we're hours away from starting our 2 week roadtrip back to my home town, grand jct, colo. the trip is 1k miles door to door and we've done the drive many times over just about every time of the year. we take the loneliest highway in america, aka route 66. there's some interesting sights enroute such as a shoe tree that i have seen morph over time, pony express trails and stations, etc. about 6 or so years back my wife suggested we stop and camp in nevada vs driving straight through gonzo-style. at first blush i thought no way given one could quite literally die in nevada during august if supplies or shelter came up short. long story short this is how we discovered great basin national park which is one of our favorite stop overs. this year we will camp for 3 days at the 10k camp and i'd like to finally summit which is around 13k. the 10k camp is along a creek that comes straight out of the mountain and near treeline. a glacier is visible as well. in nevada. amazing. the camp docents tell us the glacier will be gone in roughly 30 years time. bristle cone pines, the oldest living thing on earth, are also visible. at the park enterance on can also take a cave tour.

we're looking forward to visiting family from both sides of the clan. my family hasn't seen trey since he was a toddler. he's got alot of moxy now so things should be fun this go around with cousins and the like.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Enigma/MCM XC AD/The Eyes Of Truth

there's another side my recent linux world walk about. firstly, one individual, a purported /.'er loudly bemoaned about how offended he is that the pony-tailed one wouldn't grant him a private interview, how he had xK readership and on and on and on. my take, the fifteen minutes of fame early "bloggers," and I generally categorize /. as such, is pretty much over. not quite gone but no longer "the word on the street" per se but just another checkout aisle gossip rag. as an idividual i am now empowered to subscribe to a wide array of direct channels of information. as an information consumer i don't want the "filter" and i very much expect information producers welcome this little opportunity to express a little thing we like to call "freedom of speech" as well. get over it already. you want to know what is on someone's mind ... subscribe.

it should be obvious, well, if you are viewing this from the source site that i have a warm place in my heart for green -on-black. i remember the day when someone, long ago, upon hearing me complain of sore and red eyes showed keyed me into considering tweaking my color schemes. not a big deal by today's standards but once going with green-on-black i was much more comfortable. anyways, one significantly bearded fellow with pulled down hat approached me and didn't really speak ... for quite a time. he didn't look significantly agitated but he also wasn't going away. not being one who is shy with words i initiated the conversation with "nice shirt" appreciating the classical green-on-black themed brethren. to cut to the chase, this individual hates pretty much everything i like and have working experience with. with awkward backing evidence like "used jdk 1.1.what-ever" and perl [shudder] does it all mumble/grumble" this discussion was just going nowhere. i doubt that even if we had beers in hand would we have somethng enjoyable to discuss. thankfully an individual broke the emo lock by inquiring about jxta ... imagine that. my take: why be so bitter? i mean really. give it a rest, try on new shirts once in awhile. it's all good.

