Beagle

I like bzr. Those of us that do (like bzr) aren’t quite as popular as the git lovers and as a result, we don’t see tools as fantastic as Rietveld, Github and Git-CL being spread around on domains outside of launchpad.net. While this isn’t the end of ... [More] the world, it certainly represented a hurdle when I decided that I was going to formalize my code review process for internal projects.  While most applications have some form of bzr support, its generally pretty broken or outdated. Given that I was going to have to write code no matter what application I chose, I figured I would use my favorite: Rietveld. Rietveld already had a tool supporting Git and Hg, so expanding it to support bzr was a straightforward task. The initial patch is awaiting review at http://codereview.appspot.com/14053  so please share your thoughts/opinions. If there are others who start to use this, then I might consider packaging this functionality into a bzr plugin!  If you just want to take advantage of bzr support, then download the file here: Upload.py [Less]

Wow! "Toshiba handheld hits 1GHz"http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10155730-64.htmlThe news isn't that tomorrow's phones will beat my current best computer. Technology, like leaking water, always finds a way to go down ... err... advance. I like it ... [More] or not.What surprises me is the abusive intent of folks behind the technology. Like it or not, designing is more art than science. The kind of rationality and precision that goes into using the technology to create something more than a crapware is nothing short of the artistic choices a painter makes when rendering the perfect sunset over an island where he never went.The minds that control the coding hands do not seem to realise this ... no matter what better hardware I come across, I also come across a newer version of the same software which makes it crawl. Even the upcoming dual-core 1.5GHz is not going to impress me much, not any more. Perfection is the key. [Less]

 A beautiful quote that a friend sent me several years ago. We are all condamnés . . .: we are all under sentence of death but with a sort of indefinite reprieve . . .: we have an interval, and then our place knows us no more. Some spend this ... [More] interval in listlessness, some in high passions, the wisest, at least among "the children of this world," in art and song. For our one chance lies in expanding that interval, in getting as many pulsations as possible into the given time (….) -- Walter Pater, "Conclusion," The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, 1868(1) [Less]

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

I haven’t been on d-d-l for months now, but when someone mentioned how comically entertaining the whole DVCS survey thread was, I just had to catch up. From my cursory understanding, it seems like the data would be stored as bzr repositories and then ... [More] new code would be developed to export those repositories over the git protocol, so that git users could use their own tools. While it seems like a neat hack, and probably a worthwhile proof-of-concept, the idea that GNOME would switch to it seems completely insane to me. There are lots of reasons why, many addressed in the thread: Why develop this code only for GNOME, instead of developing it with the support and blessing of upstream bzr and/or git? There the collective experience of these communities could guide and influence the development. There is basically only one person developing this software, resulting in a critical piece of GNOME infrastructure with a bus factor of 1. This is very bad, and when you consider that the results of the survey strongly support Git, the vast majority of developers will be using it and would be inconvenienced if the system failed. GNOME has a terrible track record of abandoned software — maybe it’s not actually any worse than other 10 year old large-scale open source projects — but it is very common. I don’t have any data to back this up, but I feel that in a lot of ways this is even more true for infrastructure that most developers never see. The git-over-bzr option was never an option in the DVCS survey, but if it were it seems like it would have rated extremely lowly. There seems to be a vocal opposition to it in the thread. This is an abstraction, and abstractions are always leaky. wxWindows kinda sucks because it can’t emulate all windowing systems equally. There is no way a git compatibility layer on top of a bzr repository will ever be as good as a native solution, just like git-on-svn isn’t as good as a pure git solution. What happens when (not if, when) the git protocol changes in an incompatible way? Will we be at the mercy of someone to hack and fix the compatibility layer? Will the original author still be around and interested enough to do it, possibly years down the road? The last point, combined with the abandonware point earlier, are what concern me the most. In the thread, David Zeuthen asked Olav Vitters: Then what happens when a new version of git with a new feature, incompatible with the git-serve kludge, is released? Then we’re screwed, right? And who gets to pay? We do. We’re stuck with an old version of git. Us. The very same people who very clearly said “git”, not “bzr”. Not the most politic way of saying it, but I think the point is valid. When I read that, I had deja vu, because I had just read this thread from early December about Bugzilla, initiated by Olav: Subject: Reduced Bugzilla functionality for 6 months — acceptable? The GNOME Bugzilla is still using 2.20. Current stable upstream is at 3.2. [...] For that the proposal is that the following is not part of the initial upgraded bgo: * The points system * index.cgi UI mods * Making a new favicon * The infomessages on show_bug.cgi * Layout modifications for attachment table and the login box * duplicates.cgi modifications * Fixing the comment headers * Patch and keyword emblems * delete-keyword.pl, mass-reassign-bugs.pl, and year-end-stats.pl * describeuser.cgi In other words, upgrade the GNOME Bugzilla installation to a new version of the upstream software, and break all of GNOME’s current customizations. Is this not exactly what will happen eventually with the git kludge? I can foresee history repeating itself here. Bugzilla is pretty essential to GNOME, and degradation of service is undesirable. But a degraded, unavailable or fractured source control system is unconscionable. [Less]

This New Year's Eve, while you drink and dine and dance, as sapping as this roller coaster of a year has been, never take for granted what you have and who you are.I'm luckier than most.The Big Picture, The Globe's beautiful photography blog ... [More] , features an amazingly well composed photo tour of Israel and Hamas's deterioration after six months of relative but illusive calm.Even they are luckier than some. [Less]

