A few Java IDE bits

David M. Johnson gives a helpful review of Eclipse.

Me? I’m old style. Not because I want to however. I just havn’t seen tools that equal what I was used to after being exposed to Delphi. I currently use the Java Development Environment for Emacs or JEdit. Speaking of JEdit, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It’s a great text editor.

I gotta give Eclispe another go.

Some bits on programming

Dan Bricklin’s Why Johnny Can’t Program.

But Johnny might able to learn with Robocode or LOGO 🙂

Of course if you’re good, you don’t need to worry as Joel says when gives his 12 Reasons.

Joel’s development essays archive is perfect for sending bits to co-workers and saying… see!! see!! I’m not crazy!

Of course we’re dealing with more and more complicated environments in which to develop. In Grappling with app servers this ZDNet report from Gartner doesn’t scratch the surface.

Five reasons ‘Buffy’ gets snubbed by Emmys

It’s a crime I tell ya. CNN, I’m sure, nails it, but that don’t make it right.

Speaking of Buffy, watch out for the Buffy Blog Burst. I will be in this. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, David Brin, sci-fi, and real science research author, comments on Episode II. Man that is alot of deep thinking.

And for more deep thinking it’s Star Wars vs. Spider-Man. common! be fair!

And even more Star Wars related deep thinking – don’t click if you don’t want to be spoiled messge board thread that explains it all.

And for a bit of humor Buffy Calls Dr. Laura. cough.

Speaking of sci-fi… that opens up the conversation to comics… anyone else ever read Lone Wolf and Cub?

Contrary to popular opinion – Vince McMahon isn’t a genius and wrestling’s hayday has passed. It will come around again. It’s just lost it’s way. That article is brought to you by Movie Poop Shoot. Yes. The site from the movie “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. The site is pretty cool. Check it out.

Flesh and blood, not ones and zeros

I wonder how Shelley is. It’s been around seven days since her last post. She did say she is gonna take a road trip. I can be such a worry wart.

When you get the chance you want to read Bill’s The Fear. Excellent fun story. Cool seeing it posted one chapter at a time.

Looks like The Phoenix Trap were on the radio. Congrats to yas!

Now this post is going to go many different ways. Try and keep up.

Meryl points to an example of cliques and the web, “I feel like I’m in high school again, watching the kids in the cliques ignore everyone but the members of their own cliques.” Boy, a scan what’s occured these past few days in the blogosphere just reinforces that.

Dawn Olson is apologizing. Think about it.

Speaking of growing up, check out this thread at BlogRoots covering weblogs and Libel. Looks like, as Rebecca Blood says, “anyone who wishes to be accorded the protections of a professional journalist should be prepared to go further than this, following established journalistic ethical and professional practices: you can’t decide that you’re a journalist only when it’s convenient to be one.”

That’s deep.

After you’re done thinking about these things, and much more importantly, say a prayer for Dean and his wife.

This leads me back to my weekend. A huge one in many different ways. A funeral, a surprise birthday party (thank you!), a walk to fight against SIDS, and the anniversary of Hunter’s passing.

Flesh and blood. Not these ones and zeroes. People matter. Life matters.

Hopefully I am growing up. Becoming less of an asshole. “I’ve been learning how to live my life, learning when to pick my fights. Take my shots while I’m still burning.” Yeah. I guess that’s what it’s all about. Keepin’ what’s important at the center of your life and ignoring the signal noise that distracts you from it.

Taking a break

My wife and I are both at work today. I probably shouldn’t have posted what I did from work, but I did get the memo saying I could spend today to reflect and I have done so here at this site, and privately this morning. Howard Stern, thanks for staying on the air that day.

Tonight we’re making sure to see faith and doubt at ground zero.

Later this week we will be attending the funeral for Shell’s granddad. I miss him too. Just a short while ago, when we were buying the house, I made sure to tell him we’d take good care of his old place. We will.

Sunday I will be taking part in the 6th annual SIDS walk with my nephew and brother.

There will be no time for posts till after Sunday. You will still be able to reach me via e-mail. Thanks. Seeyas.

The Anniversary: Around the (my) web

Oliver Willis is a guy who I consistantly agree with. He walks a fine line here. One which I wish I could write about anywhere near as eloquently as he does. People on the left and people on the right will disagree with him. I can relate.

Ken Layne’s is a must read.

Doc Searls hits all the right notes. He even mentions the fantastic job Howard Stern and his crew did today and last year on this date. I listened all morning.

Meryl shares her recollection of the day and points us to Perfect Morning.