having finally felt cleansed from the above episode an individual walked up and pronounced "sun doesn't get linux" to which i replied "you are kidding me, right? i mean, let's just take a look at the booths that are simply in line of site ..." afterwhich his single word reply was "oh" and then he ran away as if he was late to choir. odd. ok, move on. then, whe reading my favorite lug list i happened across a linux world blog entry. cool. i'm curious. so i dive in and find "...One of Sun's multiple selves was on the Expo floor. I guess the other components of the split-personality syndrome were complaining bitterly, but muffled by the treatment, and were threatening with a penguin-killing spree once Dr. Jekyll hands the reins over to Mr. Hyde. In any case, the Linux-loving self that participated to the Expo was big and loud, albeit kinda boring." hmmmmm, interesting. i can't believe people write this $hit. i can't believe people believe the drivel. i could've swore i was at the same conference. anyways, i check the pics and sure enough, there i am, i was there. and then there it was. the very same dude that provided me with the unique two-letter feedback oh. i responded, florin didn't but a dialog ensued. a healthy one at that short the originator of misinformation didn't participate. akkana chimed in with "...I made my annual circuit around some of the big booths, looking at who actually ran linux. Sun was by far the most Windows oriented: I only saw one linux machine in the part of the booth I sampled, and all the rest were running Windows. I was surprised, because in past years Sun had a lot more Solaris machines on display, even if they've never had a lot of linux machines in the booth..." amazing. i countered this one immediately with no reply from the original poster but again a healthy dialog ensued with other list members ... after all, the dialog is what it is all about. my man dan did an excellent write up on this one and while he is likely right i find it really hard to believe a netscape/mozilla developer at a linux world conference can't tell windows form java desktop, i mean *really*. while it appears akkana finally understood the mistake i wish she had participated openly on the list so that we can all, collectively, get a better understanding of the issues. i learned a ton in the dialog and i know others did as well based on both the public and private inquiries. we need to do more of this ... much more. and while some of my colleagues encouraged me to be "more polite" i suggested "it is time to stop being polite and start getting real" because when people can post pure b$ and the masses, to a degre, believe it, we have a significant signal impedance that needs to be addressed in the trenches every day in every way. take way: there are some strong perceptions and formulated opinions about sun that are, imnsho, largely incorrect and the fact we don't have a "face" on sun to engage in man-on-the-street dialogs to the degree we should and used to have is bothersome. i wish we would through up a referencable faq to blow through the fud as this level of confusion gets in the way of talking about systems, more correctly end-to-end networked systems, *the* network vision that is sun and drives projects like jxta. lastly, i invite folks to put down the koolaid, pick up a beer, stop banging the tired old drum, and engage in an open dialog with sun on any topic at any venue. we can learn alot from one another and there are a ton of eye opening solutions and vision being rolled out everyday via a number of coorporate and open channels. it's all good. really. come on now, don't be shy.

lastly, i very much believe that there is one company that is learning way more then the kid that should consider getting more sun and we should work to put the fud and noise behind us and build out a truly pervassive and end-to-end secure network. get connected already.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: RadioHead/Hail To The Theif/A Wolf At The Door

bzflag rocks! the rules couldn't be simplier ... point, shoot, kill. there a couple of game styles which are fun, like capture the flag. oh and the tanks can jump and power flags are available. the social aspects of this game rock, like most of it's kind i suspect. the releases are getting better and better with regards to keeping malcontents in line. for example, it is quite often you find team killers, or tk'ers. these are the anonymously brave types that strive to swim against the tide and kill thier own team members, lie when their caught, etc. pathetic. they are everywhere. the latest releases look to have not only polling features where these slugs can be voted out ... by their peers none the less but also an autoboot for those that tk a fixed number of times within a time period. inadvertent tk'ing can easily occur in a fast paced popular game but all in all the implementation looks to be nicely done. this features alone have brought the level of play completley back inline and more often then not i genuinely like the folks i team up with. good times.

this type of "social self-ruling" behaviours are just as appropriate and enabling for applications in general. it is really the only way to scale as deployment models go beyond what is manageable ... the old school way.

my son has been playing bzflag since he was 2 1/2. pretty amazing to see a little toddler all over my keyboard one finger on tab and the other driving the mouse wildly. they learn so fast. he's 4 now. i think i'll see about getting my mits on a cheap box and so that we can play against each other. he's also got a computer thomas the tank engine game that he very much enjoys as well ... least concerns of parental judgement linger.

bzflag supports a "solo" mode where one can play against a variable number of drones ... pretty smart drones. when letting trey out on the net to play against real folks ... truth be known he pretty much takes over my game from time to time ... he eventually pleads for help most often of which he's been booted for tk'ing. poor guy. poor me as my handle looks to be blocked from some games. he's just having fun but having societal rules enforced relatively consitently is good for all ... people and systems alike. again, it's the only way to scale, adapt, grow, learn, consume and contribute.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: RadioHead/Hail To The Theif/ScatterBrain

i've switched to /sage ... now i don't have to see those garish, errrrr i mean ultra k3wl green-on-black style sheets :]

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: RadioHead/Kid A/Optimistic

got a little celebration going on next door. a beer'ski fell into my lap. ahhhhhh. hey, wait, it is all so clear now ... that "abstract base class static intializer" mental block is now clearing. yes. the answer is before me. life is good!

