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For the first time in several years I find myself working in Java again[1]. It occurs to me though that it probably isn’t anything about Java itself that rubs me so wrong, it’s the community or ecosystem if you will. The conventions, common practice, standards, frameworks, etc. Case in point, embedding third-party libraries. In the sane world, embedding code from another project into your own is considered Bad. The duplication is not only wasteful, but it creates all kinds of problems for developers, admins and users alike....

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon take place with development projects at work, it happens when someone new steps in to take over a legacy system. Most projects generally have humble beginnings. Someone is tasked with a from-scratch implementation, often under the worst of circumstances, but ever thing has to start somewhere. Later, after the original engineer has moved on, someone new steps in to carry on development, and no time is wasted heaping criticism on what was done before....

I just upgraded a Cobalt RaQ 2 (1U MIPS machine, circa 1999(?)) from Debian Etch (released 2007) to Lenny (2009), and then from Lenny to Squeeze (2011). While it was in use. Remotely. Blindfolded, and with one arm behind my back.

I’m fortunate enough to be speaking at Berlin Buzzwords again this year. As usual, chats over beer or currywurst (or both) are always welcome. Hope to see you there!

I’ll be at Berlin Buzzwords again this year, this time talking about Acunu Castle and Cassandra. Buzzwords is definitely one of my favorite conferences; I’m really looking forward to it. As usual, if you think we’ll cross paths and want to meet for beer, coffee, or currywurst, let me know!

See you in Banja Luka!

I’ll be presenting at Berlin Buzzwords again this year, this time on CQL. This is shaping up to be another great conference (schedule here) so I’m really looking forward to it. This year, the organizers are arranging for a number of hackathons and workshops to precede and follow the main conference. One of those will be a Cassandra event hosted by Acunu and Datastax (date to be announced). If you’re in the Berlin area (or can be), and are interested in search, data analysis and NoSQL (and especially if you’re interested in Cassandra), I’d recommend you plan to attend....

I was recently reminded of a quote from a German General, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, in 1933: I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations....

Last year, if you’ll remember, I did a half-assed job of putting together a musically coordinated christmas light rig, and promised to Do Better this year. Lucky for me I was vague because under-promising made over-delivering a lot easier. :) What I did manage to do was tackle last years technical debt, and get the code cleaned up. I’ve named it Lumen and put it up on Github. Lumen has two modes, record and playback....

I’ll be attending Berlin Buzzwords on the 7th and 8th of next month, and presenting on Cassandra. This is shaping up to be a great conference (schedule here), and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve also managed to work in a couple of days after the conference to poke around Berlin, (this will be my first time in Germany). If you’re in the area and want to meet up for beers and/or keysignings, or if you have suggestions for sights to see, drop me a line....