That’s free like speech, not like beer. I received a link to this article in Minnesota Technology magazine today. It has a short piece about wikis and MindTouch. I wonder where my free knowledge shirt went. I love that shirt! This is what my focus has always been. Knowledge should be open and free (within reason). Obviously I’m not talking about publishing the recipe to saren gas, but I am talking about, among other things, opening up how we manufacture and engineer. Imagine if all our engineering were open and accessible to anyone who had the desire to review and contribute. I’m talking about chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, software, aeronautical, whatever engineering. People could review, contribute, and assist in improving. What if, for example, an electric car’s design, manufacturing, parts purchasing, etc was completely open? Think about how quickly this could improve. Surely there is more overhead in manufacturing than in software, but the process would certainly be improved were it open. Sticking with the electric car idea, perhaps all the laid off auto-workers could even start their own boutique car company. It’s not impossible or unrealistic. The costs of goods sold are significantly lower than what they used to be in car manufacturing. What’s the business model? The same that exist for open source software. Let’s say for the electric car it could support and services.

: I should have known. I mentioned this to Brian, the electric car example that is, and sure enough there is a post at MAKEzine about an open source car, which is really just a bunch of useful links on the topic. I would really like to explore this further. Especially since it would actually be practical for me now that I’m moving somewhere other than Minnesota, which simply wouldn’t be conducive to an electric car with my commute.

Ashby turned one year old on Saturday, January 6. It is hard to believe she’s already one. I think back to those first three months…man…that was scary. Things are much more stable now. We’ve had so many milestones already. She got her harness off for her hip dysplasia and report that her hips are normal at about three months, which was a huge relief. Then at eight months my fears of SIDS ended because research shows SIDS drops way off at that age and is no longer an issue at one year. She crawled. She signed for the first time. She’s spoken her first word: ‘dadadada’. She led us on a wild goose chase to determine why she’s anemic. She’s walked (with the aid of a walker toy). And more. I’m glad she’s sturdier now. She’s a lot more fun now that I can ‘rastle’ with her.

For Ashby’s birthday weekend the wonderful and very talented Jj Killins (our neighbor we will surely miss after we move) took photos of Ashby again. She’s amazing. For the full photo set click “Ashby’s One Year Set” below. Tara and Brenda also took Ashby to Target to get more photos taken. I can’t stand these places though because you don’t get the digital copies. What’s the point? I want nothing to do with that; although, the photographer took some surprisingly nice shots. I prefer Jj’s though photos though. I know most photographers aren’t like Jj (meaning they don’t provide digital copies), but it’s just nonsense.

On Ashby’s birthday she also went to the playground, one of her most favorite things to do. I stayed at home and work. Partially because I have so much crap to do, but also because I knew if I went I would steal the show from Brenda (Tara’s mom) who doesn’t have much time left before we move. When Ashby went down for her nap Tara and Brenda did a great job decorating the kitchen. After Ashby got up we sang her happy birthday, took a ton of photos, and let her taste cake for the first time. Tara got a cake from Byerlys, this awesome grocery store chain they have in Minnesota. It’s got a great meats and cheese section. This is where I got the four different sashimi grade fish for our New Years’ Eve sushi night. Around Christmas time they have a pianist. The place is all carpeted. And they give a free cake for first birthdays! The place rules. Anyhow, Ashby stuck her finger in the cake, didn’t know what to do, I put it in her mouth, and she jerked her head back as if her finger had an electriccharge. She paused, stuck her finger in again, tasted, and concluded this was some good stuff.

Tara and I plan on getting Ashby an aquarium once we move to San Diego; so, we didn’t really get her much for Christmas. However the in-laws gave her a hippo-walker/ride-on toy that Ashby promptly stood behind and charged about the house with. Also, she received a Leap Frog console that communicates with the DVD player. She checked it out for the first time today and seemed to understand she was manipulating the TV. I’m not yet sure how successful that one will be.

