(312,1,'2011-02-24 00:05:09','2011-02-24 04:05:09','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-13','','','2011-02-24 00:05:09','2011-02-24 04:05:09','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/272-revision-13/',0,'revision','',0),(313,1,'2011-02-23 23:50:49','2011-02-24 03:50:49','<h2>The Web Tool Kit And Publishing Your First Web Page</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Web Tool Kit\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/teaching/web_toolkit.jpg\" alt=\"Web Tool Kit\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" />This page summarizes the first of approximately 13 sections that I will teach during the Spring semester of 2011. Generally, sections last between an hour-and-a-half to two hours and are attended by at least a half-dozen students willing to sacrifice their Monday evenings with me. I spend the first half of a section doing a song-and-dance with PowerPoint and online demonstrations; the latter half is spent giving hands-on help to students as they work to complete their assignments.\r\n\r\nMy first section of the semester includes introductions, a brief summary of the course, and, more importantly, giving students an opportunity to publish an actual web page. Of course, some students are already accomplished at this last task, but for many others, this is a first: Having their own web page, their own creation, as simple as it may be, out there for the entire internet see.\r\n\r\nWe overview what I call the Web Tool Kit, a suite of applications that the students will become intimately familiar with over the course of the semester. This software includes their web browser, the web server, a text editor of their choice, an SSH client for logging into the server, an SFTP client for securely uploading files to the server, and last, but surely not least, the Web itself.\r\n\r\nFinally we delve into XHTML elements, the building blocks of the web, and once familiar with what an element looks like, we take a few and construct the skeleton of a web page. We don\'t necessarily go over individual elements or what they do--that\'s for later. For now, just knowing that these blocks can come together to form a web page is sufficient.\r\n\r\nThe final exercise involves taking this newly minted page and pushing it to the server. Here we cover concepts such as the basics of a URL, how a web server interprets a URL to find a web page, and how we prepare our files and folders to be found. Once everything is in place, we visit the web server and view our new, and sometimes first, web page, happy to see it meet us with a simple greeting, \"Hello World!\"\r\n<h3>Resources</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Section 1 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\"><strong>Section 01 Slides</strong></a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)\r\n\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home page</a>','Section 01','','inherit','open','open','','281-revision-11','','','2011-02-23 23:50:49','2011-02-24 03:50:49','',281,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/281-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(322,1,'2011-05-18 22:05:48','2011-05-19 02:05:48','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been relatively plain repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web was nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--and yet that was its draw. But the web has grown since then. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And so forms were born.\r\n\r\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peek at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\r\n\r\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\r\n\r\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up content, but not for dressing it up. To add finesse to a page, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','publish','open','open','','section-03','','','2011-05-18 22:19:47','2011-05-19 02:19:47','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/',0,'page','',0),(315,1,'2011-02-24 01:21:37','2011-02-24 05:21:37','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" src=\"/images/teaching/bouncing_www.gif\" alt=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" width=\"200\" height=\"100\" />\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\r\n\r\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\r\n\r\nWell, that\'s how I sometimes think about it. Maybe I\'m being cynical, but here\'s the story:\r\n\r\nDespite having over a decade of experience in web site development, I felt my  days of being a manager were slowly bleeding me dry of my expertise. Granted, I was learning an entirely new skill set, one that many deftly describe as \"herding cats\", but in the meantime I was falling behind the times when it came to technological trends. Finally,  I decided to put a stop to it, and volunteered to assist <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in teaching his class, the “<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>”. I figured it would force myself to keep myself up-to-date, and I was right.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, I continue to teach when I can, for it keeps my knowledge fresh, my curiosity satiated. I often wish I had time to teach more subjects [2. A co-worker and I are thinking of putting together a JavaScript class--because we\'re convinced we can ignore the need to sleep for several months.] simply because I would learn so much more. Alas, there are only 24 hours in a day, one-third of which I sleep through.