Virtual Existentialism

I've got an idea... I want to build a run time environment for VMware, but I don't know why.

Here's a bit of a brainstorm/stream-o-consciousness about it

The idea of having a system that can be used to build a program that could run on almost any machine on the planet is appealing... but we've already got Java, cross platform languages, etc.

The idea of getting down to bare metal and programming again also has appeal... but I don't think that's it either.

I want to be able to do applications without any of the baggage of file systems, layers of OS to manage, etc...

The one thing I think it an absolute necessity is a TCP/IP stack, and all of the toys that implies... Ethernet, ARP, IP, UDP, ICMP, TCP, HTTP, DNS... and that's definitely non-trivial.

The rest doesn't really need to be there... the files could be anywhere, the users could be anywhere... heck the code itself could be anywhere... and loaded dynamically.

Any futher ideas/comments welcome.

--Mike--

Crimes against peace

From my email to my Representative in the House of the United States Congress:



It's clear to me now that Vice President Cheney is trying to lead our great nation into an unnecessary and ill-advised war with Iran.

Remember the words of the Chief American prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials, Robert H. Jackson:

To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.


It is my strong opinion that the Vice President should be impeached for this crime against peace.

I further believe that once found guilty, he should be tried for Treason.

Michael A. Warot

Baby Shower Photos

DSCN1085
Originally uploaded by --Mike--

Noran asks... and she shall recieve... here are the wayyyyyy overdue photos from Virginia's Baby Shower on June 3 of 2006.

Fixing the net

It's been suggested that we need government leadership to fix the internet. It's true... but not in the way that Michael Kleeman thinks. My list of steps toward the future include:

• Settlement free peering
  
• IP6 or bust
• Free portable address blocks
• 700-799 Mhz allocated to mesh networking

The internet is too much like a big tree, and not enough like a mesh. This results in bottlenecks that reduce reliablity, and make chokepoints to be used by repressive forces. If we encourage a mesh of links, we eliminate this set of problems (and get newer, more interesting ones in exchange!)

We should make it possible for small businesses to get a block of addresses that can be accessed through any ISP they happen to use. This would allow truely redundant internet connections just like the big boys. It shouldn't cost US$25,000 to do this... it should cost nothing.

The FCC has a chunk of spectrum to auction off... I'd suggest instead that we give it back to the public, and use it as a massive next generation networking platform instead. As long as the equipment meets the technical requirements, ANYONE should be able to use it to connect, and be part of, the internet.

Mesh networking is the future, we need to get it done.

LaptopJenny returns!

For the first time ever... I got the same laptop back from HP... working, and with all my stuff!

Since I had a backup, I took the opprotunity to remove the "recovery" partition, and get 15 Gigabytes of my hard drive back. I'll consume this in the next 4 months, of course... but for now I have breathing room. 8)

Whew!

Opie

Opie
Originally uploaded by --Mike--

Night time flash photography, through the Nikon Coolpix 8800 really didn't want to focus... I managed to get this one.

Mike's law of intermittent hardware

"Intermittent hardware should be treated as hazardous waste,

and disposed of immediately" - Mike Warot

This is a hard learned lesson... from somewhere around 1997... not sure of the exact date. The fact that a given piece of hardware sometimes works causes you to chase it with time and energy... which will, of course, eventually be found to be a waste.

The exception is if you have the technical facilities, skill and time to repair the part down to the component level, which most of us don't.

Stick a fork in it

Don't worry about the suburban sprawl you see being built on former farmland... it'll all come crashing to a halt soon enough... just read what James Howard Kunstler has to say about it:

My view is that the suburban project, per se, in the United States is over, finished. Like, totally. You can stick a fork in it.

He's got the most focused and realistic view of the future of the US as it relates to land usage of anyone I've read. You'll hate what he has to say at first, but then you'll go "oh shit.. he's right!".

After the rain

After the rain
Originally uploaded by --Mike--

I decided to go take some pictures on the way in to work today... being a big fan of reflection shots.. I managed to catch this one in one of the few tiles that had water in it..

I tweaked it a bit with PaintShopPro X, and cropped out the pavement below.