing US$160 billion, it is valued at only US$56 billion. Why? It's the shift from things to people.

People and the ideas they naturally create have come to replace manufactured goods in order of importance in this New Economy. Having the right idea or the right list of employees in Silicon Valley---the traditional nesting ground of information industry pundits--- is far more important than having a working product ready to hit department store shelves. Who cares that no one has ever seen the mysterious vaporware called Trinity by Id Software. All that matters to Id's market value is that John Carmack, coder-extraordinaire, is leading the way and that the idea---that of a truly immersive 3D first person gaming environment with photorealistic scenes---is a good one. Everyone knows that Carmack is reliable and is one of the best 3D action game programmers ever thrown to earth from gamer heaven. Id is a formidable company so long as Carmack sticks around. How much is that worth?

And speaking of value, how does a company truly engage the Internet to its best interests? Sure, a web site is great, but the real concern is with what this new medium means to accountants and advertisers---that is to say, to the people who traditionally determined value to a company. Who needs to concern themselves with just what Betsy down the street wants in a product or service when one has the entire world with which to deal? I mean, are Betsy's wishes where the money is? Research will determine that---not a manager or a marketer, just research. Who needs to limit corporate affairs geographically when a global communications network allows for the disintegration of territorial concerns? Besides, won't Betsy choose to bootstep in line with the rest of the world when she realizes---via that same global communications network---that what she thought she wanted wasn't what she actually needed? I mean, she can only thank the industry, can't she? It inspires a comfortable feeling to know that corporate interests will help us to learn more about our needs and desires---even those we never knew we had. It's kind of nice having a Big Brother, of sorts, looking out for us, isn't it?

But the real economic concern isn't about what the world needs---or could need with the right prodding. That can be determined with an appropriately expensive data-mining query to look for overarching spending or lifestyle patterns. Easy stuff now. Entire companies have been formed with no product other than immense databases culled from every entered contest, filled out form, credit card purchase, and library card transaction ever initiated by the population at large. No, the real concern is in how to manage that data. Copyright protection doesn't extend to databases and yet we pay big bucks for access. Copying a program to another disk and giving it to a friend doesn't affect Microsoft's hard profit line, but it is illegal. Why? Because corporate America desperately wants to control, to manage, the flow of information. If we didn't, Microsoft surely wouldn't waste its time writing all those great programs. Id wouldn't bother working on Trinity. Data mining corporations wouldn't see a reason to gather all that freely available information into one place.

This information-based commerce, however, cannot be controlled so easily. Information is all becoming 1's and 0's. The technology industry calls that convergence. Everything, from movies to doctoral theses, is being moved to the new digital format. And as we all have learned, this new digital format cannot be kept secure. Data leaks. Information, no matter how the industry black-boxes it, is free flowing. Ideas cannot be truly protected from theft. Apple created the concept of a Window-based Graphical User Interface. Microsoft used their idea. One can almost hear Bill Gates voice. "Thanks Apple, but we can take it from here." Sure, Microsoft changed it a bit---they call that innovation in the New Economy---but they didn't invent it. When Id's Trinity was announced, other companies agreed it was a good idea. So good, in fact, that they are now working on separate software versions of the same concept. Maybe in a few years one of them can say to Id Software, "Thanks Id, but we can take it from here." In this New Economy, companies are forced into the unprecedented position of having to display proof of good ideas to the industry in hopes that they can then get the idea to market before the imitators, whose numbers seem to be a good indicator of the validity of the idea, can do the same. Suddenly business is thrust into a playing field where, for the first time in history, the economy of time far outweighs the economies of scale or quality. To survive in a world where the primary commodity is impossible to fully control, companies must move from a competitive state to a coopetitive state. Even in competing companies, a measure of cooperation is necessary. Microsoft cannot compete in the Internet technologies market without recognizing that standards will drive consumer acceptance. Standards cannot be achieved without cooperation. No one wants another company controlling the standard because it necessarily creates a new sort of monopoly---one where a single corporate entity controls the shell in which information is stored, viz. Microsoft's operating system. The Sabre reservation system, originally created by American Airlines, is open to all its competitors, who have a say in its structure, so that every airline can benefit from its existence. Without all airlines being onboard, The Sabre system doesn't have much market appeal. With all of them onboard, it becomes an invaluable resource for information and the distribution of the air travel commodity to the public. A rising tide lifts all boats … in theory.

We've moved into a world in which we cannot point conclusively to a specific cause for a specific economic effect. The old causality business model doesn't work anymore. Some of the more adventurous economists---bet you never thought you'd see adventurous and economist in the same sentence---have proposed that we ought to look at economy as the product of complexity theory or chaos theory forces. Complexity theory holds that it often seems true that the sum of the parts doesn't inevitably explain the existence of the whole. You want to see complexity theory at work? Look at a rainforest or Ford Motor Corporation. Chaos theory fills in the blanks that Complexity theory doesn't touch. It is a science that tries to approach incredibly complex systems as they are rather than by simplifying them as other sciences tend to do. It upholds the cause-effect relationship but concludes that many things have a causality string that we simply cannot follow. The classic example is one wherein the beating of a butterfly's wings over Afghanistan ultimately results in the formation of a hurricane miles away. One caused the other, but the relationship between them is too complex to distinguish its component parts. According to these economic theorists, economy in this new environment works similarly. The President is accused of sexual impropriety and New York Stock Exchange safeguards are triggered to avoid serious detriment to the stock market. Every leading analyst points to a correlation but none can explain the relationship in detail.

To say that this New Economy is simply about the creation of new market demands, the expansion of the market to global levels, or the shift from material goods to information is to see this revolution in short-sighted terms. Perhaps complexity theory is adequate to describe this as well. These things may be a part of the whole, but the whole itself is something entirely different. It's about change so fundamental that we cannot quantitatively express or measure it. It's about a change so thorough that it affects the way in which we view change. Canons of economy are obsolete before reaching the printer's press. What is a businessman to do? Well, it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the corporate structure and practices of a company like Netscape. Small product development teams, decentralized management, and a less rigid environment all work together to create a model that makes it easy to shift focus from one project to another quickly as market demands necessitate. This is the model adopted by everyone from Microsoft to Saturn Cars in hopes that it will allow them the flexibility needed to react to the last minute demands of the anarchy of our modern economy. Will it work? Ultimately that is a question that history will have to answer. This is a revolution that hasn't ended yet. Perhaps we'll all know in a few years. The business world at large seems to have hope that a new model, like the Netscape one, will work and allow for a stable structure in the midst of a Post-Modern economic mess. Most answers to the problem of information control have thus far been teetering between outright censorship and capricious idiocy. Whatever the answer, we had better find it soon or we may be facing a global economic meltdown of behemoth proportions.