\r\n\r\nThis semester, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience online. If you go to the \"<a title=\"Teaching\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Teaching</a>\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','This spring, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience with the world. If you go to the \"Teaching\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','publish','open','open','','follow-the-bouncing-web-instructor','','','2011-02-24 01:21:37','2011-02-24 05:21:37','',0,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?p=315',0,'post','',1),(316,1,'2011-02-24 00:32:24','2011-02-24 04:32:24','\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\n\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of they\'re working lives managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\n\nWell, that\'s how I like to think about.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','','inherit','open','open','','315-revision','','','2011-02-24 00:32:24','2011-02-24 04:32:24','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(317,1,'2011-02-24 00:33:24','2011-02-24 04:33:24','\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\n\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\n\nWell, that\'s how I like to think about.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','','inherit','open','open','','315-revision-2','','','2011-02-24 00:33:24','2011-02-24 04:33:24','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(318,1,'2011-02-24 00:55:09','2011-02-24 04:55:09','\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\r\n\r\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\r\n\r\nWell, that\'s how I sometimes think about it. Maybe I\'m being cynical, but here\'s the story:\r\n\r\nDespite having over a decade of experience in web site development, I felt my  days of being a manager were slowly bleeding me dry of my expertise. Granted, I was learning an entirely new skill set, one that many deftly describe as \"herding cats\", but in the meantime I was falling behind the times when it came to technological trends. Finally,  I decided to put a stop to it, and volunteered to assist <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in teaching his class, the “<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>”. I figured it would force myself to keep myself up-to-date, and I was right.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, I continue to teach when I can, for it keeps my knowledge fresh, my curiosity satiated. I often wish I had time to teach more subjects [2. A co-worker and I are thinking of putting together a JavaScript class--because we\'re convinced we can ignore the need to sleep for several months.] simply because I would learn so much more. Alas, there are only 24 hours in a day, one-third of which I sleep through.\r\n\r\nThis semester, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience online. If you go to the \"Teaching\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','','inherit','open','open','','315-revision-3','','','2011-02-24 00:55:09','2011-02-24 04:55:09','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(319,1,'2011-02-24 00:55:13','2011-02-24 04:55:13','\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\r\n\r\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\r\n\r\nWell, that\'s how I sometimes think about it. Maybe I\'m being cynical, but here\'s the story:\r\n\r\nDespite having over a decade of experience in web site development, I felt my  days of being a manager were slowly bleeding me dry of my expertise. Granted, I was learning an entirely new skill set, one that many deftly describe as \"herding cats\", but in the meantime I was falling behind the times when it came to technological trends. Finally,  I decided to put a stop to it, and volunteered to assist <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in teaching his class, the “<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>”. I figured it would force myself to keep myself up-to-date, and I was right.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, I continue to teach when I can, for it keeps my knowledge fresh, my curiosity satiated. I often wish I had time to teach more subjects [2. A co-worker and I are thinking of putting together a JavaScript class--because we\'re convinced we can ignore the need to sleep for several months.] simply because I would learn so much more. Alas, there are only 24 hours in a day, one-third of which I sleep through.\r\n\r\nThis semester, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience online. If you go to the \"Teaching\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','','inherit','open','open','','315-revision-4','','','2011-02-24 00:55:13','2011-02-24 04:55:13','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(320,1,'2011-02-24 01:21:00','2011-02-24 05:21:00','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" src=\"/images/teaching/bouncing_www.gif\" alt=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" width=\"200\" height=\"100\" />\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\n\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\n\nWell, that\'s how I sometimes think about it. Maybe I\'m being cynical, but here\'s the story:\n\nDespite having over a decade of experience in web site development, I felt my  days of being a manager were slowly bleeding me dry of my expertise. Granted, I was learning an entirely new skill set, one that many deftly describe as \"herding cats\", but in the meantime I was falling behind the times when it came to technological trends. Finally,  I decided to put a stop to it, and volunteered to assist <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in teaching his class, the “<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>”. I figured it would force myself to keep myself up-to-date, and I was right.\n\nTwo years later, I continue to teach when I can, for it keeps my knowledge fresh, my curiosity satiated. I often wish I had time to teach more subjects [2. A co-worker and I are thinking of putting together a JavaScript class--because we\'re convinced we can ignore the need to sleep for several months.] simply because I would learn so much more. Alas, there are only 24 hours in a day, one-third of which I sleep through.