• Ashby’s Birthday Photo Set
• Ashby’s One Year Photo Set

Tara and I again held a garage sale yesterday. We've got a lot to unload before we move. We're losing at least a third of our square footage in the move from our current home to a condo in downtown San Diego (which we still haven't found). People are grabbing our crap at a steal compared to what we spent on it. Yesterday we sent off a sleeper sofa, loveseat, coffee table, and two end tables for $400. It should be painful considering what we spent for this stuff, but I think it's cathartic more than anything else. Stuff. Who the hell needs stuff. I suppose it's useful when you have a little one, but Americans just have too damn much stuff. Sell it all!

I am so full. I just devoured a ton of sushi and tempura veggies. We've made sushi a New Year's Eve tradition in the last few years. This year it was especially gooood. I don't know what I did different, but it was especially good tonight. I started cooking at 4pm and didn't get done until 7:30pm. I took some breaks though to see Ashby. I used red snapper, salmon, yellow fin tuna, and marlin. The best was my spicy tuna and spicy marlin rolls, which I made with rooster sauce. Goood…

   

Earlier today we went to the Walker Art Center. I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned 60+% of modern art is just complete crap. I'm not saying it isn't art, I'm just saying I think it's crap. My opinion, obviously. I saw one piece today that took up an entire room. There were posters everywhere, fabrics and clothes strewn all over the floor, garbage and crap everywhere. This was a big room. It was not pretty. I understand art is about evoking emotion, but I find it difficult to appreciate something that absolutely disgusts me and provides me with no introspection beyond: dirt bad. This room was as if a schizophrenic had lived there for years. It reminded me of the schizophrenics and bipolars I've known in the past. Oddly enough they were artists too. I didn't particularly care for their work either. But the art-elite always did. I guess occasionally they would create a piece I could dig, but in general it looked like it was crap a schizo or manic threw together in a weekend. Funny, this is exactly what it was. Perhaps I'm just not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate it. I did really like this one piece in which the entire room was constructed to be a cave-like labyrinth made out of packing tape and plywood. It was huge and pretty crazy. There were also books wired as bombs throughout the exhibit, soda cans, trash, mannequins, brick walls, and other objects. The book-bombs were, I'm assuming, explosive ideas and the entire piece was about representing the artist's mind. I think. It was creepy. It was cool. Very original. I liked it. I wish I could have taken pictures of some of the pieces we saw at the Walker, but we were quickly informed we were not to take photos in the museum. 

I think Ashby had a good time. I don't think there are many (almost) one year old children that could spend 1.5 hours in a museum of modern art and not make a nuisance of themselves. Ashby was cool as a cucumber and seemed to enjoy the place.

Enough blogging, I'm going to go back to drinking my shaum-pag-ny and stress about all the crap I need to get done for our next release at work…

• Walker Photo Set
• Sushi Photo Set

Christmas was a tad somber this year. Our impending move to San Diego has definitely put a damper on the season for the Boone family. It has been difficult for Tara and her family. Brenda came down to Shoreview for a few days with Tara, Ashby, and I. Then on Christmas day we all drove up to the North Shore of Lake Superior (just north of Duluth) and spent the day at the Boone's house. Ashby made out like a bandit of course. She woke up an hour early Christmas morning as if she knew what was going on. The first few gifts we opened with here were a bit confusing for her. She got the hang of it pretty quickly though and finally was simply bored with all the 'stuff' she was having to unwrap. She is really enjoying the musical table Brenda got her. Julie and Paul bought her a beautiful pink dress, which we've already used in a photo shoot (photos to follow). Grandma Roe sent her many many gifts. She especially appreciates the plastic farm animals. I'm sure I'm forgetting gifts sent to her by others, but this is all I can recollect right now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season.

