Alex had pointed me in the direction of the Skyroll On Wheels, and with my recent flurry of consulting travel, I decided to pick one up and try it out.

Having now tripped it around the coutry 5 times now, I would have to say this is the bag to have if you are a light traveler. It is small, light, well-designed, and mostly well built. The only problem I have had with mine is that the wheels seemed to not be perfectly aligned, so it does not stand up perfectly straight.

The garment bag that wraps around the case does well with 3 changes of clothes, but not much more. If the clip straps were longer, I believe it could handle it, and it would still not have a problem with being carry-on size. I may need to ‘customize’ mine for that purpose. I also like the top loading compartment, great for the toiletries you need to carry.

If you need a small, lightweight carry on suitcase, and you are a light traveler, this is the suitcase for you.

Overall, I would give this bag a A-/B+, but only from the wheel alignment issue. I have now received 4 compliments on my bag from stewardesses on various flights. It looks very small compared to other carry-on bags (the reason they looked at it in the first place), and then the integrated garment bag closes the deal . If you are looking to try and pick up a stewardess, this is the closest thing to a baby in the park

Popularity: 45%

I have been in the (un)fortunate position of negiotation several contracts lately, and I am amazed at the response I get during the negotiation phase of the contract phase.

It seems that a large portion of people refuse to change the text of a contract in negotiation, in favor of trying to convince you that the intent of the contract is NOT what the contract says. They seem to think that is good enough, and the intent will cover us both. The only problem I have with that is two-fold:

1. Why in the name of all that is good and holy do you have a f**king contract in the first place, if your intention is not to hold to every word. Why can’t we just handshake and call it good, like my dad and his dad used to do. Oh yeah, because people no longer hold to their word.
2. I am signing something that I do not agree to, that can be enforced by law.

When I ask about the first reason, I just get stupid looks, but when I approach the second issue, the answer is ALWAYS that the contract text only matters if things get bad. Guess what, that is the part of the contract that I care the most about!!! When things go south, the contract is the only thing I have to protect me and you, and you are unwilling to allow the protection in a mutual manner when you refuse to change the contract. Give me a freakin’ break.

I have had no less than 5 of such incidents in the last 4 months. I am soo lucky.

I think a good bit of the ACTUAL reason for these refusals to negotiate is the fear of having to go talk to the lawyer again. That is the only reasoning I can come up with that is anywhere near sanity.

Popularity: 37%

Some of the stuff that I have been looking at recently:

• Howto to Talk with GoogleTalk in Python
• Enterprises and consumers don’t buy things, they subscribe to services
• SQL Relay - SQL Relay is a persistent database connection pooling, proxying and load balancing system for Unix and Linux.
• memcached - a high-performance, distributed memory object caching system
• spread - a high performance messaging service that is resilient to faults across external or internal networks
• MySQL InnoDB Tuning
• MySQL - Restrictions on InnoDB Tables -
  

  InnoDB does not keep an internal count of rows in a table. (This would actually be somewhat complicated because of multi-versioning.) To process a SELECT COUNT(*) FROM t statement, InnoDB must scan an index of the table, which takes some time if the index is not entirely in the buffer pool. To get a fast count, you have to use a counter table you create yourself and let your application update it according to the inserts and deletes it does.

  Happy to know that the workaround is to do it myself

Popularity: 25%

From the sqlobject mailing (thanks to Andrew Bennetts):

from sqlobject.sqlbuilder import SQLConstant
UTC_NOW = SQLConstant("CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AT TIME ZONE 'UTC'")
DEFAULT = SQLConstant("DEFAULT")

If you use lazyUpdates then you will need to explicitly sync an object
before reading its column back after assigning a constant to it. Example of
what I mean:

# Assume Foo is an SQLObject with a DateTimeCol called lastupdated
foo = Foo.get(1)
foo.lastupdated = UTC_NOW
print foo.lastupdated # prints UTC_NOW object
foo.sync()
print foo.lastupdated # prints an actual datetime, as stored in the db.

Aside from that, it works quite smoothly.

Popularity: 21%

Java:

1. Write code
2. Compile
3. Build JAR
4. Stop Server
5. copy JAR
6. rebuild WAR
7. Start Server
8. Test code

Python:

1. Write code
2. Ctrl+C
3. Up arrow, ENTER
4. Test Code

Note the added Java bits can be automated with Ant and the like, but still take TIME.

