Problem = opportunity

If one feels schadenfreude when reading about the IRS’s problems with missing computers (or rage, for that matter), consider this: there is really no excuse today for laptops simply “going missing” and no one finding out about it for months or years. Any asset management technology worth its salt can scan for laptops and raise all sorts of alarms when they don’t check in.

Thinking about this sort of issue systematically is one of the benefits that process frameworks like ITIL bring. Once one gets beyond the basic service desk processes, and starts thinking seriously about configuration and change management, it becomes apparent that intelligent application of the tools in this market segment is important for so many more reasons than simple fixed asset management. Consider:

  • Intellectual property control
  • Change auditing
  • Sarbanes Oxley compliance
  • Software license management
  • Hardware/software upgrade planning
  • Protecting customer data

…and on, and on. Pretty soon the organizations that have not made the proper investments in configuration management processes and tools are going to get some very public black eyes—not just for embarrassing issues like this but also for their lack of management and foresight.

You might notice something different today…

Today is CSS Naked Day 2007, a day when some thousand-plus web sites have cast off their styling to illustrate their semantically-beautiful bones beneath.

Which is why my site looks, um, weird. All the normal styling has been stripped out.

We do this to illustrate that the Web ain’t all pretty colors; at its root, it’s about markup that is easy to read and portable across multiple devices. It’s all about separating style from content, baby.

Hat tip to Zalm, who turned me on to this concept, and whose markup is just fine.

IKEA hacking 2: wraparound counter

We wrapped another kitchen/dining room project this weekend. Where prior projects had put cabinetry on the opening between the dining room and the kitchen, this new project put a wall + base cabinet combo around the corner, in the dining room. The placement echoes the corner cabinet directly opposite, but doesn’t try to be a corner cabinet. But we did want to keep continuity with the kitchen cabinetry. Specifically, I wanted to use a single countertop surface that would wrap around the outside corner from the existing cabinets to the new ones.

This turned out to be a little more challenging than I thought. I had to construct it in two pieces, and had to do a fair amount of trimming. We are using very narrow base cabinets (really just wall cabinets mounted on legs and hung so that they stand on the floor), so I had to trim the IKEA butcher block countertop that I had purchased. Fortunately, I had already done this for the doggy bench, so it was just a question of getting enough crap cleaned out of the garage so I could set up the sawhorses and run the circular saw. This time I managed to make the cut straight and clean, so I was able to rough it in pretty quickly.

The challenging part was the transition. I saw three options: a mitered cut that would come to a point, a straight line transition that would have left a triangle of linking surface between the two cabinet tops, or a curved transition. Lisa wanted the curve, so I gulped and worked it out. I used a piece of string stretched between an awl (for a fixed point) and a pencil to draw the semicircle, then bullied my poor SkilSaw, which really isn’t intended to cut one-inch butcher block, into negotiating the curve. Amazingly it turned out pretty well, especially after I sanded it down with the orbital sander.

I have a few things left to do before I post pictures: I want to put a piece of trim on the back of the countertop to mask the fact that the wall isn’t square; use some putty or something to mask the transition between the pieces; and put the plinth on the base. But the whole project was a strict weekend: hang two cabinets, doors and hardware, and cut and mount the butcher board including the transition. It was actually kind of fun.

Well, I guessed right…

…unfortunately, it wasn’t my most radical guess that got the brass ring. But I’m very glad to see, just a short time after Steve Jobs’s jab at DRM, that the vision is starting to come true with this new deal with EMI (higher quality, DRM free downloads at $1.25 a pop).

What’s not to like about this deal? Even at 256 kbps encoding, you’re paying for lossy copies of the music; for a typical 10-song album, that’s $12.50 for essentially a lo-fi version. But how lo-fi is it? I’d like to see the acoustic research; most of the benchmarking I’ve seen has only looked at 128 kbps AAC. And of course the fact that it’s unrestricted is the key.

Even better for all concerned, it comes with a 30 cent a song upconversion option. I’d better watch my wallet. I don’t have that many iTunes store purchases, but I could easily see a large bill if I just blanket-upgraded everything. (Not to mention the hit on my wallet for Complete My Album, but that’s another story.)

So now the remaining question is: how fast will the other labels follow suit in fleeing DRM?

EMI and Apple?

New York Times: Speculation Is in the Air Over EMI and Apple. The obvious answer is: tomorrow, the Beatles will be on the iTunes Store. The not obvious answers are:

  • DRM free downloads?
  • A Yellow Submarine themed iPod?
  • Apple buys its first music company?

…What? After all, EMI’s hoped for private equity white knight backed out back in December. And they were asking $4.9 billion then. According to their last 10Q, Apple had more than $7 billion in the bank—more than enough to pay for EMI the old fashioned way.

Hopefully it won’t happen. We’ve all seen what happens to tech companies that buy content businesses. But stranger things have happened.

10 years of Scripting News, for download

Scripting News: A decade in a download. First, congrats to Dave—having recently hit a little brick wall in posting to my blog, my respect for anyone who can pull it off for ten years knows no bounds.