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I miss Jow Ga

Posted on 2005-12-29 at 13:45

I need to start thinking about how I'm gonna get back to Jow Ga. I miss it. Financially, I think it's doable with some serious planning, but in terms of time, I'm gonna have to get creative to fit it all in and still spend time with Cadence. It'll be better when she's old enough to go with me and take classes.

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New and Improved List-O-Things That Gnome Needs

Posted on 2005-12-29 at 10:44

A while back, I wrote down a list of things I wanted to see Linux get. It's been a year and a half since I wrote that list and I wanted to revisit it to see what has been done and what needs doing now.

My first list in review:

• Money Management Engine: Not only is this not done, it's not even begun or discussed. I still think it's a good idea, but it looks like unless I'm willing to write it myself it ain't happening...unless Gnucash decides to add it to their 2.0 version and have kept that feature hidden and secret this whole time. I'll hold out hope for that.
• Music Engine: There hasn't been much movement on this front, though the discussions of Gnome 3.0 (codenamed Topaz) suggest that such a thing might be in the works for that version. In the interim, Muine and Rhythmbox, for instance, still insist on using their own back ends instead of agreeing on a standard.
• Supplyline integration with the entertainment industry: This was pie-in-the-sky when I first mentioned it. Since I put it on my list that hasn't changed, though at least now there exists iTunes support in Gnome, which is a step in the right direction.
• Better SDL/OpenGL APIs: A complete no-go.
• Better Hardware Integration: Finally a success! Since I wrote this list, hardware integration in Linux has grown greatly. Most things that I've used are simply plug-n-play (but for real, unlike what windows calls Plug-n-Play). More work needs to be done, but I can only be pleased with how smoothly hardware is being supported in Linux nowadays.
• First-Timer Wizards: I've heard it mentioned elsewhere, but so far I've not seen anyone implement such a thing. In retrospect, I'm not sure it's a must-have item as much as a would-be-nice item.
• Hot chicks: Linux still lacks the hot chicks. I hold out hope that it'll change soon, though, and us Linux geeks will be the new rock stars with our stretch limos and groupies and trashed hotel rooms.

So what about now? What do I think Linux and Gnome need now? Let me tell you:

• Money Management Engine: This idea is still good enough that I want to see it happen. Here is a quick run down of what I mean by this.
• Unified API: Linux, or at least Gnome, needs to clarify and unify the API as I describe here. This will help to bring in outside developers, which Gnome and Linux both sorely need. It's time to open this thing up to the legion of Windows-centric developers out there who would write for Linux if the API were more approachable.
• Administrative simplicity: Right now, if you use any of the mainstream linux distros, you can use linux without difficulty, but administering the box is still difficult. Gnome needs to HIGify (yes that's a word, google "Gnome HIG" to see what I mean!) the admin processes. That means, for instance, installation needs to be cleaned up (Ubuntu and Apt-Get do a lot for this but the problem still exists). But it also means we need to start seeing good, HIG-compliant admin interfaces for at least the most common of the services, like apache, bind, mailman, postfix, proftpd, and others. Sure I can install webmin and do it that way, but Webmin is hardly HIGified. I mean something as simple to use as Microsoft's Enterprise Manager to administer PostgreSQL or MySQL. I mean something as simple as Microsoft's IIS admin tool to administer Apache. We've taken care of the end users, not let's show a little love for the linux sys and network admins.
• User-loadable drivers: Let's face it. Linux can supply decent drivers for our hardware, but things like graphics cards are always going to perform better when using the closed-source drivers from their own manufacturers until we can change their minds on that issue. In the interim, how about something as simple as a directory like ~/.drivers where users can place proprietary drivers for use by the system as needed. I mean a simple schema like this: System boots up. System finds built in drivers for all hardware. System shows log in screen. When user logs in, system scans ~/.drivers for any drivers that purport to be for hardware that is currently being handled by a system driver. If a driver is found, the system driver resets with the user driver. If not, the system driver continues to work. This is brain dead simple, allows a user to decide for themselves if they want a proprietary driver running on their system, and makes it easy to make such a thing a user preference. Of course, it would be appropriate to have a way to turn this option on and off and the system level so that corporate users can't play with drivers without the admin's permission. Easy enough to add that option to an /etc/userdrivers.conf file. Each distro can decide for itself based on its target market what the defautl setting will be. Red Hat, being corp user centric might defalt to "No", Ubuntu being home user centric might default to "Yes". How hard is that? I know there are some logistical issues with swapping drivers during login, but to the best of my knowledge none of them are real showstoppers. Seems like something that would take a kernel hacker a day or two to throw together. And yes, I do understand the stability ramifications of this idea. I still think it's better than the current solution!
• Mac Menus: Yes, it's been discussed ad nauseum, but I have to side with the pro-Mac menu guys on this one. It'll free up real estate and make for a cleaner interface in general. It's a major change (in that it'll require retooling of a lot of extant apps, but the end result will be worth it. For the record, it'd be much easier to do the retooling if Gnome had a unified API already! ;-)
• Hot chicks: I'm gonna have to reinclude this item. I mean seriously, what's it all about if not being the idol of millions of screaming girl-fans?

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Pr0n is not Junk?

Posted on 2005-12-28 at 17:06

Forgive me if you already knew this, but I avoid Microsoft technologies whenever possible. I'm at a client where I must use Microsoft Outlook. I was trying to unset some sort of "I'm Important" flag on a message I received (because I think I should be the one to decide if a message is important to me not the sender!) when I noticed that under the "Junk Email" menu I have to option of sending a sender's address to either the Junk Sender's List or the Adult Content Sender's list.

I guess that makes it easy to toss the junk mail and get right dow to the business of slowly purusing the flagged adult content. I'm being serious when I say this: Can someone tell me why Outlook assumes a business user (Outlook is designed for businesses, after all) would want to distinguish between adult and non adult content when sorting through junk mail? I just assumed that all junk mail got deleted. I guess Microsoft knows the business user market better than me.

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Salesman

Posted on 2005-12-27 at 12:31

If I choose to grow the business, I'll need a salesman. Relying on other agencies to spoon me work is only good for moderate workloads. To really scale up the workload I'd need someone whose fulltime job it was to find work. At a commission rate of $5 per manhour, they'd stand to make a killing, but that means bringing someone onboard to work with in that regard.

For those curious, $5 per manhour means that if this salesman put 6 people in the field for 1 month (assuming an average of 150 hours per worker for the month), they'd make $4500.00 off that gig. Pretty good for getting a 6 man project that only lasts a month.

