Booking Through Thursday, 10.July

"DOOMSDAY"One of my favorite bookstores burned down last weekend, and while I only got to visit there while I was on vacation, it made me stop and think."What would you do if, all of a sudden, your favorite source of books was unavailable?"Whether it’s a local book shop, your town library, or an internet shop … what would you do if, suddenly, they were out of business? Devastatingly, and with no warning? Where would you go for books instead? What would you do? If it was a local business you would try to help out the owners? Would you just calmly start buying from some other store? Visit the library in the next town instead? Would it be devastating? Or just a blip in your reading habit?"A fire destroyed a bookshop in the city where I lived in the early 1990s. Newspaper coverage documented the grief and mourning of the shop's regular customers. But that was in the days when newspapers were a societal stronghold, and before the advent of bookshops-cum-public livingrooms. Nowadays, I think most people suddenly bereft of their favorite spots would, by and large, have no trouble switching to any of the online booksellers. The Internet has supplanted Place with twenty-four hour availability and ease, among other things.I lost my favorite bookshops over the years when I moved to other parts of the country. My last such place provided an experience, not just a place to buy then dash. It had all the things one thinks of when shopping in a small place: personal attention, atmosphere, character and moment. I miss it. Local options here are the chain bookstores - - offering the chance to sit on chairs only 5,000 other people sat in before you! - - where I would pay full retail prices, and a secondhand-book store that will order new books on request. On a friend's recommendation I visited the latter...once. The dust was thick and the books greasy and grimy. I changed my reading habits to include the occasional visit to the (noisy!) local library for books I request ahead of time by phone.

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements – x64 all the way!

News from TechEd 2009 this morning on the requirements for the next release of SharePoint – which will be called SharePoint Server 2010. As Project Server 2010 will be built on the same platform then expect similar requirements. In brief these are: SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only – this was announced during the SP2 webcasts for Project Server, so isn’t totally new news. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005 SharePoint Server 2010 will require a standards based browser to author content (XHTML 1.0 compliant) so will not support IE 6. The 64-bit SQL requirement is new news, and I feel this makes a lot of sense. We have seen customer’s adopting 64-bit for SQL at a fast pace, and have seen great benefits for Project Server 2007 – so to only release 64-bit Office Servers and to support 32-bit database back-end would not have made much sense. Likewise dropping support for IE 6 (which end it’s support lifecycle anyway in July 2010) should not cause too many concerns. If my blog readers are any indication the IE 8 users have already overtaken IE 6 – which accounts for less than 1 in 5 browsers to my blog. This only applies to authoring content – and it will still be possibly to target a SharePoint published site to IE 6 for viewing. I do appreciate though that some corporations still have IE 6 as the norm – so time to start planning that move! Remember that in 2007 Project Server had a tighter requirement on browsers than SharePoint – and blocked non-IE browsers from the PWA sites (but not workspaces). I haven’t seen any announcement on any changes here. Technorati Tags: SharePoint Server 2010,Project Server

When will they realize....

