Dumb As We Wanna Be

I recently read Friedman's book Hot, Flat and Crowded, and came away with two main points:

1. The global warming phenomenon is far worse than we have been lead to believe.

2. There will be little incentive to invest in renewable and alternative energy sources in the U.S. until there is an economic infrastructure that rewards long term investment in these sources, as in higher energy taxes, carbon trading, etc.

The essence of his book is also contained in today's NY Times column:

My fellow Americans, we can�t continue in this mode of �Dumb as we wanna be.� We�ve indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that we can�t afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giant wealth-destruction machines, energy prices that do not encourage investment in 21st-century renewable power systems or efficient cars, public schools with no national standards to prevent illiterates from graduating and immigration policies that have our colleges educating the world�s best scientists and engineers and then, when these foreigners graduate, instead of stapling green cards to their diplomas, we order them to go home and start companies to compete against ours.

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society � in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people�s imaginations. That�s really, really dumb. And that�s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.

Read the full column here.

Bento v. 2.0 and a Bento/FileMaker guru

I just downloaded Bento 2.0 (preliminary MacWorld review here) and in perusing the support forums I found Jesse Feiler, who is just across the pond (i.e. Lake Champlain). A kindred spirit, author and non-profit database consultant at North Country Consulting, here is his bio:

Jesse Feiler, author, developer, speaker, and consultant works with new technologies such as mashups and Facebook as well as databases and applications for small business and non-profits.

Jesse is a member of the FileMaker Business Alliance and author of many books on FileMaker specializes in FileMaker applications for small business and non-profits. He is well-equipped to handle conversions and upgrades to the newest version of FileMaker. In addition to new systems, he is available for "rehabs"--updates and improvements to existing FileMaker solutions. Current projects include point-of-sale and Web store for a small business, production management, client/project management, and research management for an arts foundation.

His latest books are The Bento Book: Beauty and Simplicity in Digital Organization and How to Do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups. His most recent non-technology appearnace was moderating HB Studio: The Early Years with Anne Jackson, Eli Wallach, Mary Anthony, and Ed Morehouse for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Tech Friday: Small Business Network

In a recent column �Jerry Pournelle talks about problems with the Microsoft Active Directory. �

Back in 1999 I set up the Chaosmanor domain with Active Directory on two machines running Windows 2000 Server. I knew at the time that I didn't need that complex a network, but a number of my readers did. In those days networking was hard, Active Directory was new, and many of my associates were curious about how well it would work. At worst this was another of those silly things I do so you won't have to.

Actually, it worked pretty well. Windows Server 2000 with Active Directory had some infuriating requirements, and it really wanted everything done precisely its way, but from 1999 until this year it served me well. When Windows Server 2003 came out I was tempted to upgrade to that, but there was never any powerful reason to do so, and as time passed it seemed less attractive. I had novels to write and other work to do. I was able to try several Linux-based on-line backup systems - Mirra was one of them - and those worked just fine. Of course machines were getting better, and my old servers were getting more obsolete each year.

Now he thinks that everything he knew about networking is wrong. In particular, like many of us, his experience carried over from older versions of Windows networking, which makes things a lot more complicated than they need to be these days. You can reads more about workgroups, domains and routers and alternatives to Windows networking in the column.

At Microdesign we are reevaluating our own network, that has a core server running Windows 2003 Small Business Server; i.e. relatively unchanged for the past five years. Nothing has really changed as far as our core requirements are concerned, except there are several of us working from different offices, and on occasion when traveling. We increasingly collaborate on projects with partners who are outside our company. Our requirements parallel many small businesses and non-profits with 2-50 computer users. Here are our "legacy" requirements:

1. Common file sharing area where multiple users/machines can access the same document
   
2. Absolute trustworthy security of those files
   
3. eMail and calender - available from anywhere on multiple devices
   
4. Shared printing, from multiple machines to single printers.
   
5. Reliable backup�

Those modest requirements suggest a file and print server based in the office, connected permanently to the internet, with printers shared off of the file server, and some kind of backup scheme (tape or additional hard drive). The network diagram which fulfills these requirements is essentially unchanged from the 1990's.

