Jefflog

Apache Lenya is an open-source Java-based content management system based on XML and XSLT, but supports WYSIWYG editing, meaning editors don’t have to know XML to input stories. Sounds intriguing.

Meanwhile, The Register is slated to start using Bricolage as their content-management system. It uses Perl::Mason and PostgreSQL. I remember looking into this a few years ago, but ended up deciding it was overkill for what I wanted to do, namely run this weblog. It’s probably better suited for a news-oriented site where multiple editors are posting stories on a constant basis.

Speaking of typing, I’ve recently started playing with JEdit and really like it so far. It has a good number of the features I like about Emacs yet is more user friendly. It uses Java as it’s backend instead of Lisp, which while not as elegant is known to many more people. It’s also arguably more cross-platform; I can run it on Mac OS X, while Emacs on Carbon was still lacking the last time I tried it a few months ago.

It has the ability to reprogram the keybindings to whatever you please, so I began reprogramming them to the Emacs keybindings I’m so used to (Ctrl-A for beginning of line, Ctrl-X Ctrl-S to save, etc.), but I’ve since decided it’s time for me to learn the standard Windows keybindings instead. It’s frustrating working in a Windows environment and using Ctrl-Y to paste in certain applications and Ctrl-V in others. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pressed Ctrl-A to move to the beginning of the line in a Windows application and had the entire text selected instead. And, once I acclimate myself to the new keybindings, I can always reprogram my Emacs session to use the Windows-style keybindings instead.

It’s an experiment I may not fully go through with. I’ve used the Emacs keybindings for nearly 10 years now, so un-learning them will be very hard and possibly not worth the effort. It’s like learning Dvorak when you already know QWERTY. (That’s anothing thing I’ve always wanted to experiment with, by the way…)

I’ve never been a fan of most traditional keyboards. For one thing, the Control key is always in a very hard to reach place, in the lower-left corner. This makes it very hard to use programs which use Control commands a lot, such as Emacs. Currently, I use a Happy Hacking Keyboard which puts the Control key where the Caps Lock key usually is, which is very convenient considering I hardly ever use Caps Lock. In fact, on most keyboards, I hit the Caps Lock key on accident more often than I do on purpose.

I’m always on the lookout for other keyboards, though. I’ve come across two interesting ones as of late. The first, used by Mark, is the Half Keyboard. This seems like an interesting option for those with only one hand, or perhaps with only one usable hand (e.g., arthritis). You could also use this if you typed and used the mouse in conjunction a lot, keeping one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard. For keyboard jockeys with two usable hands like myself, though, not really a useful option.

Even cooler is the TouchStream keyboard, which uses gestures on the pad to simulate mouse functions and ctrl/alt type combinations. It definitely sounds interesting, although for $339 I’d want to take a test-drive before committing to it. I’m also not sure how well I’d like a touch-pad keyboard. I remember the old Atari 400 had one of these membrane keyboards, and everyone complained about it.

Lastly, I’ve got an old IBM style keyboard in my closet at work, the kind that makes a load “clack” on every keypress. I hoarded it away from the back room before the company cleaned out most of its old stuff. For a traditional-layout keyboard, it’s the best I’ve ever used.

I just discovered the DAV filesystem for Linux and boy is it sweet. I’ve set up the DAV filesystem to access my shared on this server, and now I can mount them and treat them just like a local share over HTTP. This is much better than my old method of using Tramp for Emacs, which while quite amazing in it’s own right, can be very slow over a modem. (DAV is also slow over a modem, but faster than Tramp.) This is even better than the Web Folders under Windows, since that doesn’t allow you to modify files directly. This is very cool.

A good list of references on school choice from The Cato Institute. (All biased in favor of school vouchers, but what do you expect from The Cato Institute?)

Good job, President Bush! I’m quite happy that he’s reducing my taxes. But now the next question is, what government services is he planning to reduce or eliminate to pay for the $330 billion deficit increase? Hmmm.. that’s what I was afraid of. Don’t give me any supply-side argument either. Yes, the economy will likely grow and people will pay some additional taxes as a result, but not $330 billion extra.

On an unrelated note, my wife and I were debating the merits of school vouchers the other day. I did some research on the subject, and was surprised to find that the idea of school vouchers was originally put forth by Milton Friedman in the 1950’s. In fact, these days, he seems to focus most of his energy in putting this issue forth through The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation.
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For a nice example of what transparent PNGs can do for you, check out the webpage for CSSEdit and scroll down the page. Some nice transparency shows up at the top.

Sorry, IE/Windows users; it won’t work for you, because your browser doesn’t fully support PNG. Perhaps you could sign this petition in the hopes that the IE team will finally include this standard format in their browser?

Wife came back from her conference last night, and as much as I enjoyed my time alone, it’s even better to have her back home.

Yesterday was pretty nice, as I had the day off due to the fact that it was Carburation Day and the vice-president is a huge racing fan. With the day away from work and wife, and gorgeous weather to boot, I took off bike riding down the Monon Trail. Took it all the way down as far as I could go. I heard a rumor that they had extended the trail recently, but when I got to the end, found that they were still doing construction there. The ride did manage to fuel my craving to get out on my bike more. I think I’ll head out again tomorrow morning before Hong wakes up.

One of the best aspects of being a bachelor is that I can eat whatever I want. In my case, that meant that I went to an Indian restaurant for take-out. I love Indian food, but Hong doesn’t, which means I rarely get to eat it. I got enough food for tonight and the next two nights. Chicken Vindaloo, the best!

My wife Hong left for a conference in San Francisco yesterday, which gives me full reign of the house until Thursday night. I celebrated by playing video games most of the day, something which I would never be allowed to do if she were around.

But I’ve played around enough. I expect that for the next four days of my isolation, I will do some serious programming, something else I don’t get the time to do much when she’s around. Although in all fairness, as we’ve been together longer, she’s been learning to give me some time to do some programming…such a sweetie.

Bachelorhood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, though. My personal hygiene has already slipped a notch (not shaving because I don’t have to), and it’s lonely at times. But, when it’s only a few days a year, it’s fun.