These are my Treo notes on the speed presentations by the different solution providers.
Participants included: Calais, Elfenworks Foundation, Google Maps API, IBM Mashup Center, Mozenda Web Agent Builder, Open AIM, Presto, RadWebTech, Wetpaint Injected, zembly
For more information about each solution, visit http://www.mashupcamp.com/wiki/index.php/BestSolutionProviderTool7.
These are my Treo notes on the panel discussion
Monday, November 17, 2008 | 10:20am - 11:20am
Write a mashup once, run it anywhere? Hardly. All AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) applications may not be mashups. But a great many mashups are AJAX applications. So long as the browser-based applications you’re building include AJAX code, that code is impacted by the tool used for development, the APIs being called, and the browsers it’s expected to run in. For the first time ever at Mashup Camp, we’ll be hosting an OpenAJAX pavilion where attendees can see some OpenAJAX-compliant solutions in action. But is such a standard necessary to guarantee code-level interoperability? Particularly from one app dev environment to the next? In this panel, we’ll discuss where the lack of such a standard could imperil the efficiency of mashup development and what if any relief a standard like OpenAJAX can offer.
Moderator: David Berlind, Co-Founder, Mashup Camp
Participants
Last year, my extended family exchanged Yule gifts not with each other, but with the world. Our main gift was one joint contribution to Heifer International. The following is my email to the family suggesting an organization for this year’s gift.
Trees for Life is what i’d told [my sister] about. They’re a three star charity with Charity Navigator — with a four star (highest) ranking for efficiency [1]. What brought them down was “Organizational capacity.” [2] Reading what that measures, it seems to describe an undercapitalized organization that could really benefit from receiving a gift.
50 Trees - $50
10 Books - $50
Fuel efficient cook stove - $100
Gift of Moringa Trees - $100
What are Moringa Trees, you ask?
“The leaves are indeed highly nutritious. They contain two times the protein of yogurt, three times the potassium of bananas, four times the calcium of milk, four times the vitamin A of carrots, and seven times the vitamin C of oranges. And these leaves can be easily grown right at people?s doorsteps,” says the web site. Regrettably, no source says “and they taste good, too!” So i searched and found this note
“Although Moringa leaf powder is commonly used to make a sauce and has many uses in India’s natural Ayurvedic medicine, most health professionals and nutritionists are unaware that the young seed pods and seeds (which taste like asparagus), and flowers (which taste like mushrooms) can also be eaten. As a nutritional additive, add two or three spoonfuls of powder to rice, soups and sauces just before serving. Small amounts of leaf powder will not have a marked effect on the taste of the sauce.” — an Indian Export/Import company website
which leads one to be suspicious - “will not have a marked effect on the taste?” What if it did? Further reading turned up
“The trouble is, the leaves taste awful. No one wants to eat them, at least not whole and raw. Professor Crosby’s been experimenting, and he found that making a powder from the leaves and adding that to rice or something is the most palatable way to eat the leaves.” — this blog cites a newspaper article
Still, a complete protein from a plant!
[1] Organizational Efficiency: We assess four key indicators to determine how efficiently and responsibly a charity functions day to day: fundraising efficiency, fundraising expenses, program expenses, and administrative expenses. We issue a rating in each of the four categories, as well as a rating that combines a charity’s performance in all four categories.
[2] Organizational Capacity: We assess three key indicators to determine how well a charity can sustain its efforts over time: average annual growth of primary revenue, average annual growth of program expenses, and working capital ratio. We issue a rating in each category, as well as a rating that combines a charity’s performance in all three categories.
It’s been hard for me to decide whether to be at this conference or whether i should Joint the Impact and join a rally in support of marriage equality. I am concerned about the passage of Prop 8 in California, concerned that a right that had been judged present in the state’s constitution was amended away by a simple majority. I am concerned that so many Californians believed that if they did not pass Prop 8, the status and functioning of their religious organizations would be threatened. (That is: a mistaken belief, fostered by advertising, that unless the churches wed all couples equally, the churches would loose tax exempt status.)
I have finally decided i’ll be at the conference, the prior commitment. Who knows, maybe by wearing a “No on Prop 8″ message, i’ll be more likely to have a discussion with someone and make a difference.
Passing along this announcement:
The Conference program has been finalized and is available at the website www.sccreeks.org/new.htm
If you haven’t registered online as yet you can do so at www.sccreeks.org/cwc2008.htmJust like last year we have a great agenda lined up for you and a free lunch too.
This year’s Creek Advocate of the Year is Keith Anderson of Streams for Tomorrow.We expect to have 26 tables with loads of information to share with you so come on out, meet you creek friends, and make new ones too.
If you don’t register we may be short of lunches so please do register by the end of the day Thursday the 13th.
Class:
600 Technology
Contains:
Health, agriculture, management, public relations, buildings.
What it says about you:
You are creative and inspired to make the world a better place. You can work hard on something when it catches your interest. Your friends have unique interests in common with you.
I find myself wondering about sharing unique interests. It seems to point to a belief that interests are an external state, that one might timeshare, like a unique cottage….
Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works
Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.
What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You’re working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.
I’m not sure if i like my birthday or name derived classification better.
