New word: intermote

intermote, verb, to overlay reader's feelings or emotions on the writings of others.

snap shot

Go here, read this man, be uplifted and well fed. Thanks Milton.



don't eat alone: snap shot

snap shot



...



We’re standing on both sides of my eyes,

but not as mirror image or still life

(life has never been still for us).



...

Neo...Post

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

... just a quick muse whisper

We closed Picasso at the Lapin Agile last Saturday night to an appreciative audience. A fluttering of laughter throughout, a couple of belly driven guffaws and even a heart felt "oh" when the muse surprised a few. Round it all out with a few folks standing in ovation at the curtain call...and you have a very rewarding community theater experience.

Then the wild children partied until the crack of dawn.

I had thought that I might chronicle (blog) the entire 'event' from casting, through rehearsals, to opening night and then beyond. Each time I sat at this keyboard and started I was struck with the intimacy of each moment. Each vignette a prized morsel to be savored and cherished. Each hour spent upon the stage more valuable than the last. I found myself caught up in the drama that is theater. I was in the moment.

Weeks and weeks before I had 'written' the movie that would play in my head. I had mentally created the storyboard that would unfold as the players strode upon the stage. So then the time came to paint with the human brushes the series of still lifes. A long row of canvases, lined up, ready to be dominoed with just a quick muse whisper. There to become the living movie that I had imagined. That is the moment that holds an actor's heart tight, making it difficult to breath.

So delicate are these created visages that I want to protect them. Lest the slightest disturbance would spill them like a tipped glass of wine. Actors living outside of their persons, nearly outside of their bodies. Stripped of their social exoskeletons. Each protective callus softened and pealed away. Until only the newly formed character remains, a new born. Each actor then must endure the bright lights and magnified review of self criticism, naked on the world stage.

Yet when we are in the moment all time stops. Only the play remains. "The play's the thing..."

Then when the last echo of applause drifts away. When the last congratulatory hand shake is a fleeting memory. When the muse, satisfied for the moment, releases the reins ... then the relaxation begins. Actors begin to release their pent up energies and angsts ... they begin to re-inhabit their own persons. They shed their carefully crafted characters and slip back into their mundane lives. Now they are the most vulnerable. Like the butterfly newly emerged from a chrysalis - pliable, waking limp from the long sleep of transformation.

Yet there is one more act to this drama. The last Sunday afternoon performance. It is not open to the public. Seldom if ever do the actors even put in an appearance. Under the harsh glare of florescent work lights technicians do a well choreographed dance, set deconstruction. First the stripping of the props and set dressings, leaving only the underpinnings. Then with surgeon's care the flats and platforms are excised and relieved. One by one stacked against the back wall until the entire show is just a deck of giant wood-framed playing cards. Waiting in the wings to be reshuffled and dealt into a new hand.

Slowly, lonely, the last act is the sweeping of the stage. A sort of cathartic soul cleansing. The push broom shuffle. The last dance number.

That is the moment that an audience longs for, cool water across parched lips.

Microsoft may try to squeeze the Apple

InformationWeek article states

Microsoft Won't Sue Linux Users, Company Exec Says

Despite its claim to own 42 patents used in the creation of the Linux kernel and hundreds more embedded in other free software programs, Microsoft does not plan to take a page from The SCO Group and sue users of the open source operating system, a senior company official said Monday.

Highlighting is mine. I have to wonder if some of those 'free software programs' have found their way into Mac's OS X?

Mac OS X was a radical departure from previous Macintosh operating systems; its underlying code base is completely different from previous versions. Its core, named Darwin, is a free and open source, Unix-like operating system built on top of the XNU kernel, with standard Unix facilities available from the command line interface. Apple layered over Darwin a number of proprietary components, including the Aqua interface and the Finder, to complete the GUI-based operating system which is Mac OS X.

( Wikipedia, Mac OS X)

Highlighting is mine. Pushing users around is called FUD. Pushing Jobs around is called FUDGE. And I bet he won't sit still for any packing.

235 Patents?

I do so hope that the marketing guys at Microsoft will soon take the legal-eagles by the ear out back of the wood shed and whip their collective asses until they are bright red.

Boy oh boy what a stupid move on the part of Microsoft.

Business by intimidation. That smacks of the kind of monolithic totalitarian states that brought so much love like Stalinist Communist Russia or our favorite despot Idi Amin.

So, lets enumerate...

1. Microsoft uses "drug dealer" tactics to addict poverty stricken users.
2. Microsoft uses threats and intimidation - not unlike some dictators.
3. ???
   

...and all they want is a little loving?

Gitcherowndarnednumber!!!

Go here and get your very own integer ... mine is

31 BF 4E FA 92 52 FC 29 92 27 34 19 E9 3E 8E 30

BullyBillyGates and the Temple of Fear

Reaffirmed once again; I B Clueless!