On 20 December 2008 at 1:41 am, Brette and I welcomed our son Elliot into the world. Both mom and baby are doing very well, and we’ve loved the last several days getting to know each other. This is his “black power” pose. Fight the man, little ... [More] guy. The previous day Brette, my mom and I were joking around that the baby would almost certainly come the following day — still a few days before his due date — during the snowstorm that was expected to drop up to 15 inches of snow on Boston. He didn’t disappoint. We found ourselves walking to the birth center about half a mile away in the 4 or 5 inches that had fallen at that point on nearly deserted roads during Friday rush hour, stopping briefly whenever Brette had a contraction. The birth went amazingly well and I am so proud of Brette. All of the nurses and midwives at the birth center were talking about what a wonderful job she did, and I couldn’t agree more. A few things I wanted to mention: If you prefer to give birth in a hospital, or want a pre-scheduled c-section, go for it. Do whatever is most comfortable and appropriate for you. But Brette and I wanted a natural childbirth without surgical intervention unless medically necessary, and for us the Cambridge Birth Center was the perfect place. Situated inside an old Victorian house, it sits across the street from the Cambridge Hospital. The rooms are homey and comforting. The only thing that annoyed us was the constant snow plowing going on just outside our window… but once things got down to business we weren’t paying attention to any of that. The nurses and midwives were so wonderful and accommodating. We were allowed to walk around, bring whatever food we wanted with us, got to sleep after the birth and go home the following afternoon. Just a great experience. Ok, this is important: get a doula. I think I was as helpful and comforting as I could be for Brette, but look, I don’t have a uterus. I never have and probably never will. But a doula does. I don’t know physically what it’s like to give birth. A doula very well may have gone through it herself. But most importantly, they have training on ways to make the laboring woman more comfortable, and her entire job is to support and comfort. Ours was fantastic, and I can’t imagine going through the birth without her. Also many thanks to my mom, who has been with us for the past week. She has helped us tremendously with keeping the house clean and orderly, making us food all the time, giving us a relief when we’ve been overwhelmed with E. at all hours, and sharing her experience with us. Merry Christmas. [Less]

Market got you down? Feel like the Google Finance favicon doesn’t accurately reflect the year you’ve had? Well, I can help! This Greasemonkey script will correctly replace the favicon with one more representative of the ongoing collapse of the ... [More] entire financial system. Enjoy it while you can! Pretty soon you’ll have to sell your computer and move to the poor house. [Less]

So were chatting about copyrights and I stumbled upon the website of the Government of India&aposs Copyright Office, and some clickety clicking later, came upon The Handbook of Copyright Law. Wanted to chronicle interesting bits for posterity. ... [More] Fair use: Includes standard stuff like research, private study, criticism/review, reporting current events, judicial proceeding, amateur performance to a non-paying audience and some more ambiguous stuff (”the making of sound recordings of literary, dramatic or musical works under certain conditions”) You own copyright to all photos of yourself (caveat: see fair use): “In the case of a photograph taken, or a painting or portrait drawn, or an engraving or a cinematograph film made, for valuable consideration at the instance of any person, such person shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright therein.” Computer programs are abou the same as literary works: With the exception that you can “sell or give on hire or offer for sale or hire, regardless of whether such a copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasion.” Translations: Are protected by your copyright Registering copyright: By default, you own the copyright to work that you have created. “However, certificate of registration of copyright and the entries made therein serve as prima facie evidence in a court of law with reference to dispute relating to ownership of copyright.” Term of copyright: 60 years after death of the author for most things. 60 years from date of publication cinematograph films, photographs, posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, and some other stuff. Phew! Certainly learned some new stuff today. [Less]

I have long argued, partly in jest, mostly serious, that America should just get out of the car industry altogether and focus our capital on things we are good at, such as the service sector, software, or torts. The cost issue was secondary, I would ... [More] say, if the cars themselves aren't competitive. (Does everyone at GM have huge fingers? Why are the interiors filled with over-sized plastic buttons?)My bafflement continues with this latest bailout—unlike the financial package, I am against bailing out the US auto industry—and these comments from Ford's chief on the necessity of action:Ford said in its plan that it could survive through 2009 with its current cash levels and by tapping its credit line with private banks, and that it could return to profitability by 2011. Even though it is better prepared for the downturn, Ford said it wanted $9 billion in loans to draw upon if necessary.Ford’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said the prospect of a failure of G.M. would cascade through the entire domestic auto industry and put millions of jobs at risk."We are very, very concerned, and that’s why we went with G.M. and Chrysler to Congress even though we think we have sufficient liquidity," he said in an interview.Mulally is saying Ford is financially secure and does not need the bailout to meet payments, but he is worried about the second stage effects from a GM or Chrysler failure.That seems backwards to me. Ford—and every other car manufacturer—would assuredly benefit from two of its competitors going under. There would be a small drop in demand as supply falls and prices rises, but that drop would be significantly smaller than the decrease in supply. Moreover, the substitution from GM to other manufacturers would overly favor Ford, in contrast to Mulally's statements, as "buy American" types swap one Detroit icon for another. The converse has the government funding a broken GM, propping up supply to the detriment of Ford. I don't get it.I suppose Mulally could be bluffing, hoping to look good in the eyes of Wall Street and Ford's creditors but still get government help—to have his cake and eat it too. But somehow I doubt his posturing is worth the risk. [Less]