BillSaysThis Weblog

Republican pot meet republican kettle

2009-01-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama is still 16 days away from his inauguration but the Republican smear machine is in full gear. Today's NY Times--that tool of the liberal media, no less--carries an Op-Ed piece from two key members of the outgoing Bush crew, John Bolton and John Yoo, full of worry that Obama will try to sidestep the Senate's proper role in foreign policy.

Is that a laugh or what? Bush may have followed the proper form in some instances but only superficially and only when his people recognized they had no alternative. And even then they used half-truths, outright lies and evasions so that Senate Democrats had no chance of the meaningful oversight Bolton and Yoo insist is so important.

Yoo, according to Wikipedia, "wrote memos in which he advocated the possible legality of torture and that enemy combatants could be denied protection under the Geneva Conventions."

Bolton has a long record of working in Republican administrations. Under Reagan, for example, he was the point man for the administration's effort to deny Japanese-Americans reparations for their WWII internment and a bill that claimed immigration control is an essential tool for the war on drugs.

GWB tried to appoint him as the US representative to the United Nations, a joke in itself, but the Senate blocked him. This was a guy, after all, who had so little self-control he was booted from the US delegation to the North Korean disarmament talks for calling Kim Jon-Il a tyrannical dictator. Not that Kim isn't, but a diplomat is supposed to know better than to shoot his mouth off.

Back to the point at hand. In the opening paragraph Yoo and Bolton claim that Obama and Hillary Clinton are likely to "lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments" by bypassing the Constitution's requirements that such initiatives receive supermajority approval from the Senate. What a freaking laugh coming from the assclowns who mad secret deals with countries like Syria and Jordan and lied their way to a pointless, terrible war in Iraq.

Scum of the Year Candidate: Corporate Compliance Recorder

2009-01-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

We recently incorporated JHTC (now formally Jewish High Tech Community Inc.) and have already received a number of pieces of business junk mail. Actually physical, paper mail. Today, though, we received one that really takes the cake.

And by cake I mean the people who run or work for this company should be forced to listen to a mix tape of Bjork, Barry Manilow and Mongolian throat singing played backwards at earblasting volume. Continuously. For two weeks.

Even the Better Business Bureau says that the company known as Corporate Compliance Recorder is a scam intended to trick businesses into paying $150 (the price is higher now) by making us think their notice comes from a government agency.

The thing looked hinky to me but never having been the president of a corporation before I was unsure. This is a great thing about the web, if other people have run into similar crap you can usually find them out.

I thought the return envelope they included was postage paid, so I could at least cost them 40 cents or whatever to send them a piece of my mind, but sure enough their was no postage on the envelope, damn it.

2009 is only two days old but these assclowns are already in the running for Scum of the Year.

A Machine was the Wisest Man I Knew

2009-01-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

[Continuing my New Year's Day tradition...]

A wise machine once said
When asked why it did not
Zoom off for its own singularity
That life just has too much fun left

Even as so many dark clouds form
Think of this sage advice at length
Before getting stuck in with gloom
As doom is no boon companion

This is no Pollyana-ish admonition
For naive Candide aspect on the world
Life is a complex set of needs, wants
Ranging randomly along the walk from 1 to 2

Do you want to be happy, the machine asked?
Then be happy, or at least permit yourself
The prospect of happiness as just reward for
Handling the twists a life throws up

Whatever's going on in the world at large
You can give yourself space to enjoy the
Passage of time, to savor the joy of
The few or many friends and family you have.

TV 2008

2009-01-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

Due to the writer's strike and ever-increasing intrusion of reality TV this was a less than banner year for American TV viewers. Here are some of my personal highlights:

The Wire: The final season of an awesome show was 10 episodes that layered on the death of the American big city newspaper to a stack of stories that were already deeper than the aggregate total of the 500+ episodes of the three editions of CSI. If you've not seen this just get the DVDs and thank me later.
Sons of Anarchy: A new show on FX about an aging Northern California motorcycle club, I was reminded of the The Shield by its visual language and of Deadwood by its take on the changes engendered by time and the encroachment of others.
Burn Notice: Funny, smart and pacey. A cross of The A Team and James Bond. The new episodes start in three weeks and I will be looking to see how well the writers do with the continuing mythology back story, three seasons is a long time for that kind of thing.
In Plain Sight: Nothing like the short-lived Karen Cisco except also featuring a female US Marshal as the lead (Mary McCormack is totally whacky, Carla Guigino was simply strong but sad at the core), this series is much funnier, has better designed characters (her partner is a man named Marshall Mann, for example) and strong supporting cast (Leslie Ann Warren and Paul Ben-Victor, to name two).
True Blood: Intriguing and different, this 'vampires are real' show is from Alan Ball, his follow up to Six Feet Under. Like that series, True Blood is largely about sex, family and friendship under strained conditions. Season one was pretty good though I remain unconvinced this concept will last six or seven seasons.
Dexter: Brrrr! Despite the hot Miami setting, this show takes me back to the New Jersey winters of my childhood, but in a good way. Michael C. Hall (who was the second lead in Six Feet Under) is one of the best good bad guys in TV history--he's a freaking serial killer who not only has run rampant in South Florida for over a decade, he works for the cops! This season his character was brilliantly paired with Jimmy Smits and the movement of their relationship through friendship, deception and death was outstanding.
Brotherhood: American politics has a much closer relationship with American crime than any politician will publicly admit but to have a show where one brother is Speaker of the state assembly and the other is captain of a crew in the same city is a seriously good setup.
Chuck: Another take on the James Bond out of water theme, also funny and smart but much sweeter than Burn Notice. I love the way Chuck's family and day job are always an integral part of the story. Plus Adam Baldwin, he is terrific with this type of character.
Life: Another quirky detective show (Monk, Pysch, the Vincent D'Onofrio half of Law and Order: Criminal Intent) I watch this mainly for the hands-down brilliant Damian Lewis.
Eureka: Another quirky detective comedy but set in a semi-secret town where America's most brilliant scientists live and work. Sheriff Jack Carter solves those human kind of problems that geeks never can and the writers give the show a very light touch, the polar opposite of, say, channel mate Battlestar Galactica.
House: Speaking of polar opposites, try Gregory House and Marcus Welby. Two more different TV doctors you will be hardpressed to find. Every week House, his team of starstruck residents, buddy Wilson and frenemy/boss Cuddy stumble through several wrong answers to a new life threatening malady before (usually) saving the day.
Numb3rs: Geeks rule, how can I not enjoy this FBI + math wiz smoothie? Rob Morrow may be playing the tough bro here but his years as a New York Jew in the Alaskan wilderness are too firmly fixed in my mind to not get overlaid on this performance.
Barclays Premier League: The day we get Fox Soccer Channel in HD I will be so happy I will schvitz in my living room (don't worry, TS1 will clean it up). I watch more soccer than any other sport, and I'd watch more if they had more good matches. That damned sub-rights deal Fox did with Setanta massively sucks Rupert Murdoch's posterior and you can quote me.

Honorable mentions to Family Guy, The Simpsons, Fringe, Terminator, Heroes, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, The L Word and Entourage.

Superb Liverpool move three points clear at top

2008-12-28T13:24:00.000-08:00

That's not my headline, it's from Reuters' match report, though I agree wholeheartedly. Five goals on the road today against a Newcastle side that's begin climbing back from a horrid start pairs nicely with Friday's 3-0 slam of Bolton, a +7 on goal difference tally.

First place after 20 games, three points clear of Chelsea and top of the table as 2008 comes to end. For the first season in many we aren't sitting third, fourth or fifth looking up at Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal and happy to have a firm grasp on a Champions League slot--this season is our opportunity to win the Premier League for the first time and add back a cushion to our lead over United for all time top flight titles.

Steven Gerrard lead the way today with two goals and an assist, showing why he wears the armband by captaining a lineup with five subs in the starting XI. A lineup with none of the normal strikers up front either, a reward to Dirk Kuyt for all his hard work as right winger.

Sami Hyypia recalled his thrilling partnership with Jamie Carragher in central defense, putting one in with his head too. Emiliano Insua, our Argentine fullback who turns 20 in 10 days, made another strong appearance covering for the injured Alvaro Arbeloa. Yossi Benayoun was creative, setting up Gerrard on the first goal, and Ryan Babel celebrated a rare start with the third goal.

The game was also good news because Javier Mascherano started on his return from an injury layoff and Martin Skrtel got on for the last few minutes, his first appearance since tearing a knee ligament at Manchester City October 5th.

Liverpool's Challengers

Number two Chelsea were dominant at Craven Cottage this morning but the match ended 2-2 as American international Clint Dempsey got free twice in the six yard box and put set piece kicks from Simon Davies in the net both times. His second, in the 90th minute, was a real spirit killer. The Blues had to overcome tough first half hamstring injuries to Alex and Florent Maluda but credit Fullham with strong defense that mostly shut down both of Chelsea's speedy, aggressive fullbacks.