A backyard full of pigeon cages outside Fengyuan. You know the news is all bad when your main joy in life is saying I-told-you-so. In 2007 I opined at the end of a long discussion of AmCham and foreign businessmen, and KMT and DPP policies:One of the major problems with Taiwan's economy, from outsider's perspective, is that it is often a game outsiders are not allowed to play. The Chambers of Commerce appear to be of the opinion that this will change if Ma is elected. Lotsa luck, guys. Because after Ma "opens" the economy, AmCham editorials are going to read like this:"While in principle we welcome the new openness shown by Taiwan during the first two years of President Ma's administration, AmCham wishes to express its growing concern over the preferential treatment given firms from China....."Today the Taipei Times pointed out in its editorial that the island is already lurching that direction: How bittersweet it is to recall pronouncements — on and off the record — by Taiwan-based foreign chambers of commerce and individual businesses that the election of a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government would improve Taiwan’s economy. How amusing it is, then, to see the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) complaining about a KMT legislative amendment that will lower the cap on credit card interest rates and probably damage Taiwan’s attractiveness as an investment destination.The latter-day KMT is not the technocrat-friendly organization it once was, and in recent times individual legislators have used their authority within the party to advance spurious — sometimes almost anarchic — reforms at the expense of good governance and against all expert advice.AmCham and the ECCT are absolutely justified in their concerns. But they cannot complain too loudly: They got what they asked for, and there is likely more of this to come. When they lament a “sudden and arbitrary shift in regulatory policy” resulting from political considerations, the real question that arises is why they didn’t heed this tendency when the KMT was in opposition.Whether in opposition or government, the cultivation and protection of democracy has never been the guiding principle of the KMT machine. This is why it is so willing to cut hasty, unaccountable deals with the Chinese Communist Party. But with this latest display of financial ineptitude, there is a real concern that any economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China might carry a potentially crippling payload.The evidence for this has amassed to the extent that it is shocking just how consistently think tanks in the US and other countries are ignoring it.AmChan's institutionally pro-KMT stance, which I have long criticized (see here, for example), is bad, but not as bad as the Europeans. Unfortunately despite the fact that many of the things AmCham criticizes in their annual White Paper are hand-me-downs from the martial law era, and the fact that many of its members are long-term residents (Don Shapiro, the current head, was an active supporter of the democracy movement in the bad old days), AmCham consistently fails to make the connection between the past behavior of the KMT and its probable future policies.The AmCham editorial that drew the Taipei Times' attention was in a recent issue of their superb Topics magazine, which some of island's top reporting talent has written for. It says:A case in point is a bill, currently before the Legislative Yuan, which would lower the annual statutory interest-rate ceiling of 20% that banks may charge credit-card customers for revolving credit. The proposed new cap would be defined as 9% above the Central Bank’s rate for unsecured short-term lending – which at current levels would come to 12.5%......The major flaw in that reasoning is that the same severe economic downturn prompting the Central Bank to cut interest rates will inevitably lead to a higher incidence of credit-card delinquency, raising the banks’ cost of credit. Further, the cost of funds is only one part of the total operating cost for the banks’ credit-card departments. Looking only at the interest rate neglects the burden of processing huge quantities of small-volume transactions and of maintaining 24-hour customer service.What would happen if banks had to slash the maximum interest charged on rollover balances? The immediate result would be to force banks to protect themselves against heavy losses by tightening up on their credit policies. According to one industry calculation, that would cause at least 3.5 million credit cards with a total credit facility of NT$690 billion to be withdrawn from the market. The estimated annualized impact on retail sales would be NT$274 billion – just at a time when the deepening recession calls for efforts to increase private consumption, among other forms of economic stimulus.AmCham goes on to point out that poorer consumers would have to source credit from informal or illegal providers who charge even higher interest. The clincher was that the reduced profitability of credit cards, and therefore, of banks, would make the island a less attractive investment destination, as the Taipei Times pointed out.It's only the beginning, folks