Even with a server-centric network our advice to clients has always been to use the facilities of an internet service provider for two applications; eMail and the outward-facing (public) web server for the organization. �We (still) recommend having eMail outside the organization to provide greater reliability, ubiquitous access via the web, and industrial-strength spam control. We recommend the organization's public web site be hosted outside the organization to provide 99.99% uptime, and to take advantage of higher bandwidth typically provided by an hosted provider.�

So, what has changed? Two things; disk storage and broadband. Broadband, or rather cheap broadband, has made it possible to reconfigure things so that the cloud �can now substitute or supplement a file server. With individual personal computers routinely having disk drives of 250 gigabytes or larger, the original�justification�for "server as giant hard disk" is falling away.�

Along with hardware improvements, there are now a host of inexpensive applications available on the internet that can supplement or replace software that used to require a file server. Basecamp is one example that can be used for project management and shared file storage.�

A more modern interpretation of the legacy network diagram puts the cloud at the center of the network.

So, I'm wondering whether to replace my file server. The server is no longer the be-all end-all of my network. Like Jerry, I don't need a domain login mechanism. I barely use my printers, and those are attached directly to the local network. The small business server's eMail, and web hosting have always been done off-site. The server does offer SharePoint, which is a capable platform for Basecamp-like project management, but Basecamp is about $12.00 per month, and it took about five minutes to set up. And, now that we have been invaded by the Macintosh monster...there are more reasons to find, (or at least evaluate) a cross-platform solution for our application needs.

NIH SBIR Grant Application Map

NIH has deadlines three times each year, and we finished an application for the December 5th deadline. Below is a mind-map that shows many of the components required for the application. The section on the left, "Online Proposal Preparation" is a one-time set up sequence, however, you should figure that you need 60 days before the deadline to complete those steps. There is nothing to preclude working on other parts of the application while you are waiting to get set up in the Central Contracting Registry. Click on the image it view it full scale.�

Most of the sections on the right require creating Adobe .PDF files. We created these in Word 2007 (saving the files as .doc files), which was our working environment, not least because we used the EndNote add-in to for footnotes and literature citations. �

MobileMe - Synchronizing Macs

I've been intending to sketch out my whole synchronization scheme which keeps multiple applications synched between two Macs and the rest of the world, but it is so complicated that just documenting it has made me want to rethink. In the interim, I noticed yesterday that a bunch of changes that I had put into my address book on the MacBook didn't get synched to the iMac, and after a lengthy chat with Apple's MobileMe tech support the answer appeared to be nothing more than logging out of MobileMe on the laptop and then logging back in.

One trick with synching with MobileMe is to strip down the applications, so that you are only trying to sync one thing at a time when troubleshooting. Right now I've only got the contacts synching.

If one forgot that you can actually log into your MobileMe account from a web browser, one should be reminded of that helpful suggestion, as you can check whether your sync changes reach the the "cloud". Obviously (in hindsight) if you make a change in iCal on one machine, and do a sync, the changes should appear in the copy of your files in the cloud, before any other machine can sync and download the changes.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Advice for Programmers

In a fascinating interview about the state of C++ and computer science education, Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the language C++ talks about his background at the old Bell Labs, and his new career as a professor at Texas A&M University.

Programming is part of software development. It doesn�t matter how fancy your code is unless it solves the right problem and you can explain it to others. So, brush up on your communication skills. Learn to listen, to ask good questions, to write clearly, and to present clearly. Serious programming is a team sport, brush up on your social skills. The sloppy fat geek computer genius semi-buried in a pile of pizza boxes and cola cans is a mythical creature, best buried deep, never to be seen again.

Learn your first language well. That means trying it for difficult tasks. Don�t obsess about technical details. Focus on techniques and principles.

Learn another programming language; choose any language that�s quite different from what you are best acquainted with. You can�t be a professional in the IT world knowing only one language. No one language is the best for everyone and for everything.

Don�t just do programming. Computing is always computing something. Become acquainted with something that requires your software development skills: Mediaeval history, car engine design, rocket science, medical blood analysis, image processing, computational geometry, biological modeling, whatever seems interesting. Yes, all of these examples are real, from my personal experience.

In Defense of Raising Money - A Manifesto for Non-Profit CEOs

Sasha Dichter's latest manifesto.

I've met too many nonprofit CEOs who say "I hate fundraising. I don't fundraise." If you're being hired as a nonprofit CEO and the Board tells you that you won't be fundraising, the're either misguided or lying.

Tell them they're wrong. Tell them that you job as a CEO is to be an evangelist for your idea and to convince others about the change you want to see in the world. Tell them that if this idea is worth supporting then they should jump in with both feet and support it with their time and money and by telling their friends it is worth supporting.

Spending your time talking to powerful, influential people about the change you hope to see in the world is a pretty far cry from having fundraising as a "necessary evil."

Do you really believe that the "real work" is JUST the "programs' you operate, the school you run, the meals you serve, the vaccines you develop, the patients you treat? Do you really believe that it ends there?

Do you really believe that in today's world, where change can come from anyone and anywhere, that convincing people and building momentum and excitement and a movement really doesn't matter?