Rumors are just rumors until they come true though I do wonder if Scolari will want to stick out the season at Stamford Bridge if he gets no spending cash in January except what he takes in by selling. Alex and Malouda are the two most frequently touted to leave but their prices will certainly be impacted by the second injury each has had in the half season.

Arsenal scraped out a 1-0 victory today over a Portmouth side which has struggled seriously since former Gunner captain Tony Adams took over from Harry Redknapp but Arsene Wenger is another manager getting an unacustomed level of negative press. Aston Villa is getting results and Friday's clawback for a 2-2 draw between the two teams was rough but earned.

His very young team has suffered from internal dissent epitomized by the stripping of the captaincy from William Gallas, injuries to key contributors Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky and an abundance of red cards and yet is still sitting fourth--for the moment, with Villa not playing until Tuesday.

The critics, though, say Wenger should have used the club's strong finances to add veteran depth as he looks for trophies at home and in Europe and that after 12 years in charge his arrogance is getting the better of his judgment. Luckily for him this is the off year for the biannual African Nations' Cup or he'd be digging deep into the reserve squad for bench bodies next month.

Sir Alex is probably sitting happy at home today after Manchester United shook off the transcontinental jet lag Friday to beat Stoke with a late goal and an extra day's rest before hosting strugglers Middlesboro tomorrow. Assuming the Red Devils win tomorrow, which is no sure thing this season for any of the Big Four, he gets two weeks with only Cup ties against Championship sides to rest up and prepare for the Jan. 11 collision with Scolari and Chelsea.

The club's two games in hand (against Wigan and Fulham) mean that a victory in that match leaves Ferguson's men sitting pretty to move up to second, a position he'll take any year when all his remaining games against the other teams in the top five places are at Old Trafford. Inter Milan in the first knockout stage are a big obstacle to a second consecutive Premier League/Champions League double but the gaffer was able to drive Jose Mourinho out of England.

The Reds will hope history is on their side as they hold on to their league lead going into 2009, with the top team as the calendar changes finishing top three of the last four years. For my dollars/pounds/Euros, Manchester United are the biggest threat to a Liverpool title but if Fernando Torres can stay healthy, Steven Gerrard stays strong and Rafa Benitez has his usual strong results in the winter transfer window I believe the Reds will rule.

Scoble shoots Aptana, we score

2008-12-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

I earned my paycheck for yesterday by inviting the web's greatest connector, Robert Scoble, to our office to shoot video about Aptana Cloud and Aptana Studio. His blog post about the visit is titled The best 2009 web development tool?, which gives you guidance on his reaction. Thanks Robert!

Shunning the spotlight myself, instead the stars are Kevin Hakman, our Director of Evangelism, and Kris Rassmussen, Cloud lead.

Kris on Cloud:

Kevin on Studio and Ajax:

Note: Titles at Aptana are a bit different. For instance, I'm the only person with the word Manager--and Kevin is the only one with Director--in his or her title. Kris, as an engineering lead, is theoretically the equivalent of a senior manager or possibly director. I just felt more comfortable with the more traditional title since the rest of it, the team name portion, is very non-standard: Customer Success.

The Disturbing: 1 - Camera Angles

2008-12-20T21:55:00.000-08:00

A sunny January day at the big mall in Costa Mesa
Jenny is looking for a new pair of black pumps
Trying on spangly dangling earrings and Ray-Bans
Seeing who there is to see on the stroll.

Mackenzie is at the same mall, checking out the
Talent on display--this is a place you go
Because you know you the goods for the show
Because you want people to see your strut.

Very few people notice Mackenzie at the mall today,
Noticed him yesterday or last month or last year
You might think he's accustomed to social invisibility
But down inside he wants to be seen as much as Jenny.

He sees Jenny, in fact he likes the way she struts
Trying on those black pumps and would gladly
Buy them for her, or the jewelry or sunglasses
If Jenny would only look on him kindly.

Mac--he like to call himself Mac, nobody else
Thinks of him as a Mac kind of guy, not too many
People think of him too often as any kind of guy
People hardly look at him unless he spills coffee on them.

Mac thinks his hobby makes up for the dateless
Saturday nights, painful family holiday dinners where
He has no answer for his mother's withering looks
At the empty chair where his wife would sit.

Mom and Dad try to hide their sadness and
Growing disdain at Mac's continuing failure, his
Once promising but now dimming prospects,
See their bright and happy boy turn hollow and grey.

Jenny is still full of promise, just out of college,
Working for smart people at an exciting startup
More beautiful than as a high school cheerleader
Looking at her future reaching out to hold her.