But I’ll confess: the quant analyst in me is slavering at the thought of a downloadable 10-year blog archive. Think of the stats that could be run:

  • Histogram of occurrences of cooooooool per year
  • Frequency counts of word blog
  • A calendar view of the entire ten year period, that only shows the images

Not to mention link frequency stats: who’s the all time outbound link champion of Scripting News? It could be Google or the New York Times, but my bet is that #1 on that list will be surprising.

Career mobility: someone asks Ed Ayers the question

It is a logical question, but it surprises me that the Cavalier Daily was the first place to print the question about longtime UVA professor and Dean Ed Ayers’s impending move to the presidency of University of Richmond: is it a destination for Ayers, or a stepping stone?

To his credit, Ayers said to the unnamed student that asked the question that he is “focused on his new job, not looking further down the road.” Still, it’s an interesting thought. Casteen has been at UVA since I was there as an undergrad, in the fall of 1990; seventeen years is a long time in any position.

Fidelio

Fidelio was pretty darned good today, and Friday was OK too. At least judging from the Globe’s review:

…prior to last night’s performance, it was announced from the stage that Brewer herself had been fighting a cold, though she would still be singing. In the end, Brewer proved more than up to the task. One could detect some tentativeness in her Act I singing but she gained strength and confidence as the evening wore on; she gave a brave and affecting performance.

Her character is the opera’s heroine, Leonore, who disguises herself as Fidelio in order to rescue her unjustly imprisoned husband Florestan, sung with fine ardency and vocal strength by Johan Botha.…

It was an exceptional evening for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, who distilled the collective yearning of prisoners for freedom into a sound of great force and even greater tonal beauty. The orchestra’s playing in Act I was less fastidious than usual, but with Levine’s sense of this score’s pacing and architecture, the music ultimately built to a deeply satisfying and duly triumphant finish.

Which is to say, the opera has a kick-ass finale. I will note, however, that devoting only one line to Botha’s performance is pretty criminal. The first phrase he utters in his solo aria, “O Gott,” is spectacular in its despair and vocal power, and it gets better from there. And that chicken soup that Christine was having? I, like just about every other member of the chorus, want some, if it has that effect on people.

And that line about the TFC having a “sound of great force”? Translation: if the men in this group ever decided to form a full-time men’s chorus, judging from the way the group sounded during the first half, no force of nature could stop us.

Cooking Korean

Lisa and I are trying to branch out a bit and eat healthier, and for me that means trying some more Asian recipes. Tonight we cheated, buying some pre-marinated boolkogi from Trader Joe’s and trying a recipe for generic Korean greens. The recipe wasn’t bad, but in retrospect I would have used a stronger vinegar and some hot sauce. The bookogi, on the other hand, was excellent.

Which brings me to my question: is there a good Korean cookbook out there for beginners? I haven’t found one I like. If you have a favorite, contact me with the link below this post.

Viva Sea-Tac

robyn hitchcock jewels for sophia

Artist: Robyn Hitchcock
Album: Jewels for Sophia

People flocked like cattle to Seattle
After Kurt Cobain
And before him the rain

Hendrix played guitar just like an animal
Who’s trapped inside a cage
And one day he escaped

Do you want to pay for this in cash?
Viva! Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva! Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac
They’ve got the best computers and coffee and smack

Coming and going it has to be Boeing
The best form of defence is blow them up
In a regular cup

Have an espresso. You will? Oh I guess so
I feel my heart is gonna start to jump
’Cause it’s wired to a pump

And the Space Needle points to the sky
The Space Needle’s such a nice guy
But he never knows…
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac

All the Norwegians, man, you should see them
Out in Ballard looking soulful at the pines;
And also the swedes

All of the groovers came from Vancouver
And some of them came up from Oregon
In case you don’t know

But the Space Needle points to the sky
The Space Needle’s such a nice guy
But you never know…
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac
They’ve got the best computers and coffee and smack

Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac

Long live everything in Washington state
Including everybody
May they live to a million years
May they reproduce until there’s no room to go anywhere
Clustered under the Space Needle
Like walking eggs with arms and legs

Alright, we can probably stop

Heading back

This was an amazingly quick trip; we landed at SeaTac (Viva SeaTac!) at 12 and were at our customer’s site in Tacoma at 1:30; headed to dinner at 5; watched Tennessee lose to Ohio State (sorry, Kelsey); and now I’m up, listening to the KEXP stream and sipping French press coffee in my room and getting ready to drive back to SeaTac (Viva SeaTac!).

We had dinner last night, at the recommendation of our prospect, at the Anthony’s Seafood at Federal Way. It’s closer in decor to the Anthony’s Homeport in Kirkland than the one at Pier 66, but the food was excellent. I steered the table in the direction of some fresh-caught Alaskan halibut, then had a moment of indecision and ended up getting salmon with a fresh Dungeness crab cake. The salmon was just OK—not really the right season for it’but the crab cake was nirvana. We also had some oysters, which I could have made a meal of by themselves given a free hand with the expenses.

Hotel 1000 turned out to be fairly amazing. My sales director came down blinking after dropping his things off in his room last night, saying that it was just like some of the boutique hotels he had stayed in in New York. For my part, the shower was amazing; the wired Ethernet was great (and included in the room price, as it should be); the aforementioned French press coffee a small bit of nirvana. My only complaint is that the wireless was too slow… and that we had to leave so soon. Ah well.