First of of all I’d just like to point out that this post is about more than one thing and therefore not an oxymoron.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been playing around with the now blazingly fast Prototype 1.5.1 and Scriptaculous 1.7.1 EMCAScript libraries, experimenting with the object-oriented concepts of PHP 5.2 in conjunction with JSON, XSD, XML, XSL, XSLT and PITR/WAL features of Postgres 8.4.7
At work in the same time frame we’ve made the jump from CVS to Subversion for version control of our projects. We’ve also finally got basic LDAP up-and-running for centralized contact management and tied it into colleagues software (variously Outlook, Entourage, Thunderbird or Mail.app) although it’s still using a Berkeley DB back-end and not PostgreSQL as would be preferable as it not available to Debian stable installs as yet. I’ve implemented a quick-and-dirty PHP bridging workaround instead.
For our calendaring system we’re still throwing .ics files at a WebDAV server as Apple’s iCal won’t support CalDAV protocols until version 3 is released with Leopard. Forcing people to use something else (like Sunbird) isn’t exactly inline with the agnostic approach we’re trying to take.
Not only a great Jackie Chan film but also a question we’re asked many, many times every day on the Internet.
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon revisiting openID and the whole concept of single-sign-on authentication systems. This approach is different from the doomed systems previously pushed by Microsoft (Passport), Yahoo! (BBAuth), et alia in which a single organisation wanted control of your online identity (and preferably your credit card details too) by instead opening up a totally decentralised system to fully embrace open source software ideals.
Despite the feeling with some that 2007 will be the “year of identity” I just can’t see it. This isn’t anything I could see a lot of my friends using, let alone my mother. For a start, you need a URI to tie your identity to. The person that can get something simple, secure, accessible to Joe Punchclock and expandable to maybe even include a notion of “trust” could be in a very enviable position.
Needless to say I’m thinking about it . . . a lot.
Published on
March 21, 2007 in
Personal.
You know the kind of emails I’m talking about. We all get them. From a friend (or indeed friends if you’re unlucky) who just has to forward every single piece of idiotic viral email they receive on to everybody else. No matter if it’s urban legend, something everyone has seen three time before, novelty Excel spreadsheet or pleading letter from some quadriplegic goatless boy from Baklaliviatatlaglooshen.
Well this evening I actually got one passed onto me that I enjoyed. It was about “America’s Toughest Sheriff” Joe Arpaio.
I got home from work this evening to find the usual mound of flyers, pizza menus and a few pieces of mail for the completely wrong address. Nothing out of the ordinary there – at least my junk direct mail amounts to next-to-nothing after opting out with both the DMA and the Royal Mail.
But buried among the dross was a sample packet of chocolate digestives from McVities! Result!
A friend of mine gave me the use of his Hearts season ticket to go and watch the Dundee United match yesteray while he was away on holiday.
Words simply can’t express how bad this game was (and this is coming from someone who has seen the ‘mighty’ Halifax Town play). A game completely ruined beyond repair by an inconsistent referee who dismissed a player from either side in the first half and failed to exert any amount of control on the game.
After 90 minutes – and with Hearts on the end of a 0-4 thrashing – the pitch was littered with hats, scarves and even season tickets from fans who have simply had enough with players (and I use the term loosely) who look like they didn’t care. I’m not sure who the Hearts manager is at the moment but I doubt he’ll be there next week.