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: UnderWorld/Dirty Epic/Rez

whilst doing the linux world gig i got the chance to point out blogs.sun.com to folks, many of which didn't realize it existed, which is ok given the info is organic and the data within will find it's way into the right and proper hands over time. as a result of these discussions it feels to me that bsc would benefit from another entry point (aka view). possibly a top-down approach, if you will, so that folks just happening upon bsc can, with relative eas, find and connect with the folks that are working common interests one way or another. here's a recap of the interactions.

one individual was interested in learning more about sun's accessibilty work to which i, unfortunately had little to go on. fortunately, my partner in crime was able to intervene. as the discussion ensued we brought up one Peter Korn, who these folks knew, and were delighted to discover (by word of mouth) that he had his blog groove going on. delighted is an understatement. my problem is that i know, or more correctly i *believe* i know, there are others doing work in this area but not having a definitive point of reference, on how to hook into the "blog collective" bothers me as we have an incredible story to tell on many fronts. that by doing so we can only learn and appropriately prioritize our activities from direct interactions with the representative communties. tight feedback loop per se.

as another data point i was chatting with some bsd, who are without a doubt are the most pragmatic of penguinites i personally have had interactioned with was refreshing in and of iteself, about jxta and possible use cases. things progressed a bit and i pointed out that solaris 10 chalk full of features and slated to roll out as open source. having the solaris express booth nearby was helpful as well. i then spiced up the discussion with the fact that *the* kernel engineers are blogging directly, no noise, just direct communications. the response were jaw dropping eyes wide open "you are kidding me" ... oh, it felt good :). i then proceeded to bring up a browser and was, again, faced with the navigational issue this very entry is about, that being, what is the best means to dial into the sub-channels/themes that collectively are bsc? in this case i pointed to the dTrace'omatic crew which are diligent about adding "friends of" links on thier entries ... something we would all do well to follow suit. i know i'm trying to do my part to "bring order from chaos." btw, that have you ever kissed a girl thread is bloody classic! hilarious beyond belief.

so, let's bring it on home. some "meta" bsc categories that come to mind include accessibity, gnome, jds, solaris, linux, etc. there are more, no doubt, but you get the idea.

so, what to do? i know we can do better. is this feature here today? right under our nose? not sure but i doubt it. wiki by chance? sounds reasonable to me as the only real difference is a wiki is editable by all (so is a blog if you share your pwd) and it is fixed in time whereas blogs roll off the radar as time moves on ("we all float on" - modest mouse). with this, one can envision theme/category/affinity context that spans individual blog entries yet the two engines point bi-directionally into one another. hmmmmm. cool.

folks know precisely my recommendations in this space as i am not one to be shy when voicing my opinion when potential "architectural" foibles are at play. i still stand by stated recommendation. what i am doing here is providing *real* world use cases whereby we can readily help folks connect ... which is what this is really all about ... without specifying the uber solution. i'd love to see something come along that can help build more bridges.

lest folks can't get to sleep wondering what i would construct/rollout/etc ... i'm a fan of snipsnap. man, i just read that one can install snipsnap via java webstart. how cool is that? my "clan k3wl" buddies to the right, yeah, right over there, have built out some nice sites in using snipsnap.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: UnderWorld/Dirty Epic/Cowgirl

trey'ster will be 4 this coming weekend. man, time does fly.

we're having our house fumigated (! joy) over the weend and as such plan on going on a 3 day camping excursion coupled with a day at bonfante gardens. good times.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: RadioHead/Amnesiac/Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box

linux world sf was pretty good this year. to be fair, i was pleasantly suprised as i felt last years event, from a pavillion perspective, was pretty, for lack of a better word, fragmented. the tune "... .org to the left of me. suits to the right. here i am, stuck in the middle again" kept looping through my head. few java developers. i don't know. linux world nyc '04, on the otherhand, was a complete blast. java desktop was newly announced and folks loved it, lots of j2ee love in the air and a significant number of east coast jxta compatriots stopped by to talk shop which is always fun. that and we got a significant share of new interest in the project as well.

