Rational SoftwareArchitect and Subclipse on Linux

As my development needs have grown, I have discovered the usefulness of running VMWare on my Mac to do development -- especially for applications that are ultimately destined to run in a Linux environment. However, much of the development stack is slightly less manageable in that environment than it would be in *gasp* Windows. (Rational doesn't even officially support the Mac!)

So, I have to make adjustments. The latest one is when I set up Subclipse. Normally, this is a simple download/install. It's gotten a bit harder, now, with the requirement for the JavaHL library, and doubly so, when you mix that in with Linux.

When Subclipse cannot find this library it provides the useless message: "Unable to load default SVN client." That actually means, "I cannot find libsvnjavahl-1.so".

I went hunting for it, and it wasn't installed, so I went down the "yum provides" path:

yum provides libsvnjavahl-1.so

That led me to subversion-javahl, which I was able to install.

Restarting Rational did not improve my situation, however. I did get a message that told me what the java library path was, however, so I just soft-linked the library into one of those directories:

ln -s /usr/lib64/libsvnjavahl-1.so /opt/IBM/SDP/jdk/jre/lib/amd64/libsvnjavahl-1.so

That fixed it.

I could have gone in and edited eclipse.ini somewhere, but this link was quicker and had the benefit of being fairly resilient against software upgrades.

Cause and Effect

The recent events in Tuscon and the furious debate about the part violent political rhetoric and images played in it have had me thinking. I am saddened that we are so degenerate as to have spent the majority of the day that was dedicated to memorialize the victims and heroes discussing the merits of a Fox commentator's speech, rather than trying to get to the bottom of the more substantive question, "Was this heinous act in any way related to the violent words and images that have been cropping up in our politics?"

Karen Hughes, former Press Secretary for George W. Bush, said this: "...while words cannot be blamed for violent acts, words are powerful things. Scripture counsels that we will be held accountable for every careless one. Our words can lift up or tear down, bring us together or rip us apart. Our political debates can and should be spirited. But our words should seek to convince, not to bludgeon." in her article in the Washington Post. What is interesting is how similar it is to Sarah Palin's claim that, "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them. Not collectively, with all the citizens of the state."

Both are essentially saying, "You cannot trace a direct line from the rhetoric to this event."

Meyers is honest enough to add, however, that the rhetoric can "build up or tear down" and that we "will be held accountable for every careless [word]".

So the rhetoric cannot be blamed for the murders, but words are intrinsically powerful and can change the environment into which they are cast.

This is similar to the problem we face with global warming. Most weather scientists will say something like: "While increasing global temperature cannot be blamed for any particular event, it can be understood to increase the likelihood of such events." In other words, global warming creates conditions that are more favorable for catastrophic weather events, but you cannot say that a particular catastrophe was caused by global warming.

If over-heated language is like global warming, then wouldn't it be prudent to look for ways to cool it off?

I think so, and I hope my political leaders do, too. Then again, there are a lot of people who choose to ignore the signs of global warming.

Been a while

So.... It has been a while. I have moved into my office, started my new gig within IBM as a corporate WebMaster, raised kids for three years, and lived a ridiculously busy life. But the blog ideas still come occasionally - and are ignored.

Well, that needs to change.

More on that in the next post.

More on my hideaway

The woodworking is done! I am so pleased to be past that huge milestone.

The final piece of the puzzle was the 16 1/3 foot long table I installed a week ago. I am now in the process of finishing it and the rest of the space - starting with shelves and doors.

Here are a series of pictures I took today.

The top one is a look down the office from the door. The big table on the right has consumed way too much time getting built, but there it is, with its second coat of finish drying on it. The book shelves on the floor down the middle are drying as well, having gotten a first coat on their second side.

I got a sprayer for the water-based poly I am using on all the pine. The table is getting oil-based stuff, which is a little more difficult to apply, but gives a better finish in my opinion.

The next one looks down on the table and shows how the wood just glows with an inner beauty. This is the reason I love woodworking -- polishing up a little of God's creation and realizing that the real artist is not me at all!

The next one shows the far end of the table, and the last one is looking down the length of it, and still only captures about three fourths of the whole thing.

I am really looking forward to getting the finish up and moving on to putting up lighting and getting carpet installed. Then I can move in!

I'll post some more pics when we get there.

Web 2.0 - what is it?

This is an amazing video on Web 2.0 and its implications.

The Home Stretch

We are finishing up our Lenten activity over the next couple days. Kim Marie threw her hat in the ring on Fat Tuesday. The election is on Tuesday, April 10 - just over 40 days (not including feast days) later. Lent. So I will be out holding a sign for several hours tomorrow (Monday) and then out all day on Election Day. This will be tiring, lonely work, but that is part of what Lent is about -- waiting.

But it is the home stretch. Win or lose, after the dust clears on Tuesday we'll be able to go back to semi-normal life. The laundry will get folded. The taxes can get done. Finally. So, while Easter has happened (Hallelujah!) in the Liturgical year, we are still waiting for that burst of new life that comes after the 40 days in the desert.

The sins of the fathers

I am not political. But my wife is running for School Committee and some of my best friends are very political. So it's rubbing off.

One of my friends basically ordered me to show up at this 'Beer & Budget' gathering for (primarily) fathers to talk with the School Superintendent and a School Committee member about money. I was glad I went. It was a very informative discussion. At many levels. Politically. Financially. Historically.

It got me to thinking about a book I was given by another friend of mine, who is convinced that the financial world as we know it is going to end in the next 10 years. The book, entitled Prophecy of Rich Dad, (there's a whole series of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books by Robert T. Kiyosaki) discusses the fact that the WW II generation has passed on the problem of funding the health care and welfare of the elderly on to the baby boom generation by looting the entire Social Security Trust Fund in order to pay the operating budget of the US government. (This is a massive oversimplification, but it gets to the point.)

It's similar to what has happened in our town. Twenty seven years ago, our 'fathers' in Massachusetts passed a really restrictive law on how much money each town can raise in taxes, so the towns all responded by selling off unused properties and buildings to meet their operating budgets, and then ignoring the decay of the town's schools and other buildings until there was simply no choice but to act. These short-sighted policies have put us in a real bind. Our school enrollments are growing and there's no schools big enough to house them. Starting a little more than 10 years ago, the town has had to go into a massive rebuilding program that will take at least ten more years to complete. When we have finished, I suspect that we will have renovated every school in the district, added two more, and renovated or replaced the Library, Senior Center, Town Hall and various other office buildings at a cost of, oh, somewhere between one and two thirds of a billion dollars. So I get to help pay off the deferred debts of my predecessors. All I can say is that I am glad that I live on the cheap side of town - those $1M+ homeowners on the other side of town are gonna feel it.

Kiyosaki suggests that the problem with government is that it is too easy to push off tough problems to the next generation. I agree. And I don't see this as a liberal vs. conservative issue, either. Liberals are too busy trying to save the world to fix the plumbing, and conservatives are too busy cutting taxes to bother with bridges.

There's a story circulating that we are, as a species, wired only to look out for short-term trouble. Whatever the reason, we'd better get our act together. Global warming, the impending bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare, etc. are now our sins, too, unless we choose to repent of the pattern of pushing off the big problems and face the music.