Ten years from now people will start to call her
Jennifer but now, sweet, friendly, open
That's too formal to occur to the people she knows
She looks like Jenny to everyone.

Mac knows Jenny, he sees her at the mall on weekends
Grabbing coffee at lunch with girlfriends
Working out at the gym. The gym Mac joined to
See more of Jenny, and be seen by her.

Today is the day, Mac says. To himself, he has
No buddies to brag to or work up lines with
He's going to have a conversation with Jenny
See if she will spark to his flame.

Just in case she doesn't, Mac has a plan B.
Smart guys work up their options, he knows.
Mac's plan B is unconventional, 9mm's of hard steel,
Surely he won't need it, Jenny will see his love.

Dell needs a spellchecker

2008-12-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

Adamo? Shouldn't that be Adama?

Tell Aptana where to go (in a nice way)

2008-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

We're asking the developer community for their input on the Aptana Studio... what you like, what you hate, and do you want. Per the survey page:

We want to make Aptana Studio better for YOU. To do that, we need to understand what you do, how you work, what you like about Studio, and what drives you nuts. Whether you're a regular Studio user or you've only tried it once or twice, we want to know what's working for you and what's not, what features you can't find, and what features you can't live without.

From now until January 10, you can help us determine our direction for the next year and beyond by taking a few minutes to give us your thoughts.

Please take a few minutes and give us your thoughts!

It's a disease, I think: Aurumitis

2008-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Corruption has been with us as long as there have been individuals able to exert control over desirable things. Some cultures even today, from what I understand, simply accept this as a reality of life and behave accordingly.

In the US, though, we claim not to accept it. We have laws against such actions!

When I read the story two days ago about federal agents walking into the Illinois governor's home and arresting him I laughed until I cried. Then I started thinking about how widespread this mentality is among our so-called corporate and political leaders today, and the connection I made was to alcoholism and drug addiction.

These are men (almost exclusively) who have about as much money and/or power as one could make use of in several lifetimes but still crave more. So much so that they risk losing everything to get it. Kind of like Sylar on Heroes, to draw a pop culture analogy.

Sylar is as powerful as any of the superempowered characters on that show yet despite a substantial urge to throw off his murderous behavior, the hunger that drives him to acquire more is simply too strong (or so the writers are having it for now).

Rod Blagojevich was arrogant and stupid enough that he actually talked on a telephone line about wanting to get paid for naming someone to replace Barack Obama in the Senate despite being the target of a years-long federal investigation!

I'm also thinking of the executives at Enron, Worldcom and Conrad Black and former Congressman Randy Cunningham (R, CA), all sitting in prison cells today when they could have been lazing on the beach in Ibiza under fluffy umbrellas, surrounded by barely dressed woman and fawning servants instead of large, vicious men, industrial food on plastic trays and steel bars blocking the sunlight.

What is the compulsion that drives such men? The only answer is addiction, but in our culture the desire for more money is viewed as an undiluted good thing. Can't be too thin or have too much money only you can be too thin and want more money so much the desire can destroy you the same way anorexia or cirrhosis will.

We need a name for this disease, I suggest Aurumitis. Aurum is Latin for gold, which should appeal to the oversized ego that is one symptom of the affliction. And the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Aptana Holiday 2008 Party

2008-12-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Once again Paul shows he knows how to run a company where people enjoy their days. I did mention the XBox 360 LAN here in the office before, right?

Today he brought in a sushi chef who made us a literal boatload of good eats at lunch time. For dessert everybody got an Aptana orange 8GB iPod Nano. A few snaps:

I appreciate 1Password

2008-12-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Every Thanksgiving the team at Agile Web Solutions give a present to their customers. This year the present was up to three licenses of 1Password to give away to family or friends. Not cut down, limited or expiring after one update licenses but regular, same as paid licenses. I love this application, it's a huge time saver, and so I found three Mac users who somehow hadn't even heard of this great tool and gave them the licenses.

For those of you who don't know about it, 1P "is a Password Manager that uniquely brings you both Security and Convenience. It is the only program that provides Anti-Phishing protection and goes beyond password management by adding Web Form Filling and Automatic Strong Password Generation. All your confidential information, including passwords, identities, and credit cards, is kept in one secure place provided by Apple's OS X Keychain."

Comes with an iPhone app too, which is especially handy for quick logins on the small screen.

How will they top this next year?

Passings: Jorn Utzen

2008-11-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

The great Danish architect died in his sleep last night at the age of 90. While Utzen designed many other buildings over a 50 year career his fame came from a building which he was unable to complete due to politics: the Sydney Opera House.

