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Nobody Makes Good Cell Phones

The cell phone market bugs me. It seems to have been taken over by marketers utterly out of touch with the reality of what people are looking for in a phone, their singular focus instead on a cheap game of one-upmanship with the competition. In recent talks with others and their pleasure or displeasure with their phones, I’ve found that I’m not the only one who’s annoyed here. So what’s got my goat?

Modern cell phones try to be good at everything and are good at nothing.

First and foremost, a phone should be good at being a phone. My personal principles on what makes a good phone are that it should be easy to make & receive calls, the battery
should last a long time, it should be easy to look at the screen and see who is calling, and the phone should be hard to break. Furthermore, the ideal phone should be lightweight and easy to carry, feel good in the hand, and limit the amount of radiation to which your head is exposed. Modern cell phones have compromised exellence on almost every one of these basic principles in order to offer extras which are of almost no benefit to most cell phone users.

Useless Feature 1: Color Screens
So you might be thinking that I’m a Luddite here; how could I possibly be opposed to color? Isn’t it cute? Well, color screens are cute, but I think that not all cell phone buyers find them worth the tradeoffs incurred. Most color cell phone screens are wholly unreadable without backlighting even under the most generous of conditions. Active backlighting is a huge drain on the batteries and generally requires that you press
some button, making it a little bit harder to just casually glance at your phone to check the time or an incoming call. Color screens are more delicate and complex, and are therefore are more susceptible to breakage and cost more to manufacture. The color screen adds no utility to the phone (i.e., it does not improve the ease of making or receiving calls, etc) while driving up the price, down the battery life, removing the ability to glance at your phone, and reducing your phone’s life expectancy. Color screens add a small amount of cuteness in exchange for making your phone less useful as a phone. Whether or not you agree with me here (you may be particularly enamored of your color screen), perhaps you could agree that those who don’t want a color screen on a new phone should not be forced to buy one? But when I go to the cell phone store, I can’t find non-color screens.

Useless Feature 2: Cameras
Some people might actualy want to have the ability to take 160×120 grainy little photos and pay $10 a month to send them to their friends. But many of us don’t. Adding a camera adds cost to the phone and adding in support for the camera’s functions tends to add complexity to both the software and hardware interfaces of the phone, especially when
it comes to the ability to transmit pictures over the network. Devices with cameras, including cell phones, are increasingly not allowed in certain locations; having a cell phone without a camera lets you take your phone more places. And it’s getting hard to find cell phones without cameras. (Ridiculous invention du jour: a white LED on the back of the phone that turns on a second before the picture is taken allows the cameraphones to be dubbed “comes with flash” despite the fact that the LED does almost nothing to illuminate the scene.)

Useless Feature 3: Web Access
Nearly every cell phone on the US market today has some set of web accessibility features built in. This means that you can read websites in 120×180 pixel glory, slower than over dialup. It feels kind of like trying to carve out your own eyeballs with a spork. This is really one kind of thing if we’re talking about a real PDA with a keyboard and stylus, like a Treo (in which case web features make sense), and a different thing altogether if we’re talking about a small phone. The worst part about this is that if I get certain kinds of text messages on my Sprint phone from people, I have to do the 30+ second “connecting to network” dance and navigate through their painful web UI to read and delete the message. It usually takes me about two minutes and costs $2 of “network transit” time. The biggest gripe I have with web accessibility built into a phone is that it factors promiently into decisions about the screen size. You can’t have a truly tiny phone that delivers a comfortable surfing
experience. Consequently (and perversely), phones have actually been getting larger in the past four years, despite the increased capacity to make them smaller. I don’t want the UI or the buttons for browsing the web to factor into my phone and I certainly don’t want a bulky phone because some marketer thought everyone should have the ability to surf the net from their phone (and pay through the nose for it). I want a phone that is an excellent

Useless Feature 4: DRM Ringtones
For the price of three full songs at iTunes (with accordant lifetime playback rights and
permission to sport the songs to an iPod), Sprint will give me an amazingly poorly rendered five seconds of the main chorus to a single pop song. And…here’s the mind-blowing clincher…only for 90 days. That’s right: $3 will buy you 90 days of access to a MIDI snippet of a pop song. In case that wasn’t enough, you can’t actually listen to a preview of it on your phone before buying it. In order to try and drive sales of these ringtones, newer phones have actually made it harder to enter your own ringtones. The phone I had four years ago (the incomparable Ericsson T28) made it easy to do this; I composed my own little melodies on it. The T28 is no longer for sale and newer phones have almost wholly removed this feature.

Useless Feature 5: Bluetooth
Bluetooth captivates people with its futuristic visuals – wirelessly interfacing with your computer and having a slick looking wireless earpiece that looks right out of a sci-fi movie. But wait; why do you need to interface your phone to your computer? And doesn’t that need an extra $50+ of hardware and software setup time? How is that more convenient than a simple USB cable? And aren’t the earpieces expensive and in need of separate, frequent recharging? Why not just use a wired earpiece? Not to mention the fact that this
merely incrementally-useful addition to cell phones makes it easy for someone else to read through your phonebook, calendar, and more, all without your permission. (This is called snarfing.) Bluetooth adds cost and complexity, increases the user’s RF radiation
exposure, decreases battery life, incurs extra hardware expenses externally to support it, and exposes the user to a profound invasion of their privacy; all for very little actual improvement in the cell’s utility as a phone.

So what would be the ideal phone? One that focuses on being an excellent phone at the expense of auxiliary features. It would be a clamshell design (to protect the screen/buttons); would work on GSM 900/1800/1900; could send and receive phone calls
easily; could send and receive SMS easily; have a small, grayscale screen (with subtle backlighting when needed in dark conditions); have no camera, bluetooth, or web access; easy-to-program ringtones; a battery that could last a week of normal usage without needing recharging; and fit comfortably in my front shirt pocket. The closest I’ve ever had
to this was my T28; the thing was tiny and could last close to a week without a fill-up. Does your phone offer 10.5 hours of talk time and a week of idle? It could, if manufacturers
were looking to make you the best phone.

Technologically, it’s gotten easier than ever for manufacturers to make great phones.
But caught up in the competitive fervor to make the phone with the most features and one that outdoes the competition for whizbangs and doodads, companies have lost sight of the things people actually want out of a phone and have forgotten how to make a phone great.
The company that figures this out first, goes back to the drawing board, and whips out a phone that is actually excellent at being a phone will probably capture a good slice of the market. I know I’d buy one.

Bush Won: Let’s Wake Up

So here we are, post-election, and George Bush has won. A lot of people, Bush supporters and otherwise, are dumbfounded by the numbers. The Republican party
absolutely and surprisingly spanked the Democratic party to a degree that nobody really expected.

I think a lot of my liberal friends felt like the issues were just so amazingly obvious that nobody could possibly vote for George Bush. While Kerry wasn’t the shiniest of all possible candidates, he was a reasonable contender and could certainly do a better job
than Bush. “What argument needs to be made? Isn’t it just obvious that we should toss Bush out of office?”

But the kind of religious Anti-Bush fervor into which the left has been whipped up blinds them to the reasons why people would vote for Bush. And while it’s great for rallying Democratic voters and getting hefty donations, that kind of zeal alienates the
very people that Democrats most needed to reach: undecided centrists.

And the fervor is at a religious level. I’ve had a tremendous amount of fun horrifying people by just implying that I might be Republican (I’m actually an independent). In some parts of San Francisco, a “Bush / Cheney” T-shirt might get you killed. Ironically, by being so sure of the evident nature of their argument, Democrats failed to convince those in the middle, leaving them open to the Republicans, who successfully swooped in and carried them off. (You may love or hate Carl Rove, but he is inarguably effective.)

I hear a lot of people bemoaning our countrythinking about leaving, or complaining that maybe things need to get worse before people wake up. But these are the very sorts of
strategies that cause the Democratic party to shoot itself in the foot. What Democrats need to realize is that if things do get worse in the country, it’s not going to make people vote for them. In fact, it will just serve to encourage rightist, conservative momentum, since people who voted for Bush for security reasons will feel even further justified in voting for more protectionist neo-conservatives in the same thread if they feel further threatened.

What needs to happen instead is that Democrats need to take their head out of the ground and stop whining. Dems didn’t lose this election because a horde of evil election workers decided to disenfranchise them. (I was an Elections Inspector myself for a precinct.) Dems lost the election because more people voted Republican. And they did so because they like Bush.

You can plan on Democrats getting soundly spanked until they can understand why people like Bush and why they’d pick Bush over Kerry. And all of the whining and wars in the world are not going to change that. One of the only reasonable attempts at driving the point home for the common man was a series of “Switchers” ads by the same guy who did the “Switch” ads for Apple. By focusing on people who did like Bush but then were turned off, the ads get under the skin of those likely to vote for Bush. Anything short of a refocusing of the Democratic party towards thinking along these lines – sympathising with (and not belittling) the mid-West and understanding Bush-love – will be permanently disastrous for the party and its beliefs.