Etihad Airways

Plane food has a bad reputation. There isn't a need to explain why. You know it and I know it. We also understand the challenge that comes with presenting edibles that not only look good but taste good while you're in mid-air. That is why when it comes to plane food, expectations dip to an all-time low. So low that it might not be surprising if someone says that he will choose greasy fast-food over a serving of plane food. This unfortunate judgement has its truths most of the time. There are indeed limitations of serving food that's cooked a-la-minute and especially when it is a fact that food tastes different in a high-altitude environment. With so many factors going against the hardworking chefs who create airplane meals fit for consumption, you wonder how they eventually decide what goes into your meal.Airplane brochures never fail to print glossy photos of delectable airplane meals. In these photos, the juicy-looking meat glistens, the fish looks fresh and everything looks picture perfect. However, the skeptic in us starts to doubt and assume that it only looks good because it's a photo. This is how it has always been. Perhaps that is the case but not anymore. Not for Etihad, to say the very least. Not when they have a food and beverage manager on board - a capable stewart who ensures that these pretty photographs are not just a fantasy or a figment of each passengers imagination but rather, a great-tasting reality:Since I have yet to fly on Etihad Airways, I cannot confirm that what you see in those photos is what you get when you're thousands of miles up in the air. But I do know that the food beats most airplane food. I learnt about this because Eithad invited me to a press conference and media lunch in celebration of their first year in Singapore. As the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad is known for its quality service and well-trained staff. They also announced the launch of their new Inspired Service for premium passengers (Diamond First and Pearl Business Class) arriving into and departing from Singapore.An important part of the Inspired Service involves food. Not only will the food be of top quality, the crockery, linen and glassware will be more tasteful - think normal dining size classic white porcelain. The menu will also boast a wide variety. You will be able to choose from the a la carte or the kitchen menu. The a la carte menu needs no explanation. However, I do think that the kitchen menu is a smart idea. This menu offers an array of invidual snack-sized dishes that can be eaten at any time during the flight. That means if you skip the a la carte meal because you were not hungry during the time set aside for dinner, then you can request for an item on the kitchen menu whenever you feel the rumbles in your stomach. Some items on their present kitchen menu includes Arabic baklava, warm truffle popcorn with porcini salt, warm bella olives, orange, garlic and rosemary, Providore natural ice cream, selection of cheeses etc. Etihad's menu changes every few months so passengers (especially frequent flyers of Etihad Airways) will not be bored.Before lunch began, we were provided with a demonstration of how the dishes are usually assembled on the flights. It was rather interesting. The food and beverage manager explained how they take pride in good food presentation as well. Here's a snapshot at the long table of airplane food:After hearing about all that goes into making each passenger feel comfortable not just with palatable food but good service, I was starting to feel that the food on Etihad Airways might just have one of the best plane food around.For lunch, we could choose our appetisers, main course and dessert. I chose smoked salmon terrine, baby herbs, parsley oil, Spanakopita with ratatouille and baked rhubarb and strawberry pie with double cream.The food was not bad, considering that it was made just the way it would have been made on the plane - pre-cooked and assembled on board. I think what I do understand that day, was that since it is impossible to cook food on the plane, everything has to be pre-cooked. The food will then have to be warmed up and assembled before serving. What sets Etihad apart is the way their system functions. Preparation for each dish is precise. The flight staff are given a 'manual' of sorts that provides clear instructions on method of heating & placement of each ingredient.I did not bring my camera with me that day so that's why you don't see shots of each individual dish. However, I managed to get from them a shot of their three-way bread. Three-way because it's actually three types of bread together in one loaf:One's normal white bread, the other's a slightly spicy one, and if I remember correctly, the last one is the multigrain one. Served with quality french butter, this is Etihad's signature bread. It's pretty impressive I'd say. It is served on all of their flights.So with this, I suppose I have less reasons to be judgemental about plane food. Sometimes all you need is an ambitious vision to re-align and correct prior judgements of plane food. For Etihad, their answer is a food and beverage manager. As mentioned, this manager is the point of contact with passengers, in charge of talking to them about their food preferences and making recommendations. Now don't you think you have one more reason to give plane food a second chance?______________________________________________Etihad currently offers flights to 48 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia.To find out more, please visit www.etihadairways.com/inspiration

