Editorial August 26, 2004
Neglected!
So the blogging bug is so strong that I have been neglecting this page for ages - my apologies. I've just added my essay on software publishing, which may be of interest, on the revised Essays page. (August 26, 2004)
Easter
Home again for easter - many thanks to the Sun and partner staff in Australia and New Zealand for their hard work, and to the audiences who listened to my talks. (April 7, 2004)
AP Tour
¶ I get to visit New Zealand for the first time soon - looking forward to it. So excuse the intermittent e-mail and blogging :-) (March 17, 2004)
EclipseCon
¶ I'll be speaking at EclipseCon in Anaheim this week and it seems this has made people with long memories go digging - see the clippings page. (February 2, 2004)
Hot-Cold Start
¶ My travel year has got off to a hot start with travel to cold places - Boston was -15ºC last Friday and New York is a balmy -6ºC today. (January 20, 2004)
Happy Christmas!
¶ The Phipps family in Southampton wish you a very happy Christmas and a fulfilled new year in 2004. (December 25, 2003)
Officially Old
¶ My son Timothy is 18 today and I am officially old. (November 3, 2003)
Colorado
¶ Colorado is incredibly warm at the moment - here for CSS again. We'll be running a Thawte session Thursday night. (October 29, 2003)
Linux Expo London
¶ Many thanks to the great audience in London today, you can download my presentation slides via the Events page. (October 8, 2003)
Back from Australia
¶ And I can confirm we had a splendid time, more to come (no escape...)
(August 26, 2003)
Google Wants Editorial Control
¶ See the related blog entry. (July 16, 2003)
Posting on java.net
¶ I overlooked mentioning it before, but I am now contributing entries to the blogs at java.net (June 22, 2003)
Busy Week Coming
¶ What with JavaOne in San Francisco and an OMA Plenary in Atlanta it's going to be a busy week next week - but at least it's missed my birthday! I'll try to blog as much as the travel schedule and connectivity allows, so watch this space - and if you're there, come for a drink on Thursday June 12. (June 6, 2003)
Condors!
¶ Taking a weekend break down at Big Sur and I am delighted to report that dreams do come true (or prayers get answered, depending on your theology) and I was fortunate enough yesterday to see four Californian Condors roosting in fir trees about four miles south of Essalen. The rest of the day was excellent too, and there's plenty more about it in my blog. Meanwhile, eat your heart out, The Register... (May 18, 2003)
Zürich
¶ Just back from the OMA TP Workshop in Zürich, where there was lively session working on policies, procedures and structures for future OMA work. April 28 is a festical in the city and that evening getting to dinner was great fun as we traversed all the crowds. (April 30, 2003)
Unexpected Break
¶ I was supposed to be in Hong Kong this week, but the OMA meeting was cancelled in the light of all the travel restrictions members had put in place concerning SARS and the war in Iraq. So instead I get to attend the school meetings I would otherwise have missed, and prepare for the upcoming talks on open source (my article on this is still online if you've not seen it). (March 30, 2003)
Actual
Vacation
¶ For those of you wondering where I have been, I have just got back
from a short holiday (totally offline) in St Lucia, about which more elsewhere.
Yes, this one was actually a holiday, no excuses (and no chance to be
online). (March 1, 2003)
Geek Cruisin'
¶ Some may struggle to consider it work, but I'm learning all about .NET this week on a Geek Cruise, as well as delivering some generalist keynote talks. More in the blog, complete with photographs. Work, mark you, work. (February 16, 2003)Laundry
¶ Home just long enough to get my laundry done before I head off for the blue skies and evening fireflies (I wish!) of Florida. Done some housekeeping on the web site, updated books & music, I'd hate it all to get too stale! (February 11, 2003)Old articles were last spooled on March 17
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Thank-you for dropping by!
Welcome to my web site. I've gradually built in the things that interest me - ideas, photos, enterprises and general stuff. It also includes materials to support my speaking and writing engagements, and if you dig you'll find a little personal stuff too. Things change most days, especially in the web-log - I hope you find something that interests you too!
The views expressed are mine alone and cannot be assumed to be those of any other party (employer current or previous, publication, partner, child, cat etc.). They are not for publication unless you obtain my agreement in advance.
Departments
Bookshelf
¶ My
books of the moment are actually reference books for travellers. One
is the FT World Desk Reference, [UK|US] the
other the New Internationalist
World Guide [UK|US].
The two books are totally complementary despite the appearance of conflict
in scope, size and layout.
Both
include
a page-spread per country (minimum) for every country in the world, but
the difference is in the content. The FT guide is very much a factual
and dispassionate directory giving travel, geographical and other facts,
whereas
the NI guide comprises a social and political chronology of the country
from the earliest known point and includes facts like literacy, mortality
and politics. Together they provide me with all the information I feel
I need as I plan my travels.
¶ Faith: I just posted a review of Alan Jamieson's 'A
Churchless Faith' in Personal Reading.
¶ Poetry: I also picked up The Gospels in our Image [US|UK] again,
a delicious poetry anthology that collects poems reflecting on,
illuminating or attacking episodes related in the New
Testament. It's very tasteful and I'd recommend it. Continuing
the religious theme, I am working my way through The Poems of Rowan Williams [UK],
which is less accessible but still sparkles at times - you may
remember he's the new Archbishop.
¶ Photo Books: "Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor
Photography", is still a great book [US|UK],
with unexpected and practical insights. 
And
a family-published photo book, Better Pictures With Your Compact,
is available again after 16 years, check
it out.
Discussion
¶ Up and running on Yahoo Groups with around 40 participants, the discussion area awaits your membership - please join to participate or browse. Each blog entry gets echoed there for discussion so if you'd like to follow the blog but don't want to visit every day to check, subscribing to the Yahoo group in digest mode is a good bet.
The Shop
¶ Your support for the Webmink site is much appreciated. You can only get my t-shirts here - the text is also available on other items. All other copies are imposters. New ladies designs - check them out. Also, I recently added some new photo-haiku items. There are many other items based on my original photographs. Roll up, roll up.Soundtrack
¶ Current fascination is 'One Quiet Night', Pat Metheny's new solo album - more in the blog.
Still captivated by Up by Peter Gabriel [US|UK],
a most unusual album exploring fear, death and grief, first heard on RP.
The sequence 'No Way Out' and 'I Grieve' is shocking and moving, and
on 'More Than
This' Gabriel sounds more like Phil Collins
than ever :-)
¶ Meanwhile, the MP3s streaming
to my laptop, Clié and AudioTron are the new Tori Amos album, Scarlet's Walk -
see my blog for
more - and 'Details' from Frou Frou [US|UK],
a whispering electronica Bjork-alike I first heard on RP.
¶ The internet radio stations of the
momentare SOMA FM for
the late night sessions and Radio Paradise for
the daytimes - eclectic and wonderful, feeding me with new artists
like Frou Frou.
Get active in defence of
reasonable terms for internet radio.
Calendar
¶ I'm home for Easter.
Clippings
¶ Most recent topic: Cited as part of the reporting of Tim Bray joining Sun.
¶ Before that: EclipseCon coverage in eWeek twice.
What's New?
Most recent changes:Added a FOAF file; Spooled stories; New books above; updated book pages; new calendar entries; generally caught up.
Before that: Added new events to calendar.
Revised Essays page. Added St Lucia travelogue
link to News; added new books & music
and updated the books,
personal reading &
music pages, style tinkering,
spooled editorial.
which may or may not be up to date...