Jonas Beckman

Art ends where expectation begins

Thank you, Martin!

Stockholm is cold: -10 Celsius today. Sometimes we see the sun. I keep working, reading and thinking, but haven’t had any energy for weblogging in a while. I keep reading and enjoying my favorite weblogs – soon I’ll start writing again.

Reading this Newsweek story about webloggers, I felt a powerful revulsion. Yes, in principle I think it’s great when people push the limits of self-disclosure – but not when it becomes the expected behavior. There is something to be said for secrets and privacy.

I keep thinking about the authors of some very bad novels: there is nothing wrong with using your life to create art (or entertainment, or whatever)… but using all of it is ultimately very limiting. And I think that is true even for those exceptional few who can do it well.

Of course, I’m talking about myself here: I have just spent some days thinking hard about things I’m not ready to talk about. Maybe I will eventually, maybe not – but that doesn’t really matter to anyone else. Whatever I do write here is for you.

Brent notices that Kerouac and the other Beats are overrated on the Web, too. He concludes: “where’s William S. Burroughs, the one who was actually good?” Brent has good taste again – just like mine

Today I was prototyping an XML-editor (using XMetal) for a large model-driven framework.

Yesterday me and my business partner started working on a new project. Old customer, fun technology (Python, XML, DB + webserver) and a mininal and comfortable development process (we can choose it, maybe even teach it, as we go along).

The day before yesterday me and my friend Mikael Kindborg started a little website for a course at the University of Linkoping. I’ll be a guest lecturer there next week: basically I can say whatever I want. Right now it looks like a quick remix of “User-driven development processes – who really wants them?” and “How to have fun and keep your customers,too” – and then some live reviews of student projects.

Life is good!

I’m installing Suse 7.1 right now (using VMWare, on a workstation that already has W2K). We’ll see. I don’t really need it today, but I want to try out some Python stuff on the Linux side – and any day now I’ll buy Kylix.

Aila wants your dreams.

Aila already had a bad flu – and now her ear is hurting. When someone that tough cries in the phone it scares me. We made some phonecalls and I picked her up in a cab and drove her to a specialist.

Now we’re down to antibiotics and waiting… let’s hope it helps.

Very little sleep and a bad cold. I feel pretty good, though, as long as I don’t do anything.

But I am doing something: trying hard to finish an important budget proposal… no, really! It is important, at least to me: once it’s accepted I can start thinking seriously about business in 2002.

Worked all day – I felt both unproductive and unpleasant. Way too tired and more than a little sick.

Early Sunday morning. Me and Aila are off to swim. Later…

Transforming Python performance data – Use XML and XSLT to devise a Python performance profiling tool

Scientists discover a fifth element of taste: bitter, sour, sweet, salt… and umami?

Garret just posted a link to his photo galleries.

And Aila has some great photos on her homepage. BTW – if you are in Stockholm you might want to check out her shiatsu-practice in Stockholm. Here is a very happy young client!

Martin Fowler may be the only methodhology guru you need – here is his latest article, an overview of lightweight methodologies.

We should be wary of applying the traditional engineering metaphor to building software. It’s a different kind of activity and requires a different process.

Tim O’Reilly: ‘I was surprised, disturbed, and disappointed by Jim Allchin’s comments about open source software development.’

Joshua Allen: “But if you think that Microsoft is ever going to embrace a business model that says software developers are hourly workers, you’re insane.”

Me: Well, sure. But for those of us who are in the business of selling developer hours, it’s good that customizing MS software is just one of many possibilities.

Erik Kidd: “If Linux companies can make money selling services, then some proprietary software companies will probably get hurt. If, on the other hand, Linux companies are doomed to loose money, then they’ll go out of business. Simple.”

Joshua Allen: building cool software is easier today than ever before in history. Amen.

Greg Franklin has several interesting links about buddhist pilgrimages in Japan.

He also pointed me at DotNetDan, a developer site focusing on .Net.

Late Sunday… nice day with Aila, but swimming didn’t go well: I still have some kind of cold. Let’s hope another night’s sleep will cure it – I have a business meeting first thing in the morning.

XML Doesn’t Care. XML Doesn’t Know. Care and knowledge are in the application processor. It is a local network node with layers of interpretation above and below it.

–Claude L Bullard on the XML DEV mailing list

Great re-design of ViewFromTheHeart. That’s showing them, Al!

Brent tells a true prison story, where the word mendacious plays a great part.

The politics of Schemas. The author looks hard at some esoteric XML discussions – and finds the most dangerous assumption of our times: that making it easier for big companies to do business is always a good thing. Link via Cam.

Several good things in Doc Searls weblog. I enjoyed the Novell-interview (“In the post-web era, Novell is not a leader of anything”) – and also Doc’s historical take on distribution models for Internet: “Supply uber alles” is about to end.

When Google bought DejaNews, everyone assumed it was good news. But many web pros are now extremely upset because their DejaNews links are broken – unless fixed soon, this could turn into a major PR disaster. Update: It pissed Greg Franklin off, too – but he’s started to work around it.

I look at Jon Udell’s site almost every day – but only a few days ago I got around to reading Internet Groupware. Jon’s view of the Internet is well articulated and feels extremely familiar – the basic ideas are simple but far from common knowledge. Well worth reading even if you don’t plan on using any of the particular tools he talks about.

Martin reminds us: ‘A real deep discussion about design/content/tools/limitations/everything started over on Andrea’s…

I have finally gotten my hands on Gersom Scholem’s biography of Sabbatai Zevi, The mystical Messiah. Yet another book that seems like a diversion into another world – but I’m not the only one who thinks it can add useful perspective on more recent events.

Tired and very feverish, I rest at Aila’s place – she’s taking good care of me. I have done some business over the phone… my head works fine for half an hour or so. But then I have to sleep again. Just like in the 70’s … love comes in spurts.

Today’s Booknotes is all about the death penalty. Read it!

Just like Craig, I see no consistent way to defend the death penalty on moral grounds. Deliberately killing another human being is wrong – and when a State kills it’s own citizens there are no possible excuses.

Some people think there is a moral way of having others killed for them. In that case, other arguments may be necessary: innocent people can’t be un-killed, poor black people are killed more often than they should – and it doesn’t even seem to prevent crime or save any money.