Healthy Habbits Produce Coop

This week I attended a conference in Washington, DC and learned SO much. One of the speakers spoke about The Double Bottom Line Double bottom line is a business term used in socially responsible enterprise and investment. While all businesses have a conventional bottom line to measure their fiscal performance—financial profit or loss—enterprises which seek a second bottom line look to measure their performance in terms of positive social impact.Wikipedia A fellow blogger, actually shes more than a fellow blogger- she played a central role in an important moment of clarity online that LITERALLY changed my life for the BETTER! *FLASHBACK* &[T]he entire presidential election inspired me to do something that Ive been wanting to do for a while which is open my own organic produce coop. So I begin a little hoping to get 20 families to participate and we got 40 and had to turn away 12. Be sure to stop by and pick up a recipe or two. Healthy Habbits Produce Coop. Now she didnt ask me to do this, but with all this green money floating around, she ought to be able to expand so she can accommodate as many families as are demanding her services. Shes learned a valuable lesson, that the barriers to entry for online businesses are LOW I would argue that they are none existent. However, like any other business, the barriers to expansion are much higher. So if you know about some foundations, green venture capitalists, or some stimulus money that is available to our cyber Sister, speak up. You dont have to leave a comment, send an email or use the contact form above. To all of you who are worried about the economy, whether youve lost your job, are worried about losing your job, or not worried at all, one really easy way to regain some control and take the edge off is to start a side hustle. Just because it starts small, doesnt mean it has to stay small. Not only that, but there is 700 BILLION dollars of stimulus money coming out of the pipeline and I want at least 100 Black women who read this blog to go out for your share of your taxpayer money. Just do it! PS. Kim, when you make your first BILLION and acquire Whole Foods, cant I get a gift card or a lifetime discount on unrefined shea butter?

12inch wide crab

Dr. Maureen Reed to run for DFL endorsement in CD 6

A few of us had been hearing these rumors for a few weeks now.Our good friend Political Muse broke the story on this!Dr. Reed was the IP Lt Governor candidate in 2006, a University of Minnesota Board of Regents Chair, and has a rather impressive resume.A few quick thoughts.1. She will need to begin raising a boatload of money immediately. She needs to show that she has this ability, otherwise, she may just be another Bob Olson.2. Run a values based campaign. No one has been effective on hitting Bachmann on issues. Reed needs to articulate how her values are more congruent with the district than Bachmann.3. Every moment not fundraising at this point, is spent at meet and greets throughout the 6th. We cannot afford to have a candidate introducing themselves to voters in the waning weeks again.4. All the koom-by-ya crap is nice...you know...the stuff about bringing moderate Republicans, Democrats, and Independents together to win a race. Build your base, but ultimately, Reed is going to have to show enough backbone to take a shot at Bachmann when it's warranted. Nice is fine and dandy, but I want to see some pitbull in her too.Honestly, I'm skeptical about party leadership in the district and their ability to bring about the necessary party and base building to pull this off.Maybe Dr. Reed is the fresh breath we've needed for years? Or will she fall prey to the status quo and the lackadaisical district leadership?

Our impressions of Warhammer's Land of the Dead

So we've been over the cold, unfeeling facts about Land of the Dead. It's big, it's a throwback zone to action RPGs, it has RvR and PvE, and it's filled with mummies. But you don't want the facts, right? You want to know how it plays and you want to know if it's worth your time to pick up Warhammer or resubscribe to the game.During my time at Games Day, I got the chance to participate in a bunch of the PQs in the new zone and try out a few areas of the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, the capstone dungeon of the whole experience. I got to be shanked by swinging blades, pierced by surprise dart traps, and I even got to wear the Sovereign armor set, the pinnacle armor of the game. (Yes, it looks completely badass.)

