Steve Bogner's Blog

They don't dislike us as much as they used to

The BBC today reports that the world is seeing the US more positive than previously. If I read it correctly, 35% of those surveyed think the US has a positive influence on the world, while 47% view it as a negative influence.

The BBC survey reminded me of an Economist editorial I read recently, explaining that US foreign policy is naturally tilted towards US interests, which are not always the same as those of other countries. And that's natural, whether people like it or not; and it won't necessarily change just because we have a new president in office. A country's foreign policy is going to be focused on its needs and goals, which will sometimes be in conflict with other countries.

Everyone wants to be liked, but it's not healthy to pursue that at the cost of one's own safety, security and goals. It's likely that we share a lot of similar goals and interests - as people and as nations - but circumstances will always present us with some differences. While I'm no fan of how the Bush administration has handled foreign policy and our nation's relationship with the world community, I don't expect any other president to magically make everyone love us, either. We're all different, after all. What I do expect, and long for, is for the US to conduct itself with more honesty, integrity, and mutual respect as it engages in the world's affairs.

The Joys of Travel

So this past week was Spring Break for us - always the week after Easter. And this is when we always take our 'big' vacation of the year - to some place warm and sunny. This year we went to an all-inclusive resort in the Bahamas. It was nice, and we had a good time there... but the interesting part is how we got there, and how we didn't make it back.

I booked our trip through a discount online outfit after doing a lot of research. The airfare was from Cincinnati, to New York and then on to Nassau, Bahamas. The night before we left I pulled up the itinerary to see how far the resort was from the airport. I read down the list - some place called FPO was only 11 miles, and Nassau was 150 miles. Hey - wait a minute! Did I read that right? About the same time, my older son Nick asked me which one of the Bahamas islands we were staying at. Apparently, the wrong one. I took a look at a map of the Bahamas, and found that FPO meant Freeport, and yes indeed it was on an island about 150 miles from Nassau.

So I called the discount online travel outfit to have them route us on to Freeport instead of Nassau. I got some guy named Roger, who had a thick Indian accent, who promptly apologized and tried to get us a new hotel room in Nassau county, New York. What!? No, no, no! I want you to change our flights to end up in Freeport! Well, after 15 minutes of that, he said he couldn't do anything for us, that it was our fault we booked to Nassau instead of Freeport - but I think it's their fault for presenting us flight options to Nassau when the hotel I had selected was in Freeport.

So at 11:30 in the evening prior to leaving first thing in the following morning, I booked a flight on Bahamas Air from Nassau to Freeport. It wasn't very costly, and it got us there. And I saved our vacation - yeah!

But... on the return back to Nassau on Friday they were so late that we missed our connection back home. No weather problems, no explanation, just poor service. I've come to learn that's just the way it works in the Bahamas. And with this being spring break week - Delta said they couldn't get us all back home until Tuesday!

So finally I called someone I can count on, who has always come through and never failed to please me - American Express. Their Platinum Travel group figured out a way to get us home on Sunday, found nice hotels for us to stay in until then, and were so darned pleasant, helpful, smart and efficient that I swear I will never use discount travel brokers again. I swear.

Software everywhere

So I have been working with various new software packages lately, with mixed results. First let me say, I believe that open source software is a great thing, it's the way to go. I use Firefox and OpenOffice and they work great. But...

A while ago I got a Linux server up and going - I'm using SUSE linux from Novell. It's full of open source software, and their package works well. But I don't have the time and patience to learn all the gory details about configuring and modifying and installing software manually, from the shell. Back when I was younger I actually did some of that for a living - working with SCO Xenix, a very early version of Unix for the PC platform. But now, I don't have that time and patience and am just looking to get some things installed and working. And I am finding that goal to be very frustrating in the open source market.

First, I installed Silverstripe - a web content management system, based on PHP. The install forced me to go modify some PHP configuration, but it wasn't too bad. But, I can't create users for the CMS for some reason. I posted a message or two on their community forum, but nothing... So I asked Silverstripe support to take a look; they will do that for a fee. Now, I bill my time for a living, so I understand about charging for services; but then, I would also expect the software to work out of the box. So I'm going to take a look at the Drupal CMS and see if it works.

I also need a web-based email user management and config management system. I know it can all be done on the command line with postifx, but I'm looking for an easier-to-use way. So, I downloaded Ravencore, but it won't successfully install either. It gets hung-up somewhere; I posted to their support forum and got some nice help from someone, but not enough to fix the problem. And somewhere in the course of installing and reinstalling and trying to get Ravencore going, my server went down. First, gnome stopped working, then the router stopped working, and dhcp stopped working too. It took a day to get that all corrected. So now I'll probably try postfix.Admin and see if it works.

I also wanted an easier way to administer mysql, so I downloaded their graphical administration tool. It works fine, but it wasn't a seamless or simple installation either.

So after all this I'm sort of soured on open source software. Maybe part of the problem is that I'm running 64-bit SUSE with Apache 2 - it seems there aren't a lot of folks with this setup yet. And I'm sure part of the problem is that there are so many different variations of Linux to program for, to consider when installing. That's a problem in itself - standardization in an open source community. I'm sure it will 'get there' some day...

One in Four(!)