Garret gives us a great riff on “In Flanders Fields” and something to hold in your heart – “Honor Them wiht Peace, Not War”.

Craig amplifies Garret’s thoughts with some quotes and lyrics.

Alwin concludes differently with a Seven Samauri reference. A movie I gotta see someday. Big influence on George Lucas. The conclusion? “Honor Them with War, Not Peace.”

Mike Sanders asks some tough questions. Doesn’t peace begin with saving lives? That one question, which he has as a sub-question – is the answer to the rest I think.

Robyn doesn’t post today, but what she did post is beautiful.

Mark gives us his bottom line, while sharing a whole lot more about his life in relationship to that day.

Thomas Friedman’s Noah and 9/11 is a must read as well. The title is a trick. Go read it.

Jeff Jarvis is at memorial services in NY today and posts his thoughts.

Compare our reaction to 9.11 with that of Pearl Harbor. Reflect on how it is different. Good and bad.

Robert Wright’s series in Slate gets you thinking about the big picture.

Dave Barry’s heavily linked piece is another must read.

All Grief is Local, or so says Patrick Nielsen Hayden. I tried to say this a few days back. Again eloquence.

remember.yahoo.com is a powerful memorial of virtual tiles.

Belief.net’s multifaith site shares thoughts and prayers.

MetaFilter’s thread from last year gives you a minute by minute account by users.

Yahoo!’s portal is still probably the best place to stay informed of the news.

Terrorism: Questions & Answers, from the Council on Foreign Relations, is a plain spoken site for a plain spoken guy. A great site for background information. Wonderful site design too. Easy to read and understand. This is the kind of site I’ve been looking for – a 9.11 FAQ.

The September 11 Archive from the Library of Congress is a great tool to reflect. In particular webheads, read up on 9.11 and the Web Sphere.

GMSV’s 9/11 blog is a huge listalinks.

Remember the Daily News’ weblog effort about hatred.

A reflection

It started off as a typical day. I had my morning coffee, did a browse of the web, turned on the TV while my wife got in the shower. We leave for work together most days, and this was just another day.

I turned to CNN, a few minutes after the first plane hit. There was no video at the time to confirm it was a 747. Reporters said they believed it was a small private aircraft. They were conjecturing it was human error. There was no indication of what was to happen next.

I stopped in the bathroom to tell Shell what was going on. She was gonna hurry out of the shower. I sat down and two seconds later, with the camera locked on the north tower, a huge fireball erupts from the second. The reporters mistakenly think the explosion is from the north tower. A new shot and perspective and now you can hear the cracks in reporters voices. Fear. Anger. The reality starting to set in. At first no one indicated what caused the second explosion. Some on air conjecturing takes place, and a slowed down replay makes it clear. There was a second plane.

I run to tell Shell, and she get’s out of the shower.

We don’t say much. Just holding on to one another. Looking at the live shots of people deciding to jump. Of the buildings falling. Of the hit on the Pentagon. The reports of other planes out there. Of fight 93. Wondering how many innocent lives were lost. Hearing stories of heroism. Making calls to friends and family. Saying prayers.

Here is a prayer I keep pinned next to my desk. Even if you don’t believe in God, it’s words make sense as a personal code of conduct. One I wish I could live up to better.

Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow Love;
Where there is injury, Pardon;
Where there is doubt, Faith;
Where there is despair, Hope;
Where there is darkness, Light;
And Where there is sadness, Joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not So much seek to be consoled, as to Console;
To be understood as to Understand;
To be loved as to Love;
For it is in Giving that we recieve;
It is in Pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

I saw real evil that day. Just a few showed how evil human beings can be. I thought evil like that only existed in history books. In the past. But here it was in my day and age.

I am one of the first people in my circle, to try to find root causes for why people do bad things in this world. My background reminds me that people are influenced by many things that drive them to make decisions that are sometimes wrong.

This – was – indefensible. It was unmistakable. It was evil. “Judge not” is a rule of mine. How could I not? I was conflicted. Confronted by something I did not believe in – evil – and simultaneously judging it. Fear, nausea, anger.

I think as the day wore on a more important realization came thru. A bigger one. A more powerful one. It took some time to sink in. That very same day I saw real heroes. Many of them. Uncountable numbers of them. People doing things that mattered. Fighting for life. Fighting for people other then themselves. People trying to do the right thing. The good thing. Heroes exist. They were already here.

Don’t come by here the rest of today. Infact, if you’re reading this today, I’m disappointed in you – there are better things to be doing with your life. Tell someone you love them. Go hug someone. Say thanks and pay respects. Remember. Go do them.