• Photo set

One of the countless things I need to get done before moving out of Minnesota is to build a deck onto my house. Mike Vath, an old buddy, has been kind enough to lead me in this endeavor as I've never built a deck before. As you'll notice in the photos we just got our first snow. We got probably about 60% of it done last weekend in the pleasantly warm (no I'm not being sarcastic–this is MN) 45 degree weather. We hope to complete it this weekend, but I hear we're likely getting more snow. I'm pretty pissed that this bloody deck is going to be significantly nicer than the one this house had when we bought it, which was promptly tore off when water damage caused by improper installation of the deck was discovered a month after we moved in. I'm pissed it's going to be so nice because in the year and half we've lived in this house I've never been able to enjoy the deck! And now there is going to be a kick ass one and I'm moving.

The specs on the deck are 10'x12'. We've built the frame, mounted it to the house, mounted the stringers in the frame, and have mounted them to the deck feet. All we have left to do is square it off, lay the decking, build a railing and mount the stairs, et Voila! It's been an educational experience. Without Mike, God only knows what I would have built out there. I had a completely different idea about how I was going to build the thing. It would have been baaaad. "Mike do you have one of those liquid-bubbly-thingies?"

Well, the deck is still not done; although, as you’ll see in the photos below it’s come a long way. We haven’t gotten any snow since Dec 21, which is just plain bizarre for Minnesota. However, we’ve had rain. Rain! Rain in December? Crazy. As you can see, all I have left is the railing. I had hoped to get it done this weekend, but we’re expecting more rain.

 

Tara and I flew out to San Diego for a long weekend in search of a new place to live. As previously mentioned here we're moving back to my homeland. Ashby stayed with her MeMa (Brenda). Other folks from work  flew out as well, these included: Roy, Pete, his significant other Marianne, Corey, and his significant other Pam.

Tara and I spent all day Friday and Saturday checking out different condos downtown. We looked at around 15 condos. I liked one on Banker's Hill that was a block away from Balboa Park and a couple blocks from Hillcrest. It was really nice, but Tara didn't feel as comfortable in the neighborhood because the foot traffic was limited. When you are smack downtown you have people everywhere and the throngs give you a sense of safety that you don't have when there is not a lot of foot traffic, which was the case with Banker's Hill. Unfortunately we didn't find a place. However the wonderful people at City Center Properties are helping us find a place (to rent) remotely. They've been very helpful and I recommend them highly.

 Anyway, I'm favoring Little Italy. Tara likes the Gaslamp, and Marina districts. I don't think we're going to find anything we can actually live in and afford in the Marina district though. And to be honest I think the district is a little too sterile, even though you're easily within walking distance of everything else. Gaslamp is cool, but nothing beats Little Italy. I didn't see a single corporate restaurant. It is, by my estimation, the most authentic of the communities we've looked at. Also, I've been told it has the active community association.

I'm really looking forward to living near Henry and Glenda. Henry and I have known each other since kindergarten. Back in June at Tom's wedding I swore that we would live near each other again in the next two years. Turns out I was right. 

     

At any rate, Tara and I have lucked out and found, who appears to be, a very qualified renter for our home in Minnesota. Our realtor introduced us to a fellow who happens to be an M.D. who is moving from Virginia to Minnesota. He'll be moving into our home Feb 1. So, we'll be back in the homeland in just over a month. We have so much to do! I'm half way through building a new deck on the house, which was..uhh…cold and have had countless other household tasks to get us ready for the move. We have so much left to do. It's daunting.

• Photo set

As previously mentioned here, I was in Boston last week at the Gilbane Content Management conference. The turn out for the conference was strong with more than 1,200 people in attendance. However, the timing for me was bad because Tara and Ashby both were sick and Ashby’s final X-ray for her hip dysplasia was on Thursday. I missed the last day of the conference in order to make it back for Ashby’s doctor appointment. The flight was about 30 minutes late; so, by the time I made it there Ashby and Tara had already gotten her X-rays, but we had to go back in for another couple shots because the first were obliqued. Good news is: everything looks great with my little tree frog. Her hips have a 30 degree alpha angles and the femoral ball is deep in the acetabular. Dr. Quanbeck, our orthopedist, gave us some recommendations on doctors in San Diego. I thought it was odd she actually knew, from memory, several doctors in San Diego. Perhaps not. Guess how many medical doctors there are in the United States. Guess…ok it’s only ~350,000. Seems like there should be a lot more with approximately 296 million people living in the US.

