Free StarWest Virtual Access!

I just got an email that the StarWest Virtual conference is available for free! I attended that day online and the presentations were very good. I hope they continue to offer this!

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=239875&sessionid=1&key=7C4552EDC5D391DB815FD6223C1C630A&sourcepage=register

Worse Than Failure

If you aren't a fan of 'The Daily WTF', you should be. They post all our dirty laundry from a software perspective in the hopes that we don't commit the same crimes.

To make this easier, they've created a Visual Studio Plugin that allows you to easily submit code samples that have caused you to exclaim 'WTF?'

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Submit-WTF-Code-Directly-From-Your-IDE.aspx

Microsoft Web Application Configuration Analyzer

Here is a new tool from Microsoft to check the security settings of your production web servers to ensure they are configured with the proper level of security. (Thanks to Bill V. for sending this to me)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=60585590-57DF-4FC1-8F0C-05A286059406

Stupid DNS tricks - Saving/Loading Data

http://byteworm.com/2010/10/27/free-content-delivery-network-using-dns-cache/

This is one more way to keep data available without using local storage. From a security standpoint, it could be used for a 'scratchpad' during intrusions. Maybe you DNS admins can come up with some way to track this? :)

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Every evening before my son goes to bed, we spend half an hour reading a book. We've read Treasure Island, Percy Jackson, Raggedy Ann and many, many more. Last night, we were 'between books' and we picked up a copy of poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to see how that would would work out. My son randomly picked the poem below.

The real background to this story is interesting, but see if you see anything familiar.

Here is a preview of some quotes

• 'For where's our blessed " status quo," '
• 'A just Deed in the world ? — call out the rifles !'

TALE OF VILLAFRANCA - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

TOLD IN TUSCANY

First printed in the Athenceum, September 24,1859.

My little son, my Florentine,

Sit down beside my knee,

And I will tell you why the sign

Of joy which flushed our Italy

Has faded since but yesternight;

And why your Florence of delight

Is mourning as you see.

A great man (who was crowned one day)

Imagined a great Deed:

He shaped it out of cloud and clay,

He touched it finely till the seed

Possessed the flower: from heart and brain

He fed it with large thoughts humane,

To help a people's need.

He brought it out into the sun —

They blessed it to his face:

'O great pure Deed, that hast undone

So many bad and base !

O generous Deed, heroic Deed,

Come forth, be perfected, succeed,

Deliver by God's grace.'

Then sovereigns, statesmen, north and south,

Rose up in wrath and fear,

And cried, protesting by one mouth,

' What monster have we here ?

A great Deed at this hour of day ?

A great just Deed — and not for pay?

Absurd, — or insincere.'

'And if sincere, the heavier blow

In that case we shall bear,

For where's our blessed " status quo,"

Our holy treaties, where, —

Our rights to sell a race, or buy,

Protect and pillage, occupy,

And civilize despair ?'

Some muttered that the great Deed meant

A great pretext to sin;

And others, the pretext, so lent,

Was heinous (to begin).

Volcanic terms of ' great' and ' just' ?

Admit such tongues of flame, the crust

Of time and law falls in.

A great Deed in this world of ours ?

Unheard of the pretence is:

It threatens plainly the great Powers;

Is fatal in all senses.

A just Deed in the world ? — call out

The rifles ! be not slack about

The national defences.

And many murmured, ' From this source

What red blood must be poured !'

And some rejoined, ' 'T is even worse;

What red tape is ignored !'

All cursed the Doer for an evil

Called here, enlarging on the Devil, —

There, monkeying the Lord I

Some said it could not be explained,

Some, could not be excused;

And others, ' Leave it unrestrained,

Gehenna's self is loosed.'

And all cried, ' Crush it, maim it, gag it!

Set dog-toothed lies to tear it ragged,

Truncated and traduced !'

But He stood sad before the sun

(The peoples felt their fate).

'The world is many, — I am one;

My great Deed was too great.

God's fruit of justice ripens slow:

Men's souls are narrow, let them grow.

My brothers, we must wait.'

The tale is ended, child of mine,

Turned graver at my knee.

They say your eyes, my Florentine,

Are English: it may be.

And yet I've marked as blue a pair

Following the doves across the square

At Venice by the sea.

Ah child I ah child ! I cannot say

A word more. You conceive

The reason now, why just to-day

We see our Florence grieve.

Ah child, look up into the sky !

In this low world, where great Deeds die,

What matter if we live ?

Book Review - Software Engineering Best Practices

Read my latest book review on Sticky Minds

http://www.stickyminds.com/s.asp?F=S1243_Book_4