Dorkish Deliberations

Furry Feet, Cotton Mouth, and a Big Dorky Smile

2010-06-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Through most of my life, I've had some serious misconceptions about depression. I have long believed that depressed people were just irritating weak-willed whiners who needed a kick in the ass and to shake it off. So naturally, I got a nice dose of the irony of life and wound up with depression myself. The more I read about depression, the more I realize how long I've had it without knowing.

Actually, a big sign of depression isn't necessarily crying/sadness or a tendency to listen to emo rock at all. It can often be severe detachment and apathy. I know there's probably a lot of people out there saying "Duh!" right now, but that was news to me. Actually, three of the big symptoms are:

- Apathy/Detachment
- Lack of Motivation/Drive
- Forgetfulness

All of these, I've had in spades for some time. A lot of the reading says if these last for more than two weeks at a pop, you could be considered clinically depressed. Now that it's been pointed out to me, I think mine's been going on for about six to seven years. There may have been occasional dips before that, and it didn't get really bad until about three or so years ago, but six to seven seems about right.

So I went to the doctor today to see about getting my (legalized) "happy pills". While I consider it completely worth it in order to get my life back, based on the list of side effects, I'm likely to end up with hobbit hair on my feet and some sort of horrid excretive disorder from random body holes. Oh, and I have a slim chance (less than 5%) of spontaneous human combustion. I'll try to post some pics of the new feet next week if I'm not on fire.

Economic Eats and One Evil Bunny

2010-05-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I am geekishly impressed by the cabbage! I've been eating one for a couple of days now, and I can't help but marvel. Not only is most of what you buy technically edible (if you don't mind the taste), but apparently half of the vegetable isle is some type of cabbage or other. From TFA linked above:

Cultivars of Cabbage include:

Broccoli
Brussels sprout
Cauliflower
Kale (Regular and Chinese)
Collard greens
Kohlrabi

Ok, Brussels sprout was an obvious one, but Cauliflower and Broccoli I did not know!

Two Days, 4 Meals, $1.79

Have to love it.

Cabbages, cabbages, yum, yum, yum. Cabbages, cabbages, gimme some!

- "Cabbage" Jack, Evil Rabbit c.1983

Productivity Pr0n and Self-Revealing Ick

2010-05-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking over some various productivity Pr0n when I came across a nice bit of advice for maintaining focus and productivity: Care.

It seems so simple, but for someone who has been going through mild clinical depression, it's really difficult. Oh, yeah, I skipped that part. I've been going through mild clinical depression. No bad thoughts about hurting me or others, no medicine; Just a lot of apathy towards mostly everything. It runs in the family. Thanks, parents. ;P

Caught up? Good. Lets continue.

So there are some things I do care about. Intensely, as a matter of fact:

My family
My friends
The socio-economic plight of the indigenous tribes of Madagascar.

Granted, two of those are pretty far ahead of the third.

So, I am trying to figure out what I want to do next, since I'm more or less in a forced reset mode. Self re-invention is an awkward and somewhat overly revealing process. Ever take a long, honest look at yourself without the sugar-coated happy filters? Ugh! There's a lot of, as the open source geeks say "Cruft" around some pretty decent code. Time to take out the trash on my psyche.

So rather than blog about some project that I want to finish (and likely won't) because I think it's interesting, I think I'll just write about something I am guaranteed to finish. Crap I've just done and care about (see earlier link) because it helps me get what I want.

I'll let you know if I actually do anything.

That was fast

2010-05-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

Yeah. The whole J2EE stuff lasted all of a couple of weeks.

I'm out in Baltimore, and the whole research project thing isn't really doing it for me.

Right now, I need to find a crappy second job.

It is damn near impossible to find a second job around here!

A New Start

2010-03-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

My gods, it's been a while. Well, I lost my job at Lockheed Martin. That sucks pretty badly, but now I have a great opportunity to reinvent myself and learn some new things.

To that end, I've started learning J6EE platform. I installed Tomcat and wrote a basic web app. That was pretty easy.