So, Gilbane. That was fun.
We won the crown of best wiki at the Wiki Idol contest. More on this in a moment. Also, I was on a panel with several executives and founders from other wiki companies. The panel was tasked with discussing wikis as they are today and where they’re heading tomorrow; at least, I think that’s what it was supposed to be about. Some of the panelists presented dense and lengthy Powerpoint slide decks that were more focused on their company. I had expected that Ross Mayfield was going to be there. He is one of the founders of Socialtext (competitor) that some allege is a pioneer in the use of wikis in enterprise/business. Some also allege his company is open source. I always find people who are self-proclaimed experts or pioneers on software, but don’t write code…well…amusing. Why is it that these same people always seem to be prolific bloggers? I guess this makes them an expert. Perhaps it makes them open source too. I should start blogging on nuclear physics, I use electricity from nuclear power plants–I’m an expert, nay a pioneer! Perhaps I could get a job at the energy department.

Anyhow, Ross didn’t show. Instead it was their VP of Professional Services (Matt I think) who presented. I squirmed as he cited his company as being ‘best of breed’ and ‘open source’. There are wiki companies out there that, in my experience (and opinion) give people a poor opinion of the technology because their product is just crude. On the topic of open source…well…you may recall what I wrote previously on this topic here. You may now understand who I was referring to when I stated: "Moreover, I personally find it offensive when companies slap open source contributors and companies in the face by claiming the title of open source while, in some cases, selling (distributing) for years while not releasing their source code or providing any transparency and then when they finally do release their source they create a non-OSI approved license." Perhaps by using open source components they are open source? A side of me regrets not calling drawing attention to the lack of accuracy on this fellow’s statements, but I was concerned that most in the audience would have no idea what I was talking about anyway; so, I let it lie.   

I met some really great people from competing companies that were on the wiki panel with me, Cindy from Customer Vision, Jon from Atlassian (met again), Ani from eTouch and others. Cindy is just wonderful. Her company has been around longer (doing wikis in business/enterprise) than any other that I know of. I was disappointed that Mike from Atlassian wasn’t there. He is a riot. We first met at Office 2.0, man that guy has a great sense of humor. Jon, his sales or marketing dude, was there in his stead and he seems alright for being a sales/marketing/whatever dude. However, the other guy who presented with Jon during wiki-idol (explained below) seemed like a bit of a lackey though. I know he got very uncomfortable whenever I got around his pod on the exhibit floor (not Jon the lackey looking fellow) as if I was going to steal away his prospects or something. I wish I could remember his name–large balding fellow.  

The highlight of the Gilbane conference was the Wiki Idol contest. It was setup such that each competing wiki company would be introduced by a fellow who would ask a couple questions about what the presenters’ names were, where they were from, etc. Then the demo would start and each company was allotted six minutes. At the end of the six minutes three judges essentially attacked the demo, presenting style, product, etc. Finally, the audience voted for their top two favorite wikis. I have no idea how many people voted of the 1,200 in attendance at the conference, but I can say the audience was overflowing into the main exhibition hall and people were jockeying for a view of the presentations. When the votes were tallied MindTouch’s Wiki won best wiki!!