And regardless of what your particular political stance is, I think we can all agree the system is healthiest when two strong parties are competing for the hearts and the minds of voters. So for the good of the country, would the Democratic party please wipe its tears off, climb down from its tower, and get to work at understanding and embracing the American people?


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New Chat in iGap Through Android

New Conversation in the Android Version of iGap

In the Android version of iGap you may want to start a new chat with any contacts of yours or even unknown users any time you’d like to. So, you have to follow the steps below:

  • Tap the icon of three lines at the top left corner of the screen to see options.
  • Tap on “New Chat” to see the contacts list, then choose the one you want to chat with and get directed to his/her chat page.
  • If you want to chat with someone whose name is not among your contacts, you have to add her/him first. For this; when getting directed to the contacts list by touching “New Chat” and see all your contacts names,
  • Tap “Add Contact” at top of the screen and see the new page for entering the new contact’s name and phone number.
  • After typing the information needed, tap the tick mark at the top right corner of the page. Then confirm you are sure and add her/him to the contacts list.
  • Finally choose her/his name among the list and get directed to the chat page to start chatting.

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We’re heating up this Monday with the announcement of our DOLLY BIKINI GIVEAWAY Winner….AND the announcement of a 2nd Swimwear Giveaway! Read on below to see if you’re our “Dolly” winner.  Didn’t win? No big deal—because by simple following the blog, you’re automatically entered in this week’s MOLLY BIKINI GIVEAWAY!

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We’re hosting a giveaway for our polka dot and silver hardware triangle-cut  MOLLY Bikini Set through May 5th! To enter, simply sign up and follow the Lauren Elaine Blog (sign up with your email address in the right column!) It’s that simple.  If you’re already following–you’re already entered to win! We’ll be announcing 1 winner on May 5th!  Contest open to US and International entries. *Winner will also be notified by email.  SIGN UP TO FOLLOW BY EMAIL —>

DOLLY BIKINI GIVEAWAY WINNER:  c–rat-m—  (Think this is you? Be sure to check your email to claim your bikini!)

How Is the Winner Selected: To protect our winner’s privacy, we’ve left out certain email address characters/letters. We will reveal our winner’s name and location shortly! For each giveaway, the winning email address is chosen by a random number drawing (each entered email address or wordpress user is assigned a random number, and the winner is chosen by random drawing from the available random numbers.) Questions/comments, please contact

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4 Steps to Spring Clean Your Finances

couple spring cleaning

Spring cleaning is a yearly tradition in many households. People are taking stock and taking charge of their clutter. The same concept can be applied to your finances. So, while you’re donating your old sweaters this spring, take a moment to spruce up your finances.

Here’s how, in four simple steps:

  1. Check your credit score
  2. Did you know it’s easy to check your credit score without affecting it? This is a great way to kick off spring cleaning your finances, like taking stock of your closet. Checking your credit score results in a soft credit inquiry, which is visible only to you, not to creditors or other users of your credit report. Check if your credit card or bank has that service, or go to Credit Karma to get your score and tips on boosting it for free.

  3. Do some dusting
  4. Like little bits of dust, small, frequent purchases and subscription services on autopay can sneak up on you and create a financial mess. Do the math. That $3 morning coffee can easily exceed $1000 in annual spending! Put your annual savings toward something more worthy of your hard-earned money.

    You deserve it.

  5. Admit it—high interest rates just don’t fit anymore
  6. Credit cards can be great tools, but high interest rates aren’t cute. And, if you can’t keep up with payments, that can lower your credit score. Securing lower interest rates on major purchases or consolidating debt to reduce the interest you owe could be a better fit.

    Consider a personal loan if you need to:

    • Consolidate your debt
    • Pay off credit cards
    • Make a major purchase
    • Plan a special event

    And don’t worry—checking your rates won’t impact your credit score. The same soft credit check mentioned above is used by Lending Club to see what rate you qualify for.

  7. Make sure your retirement accounts are tailored to you
  8. A lot of people set and forget retirement accounts, but it’s important to check up on them now and again. Maybe your risk tolerance has changed since you opted in, or you’re ready to increase your monthly contribution. Or maybe you’re getting closer to retirement and need to change your strategy. Regardless, it’s important to take a look and make sure things are tailored to your needs.

Whether you’re doing some light dusting or an overhaul of your accounts, spring cleaning your finances can have tremendous effects on your financial future. You might just feel a little lighter, too.

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Home > Agile, Extreme Programming, Pair Programming > Pair Programming and Pandemics

Pair Programming and Pandemics

Ben Yoder the Facade Pattern

June 25th 2009 | PouyaYousefi

Pair Programming in the Time of Swine Flu

I am not a doctor. Nor do I claim to have any medical knowledge other than what I pick up from watching House. I am an “Agile Expert”, a “Test Driven Developer” and a “Pair Programmer”. That last existential statement has faced new challenges with the recent media scare and the possible pending spread of global pandemics such as the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the “swine flu”.

Inherent to pair programming is the need for close proximity to another person. Although in the past our team has conducted remote pairing with some success, our day to day development requires that two programmers need to sit across from each other at the same pairing station sometimes for several days. Now it does not take a genius to see that this situation would be ideal for the passing and spread of communicable diseases.

Our team has taken many measures to combat the possibility of our team members getting sick. We have alcohol-based hand sanitizers at every pair station, provide alcohol wipes for cleaning the keyboards and pairing areas, and allow for working from home. We hope these measures reduce the likelihood of catching or spreading any illnesses but I believe that an inherent mental shift in thinking needs to occur in order for any measure to really work. That shift in thinking is this: “Do not come to work until you are 100% over your illness.”

I am guilty of coming to work when I feel less than stellar in order to preserve time for an upcoming vacation. Sometimes the urge to get back to work to help the team can sometimes hurt the team instead. Pushing to get back to work when your body is not at 100% can prolong your illness, make you susceptible to other illnesses, and expose others.

Kent Beck, one of the leading minds on Agile methodologies, and the author of eXtreme Programming Explained explains that one of the values of XP is respect. He states that respect is the fundamental value that binds the team and drives the project towards a unified goal. Taking care of yourself should be as important as looking out for your team. The next time you “suck it up” and drag yourself to work because you think it makes you a team player, stop and think about whether or not your staying home might be better for the team in the long run.

Pouya Yousefi is a Senior .NET Consultant at Thycotic Software, an agile software consulting and product development company based in Washington DC. Secret Server is our flagship password management software product.

  1. April 15, 2010 at 11:08 am

    This is such an important topic. We definitely need a mental shift away from coming in when ill. But we need more than that. We need to encourage one another to go home. “Are you feeling okay Fred? You look a little down. Maybe you should go home.” And we need to call out the bad habits we all have and often don’t realize, such as touching our face. Thanks for posting this topic to your blog.

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Recent Posts

What’s New? Mamma Chia

Filed Under: Health Foods,Supplements at 10:00 am | By: Mauricio Matusiak, Senior Editor
Mamma Chia

Chia seeds continue to be one of the hottest items on Lucky Today, we are happy to introduce another top quality brand of chia products to our health-conscious costumers: Mamma Chia.

Mamma Chia offers the highest quality organic chia-based foods and beverages that provide vitality, energy and strength. Chia seeds come from the desert plant Salvia hispanica, a member of the mint family that grows in North, Central and South America. Chia seeds were used by the Mayans and Aztecs for their amazing energy and natural healing powers. Considered one of the world’s healthiest whole foods, Chia seeds offer a complete nutritional profile of Omega-3s, balanced dietary fiber, complete protein, antioxidants and minerals.

Mamma Chia’s mission is to share the magic of chia and lead in its renaissance. In addition, Mamma Chia is a conscious and sustainable company and a Certified B Corporation, member of 1% For the Planet and founding member of the Slow Money Alliance. Mamma Chia donates 1% of gross sales to support farmers, community groups and organizations that are building healthy, local food systems.

Mamma Chia Squeeze is the perfect product to add natural vitality and powerful nutrients into your day. Organic chia seeds are infused with delicious fruits and vegetables to create a convenient, fun and tasty snack for active people of all ages. Packed with essential Omega-3s, protein, and fiber, Chia Squeeze is a satisfying anytime snack that naturally provides the vitality to power your soul’s purpose. All Mamma Chia foods and beverages are USDA Organic Certified and Non-GMO Verified to provide the highest quality, healthiest products possible.

For a limited time, save an additional 10% on all Mamma Chia featured new items. Just enter promo code ‘MAR14NEW10’ at checkout at Lucky

More Related Products

Mamma Chia – Organic Chia Squeeze Vitality Snack Blackberry Bliss – 3.5 oz.
Mamma Chia – Organic Chia Squeeze Vitality Snack Green Magic – 3.5 oz.

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Recent Posts

Summertime & The Living’s Easy When You Have These Singles on Hand

Filed Under: Health Concerns & Ailments,Homeopathy at 8:00 am | By: Jessica Justh, Senior Editor

Sometimes summer fun isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The hot and humid temps and afternoon downpours bring nasty insect bites, painful bumps and bruises as kids of all ages play outdoors, and troublesome indigestion from seaside picnics and spicy backyard barbecues. Make the most of the season by keeping some popular single homeopathic medicines in your medicine cabinet to help relieve conditions associated with these common summer activities.