linux world sf '04 was, on par, pretty good modulus 4 specific interactions i'm going to go into a bit more detail on in a forthcoming entry. back to the good'ness. alot of folks wanted to catch up with jxta, how has it matured, adoption stories, etc. this is a great discussion point as the project has matured significantly quarter over quarter and the adoption story stands on it's own. of the java developers i met they were split across j2ee and j2me deployments pretty evenly. the j2me (and device) folks also appreciated the news of the fully compliant jxta c implmentation with a 700k footprint. i spoke with a number of scripters who liked the idea that java is slated to support scripting and further, really got into jxta problem domain, that being an overall network overlay. i will admit this was one of the better developer-to-developer discussions i was involved with over the course of events. we also made a number of new contacts that i personally am quite excited to work with. most of these folks simply couldn't believe jxta overlays *the* network as effectively as it does. these types of discussions are always fun in that we get a chance to pull back the curtain and explore that that is jxta a bit more in detail.

in the p2p domain, the discussions this go around were quite mature, meaning, clearly people realize that static addressing scales only so far, that the network is, at times, fragile, that the net is programatically open and one can not assume, well, anything. couple that with the problems i learned folks are grappling with are very real, very solutions oriented vs the-next-killer-fizzlebot thingy. i'm very much for "keeping it real." further, folks have clearly tried various p2p solutions/strategies and as such our discussions were extremely contextual. great stuff, all in all.

on display, we had jxta net map which is alot of fun. for quite awhile now we've pointed to the static network overlay visual, which all things considered is perfectly correct. but, this year, we were able to go through the generic presentation and then point to the real-time jxta net and show how things are constantly changing and how jxta churns to patch, (re)route, and optimize. quite fun.

the pavillion looked to be well populated and a bit more blended or complete then the previous year. i spent a bi t of time chatting with the gentoo folks. i, personally, have never met a group of more chipper linux developers then that crew. downright pleasant to talk to.

sun's presentations were impressive and should there be a lack of coverage or any misconceptions on what was presented i'll do my best to represent. my esteemed booth pals were pumped, as usual. there is no doubt, we "get it," and more, big time. the demos i recall include:

• java.com and java.net, who huge java developer and consumer resources
• java desktop system on display on numerous platforms with the giveaway being a live no-install demo cd, just the fix for the pointy head types
• looking glass, serious eye candy
• open office and star office, winner of best in show
• sunray, a perfect appliance for call centers, institutions, etc
• jxta but of course, the secure pervassive, resilient network is *now*, get connected already
• n1, grid baby
• sun control station
• studio creator, serious rave
• killer sun workstations and servers
• solaris express, mainline the goods
• linux enterprise solutions
• and more

the intel party was excellent. free beers, pizza and the spasmodics (i'm link challanged on this one) were greatly appreciated.

apress had a booth not far from us and one day a rather long line formed to which i, quite lemming like, joined the queue. man, was i pumped about what was at the end of the line. reverand bill blunden (i'd like to find this guys home page one day ... but googling turns up nothing but bookstore links) was personally, i mean *personally*, signing free copies of Offshoring IT: The good, The bad, and the Ugly. being somewhat of a jokester i uttered "forgive me father for i have sinned" to which the ultra-hip rev simply smiled in kind and scribed the following "... you are hereby absolved of all your sins. but i can't keep people from trying to screw you ..." there was actually more to the signature including "... jxta, what the hell." it appears the rev didn't go full bore jxta like my man coolio. p2p master coolio to you. the rev did take a significant amount of time to chat individually with folks. very cool dude. the book completely rocks chalk full of external statistics building the premise for the authors perspectives. this man has been in the trenches and speaks for the people. ok, guilty. i'm a disciple :) i think it is great a local book publisher sponsered this event given they have pretty much all but vanished ... sadness. i talked to a couple of the apress folks as well ... and ate way too much of their free candy. i picked up the rev's cube farm. man, this one hits a little too close to home for some of the post dot.com projects i worked on. shudder. think happy thoughts ... happy thoughts.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Nine Inch Nails/The Downward Spiral/Reptile

finally got around to building an entire jxta stack signed with a common certificate. this helps tremendously as jxta is, by definition, comprised of many subsystems each of which, in turn, have thier jar dependencies, etc. now, adding a time dimension to the mix the fundamental elements can and do change, which has all the makings for a challanging systematic build.

