Weblogism

Reminiscence from Swansea

Rain cuts the place we tread,
A sparkling fountain for us
With no fountain boy but me
To balance on my palms
The water from a street of clouds.
We sail a boat upon the path,
Paddle with leaves
Down an ecstatic line of light,
Watching, not too aware
To make our senses take too much,
The unrolled waves
So starred with gravel,
The living vessels of the garden
Drifting in easy time

(Dylan Thomas)

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Voices and Accents

Even though I still cannot enjoy all the subtleties of the accents in the English language, I really enjoy them, especially the ones in Ireland (no need to say that from North to South, they are really different). I have just found this treasure on the BBC website: Voices, a kind of audio encyclopedia of the accents across the UK. From Leith to Swansea, from Ballymena to London, you can listen to all sorts of accents and voices: this is really an enjoyable website!

NASA and Java

I found this amazing project: NASA World Wind, showing maps taken by satellites in a great little Java application based upon JOGL.

I first struggled a bit with JOGL, getting the following error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: 
no jogl in java.library.path

I tried setting the -Djava.library.path, putting the .so libraries in the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext, etc., to no avail. So I tried my luck and just put them in $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/i386, with the other native libraries. And it worked. Oh, well, sometimes, just a bit of inspiration…

Spanking New J2EE...

And so, J2EE is about to become Java 5 EE (originally J2EE 5.0, originally J2EE 1.5): the JSR 244 has indeed passed the public review ballot. TSS describes what is on the menu:

• Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.0
• Servlet 2.4
• JavaServer Pages (JSP) 2.1
• Java Message Service (JMS) 1.1
• Java Transaction API (JTA) 1.0
• JavaMail 1.3
• JavaBeans Activation Framework 1.1
• J2EE Connector Architecture 1.5
• Web Services for J2EE 1.1
• Java API for XML-based RPC (JAX-RPC) 1.1
• Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0
• Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0
• SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ) 1.3
• Java API for XML Registries (JAXR) 1.0
• Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Management API 1.0
• Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Deployment API 1.1
• Java Authorization Service Provider Contract for Containers 1.0
• Debugging Support for Other Languages (JSR-45)
• Standard Tag Library for JavaServer Pages (JSTL) 1.1
• Web Services Metadata for the Java Platform 1.0
• JavaServer Faces 1.2 Requirements
• Common Annotations for the Java Platform 1.0
• Streaming API for XML (StAX) 1.0
• Java Persistence API 1.0

I already ache for the poor developers who will have to include all that in the application servers to comply with the new standard. Not to mention all the people who will have to go through all the documents to make sure J2EE does not appear anymore (even though the aforementioned specs make extensive use of the old term).

It makes me also think: “Geez, I don’t even know half of the gooeys.” Thank God, we’re developers, and not pilots forced to retrain.

Also, in the news, the launch of a project on SourceForge intending to develop plugins for the excellent Portlet-based CMS JCMS by Jalios. Having worked with that product, I find it very good and I can only hail the initiative!

I’m reading Leonardo da Vinci: the Flights of the Mind by Charles Nicholl at the moment. The cover says: If you read one book with da Vinci in its title, make it this one (Observer). Darn true! It is a fascinating book about a fascinating artist.

Yet Another Typo-Link

As I’m dead busy enjoying the sun in Dublin – which is something quite rare, lately – drinking (sensibly) Guinness, here is yet another good link about types, from pictograms to fonts on screen: Evolution of type. I apologise to my guests who have to wait whilst I’m browsing those typographic sites…

From Arial to Wide Latin

Posted on the Irisa typography list, a link to a BBC Radio 4 programme entitled “From Arial to Wide Latin” – I truly wonder how come I didn’t spot that programme myself. If I have time in the next few days, I’ll make a transcript in French.

Maven 2.0: an Overview

As Maven is undergoing “major surgery” (the Alpha 3 has been released in June), it is probably time for me to look deeper into the subject… This article gives an overview of Maven’s new features.

Back !

It took no less than 3 months but we’re finally back online. This is a very long story but at the end, just when we decided to go for another ISP and cancelled our “subscription” (you cannot really call that a subscription when you get nothing in return), the phone number automagically changed and the connection was activated. It is still a mystery to whomever listens to that story (there might actually be people triggering all that, after all…), but it is quite a relief, to say the least.

Times have been pretty busy, as you can imagine. Amongst things of interest, I lost my camera; this therefore ruined my plans for the summer… When I get a spanking new one, I’ll tell a bit more… But for the moment, you’ll just have to wait, I’m afraid!

Apart from that, not much. Two links of interest for those interested in typography: one which I have briefly mentionned in my last post, typeFORUM for the ß articles, and, also in German (I’m trying to get my German back), TypeOff, Offenbach’s group for Typography. The site is quite good and has many snapshots of signs in the street. I love it.

In the same vein, I also came across fawny.org in the most unusual manner: I was crawling a few sites with Nutch when I saw this site being fetched. I particularly like Joe’s weblog, with lots of street pictures. Un régal !¶

Waffling in the Rain

All in all it’s been a pretty busy first month, trying to get new habits, trying to get used to my new company and to their product. The whole is rather complicated and rather big, but the technologies involved are quite challenging (so is the business!). I am doing better for the moment, since I have managed to solve the problems I was fcing on my own, which I consider to be quite an achievement.

Anyway, very little time, but I am going to try to catch up with all the craic!