I read in a few of the usual news outlets today that one in four teenage girls have a sexual transmitted disease. That's incredibly sad! I know I'm getting older, but I don't remember such a level of sexual activity in the teenagers of my day (early 80's). And yet, I know that casual sex is more prevalent today with young adults, and I suppose it was just a matter of time before that made it's way down the chain to teenagers.

I wonder if these kids knew the risks they were taking? Would it have made a difference in their behavior? Hopefully so, but it has to be difficult for kids swimming against the tide on this one.

It's still Winter

Even though it was in the 60's last weekend, it's still Winter here. By Saturday afternoon we're supposed to get 10 to 14 inches of snow, with gusty winds that blow it around into nice drifts. Here in Cincinnati that's a big deal.

But it's all tempered a bit because I get to go to Orlando next week to speak at an industry conference; I'm fairly sure there will not be snow there :)

My Linux Journey

The past week or so I've been getting a Linux server up and running for my business - and it has been quite an experience! A good one, though.

I purchased a small Dell server, installed SUSE Linux on it, and hooked it up to an APC uninterruptible power supply. Then I managed to setup the server to also be a router, so I could scrap my old Linksys router; and the Linux server seems to make for a much faster router, too. Then I got Apache up and running, ftp'd my web files from the hosting service over to my Linux box, pointed the DNS services to it and that was that. I also had a consultant install Buzilla on it, which will be customized and used to help me manage customer issues. I also installed NoMachine's NX server so that I can do GNOME logins from practically anywhere.

Future plans for the server include moving my email there - probably using the Kerio product because I am hooked on Outlook and Windows Mobile for my group-ware. And I'll add a blogging software product - maybe Movable Type because it's like Typepad and I like Typepad. And the Share Point alternative from O3Spaces will probably get installed this coming week. Oh, and an LDAP implementation.

So that's a lot, but it hasn't been a ton of work, either. I'm familiar with a lot of the technical terms and such because back in the late 80's I was a Systems Engineer for a little company, working mostly on SCO Xenix systems (an early variant of AT&T Unix for Intel x86 platforms). A lot has changed since then, that is sure; but many of the details are still the same.

The server will pay for itself in less than a year because I'll be able to eliminate hosting and email services. Hopefully it will also be a revenue generator! It's nice that Linux and its applications have gotten to the point where small business like mine can realistically make a go of it. And it's good to see so many good open source applications out there.

Bemoaning the state of American culture

The New York Times had an article on a new book by Susan Jacoby titled 'The Age of American Unreason'. She points out how some Americans are fairly ignorant about world events, history, geography and so on. She's right - some Americans are fairly uneducated about all that, or maybe they forget what they learned in school. It was interesting to read the comments on the story - most were in agreement with her, and many faulted religion.

But is this specific to the United States? Probably not; in most every country you'll find uneducated people, or people who didn't do so well in school and don't care about it. Is it due to religion? I don't think so; there are many religious people who also happen to be highly educated and smart. And what does it all have to do with culture anyway?

When people bemoan the state of American culture, I think they are really expressing their embarrassment of parts of the culture that they find personally offensive. It happens with every generation; there are always those who 'get it' and those who don't. There are the cultural elite and everyone else.

I'm getting old enough now to recognize how I'm losing touch with the current culture, but I resist comparing it to the good ol' days (the 80's weren't that great, after all). Culture iss culture, and we're all part of it; even those who revel in watching a celebrity struggle with basic geography.

Gotcha on camera!

Cincinnati is considering installing red-light cameras - these are cameras that can tell when you run a red traffic light and then take a picture of your license plate. I suppose then the city will send you a traffic ticket and a fine to pay. The city says it could raise $1 million per year. The NAACP says it's an intrusion on our private lives.

An intrusion on our private lives? What's private about running a red-light? That's a social thing, since there are other drivers and pedestrians on the road. Why would they oppose red-light cameras based on an argument of privacy? It doesn't make sense to me.

And if the program could raise $1 million per year, then that's money that could be funneled back into neighborhoods and public safety, which Cincinnati sorely needs.

Carnival Parade in Aruba

Here's some video of the 54th Grand Carnival Parade in Aruba. We went to downtown Oranjestad to watch it, not really knowing what to expect other than people in wild costumes dancing along the route.

While we did get just that, we weren't ready for the bone-shaking volume of the music! Each group had its own band of musicians, typically all perched on the back of a big truck. Each truck had an electrical generator, which seemed large enough to have lit my house, to power the instruments and a huge wall of speakers on the front and back. The volume was as loud as any concert I've attended!

So, here it is - the quality downgraded a bit because it's YouTube, but I hope you'll get an idea of what it was like to be there.

My view

That was the view from my chair on Saturday. Ahhhh, peaceful and relaxing and refreshing.

Back in December I arranged a Christmas present for my wife - a trip for the both of us to a romantic little getaway in Aruba. Back then I didn't realize that I scheduled it the same time as the Super Bowl, or that it would coincide with Carnival in Aruba. We'll go see the grand carnival parade today, and then I'm sure we will be able to catch the big game on a TV somewhere here at the hotel. But it's funny, given the options available - beach, ocean, meandering walks around the place with my wifey - the Super Bowl just doesn't hold as much appeal now...