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Growth and Income

Posted on 2005-12-27 at 12:10

I don't know that I want my business to grow. That said, I'm not sure I want it to stay where it's at right now either. Right now, my income is sufficient to pay what needs paying and get ahead a bit more each month. That problem with that balance point is that I want to retire. That means either lumping the loss of income and scaling back now or lumping the extra initial work and going for an income boom right now to pay off all things that need paying.

I am really on the fence about this. I don't want to continue as I am now becuase the incremental gains aren't enough to cash out as quickly as I'd like. Scaling back now, mean some additional changes in lifestyle that I willing to make, but would prefer not to. Scaling up means the same thing.

So which should it be? Scaling up and retire in 2 years in a very good financial postition or scale back and retire now without the same level of financial security to which I've grown accustomed?

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If you aren't blind...

Posted on 2005-12-27 at 07:46

...you will notice big changes on the blog today.

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The Shakespearean Dichotomy - Comedy And Tragedy In Measure For Measure

Posted on 2005-12-25 at 15:05

Abstract:
Concerning the interweaving of Comedy and Tragedy in Shakespeare's work, Measure For Measure. This paper explores the interpretative tensions associated with treating this as cheifly a tragedy or a comedy and argues that this work is something in between---a comedy of a tragedy.

Paper:
The two disparate concepts of comedy and tragedy worm their way into the daily lives of all living men and so it would seem important to note and explore this intimate and personal relationship. Drama, from its inception, has done just that. Interestingly however, once in a great while an individual arises from the literary crowd to speak candidly about these concepts in a manner which calls into question the very nature of humankind. Shakespeare has done this in his play Measure For Measure. This play skirts back and forth between comedy and tragedy in a way which forces the audience to take note and maybe raise an eyebrow at the notion that perchance these "disparate" concepts are not so disparate.

Since it will be shown that this play makes a socio-cultural statement about mankind, it seems appropriate to use terminology which more closely intimates the Shakespearean intent and thus the definitions of comedy, tragedy, and also irony need to be explored not in terms of their standard literary significance, but in their broader and more applicable social significance. Inevitably, when one speaks of comedy and tragedy in the same breath, irony as a conglomerate between the two is brought forth. As simple as it might be to accept the definition of irony as a special blend of the comic and the tragic, it does not appear to bear out. Comedy can be said to be a parody of that part of life which when experienced makes little sense yet when viewed from a transcendent perspective shows itself to be humorous. In Freudian terminology, comedy is simply civilized aggression. Tragedy, according to Reinhold Niebuhr in his work The Irony Of American History, is "constituted of conscious choices of evil for the sake of good" (Niebuhr vii). So that a king who sacrifices a son to save two daughters has been involved in a tragedy. It appears the largest difference between comedy and tragedy is that while comedy is created, tragedy just happens---it is perhaps simpler in that respect. Irony, though possessed of both the comic and tragic requires more than those two components to exist. Reinhold Niebuhr, in his work mentioned earlier, talks about irony: "A comic situation is proven to be an ironic one if a hidden relation is discovered in the incongruity" and irony "is differentiated from tragedy by the fact that the responsibility is related to an unconscious weakness rather then to a conscious resolution" (Neibuhr viii). Though irony may be quite illuminative of the human situation, it is illuminative in a wholly different manner than comedy and tragedy.

Measure For Measure is a comedy first and foremost. Most scenes found within its mercurial plot can be read with a comic edge---even though some of those scenes may, at heart, concern serious subject matter. Even the character list itself alludes to the underlying comic element in this half tragedy. Elbow, the constable, Froth, the foolish gentleman, and Pompey, the clown servant to Mistress Overdone all lend themselves to laughter by their mere pre-play description and names. Joseph H. Summers, in his work entitled Dreams Of Love And Power, discusses the comedy of the opening scene:

From this laudable beginning, the plot unfolds and envelopes its audience further and further into a delightfully comfortable mire of comic irresolution. Just as an audience thinks it understands the path and point of this play, another bend in the plot's road forces them to rethink their previous position. Though the comic element is evident throughout the play, often it is a cynical comedy. When Lucio describes Angelo to Isabella for the first time, his description foreshadows a cynical opposition to itself in the actual character of Angelo. He describes him as follows:

Such pious upbuilding of a character who proves unworthy of such unconditional praise as has been given him here and elsewhere in the play forms the underpinning of the primary comic tools Shakespeare uses in Measure For Measure: opposition and contradiction. Later this contradiction displays itself more subtly in the first conversation between Angelo and Isabella. In this scene, which at the outset appears more serious than comic, Shakespeare contradicts the feminine stereotype of Elizabethan culture, that of a near mindless servant to man, with the actuality of Isabella's presence which proves far more than a match to Angelo's lordly wit. Though he begins speaking to her in quick and dismissive tones---i.e., "Well; the matter?", "Maiden, no remedy.", etceteras---he soon finds her arguments to be greater reasoned and driven by a greater intellect than he'd perhaps anticipated. His reaction to her weighty arguments shows in his transition from short, almost condescending tones to long eloquent discourses in an attempt to rebuttal her well thought out objections:

That Angelo was neither prepared nor accustomed to explaining himself to a woman becomes evident later in the scene when he is reduced first to "Why do you put these saying upon me?" (Line 133) and second to nearly recanting his adamant death sentence. Though this scene is one which delves into a matter of grave importance, Shakespeare through the mastery of the more subtle comic elements has rendered a scene which is in fact pleasing to read and comic in that it ends in a manner entirely unexpected---that is, with the woman, Isabella, standing triumphant after a battle of wits against the acting lord of the domain. Other equally comic elements are found driving this curiously confusing plot. In Act IV, Scene iii, Lines 26 - 29, a prisoner by the name of Barnardine is approached by the stoically funny executioner, Abhorson and Pompey, the clown. Pompey makes the comment that Barardine "must be so good ... to rise, and be put to death," as though the prisoner should feel privileged to have been chosen for such an honor. Barnardine's response, however, brings even more comedy to an otherwise bothersome scene: "Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy." Barnardine then contends, making surprisingly good sense, that he has caroused and reveled too much the night before to have an execution on this day. He argues that the execution should be postponed until such time as he can be better prepared! Interestingly, throughout the play executions are a common component. And though it would seem difficult to utilize such a grim topic in a comedy, it is done masterfully. Even at that moment when the play seems most likely to lose its comic element, when the Duke chooses to punish Angelo for his apparent crime against Claudio, the audience is set at ease by the very wording used in the death sentence. The Duke proclaims "An Angelo for Claudio, death for death ... We do condemn thee to the very same block where Claudio stoop'd to death" (Act V, Scene I, Lines 409-415). While at the outset this killing of a major character would seem to a catalyst for removing the comic element of the scene, the audience quickly, if not immediately, realizes that there is no such "block where Claudio stoop'd to death." Indeed, the very reference to a death which didn't occur sheds a comic light on the death which was just sentenced. The comic sensibilities of the audience are thus spared the shock of true death.

