Archive for May, 2004

Today’s Political Links

• The terror threat at home, often overlooked: this is a CS Monitor article from a few months ago, and it blew my mind. The article recounts a couple instances of domestic terrorism plots that were averted, yet they’ve received almost zero play in the media. Domestic terrorism is an issue that no one can score political points with (i.e. no one’s going to win an election preaching about the dangers of domestic anti-government groups), and to me it shows how much of a lap dog the media has become. If you read the article, I think you’ll agree it deserves as much attention as terrorism from foreign sources.
• Torture at Abu Ghraib: this New Yorker article is not an easy read, but it’s an important one. It’s a first attempt to determine exactly who was involved or complicit in the torture of Iraqi prisoners. It’s looking like it went further then a handful of MPs. And this CS Monitor article - To Arabs, photos confirm brutal US - indicates that these incidents have pretty much destroyed whatever credibility the US still had with moderate Iraqis. I’ll try to follow up on this in a post later this week.

Today’s Non-Political Links

• Jay and Pauline’s India Blog: requires a password. You may recall that I put up this blog for them, and then I had to remove the link for it (as they discussed some things in the blog that got into intellectual property concerns with Jay’s company). We resolved the problem by adding a password to the blog. It’s a really excellent read. Just send me an email and I’ll give you the password.
• Drive Around the World: I already have a link for this in the menu on your right, but they just added a fantastic Flash intro, so it’s worth a second look (it’s an animation that maps out their journey). If you missed my previous post on this, I’m friends with Nick, who’s the driving force (pun intended) of the group.
• fuh2.com: don’t click this link of you’re not up for some profanity. A site for those who hate Hummers and everything Hummers represent.

Coming Out From Under

Sorry for the slowdown in my posts here recently. Kai and I were sick for a few days last week, and then Kai was hit with Spring allergies. This is our first Spring in PA, so we weren’t prepared for this mini-cataclysm. He’s been having a hard time sleeping because of coughing (due to post-nasal drip - yum) and uncontrollable scratching (due to hives breaking out all over his skin). While in general it’s a good thing he inherited more traits from Maria than me, he unfortunately inherited her allergy problems. So we’re up usually a couple times a night now, to re-apply the various potions and lotions he needs so he can be comfortable enough to sleep (and not scratch himself to the point of bleeding). We’ve been to his doctor, but apparently the various heavy-duty allergy treatment options are not considered safe for toddlers, so we’ll have to tough it out for now.

In happier news, my Dad and step-mom came to visit us this past weekend, for the first time since we moved to PA. It was a pleasant and relaxing weekend, and it provided a great excuse to not do any work on the house for a few days

The Job

It’s dawned on me that I haven’t said much about my new job yet. One of the major downsides to leaving California was giving up my job at HighWire, but I’m happy to report that I like my new job at U Penn’s School of Medicine even better. I’m in the Information Services group. I don’t have as much customer contact as I did at HighWire (which I miss), but on the technical side, there is a much greater breadth to the work. Instead of having a primary focus on just scripting, I’m doing a lot of application design and database development. My current projects are a web-based email account application system, and revamping the Med student online application process. All the tools used here are new to me - PHP, Oracle, Smarty, and some home-grown tools - so that also helps keep things fresh. I’m working in a small group of about a dozen very likeable people, so I’m making new friends too. Unfortunately, my position is funded for only one year. It looks like there’s a good chance it’ll be extended for a second year, or made permanent, so I’m crossing my fingers. I’ll find out when the budget is finalized for the next fiscal year, which will happen around the end of the summer.

The application architecture that’s been deployed here is the best I’ve seen. A typical architecture for web applications consists of a database backend, Java or CGI scripts as a middle “application” layer, a templating system for the front end, and maybe a security layer (typically handled through the web server or the application layer). The architecture here has 4 layers: 1. the database (Oracle) back-end; 2. the LDL (Logical Data Layer), which provides role-based access to the database (you define your queries in XML, along with column and row based access rules, and it’s then compiled for better performance); 3. the “WI-Engine” which serves as the application layer, written in PHP (it allows you to design your pages in an object-oriented fashion - using “panels,” “subpanels,” and “dialogs” which can communicate with each other); 4. a template layer, using Smarty.

The WI-Engine took the most getting used to, as I had to orient myself to thinking of all the page components as objects. Once you get going with it though, it’s very efficient. The LDL is cleverly constructed. Since the applications we design are for use within the School, you always run into issues such as what a student can do with an application vs. what an administrator can do with it. All those access rules are clearly defined in one place, and it’s sitting just above the database itself, so it’s quite unlikely that someone could hack through any loopholes in the application layer.