\n\nThis semester, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience online. If you go to the \"Teaching\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','','inherit','open','open','','315-revision-5','','','2011-02-24 01:21:00','2011-02-24 05:21:00','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(321,1,'2011-02-24 01:22:41','2011-02-24 05:22:41','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" src=\"/images/teaching/bouncing_www.gif\" alt=\"Follow the bouncing web instructor\" width=\"200\" height=\"100\" />\"Those who can, do; those who can\'t, teach.\"\n\nLet me modify <a title=\"George Bernard Shaw\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw\">George Bernard Shaw</a>\'s famous quip[1. Or it might have been H. L. Mencken, depending on who you ask.]: \"Those who can, do; those who can, but unfortunately can\'t because they\'re spending most of their working hours managing and meeting with others, teach.\"\n\nWell, that\'s how I sometimes think about it. Maybe I\'m being cynical, but here\'s the story:\n\nDespite having over a decade of experience in web site development, I felt my  days of being a manager were slowly bleeding me dry of my expertise. Granted, I was learning an entirely new skill set, one that many deftly describe as \"herding cats\", but in the meantime I was falling behind the times when it came to technological trends. Finally,  I decided to put a stop to it, and volunteered to assist <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in teaching his class, the “<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>”. I figured it would force myself to keep myself up-to-date, and I was right.\n\nTwo years later, I continue to teach when I can, for it keeps my knowledge fresh, my curiosity satiated. I often wish I had time to teach more subjects [2. A co-worker and I are thinking of putting together a JavaScript class--because we\'re convinced we can ignore the need to sleep for several months.] simply because I would learn so much more. Alas, there are only 24 hours in a day, one-third of which I sleep through.\n\nThis semester, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience online. If you go to the \"<a title=\"Teaching\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Teaching</a>\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','Follow the Bouncing Web Instructor','This spring, I\'ve decided to try something different: I\'m sharing my teaching experience with the world. If you go to the \"Teaching\" pages within my site, you can follow my instructional exploits. Every week, I\'ll post a small summary of what I taught in my class, and I\'ll attach the slide decks I\'m creating for my students.','inherit','open','open','','315-autosave','','','2011-02-24 01:22:41','2011-02-24 05:22:41','',315,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/315-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(325,1,'2011-02-24 00:02:20','2011-02-24 04:02:20','<h2>Validation, XHTML Markup, And Tables</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"The validator\" src=\"/images/teaching/validate_me.jpg\" alt=\"Validate me!\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" />Web pages, like the best of us, need love, too. As authors, we need to craft our XHTML with care, massaging head and body with finesse, primping and beautifying our markup, and most of all, validating it, lest it behave awkwardly, often temperamentally, once exposed to the world. Think of XHTML validation as an author\'s public display of affection.\r\n\r\nThus we spend a good portion of section 2 going over how to validate XHTML documents, and why this validation is so important. We discuss the<a title=\"XHTML DTD\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_dtd.asp\"> Document Type Definition</a> and what it means to authors and browsers. We crown our XHTML document with it, and send the whole page off to the <a title=\"The W3C Markup Validation Service\" href=\"http://validator.w3.org/\">W3C validator.</a> We analyze any errors, do what we can to clean things up, then rinse and repeat until we\'re certain our XHTML shines with perfection.\r\n\r\nOnce we understand how to validate XHTML, we go into the fundamentals of building a web document, reviewing the most popular of <a title=\"HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0 Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/tags/\">XHTML elements</a>, such as the ubiquitous <code>&lt;p&gt;</code> tag, the conspicuous heading tags, the orderly <code>&lt;ol&gt;</code> tag, and its unorderly sibling, the <code>&lt;ul&gt;</code> tag. Finally, we spend a great deal of time addressing one of the most important structures in XHTML, the table, and how to appropriately construct them.\r\n\r\nAn underpinning theme of the section, emphasized while we validate documents and construct tables, is <a title=\"Web Accessibility Initiative\" href=\"http://www.w3.org/WAI/\">accessibility</a>. Often an after-thought, accessibility allows people and devices, especially the browser on which we depend on as our interpreters, to better understand the dialect within our web pages. Without accessibility, web pages may unintentionally hide pertinent information from a large population of the community, or perhaps display the information incorrectly.