Events

About every five years I learn something about my craft. This is an average; the last seismic shift happened in 2002, but the one before it happened in 1995. It's happening again. This time, I'm learning how my craft gets in the way of my business. For the past three years (since the last time a two-by-four hit me) I've worked on the Inner Drive Extensible Architecture™, a comprehensive framework on which Inner Drive can build marketable applications. It's a masterpiece, in the way a fine, ornate table...

Dan Savage's Op-Ed today (reg.req.) asks a reasonable question: If the Republicans can propose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, why can't the Democrats propose a right to privacy amendment? Making this implicit right explicit would forever end the debate about whether there is a right to privacy. And the debate over the bill would force Republicans who opposed it to explain why they don't think Americans deserve a right to privacy - which would alienate not only moderates, but also those...

The Code Project has today publicized details about Sony's DRM CreepyWare that lets Sony know what CDs you're listening to. It also hides in the bowels of your Windows operating system and can't be un-installed without downloading a buggy patch from Sony. I'm all in favor of protecting copyrights. But this is creepy, and more offensive than the Mickey Mouse Protection Act of 1998. Update: The L.A. Times has the story now.

(Last post for now.) Anne just sent me a link to a very cool application. That is all. Update/Clarification: Anne found this to aid her writing, not because there's any special news from our family. But thanks for asking.

Translation: I am going to replace Das Blog. Yes, as much as I like it—and I do, despite my gripes—I've found something more in line with the way that I work: Community Server. I've downloaded both the current version and the new Beta, and as soon as I have time (tomorrow at the earliest, Saturday at the latest), I'll switch over. Since this is a brand-new blog, I have little compunction about wiping out all the permalinks. (There are fewer than 10 at the moment.) We apologize for the inconvenience.

Anne and I were shocked—shocked!—to learn on NPR's Morning Edition that the Food and Drug Administration ruled against allowing Plan B to be dispensed without a prescription, before the scientific panel had released its findings. It was shocking because they actually had a scientific panel looking at the question.

Which do people prefer: having all the entries on the front page, one line per entry (like they are now), or having the complete posts all in a column? Talking Points Memo is an example of the "flow" design. (I also still don't have the comment problem resolved, so please email me with your thoughts.) Thanks for your help.

Paul Krugman's column (reg.req.) in today's New York Times explains "adverse selection," and why it means that free markets don't work for health care.

I have to give up on converting dasBlog to .NET 2.0 for now. The ASP.NET model has changed significantly from 1.1 to 2.0, breaking every single page in the application. In other words, many of the techniques developers used for making pages do interesting things in 1.1 simply don't work in 2.0, because the system doesn't work the same way. I may have missed something simple—but I don't think so at the moment. So I think all of the pages in the application need to be changed in order to make it work. In...

I plan to use this blog to discuss software architecture and construction, using various Inner Drive Technology projects as examples. (I may also use client projects as examples, with the names changed to protect the guilty.) Company projects Inner Drive Technology Company Site Most of the upcoming changes to Inner Drive Technology's public site are minor, except that the demonstrations will become gradually more interesting. Also, I plan to cross-post the Software part of this blog to a new one under...