This magnificent structure is my favorite architectural design and, for my money, one of the top four or five works of art created in the modern world. The others: Picasso's Guernica, Springsteen's Jungleland, Asimov's Foundation trilogy and a toss up between Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (part 1) and the collaboration among Damon Runyan, Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows on Guys and Dolls.

My assessment is based on the pure physical beauty, innovative and sophisticated practicality and Wrightian suitability to location of the Opera House. Few casual observers realize that the interior contains not one performance space but half a dozen, each tuned for a different use, and as such is much larger than images might lead you to believe.

An important, if smaller, aspect is Utzen's design of the roof tiles. Think about how difficult to clean the steep, slippery angles of the roofs must be-- or would be, except that the material and shapes Utzen created are kept sparkling but the region's normal rainfall!

Forced off the project by politicians offended that something which would clearly become the nation's icon in the global conversation, Jorn was not able to have much of a hand in the interior other than broadly shaping the division of spaces and some of the muscular ribbed ceilings.

Decades later Australia's leadership attempted to reverse their predecessor's poor judgment by asking for his assistance in updating some of the interior and by awarding him an honorary degree but Utzen was to ill to travel around the world and so never saw his magnificent creation with his own eyes.

With Thanksgiving just the other day I will say that spending time in and around the Sydney Opera House twice in the last decade are memories I will treasure however much longer I have here myself.

Thanksgiving 2008: Nicer with Friends

2008-11-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

We had a small but enjoyable supper here Thursday with Evan, Tanya and Ed. TS1 made a terrific dinner with a wine and salad assist from Tanya and me carving the bird. A few pics:

To my Dad on his 80th

2008-11-20T07:47:00.001-08:00

We were back east last weekend visiting with my family to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. Great time was had by all, except for the flight there when the white guy with dreadlocks kept flipping his nasty hair over the seatback into my face.

Here's a couple of snaps, one of dad blowing out the candles and the other of the whole Lazar/Rentz brood (including my sister, her husband and his four very tall kids), taken at the big shindig we had)

At the party my sister read a beautiful poem she wrote for dad and I delivered this, er, oration:

Let me start by saying I cannot imagine a person better suited to being a father than mine.

A great father must be in turns a teacher, mentor, friend and task master. This is, unfortunately, not widely understood and even then one or more of the roles is at best paid lip service but my dad has been all four almost all the time.

My father taught me many things but his best lesson was teaching me to read--and understand what I read--by 7 or 8, when I started a lifelong love affair with the written word and the power of thinking.

As a mentor my dad guided me through many life lessons and difficult times. He showed me that morality, ethics are to be valued for their own end and not some distant reward.

As friends we've shared many wonderful experiences. We traveled to Israel for my Bar Mitzvah. We watched Star Wars with a rapture rarely matched since. The two of us took a great trip to Italy a few years ago and have had hundreds of great conversations over the years.

I still don't, however, understand his late in life passion for golf.

Let me sum up by leaving your with this thought: My father has been one of the great joys in my life and one of the most terrific persons I've been fortunate to have in my life. So please lift your glasses with me and celebrate your friend and my dad, Richard Lazar.

Vote for Obama and No on Prop 8

2008-11-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

VOTE FOR
BARACK OBAMA

VOTE NO ON
CALIFORNIA'S PROP. 8

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

Liverpool: Unbeaten in 10, 86 and out!

2008-10-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

What an awesome start my Reds are having to the season, eight wins, two draws and... and nothing! Not one loss, even throwing in Champions League and Cup play. First in the table and the best opening run in club history. It's early days, no doubt, but for the first time in this decade the team is in the Premiership title mix.

86 and out refers to our win last Sunday at Stamford Bridge, 86 being the number of league home matches played there since Chelsea last walked off the grass losers. Only 1-0 but I will take it unreservedly, especially with Fernando Torres injured. Sweet, sweet news.

A trip to White Hart Lane this weekend will test us against the resurgent, Harry Redknapp-led Tottenham. Spurs have taken more points in his two games in charge than the eight previous under Ramos. I question the wisdom of paying in the neighborhood of $9 million for the right to sign another team's manager but Juande Ramos never got his legs with the team and surely had to go.

Redknapp will get them out of the relegation battle, that late comeback yesterday against the Arsenal is proof, but I do wonder if three games in seven days is a bit much to ask of his squad. If Torres is fit, I favor us to take all three points on the road.

Speaking of Arsene enger's boys, does this year's model seem a little less than expected? The loss to Fulham and yesterday's late giveaway make me hopeful that his team will spend this season battling Aston Villa and Hull for the four through six slots. Walcott is coming of age on the right and Adebayor is a monster in the middle but the backline may not be up to the challenge.