Popularity: 28%

Alex is ruminating on choices for a new development machine, and since he mentioned me in the comments, I thought I might be able to add some fuel to the woodpile, so to speak.
First, the comment about VMWare. It is true that the fastest Windows machine I have ever owned was a VMWare instance of Windows 2000 running on a Linux box. It was hands down the fastest machine I have ever used. It was only a P4 2.8GHz with 2GB of RAM and dual 60GB drives (no RAID). I don’t know all the factors that led to that being the case, as I didn’t do any special configuration fo the Linux box or the VMWare instance. Everything just worked, kind of like a car built on Wednesday.
The second fastest Windows machine I ever owned was a 486DX-50 box with 64MB of RAM running Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Not only did the main memory run at CPU speed (the last intel CPU to do that, IIRC), on bootup I created a 32MB RAM drive, copied the windows directory to it, and then booted Windows out of RAM into… RAM. That machine just screamed. Nevermind that the 64MB of RAM at the time set me back something like $3500 alone. I guess I am just a hardware whore.
Enough nostalgia.
The choice is Linux, Windows or Mac. For Alex, as I said in my comment, I just don’t think that the polish is there on the Linux Desktop for you to be happy. Nothing against the Linux Desktop, it’s just that I think the savior of the Linux desktop is the command line, and Alex is not a HUGE command line guy like I am. If you were to try Linux, maybe you should build one of these: Ultimate Linux Box 2005. 4 CPUs (could be dual core now, so 8 CPUs), 32GB of RAM, O decibels of noise, I would love one, if any sponsor would like to ship me one.

So, that leaves Windows or Mac.

I can say I am comfortable with either, they both have strengths and weaknesses. Since Apple is in the middle of ‘the big switch’, I would go with a nice beefy desktop, using the new dual core chips, with about 4 GB of RAM, and 4 hard drives in a RAID 0/1 configuration, for safety and speed. With 2 24″ LCDs in a vertical configuration, and a dual DVI video card, you should be well under the price of the Apple Dual G5 with 30″ display, and have more of everything on a technical level, just some loss of good looks. 2005/6 is the year of dual everything, it seems.

And if you don’t install VirusMaker, I mean Outlook, you should be able to only do scheduled virus scans, instead of active scanning. I would also recommend a nice little hardware firewall, because $80 is cheap insurance.

Popularity: 30%

On the server

vi /etc/exports
add lines like:
/data1/sessions 192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0(rw) 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0(rw)

vi /etc/hosts.allow
add lines like:
portmap: 192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0, 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0

/etc/init.d/nfsd start

On the Client

vi /etc/fstab, adding the following line:
nfshostname:/data1/sessions /mnt nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0

make sure to mkdir /mnt/sessions, or it won’t work. To do it manually, just:
mount nfshostname:/data1/sessions /mnt/sessions

Helpful Links

• Setting up an NFS Server
• Optimizing NFS Performance

Popularity: 55%

From Ken Norton:

(I was also slightly flabbergasted by their Godzilla-barfs-a-box-of-Crayolas site redesign but that’s another problem).

I like the metaphor.

Popularity: 26%

I have been watching the new FeedLounge install with possibly too much attention today. Is that CPU spike a performance problem, or just a random spike? Where is that disk I/O going? Why is this machine loaded and that one mostly idle? You know the drill. Obsession to the point of losing a bit of the higher level picture.

As the obsession waned today, it seems that FeedLounge is back to an alive and usable state, and for that I am very happy. Now, however, is when the work really begins. In preparation for a larger (much larger, we hope) rollout in beta and beyond, I have to step back and start removing bottlenecks in the system. That is going to take quite a bit of measurement and design, and a lot of elbow grease to acclomplish correctly, lest we end up in the same position again, and very soon. I feel the pain of the Technoratis of the world.

I know where the current 80% problem(s) are in the architecture, and I will begin work of adding infrastructure, both in code and hardware, to alleviate the problem, so that I can then find the next 80%, and so on down the line. As FeedLounge continues to scale, I will also be putting into place key indicators to tell me when/where I may have a problem in the near future, rather than learn about yesterday’s scaling problem today.

Popularity: 38%

Chatting here with Geof while I work on the FeedLounge servers, and he mentioned using the Wikipedia plugin to get the definition of things.

I have used it since I installed Trillian, and love it, but in that totally take it for granted sort of way.

It just helps improve your understanding of everything, and is a great little viewfinder into the genius that is the Wikipedia.

Try it sometime. Many thanks to the Trillian and Wikipedia peeps.

Popularity: 28%

vi /etc/named.conf (adding master zone for newdomain.com)
cp /var/named/example.org.hosts /var/named/newdomain.com.hosts
vi /var/named/newdomain.com.hosts
kill -HUP pid-of-named

Popularity: 31%

Just installed my new Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW LCD monitor, and I must say wow! It seems huge compared to the 2001 I was using. With the 1900×1200 resolution (as well as 24″ of viewable space), I will be able to see more windows at the same time, to attempt to quench my thirst for information.

The brightness was extremely high, and when I went to change it, the initial setting was 50%. 100% brightness seems to light up the entire room! I set it down around 20, as that seems to work well for me in normal office lighting.

As a bonus, it has a 9-in-1 flash card reader built into the side. Very handy.