Subject: [EDIS] significant rain event underway for northern and central california
Date: November 1, 2008 8:13:32 AM PDT
LOW PRESSURE OFF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST IS PUSHING RAIN BANDS ONTO THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST BY DAWN SATURDAY WITH A VIGOROUS COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO PASS THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THE ATMOSPHERE TURNS UNSTABLE WITH THE COLD-FRONTAL PASSAGE AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AT THAT TIME AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE ACROSS THE AREA BEGINNING IN THE MORNING IN THE NORTH BAY AND EXTENDING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE CENTRAL COAST. LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN WILL ACCOMPANY ANY THUNDERSTORMS. HEAVY RAIN MAY CAUSE PONDING ON ROADWAYS…CREATING HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. AS OF 8:00 AM SATURDAY MORNING… RUNNING AND LARGER 24 HOUR RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN THE NORTH BAY MOUNTAINS HAVE BEEN 2.80 INCHES AT VENADO AND 1.35 INCHES AT HAWKEYE. IN THE COASTAL NORTH BAY OLEMA REPORTED 1.04 INCHES. IN THE NORTH BAY INTERIOR RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE NEAR ONE-THIRD OF AN INCH. AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY AND PENINSULA COAST LARGER AMOUNTS ARE NEAR ONE-QUARTER OF AN INCH. IN THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS BEN LOMOND HAS RECEIVE ABOUT ONE INCH WITH THE LOS GATOS AREA RECEIVING ABOUT ONE-HALF AN INCH OF RAIN.
I was, unfortunately, out of town for a few weeks when the news of the Save the Bay trash rankings came out. In the rankings Permanente Creek ranks 18th and Stevens Creek 20th. There was a flurry of stories like this one from Palo Alto Online. This later Los Altos Town Crier story from 1 October outlines the impact that the trash rankings have on municipal governments.
As an aside — the eWaste fundraiser for the Stevens & Permanente Creek Watershed Council (SPCWC) raised $700 to help the Council address issues that include trash in the creek.
Another big story over the month is the peripherally-related Hanger One story of reactions to the Navy’s proposal to strip Hanger One down to a frame. The Moffett Users blog is a good source for information as well as stories in the Mercury and Mountain View Voice. I can’t begin to summarize.
In other Moffett related discussion, this blog entry notes the Google development work planned at Moffett may add an additional bridge over Stevens Creek, and urges Google to consider using developed office space that is currently unoccupied.
The Mountain View Voice ran a story on the Cuesta Annex, location of an overflow basin for “fifty year” flood levels:
Afshin Rouhani of the water district explained that the flood basin is part of a system of flood retention basins proposed for Permanente Creek. The Annex would only be needed in a “50-year flood,” which has a 2 percent chance of happening annually. Water would have to fill the basin proposed for Blach School in Los Altos before it would begin to fill the Annex, arriving through a pipe that would run under city streets and enter at the southeast corner of the basin.
The water would flow out of the northwest edge of the basin after one or two days, Rouhani said.
Another Voice story reported on the developments for the Permanente Creek trail:
In the city’s quest to extend the Permanente Creek Trail over Highway 101, a $9.43 million tunnel under Old Middlefield Way was supported by a majority of the City Council in a study session Tuesday.
[...]
The project currently lacks a full budget….
Finally, The San Jose Mercury ran a story on the archery range in the Stevens Creek County Park:
The club maintains the 51-year-old Stevens Creek Archery Range, buried in Stevens Creek County Park and straddling the border of Cupertino and Saratoga. The club works in cooperation with the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. Bowhunters Unlimited, for a small annual fee, maintains the practice range, the trails and targets through volunteer labor.
This Sunday is the 25th anniversary of Shoreline and the Stevens Creek Trailblazer race. I wrote a bit about it here. This week there’s been articles in The Mountain View Voice and the Merc.
There was also news this week of a particularly apt anniversary observance of the Cosco Busan disaster, the spill of bunker fuel oil into the San Francisco Bay. The organization WildRescue is offering training for wild animal rescue $40. Current dates include Nov 8th in Berkley and Dec 6th at Crissy Field in San Francisco.
A copy of the announcement is after the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »
A military Sci Fi novel with an interesting twist to the casus belli between two cultures. The integration of telepathy in the story is interesting, particularly in the idea of mechanical amplification and an “internet” that exists in the “space” which makes the FTL transit possible.
There’s interesting exploration on the emotional toll of war, on perspectives of anti-military citizens, and on the corrupting influence of power which exceeds the usual in the genera. I appreciated that touch.
The heroine of the story is slowly revealed in a way that allows a slow and gradual suspension of disbelief: thinking back on the story i find myself sputtering as i realize the character who was revealed. Masterfully done.
Yet another relief from the tedium of sardine travel.
I picked this up in the RDU airport used book store. (More airports should have used book stores!) The universe in which the story is set is one where Earth, exploring the stars, have yet to find intelligent life. They proceed with an ambitious terraforming and colonization project, to discover the Quill have taken over the terraformed planets and kill humans with ease. Uncertain how to fight the threat, Earth quarantines the rest of space. Settlers and spacers are stuck on crowded space stations, as the planets are certain death.
I enjoyed how Czerneda portrayed the culture that developed on one space station and how she recognized how the difference would lead to miscommunication between the Earth scientist and and the colonists. The strata of privilege on the space station and the competition of rank on the science vessel provide more than sufficient conflict to power such a powerful story. It seemed deftly handled and worthy of reflection.
The Quill were also fascinating, but i dare not write more than that without spoiling one discovery or another. On the other hand, the romance that developed was not quite as believable.
All in all, the perfect diversion during air travel.