A Scout is Trustworthy

I was an Eagle scout.  I also held all the posts a troop of Boy Scouts of America could have, up to and including Scoutmaster. My folks made sure there was a Scout troop I could join wherever we lived; I believe (my memory is fuzzy, and I haven't asked) that they started my cub pack.

They say once and Eagle, always an Eagle.  I always believed that.  The latest overt action by the BSA has caused me to rescind that belief.  I'm sending my badge back, and I'm explaining my reasoning here.

OO, Ward, and Creole

Some interesting reading if you care about code:

Some solid reading on what OO means, and how to test it:
http://www.drdobbs.com/testing/240000411

Ward Cunningham on wiki, languages, and doing the smallest possible thing that works:
http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/240000393

and finally: how to make your wiki talk to others' wikis:
http://www.wikicreole.org/

Software Fragility

I've been working on the same medium-sized application since March--about 6 months. It's been frustrating. The app is built in JBoss Seam, which I didn't (and mostly don't) know, it has several configuration errors and one serious coding error that has pervasive influence and will be extremely hard to undo, and unbeknownst to me, it has been locking up daily for over a year.