Start with Apis mellifica and Ledum palustre. Apis relieves itchy eyes, swollen eyelids, and swollen, itchy, burning skin or lips caused by insect bites or allergies and relieved by cold compresses. Use Ledum for non-bleeding wounds as small as an insect bite. It also relieves swollen and itchy mosquito bites, especially when taken at dawn and dusk. These singles can be paired up with Boiron’s topical Calendula Gel for cool, soothing relief.

You’ll also want to relieve your aches and pains more naturally. Arnica montana is best known for its ability to relieve muscle pain and stiffness, swelling from injuries and bruising. Arnica has been used for centuries for its pain-relieving properties. Nux vomica is also another summer must-have. Nux is useful for gastrointestinal issues such as nausea and cramps from indigestion, especially after eating a lot of spicy food or drinking too much coffee or alcohol.

To explore more homeopathic medicines for these conditions and many others, use Boiron’s Homeopathic Medicine Finder at

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“Maintain your integrity by not cutting corners or taking short cuts. A sustainably focused business doesn’t happen overnight and requires graft and a commitment.”

Mike Murphy – the man behind Kokako coffee, one of the great cafés in Auckland, is a local hero when it comes sustainability. Deirdre Dawson chats to him about his recent trip to Papua New Guinea and involvement in this weekend’s Sustainable Showcase.

Was there a light bulb moment you decided to follow the path of a sustainable citizen or was it a gradual movement?

I think I’ve been working towards it. I studied Social and Coastal Geography at University and also took papers in Anthropology. However as an 18 year old I never really thought of the context of what I was studying and how this could be applied in a commercial way. I was delivering pizzas at 17 and have stayed in food and beverage ever since, I never actually thought I’d use my degree. My interest in sustainability comes from a personal belief that we must look after not only our natural resources but also the people within it.

You recently travelled to PNG on an origin trip, why PNG?

Papua New Guinea is one of the main origins that we source our fairtrade organic coffee from. In April, I joined a contingent from Fairtrade Australia/NZ to PNG. I wanted to validate the core proposition of Fairtrade but more importantly spend time with the coffee growers and their families.

Memorable moments?

Heaps of memorable moments! Highlights would be the amazing people of PNG and their generosity, helping to harvest coffee cherries, intensive four-wheel driving through mud tracks to remote villages and sleeping in local schools at high altitude with no power. The most memorable thing is the poignancy in the simplicity of life. To us, life in the Highlands may look like it has its challenges – and it does.

However to put it in context, coming back to the pressures of running a business made me consider other ways I could add value to communities in PNG.

What’s your involvement with this weekend’s Sustainable Showcase?

We are running a coffee brew bar and espresso bar at the Sustainable City Showcase. We’ll be highlighting specific coffee origins along with our cold brew coffee. It’s a pretty exciting product – the coffee is soft brewed for eight hours in cold filtered water to create a naturally sweet and chocolaty beverage. We will be collaborating with our friends at All Good, Nice Blocks and Cosset to have a really interesting selection of fairtrade and organic treats for visitors to try.

Why should people come along?

People should come along to see how cool a future sustainable city can and will be. The people and companies that will be at the showcase are progressive and represent innovative thinking and ideas around how we should live our lives and do business. Sustainability, for all its connotations, is essentially about using considered, innovative and simple mechanisms for the people and the planet.

Hints for businesses wanting to shine sustainably?

1) Maintain your integrity by not cutting corners or taking short cuts. A sustainably focused business doesn’t happen overnight and requires graft and a commitment.

2) Collaborate and innovate. Seek out like-minded businesses who are doing innovative things in a sustainable way and work together.

About our contributor // While city ambassador Deirdre Dawson is currently working on the person-to-person rental startup Rentaholic, her background includes being an official ambassador for Kohu Road ice cream, teaching English in Japan and Secretary of the K Road Business Association.


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NaNoWriMo…Last Day!

The final day to eeek out word count is here. My rebellious NaNo has been great. I accomplished what I set for my goal: finish the major revisions for THE GATEKEEPERS’ CHARGE. Now, of course, working on revisions is not going to get you the 50k needed to win NaNo, but I feel like a winner anyway. Yeah!

Speaking of winners…

lancerl The Orange Lutheran Cross Country team, coaches, and families are phenomenal and a wonderful group with which to be associated.

At the State Championships, yesterday in Fresno, CA, O Lu girls raced their way to state runners-up! The girls set the school record team time in the process.

photo by Marty Shubin

Staci Foster runs school record 18:10 for 5k to finish 8th – two time all-state!

photo by Marty Shubin

Boys shatter school record team time (82:36) to finish 10th. That makes 7 years in a row in the top 10 for the boys!

photo by Marty Shubin : My son is the giant in the front row with no jacket, of course.

Congratulations Lancer Cross Country on an amazing 2008 season!

Don’t forget to leave a COMMENT. hmmm

Stumble It!

~ by bloggingexperiments on November 30, 2008.

14 Responses to “NaNoWriMo…Last Day!”

  1. A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks

  2. That’s great that you made some real progress and feel satisfied from your work this month. That’s what NaNoWriMo is all about, right? Good luck in your next writing pursuits.

  3. Thanks, and congrats on your NaNoWriMo “win” too! 😀

  4. I definitely think you are a winner if you have gotten to the revision stage! i finished NaNo with an incomplete novel which means I am only halfway there… and now I get to slow down…let’s hope i get to “The End” ;}

  5. Congrats to you!!!

    You should treat your head to some dancing sugar plums…
    Be a sleep monster with dreamy fangs…
    Share an invisible feast with your imaginary friend(s)…

    Have you published any excerpts?

  6. Sue-
    I’m glad you enjoy the blog, stop by often. Which post did you receive from your friend…I’m curious. 🙂

    thejinx, tripletvo, janflora & alphabetfiend-
    Thanks for the congrats. Will you all be doing NaNo next year? I hope to be writing a novel for next years run.

  7. Congratulations to you as well!

  8. Congratulations! It must feel good to finish that – I, unfortunately, have only ever tasted the sweet pleasure of starting. I plan to do NaNo next year, too. It would be nice to have some more writing buddies – look me up if you remember!

  9. Thanks for stopping by and Congratulations to you too, definitely a winner 🙂

  10. Thanks, congrats to you too! It was my first year and it felt amazing!

  11. Hi!

    Thanks for your kind comment on my blog regarding NaNo. Don’t think I’m caught up on sleep yet. Looks like you met your own personal goal. Congrat’s to you on that . . . and we will keep an ear to the ground for more on The Gatekeeper’s Charge. Good luck!

    I think there are lots of WordPress folks in NaNo. Not surprising eh?

    Jamie Dedes
    Musing by Moonlight

  12. I do think I’ll do it again.

    It caused me to write a book in the month of november (more to go of course) that I wouldn’t have done in years otherwise. Because of the rules of nanowrimo I had to choose the project I’d done no prep work for (I’d written lines/paragraphs/scenes for the other projects.) It was cool to see how quickly I became immersed. I guess I was “ready” for that book after all!

    The combination of rules & chaos makes for surprising results.

  13. Thank you! Yes, I did get a good night’s sleep (:
    Congrats on your NaNo too, hope to see you for Script Frenzy and NaNo 09!

    (btw, I’m _shahidah on those two websites)

  14. Hi,

    Mucho congrats for finishing your revisions. 🙂

    Very nice blog. I’ll be reading more later, once I get some work done on my own revision.

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text:
My Thoughts on The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

Posted on

How can you not love a book that starts with the main character saying that her life would have been much different if her grandmother would not have blown up?

And there starts a good book by a great storyteller. I really enjoyed this book! Little Pia, age 10, is going through such a hard time as she faces issues which are too big for her little ten years. The story is charming and you do not sense that this is truly a scary story until it is almost too late. Wait! This is a nice kid story! When did it turn into Steven King?

You can see the danger approach. You know things are not as they seem. But you pity a ten year old who is trying to figure out why girls are vanishing in her small village in Germany and who wants to be the town hero in order to stop being the girl whose grandma blew up at Advent.

It starts off with a charming little story and then it gets scary. Legitimately, start skimming like crazy because this paragraph is too scary, scary!

I liked this book, though, because the author is a master storyteller and she ties up all of the loose ends. It’s a great October book!