\r\n<h3>Resources</h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Section 02 Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0 Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp\">HTML 4.01 / XHTML 1.0 Reference</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"HTML Tables\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_tables.asp\">(X)HTML Tables</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Mastering Tables | HTML Dog\" href=\"http://htmldog.com/guides/htmladvanced/tables/\">Mastering Tables</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible Tables\" href=\"http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse9.htm\">Accessible Tables</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 02','','inherit','open','open','','304-revision-6','','','2011-02-24 00:02:20','2011-02-24 04:02:20','',304,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/304-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(326,1,'2011-05-18 20:03:01','2011-05-19 00:03:01','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\nblah blah blah blah\n<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li>Section 02 Slides</li>\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\n</ul>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\n</span>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-2','','','2011-05-18 20:03:01','2011-05-19 00:03:01','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(327,1,'2011-05-18 20:06:23','2011-05-19 00:06:23','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\nblah blah blah blah\n<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li>Section 03 Slides (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-3','','','2011-05-18 20:06:23','2011-05-19 00:06:23','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(338,1,'2011-05-26 10:01:40','2011-05-26 14:01:40','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/03/aotearoa-by-matt-wigdahl/\">This article</a> originally appeared on March 4, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Aotearoa\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/aotearoa.jpg\" alt=\"Aotearoa\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" />The winners of the <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY awards</a>, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the <a title=\"Grammy Awards\" href=\"http://www.grammy.com/\">Grammys</a> and <a title=\"Oscar Awards\" href=\"http://oscar.go.com/\">Oscars</a>, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them <a title=\"Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/showuser?id=9y7pa3x5vi1fzi5e\">Matt Wigdahl</a>‘s “<a title=\"Aotearoa\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgemhttp://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgem\">Aotearoa</a>“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the <a title=\"IFComp 2010\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">Interactive Fiction Competition</a> last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven  of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best  Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and  Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it,  especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge  of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete  this game, if not a little more.\r\n\r\n“Aotearoa” follows the adventurers of 12-year-old Tim Cooper, a denizen  of an alternate Earth where the microcontinent of Zealandia did not sink  beneath the ocean. Instead of the New Zealand we know today, the  landmass of Aotearoa formed, harboring climate and geographical elements  that permitted a few species of dinosaurs to survive the <a title=\"Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event\">K-T extinction</a>.  In the modern era, when we meet Tim, man and beast coincide on the  island in relative harmony through the efforts of the joint  British/Māori government’s effective conservancy policies. Tim has been  selected by the Aotearoa Conservation Service to participate in their  Junior Fieldwork Program. While en route to join up with others, Tim and  his Māori guide, Eruera, find themselves in the sights of profiteers  who, in the tradition of ivory hunters, wish to poach the dinosaurs. The  poacher’s destroy Tim’s boat, leaving him and an injured Eruera  stranded on a remote beach. It’s up to the player to guide Tim as he  seeks to return to civilization.\r\n\r\nIt’s evident that a great deal of thought and research went into  crafting the game’s alternate history. In addition to the information  that the player learns within the game itself, Wigdahl includes a number  of appendices containing geographical and historical information about  our own New Zealand and its “Aotearoa” counterpart. However, it’s not  the information alone that earned the game its Best Setting award; it’s  the way the setting is realistically brought to life. Wigdahl takes full  advantage of his alternate time line, bringing species other than the  dinosaurs back from extinction, and creating at least one species that  conceivably might-have-been. And it’s the behavior of these imaginative  creations that cements us in this new reality and earned the game its  Best NPCs award. Showmanship, mating dances, and mimicry abound–in  essence, these animals act like we might expect them to act were we to  discover them in our own world. These interactions also serve as the key  elements to solving many of the game’s puzzles.\r\n\r\nAs with the physical setting, Wigdahl takes as much care to implement  the cultural and spiritual background of the island. Like the New  Zealand of our world, Aotearoa is populated by the Polynesian ancestors  of the tribal Māori, and thus their heritage suffuses both island and  game. The introduction opens with a dream about Māui, the Māori  trickster, bringing the island into existence; Eruera, his speech  studded with Māori words, assists the player with additional tales; and  finally, a glossary of the Māori language is included among the  appendices.\r\n\r\nWigdahl’s weaving of these settings, both physical and spiritual,  into Tim’s personal journey makes this a solid piece of  character-oriented fiction. We first meet Tim as a timid boy, certainly  excited to have an opportunity to see dinosaurs, yet feeling alone and  afraid in foreign surroundings. He’s not unfamiliar with being alone and  afraid–we soon discover he’s an orphan, his parents the victim of a  horrible accident. Although Tim’s tragic history doesn’t necessarily  serve as the obstacle he must overcome, his lack of family suggests he’s  more alone than many people, and establishes his need to connect with  someone. It turns out this someone is the human, animal, and spiritual  inhabitants of the island with whom Tim collaborates to outwit the  poachers.