Then I installed the Android Development Kit and wrote a really basic Android application (for 2.1). Again, easy, but really basic.

So I'm trying to think of a project I can do that will allow me to play with some new stuff, but yet build on what I know with XML and related stuff.

I'm open to suggestions.

We should repeal the 17th Amendment

2009-09-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Article 1, Section 3

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Amendment 17
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

...

-------------

It's an important note that the purpose of a Senator is to represent the state government of his or her state. Senators do not represent the people, that's what representatives are for. That is why there are 2 and exactly 2 for every state regardless of population.

Notice that the Amendment was ratified in 1913, which was during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. Wilson is one of the more progressive early century presidents. He created the progressive tax code, which is one of the cornerstones of Marxist doctrine as outlined in the Communist Manifesto. Note especially the second section, titled "Proletarians and Communists" where it says:

The section ends by outlining a set of short-term demands. These included, among others, the abolition of both private land ownership and of the right to inheritance, a progressive income tax, universal education, centralization of the means of communication and transport under state management, and the expansion of the means of production owned by the state. The implementation of these policies, would, the authors believed, be a precursor to the stateless and classless society.

You can see by this description of demands outlined in the manifesto that many of the things that Wilson set in motion have been increasingly embraced by both major parties. Wilson also started the draft and heavily advanced the Labor Union adjenda.

The reason I point this out is to show that Wilson was not a big fan of the Constitution. The 17th Amendment is a major power grab in that it takes representation away from the state governments in the halls of congress. The Senators are now not much different from Representatives.

Any thoughts?

Discussions

2009-09-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone notice that there's lots of noise going on in the political world, but very little actual discussion?

I think I may start placing some thoughts on this blog and invite others to comment. If you can't back up your comments with something credible, then I'll delete it.

In other words "Bush lied! People died!" or "Obama is a secret Muslim!" will be taken down and ignored. Use sources, use logic.

I'll start soon.

We the People

2009-03-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Constitution: It's not just for shredding anymore.
Read it, please, and talk to your representatives.

________________________________________
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
________________________________________
Article. I.
Section. 1.
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section. 4.
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section. 7.
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it.If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section. 9.
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section. 10.
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
________________________________________
Article. II.
Section. 1.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section. 2.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section. 3.
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
________________________________________
Article III.
Section. 1.
The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section. 2.
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State and Citizens of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section. 3.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
________________________________________
Article. IV.
Section. 1.
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section. 2.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Section. 3.
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section. 4.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
________________________________________
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
________________________________________
Article. VI.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
________________________________________
Article. VII.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.
Attest William Jackson Secretary

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G°. Washington - Presidt and deputy from Virginia

Delaware

Geo: Read

Gunning Bedford jun

John Dickinson

Richard Bassett

Jaco: Broom

Maryland

James McHenry

Dan of St Thos. Jenifer

Danl. Carroll

Virginia

John Blair

James Madison Jr.

North Carolina

Wm. Blount

Richd. Dobbs Spaight

Hu Williamson

South Carolina

J. Rutledge

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

Charles Pinckney

Pierce Butler

Georgia

William Few

Abr Baldwin

New Hampshire

John Langdon

Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts

Nathaniel Gorham

Rufus King

Connecticut

Wm. Saml. Johnson

Roger Sherman

New York

Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey

Wil: Livingston

David Brearley

Wm. Paterson

Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania

B Franklin

Thomas Mifflin

Robt. Morris

Geo. Clymer

Thos. FitzSimons

Jared Ingersoll

James Wilson

Gouv Morris

KISS me, I'm dorky!

2009-03-02T18:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, I give up. I've been trying to make the DITA-OT do what I want it to do. It's a really powerful and flexible tool, and I know that somebody really smart could make it do just about anything.

Problem is, I'm just not that damn smart, apparently.

When it comes down to it, all I really want is Ant, since I'm writing my own stylesheets and only have one output format. Also, I am not likely to need DITA's transclusion mechanisms.

So forget the DITA-OT, I'll just use Ant.