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Cisco Blogs

WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration Case Study – Consumer Products Company Sony Ericsson

- July 16, 2009 - 0 Comments

Imagine being tasked with drastically reducing costs of branch IT operations across 80 countries, while ensuring 5,000 geographically dispersed employees have consistent LAN-like access to accounting, enterprise planning, product life-cycle management (PLM) software, video, and document management applications. Paul Stephens, Head of Network Services for Corporate IT at Sony Ericsson, doesn’t have to imagine it – he lives it.By deploying the Microsoft and Cisco joint solution, Windows Server® on WAAS Sony Ericsson will save over €22,000 at each branch office by consolidating IT from a complex distribution of branch offices with their own networks, servers, and storage systems to a centralized data center. If that weren’t impressive enough, consider this:
Application acceleration – PLM software: Response time for project life-cycle management application increased by over 20 times.
•Application acceleration – video: Video transfer speeds increased by 400 percent. A video file transfer that used to take about 30 minutes between the United States and Mexico now takes about 6 minutes.
•Application acceleration – file sharing: “Before, it could take all night to send 12 gigabytes of data. Now it can be done in about an hour and a half. Our engineers no longer have to factor long file-transfer wait times of 12 or 18 hours or more into their project schedules.”
WAN optimization: “We estimate that Windows Server on WAAS will help us save about €17,000 per branch annually [U.S. $24,000] by allowing us to avoid bandwidth upgrades.”
IT flexibility and agility: Sony Ericsson IT department can perform many remote IT tasks more easily from a central location using Microsoft Systems Center and Cisco WAAS Central Manager. “With the Windows Server core functionality on Cisco WAAS devices, it’s easy for our central IT office to remotely manage and modify specific IT services based on a locale’s particular needs… This delivers a huge productivity boost for the IT department while enhancing the performance and availability of local users.”
But don’t just take my words for it. Check out this WAN optimization case study written by Sony Ericsson, Microsoft and Dimension Data. Windows Server on WAAS, which includes the Windows Server 2008 core OS running on Cisco WAAS software and hardware, provides Sony Ericsson with the flexibility to deploy corporate applications and infrastructure services across its branch and data center locations while taking advantage of WAN optimization and locally hosted Windows Server services.
And also checkout Sony Ericsson’s own video testimonial on using Cisco WAN Optimization solution:

In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


text:
Microsoft Office Project Support PodCast Episode1

Here is my first attempt at Podcasting - and hopefully you can get to the linked MP3 file.  Not too much groundbreaking stuff in this one - just a recap of SP, IU and CU stuff.  Mainly just testing out the format and infrastructure to see how this works for me and you. This is in mp3, I'll probably also test out wma too.  I will be trying some video soon too, probably a screen capture of looking at ULS logs with Excel.  Looking at streaming this with Silverlight, but if there is demand for a downloadable version too then more than happy to oblige.

Comments (4)

  1. Gagan Goel says:

    Happy New Year. Your .mp3 file worked really nicely for me. This is a great idea, Video streaming will be even better, downloading capability will be really helpful for off line usage.

    Only concern is to publish key words on the relaeases so live & google search engines can pick up your audio, video messages.

  2. Paul B says:

    Video blogging would be excellent and I can’t wait to see your upcoming posts.

    Thanks for your support!

  3. Hey Brian,

    Happy New Year! 🙂

    Thanks for this.  I can see this being a very important source of information.

    Feedback – it would be great if I can subscribe to this via iTunes so that it will automatically download for me to my iPod.

    Also for the video podcasts it would be great if we could download these, not sure able anyone else, but I would be watching these during my communte to work.

    Thanks once again,

  4. Hi Dharmesh,

    I have posted links for the video downloads – assuming I can get the space I will continue doing this.  I subscribe via Zune and got the mp3 delivered and sync’d to my Zune player just using the normals RSS feed for this blog.  I am also playing with a different RSS file (work in progress) at which works in Zune, but does not have the iTunes namespace elements added (yet).  Let me know if this works – I will try and keep it updated, or find a more automated approach.

    Best regards,

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text:
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Top ten objections to PowerBuilder

  1. programmers are too expensive
  2. programmers are too hard to find
  3. fat client
  4. must be installed
  5. on windows only
  6. doesn’t run in a browser
  7. unsupported beyond very soon
  8. we are a .net shop
  9. we are a java shop
  10. power what?????

Top ten real challenges

  1. The real world thinks we are programmers.  We are not perceived as domain experts, diplomats, rapid designers, architects, object orientalists, occasional script typist, testers or analysts…
  2. PB “Programmers” are hard to find.  We are not over the hill; instead we are all hiding in a back room somewhere pretending to be busy supporting the legacy pfc systems that like us refuse to go away. As in: Reluctant to learn java to arm ourselves with a fighting chance of competing with recent engineering degrees from all corners, at half your minimum, already priced to sell, hourly rate. Or maybe working from home teaching our visiting grand kids phrases like “who wrote this darn thing in the first place”.
  3. 2Tier client server systems are hard to scale and can be painful to deploy.
  4. 2Tier client server systems have difficulty reaching the cloud where the database has been blown up to save on infrastructure.
  5. PB can deploy to windows 10, the web and even the mainstream smartphone. The real challenge is that we are so used to developing large applications with a framework best suited for window mdi with a few old controls thrown in and direct access to the local disk.
  6. PowerBuilder is not on anyone’s radar.  If it is, 1-9 of above the top ten applies.
  7. A framework no longer cuts it.  Frameworks used to be:  be all/end all; now is more like just; end all.  The challenge is to develop a bunch of design patterns that enable rapid, sorry, agile developments of functioning applications, sorry, apps and assemblies/web services.
  8. Finding a target market for PowerBuilt systems has always been challenging.  A long time ago risk adverse financial controllers were reluctant to approve a budget for core enterprise systems using an unproven technology.  Today, risk adverse CFOs are reluctant to approve a budget for in-house, bespoke systems using an ailing technology.
  9. PowerBuilder is extremely feature rich, so there is plenty in the shop, but little in the window and everything is bought on-line anyway. Not sure this a challenge or a strength.
  10. We need a vision; not a division amongst the few of us left. The developer community appears to be demanding a road-map of more and more features, but as someone pointed out recently, there are too many half-hearted somewhat not quite finished features. Won’t mention the ones that were rudely withdrawn.

(Just as I am about to click Publish, I notice there is a list of Categories I can choose for this blog to help others to find my content. It has one item. “PowerBuilder 15 Beta”.  Had there been one called “PowerBuilder 15 Better” then I might have chosen it for this blog)

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  1. Armeen Mazda

    Lars, Did you watch the PowerBuilder Vision Webcast?  What we envision for PowerBuilder should resolve most of the issues you listed.  It won’t address #4, #6, and #9, but not every single app will be HTML and browser-based as is evident by the proliferation of Cloud Apps for mobile and PC devices.

    BTW, in case you decide to watch it or already have watched it, please note there are more detailed Webcasts scheduled for the coming months that will dive into deployment methodology and architecture, development and migration topics, product roadmap, etc.  So please understand that the first Webcast was just meant to introduce the big picture and let people digest that first.

    1. Lars Mosegaard Post author

      Hi Armeen,

      I am sorry, I meant the lists to be food for thought for the forum. I use the word “challenges” and not issues that I expect you to resolve

      The web cast was great and informative and given your above encouragement I will look forward to the next.

      I think what I am trying to point out to the forum is that we all need to think about how we get PB back into the mainstream. Part of the answer is to first understand that there are now different apps for different purposes and they will require different approaches.

      Lars 🙂

      1. Armeen Mazda

        Hi Lars,

        Appreciate the food for thought!  I hope your post will inspire other members of the PowerBuilder community to chime in, and also encourage more people to participate in our Webcasts.  During the Webcasts we conduct very important polls, live Q&A sessions, etc. and the feedback we get is being directly fed into our plans and roadmap for PowerBuilder.

        Active participation from the community will be critical to make PowerBuilder a vibrant platform for building the new generation of Cloud Apps (client/server 2.0).  I believe this is the new wave after HTML apps, as is evidenced by introduction of technologies such as Apache Pivot for Java, Xamarin for .NET,etc.

  2. Lars Mosegaard Post author

    The top objections are what I hear from decision makers and those who influence them.

    Those sort of objections used to annoy me and I would object and argue to little avail. But that just makes me bitter so now I live in denial.

    The second list is merely food for thought for all of us.  The raison d’etre for this forum I would have thought. We were similarly challenged 15 years ago when EAServer first came out. It was a a paradigm shift to go from 2 to n-tier as well as learn the new IDE of PB7.

    Top Ten used to be a very funny segment on David Letterman.  When, particularly in the second list you read something you think is funny, it is not me being weird, it is reflecting my weird sense of humour. You may choose to think I am a bit weird.

  3. Steven Wolf

    The plan being outlined by Appeon for PowerBuilder really can’t happen quick enough! Just yesterday I finished the formal training of two new developers in PowerBuilder Classic and so many times I had to point out all the “tips and tricks” to get around PowerBuilder’s inefficiencies (both from and IDE aspect and the language itself). It’s almost embarrassing, but at least I can pass the blame on to whoever made the decision to use PowerBuilder for our applications since that wasn’t me!

    Most all of the problems could be taken care of if what is being proposed by Appeon was already in place!

    When I train a new developer I point out the advantages of PowerBuilder (the datawindow mainly), but that gets overshadowed by things like the auto-code complete wiping out your clipboard contents, no ability to overload the default constructor, no ability to inherit from a datawindow object meaning multiple have to be created and maintained just to display data slightly differently, etc.

