WebObjects Rocks

If you probably didn't know I am a software developer. However, these days I am a web developer mostly. A little over a year ago I was asked to develop a hosted application. A hosted application is one which clients pay to use. This application is now available and it is called Portfolio Intelligence by 3 Olive Solutions (http://www.3olivesolutions.com). During the requirements process we decided that money was an object and that we should go the open source route as much as possible. Well I had just recently did a fair amount of work with PHP and mySQL so I knew we could go that route. The problem was I didn't care for PHP that much. I was much more comfortable with Java and real objects, etc. Well it just so happened that I also owned two XServes and they came with a deployment license for WebObjects. WebObjects wasn't free but danm near close at about $499 for a developer. In addition, in my past I had to review about a half dozen application servers back in the dot-com days and WebObjects was getting fabulous reviews. The problem was it wasn't Java.

Anyway, we decided that we would use WebObjects for this new project and a year later all I can say is WOW! WebObjects rocks. I have used other application and O/R mapping tools in my past but they can't hold a candle to WebObjects. Direct-to-web is a godsend for reporting, quick prototyping, etc., and Enterprise Objects with the Editing Context is light years above anything else I have used. Needless to say, after about a year we launched a rock solid application with flexible charting (thank you jFreeChart (http://www.jfreechart.org) and a great ad-hoc report generator with export to Excel (thank you Direct-to-Web of WebObjects).

Recently I had to port my app to WebSphere running DB2. Well I did and I don't have to do anything special. The database is determined at runtype and my EOModelPrototype is selected that correctly maps the objects to the relational table. That is very slick.

Wel I could go on, but then, maybe others would catch the WebObjects bug and the secret would really come out that WebObjects rocks!

Treason vs Schiavo

I just don't get it. We kill 100,000 Iraqis and its ok. One poor dying woman who our leaders couldn't spend a minute with her and our whole country gets obsessed.

Our leaders commits acts of treason to destroy our great land and not a peep anywhere.

Oh boy am I confused. Used to be a republican, flirted with the democrats and now I found myself lost without a party.

Viva the revolution.

What is it about atheists?

The other day I was wondering about why atheists complain so much about religious symbols and the like. Afterall what is the difference between a cross, the start of david, etc., vs a swoosh or some arches? Should we remove all signage from all lobbies, etc? Or is worshipping on the altar of the corporate gods the only respectable form of worship?

My thoughts on the First Ammendment

Why is there more of a propensity to protect pornography, tv and game violence, atheism,
and abortion over G-d, morality, and life.

The most unfortunate aspect is that the higher up the religious or power (redundant?) chain
one goes the more abuses one will find. In fact, Kubrick got it spot on in Eyes Wide Shut.

Anyway, let us review the first amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Now how is posting the ten commandments breaking this amendment? Is it really establishing
a religion via a law? Is it an artistic representation of an historical event? I personally don't know. The next
question becomes the question of what is religion anyway? Is worshipping at the alter of your
TV religion? Is it a false idol?

When an atheist promotes a law stating that something should be barred, is that not actually making
an anti-religious law which then prohibits the free exercise thereof?

Also, if I am not mistaken, I certainly haven't seen much of pornography being restricted. At least all
those emails that say "Help Lolita add three inches to her mortgage and get a new Rolex" all seem
to say differently. I haven't, thank goodness, seen any court orders against them.

The FCC on the other hand is a major gripe of mine. There is no reason that the airwaves couldn't be
opened up to an infinite number of channels, but that is a topic for a different day.

Finally, I too went to a school where we used to put on a big Christmas celebration. There was the
Glee Club, the Bells, the Hymns, the musicians, etc., For me is was great, fun, and always brought
a tear to the audience. Well, just like your dad's school, this has all been eliminated. It wasn't even
a public or catholic school either. I guess the fear of lawsuits did it in. Personally, I can't believe
that public schools have gotten any better over the years. The dumbing down of religious celebration
vs, the celebration of religious diversity seems to be just dumbing down the kids to me.

In a true, free and beautiful nation, there would be plenty of schools all offering choice of religions,
type of education, scientific, vocational, and artist studies, etc., with everyone respecting each other,
working with each other, learning from each other, and even celebrating with each other.

An homogenization of a corporate WalMart culture is strictly one that will create weak sheeple. The
perfect cannon fodder for global serfdom and world government.

Personally, I really enjoy the distinct cultures and religions of the world. Yet on the other hand I
have no fondness for the hypocritical holier than thou attitudes of both the powerful and the politically
correct.

Cheers from your fossil fuel and evolution sceptic,
James

Two great quotes for you

“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”

- Adam Carey

Corporate America has at this time controls the national media. It controls nearly every avenue of an American citizen’s access to information about the way he or she lives, about those forces that are influencing our lives. And corporate America is protected in Washington by the dollars it spends. It is protected in the media by some virtue of ownership.

- Lou Dobbs

Weren't our forefathers great!

"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitates the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, infuses into one the enmities of the other, and betrays the former into participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.... It also gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country." (George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796)