This is a great book for you intrepid Java web developers. Now you can download it for free. Thanks to codaland for the heads up.
I need your help
There is a content management system written in Java. It, at one time, was used to manage the websites of a huge newspaper chain. It is open source. It is free to use and deploy. It’s time tested. It performs. It’s users were happy, contented, and wanted more.
The newspapers migrated to a new version of the software, leaving this version as is. It has no dedicated staff, except for one who has a mandate to work on the project in his spare time.
That project is Cofax, and I am the one with the mandate. I need help.
I believe the project is worth maintaining and growing. Even with features a year old it is still competitive. But I need some help.
First – if fellow Java weblogers can download the software (CVS version please) and run it thru it’s paces and give me feedback – that would be an awesome start.
In particular – authors of weblogging tools – Cofax has the capacity to do weblogging but does not have a toolset per-se. It can do it – and was used for managing a very popular weblog before migration to the new platform. But I don’t want to see new weblogging tools built into it. I’d rather see Cofax interoperate with a pre-existing system. That way – we help each other out in the ecosystem.
Things that I know must happen for the project to do better:
of a popular templating system (Struts?)
e-mail your feedback directly. I will collect it and post a summary.
The Love of Cool is the root of all church website evil
That’s the title of this great piece of advice over at Heal Your Church Web Site. Advice for all websites.
Spacebattles.com
For geeking out. Some of the movies are pretty cool.
Packlet installer tool
“Packlet is a simple installer tool for Java.” Looks useful.
The Anniversary: A Web Snapshot
A collection of screen shots of over 230 sites that day.
Day one of a yearlong test for Philadelphia schools
Philadelphia opens a historic school year today, filled with uncertainty as well as hope, as the nation watches whether aggressive new leadership and a bold experiment into private management can turn around troubled urban schools.
Who knows. Maybe we’ll get it together before we have children of school age? Read the rest at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Party like it’s 1988
Roth lands. I think for a second that his knee has buckled, but he’s still standing. Triumphant. A warbling, electric hum resonates from the guitars, the synth fades. We raise our fists. Roth has won, but it doesn’t matter. We are thankful. We don’t want him or Hagar to leave. We don’t want to go home to our laptops and multidisc changers. You can’t find this on an MP3. Roth bows. It is over. His shape disintegrates as the lights fade. Then he is gone, and all that is left are the multicolored bulbs of the Ferris wheel, spinning around and around and around.
What’s this? Two Salon pieces today? Read this one on the Hagar and Roth tour.
Don’t watch, don’t listen
In other words, their employers knew exactly what they wanted from these guys. They got it, and only after it arrived with a bonus hailstorm of criticism, did they stop the show — but not the paychecks. The show was canceled because Infinity Broadcasting needed to protect its corporate butt; if local religious leaders and broadcasting critics had all been on vacation that week, the two idiots would still be making pooh-pooh jokes on the air as we speak.
…Where is the reprimand against Infinity Broadcasting? (my emphasis) Or its mogul, Mel Karmazin? What’s his punishment? He hires “Opie & Anthony,” pays them to play with explosives, and when they blow things up, all he has to do is pay off the rest of their contract?
Read the rest of Keith Olbermann’s Salon piece. He nails it. That’s been my point. O&A are easy to point to and scream – “that’s wrong!”, but look behind the curtain folks. Look behind the curtain.
The Anniversary: A History Of God
Though most Americans take for granted that the crimes of September 11th were committed in the name of Allah, few have more than a cursory understanding of the Islamic religion itself, not to mention its long and complicated relationship with Western Christianity. And yet, if we are to make intelligent decisions, such understanding is crucial. This makes such excellent books as Karen Armstrong’s A History of God invaluable.
Armstrong is a world authority on the great monotheisms that originated in the Levant: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Her splendid History of God is the only book available that provides a thorough, readable overview of the theological, cultural, and political histories of these three religious traditions. She remains deeply respectful of her subject and yet never shies away from taking a critical or controversial stance. Her chapters on Islam are particularly fascinating, as Armstrong is clearly enamored with the elegance of Islamic philosophy, the grandeur of Islamic culture, and the beauty of Islamic art.
Given the breadth of Armstrong’s knowledge of religious history, she is particularly well-qualified to comment on the current rise, in all corners of the world, of religious fundamentalism, which she characterizes as a misguided reaction to the spiritual emptiness of modern life. (Her recent book, The Battle for God, is one of the best on the topic.) She ends A History of God with the following warning and advice:
Human beings cannot endure emptiness and desolation; they will fill the vacuum by creating a new focus of meaning. The idols of fundamentalism are not good substitutes for God; if we are to create a vibrant new faith for the twenty-first century, we should, perhaps, ponder the history of God for some lessons and warnings.
That’s what Powell’s Books had to say about Karen Armstrong’s A History Of God. I highly recommend it. Not a completely unbiased account (her portrayal is more critical of Christianity), but it is one which will help you to understand, in an easy to read book.