I was surprised with how folks have devd their wiki applications. They’ve definitely taken a decidedly structured/complex CMS-like tack. In some other cases we saw again how some companies are attempting to replace desktop applications with web based ones, which–big surprise–blew up in their face when they demoed and lost connectivity. I’ve made my opinion clear on this tack previously. In general it was clear that these applications were intended to be replacements to other applications rather than embracing and extending existing applications in way that makes them significantly better.
We stood out during Wiki Idol and the executive panel for several reasons. The main reason is that I spoke (really for the first time at length publicly) about how I see wikis. Wikis are an aggregation and integration framework. They can, and should, be used to provide a simple and usable interface to more complex applications. In a way, this would make wikis a high level middleware that non-technical people can interact with directly that can then be used as glue for more technically complex applications and data stores. This solves the data silo problem for applications like ERP, CMS, KM, home-brewed Intranets, etc, SaaS applications like your CRM, web services, files servers, databases, email, AND proprietary file formats like: Visio, MS Project, whatever. In this world users will publish content (actively or passively) to the wiki, edit it, permute the data to suit whatever the needs are and extract it to whatever application is most suitable. I suppose this makes wikis a kind of application and knowledge XML based substrate. In order to achieve this the wiki has to, at the very least:

1. Adhere to open standards
2. Have a service oriented architecture
3. Be open source 

Yes, wikis are wonderful for creating and editing webpages, simple information sharing, etc, but they can, and will be, so much more. This seems obvious yet I’ve not heard anyone talk about this. For a taste of what I’m talking about, take a look at my presentation at DemoFall or glance at the fancy graphic I have embedded below. We’ve not yet seen the end of the beginning for this wiki thing.

 

I've been reading (listening) to Bill Bryson's "Made in America." This is the second Bryson book I've read (listened to). Previously I read Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything," which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I have read some claims his accuracy borders on dubious on some of the topics he covers. I think it's more likely that many experts in the fields of science he covers likely find his catechumen understanding and summary of their fields a tad caustic. I can understand where they're coming from. Take this screen shot Steve sent me the other day.

I guess this is from some television show titled "Jericho."(?) That’s a fancy IP. Anyway, I thought it was lots of fun and informative, at least with respect to the personalities that have shaped science. Also, it was amazing to me to learn how little we really know and how short a time it's been that we've known it. I guess I never thought about why the salt levels in the ocean are not rising to the point that they cannot sustain life.

"Made in America" is a cursory look at the etymology of American English and U.S. history. I'm about 80% of the way through the book. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in etymology, I am very much so, or is into history (ditto). Keep in mind this is not an in-depth look at the etymology of America's English, but provides more of a sprinkling throughout. Bryson is informative, jocular (a word he uses frequently), and clever in relating this (brief and mostly culturally focused) history of the United States. As usual with Bryson, it's a really fun read. I do, however, think "A Short History of Nearly Everything" was a better book; so, if you’re going to pick up a Bryson book for the first time, start there..

My previous post on the Iraqi death toll was based on the US Government’s official estimates. I did mention the estimates of a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in 2004 too though. To learn more about this study, listen to the interview with the study’s author at This American Life, it was broadcast 11/03/2006 (find it in the archives–their website totally sucks). A new study has the numbers at 6 times this study’s estimates. I’ve plucked the following quotes from a story run in The Guardian. Give the This American Life episode a listen too. It mentions the US Government’s estimate at bombs dropped to date (not sure what date) was somewhere around 55,000 in Iraq alone. That’s a lot of bombs.

The death toll in Iraq following the US-led invasion has topped 655,000 – one in 40 of the entire population – according to a major piece of research in one of the world’s leading medical journals.

The study, produced by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and published online by the Lancet, claims the total number of deaths is more than 10 times greater than any previously compiled estimate.

Nearly a third of the deaths (31%) were ascribed to the coalition forces. Most of the deaths – 601,000 out of 655,000 – were due to violence and of those, 56% were caused by gunshot wounds. Air strikes, car bombs and other explosions accounted for a further 13-14%.

The authors say their discovery that the death rate in Iraq has more than doubled from 5.5 per 1,000 a year before the invasion to 13.3 per 1,000 a year since “constitutes a humanitarian emergency”.