Yes. I am lazy. Really lazy. Sue me.

2009-02-24T17:13:00.000-08:00

Fine. I haven't written. I get on these kicks where everything else takes priority and I re-jigger everything that I'm doing. I'm getting more into D programming and the XRX architecture now, and I haven't done anything with the first project.

I have a five minute attention span. I blame society.

Subversion and Revelation

2009-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

I just had a really obvious thought. I was going to use Subversion as a version tracking mechanism for my project, but I guess I don't need to. I'm all alone. Not in the metaphorical, universal sense, but I don't have anyone else who needs to access and modify the files.

So forget about the whole Subversion thing.

Save the Environment

2009-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

The DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) uses Apache Ant to do its build processing. I have now realized what a confusing warren of build files there is for building the samples. I'm sure someone really cool and hip on Ant could look at it and grok it, but I have never been accused of coolnes or hipness. (No, don't gasp, it's true!)

What I have determined, is that there is some setup required. I will do this within the calling script (.bat file) rather than making permanent environment variables.
The script will start out by setting DITA_HOME to the directory in which I installed DITA.

set DITA_OT=C:\jdn\DITA-OT1.4.2.1

Then in that directory, I place a setuplocalenv.bat file that has some more variables


REM Get the absolute path of DITAOT's home directory
set DITA_DIR=%~dp0

REM Set environment variables
set ANT_OPTS=-Xmx512m %ANT_OPTS%
set ANT_HOME=%DITA_DIR%tools\ant
set PATH=%ANT_HOME%\bin;%PATH% 

REM This last one is actually all one line.
set CLASSPATH=%DITA_DIR%lib; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\dost.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\resolver.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\fop.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\avalon-framework-cvs-20020806.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\batik.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\xalan.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\xercesImpl.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\xml-apis.jar; 
     %DITA_DIR%lib\icu4j.jar; 
     %CLASSPATH%

This sets up all the environment variables that two weeks or so of constant error messages and documentation readin tells me I need. Not entirely sure what all of them do. I know xalan is Apache's XSLT processor, and xerxesImpl is the Xerxes implementation (XML parser). I also know that fop.jar is the Formatting Objects Processor for outputting PDF. batik is the SVG libraries. The file called dost.jar is the DITA Open Source Tools, but I havn't a clue what icu4j, resolver, or the avalon thing are. DITA-OT wants them, so I put them on the classpath and try not to worry about it.

Now I should be able to call ant with a build file and use a logger for recording errors.
set DITAMAP=myMapName.ditamap ant -logger org.dita.dost.log.DITAOTBuildLogger

I'll post later about how this works. My fingers hurt.

Webinar

2009-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

I just attended a webinar given by Kurt Cagle on the XRX architecture. (That's Xquery, REST, Xforms) . I am all a-quiver with geekish excitement. Not only was it a good presentation, but the stuff is way cool.

Oddly, the thing I like best about it is that Mr. Cagle, the main editor of the XML.com website and a well respected name in the industry, used D&D characters as the records for his demo, and everyone in the audience knew exactly what he was talking about. There were big names in the xml circles in attendence and they all had role played, especially D&D.

This validates my mis-spent youth and current not-so-secret past time. See cool kids!?! Successful people can roleplay! HA! Any second now, the funk music will play and the other Tri-Lambs will come in and make the Alpha Betas pay. Eat that AlBundyNeighbor guy that I never remember the name of!!!

A Little Princess

2009-01-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

I had to take a break from my amazing project to feed my little girl. I have four beautiful girls and a wife (also beautiful).

Because my wife would kill me if I put anything up on the web that could actually identify "her" children, let me introduce my baby daughter, who I shall call "Albert". Albert is a cute little button. She is 57 years old.

Well, Albert was hungry, so I had to feed her, since my wife was away. I figured I'd give her some cereal.

First off, that stuff is nasty. I mixed formula with it until it was the correct consistancy ( wet spackling ). I got her set up in her little seat and started to feed her.