His latest discussion is about a unique foundation that finally has gotten around to supporting operations in non-profits, not just "projects". Thank heavens.

As the LA Business Journal reports, the Weingart Foundation has announced that it will �offer unusual �core support� to underwrite administrative costs for social service agencies that provide necessities such as food, shelter and health care to the region�s poor, unemployed and sick.�

This is contrary to normal practice, wherein �Most philanthropic foundations traditionally give large grants that pay the costs of specific programs but do not underwrite non-profits� operating costs, such as staff salaries and rent. Many non-profits get their operating cash typically from their own fund raisers or from direct donations.�

My point is: the fact that this is newsworthy is a reflection of how far (too far) things have swung in terms of foundation grantmaking to nonprofits. There�s a serious power imbalance here, one that has to change if we are going to increase the impact and efficiency of the nonprofit sector.

MacBook Hard Drive Replacement

They say bad things happen in threes. Ok...I broke my foot three weeks ago, I blew a loudspeaker on my stereo (but it was 36 years old, "The Smaller Advent") and now a week out of warranty, my MacBook hard drive headed south, giving a forlorn "click, click, click"... I found this out on a Saturday as I attempted to syncronize some files between the MacBook and the iMac. So far the aftermath has been relatively painless.

1. I put in a call to Small Dog Electronics. Within two minutes I was talking to a knowledgeable tech support person, who immediately verified that they had a replacement drive in three sizes in stock at both of their stores.

2. Went to the South Burlington store, stood in line at their repair window (equivalent to a genius bar) and got the replacement drive. I took the opportunity to upgrade it to 320 gig, from the 250 gig drive that failed. $120.00 for the drive. I also asked if they could do the replacement on the spot, but they demurred, saying it would be a couple of days before they would be able to get to it. Having seen several explanations on how to do this myself, including a YouTube video, I had no fear.

3. Disassembled everything per instructions. Vexacious. Tiny screwsheads easily stripped. The worst are the TT8 Torx screws that hold the shield on top of the drive. Naturally, I've never needed a #8 Torx screwdriver in my entire life, and didn't have one. Ran to the hardware store, they didn't have one either except as part of a Christmas special of 40 screwdrivers packaged in a blister pack for $13.99, product of China and evidently fabricated of pressed cardboard. Never mind, it worked.

4. Fiddled with restoring the operating system. The install disks from the iMac don't work. The MacBook Leopard install disk was an "upgrade" disk, and since I haven't already installed the earlier version of it said it wouldn't install Leopard, until I had installed Panther. However, in the disk installer menu there was a restore option to restore from Time Machine.

5. Booted again with the Time Machine disk attached. Went around in circles as the restore program didn't see the new disk. I hadn't formatted the disk, so how could it have seen it? (some things would have been second nature in Windows, oh, and by the way, a format on a Mac is called "erase"). Once I did format the disk I was able to start the restore process , and it has been merrily restoring now for about 90 minutes with another 30 or so to go. I'm excited...will my new Parallels installation with Office 2007 and Vista survive the restore? Will my eMail be there and the VPN?

So far so good... everything works; Parallels, Mac Mail, Safari, iWork, iTunes and all the bits are there. Nice.

More on Time Machine

While at the 'Dog, I took a look at the new alumininum MacBooks, trying to justify a full replacement. Something equivalent to mine would be about $1600, I think... a little steep, considering that I'm happy as a clam with my current plastic one from November of '07. The performance appeared to be better on the new one, of course, and it seemed substantially lighter. In short..they are nice.

VoIP News

From the blog from VoIP Supply, two interesting posts.

Asterisk Unsafe? What a Bunch of Crap debunks a story regarding people "taking over" your Asterisk VoIP PBX for voice spamming.

Sangoma has launched a new line of VoIP cards that are not modular...and therefore a little easier to work with.

Odds and Sods

Via Make Magazine - Get your warning labels, warning signs, church signs here.

Innovation Economy - A blog about start-ups and innovation around Boston and New England. Check the post regarding the Detroit Automaker Bailout.

The Economist agrees about the bailout.

Getting down to the wire on our NIH grant application, I just casually attempted to log in with my usual credentials into Grants.gov. Using Internet Explorer...the latest version, (I guess) it didn't work. I downloaded a fresh copy of FireFox, and was in. It also worked on Safari. So there is something odd going on with IE. I'm now thinking the ideal grant application machine is a Windows XP machine with dual monitors, so you can keep the instructions open at the same time you are filling out the forms. You also need a copy of Adobe Acrobat...the full application to slice and dice .PDF files.