“We continue to believe that an independent international body to monitor compliance with the Geneva conventions and other humanitarian standards in conflict is urgently needed. With reliable data, those voices that speak out for civilians trapped in conflict might be able to lessen the tragic human cost of future wars.”

Ok, so she hasn’t crawled on water (yet), but Ashby did start crawling last week. Right at 10 months. She has been mobile for at least two months now, but she would propel herself about by what I can only describe as log-rolling. She would roll from one end of the room to the next, which had to make her dizzy. She is so darn big I think it’s been difficult for her to master crawling. Now she is trying to master climbing up the stairs.

Tommy and Brenda were down this weekend. Tara and I broke the news to them that we’re very likely moving to San Diego at the end of February. Needless to say that was rather emotional. It’s been wonderful living so close to them and Tara, Ashby and I will all miss them greatly. I know Tara takes great comfort in having her folks so close by. Moreover, Ashby loooooves Tbone and PorkChop. To be honest, they’re really our closest friends. We generally spend two weekends a month with them and I’m going to miss having them nearby. Also, I know Tara and Ashby are going to miss our wonderful neighbors J.J., Ron, and Alla. Tara and J.J. have grown close in the last few months (as have Ashby and Alla) and Tara doesn’t easily open herself to new friends. I’ll admit I have allowed myself to fantasize about Alla and Ashby growing up together and remaining close for many many years, even though I knew we almost certainly wouldn’t be around long enough for that. Alla is Ashby’s first friend though and they’re so sweet. End the long term I’m certain it’s for the best though.

We went to Buca’s in Maple Grove. I’ve never been particularly fond of their food–it’s ok, but it’s a great place when you have young children. It’s loud and there’s lot to look at. While waiting for a table I took Ashby into the bar (non-smoking) and sat at the bar and had a drink while waiting for Tara and her folks to park the car. The place was totally packed and it was the only place I could sit down and keep Ashby somewhat sheltered from the throng. I got some disapproving looks, which I thought was odd. So, what’s the protocol now that most places disallow smoking? Who cares if I take my daughter into a non-smoking bar? Does she soak the sin of drinkers by way of osmosis? It’s not like I’m tying one on nor was I driving. She certainly enjoyed it.

Ashby, as always when she is on the go, had a blast. I believe she’s been to Buca’s at least five times since being born. The chain started here in Minneapolis. As an uninteresting side note many many years ago I opened a 350+ seat restaurant that was a total Buca’s rip-off. It was called Bella Vita. I didn’t know it at the time being I had not been to a Buca’s (I think there was only a couple around back then). Anyhow, I guess that’s another reason I like it. I had opened Bella Vita just months after meeting Tara (over 10 years ago). I started out as Soux Chef and then about 6 months later took over as executive chef. The former chef was a complete moron. Then 6 months later Tara and I took off and backpacked Europe for several months having very quickly saved enough money. It was kind of a funny thing. I remember I had just been promoted to Executive Chef and was making really good money (for how young I was and where I lived). Tara and I were talking outside of Bella Vita, smoking of course. And somehow we got on this conversation about how we should go to Africa. So, we decided we would save for the next 5-6 months and split to Africa. After a little research we discovered Europe would be lots cheaper to fly to. At that time I made it a practice of working for no longer than a year before splitting into the woods or on a road trip for a prolonged period of time. I miss that. I can’t believe I’ve lived in MN for just over two years now and I only made it into the BWCA once and only did one white water canoe trip (which Tommy and Brenda still swear they’ll never canoe with us again since that trip–gooood times). Lame.

I can’t wait to take Ashby abroad. I’ll never forget that American fellow we met in Pompeii. He was there with his wife and ~5 year old son. I believe he was a gemologist, or diamond merchant, or something odd like that, but related to gems. I remember thinking how damn cool it was that he was able to just take off and travel Europe for several weeks with his wife and son. With two kids this would be really hard, I think. If not impossible. I think we’ll stick with one child.