Disconnected… Still

It’s been a while since we’ve decided to turn away from Eircom to embrace
the newcomer, Smart Telecom. In a perfect and ideal world, everything should have
sorted out in 4 or 5 working days. That’s called France for you, guys. But here,
in Ireland, it seems as if everything is done with half the speed. I don’t know
if that’s the drawback of having tried to escape Paris’ stress, but it sure is
a very frustrating pace. Anyway, the migration from Eircom to Smart Telecom forces
us to change our phone number, but also to wait for an undefinite time.

What really gets on my nerves is the lack of feedback. Our phone
line is not working anymore and our guess is the transfer to Smart is on its
way. But:

• Nobody told us the phone line was about to be cut: it took us a whole hour playing with the cords to realise what was happening;
• Eircom have this silly and anti-user-friendly automated phone system that makes you speak like a dumb person, when you really want to talk to someone about your problems. The automated response to our query was: “Your phone line is going to be checked”. When? By whom? Will we get any explanation for what went wrong?
• No sign from Smart Telecom.

Some readings

Even though I still have no connection at home for the moment since we are
patiently waiting for Smart Telecom to give us any sign of life, I managed
to spot one or two interesting articles whilst eating my dessert at work.

The ß-lovers (even the non-German ones) will love this
link:
two PDF documents present the history of the
ß ligature from the beginning of the 20th century on. Unfortunately, my German is not
what it used to be: I am afraid I won’t dare to attempt any translation. But those documents
are worth a reading.

About the EU constitution referendum in France: the debate that went on le sauna was very heated between the Non and the Oui supporters, but also quite interesting. I recommend anyone taking any interest in that matter to give it some reading.

About Frutch

I’ve been looking at Nutch
for the last 6 months because I think it’s a great project that deserves some time. I have followed the
list (proposed a fix, even)
and plan to be involved some more. Anyway, I hadn’t realised until this week that there was a French community
around Nutch, called Frutch. Fair
play to them.

Harmony

Following all the turmoil after the ASF announced they were starting the Harmony project, whose aim is to implement an Open-Source JVM, I subscribed to the list – and the discussions are very interesting, even though rather complicated for the newbie. But their idea is to analyse the pros and cons of existing VM to decide what’s to take… and what’s to leave aside.

One of the good places to follow the discussions is Nick Lothian’s Harmony blog.

Congrats, Liverpool!…

But Gerrard sooo dived.

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Come the Day and Come the Hour...

Here we go! I now live in Dublin, roysh: I arrived here last Friday after an hectic week trying to sort everything out before leaving France. Since then, I have basically been taking it easy, settling in. I start tomorrow in my new position and am really looking forward to it.

As you would expect, the weather has been somewhat changing in the last few days, but I must admit I quite enjoyed having today off. Anyway, it’s been a month since I last posted here: it’s been a busy month, trying to plan everything before leaving but also working hard in my former project. It’s been somewhat stressful but now, as the sea is just a few miles away, I feel grand. It certainly is a big change…

CSS and Round Corners

A good article on the subject. And also. And also. And also. Make your choice.

Lansdowne Road

Vous avez vu Lansdowne Road, à la télé, alors que le match Irlande-France est sur le point de commencer ? « Le stade légendaire, avec son petit train en-dessous [le DART] » ? Eh bien vous avez sans doute vu ma future maison…

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Proggy Programming Fonts

I dunno how I could possibly miss this Nidhogg’s post about programming fonts… I remember Nid asked me about really good fonts for programming; and I just couldn’t think of any. Thing is, I really like Courier, or even Monospace, Linux’s default, and never really felt the need for anything else. Especially because the rendering with FreeType is quite comfortable.

Anyway, for the curious, Nid was talking abut Proggy Programming fonts. Quite nice indeed, but a bit too narrow for my tastes, which makes the code looks kerned in a somewhat funny way. But I can see why he likes it, and I am sure other will also like it!

(I’m still trying to remember how I could miss your post, Nid. BTW, it’s been a while…)

Do You Want us to do the (Bloody) Job?

You sometimes wonder if you really are in a civilized world, especially when you hear about offers such as the IRA made – that is, shoot the people who killed McCartney. And saying that it is “extraordinary and horrific” to quote the Taoiseach doesn’t even start to describe it.

Why such a statement? The first reason would probably provocation. The IRA are pretty fidgety at the moment, and that is an excellent opportunity to remind the world they are still around – and still have their guns. It is also probably to point out to the rank-and-file members that there are still “rules” to be followed: members of the IRA may indeed be connected to the murder and this cannot be accepted by the authority. It could be a warning to the others to remember what the rules are.

Another reason might be that the calls on the killers to hand themselves in didn’t succeed. And by scaring them, the IRA show that they are bloody serious. Go to the police or we do the job ourselves.

That being said, what are the consequences for the Peace process? It looks like the latest developments show that the IRA don’t give a damn about it, boasting about having weapons (and keeping them), using them for dark operations… The Peace is certainly not on its way and that’s far from being good news.

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La Défense By Night

Funny how you start taking your camera when you know that you’re going to leave the place. I have been leaving in the area for… I dunno… Maybe 3 years. I’ve always liked it, even though it is quite a deadly place to be in at the week-ends. It is a business area and when you go to work in the morning, you just have to fight your way to the RER: the crowd just happen to go in the opposite direction…

But by night, it is entirely different. Very colourful. Especially under the snow. Unfortunately, I have downsized that photograph a bit too violently, and it now looks somewhat blurry (or it might be because I can’t take photographs)… But Geez, how nice that was. I sure am going to miss this place.¶

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