The fact that Measure For Measure is a comedy is little disputed, but what manner of comedy and to what end did Shakespeare drive the comic purpose becomes the prevalent question. Though it is a comedy, it is a comedy of tragedy. At the same time as Shakespeare provides this comedy of contradiction and tragedy, it seems he has laden it also with a burden of cynicism toward the human spirit. Gareth Lloyd Evans, in his work The Upstart Crow, addresses Shakespeare's apparent cynicism:

In Measure For Measure, he shows the audience a glimpse of themselves at their worst, yet he does so from the blunted and more entertainingly palatable edge of comedy. Certainly, the plot, if stripped of its comic element, becomes a tragedy of the worst order. Isabella, the virgin nun-to-be, discovers her brother to be arrested and sentenced to execution. She is asked to make a decision between her chastity, which she associates with godliness, and her brother's life. Angelo, the saint-turned-villain of Measure For Measure, puts the choice to her: "You must lay down the treasures of your body to this supposed, or else to let him suffer---What would you do?" (Act II, Scene iv, Lines 96-98). Her answer becomes the quintessential expression of the play's primary tragic element: "Better it were a brother died at once, than that sister, by redeeming him, should die for ever" (Act II, Scene iv, Lines 106-108). She makes her decision and in doing so has participated in a tragedy. She has made a conscious decision of evil for the sake of good. This tragedy is brought to a culmination when Isabella threatens to wreck Angelo's community standing by publicly relating the particulars of Angelo's indecent proposal. It is here, perhaps, when the play takes on its most serious tone, and here also where Measure For Measure seems most in danger of losing its comic quality to the sobriety of the situation. Here Angelo asks her:

This is a soberingly true statement not only for Isabella but for the audience as well, who lives in a real world consisting of such similar malcontents and crimes that they cannot help but empathize. The Duke, seeking to test the mettle of his underling, Angelo, finds himself disappointed in the worst way as Angelo abuses the power granted him in the Duke's name. The Duke is thus forced to make a decision also. He must decide between revealing himself and righting the wrongs done by his erstwhile replacement, hence disallowing Angelo any opportunity to reprove himself and his actions, or he may choose to allow Angelo to continue consequently risking the onslaught of further lordly abuses by Angelo. And yet it is in the light of these various and sundry tragedies that the story's plot is brought to fruition with the semi-tragic and yet wholly hilarious marriage solution. Certainly the comedy of this ending escapes no one, but its tragedy is vastly understated by the playwright. Issues of severe importance are brushed aside with the broom of convenient marriage. Worse yet, the marriages which suppose to resolve the problems beset by Angelo's crimes do nothing more than parlay those crimes into lifelong punishments for all involved. The Duke, though in the end married to Isabella, never recants his statement that " the dribbling dart of love can [never] pierce a complete bosom" like himself (Act I, Scene iii, Lines 2-3) and Isabella never reconciles to the audience of the play the issue of her married fate with her desired nunnish dreams. The other marriages, in a fashion similar to this one, seem to meet disconcerting problems upon examination. Evans' work, The Upstart Crow, touches on the issue of the tragedy and comedy of Measure For Measure:

To understand this tragic element best, one must fully understand the particulars of the plot's primary tragedy which is, as explained earlier, the attempted seduction of Isabella by Angelo. This is made a tragedy by Angelo's demand and it should be noted that this tragic difficulty is never resolved, but only diffused and rearranged.. The tragedy is found in that she wishes to keep her honor unstained and yet does not want her brother to die. As mentioned earlier, she chooses her honor over her brother, thereby beginning her part in the tragedy. In the end, she is married to the Duke, thus her virginity becomes forfeit, it is assumed, under the tenants of marriage and her brother's life is spared. Not only is this not what she wanted at all, but it is in fact the opposite of what she chose when given the option by Angelo! That is hardly what one might call a happy, or comic, ending.

Measure For Measure addresses many grave topics---some of which might easily lend themselves to tragedy---but rather than simply allowing these issues to occur and setting some character to the task of addressing them in a manner which more closely mimics real life, Shakespeare has chosen to present them in the form of comedy, thereby giving the audience the ability to sufficiently transcend the matter and perhaps thus understand it better. The comedy of Measure For Measure teaches the audience more about the nature of power, corruption, greed, and authority than any tragedy could hope to. Only through comedy could the audience stay fittingly unattached from the topic to truly analyze it without the subjective-interpretive quality of emotional attachment to the situation which is typically evoked by tragedy. While this play can be read to betray Shakespeare's lack of confidence in human nature, it seems as likely that Shakespeare was attacking the concept of piety and making a Christian point about mankind's natural desire versus spiritual duty. Measure For Measure shows the audience what can happen to man when ethics (in this case Christian ethics) are abandoned. To borrow a phrase from Wordsworth, it shows the audience "what man has made of man." Shakespeare leaves it to the audience to resolve the situation and for this reason alone this play cannot be considered a Christian allegory or parable. Considering the nature of the situation Shakespeare has produced, an easy resolution is virtually impossible. Shakespeare has, in this way, shown the tragedy that life is everyday in a world where human nature and self interest force themselves into the relational fray. What Shakespeare has done is to create a comedy of a tragedy; thereby showing how intimate the relationship can be between the two. Shakespeare has shown his audience the comedy of their own daily interests through the magic of drama, thus "the viewer can be forgiven if he perceives within the play an oddly earthy and comic reflection of a dream of another happiness in another world" (Summers 94).

Works Cited

Other Works Used

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Out of town til Monday

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:06

I'll be out of town til this coming Monday. Everyone have a Merry Christmas (or Enjoyable Festivity of your Religious or Secular Preference) and I'll see you on the flip side.

As always, I leave with a topic for discussion:

Is Shakespeare's Measure For Measure a Comedy, a Tragedy, or a Comedy of a Tragedy? A quote of Angelo making his dire proposal to Isabella should help get you started:

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More changes?!?!?

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:05

Also stay tuned on more useful updates to the blog infrastructure. I am going to look into a way to automatically collate blog entries by keyword. Then a person could theoretically just bookmark the keyword pages that they find interesting and only read that. An example of practical use? Let's say you can't stand wading through all my Linux entries and just want to read my entries on Writing or Religion. Well then, assuming I do this, I envision that you would be able to just bookmark http://tom.digitalelite.com/keywords/religion.html or http://tom.digitalelite.com/keywords/poetry.html or whatever other keywords I use. I'd want it to be automated and dynamically updated. That is to say, if I add a new keyword to an entry, it would auto generate the keyword page and start collecting new entries for that keyword. I like this idea.

