2. Rusty Elliote Harold has an interesting summation of a speech by an ebay architect. I will reproduce parts of it before it slides off his front page:
Now Randy starts talking about scaling the application tier (as opposed to the database tier).* Segmentation by function.
* Application tier is stateless, which enables horizontal scaling.
* Minimize dependencies between search, selling, etc.
* Virtualize data access
* Throw out most of J2EE. Use servlets, not much else.
* Keep application server completely stateless. No session state. Transient state maintained in a cookie or another database.
* Cache where possible.
Interesting stuff from one of the real "big guys".
3. SSR Plug I: Phoenician Genetics, "Wells comments that they found less than twenty percent and possibly as few as ten percent of modern day Tunis carries Phoenician markers in the Y chromosome." Pretty interesting as Wells is trying to use genetics to fill in the archaeological gaps.
4. SSR Plug II: American Constitutionalism. Leonard Levy argues that American constitutionalism is a misinterpretation of English constitutionalism:
Consequently American constitutionalism embodied social compact theory, natural right theory and explicitly limited government. This went beyond the English enunciation of rights as the Acts above limited the crown, not parliament. American constitutionalism was less discriminative and limited both executive and legislative.
Levy also argues that American Constitutionalism incorporated social compact theory which inevitably made for increasingly restricted government.
5. Via Andrew Sullivan: Bush and Rove have broken the Republican brand entirely. In reality, as a recent immigrant who carries no US history of party affiliation, I should be in the natural constituency of the Republican Party. Except, I think they are the biggest bunch of despotic, authoritarian, bible-thumping, two-faced criminals who are incapable of good governance. They have not only broken the 'republican brand' with youth, but with me too. Wonder how many other immigrants think similarly.
6. Impeachment debate: One of the things I dislike about the constant call for impeachment is the same reason I dislike the recall election in California. Democracy has a morality, and that includes the elected bodies serve out their term unless they have done criminal actions. Recall and impeachment for non-criminal purposes, such as not being popular with a majority or minority (such as was the case in CA) go against democracy's morality. If the Bush Administration has performed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" then yes, but because they are unpopular or incompetent, no.
7. Also came home with: Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World . It is a speculator. The other book I came home with is the Levy book. I have got into the habit of dropping in at Borders after being at the driving range.
8. This is why I dont watch the Sunday talk shows or CNN/Fox/MSNBC/whatever. Stan Grant and Bruce Fein are smart people who know exactly what is going on. I *want* to listen to them. Chris Matthews talks all over the top of them both, Grant barely gets a word in. Matthews should just shut up and fuck off.
9. Chops of a possible Monaro/GTO
10. Beautiful. Love the black Z06 wheels. I suspect that is what I will end up putting on mine.
11. Save ferris - c'mon eileen. Their punk-ska(?) composition of it seems to have inspired all sorts of youtube covers.
| < A diary | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' > |