Now, my little Albert is a little .... well dopey. She's a baby and doesn't understand that she can do more than one thing at a time. For example, it's sort of funny to watch her open her mouth, wait, close her mouth, and then jam her thumb at her face. The look is classic, trust me.

So imagine my suprise when the little princes does a startlingly credible impression of the Gungan leader from Star Wars (Phantom Menace) and simultaneously blows "raspberries". Thanks to my lovely wife for teaching her to spit...

Aparently, the vigourous shaking she was doing bothered her little tummy, so she added a third thing. She started spewing half digested formula... and spitting ... and doing the Gungan thing.

The cats did not apprecate this.

Neither did I.

I think I'll go to bed early tonight after cleaning the kitchen.

Hurdle #1

2009-01-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

I have the DITA-OT downloaded onto my machine, which contains a version of the DITA schemas and DTDs.

First, I downloaded DITA OT 1.4.2.1 from sourceforge and selected the file called DITA-OT1.4.2.1_full_easy_install_bin.zip. I unzipped it to a project home directory on my machine.

Looking in the newly created directory "DITA-OT1.4.2.1", I notice two licences, the Common Public License - v 1.0 and the Apache License - Version 2.0. Both are pretty permissive, and allow me to do more or less what I want. I am not redistributing the code, or packaging it in any way, but if I did, I'd have to also include copies of the licences with the source. Since I'm just using, there doesn't seem to be any conflict with what I want to do. I do so love free stuff.

The only problem is it doesn't work right away.

I tried to build the samples, but the DOTA-OT requires a Java Archive (.jar) called tools.jar and complains bitterly because I don't have it. It takes a little looking, but it's because I have only the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which allows me to run Java. I need the Java Development Kit (JDK), which has the complier (javac) and tools.jar. So I went ahead to Sun and got the Java SE Development Kit 6u11. I have no idea if this version of Java will work with that version of the DITA-OT, but I'm going to try it and find out.

Well, Java installed fine, but there's still some complaining about the DITA-OT not finding C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\tools.jar. There is a tools.jar in C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_11\lib, where the default install of Java placed it.

So I'll take the brute force approach and just copy it into the first path so that it's in both places. Feel free to comment to tell me the "correct" way to do this.

I start the demo and type in "ant all -f build_demo.xml", a bunch of text later, I have a message saying

BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 minute 36 seconds

Note: The DITA-OT use Apache Ant for controlling the build, so if you are familiar with that, this message is no suprise.

I now have the demo built, but I'm not building the demo. I want to make my own stuff. The easiest way to do this would be to replace the demo source with my own stuff and keep building the "demo", but I'm too stubborn for that. I want to make my own stuff. So I'll make a "src" directory to hold my stuff and try to make DITA-OT build from there.

New Geek Project

2009-01-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

I was considering a new project at work, but couldn' t seem to get funding, so I'll try it at home, and perhaps blog about it (in addition to my rants).

It strikes me that creating XML documentation in a topic based architecture is almost exactly like a software development project: You have source files that you need to control (XML source instead of code source), you have binaries to link in (images instead of libraries), and you must run the source through a process (stylesheet instead of compiler) to create your executable file(s). In this case, it's a document or web instead of an actual program file. Since I'm not creating something for work, I'll make something I like better. Something for one of my geekier hobbies... Yes, I'm one of those freaky Dungeons and Dragons players. Since I'm running a campaign, maybe I'll try to create a world encyclopedia or adventure notes using this project.

So, let's start at the beginning. Source.

I'm going to use Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) as my XML source. This is a free OASIS spec that will do nicely. I won't need to specialize the DTDs or schema at all, since most of my files will be of type "Topic" or "Concept". I don't think it will matter much which I use, but I can figure that out later. DITA has a nice (and free) toolkit on sourceforge called the DITA open toolkit, or DITA-OT.

As for source control, Subversion is free and seems to be pretty popular. I know there are others, but I don't really have any requirements for my source control, so SVN should be fine. Besides, the documentation is pretty easily available.

So my next task is to get the DITA open toolkit and Subersion up and running. More on that coming soon.