While I cannot say that I liked the Microsoft product I did have a grudging admiration of the Microsoft Empire as a business entity. Until now...

At some point in your presentation billg will say “that’s the dumbest fucking idea I’ve heard since I’ve been at Microsoft.” He looks like he means it. However, since you knew he was going to say this, you can’t really let it faze you. Moreover, you can’t afford to look fazed; remember: he’s a bully.

“What do you disagree with, Bill?” you ask as assertively as you can. He tells you.

Microsoft Memories

Sadly I realize that in a dawg-eat-dawg world you gots to be the biggest DAWG to keeps from being eaten. Well, I guess it couldn't happen to a better bully.

Dell & Linux... today's version

Yesterday I wrote

DELLinux Redux

and today I see that the major players are getting on the bandwagon...

The empire strikes back

Dell's Linux Problem

and to be fair, here is one with a 'pro' spin on it...

Microsoft-Novell partnership hooks Dell

Open Source, Closed Market?

From the play that I just finished directing, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, a high powered salesman, Charles Dabenow Schmendiman, claims to have had another great idea. "A tall pointy cap for dunces!"

So I tried one on an I had another great idea; I will take the freely offered Open Source code for say... something by Mozilla, how about Firefox. I will fully honor the spirit of the Open Source agreement and leave in all the tributes and adulations to the original authors. I will just slightly touch the source ... just enough so that instead of Fire it would be... PapaFox. Then I will release my version into the wild and wait for my share of the estimated $55 Million that Mozilla in enjoying.

So how come Mozilla isn't shaking in its boots over the prospect of PapaFox cutting so deeply into their revenue stream? Huh? Oh yeah, and where is my cut of that revenue stream - why aren't folks beating a path to my door? It is after all their product just slightly repackaged - "No difference."

• Who in their right mind would download from me what they can get from the original authors? They can get a package that they know will have integrity. The package will be up-to-date. In short the package offered by Mozilla is the real deal.
  
  
• So let's say that I could overcome the image issue of PapaFox. Then, in order to really make it mine I would have to substantially alter the original. Now I am not a programmer nor do I play a Doctor on TV but I know a thing or two about programs. They are huge! They are complex!
  
  Who would have the resources to invest in 'bootlegging' an Open Source application? Where is the profit incentive? Oh I know, I could sell PapaFox for substantially less than Mozilla is getting for it....Uh yeah, what is less than zero?

Now, just for the sake of discussion... lets say that I was able to overcome the previous two stumbling blocks... and I was moderately successful in offering a FireFox decendent that I actually made better (than the original) all the while adhering to the spirit of Open Source software. Now, jftsod, lets say that people started to download and use PapaFox.

Mozilla could take any of three paths; 'lawyer-up', 'pump-up' or 'wither-and-die'. When faced with the Cease&Desist order and being the uber-underdog I would laugh in their faces and try my case in the court of public opinion. Should they decide to Pump-Up then the race is on, as it should be. First they can simply re-incorporate my improvements right back into FireFox (all the while upholding the spirit of the Open Source agreement). Or they could 'black-box' engineer the improvements and just leave me out of it. In either case the product has improved and the consumer has received the real value of the exercise. Lastly, of course Mozilla could simple walk away from their product and I would be the heir apparent as the next browser king. Until the next uber-underdog came along.

This last option, Wither-and-Die, is not all that uncommon in Open Source projects. Authors for a myriad of reasons have to let programs go. Some cannot afford to maintain them. Some just lose interest. The real grace of the Open Source system shines through when an interested individual resurrects an program that has lain fallow. They breath new life into it and once again give it to the community.

The Iraq Scenario

Wirearchy offers a 7 stage plane for the US' involvement in Iraq...

Plan A - Attack

Plan B - Beat 'Em Up

Plan C - Clusterf*ck

Plan D - Denial

Plan E - Escalate

Plan F - Failure

Plan G - Get The Troops Out

Ya only left out a couple of points... The 'official offal plan' never went beyond "b"... And the Iraqi people saw right through the charade from the git go... Bush&Cheney never intended to leave so why bother to work up an exit strategy.

DELLinux Redux

Dell and Novell sitting in a tree ChannelWeb Network (CRN Magazine) is reporting this morning...

Microsoft and Novell said Monday that Dell has become the first major system vendor to join their controversial technology and marketing alliance, agreeing to work with Microsoft to distribute SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates.

I am guessing here but I bet that this is the 'deal' that Dell had to agree to in order to get out from under the MS thumb for offering PCs preloaded with... er, uh, ... Linux.

Prediction: Ubuntu and Dell

PLEASE prove me wrong!!!

