The Young Hipublicans

I’ve argued with my aging friends and family that this was the trend. Read the NYTimes story about the Hipublicans. I think they are about 3-5 years late catching on, but better late then never. Key quote comes from a 19-year old: “Conservatives are inclusive in a way that liberals are not.”. Amazing how perceptions can change in just a short amount of time.

Speaking of which, it’s important to note how dire things were for the Republican party during the 70s and it’s efforts first to resurrect itself and now to dominate politics. Lessons to note for the Democratic party in there.

Compile Java excutables? How? It’s so confusing!

Well someone made it easy!

1. Download and install this bundled build of GCC/GCJ 3.3 for Windows (MingW) and SWT. Follow the instructions to put into your path it’s bin directory.

2. Create your simple HelloWorld app as HelloWorld.java:

class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello World");
return;
}

3. Navigate to that directory from a command prompt and type:
>gcj –main=HelloWorld -o HelloWorld HelloWorld.java

4. Now execute your HelloWorld.exe:
>HelloWorld

It runs! The executable is a little larger then I had hoped (3.5MB), but that beats telling users they need a JVM installed! More about it in this JavaLobby thread. I write many non-GUI utilities and this maybe just the trick for some of them. This originates with the article I linked to earlier at IBMDeveloperWorks, Create native, cross-platform GUI applications, revisited.

After seeing “Hurt”…

There seems to be so much pain in the world to take pause for just one individual, but over the past year, Johnny Cash has had a greater and greater influence on me. His songwriting is powerful, deep, and spirtual in only a way someone seeking redemption can share. I never have seen a video as intimate or direct as the his take on “Hurt”. My prayers go out to him and his family.

Bye-bye Buffy

Tonight’s the end. If you haven’t watched the series before I suggest not tuning in since its plot line will leave you spinning. Chuck it up to missing a TV show that when it was bad, it was good, and when it was good, it was great. If you were too stuck up to get past the title – your loss bub.

Two keeper sites: The Buffy Dialog Database, and The Buffy Chords Page (tablature!).

The show has reached its end anyway. Kinda like 90210, it had it’s best footing before it’s characters reached adulthood. In the end I will think of it like I think of the “X-Files”, “Star Trek The Next Generation”, “The Prisoner”, “Doctor Who”, or “Star Blazzers”. It’s just one of those shows ya know? BTW, too many forget that “Xena” came along first. Buffy could only happen after Xena had a strong run for a couple of years. Barrier busters always get forgotten don’t they? At least this Washington Post article mentions Xena briefly.

Salon has a good interview with Joss Whedon. It’s other Buffy related article isn’t worth linking to today. How many times can you read the same things?

Beware clicking any of the links above today if you don’t want to read any spoilers. If you are looking for more linkage, check out Whedonesque.

I Believe In Miracles

By The Ramones

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles ’cause I’m one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I’m still alive.

I’m out here kicking’ with the band.
I am no longer a solitary man.
Every day my time runs out.
Lived like a fool, that’s what I was about, oh

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

Tattooed your name on my arm.
I always said my girl’s a good luck charm.
If she can find a reason to forgive,
Then I can find a reason to live.

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles ’cause I’m one.
I have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years I’m still alive.

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

I close my eyes and think how it might be.
The future’s here today.
It’s not too late.
It’s not too late, yeah!

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

In promising trend, US poor exit high-poverty areas

During the 1970s and ’80s, America’s poorest citizens lived ever more isolated lives. They were increasingly shunted into ghettoized neighborhoods where basic necessities, like good grocery stores and decent schools, were further and further out of reach.

The 1990s began to change that. The decade-long economic boom – along with welfare reform and other shifts – helped spur some 2.5 million people to leave poor neighborhoods and begin to connect with the economic and social mainstream, a study released Monday finds.

Read the rest in the CSMonitor. But what about the new normal?