Manchester United are revving up now that the engine man is back from injury, getting both goals in yesterday's 2-0 win. So far you have to put their record down to the many injuries, plus the adjustment to Berbatov up top, but I do wonder a bit about discontent among the players. Tevez appears the most vocal now but when Hargreaves and Scholes get healthy where will that leave Fletcher, Anderson, Park and Nani?

Chelsea are doing fine under Scolari, better than I thought they'd start off, but again they may have too many world class stars to avoid that trouble. The Blues will be strong and challenge all year but I wonder if in May the title will be down to Liverpool and Man United.

One can but hope!

Update, 1 Nov.: Sadly the 'Pool fell victim to the Redknapp Revival, losing out near the death when Daniel Agger lost his man well inside the six yard box. I'd have thought the lesson Arsenal provided, that you cannot let up until the whistle against these guys, would have sufficed, especially with Arsenal's loss early today to Stoke City as compound. But no.

Aptana Launches Cloud, Jaxer, and Studio 1.2

2008-10-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

To quote my smooth-talking co-worker Ian: "We've been hard at work on a big-ass milestone for Aptana: Three products launched... most notably our cloud initiative." Personally I managed to publish the new Jaxer Guide, tweak the Studio and PHP documentation, redesign the Support Center, put in place new support processes plus front-end incoming customer success issues.

Here's a quick run-down of each product:

Aptana Cloud - Aptana Cloud is the ultimate in ease and efficiency - a suite of online services integrated right into Aptana Studio 1.2 that puts the power of cloud computing to work for you. Streamline your deployment and development processes at costs far less than doing it yourself.
Learn More
Aptana Jaxer 1.0 - We're pleased to announce that Jaxer 1.0 is official! Jaxer is the world's first Ajax server, and an emerging server-side JavaScript solution built on the Mozilla Firefox 3 engine. Best of all, we�ve also included it as a free option in our cloud offering.
Learn More
Aptana Studio 1.2 - Aptana Studio offers unprecedented support for Ajax combined with today's popular Web platforms. Download Studio yourself or plug it into Eclipse to see for yourself. We've also added great new support for PHP, Ruby on Rails, and Jaxer.
Learn More

I'm really enjoying the work at Aptana, Paul and Uri have set up the work environment and culture so that BS is at a minimum with people knowing they have freedom to execute as they see best as long as the results come.

We have a number of engineering-oriented openings; unlike some companies we aren't cutting back. If you want to join a company creating innovative products and services take a look at our career page to see if you fit our needs.

Our little Cloud 1.0 ship momento

Levi Stubbs: Standing in the Shadows no more

2008-10-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

The lead singer of the Four Tops passed away Friday after years of bad health, leaving behind a massive legacy of great Motown soul made with his partners Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton. Fakir is the lone survivor, still touring more than 50 years after the group came together as the Four Aims. Stubbs is survived by his wife of 48 years, an amazing achievement in business where marriages seem as transient as last summer's catchy pop hit.

The group's music was a staple on the old WABC AM Top 40 radio of the late '60s and I fondly remember seeing their televised 'battles' with fellow Motown hitmakers The Temptations. Levi had a strong baritone which added weight to the often poignant lyrics of hits like Baby I Need Your Loving, It's the Same Old Song, Standing in the Shadows of Love and, my favorite, Reach Out I'll Be There.

Thanks for the great music and the reminder that It's All in the Game.

The Mask Slips

2008-10-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

In an amazingly stark essay called The Mask Slips in the Op-Ed section of today's NY Times, Bob Herbert writes without an ounce of subtlety, politeness or indirection what so many of my friends and I have been saying to each other for years now:

"For the nitwits who vote for the man or woman they'd most like to have over for dinner, or hang out at a barbecue with, I suggest you take a look at how well your 401(k) is doing, or how easy it will be to meet the mortgage this month, or whether the college fund you've been trying to build for your kids is as robust as you'd like it to be."

Reading that word nitwits--the quote is the second paragraph of the essay--took my breathe away!

The few hundred words Herbert uses felt like a sculptor's chisel, straight to the point and unerringly profound, the undeniable truth revealed from the normal nattering of pundits and apologists.

The Democrats should simply buy reprint rights, run off a few million copies and put them on windshields of cars parked at school playing fields and churches throughout the so-called battleground states.