\r\n\r\nThe bond between a white male and non-white, indigenous natives inevitably brings up comparisons to the <a title=\"The Messiah Complex\" href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html\">‘White Messiah’ fable</a>,  wherein a white man finds spiritual fulfillment among a ‘race’  typically oppressed by white men. This oppression is usually sustained  by superior technology, though the ‘natives ‘seem to have a superior  sense of how all beings and their surroundings interrelate (another  familiar trope, that of the ‘<a title=\"Wikipedia: Noble Savage\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage\">Noble Savage</a>‘).  Embraced by the ‘natives’ and exiled by his own kin, the protagonist  leads his new brotherhood to victory against his oppressive family. It’s  a popular, if controversial staple of science fiction and fantasy. <em><a title=\"Avatar\" href=\"http://www.avatarmovie.com/\">Avatar</a></em>, <em><a title=\"Dune\" href=\"http://www.dunenovels.com/\">Dune</a></em>, even portions of <em><a title=\"The Wheel of Time\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time\">The Wheel of Time</a></em>, herald the exploits of the ‘White Messiah.’\r\n\r\nTo be certain there is a dash of the ‘White Messiah’ fable within “Aotearoa”, enough to warrant comment from <a title=\"Emily Short: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/if-comp-2010-aotearoa/\">several</a> <a title=\"Sarah Morayati: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://www.sarahmorayati.com/2010/11/aotearoa/\">reviewers</a>, <a title=\"Yoo Ha Lee\'s review\" href=\"http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1107205.html\">one of whom</a> actually downgraded her rating of the game because it shares some elements of the trope. But unlike <em>Avatar</em> and <em>Dune</em>,  the ‘White Messiah’ fable isn’t the point of “Aotearoa”, and many  crucial elements of the fable are missing: It’s evident that the island  and the inhabitants can and will survive without Tim (the poachers are a  mere inconvenience, at best), Tim hasn’t been exiled by anyone, and he  isn’t on his way to becoming the Māui’s leader. Tim is simply a  12-year-old boy who happens to stumble into an adventure that many  12-year-old boys would appreciate: A chance to explore a fantastical  island inhabited by dinosaurs.','IF Review: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl','The winners of the XYZZY awards, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the Grammys and Oscars, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them Matt Wigdahl‘s “Aotearoa“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the Interactive Fiction Competition last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it, especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete this game, if not a little more.','publish','open','open','','338','','http://sffportal.net/2011/03/aotearoa-by-matt-wigdahl/\nhttp://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/if-comp-2010-aotearoa/\nhttp://www.sarahmorayati.com/2010/11/aotearoa/','2011-05-26 10:02:22','2011-05-26 14:02:22','',0,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?p=338',0,'post','',0),(329,1,'2011-05-18 22:05:38','2011-05-19 02:05:38','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been fairly plain; repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web may have been nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--that was its power. But the web has grown, and so has its power. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And forms were born.\n\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peak at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\n\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\n\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up page, but not for dressing it up. For this, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\n<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-4','','','2011-05-18 22:05:38','2011-05-19 02:05:38','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(330,1,'2011-05-18 22:19:43','2011-05-19 02:19:43','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been relatively plain repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web was nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--and yet that was its draw. But the web has grown since then. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And so forms were born.\n\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peek at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\n\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\n\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up content, but not for dressing it up. To add finesse to a page, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\n<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-autosave','','','2011-05-18 22:19:43','2011-05-19 02:19:43','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(331,1,'2011-05-18 22:05:48','2011-05-19 02:05:48','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been fairly plain; repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web may have been nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--that was its power. But the web has grown, and so has its power. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And forms were born.