It would be useful for everyone (including me) if I had a way to show all linux-related entries on the linux.html keyword aggregation page. Of course I'd still have the main page that just shows the very latest entries, but if I do it right, it would only show the most recent, say, 10 or so entries, rather than showing the current month. For those who don't care one way or the other, look at it this way: if I had this system in place already, you would never have had to read this entry (because it would have been keyworded "blog" or something like that. You'd just show up one day and the blog would have links to keyworded content.

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Serial Storytelling

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:04

It would be fun to begin a work of serial fiction here. A blog is a natual fit for such a thing. Of course, it assumes that I'd be willing to regularly move the story forward. Perhaps I shall. Stay tuned for more on that.

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Small people and big paperwork

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:03

Here's a tip for would-be and already-are managers out there:

If your employees are adults, treat them as such. Just as it's true that people will treat you as poorly as you let them, so to is it true that people will rise or sink to try to meet the level of your expectation.

There is simply no reason other than distrust to ask for the sort of microtracking of employee time that is demanded of managers in the I.T. workplace. Typically, I have 3 or more places wherein I am asked to track my time at a given client. Some ask for even more than that. Some ask for all that and a detailed account of the minutia that constituted that time.

If you do't trust your employees or consultants to give you an honest day's work, then stop paying them. I really despise being treated like a child in the workplace, but it is becoming the norm. This is one of the many reasons why I dislike Corporate America.

Now, you are saying to yourself, "But Tom, thre are legitimate reasons for tracking time details. Surely you understand that knowing where time is spent helps us to better allocate resources and budget time for future work?"

I call BS. That is the excuse given everywhere, but it doesn't pan out. Managers in I.T. are notorious for collecting the most time stats and yet equally notorious for being bad at budgeting time for projects.

Additionally, because the programming and project work done in Corporate I.T. shops is not similar to the I.T. work done in a Computer Science environment, previous work is not easy to extrapolate and standardize to future work. In other words, using previous work as a gauge for future work assumes standardizing methodologies are in practice, but Corporate America simply doesn't allow for the extra time it takes to emply those standardizing methods. If they did, we could make those sorts of extrapolations, moreover, the work we do would have a higher success rate. Most errors I see in the field are the result of not employing solid and academically-proven methodologies due to time constraints put on the work by people who have no idea how to gauge time for this sort of work in the first place.

See the circular error? I assure you that it's as plain as day to any I.T. guy you have working under you. If you want to push project success closer to the 100% mark and be able to accurately estimate future project time budgets, then let your I.T. guys take the time to do things right in the first place. Let them create and use standardizing methodologies. Following all the steps of the design and implementation process may fly in the face of RAD development, but it creates a far more certain outcome.

Quick. Standardized. Working. Pick any two.

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I miss offensive jokes

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:02

I mean, back when I was growing up, it was fun to sit around and tell jokes that offended people. I don't mean they shocked (as crude comics do) but rather they offended (as jokes about cripples and minorities do). Now it seems we are so scared about offending each other that we've bleached out the some of the best off-color jokes from the public scene.

What brought this back to my mind was Richard Pryor's passing. Saturday Night Live replayed the famous skit between he and Chevy Chase where they throw racial slurs at each others. Neither was a racist. The audience knew that and they laughed. It was damn funny. It was particularly noteworthy becuase comparing that to what is played on SNL nowadays is like comparing wine to water. I don't blame the comedians. Certainly they could belt out a few decent, but off-color, jokes if the network execs let them. Well, I'm not controlled by a network exec.

Joking the blind: Why don't blind people like to sky dive? Because it scares the hell out of the dog.
Joking cripples: Where do you find a man with no legs? Right where you left him.
Joking Italians: How do you brainwash an Italian? Give him an enema.
Joking Jews: Whats the difference between a Jew and a Canoe? A canoe tips
Joking Blacks and Hispanics: A black guy and a hispanic are riding in a car. Who's driving? A cop.
Joking Whitey: FUBU shirt: $50 Nike Headband: $10 Bling-Bling: $100 Your disappointed look when you realize you're still white: priceless

Now, if any of the above offended you, you are likely on the wrong blog. Try going here instead. They propbably won't offend you. Me, I just think we should laugh about our differences, our stereotypes, and our problems. What the hell else are we gonna do?

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Something you don't see every day

Posted on 2005-12-21 at 08:01

I wonder who got fired for this one:

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Robert Frost...

Posted on 2005-12-19 at 08:04

...summarizes my current existential reality with just a few lines:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

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Good links for RPG gamers

Posted on 2005-12-19 at 08:03

Here's a list---for the D&D crowd---of online resources useful for fleshing out the details of a campaign, adventure, or character.

• Medieval Sourcebook (all kinds of information like texts, saint's lives, etc.)
• Maps of the world
• Historical maps of Europe
• Labyrinth studies (all kinds of stuff like heraldy, women's roles, Arthurian material)
• Some clip art
• Medieval Resources (general stuff)
• A gigantic price list (with a short list of anachronisms)
• World history site
• Maps of Europe
• More maps
• Online English-Latin dictionary
• Another general site with lots of nifty stuff
• Game material about Medieval demographics
• Historical Armed Combat Association

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Probabalistic Statistics and the Grain of the Web

Posted on 2005-12-19 at 08:02

Not to be just collecting links today (as I'll probbly be posting original content later today) but this one is a worthy read. It's an article that helps to explain why things like Wikipedia and Google are the successes that they are.

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Tennyson and the Charge of the Light Brigade

Posted on 2005-12-19 at 08:01

Listen to Tennyson reading his own poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. It was recorded by Thomas Edison and is one of the earliest recordings of a poet reading his own work.

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Rolled up new character today

Posted on 2005-12-17 at 08:02

If you play, you'll understand the signifigance of this: I rolled 18, 17, 17, 16, 13, 12. We use the 4d6 drop the lowest die method. Also, for the 18, I actually rolled 4 friggin' 6's. Becuase of how cool the roll was, the DM let me make it a 19. So cool. So very cool.

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Skydiving from space

Posted on 2005-12-17 at 08:01

OK. So, I actually experienced lumpy fear in my throat just watching this guy do what he did! I mean, this dude rode a hot air balloon to the edge of space (well high enough to see the curvature of the earth, at least!!!), then he jumped. He what? Yes, he jumped! He parachuted from space! With a video camera, nonetheless. All in 1960, too! Holy Frijolas!

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I came across old coolness

Posted on 2005-12-16 at 08:02

I was going through my old gaming folders and came across these notes from my last campaign. It was a good campaign. It's a shame the main plot never finished coming to fruition.