as a result of a bit of nightly build process optimization it was relatively trivial to spin out a unified myjxta build the results of which immediately normalzed the number of redundant security notifications (due to the certificate being self signed) down to one. i like that.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Nine Inch Nails/The Fragile/Into The Void

i just u/g our home/personal system to use firefox and thunderbird exclussively. the transtion was trivial, the navigation feels smoother and the lnf is a bit more welcoming ... proofed by the fact that my wife is clearly using my system more and more these days since moving (back) to gnome and incorprating gthumb. i need to get gallery up and running next and then she will always be on my system and i'll have to u/g it as well ... all a part of my master plan :)

i had trouble installing firefox at work on java desktop ... something about an "xpcom not found" issue. there does appear to be a bug registered. i don't have the id available offhand. i suspect the jds libs are behind a bit ... or so goes my hunch. i sure would like to run firefox/thunderbird on both my personal and work systems. all in due time.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: RadioHead/Kid A/The National Anthem

i upgraded my desktop system to jds last friday. the process was trivial resulting in crisp and responsive system. minimalist to be sure but very snappy. not sure what the trouble was with my other system but it dragged, significantly, at times.

i was a bit aprehensive about going with gnome as i had switched to kde sometime back and have since tricked it out with wayt too many distractions ... super karamba, aqua-like themes, busy backgrounds, translucent windows ... mmmmmmm, tasty.

going with vanilla gnome felt a bit stark for me but in short order i was at home tayloring it to my liking with no significant troubles. once i had alsa up and running (alsaconf) i had my tried and true friend xmms themed out and purring away. for a bit of background, i started my home linux experience with debian/enlightenment and went to suse/gnome for a very brief spell before switching to suse/kde. enlightenemnt rocked, amazing really, but i haven't seen it rev for quite some time so i opted for something a bit more mainstream. kde felt alot richer and so i happily switched.

i run suse 9.0 at home with fully tricked out kde. given i have yet to dump our digitized photos from our disneyland travels to my system i opted to hack a bit on my system to see if it would embrace my shiny new sony dsc-p100 ... no go. given a healthy bit'o encourage from my linux colleagues i twiddled drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h so that if finally recongnized my camera ... but i couldn't get it to see the stick. realing that i needed yet more more set of wires sticking out of my monster system i opted to get an iogear card reader. worked like a charm and supports 14 media types to boot. speaking of ... no more kernal (re)build/(re)boot cycles for the moment.

having all our pics at our fingertips was immensely fun. we had a great time thumbing through them with gthumb, which is a great piece of s/w. we saw several we want to print out for wall art. the difference between the 5MP new pics vs the 2MP old pics was obvious. and the new camera is way smaller and has more features. the only trouble is that i need to buy more sticks given they get chewed up pretty quickly. that said, they are relatively cheap these days.

it looks like linux 2.6 may support my camera natively, possibly even the memory stick pro. that would be sweet. i'll check into upgrading. early reports are promising.

having accomplished a great deal and feeling pretty good about it i prepared to push myself away from the keyboard only to discover that something got completely mucked up with kde ... ksplash spun really hard, taking up the bulk of free cpu. bummed, i thought about if for a bit and decided to give gnome a go at home as well given the experience i had at work just days before. the gnome include with suse 9.0 is decked out. way better then the old gnome i was used to. i won't miss kde, for the time being although i do hate having unsolved oddities with my system. i have yet to figure out how to specify distinct backgrounds for each workspace ... but i think i'll try one better now and and get something that changes my background images as i now have a bunch of fresh family pics that spin through.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Modest Mouse/The Lonesome Crowded West/Cowboy Dan

i bought an adams trail a bike last fall given my son just turned 3 and i was eager to get him off his tricycle and riding with me. well, although that bike says it is for ages 3 and up there is no way a child of that age can fit the bike, adjustments and all. well, trey is almost 4 (man, time does most assuredly fly) and this weekend we forced the issue a bit. tam, on blades, strode along beside him holding his hand to work out his initial nervousness, etc. he can just barely reach the pedals as it is. it looks like things worked out for the better. for the return trip, from our weekly begal run, he happily climbed on the bike himself and was eager to get going.

this should be a fun fall ... biking and all.

Java == platform independence
XML == application independence
JXTA == network independence

Secure End-to-End Computing

in my ears: Modest Mouse/The Lonesome Crowded West/Lounge Closing Time