\r\n\r\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peak at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\r\n\r\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\r\n\r\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up page, but not for dressing it up. For this, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-5','','','2011-05-18 22:05:48','2011-05-19 02:05:48','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(332,1,'2011-05-18 22:07:06','2011-05-19 02:07:06','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been relatively plain repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web was nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--and yet that was its power. But the web has grown since then. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And forms were born.\r\n\r\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peak at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\r\n\r\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\r\n\r\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up page, but not for dressing it up. For this, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-6','','','2011-05-18 22:07:06','2011-05-19 02:07:06','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(333,1,'2011-05-18 22:17:41','2011-05-19 02:17:41','<h2>Forms and an Introduction to CSS</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Two birds\" src=\"/images/teaching/two_birds.jpg\" alt=\"GET and POST\" width=\"250\" height=\"146\" />Up until this week, our web pages have been relatively plain repositories of information with a few links scattered here and there. Make no mistake, such a page is powerful in its own right. Indeed, the early web was nothing but one page hyperlinking to the next--and yet that was its draw. But the web has grown since then. Even in the early days, web surfers clamored for interactivity, a way to send information rather than simply read it. And forms were born.\r\n\r\nIn this section, we cover XHTML forms, from outside-in. We first discuss the magic of forms, how they send data to a web server with GET and POST methods, and we even take a peak at the data, actually see how web servers and web clients talk to each other in simple name-value pairs.\r\n\r\nWe then construct a form, adding fieldsets and legends, and explore the numerous types of input that are available: text boxes and text areas, check boxes and radio buttons, drop-down menus, buttons, and even fields hidden from the casual eye. We unravel how each can identify a name-value pair, and we make it all accessible through appropriate labels and id attributes.\r\n\r\nBut interactivity is not enough; a web page must be pleasing to the eye, conducive to the hand. XHTML in itself is fantastic at marking up page, but not for dressing it up. For this, another language must be learned: CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets. We have a quick anatomy lesson, introducing CSS rules, selectors, declarations, properties, and values. And we learn how to incorporate these new rules into our page, either by embedding styles into elements, the page itself, or linking to an external sheet.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 03 Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"XHTML Forms and Input\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp\">XHTML Forms and Input</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms\" href=\"http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/beginner/\">Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms</a></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ \">W3C CSS Validator</a></span></li>\r\n	<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a title=\"Fancy Form Design Using CSS\" href=\"http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css\">Fancy Form Design Using CSS</a></span></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"/teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 03','','inherit','open','open','','322-revision-7','','','2011-05-18 22:17:41','2011-05-19 02:17:41','',322,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/322-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(334,1,'2011-05-18 23:18:30','2011-05-19 03:18:30','<h2>Cascading Style Sheets</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Cascading Style Sheets\" src=\"/images/teaching/cascade.jpg\" alt=\"Braving the Cascade\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />In the previous section, we introduced the basic concepts of CSS: Its rules, selectors, and how to incorporate CSS into a web page. This section we really dive into the cascade, examining the intricacies of CSS.\r\n\r\nBut first we step back and revisit how the browser parses XHTML into a family tree affectionately known as the DOM (Document Object Model). It is upon the members of this family tree, the individual XHTML elements, on which CSS operators. We learn that through a variety of CSS selectors, we can dole out styles to any element or combination of elements we want. And through the concept of inheritance, we explore how these styles can apply to either parent or child elements or more often than not, both.\r\n\r\nWe then identify the various sources of style sheets including the browser\'s internal style sheets, those provided by the reader, and finally those we, as web developers, author ourselves. We also revisit how CSS can be embedded in elements, web pages, and separate files. With so many sources and so many ways to select XHTML elements, we soon discover there\'s plenty of room for one rule to conflict with another.\r\n\r\nBehold the power of the Cascade, which determines how one CSS rule is chosen over another. We break the cascade down into its fundamental parts--the source of a rule, the specificity of a rule\'s selector, and the order in which a rule--and show how each part plays a critical role in resolving conflicts. It\'s a daunting task at first, especially when we learn that math can be involved, but the ultimate lesson is this: The more we deal with the Cascade, the easier it is to navigate.