    1. Patrice Domange

      To be honest the PB IDE could be improved and it is true the auto-complete clipboard issue is one of the most annoying issue, but this is certainly not a point that will stop you to develop at all…

      For the rest, the PowerScript is easy to learn and powerful enough to develop anything without to have to learn multiples frameworks or libraries as it is the case with Java, Dot net, Python, C or C++.

      Concerning OOP, PowerScript is a real OO language and most of the time it follows strict original OO rules, like not being able to overload default constructor. This said, this can be addressed simply by using PB inheritance capability, which again is a pure OO technics…

      Finally, the fact than the datawindow can’t be inherited is not a big issue comparing the ease of use and its powerfulness, of course it would be great if  we could inherit from it in future version of PB, but seriously what language can natively address this issue nowaday ? None.

      People that have developed DAO in Java, or any other datagrid control in dot net knows what I want to explain : you have to code a lot in any cases and almost for the presentation layer while in PB you have simply to share a datastore with multiple Dw that take a few minutes to set up, once the base SQL select or data definition is designed.

      Definitively, PowerBuilder is still the best Data based Application RAD tool on the market for its ease to develop and maintain application of all size and complexity.

      Long Live to PowerBuilder !

      1. David Peace

        Patrice, I couldn’t agree more.

        In particular “PowerScript is easy to learn and powerful enough to develop anything without to have to learn multiples frameworks or libraries as it is the case with Java, Dot net, Python, C or C++.”

        Yes DW inheritance would just be icing on an already elegant cake, but not essential. Nothing else has anything like the power of the DW for managing and dealing with data from many sources. Just the other day I was talking to a project manager who was complaining about his developers. He is used to PB and the developers are using Ruby on rails, the developers were procrastinating about how they may load a CSV file and update the database with its contents. OMG, how technology has gone backwards.

        Anyway, we all fully understand the annoying issues with PB and it’s strengths too! Basically PB needs some investment, I don’t believe it needs reinventing, more just taking to the next level. I battle with Visual Studio from time to time and then go back to PB with a smile 🙂 😘

        1. Steven Wolf

          I get annoyed dealing with PB limitations and smile when I get to work with Visual Studio from time to time! 🙂

          I am in no way saying that Visual Studio is perfect (no language or IDE is), but no refactor tool? When I rename a variable or class in Visual Studio it politely asks me if I would like to refactor. With one click of a button it does so! When is the last time the PowerBuilder IDE asked you that? It does not, it just tells you that you cannot save until you find all references and manually fix them yourself!

          I am not saying that PB is a lost cause, but when no meaningful enhancements have been made in years it is disheartening and only leads to developers like me looking to move on.

          By the way, is SAP/Appeon ever going to sign off on moving PB? All this talk about what Appeon will do for PB is great, but it’s all just talk so far. Something of substance needs to happen! Maybe that will get covered tomorrow in the webcast?

      2. Ricardo Jasso

        It is curious, I was thinking about this same issue over the weekend.  The datawindow is not inheritable. I mean the datawindow Object, not the datawindow Control. Is this good or bad? I don’t know. The fact is that the datawindow Object resides in a realm different than the common objects used in the language, which is object oriented. And to manipulate it the only way we can do it is by means of the datawindow Control.

        We all know how to do this. Is this an issue? Well, if the datawindow Object was meant to be used for a specific limited purpose like some mail control then it is Ok. But the fact is we use the datawindow Object for EVERYTHING. We create input screens with the datawindow Object. We create browse screens with the datawindow Object. We create graphs with the datawindow Object. We create full-fledged reports with the datawindow Object. We create lists with the datawindow Object that mysteriously get attached to datawindow columns inside other datawindow Objects (ie dddws).

        And the list goes on and on. Can we do this in PB with common windows controls like in other languages like Visual Basic or C# where everything is an object? Well, some we can and some we cannot. For example, I could implement an input screen with only common windows controls like single line edits, drop down list boxes, checkboxes, etc. and use a button control to pass the values from these controls to an embedded SQL statement that will update the table. This will allow me to inherit the window and extend its functionality like any other OO language.

        But of course, nobody with minimum experience with PowerBuilder will do this. We’ll use instead a datawindow Object attached to a datawindow Control and issue an update command in the control. That’s it. Easy to create, easy to implement. But the drawback is we cannot inherit this input screen to form a new input screen where we could add some new functionality. Again, is this good or bad? Well, from my experience working with classes in VB.NET using inheritance can be tricky. You can really get lost with just one inheritance level let along with multiple levels.

        But even with this issue to struggle I have found many examples where I’d wish I could inherit a datawindow Object along with the code in the datawindow Control to form a new one where I could just extend its functionality as one piece or component. Or just so I can reuse it within other components. For example, I’d like to have a control that can search for customers in the database which I could reuse inside different input windows (e.g. quote window, purchase order window, payment window, etc).

        But I can’t do this easily in PB. Nevertheless, I can do a lot of other stuff with datawindow Objects along with datawindow Controls that certainly will take a lot of time to do in other languages so I think the tradeoff is small and the balance is still weighed on PB’s side for common business applications.

      3. Ricardo Jasso

        But then there’s the scaling issue. The problem with this so tight coupling between the client and the database via the datawindow Object is that it just doesn’t scale when trying to reach thousands of users. (I know I can use Appeon but this implies additional cost and I see it more as a deployment feature rather than as a programming feature; but a feature nevertheless worth considering).

        There’s a saying in my country that goes like this: In the sin lies the penitence. Well, I think PB has sinned too much by depending extensively on the proprietary, non-object oriented datawindow Object and now the datawindow Object is presenting itself as the show stopper when trying to migrate to a web solution.

        But I strongly believe this will all change in the new PowerBuilder envisioned by Armeen in which native desktop applications connected to the cloud will present to ourselves as the new technological paradigm finally giving us the benefit of both worlds: Harnessing the full power of both the client and the server with zero deployment effort from our side.

  4. Patrice Domange

    I agree, the IDE in PB classic did not really evolve since PB 7 with the apparition of the workspace concept and the multiple views editors. The shame is that visual studio editor is used in the PB .Net edition since PB 12, and thus such functionality is available there !!!

    It sounds odd that they did not do the same in PB classic – why not integrating visual studio editor also in PB classic ? (Appeon seems to want to go in this direction, wait and see…) Ha yes, for mercantile reasons…

    Anyway, to my point of view, this is not a valid reason to abandon PB as there exist freeware like Global Replace that will do the job perfectly (even if it is not elegant like in Visual Studio, Eclipse or NetBeans)…

    The most important thing to consider while choosing the right language to develop a new solution, is what the chosen language will bring in order to achieve it successfully,in time and without exploding budget. OK, I will certainly not use PB to develop Real Time Air Traffic Controller (C++ for sure, Java maybe ?) but certainly for projects like Automated Warehouse or Time clock Monitor, Bank front-end and back-end, TV/Cinema/Radio Broadcasting Planning Tools, Medical Imaging, etc. are projects that I have worked on with PowerBuilder – built from scratch or maintained during decades quite easily.

    of course, decent developer should be aware of what language is surfing the wave during its entire career, but should certainly properly use the right tool at the right time and not necessary the last new “cool” shiny thing available on the market. The older PB application I worked on was developed in 1988 and still used and maintained in 2015…27 years, I think that only COBOL and C/C++ solutions are still running for longer time than that !

    Definitively, PB with its PowerScript + Datawindow with an excellent IDE like Visual Studio, NetBeans or event IntelliGent Editor will be the Graal for developing or maintaining data based solutions, surely if Appeon make it also available on portable solution like smartphone or tablet transparently or even natively.

    Remember PocketBuilder, it was a great and revolutionary solutions, but it was too ahead on its time, and was a business failure, like Optima++ for the C++, back in 1996.

    The software market has also its fashion, like for the clothing, and certainly language like C/C++ and tools like PowerBuilder are classics, like Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel, Armani, etc.

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U2U Consult TechDays 2011 CD Available for Download

At TechDays 2011 in Antwerp, U2U Consult distributed a CD-ROM with two free tools. I’m happy to announce that the CD-ROM contents is now also available for download from our web site. The U2U Consult SQL Database Analyzer is a tool for SQL Server database administrators and developers. It displays diagnostic information about a database and its hosting instance that is hard to collect when you only use the standard SQL Server tools. Just point the tool at a SQL Server database of your choice, and have a look at the reports generated by the tool. The U2U Consult Code Analysis Rules for Visual Studio 2010 are a series of additional code analysis rules for Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate, and two rule sets with recommended rules for libraries and applications. The rules include additional general performance and design rules, as well as a series of rules specifically for WCF. All rules are documented on the CD-ROM. Obviously, they are applicable to all .NET languages, including C# and VB. With this CD, for the first time we make two of our own tools available to you. These are only two small components out of the U2U Consult Framework, but we hope they are as useful to you as they are to us and our clients. Enjoy.