Wow! An Integrated Virtual Tape Library at the Max

Today, Sun made available the most significant set of enhancements to the mainframe virtual tape market since this market began in 1998 by StorageTek and IBM. In 1998, StorageTek made available its first Virtual Storage Manager (VSM) system that leveraged the well structured Hierarchical Storage Manager and Tape Management System software that customers already had in place. At that time VSM was a system that would accelerate tape processing by having a disk buffer virtualize a physical tape drive. StorageTek also provided virtual tape management software that allowed for migrations of one or more of the virtual tape volumes from the disk buffer onto physical tape – the most cost effective data storage even today. Fast forward 11 years. What has changed? The basic principles of tape virtualization are the same but what has evolved is from a business perspective. Primarily driven by ever changing customer requirements, changes in regulatory requirements, and the ever increasing amount of data that must be stored and protected for very long periods of time. VSM has evolved to meet these ever changing requirements. Today's availability of the new VSM5 enhancements and Enterprise Library Software (ELS) keeps VSM in the technological lead by providing a broader range of solutions that solve real problems. The following are some of the enhancements that are now available: DR has been enhanced in two very important areas. Sun’s clustering capability has been improved by 100%. Now up to 4 VSM subsystems can exist within the same clustered environment. These are all under one central point of control and provide tremendously more flexibility when configuring for high availability when a disaster occurs. In addition, data can now be electronically exported and imported to other VSM controlled tapeplexes. These improvements compliment the VSM disaster recovery choices that have been industry leading in the mainframe virtual tape market for many years. Configuration flexibility has been improved. No other vendor provides the option to have or not have physical tape automation attached to the same virtual tape environment. This implementation provides the ability to selectively use physical tape automation. For example you could keep your data in a local VSM buffer and selectively migrate data to a remote VSM environment that does have tape automation attached. This is all managed by VSM which can dramatically reduce the complexity of tape operations and drive down the overall cost of storage. Larger disk buffers allow for more data to be kept on disk longer prior to being migrated to tape. As the amount of data grows and data access frequency patterns change more data needs to remain on disk. VSM already provided from 1.25TB to 28TBs of effective disk storage within each VSM5 subsystem. Today, VSM5 buffer sizes can now be over three times larger going up to 90TBs. You should be able to find the size that fits your requirements to optimize the data migration and recall activity within your integrated virtual tape library environment. Now adding ESCON channels to VSM5. If the ESCON channel protocol is still critical to your mainframe environment Sun is now providing you ESCON channels to be attached to its latest and greatest VSM5 solution. Sun is the only vendor to provide ESCON for their virtual tape library offering and also provides the choice of having a mixture of ESCON/FICON channels. If you have not fully implemented FICON across your mainframe environment this option allows you to do so within stages and leverages the latest set of VSM5 functions and features. New native IP connectivity option. Sun is even providing you with the option to utilize your intranet backbone network between your sites in addition to the specialized ESCON or FICON extended channel protocols. So if your TCP/IP network has additional bandwidth, why not exploit that bandwidth with your mainframe VSM solution? What does all of this mean? Sun understands what you need in your mainframe virtual tape environment and now provides you with additional choices that can leverage your existing infrastructure. Now you can scale from smaller to larger environments. At the same time providing you with ways to minimize the risks to your data and lower your costs by providing more channel interface flexibility, larger disk buffers, and enhanced DR capabilities. If you wish to receive more information on what was made available today let me know and I would be pleased to discuss this with you further.

Hooray for Me

In my personal history - and I hope in everyone's - the Birthday Celebration has always been a favorite "holiday" - its your own personal day...Over the years, I've regaled you with tales of the The Jam, Dickies and Eyes gig at the Starwood on my birthdate in 1978 - here and here and all these entries here.... its a birthday story worth repeating...In the 70s, I've spent my birthdate with concerts by Iggy Pop - and the oft-referenced car breakdown on California's Highway 5 to San Francisco... that same year, the birthday week shows included Iggy AGAIN in Santa Monica with Blondie opening and a Blondie/Runaways gig a few days later.Somewhere in there, there was the Los Angeles debut of Television.In 1980, my birthday concert was the Pretenders.This year, I celebrate my birthday with a show by The Shazam, who in fact have in their vast repertoire a song called "Hooray for Me," which hopefully ties all this up so that I can call it a night....If you're in Nashville or its environs, come to 12th & Porter tomorrow night (April 15) and buy me a drink... that's where The Shazam will be playing. That drink would be Stoli/soda/lime.