Headline from the (near) Future: Homeless Army Leaders Detained by FBI

2008-10-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

(San Diego, CA, 16 June 2009) Six leaders of the self-style Homeless Army of Americans were arrested by a combined FBI, state and local police task force this morning minutes before the HAA organizers were to take the podium at a group rally at which attendance was estimated to be well over 100,000 people.

Those arrested include Sam Stross, 42, Peter Humphries, 43, Gerry Torres, 31, all residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, Gemma Lam, 33, of San Diego, Diego Stevens, 38, of Santa Fe, NM, and Bankos Hamesh of New York City. Their attorney, Jorge Chen, told this reporter that more than four hours after the six were taken into custody he had yet to be allowed any communication with his clients.

"Today's action by the McCain Administration violates both the First Amendment as well as constitutional protections and other legal protections but are in no way a surprise to any supporter of the Homeless Army," Chen said during a phone conversation. "In the five months since John McCain took office over nine million Americans have lost their homes and he has done nothing except staff up local and federal police forces and begin construction on what can only be enormous holding camps, with today's illegal arrests only the first of many."

Before news of the HAA 6 arrests became public, thousands of police officers from San Diego and surrounding areas, California State troopers and California units of the Army National Guard were deployed to the streets and the rally participants were herded down prepared paths to be dispersed out of the downtown area.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation would not provide a spokesperson to answer media questions but instead released a statement on the FBI press release website, which begins:

"No American's rights were illegally impeded in San Diego today and any physical force used by law enforcement officers was in response to explicit physical attacks by this unauthorized gathering. The six individuals arrested prior to their participation in this unauthorized gathering were detained on charges of conspiracy to incite terroristic violence, threats of violence against the elected leadership of the United States and conspiracy to commit fraud.

"[The arrested individuals] are charged under the recent revisions to the Patriot Act and as such have been detained without access to counsel until the investigating officers determine that all participants in this complex conspiracy have been identified and, to the extent possible, arrested to stand trial with their comrades. Neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice nor local or state police commands will have further comment on these individuals until further notice."

Stross, Humphries, Torres, Lam, Stevens and Hamesh have been very public faces of a movement that grew out of the debacle which last fall's $700 billion bailout was supposed to prevent. The bill, according to the Bush Administration, was the only way to avoid a horrific economic crash; since the measure did nothing to assist borrowers, though, the huge number of so-called toxic mortgages remained untenable for homeowners to repay and banks began foreclosing in massive numbers days before the new administration was inaugurated in January.

The Homeless Army has drawn support across the country and today's rally was expected to be the first big showing by the group ahead of a political campaign to pressure Congress and the Administration to find a solution that would return homes to the millions of families forced out by armed squads of temporarily deputized private security company employees.

HAA.org attempted to post prepared remarks by Mr. Humphries, who is the group's primary public spokesperson, but the site was unreachable due to denial of service attacks. He has previously issued calls for the impeachment of President McCain and Vice President Palin for executive orders that authorized financial instutions and other mortgage owners to obtain foreclosure and eviction orders despite state laws that would otherwise protect homeowners for at least some period of time.

Miss Lam has written articles for the Huffington Post website laying out a case for the prosecution of leaders of the previous Administration for what she termed "the most outrageous fraudulent, illegal transfer of wealth in modern economic history" when almost all of the bailout money went to wealthy individuals and the balance sheets of the handful of large banks that remain in the aftermath of last September and October's string of failures and near-failures.

Senator Joseph Leiberman, R-CT, spoke to the issue on the floor of the US Senate late in the day: "The so-called HAA6 are not honorable people attempting to redress some great wrong but thugs leading a mob unwilling to accept the consequences of their own greedy decisions and ready to bring the great American nation down around them unless the majority of law-abiding capitulate to threats of violence and disorder. We will not be intimidated and this Administration and our brave president will not allow such threats to stand."

Senator Joe Biden, D-DE, responded to Leiberman: "Barack Obama and I would have blocked the massive expulsion of many hard-working homeowning citizens had we not been tragically prevented from taking office. Our Administration would never have approved the trampling of the Constitution and the Homess Army of Americans would never been needed. These people should be released immediately and President McCain should see this as a wakeup call from the reality he strives so hard to avoid."

White House Press Secretary Gail Gitcho told reporters that the President had nothing to add to the FBI statement and would not be answering questions from the media, unsurprising as he has not met directly with reporters since three weeks after taking office and addressing the nation only sporadically and briefly in that time.

After the first $100k, I think your answer was clear

2008-09-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Brazilian speeder gets $1.9M fine after racking up nearly 1,000 separate violations. Driving a car worth about $6,500.

Somehow the police officers writing the tickets didn't catch on the last, say, 990 times?