Silverlight and the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus

This blog post will show you how to allow a Silverlight application to call a service over the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus. The problem you need to solve is that Silverlight will look for a “clientaccesspolicy.xml” at the root uri of the service. When I tried it myself I couldn’t find any “how to” on this topic so I decided to turn this into a blog post. If anyone else has this blogged, sorry I am such a bad internet searcher . So, you’ve just build a nice Silverlight application that uses some WCF service you’re hosting locally. You’ve done all the steps to make it work on your machine, including the “clientaccesspolicy.xml” to enable cross-domain communication. The only thing is that you want to keep hosting the service locally and/or move it to another machine without updating the Silverlight client. You’ve heard that the Windows Azure Service Bus allows you to do this more easily so you decide to use it. This is your current service configuration (notice the localhost address!). Code Snippet <service name="SilverlightAndAppFabric.TheService" >   <endpoint name="HELLO"             address="http://localhost:1234/rest"             behaviorConfiguration="REST"             binding="webHttpBinding"             bindingConfiguration="default"             contract="SilverlightAndAppFabric.IHello" /> </service> What you now need to do is to move it to the AppFabric Service bus. This is easy. Of course you need to get a subscription for Windows Azure and set up the AppFabric service bus… Look for somewhere else on this, there’s lots of this around. Then you change the address, binding and behavior like this: You need an endpoint behavior, because your service needs to authenticate to the service bus (so they can send you the bill): Code Snippet <endpointBehaviors>   <behavior name="REST">     <webHttp />     <transportClientEndpointBehavior>       <clientCredentials>         <sharedSecret           issuerName="owner"           issuerSecret="---your secret key here please---" />       </clientCredentials>     </transportClientEndpointBehavior>   </behavior> </endpointBehaviors> You (might) need a binding configuration to allow clients to access your service anonymously: Code Snippet <webHttpRelayBinding>   <binding name="default" >     <security relayClientAuthenticationType="None">     </security>   </binding> </webHttpRelayBinding>   And of course you need to change the endpoint to use the WebHttpRelayBinding: Code Snippet <endpoint name="HELLO"           address="https://u2utraining.servicebus.windows.net/rest"           behaviorConfiguration="REST"           binding="webHttpRelayBinding"           bindingConfiguration="default"           contract="SilverlightAndAppFabric.IHello" />   This should to the trick. Yes, when you try the REST service using Internet Explorer you get back the intended result. Now you update the address in your Silverlight application to use the service bus endpoint: This is the old call: Code Snippet wc.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("http://localhost:1234/rest/hello"));   And you change it to: Code Snippet wc.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("https://u2utraining.servicebus.windows.net/rest/hello"));   Please note the switch to https and the service bus address. You run your Silverlight client and it fails with some strange security error! The problem is that Silverlight will try to access the clientaccesspolicy.xml file from your new address. Since this is now the service bus this will not work. To solve it you simply add another REST endpoint that will return the clientaccesspolicy from this Uri. Start with the service contract: Code Snippet [ServiceContract] public interface IClientAccessPolicy {   [OperationContract]   [WebGet(UriTemplate = "clientaccesspolicy.xml")]   Message GetPolicyFile(); } Implement it: Code Snippet public Message GetPolicyFile() {   WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingRequest.ContentType = "text/xml";     using (FileStream stream = File.Open("clientaccesspolicy.xml", FileMode.Open))   {     using (XmlReader xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(stream))     {       Message m = Message.CreateMessage(MessageVersion.None, "", xmlReader);       using (MessageBuffer buffer = m.CreateBufferedCopy(1000))       {         return buffer.CreateMessage();       }     }   } }   And make sure it returns the right policy. This is what gave me a lot of headache, so here it is: Code Snippet <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <access-policy>   <cross-domain-access>     <policy>       <allow-from http-request-headers="*">         <domain uri="http://*"/>         <domain uri="https://*"/>       </allow-from>       <grant-to>         <resource path="/" include-subpaths="true"/>       </grant-to>     </policy>   </cross-domain-access> </access-policy>   Pay special attention to the allow-from element. By default this will allow SOAP calls, not REST calls. For explanations read the documentation. You might want to edit it anyway. Now add a similar REST endpoint, making sure the clientaccesspolicy is at the root level: Code Snippet <endpoint name="CLIENTACCESSPOLICY"           address="https://u2utraining.servicebus.windows.net"           behaviorConfiguration="REST"           binding="webHttpRelayBinding"           bindingConfiguration="default"           contract="SilverlightAndAppFabric.IClientAccessPolicy" />   Done! A working example (you will have to change the client credentials to your own) can be downloaded from the U2U site here.

Azure Inter-role communication using callback instead of queues

I’m currently playing with Azure and the Azure training kit, and I learned something cool today. When you work with Azure you can setup multiple worker roles for your Azure application. If you want to make these roles talk to one another you can use the queuing mechanism which is part of Azure. But you can also use WCF dual interface mechanism. Imagine you want to build a chat application using Azure and WCF. In this case you define a worker role that exposes a dual interface like this: Code Snippet [ServiceContract(     Namespace = "urn:WindowsAzurePlatformKit:Labs:AzureTalk:2009:10",     CallbackContract = typeof(IClientNotification),     SessionMode = SessionMode.Required)] public interface IChatService {   /// <summary>   /// Called by client to announce they are connected at this chat endpoint.   /// </summary>   /// <param name="userName">The user name of the client.</param>   /// <returns>The ClientInformation object for the new session.</returns>   [OperationContract(IsInitiating = true)]   ClientInformation Register(string userName);     /// <summary>   /// Sends a message to a user.   /// </summary>   /// <param name="message">The message to send.</param>   /// <param name="sessionId">The recipient's session ID.</param>   [OperationContract(IsInitiating = false)]   void SendMessage(string message, string sessionId);     /// <summary>   /// Returns a list of connected clients.   /// </summary>   /// <returns>The list of active sessions.</returns>   [OperationContract(IsInitiating = false)]   IEnumerable<ClientInformation> GetConnectedClients(); } The IClientNotification interface is the call-back interface which is implemented by the client of the service. The client calls the Register method on the server, which then can keep track of the client by using the callback interface: Code Snippet IClientNotification callback =   OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel<IClientNotification>();   If you host the service as a single instance, all clients will register to the same service, so this service can easily track each client. But if you grow and start using multiple instances of your service in Azure, each client will register to a single instance, so each instance will know only about its own clients. If two clients, registered to different instances, want to communicate, the services will have to handle the communication for this. The solution is easy, make them also expose the IClientNotification callback service interface using internal endpoints, so they can communicate to each other: Code Snippet public class ChatService : IChatService, IClientNotification   Of course each service will have to be able to find the other service instances. This you can do with the RoleEnvironment class, which you can use in your worker role class: Code Snippet var current = RoleEnvironment.CurrentRoleInstance; var endPoints = current.Role.Instances                 .Where(instance => instance != current)                 .Select(instance => instance.InstanceEndpoints["NotificationService"]);   This does require the worker role to define an internal endpoint. You can do this in Visual Studio 2010. Select the worker role’s properties, go to the endpoint tab and enter an internal endpoint: The rest of the code is straightforward (of your comfortable with WCF that is) and can be found in the Azure Training Kit (look for the Worker Role Communication lab).

Safe disposal of WCF proxies

The issue has been known for a long time: you cannot safely dispose a WCF proxy that inherits from ClientBase<T> with a using statement, because the dispose method may throw.  For more information, see http://www.google.com/search?q=wcf+proxy+dispose. However, I’ve always found most solutions out there to be too complex, too cumbersome, or both. Some of them even seek to replace the Visual Studio (or svcutil.exe) generated proxy by handwritten code, in which case you loose the convenience of the “Add Service Reference” dialog and the automatic configuration file generation. I wanted a simple but effective solution that does not replace the Visual Studio code generation, and is easy to use at the same time. I came up with a simple extension method, that you use as follows: var proxy = new SomeServiceClient(); using (proxy.SafeDisposer()) { // use the proxy here } Here’s the code: namespace U2UConsult.ServiceModel { using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.ServiceModel; public static class ClientBaseExtensions { private static readonly TraceSource traceSource = new TraceSource("U2UConsult.ServiceModel"); public static IDisposable SafeDisposer<T>(this ClientBase<T> proxy) where T : class { return new SafeDisposerProxy<T>(proxy); } private sealed class SafeDisposerProxy<T> : IDisposable where T : class { private ClientBase<T> proxy; public SafeDisposerProxy(ClientBase<T> proxy) { this.proxy = proxy; } public void Dispose() { if (this.proxy != null) { if (this.proxy.State == CommunicationState.Opened) { try { this.proxy.Close(); } catch (Exception ex) { ClientBaseExtensions.traceSource.TraceEvent( TraceEventType.Error, 0, "Could not close client proxy, reason: {0}", ex.Message); this.proxy.Abort(); } } else { this.proxy.Abort(); } this.proxy = null; } } } } } Enjoy!