For Salot the Mad (Cleric of Zagyg)

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My next character

Posted on 2005-12-16 at 08:01

I think I've decided. Tomorrow, I'll be rolling up a new Cleric (just like the short-lived previous character) but this time it'll be a gnomish cleric of the god of the earth. His clerical domains will be fire and earth...oh, and he's gonna be insane. That'll be fun to play. A cleric who's always muttering to himself becuase he believes that he is in constant conversation with his deity. He'll be manic and delusional, with perhaps just a hint (don't wanna overdo it) of paranoia. This is gonna be fun. :)

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Healthy Breakfast Muffin

Posted on 2005-12-15 at 08:04

This recipe makes 1 healthy sausage and egg muffin to enjoy guilt-free in the morning. Enjoy!

1 frozen Morningstar veggie sausage patty
1/4 cup of eggbeaters
1 English Muffin (I prefer Thomas English Muffins, but pick your favorite brand and flavor)

Bake the sausage in the oven at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes. Fry the egg in a pan over a low heat until it is the desired consistency (personal taste...I like my eggs quite dry). While the sausage and egg are cooking, toast the English muffin. Sandwich the egg and sausage between the two halves of the English muffin. Once complete, bite into your tasty new morning treat and send me a thank you note as payment for your inevitable breakfast bliss.

Healthy or not, this is some good stuff!

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New character

Posted on 2005-12-15 at 08:03

Well, Will wants to be a Rogue and Roy wants to be a Sorcerer. Not sure what Dave wants, but I may be going for either a Paladin, Cleric, or Fighter. Not sure which.

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My logo

Posted on 2005-12-15 at 08:02

So I decided, against my better judgement, to look into replacing my logo in the upper left corner with a transparent gif instead of a transparent png file. As you probably know (due to my incessant bitching), Internet Explorer does not render transparent png files properly. In the uppoer left, this means that visitors using IE only see a big white square instead of the logo. In the uppoer right, IE visitors can see the icons, but they are rendered ugly because the transparency is not shown, but for the other logo, the IE rendering it not so usable-but-ugly.

To that end, I figured I'd at least see what changing the png to a gif would look like. I converted the file. It looked like an 80's video game title---all jagged and lame. I was not dissuaded. I decided that maybe this was the result of the conversion process. I redid the logo from scratch and saved the original work to gif. Still more jagged and lame than the png version. Now I'm just mad. Gif is just an inferior format and IE won't support the better and newer standard. It may be newer, but it's still been around for about 7 or so years as I recall, so their lack of support (given the notably good support in EVERY OTHER BROWSER) is more than a bit irritating.

I may consider using a backgrounded png file (with the background being the color of my top bar. That way it will render the same in all browsers, but then any time I want to change the color scheme, I have to create new graphics. That is SOOOOOOO lame. Yes. I'm mad.

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After careful consideration...

Posted on 2005-12-15 at 08:01

. ...Will and I have determined that [--CONTENTS OF THIS REVELATION CENSORED BY ORDER OF BRYAN--]

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repetition is repetition is repetition is ...lame

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:07

Stare at SQL Code.
Hit F5.
Too many records returned. Change search criteria.
Hit F5.
Too many records returned. Change search criteria.
Hit F5.
Too many records returned. Change search criteria.
Hit F5.
Too many records returned. Change search criteria.
Hit F5.
Too many records returned. Vomit on self.
Welcome to my workday.

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Perverse Pleasure

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:06

I said "perverse pleasure" in the above entry. I wonder how that will affect the popularity of this page? Hmmm.

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Let the dice fall where they may

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:05

Total Party Kill. :(

This past Saturday, for the weekly game, we started a new campaign. This past Saturday, for the weekly game, we ended our new campaign.

Yeah. We were off to a good start. We had a balanced party (Ranger, Sorcerer, Cleric, Rogue). We had good stats. We were careful. But none of that stopped us from getting offed by some kobolds who were able to pelt us with crossbows for several rounds before we could reach them. We actually killed all the kobolds, but a dog---a dog for God's sake---killed the last man standing (my Cleric) just before I was about to kill him and thus save the party at the last minute. Oh well. I guess we'll be making new characters and starting a new campaign this coming week. Maybe I'll be a Gnome Illusionist or a Gnome Ranger. Will says he wants to be a Dwarven Rogue. Not sure what Dave wants. Roy may want to be a Sorcerer again. If so, then I won't play an Illusionist. We need to keep a balanced party and having two mages won't bode well for our survivability.

And for the record: I called it in the beginning of the fight. I said, "We can't win this." I take some socially perverse pleasure in both knowing and saying that I was right.

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I've decided to blog offline

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:04

I'm sitting here at work waiting on a client to assist me with beginning the next phase of the project and I'm bored. To that end, I've decided to write my blog entries at work and when I get home, I'll add them to the site (since I can't post from this client). Note that this means that while I'm at this client you'll see a bunch of entries posted at once each evening that were likely written throughout the day.

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Sir Winston Churchill

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:03

"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."

Said in a speech at Harvard University, September 6, 1943. Fairly prophetic, I'd say.

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Dodge bullets for fun and laughs

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:02

It's fun. Try it.

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New gig = No Internet

Posted on 2005-12-14 at 08:01

I'll have no reasonable Internat access at the new gig, so there'll be no posting from work. That said, I'll still be posting in the mornings and possibly evenings. You may now breath a sigh of relief, knowing that I have not forsaken you.

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Mailman server set up

Posted on 2005-12-13 at 08:03

I run several mailing lists from the server, so I had to set up Mailman on the new server. This was a bit more involved than the other services. Here's how I did it:

1. I used apt-get to install Fetchmail (to be used to retrieve mail from the pop server).
   apt-get install fetchmail
2. I used apt-get to install Mailman (which also installs Postfix as a dependency).
   apt-get install mailman
3. I moved to the newly created mailman directory.
   cd /var/lib/mailman
4. I check and fix any install problems. You may have to run this multiple times. Do it until it tells you that all is fine.
   bin/check_perms -f
5. I edited my apache2.conf file.
   nano –w /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
   I added this to the bottom:
   ScriptAlias /mailman/ /var/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/
   Alias /pipermail/ var/lib/mailman/archives/public/
6. I edited my mm_cfg.py file.
   nano -w /var/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py
   I added this to the bottom:
   MTA = 'Postfix'
   I changed the values of the following two settings:
   DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'digitalelite.com'
   DEFAULT_URL_HOST = '68.106.156.239'
7. I ran the genaliases script.
   /var/lib/mailman/bin/genaliases
8. I changed the user and group owner of the generated files to 'list'
   chown list:list /var/lib/mailman/data/aliases*
9. I edited the /etc/postfix/main.cf file to look like this:
   queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix
   command_directory = /usr/sbin
   daemon_directory = /usr/lib/postfix
   mail_owner = postfix
   unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550
   debugger_command =
       PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
       xxgdb $daemon_directory/$process_name $process_id & sleep 5
   sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail
   newaliases_path = /usr/bin/newaliases
   mailq_path = /usr/bin/mailq
   setgid_group = postdrop
   manpage_directory = /usr/share/man
   sample_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix/sample
   readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix/readme
   default_destination_concurrency_limit = 2
   alias_databases = hash:/etc/aliases, hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/aliases
   local_destination_concurrency_limit = 2
   alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases, hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/aliases
   home_mailbox = .maildir/
   owner_request_special = no
   recipient_delimiter = +
   inet_interfaces = localhost
   local_recipient_maps =
   mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain
10. I edited the fetchmailrc config file to look like this:
    #wake fetchmail daemon every 60 seconds
    set daemon 60
    #go to the mx server
    poll pop.1and1.com protocol pop3
    #get members list mail
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is members;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is members-request;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is members-admin;
    #get dnd list mail
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is dnd;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is dnd-request;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is dnd-admin;
    #get faithlinks list mail
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is faithlinks;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is faithlinks-request;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is faithlinks-admin;
    #get bluebook list mail
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is bluebook;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is bluebook-request;
        username [username edited out] with password [password edited out], is bluebook-admin;
11. I added the main mailman list (required, even thogh I don't personally use it).
    /var/lib/mailman/bin/newlist mailman
12. I added all the other lists.
    /var/lib/mailman/bin/newlist members
    /var/lib/mailman/bin/newlist dnd
    /var/lib/mailman/bin/newlist faithlinks
    /var/lib/mailman/bin/newlist bluebook
13. I restarted all the appropriate services to make sure everything used the new conf files.
    /etc/init.d/postfix restart
    /etc/init.d/mailman restart
    /etc/init.d/fetchmail restart
    

Not as straighforward as DNS or Apache, but easy enough for me to handle. Also, I copied over the archives from the old server to the new (they go in the /var/lib/mailman/archives/private/ directory). That seems to have worked except that Mailman doesn't see to be adding new messages to the existing archives. I suspect that it's just a permissions issue. I'll know next month. When it creates the new month's archives, everything should be back on track. I have enough archives that I'm OK with a half a month of archive blackout if it means keeping all the older stuff.

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I have good news and bad news

Posted on 2005-12-13 at 08:02

The good news: I have now moved all processes and services to the new server. The bad news: It's becuase I totally hosed the old server last nght while trying to copy some settings over. I did a "rm *" on the /etc directory. That meant a night of frantic work to get it all up and running on the new system, since after that, the old one stopped working completely.

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I start a new gig today

Posted on 2005-12-13 at 08:01

In case blogging frequency diminishes, that's why. I start a new client today. It should last through to the end of the year. I'll try not to slow down my blogging, but on the off chance that I do, Discuss the Minkowski Crater until I get back. Formed by a meteor, or hollowed out by space aliens piloting flying saucers looking for a good place to put a pool? You decide.

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Apache web server set up

Posted on 2005-12-12 at 08:01

Setting up Apache2 Web Server in Ubuntu Linux is pretty easy stuff---almost not worth writing down---but here goes:

1. I use the apt-get command to install Apache2
   apt-get install apache2
2. I add a .conf file to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled for each domain
   touch www.kungfugamers.com.conf
3. I edit the .conf files to look like this for each domain (adjusting for the web root I chose and the name of the domain itself.
   <VirtualHost *>
   DocumentRoot "/var/www/kfg"
   ServerAlias www.kungfugamers.com kungfugamers.com
   ServerName www.kungfugamers.com
   </VirtualHost>
4. I restart apache2 so it grabs the new conf settings
   /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

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Richard Pryor

Posted on 2005-12-11 at 08:03

Who else could express that much simultaneous indignation and hopefullness? He was unique among his peers for his willingness to dig deep into the dark heart of humanity and emerge on the other side still essentially optimistic. I don't know another comedian that has done that so very well. Carlin tried, and got lost in the darkness. Pryor, as clear as he saw the evil of this world, never used it as an excuse for cynicism. Let that be what he is remembered for.

"White people be going "Why do you hold your nuts?" 'Cause you took everything else, Mutha Fucka!"

Richard Pryor 1940-2005. Rest In Peace.

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Apache web server

Posted on 2005-12-11 at 08:02

I'll be describing my experience setting up Apache web server on Ubuntu very soon. I'm almost done with it now. I just need time to complete set up and document it.

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Small correction to DJBDNS below

Posted on 2005-12-11 at 08:01

Just an fyi, I made a small mistake in the description below for setting up a DJBDNS server in Ubuntu. I've fixed the text below for the sake of anyone looking to use my text as a guidepost for setting it up themselves. Also, since this is documentation for future use and to help others, I cleaned up the formatting to be a bit clearer. Hopefully that helps others figure out what I've done. If you have quesitons about DNS setup, I'll be happy to venture a guess, but bear in mind, I kinda just muddled through it and may not be too useful to you. But I promise to try. :)

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Setting up the DNS server

Posted on 2005-12-10 at 08:02

For those curious about how to set up a DNS server, here's a breif overview of how I did it on Ubuntu Server edition:

1. I use the apt-get command to install DJBDNS, becuase I prefer it over BIND for many many reasons.
   apt-get install djbdns-installer
2. I then set up the dns service in the /etc folder.
   tinydns-conf tinydns dnslog /etc/tinydns 192.168.0.7
3. I made a symbolic link to it in the /services folder (it uses daemon-tools, which is why it uses the /services folder).
   ln -s /etc/tinydns /service
4. I checked to make sure it was running. At this point the DNS service is working, but I still needed to add my specific DNS entries.
   svstat /service/tinydns
5. I moved to the service root folder.
   cd /service/tinydns/root/
6. I tell the dns server that I am authoritative for this IP address.
   ./add-ns 239.156.106.in-addr.arpa 68.106.156.239
7. I tell the dns server that I am authoritative for this domain.
   ./add-ns kungfugamers.com 68.106.156.239
8. I tell the dns server that I am authoritative for another domain.
   ./add-ns daystromsolutions.com 68.106.156.239
9. I tell the server where this domain is hosted.
   ./add-host www.daystromsolutions.com 68.106.156.239
10. Because this domain is hosted at the same IP I've already used, I have to treat it as an alias, but essentially, I'm just saying that this domain is also at that IP address.
    ./add-alias www.kungfugamers.com 68.106.156.239
11. I run the make command to compile the changes I just made to the service config.
    make

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The new server

Posted on 2005-12-10 at 08:01

I'm in the process of setting up a new server for the website and mailing lists and all that jazz. I'm moving from my old Dell Pentium Pro 200 with 64 MB RAM and a 3 GB HDD to a Toshiba laptop Pentium II 233 with 96 MB RAM and a 5 GB HDD. What a huge leap! lol!

