Blogger dinner in Chicago

Looming forward to this next week. I did see AKMA this past weekend and, unfortunately, he won’t be able to make it.

Blogger dinner in Chicago.

Care to join a group of smart, attractive, witty, well-connected bloggers for dinner in Chicago? (I m not saying those traits apply to all of us. We each get to pick two.)

Details: Wednesday, March 24. So far, confirmed to attend: me, Ernie, Buzz, Jenny, Jim, Dennis, AKMA, and Jeff. I spoke with Buzz today and I think others are coming but I lost track of the others he named.

So if you re going to be in the Chicago area on March 24 and would like to join us (Buzz counted close to 20), use the comments to RSVP. Look forward to seeing you! (We ll pick a spot soon.)

By rick@rklau.com (Rick Klau). [tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog]

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram now has an RSS feed!.

This is excellent news. Schneier is one of the most cogent thinkers about risk and security issues and having Crypto-Gram available in RSS will make yet another improvement in my productivity. Compared to RSS, email newsletters are increasingly lame. I find I rarely get to them in any kind of timely way.

Bruce Schneier’s Crypto-Gram now has an RSS feed!.

If you have any interest in information security you’ve got to be reading Schneier. Now you can read him in your RSS aggregator.

Schneier.com: Crypto-Gram: March 15, 2004

NEW: Crypto-Gram now has an RSS feed:

Anyone who’s having trouble getting Crypto-Gram through a spam filter might want to consider this option.

[Marc’s Outlook on Productivity]

Science fiction invention timeline

I’m always intrigued by timelines and by science fiction so this is a perfect combination

Friday Fun – iTunes, Inventions, Insult, and Ice Skating. Friday Fun – iTunes, Inventions, Insult, and Ice Skating — A few diversions this week…

…

– An invention timeline from a science fiction perspective. I’m still amazed at the prescience of Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon.”

…

Have a good weekend. [Frank Patrick’s Focused Performance Blog]

SnipSnap – java blogging/wiki tool

Looks like a tool worth taking time to look at. It’s in the queue.

snipsnap: wow.

snipsnap-logo.png
A few days ago I was asking on #mobitopia what people preferred as a wiki/weblog system and someone (I think it was csete) mentioned SnipSnap. I didn’t have time to try it out until today. My comments: WOW.

It took me literally five minutes to set up. It seamlessly connected to the local mysql installation (all I had to do was create a db and a user for it) and ran under my Tomcat/Apache config. After setting a couple of options I was on my way. It combines the idea of Wikis (easily creating links to pages) to the format/structure/features of a weblog. The “wikiness” of snipsnap does not extend to requiring WikiWords, which is, as far as I’m concerned, a relief. WikiWords inevitable end up requiring weird names for links.

It’s a java app, so it runs everywhere. The only potential problem I could find is that in edit mode there are tons of options to edit content and sometimes it can be confusing (or rather, a little overwhelming), but I get the impression that it wouldn’t be hard to get used to it.

If you’re looking for a weblog/wiki solution in Java that it’s easy to get started with, SnipSnap is definitely worth checking out.

[d2r]

Web based application development tracker

Given my general ignorance of IIS, SqlServer, and .NET I have yet to be able to get this to actually work in my environment. I’m sure I have something obvious misconfigured but I don’t know enough to figure out what and I haven’t had a lot of time to do the poking around that will ultimately lead me to getting it figured out.

Awesome web based application development tracker and cheap to boot..

For those of you looking for a way to track feature requests, bugs, tasks, and time lines to a lesser extent, and you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg look no further than Gemini from Countersoft. It’s only about $95 dollars US, depending on what the dollars is worth compared to the pound at the time of purchase, and if you limit it to 15 users or less and don’t put it on a public webserver it’s free!

It’s helping me become alot more organized. I can’t recommend it enough.

[SQLTeam.com Weblogs]

The Friday Five

  1. What was the last song you heard?The Blue Train – “Trio II” – Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt

    I’m riding the blue train
    Over the miles yet to cover
    A ghost in a hurry to fade
    I’m taking it one way to nowhere
    Afraid you might be there
    To find me inside this blue train

  2. What were the last two movies you saw?
    • “Starsky and Hutch” with my 10-year old son
    • “The Sure Thing” while working out
  3. What were the last three things you purchased?
  4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
    • Finish the first draft of a report on technology commercialization for a client
    • Mail a copy of my Ph.D. thesis to a doctoral student in Singapore
    • Replace the windows shades in my 15-year old’s bedroom
    • Serve as the vestry usher at the 11:15 service at Christ Church on Sunday morning.
  5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
    • Morry Fiddler
    • Michael Krauss
    • My wife
    • My two boys