Dell will half-heartedly role out a few PCs preloaded with Ubuntu. Any possible market share will be diminished by the lack of enthusiasm displayed by Dell. As a marketing ploy they appealed to the voice of public opinion. When sales tank due to lack of their belief in their product the Dell PR guys will stay away in droves.

When, not if, folks start to have questions about 'how to do this' or 'how to fix that' Dell will throw up its collective hands and say, "Well, you know that Linux is Open Source. Go ask the community how to 'do that' or 'fix this'." Without a clear profit incentive Dell will hardly be willing to invest in the necessary support to get their products over the initial bump. When the first report comes back that Dell isn't standing behind their Linux systems customers will join the PR guys, staying away in droves.

People, the few that actually buy the Ubuntu PC, will then raise such a verbal stink AND POINT THE WAGGING FINGER at Linux and say, "This Linux stuff sux!" Gimme back my warm&fuzzy&bloated&addictive Weendoze.

The whole thing should take no longer than 4 months from the date Dell first ships...

I Feel so all alone...

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Hmmmmmmmm, I am pretty sure that my son, William Meloney is still alive and living at home and tearing up the bandwidth uploading great stop-motion animation videos to YouTube.

Bad blog, bad blog!

Sit, stay, roll-over... don't put links in your articles.

Bad blog!

Don'tcha just hate it when somebody writes an article about an interesting program and then doesn't include a link to the program's site?

BTW: the link that I was after in the article I was reading is
... Pidgin is the new GAIM

Invisible IT

Joshua Porter cites

Five Principles to Design By

which puts the IT business in very clear perspective.

Technology Serves Humans.

Technology serves humans. Humans do not serve technology.

Design is not Art.

Good Design is something that works well.

The Experience Belongs to the User.

The ultimate experience is something that happens in the user, and it is theirs. They own it.

Great Design is Invisible.

An interesting property of great design is that it is taken for granted.

Bad design is obvious because it hurts to use.

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication.

[It] is the highest achievement for a designer.

---

I have long contended that our stated goal in IT is to be[come] invisible. Recent studies published by important folks in the know have stated that IT is not a competitive business practice. (e.g. We won't gain greater market share because we have a bigger IT department than our competition.) In this day and age everybody has an IT department, in house or out-sourced or BILB (Brother-in-Law Bob). So when it comes to customer service, providing the commodity of IT to the end users, our objective is to make it as simple as possible and as invisible as possible.

Let the users, our customers, be about the work of our business not the busy-ness of IT.

Thanks Joshua

Picasso; Before and After...

This is my original rough sketch set design for the Theater Workshop of Owensboro (TWO) production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, a comedy by Steve Martin. (Rendered with Microsoft Paint)



SketchUp ROCKZ!

This "rough" rendering was generated using SketchUp from Google. I cannot say enough about it as a design tool. In addition to perspective rendering it is possible to alter the POV (point of view). This allows the viewer to 'sit' anywhere in the audience and see what the set will look like. I used the existing textures and color pallette. I am sure that with more time and effort I could have offered an more exact rendering.




While not fully 'dressed' this is the set. --->

Set Construction (including tables) is the very fine work of Mr. Aaron Brown and his son Austin.

Play your gitar on your MTV...

indexed

News: Indexed is a Webby Award Honoree!

You mean they actually give me money to do this? Cool!!!

The biggest cyber-drug pusher on the block

I read Bruce Schneier for two reasons. His sense of humor tickles me just the right way. His sense of cyber-reality offers a clear technology compass for the terminally confused such as myself. So I was piqued by his Commentary on Vista Security and the Microsoft Monopoly.

While Bruce was talking, referentially, about the possible death of Microsoft...

Monopolies eventually overreach themselves and die. Maybe it's finally Microsoft's time to die. That would decrease the risk to the rest of us.

I was struck by a low-level, gut feeling response to some of the phrases offered in the cited articles and analysis.

Demerjian's interpretation of these two developments?

These two actions by Microsoft are proof of

what I suggested three years ago.
Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can't compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times.

The emphasis is mine. Losing the ability to twist arms then reducing the price of the 'product' to ~$3.00 USD is tantamount to the neighborhood pusher giving away the first 'hits' of crack cocaine - to get the users hooked (into buying the expensive drug over and over again.)

(From John Quarterman's article...)

As Dan Geer has been saying for years, Microsoft has a bit of a problem.

If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday.

Microsoft wants the poor guy-on-the-street-user to try the "free" ($3.00 USD) sample in the long range hope of addicting him. Then when the addict returns Microsoft will wring out the 'full-price' for the next fix.

Sadly the real poverty in this case is not strictly economic. Microsoft has built a culture of ignorance in the users of its products. Microsoft turns right around and plays off of this ignorance poverty to continue to enslave innocent every day folks.

$0 is less than $3.

Sin-Yaw Wang of Sun Microsystems reminds us that $3 US is too much for good software.