The reason I'm doing it is twofold. First, My current server has some serious under the hood config issues. It's secure and it's stable, but if I change anything, it'll likely crash and die. Secondly, a laptop is a better always on server. It'll use less power than the current system and it has it's own built in monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Also, the laptop has a USB port. I can expand the HDD size with an external USB drive as needed. That could be useful.

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All my latest scripty goodness

Posted on 2005-12-09 at 08:02

Some of you have asked which blog application I use. Well, I don't use one. I just write my blog in xml and then I render that xml in html for the benefit of my reading public. Recently, I made a bunch of changes (see previous entries) to the design and structure of the site. Teh design changes are obvious, since you can see them on your screen, but the structural changes are really far more interesting to me (and to you if you are a geek).

Whereas I used to let the client browser transform and render the xml (using xsl and css), I know pregenerate the rendered html. Also, I used to have a redirect page as my index.html, which redirected visitors to whichever was the most recent blog page. Now I keep the most recent blog page in sync with the index page. This is because google dislikes redirects and it hurts my Google PankRank score. Now I can have a stable front page (like I used to a while back) that can enjoy a decent PageRank. For the curious, the script follows:

echo "Moving to the correct directory"
cd /mnt/tomde/

echo "Generating html from xml"
for xmlFile in *.xml; do
    xmlto --skip-validation -x main.xsl html $xmlFile;
done

echo "Cleaning up the generated html"
for procFile in *.proc; do
    sed 's/<br><\/br>/<br\/>/g' <$procFile >$procFile.1
    sed 's/ xmlns:atom="http:\/\/purl.org\/atom\/ns#" xmlns:dc="http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/"//g' <$procFile.1 >$procFile.2;
done

echo "Renaming the .proc files to .html files"
for htmlFile in *.proc.2; do
    newName=`echo $htmlFile | sed "s/.proc.2/.html/"`
    mv $htmlFile $newName;
done

echo "Removing the old .proc files"
rm *.proc*

echo "Getting current month and year"
currentDate=`date`
currentYear=`date +%y`
currentMonth=`echo $currentDate |awk '{print $2}'`
currentFile1="
case "$currentMonth" in
    "Dec")
        currentMonthNum="12";;
    "Nov")
        currentMonthNum="11";;
    "Oct")
        currentMonthNum="10";;
    "Sep")
        currentMonthNum="09";;
    "Aug")
        currentMonthNum="08";;
    "Jul")
        currentMonthNum="07";;
    "Jun")
        currentMonthNum="06";;
    "May")
        currentMonthNum="05";;
    "Apr")
        currentMonthNum="04";;
    "Mar")
        currentMonthNum="03";;
    "Feb")
        currentMonthNum="02";;
    "Jan")
        currentMonthNum="01";;
esac
currentFile2="_$currentMonthNum\\.html"
currentFile=$currentFile1$currentFile2

echo "Getting the previous month and year"
previousDate=`date --date="$(date +%Y-%m-15) -1 month"`
previousYear=`date +%y --date="$(date +%Y-%m-15) -1 month"`
previousMonth=`echo $previousDate |awk '{print $2}'`
previousFile1="
case "$previousMonth" in
    "Dec")
        previousMonthNum="12";;
    "Nov")
        previousMonthNum="11";;
    "Oct")
        previousMonthNum="10";;
    "Sep")
        previousMonthNum="09";;
    "Aug")
        previousMonthNum="08";;
    "Jul")
        previousMonthNum="07";;
    "Jun")
        previousMonthNum="06";;
    "May")
        previousMonthNum="05";;
    "Apr")
        previousMonthNum="04";;
    "Mar")
        previousMonthNum="03";;
    "Feb")
        previousMonthNum="02";;
    "Jan")
        previousMonthNum="01";;
esac
previousFile2="_$previousMonthNum\\.html"
previousFile=$previousFile1$previousFile2

echo "Updating the site feed"
currentFeed2="_$currentMonthNum.xml"
currentFeed=$currentFile1$currentFeed2
rm feed.html
rm feed.xml
cp $currentFeed feed.xml

echo "Updating the site's main page"
newIndex1="
newIndex2="_$currentMonthNum.html"
newIndex=$newIndex1$newIndex2
rm index.html
mv $newIndex index.html

echo "Cleaning up old edit remnants"
rm

echo "Current Blog Month: $currentFile"
echo "Done"

echo "Closing..."
sleep 1
echo "10"
sleep 1
echo "9"
sleep 1
echo "8"
sleep 1
echo "7"
sleep 1
echo "6"
sleep 1
echo "5"
sleep 1
echo "4"
sleep 1
echo "3"
sleep 1
echo "2"
sleep 1
echo "1"

Because I run this from a button on my gnome panel, I added the sleep commands to the end so that I could review the feedback for issues before the command window closes. I figured 10 seconds was enough, but I liked seeing the time count down.

If anyone has a question about the abve script, feel free to ask. Click on the "comment about this entry" link above to do so. I gotta run to pick up Cadence from the sitter's. I'm running late...waaaay late. I'm a bad dad. :(

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You Are Here

Posted on 2005-12-09 at 08:01

Scientists have managed to figure out where we are in our own galaxy. Kinda neat, if you're a geek like me.

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More ranting about Internet Explorer

Posted on 2005-12-08 at 08:02

If you are reading my blog using that crap browser, then the headings at the top of this page are garbage. IE still steadfastly refuses to support transparent png graphics. I could convert all my png's to gif's which IE supports, but I care so very little about supporting IE that I'm not gonna. If you are using IE, here's what you need:



OK. that was a bit over the top, but you get the idea. Get Firefox and stop gnawing at the rotting end of the Internet carcass.

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Posted on 2005-12-08 at 08:01

Note that new stuff at the top of the page. Mostly I got bored with the old look, so I changed it up a but.

Also, though, I added a name to my blog. Mark has one so I had to as well. For the moment I've chosen "Flickering Eyelid". Why? I dunno. You tell me. Apparently "Flickering Eyelid" is one of the top search terms used to reach my site. Seemed weird to me, but hey, I'm going with it.

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A new game

Posted on 2005-12-07 at 08:01

This is fun. The ads are all content-sensitive, so now I get to have fun writing about random stuff just to see what sorts of ads show up! So cool! It's a game like Parcheesi, but without all the "gay" baggage. OK, well, I have to go pick up Cadence from the babysitter's, so I'll have to play more later.

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