Headline from the (near) Future: Pelosi Sworn in as 44th President

2008-09-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

(Washington, D.C., 21 Jan 09) Nancy Pelosi (D, California) was sworn in as this nation's first female President by Chief Justice John G. Roberts on the steps of the US Capital building this morning after neither the House nor Senate were able to resolve last November's Electoral College tie between Barack Obama and John McCain.

"The people of America must be able to rely on their elected representatives to fulfill the responsibilities set out in the Constitution of the United States. I will serve as President until such time as Congress settles this great question, guided by the results of the popular vote, the advice of my Cabinet nominees and in consultation with the two candidates. As already announced my Cabinet will by drawn from the ranks of qualified women and men of both parties.

"However, unless informed otherwise by relevant legal authorities, I intend to retain my vote in role calls and the Presidental resolution as a member of the California delegation in the House of Representatives and to return to the Speaker's office once the House finds a majority will."

Under the Constitution, a new President must be inaugurated by January 20 and as Speaker of the House of Representatives Pelosi was next in line for the top job. This unprecedented event came after both candidates won 269 Electoral College votes in the Nov. 4 balloting, throwing the race into the hands of Congress. Senator Obama won the popular vote by a nearly 2,000,000 vote margin.

The House is required to elect the new President but with conservative Democrats throwing support to McCain neither party could muster the 26 state block votes to win the post. The Senate was caught up by parliamentary procedures that enabled several senators to block Democratic VP Joseph Biden despite his party's nearly 10 seat majority.

While both houses are expected to eventually make permanent selections, statements in recent days from Roberts clearly made today's dramatic interim outcome necessary. Obama and McCain separately told reporters they accepted Pelosi's elevation as important for an orderly transition from the Bush Administration but expect her's to be among the shortest of Presidential tenures.

"America must have a Commander-in-Chief sitting in the Oval Office and through the wisdom of our Founding Fathers the answer to this crisis is simple," said Senator McCain at the National Press Club this afternoon. "I thank President Pelosi for her prompt agreement to step in and expect the Congress to immediately put aside party politics and elect a new President and Vice President as their duty and the people of this great country require."

Legislators have only had two weeks to decide this issue since the new Congress was sworn in just after the new year. The House of Representatives appear closer to breaking the deadlock, with rumors and unattributed news reports claiming that either Nevada or Rhode Island will switch from the Republican to Democratic columns within days.

"America's Constitution has once again demonstrated its greatness and the foresight of its authors by providing for the difficult situation in which we find ourselves," Senator Obama said on CNN this afternoon. "President Pelosi has my full support and confidence and I will work with her to ensure the nation moves forward without respite to deal with the huge economic and security problems left to us by President Bush."

The Senate needs at least several days to perhaps a week to clear away several procedural matters presented by Republican senators from Wyoming, Alabama and Texas but once done Senator Biden should become Vice President with at least 53 votes. If this happens before the House completes work, he would immediately become acting President.

Should neither house be able to get a majority result, President Pelosi will remain in office until the 2012 elections. She can stand for the office in that race but under the 22nd Amendment having served more than two years in the current term would not be eligible to run again 2016.

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United: Woo ha!

2008-09-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Because of the Setanta crap this game wasn't available to the vast majority of American fans but I was quite happy to read this headline on BBC Sports just now:

Ferguson lambasts Man Utd display

Lovely words for any Reds fan, eh? Especially with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres starting on the bench from injury, our captain only coming on at the 68th minute, and the Red Devils' five years of league dominance continuing with a smart early goal by Tevez off a brilliant pass by newly bought Dimitar Berbetov, one would hardly have expected the result.

10 points off our first four Premier League matches has us at the top of the table (pending Chelsea's outcome in a couple of hours) and Man Utd only four off three matches. We have an interesting run of five games, probably mostly winnable: at Marseilles for the opening Champions League game midweek, new boys Stoke City--who are beating Newcastle 0-2 after 70 minutes today--next Saturday, a Carling up tie with League One side Crewe, the 'away' derby with Everton and finally yet another CL clash with Dutch power PSV Eindhoven.

Is this the year the title drought ends? Sir Alex and his teams have taken 10 league title in that time to climb within one of Liverpool's all-time record but one can only hope today's hard working result foretells just that ending!

New TV series Do Not Disturb: All you need to know

2008-09-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

Niecy Nash and Jerry O'Connell star in this Fox sitcom--O'Connell sure has gone downhill since leaving Sliders before it was over, rarely a good career move. According to TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart:

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune summed it up pretty well when she texted me that "it made my soul vomit."