Probably won’t have more to say on this unless it breaks, or someone buys me a 30 inch Cinema display as an incremental upgrade. I would recommend this to anyone who has the space. And if you are in the tech industry, you cannot afford to go without in screen, chair, or desk. Those are the basics of comfort and safety in your job.

Popularity: 40%

Took all of the day, but the move was completed physically, now for all the configuration that is necessary to complete the move on the software level. Will post more on the FeedLounge blog.

Popularity: 28%

In a recent IM conversation with Geof, he summed up best the ability of man to wield power gracefully (or lack of ability, as the case may be):

[08:58] geof: It is not for me to sway men’s souls.
[08:58] geof: If I could do that, I would be a god.
[08:58] geof: And, frankly, I would be one evil motherfucker of a god!

I can only totally agree on this. And thanks to Geof for letting me quote him in IM.

And who knew Geof owned a whole network? He’s like Ted Turner, only human and reachable.

Popularity: 21%

I am heading home today, and will return home late tonight to begin the second FeedLounge migration. Seems that we just did this last week, but it was actually almost 2 months ago. Wow.

The first migration was such a smashing success that we are going to be leaving the poor old alpha server melting down in a small pool of its own solder, and moving on to our own rack in a colo closer to home. Busy holiday weekend for the FeedLounge crew.

After stopping the server tonight, it goes down for one final backup, rsyncing that over to the new server. We will also be adding the DNS changes, so that the new servers are ready to go once we finish the install.

Then it is off to the colo in the morning, with a small truckload of hardware. Cabling and installation (don’t forget the cable ties) should take about 4-6 hours, and then we can stop and have a snack (dinner?).

After all the connectivity is sorted out, then it will be a sit down root-fest, making sure all the configuration is correct, nagios is all set up, etc.

Then for the test run. Start up the daemon to start working the queue, trying to catch up on the feed backlog (making sure to time it to get a feel for the new hardware).

Need to remember to take as many pictures as necessary to document the adventure, so I can share with everyone the joy that is a colo move.

Previous experience (moving the apache.org colo) tells me estimates are an impossibility to get right. One thing I did learn though: a smaller crew, or at least small crews focused on single tasks, get the job done faster than a big crew (too much concensus decision making).

Popularity: 53%

Overheard in a phone conversation:

You can have 2 user ids, but you cannot have the same user id twice!

Obviously talking about some database constraint, but trying to explain that constraint to an end user is, well, less than successful.

Popularity: 34%

Quick Notes to self on Windows admin:

First, don’t run live virus scanners on production servers. Scheduled scans fine, but live???

Second, if you are running many production servers on VMWare, don’t run the same scheduled virus scan on every server at the same time every night. That begs for a beating from your common sense (you left it in the closet).

Third, production app servers on VMWare???? Nah, app servers don’t use that much CPU, they can share…

Popularity: 22%

I decided to load up a post with all the places you need to know to be able to develop nearly anything in javascript. Not just AJAX, but any javascript using web application that will target more than one major browser. So, take a deep breath, and here we go:

• QuirksMode - Tells you about a huge amount of the inconsistencies between the major browsers, in CSS as well as JavaScript.
• Cross-Browser.com - Handy cross-browser utilities. I have personally used several of the utilities from here, and can say that they do help in the cross-browser development struggle.
• JavaScript sucks (volume 1) - Bob hits the nail on the head. Make sure you know about all the little gotchas in JavaScript.
  

  Everything is an object, except for the three or forty things that aren’t. Ugh.

• JavaScript Sucks (volume 2) - Volume 1 was so popular, it spawned a volume 2
• MochiKit makes JavaScript suck less - From the same guy who said JavaScript sucks two volumes, he decided to do something about it. MochiKit is a JS library designed with the programmer in mind, also seems to be designed to return the same answer every time (not always true in JS land). Good on ya, Bob.
• The Tao of Mac - JavaScript - I bookmark many of the pages on this site, as it is a great human edited link resource.
• JavaScript OO Primer - Not a lot of us out here in web-dev land know that JavaScript can do OO. Maybe pythonmac.org should be javascriptmac.org? Bob knows way too much about this stuff. Since I am linking to everything under the sun over there, maybe you should just read the entire javascript category there.
• The JavaScript Diaries - Just getting started? Start here.
• ECMA 262 aka ‘JavaScript’ - What list would be complete without the JavaScript spec itself?

People don’t use JavaScript because they like it, they use it because they have no choice. A choice between bread and water or nothing is not a choice. If you do find yourself out there however, go pick up Venkman, at least it will help ease the debugging pain (if you develop Mozilla first, like me). And always remember to NEVER cross the streams.

Let me know of any links you would add to this list, and do take note of the fact I am NOT adding AJAX-related links up here. That is for another post.

Popularity: 19%