The rich dinner

Happy Valentimes to Me

I had a happy Valentimes Day.We had no money. I didn't get paid, again, due to some major corporate screw-up that meant a whole big pile of money did not end up in my bank account, where it was supposed to. Yet again. For like, the sixth week in a row.So, on Valentimes Day.We went to St. Jame's Gate and danced all night.And when I say St. Jame's Gate, I really mean: "Our living room".We listened to excellent live music at St. Jame's Gate.And when I say live music, I really mean "John Prine, and all the Blues we can find on CD's. With a little Elton John and Annie Lennox in there as well. Also AC/DC. In our living room."Come approximately 3 a.m., we went to The Canton for Chinese Food.And when I say The Canton, I really mean, "Our Kitchen". Where good steaks were had by all. . . .After the Canton, well, we all know what happens after that. . .So a good Valentimes Day was had by all.And although I don't like to quote people, I will quote John Prine (a fabulous folk singer): In spite of ourselves Well end up asittin on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, were the big door prize Were gonna spite our noses Right off of our faces There wont be nothin but big old hearts Dancin in our eyes.She dont like her eggs all runnyShe thinks crossin her legs is funnyShe looks down her nose at moneyShe gets it on like the easter bunnyShes my baby Im her honeyIm never gonna let her goHe aint got laid in a month of sundaysI caught him once and he was sniffin my undiesHe aint too sharp but he gets things doneDrinks his beer like its oxygenHes my babyAnd Im his honeyNever gonna let him goIn spite of ourselvesWell end up asittin on a rainbowAgainst all oddsHoney, were the big door prizeWere gonna spite our nosesRight off of our facesThere wont be nothin but big old heartsDancin in our eyes.She thinks all my jokes are cornyConvict movies make her hornyShe likes ketchup on her scrambled eggsSwears like a sailor when shaves her legsShe takes a lickinAnd keeps on tickinIm never gonna let her go.Hes got more balls than a big brass monkeyHes a wacked out werido and a lovebug junkieSly as a fox and crazy as a loonPayday comes and hes howlin at the moonHes my baby I dont mean maybeNever gonna let him goIn spite of ourselvesWell end up asittin on a rainbowAgainst all oddsHoney, were the big door prizeWere gonna spite our nosesRight off of our facesThere wont be nothin but big old heartsDancin in our eyes.There wont be nothin but big old heartsDancin in our eyes.The best thing about this particular Valentimes Day to me, is this:I was home, in bed, listening to my favorite dude on a Saturday Morning: (Stan, the man, on CBC Radio One).My husband was gone to work.It was Valentines Day and all about requests. Some husband phoned in a request. He had a funny story about him and his crazy wife. And he wanted to hear that stupid song.I knew that song. And I have always loved that song.As I listened, and laughed, I thought: "I wonder if my husband is listening to this, in the car, on the way to work. He would get this. It is so us."I forgot about it.Eight hours later, after my husband got home, he said: "'oney, I heard the greatest song on Stan's show this morning. It was so funny, and it reminded me of you. Of us! We've gotta get that song."Well, what song do you think it was?It's our new song. In spite of ourselves Well end up asittin on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, were the big door prize Were gonna spite our noses Right off of our faces There wont be nothin but big old hearts Dancin in our eyes. She dont like her eggs all runny She thinks crossin her legs is funny She looks down her nose at money She gets it on like the easter bunny Shes my baby Im her honey Im never gonna let her go He aint got laid in a month of sundays I caught him once and he was sniffin my undies He aint too sharp but he gets things done Drinks his beer like its oxygen Hes my baby And Im his honey Never gonna let him go In spite of ourselves Well end up asittin on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, were the big door prize Were gonna spite our noses Right off of our faces There wont be nothin but big old hearts Dancin in our eyes. She thinks all my jokes are corny Convict movies make her horny She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs Swears like a sailor when shaves her legs She takes a lickin And keeps on tickin Im never gonna let her go. Hes got more balls than a big brass monkey Hes a wacked out werido and a lovebug junkie Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon Payday comes and hes howlin at the moon Hes my baby I dont mean maybe Never gonna let him go In spite of ourselves Well end up asittin on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, were the big door prize Were gonna spite our noses Right off of our faces There wont be nothin but big old hearts Dancin in our eyes. There wont be nothin but big old hearts Dancin in our eyes.