Fixing Application Pool not starting problem by editing ApplicationHost.config

While playing around with Windows Server AppFabric I created a new Application pool set for .NET 4. However this application pool would immediately throw an error when starting; “The worker process failed to pre-load .Net Runtime version v4.0.21006.” A little experimentation showed that changing to the built in application pool worked. So it looks like IIS, when creating a new application pool, configures for the wrong .NET version. I then found that this kind of information is stored in ApplicationHost.config, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on my system (except backups in history). Hmmm. And I wasn’t the only one. So using notepad (!) I could open this file in “C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config”. Best of course is to first stop IIS and make a backup of the file. Then I edited the <applicationPools> section, looking for v4.0 and replacing it with v4.0.30128. And yes! That fixed it.

Configuring your WFC and WF4 services using AppFabric

Configuring your services Normally I configure my services using Visual Studio (and type-ing in the configuration as Xml) or using the WCF Service Configuration tool. AppFabric also allows you to configure your services, directly from IIS (making it a nice integrated experience!). The difference is in that AppFabric exposes the stuff an it-pro needs to look at the health of an application more… Developers are more interested in making it work, productions is more interested in keeping it working… <grin> You can setup a persistance and tracking store (actually databases) to make your services trackable and durable. This will also make it easier (or less hard) to see why your service is no longer functioning the way it should. Of course you can still setup the System.Diagnostics tracing, but this again is more for developers. Some preparations are needed AppFabric uses the net.pipe protocol to manage your services (through standard endpoints), so you might need to enable this on IIS. Select your site, then select Edit Bindings… The following window should open:   If net.pipe is not listed, hit the Add… button and select net.pipe. Use * for Binding information. Then go to your service and select Advanced Settings… The dialog should open: Add net.pipe to the list of Enabled Protocols. You might also need to run the AppFabric system-level configuration. To do this, go to Start->All Programs->Windows Server AppFabric->Configure AppFabric. The configuration utility should launch: Hit Next: Here you can configure the monitoring and persistance databases. Check the Set Monitoring configuration check-box, select the account you want to use and the provider (there is one default, which will store everything in a SQL server database: Hit the Configure… button. Configure as follows (replacing Peter-PC with your domain/machine name): Hit Ok. Check the results. You might get an ‘the database already exists’ kind of warning. Simply continue… Continue through the wizard… Configuring a WCF service In IIS, select your site or service (and most of this can also be done at other levels), and then in the actions pane select “Manage WCF and WF Service->Configure…” This opens the “Configure WCF and WF for Site” dialog: Check the “Enable metadata over HTTP” to set the ServiceMetadata behavior. Over to the Monitoring tab:   Keep the checkbox checked if you want monitoring records written to the monitoring database. Using the level you can change from monitoring everything to nothing… You can also configure the usual WCF tracing and message logging here. The throttling tab allows you to limit the number of requests and service instances, while the security tab allows you to set/change the service certificate. A later post will be about configuring WCF and Workflow services…

Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2: Deploying services

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010 RC a while ago, but unfortunately this broke Windows Server AppFabric beta 1. Luckily march 1 MS released beta 2, which works with VS 2010 RC. I’ve installed it and will now try to show you a couple of things. So what is AppFabric? To be honest, there is another AppFabric, the one for Azure, and that is not the one I am talking about. What is Windows Server AppFabric? AppFabric makes installing, administering, monitoring and fixing problems in WCF 4 (!Yes, only starting at .NET 4) services a lot easier by extending IIS and WAS (Windows Activation Services, which are used to host non-HTTP WCF services in IIS). It also adds a distributed caching mechanism (also known as Project Velocity) to make it easier to scale ASP.NET and WCF services. If you’re familiar with BizTalk 2006/2009, you’ll know that the BizTalk Administration application shows you each BizTalk application’s health, what went wrong, how many were executed, etc… AppFabric gives you the same but now for WCF and WF 4 services. Look at this screen shot: As you can see, after installing AppFabric IIS is now showing these new icons: AppFabric Dashboard, Endpoints and Services. The dashboard will show you the current status of your services (running, stopped, with errors, etc…). Endpoints and Services allow you to list and configure the endpoints and services. Deploying using AppFabric AppFabric Hosting Services provides easier deployment of services: First thing you need to do is to package your WCF service. To do this go to the project properties and select the new Package/Publish tab: You can now select where to create the package (and if your want it as a .zip file) and how to deploy it in IIS. Now you need to create the deployment package in Visual Studio 2010: Now we can import the application using IIS: This will open the Import Application Package dialog. Use the browse button to open the package .zip file: Hit next: And Next again: Note that the service name is taken from the package properties. Hit next again, hopefully your services will deploy successfully. To verify this, you can go to your site in IIS: And click on Services. You should see your service listed (for example I have three services running here): You can also click on Endpoints to see the list of endpoints: Because of WCF default endpoints you get 4 different endpoints per service; you can modify which types of default endpoints you want, but that is now what I’ll be showing you here.   A note on using your own application pool with AppFabric During my experiments I created a new AppPool for my services. When testing my service, I would always get the following error: HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable. First I thought the solution would be easy. My application pool was stopped. Starting it should fix the problem. But it didn’t. So I investigated a little further. Seems that my new application pool tries to use .NET 4 version 21006 (beta 2?). I could see this in the Event Viewer: The worker process failed to pre-load .Net Runtime version v4.0.21006. I think something didn’t (un)install during my migration to .NET 4 RC. So I’m now using the ASP.NET 4 application pool…

Techdays 2010

I’m happy to say I’ll be speaking at TechDays 2010 in Belgium and DevDays 2010 in the Netherlands. In Belgium I’ll be doing one session on “What is new in WCF 4” and one session on “Workflow Foundation 4”. In the Netherlands I’ll do on session on “What is new in WCF4” and one on “Developing for Windows 7 with the Windows API code pack”.

WCF and large messages

This week I’ve been training a couple of people on how to use .NET, WCF4, Entity Framework 4 and other technologies to build an Enterprise Application. One of the things we did was return all rows from a table, and this table contains about 2500 rows. We’re using the Entity Framework 4 self-tracking entities which also serialize all changes made it the objects. And I kept getting this error: The underlying connection was closed: The connection was closed unexpectedly. Server stack trace:    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelUtilities.ProcessGetResponseWebException(WebException webException, HttpWebRequest request, HttpAbortReason abortReason)    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelRequest.WaitForReply(TimeSpan timeout)    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestChannel.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout)    at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.RequestChannelBinder.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout) At first I thought it was something to do with the maximum message size, another kind of error you get when sending large messages. The maximum message size quota for incoming messages (65536) has been exceeded. To increase the quota, use the MaxReceivedMessageSize property on the appropriate binding element. Server stack trace:    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpInput.ThrowMaxReceivedMessageSizeExceeded()    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpInput.GetMessageBuffer()    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpInput.ReadBufferedMessage(Stream inputStream) This one is easy to fix (although a little confusing because you have to configure the binding of the receiving side of the message, which is most of the time the client: But doing this didn’t help. So what was it? I knew the size of the message couldn’t be the problem, because I’d sent way bigger messages before. Maybe there was something in the contents that made the DataContractSerializer crash? Checking this is easy, I wrote a little code that would make the serializer write everything to a stream and see what happens. Works fine. Hmmm. What could it be? So I went over the list of properties of the DataContractSerializer. I has a MaxItemsInObjectGraph property. Maybe that was it, but how can I change this number? Looking at the behaviors I found it. What you need to do when you send a large number of objects is you have to increate this number, which is easy. At the server side you use the DataContractSerializer service behavior and set its value to a large enough number:   At the clients side you use the DataContractSerializer endpoint behavior. That fixed my problem.

Adding Error Handling to content based routing with WCF

Yesterday I blogged about content based routing with WCF. Today I want to talk about error handling. What if you route to a service that is not available. WCF allows you to define backup services using a backup list. So let’s do this: start by building a compatible backup service. In this case I will be using named pipes because this is a very reliable transport: static Uri ServiceUri = new Uri("net.pipe://localhost/BackupProductService"); static void Main(string[] args) { using (ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(BackupProductsService), ServiceUri)) { host.Open(); Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red; Console.WriteLine("Backup product service is running"); Console.ReadKey(); } } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }   Now let’s create the backup list in the routing service’s configuration: <routing> <backupLists> <backupList name="backup"> <add endpointName="backup" /> </backupList> </backupLists> .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }   This adds a backup endpoint called “backup” which we of course also need to add the the client endpoints: <client> <endpoint address="net.tcp://localhost:8010/ProductService1" binding="netTcpBinding" contract="*" name="toys" /> <endpoint address="net.tcp://localhost:8011/ProductService2" binding="netTcpBinding" contract="*" name="beverages" /> <endpoint address="net.pipe://localhost/BackupProductService" binding="netNamedPipeBinding" contract="*" name="backup" /> </client> .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }   Finally we add the backup list to the filterTable: <filterTables> <filterTable name="productRouting"> <add filterName="filterToys" endpointName="toys" backupList="backup" /> <add filterName="noToys" endpointName="beverages" backupList="backup" /> </filterTable> </filterTables> .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }   If we now run the sample, but without the toys or beverages service, routing will automatically divert to the backup service.


text:
“Gilmore girls. A Year in the Life”- was it worth it?

Deutsch  Polski
There has been something I’ve been hoping, praying and waiting for for years and my dreams finally came true on the 25th of November. I mean the revival of my all-time favourite show „Gilmore Girls“. My ex-boyfriend pranked me about this a few years ago. No wonder he had to go, right? But the true question is – was it worth the wait? Continue reading


text:
Regional FlagFeedback: Demonic InquisitionSource
Game Designer
Target Source
#1 - 2017/06/08 09:29:00 PM
Please use this thread for feedback and bug reports regarding this encounter, or related issues. Noting the nature of your group (Mythic guild premade, PUG, etc.) is helpful, as are any logs. Thank you to everyone who has come out to help test!


text:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Subtle Changes

Art making is going rather slowly this week. 8"x8" acrylic, collage, ink on yupo. I've been adding layers of thinned down glazes and waiting for each layer to dry. I've recently been inspired by reacquainting myself with a loved favorite, artist Hannelore Baron....(thanks to a recent layers post by Donna) I've decided to cut 9 more yupo papers into 8" squares using limited materials and explore very simple collage and abstract forms to express personal conversations...as in an image journal. I have a love for secrets, code and archaeological digs so these little collages will be a fun way to explore... does that make sense?

Wonderful News! Roxanne of River Garden Studio has just published a lovely book "Song of the River". Drop over and see a great preview and an opportunity for a GIVEAWAY!

Two Ghosts
, Lyn has awarded me an award "Beautiful Blogger" and I accept with gusto! According to the terms and agreements, I need to pass this award on and make a list of seven things you might not know about me?! While I'm doing that (could take me awhile) drop by and visit Lyn....she has posted her latest writing from the Tuesday writing prompts of Magpie Tales

  1. so subtle I missed it!

  2. Sorry Suz, I pressed the wrong key...got a little ahead of myself?! ha

  3. A most interesting collage. The paper almost looks translucent. I was going to order that book about H. Baron, but it costs 95 dollars. Her work looks fascinating. Thank you.

  4. Your new project seems to me to be an examination of the beauty of the undersea world and you make it look wonderfully exciting. This is definitely a genre to keep going with!

  5. this painting reminds me of the photos of the rocks here in Australia - and I've taken so many photos of them!! Can't wait to get into the studio now! Thanks for sharing an image of my Rock Dreaming!!

  6. This looks like a piece you would want to search and find hidden meanings..I really like it. Thanks for the other blogs.

  7. I love the collage Mary Ann. Yupo - it is different!

  8. Cool collage, Mary Ann. And thanks for the shout-out for Magpie Tales!xx

  9. This is a beauty, Mary Ann! Reading between watching the skaters. Marvelous skill and grace.

  10. Perfect sense, Mary Ann! I am going to love these explorations since I love secrets, archeological digs and collage.

  11. Congrats! Can't wait to read your list.

  12. Hi Mary Ann - welcome to the yupo train - isn't it just the most interesting surface?! I love what you are doing with it! :)

  13. Hello. thanks for the mention and link to my blog. glad that Hannelore Baron became such an inspiration to you. love your exploration of archeology and your piece looks wonderful.

  14. Ha, this is also a very sunny and warm collage, beautiful! Thanks for your comment on my blog,
    Regina SXM

  15. You are so deserving to be a BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER..you're welcome!
    I also believe, like you, that everything is a clue...

  16. I like what you have done with this piece. I found Hannelore Baron through "layer's" blog too, and I love the work. Very inspiring. I look forward to seeing what you do with your remaining pieces of Yupo!

  17. Suki, The Yupo I have is opaque. I ordered a used book of Hannelore Baron from Amazon...yes, fascinating!

    Pat, I'm glad you like this direction. The first one can always be exciting...full of life.

    Rosie, Rock Dreaming, I like that...dialogue of some kind for me. Can't wait to see all your photos!

    Katelen, I'm going for code, mystery and markings!

    Leslie, Yupo is different...I just love art materials...I always have new stuff stacked up for trying!

    Willow, Thank you...I'm enjoying Magpie Tales.

    Maggie, Fun Olympics! Glad you like this collage.

    Robyn, I could tell we have the shared love of digs, secrets and collage. Thank you.

    Jeane, Thank you for introducing me to this Yupo...It is a great new surface for me.

    Donna, You are welcome about the link...we all play such an integral part in each others art lives!

    Regina, Thank you...I have been working with plenty of sunny yellow and orange glazes...in the mood for Spring!

    Lyn, I'm still working on my 7 semi-interesting reveals! clues, codes, mysteries...yes!

    Eva, I'm still working on this one...slow going!


text:
View Full Version : West Wing, season finale May 16, english-latin translation request

The Flying Dutchman
05-20-2001, 11:30 PM
I found the scene in the sealed cathedral emotionally overwhelming, and regard this scene as one of the highlights of television history. Can anyone provide a reasonable translation of what President Bartlet said in Latin?

05-20-2001, 11:53 PM
It's interesting that you thought Martin Sheen's performance was that effective...when you read what he said in English, there's a chance you might find it lacking. (I thought the episode was fantastic, and liked the scene, but I think it would have been more effective if he played it angrier.)

There seem to be debates as to the content of a perfect translation but the two I found were as follows:

Michael Myer (West Wing fan; Latin teacher) wrote with the Latin and the translation:
"The first is just a sarcastic, "Thanks a lot, buddy!"
gratias tibi ago, domine.
Thank you, Lord.

haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
Am I to believe these things from a righteous god, a just god, a wise god?
cruciatus in crucem
To hell with your punishments! (literally "(put/send) punishments onto a cross")
tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci.
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.
cruciatus in crucem -- (with a dismissive wave of the hand) eas in crucem
To hell with your punishments!
And to hell with you! (literally, "may you go to a cross")"

A few minutes before, we also heard from Jason Chappel, who gave another quick translation as:
"Am I to believe that these are the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with your punishments. I was your servent here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you!"

05-21-2001, 01:08 AM
The translation I heard had a slightly different meaning for cruciatus. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that cruciatus is also the Masculine Nominative Singular Perfect Passive Participle of crucio, cruciare. If that were the case, then it would translate as "having been punished" rather than "punishment". That makes it:

Having been punished on a cross, may you go on a cross.

Maybe a sort of "back to hell with you!" Is there some flaw with this translation?

05-21-2001, 01:38 AM
But did anyone else find it hard to believe that someone can rattle off a fairly lengthy rant in Latin? It's not like you get taught that in school.

05-21-2001, 02:42 AM
Originally posted by BobT
But did anyone else find it hard to believe that someone can rattle off a fairly lengthy rant in Latin? It's not like you get taught that in school.

Actually, no. I remember in the 60's, people who had done the full cours classique here in Quebec that included 5 years of Latin and Greek that could hold discussions in either of these languages. Since president Bartlett seems to have gone to high school in the 50's (not counting the fact that he is Catholic and before the Vatican II council [early 60's], all Catholic rituals were in Latin) at a somewhat exclusive private school, I can see that as being possible.

05-21-2001, 03:59 AM
Also, is it possible that he was qouting another source, one originally in Latin? Which would make him being able to recite this from the top of his head more believable. Although the Pres has certainly been portrayted as smart enough (and eccentric enough) to be able to speak conversational Latin.

Steve Wright
05-21-2001, 07:19 AM
Is it really that uncommon? I learned Latin at school in the late Seventies/early Eighties. It wasn't compulsory, but it was an available option, at a fairly ordinary state school. (In the UK, admittedly, but, even so...)

05-21-2001, 12:40 PM
Seeing as President Bartlett went to Notre Dame and has admitted that he considered joining the priesthood, not to mention required daily masses (in Latin) that were the norm at ND pre-Vatican II, I would consider it a good bet that he knows Latin quite extensively. And given his penchant for random knowledge, this doesn't surprise me. I'm still looking for info on ND's website for any indication of required Latin for graduation. I had to have 9 credits of a foreign language when I graduated there in '98, so I don't think that making Latin required would be too far off the mark.

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text:
full of harp-noises

August 11, 2017

They went in. Pine-needles are not easy to walk on, like a floor of red glass. It is not cool under them, a black scented life, full of ants, who work furiously and make no sound. Something ached in Carston, a regret for the cool brilliance of the wood they had left, the other side of the hills, on the edge of the sea. This one was full of harp-noises from a wind when there was none outside. He saw Picus ahead, a shadow shifting between trunk and trunk. Some kind of woodcraft he supposed, and said so to Felix who said sleepily: “Somebody’s blunt-faced bees, dipping under the thyme-spray”; a sentence which made things start living again. Would they never have enough of what they called life? There was no kind of track over the split vegetable grass. A place that made you wonder what sort of nothing went on there, year in year out.

Mary Butts
Armed with madness

not illness

August 7, 2017

27 May 1918

There is nothing wrong with my body but everything with my nervous control. This is not illness – underneath there is an immense content of a right process well continuing. All the discomforts are local. There are times when I take pleasure in my nightmare of slavery – but I do not somehow believe in it. One is so & so & karma dissolves before one’s personal will.

But there is dullness, a fatigue of spirit, a vast isolation.

Mary Butts