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Section 04 Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/\">W3C CSS Validator</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Specifity Wars\" href=\"http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html\">CSS Specificity Wars</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Specifity for Poker Players\" href=\"http://iamacamera.org/default.aspx?id=95\">CSS Specificity for Poker Players</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Cheat Sheet\" href=\"http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=2795D\">CSS Cheat Sheet: Inheritance, Cascade, Specificity</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 04','','publish','open','open','','section-04','','','2011-05-18 23:18:30','2011-05-19 03:18:30','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/',0,'page','',0),(335,1,'2011-05-18 23:10:28','2011-05-19 03:10:28','','Section 04','','inherit','open','open','','334-revision','','','2011-05-18 23:10:28','2011-05-19 03:10:28','',334,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/334-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(336,1,'2011-05-18 23:16:44','2011-05-19 03:16:44','<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03 Slides\" href=\"../../teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Section 04 Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Reference\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_reference.asp\">CSS Reference</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"W3C CSS Validator\" href=\"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/\">W3C CSS Validator</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Specifity Wars\" href=\"http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html\">CSS Specificity Wars</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Specifity for Poker Players\" href=\"http://iamacamera.org/default.aspx?id=95\">CSS Specificity for Poker Players</a></li>\n	<li>CSS Cheat Sheet: Inheritance, Cascade, Specificity</li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 04','','inherit','open','open','','334-revision-2','','','2011-05-18 23:16:44','2011-05-19 03:16:44','',334,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/334-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(337,1,'2011-02-24 00:06:00','2011-02-24 04:06:00','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-14','','','2011-02-24 00:06:00','2011-02-24 04:06:00','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/02/272-revision-14/',0,'revision','',0),(339,1,'2011-05-26 09:57:55','2011-05-26 13:57:55','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/03/aotearoa-by-matt-wigdahl/\">This article</a> originally appeared on March 4, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\n\nThe winners of the <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY awards</a>, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the <a title=\"Grammy Awards\" href=\"http://www.grammy.com/\">Grammys</a> and <a title=\"Oscar Awards\" href=\"http://oscar.go.com/\">Oscars</a>, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them <a title=\"Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/showuser?id=9y7pa3x5vi1fzi5e\">Matt Wigdahl</a>‘s “<a title=\"Aotearoa\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgemhttp://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgem\">Aotearoa</a>“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the <a title=\"IFComp 2010\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">Interactive Fiction Competition</a> last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven  of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best  Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and  Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it,  especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge  of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete  this game, if not a little more.\n\n“Aotearoa” follows the adventurers of 12-year-old Tim Cooper, a denizen  of an alternate Earth where the microcontinent of Zealandia did not sink  beneath the ocean. Instead of the New Zealand we know today, the  landmass of Aotearoa formed, harboring climate and geographical elements  that permitted a few species of dinosaurs to survive the <a title=\"Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event\">K-T extinction</a>.  In the modern era, when we meet Tim, man and beast coincide on the  island in relative harmony through the efforts of the joint  British/Māori government’s effective conservancy policies. Tim has been  selected by the Aotearoa Conservation Service to participate in their  Junior Fieldwork Program. While en route to join up with others, Tim and  his Māori guide, Eruera, find themselves in the sights of profiteers  who, in the tradition of ivory hunters, wish to poach the dinosaurs. The  poacher’s destroy Tim’s boat, leaving him and an injured Eruera  stranded on a remote beach. It’s up to the player to guide Tim as he  seeks to return to civilization.\n\nIt’s evident that a great deal of thought and research went into  crafting the game’s alternate history. In addition to the information  that the player learns within the game itself, Wigdahl includes a number  of appendices containing geographical and historical information about  our own New Zealand and its “Aotearoa” counterpart. However, it’s not  the information alone that earned the game its Best Setting award; it’s  the way the setting is realistically brought to life. Wigdahl takes full  advantage of his alternate time line, bringing species other than the  dinosaurs back from extinction, and creating at least one species that  conceivably might-have-been. And it’s the behavior of these imaginative  creations that cements us in this new reality and earned the game its  Best NPCs award. Showmanship, mating dances, and mimicry abound–in  essence, these animals act like we might expect them to act were we to  discover them in our own world. These interactions also serve as the key  elements to solving many of the game’s puzzles.\n\nAs with the physical setting, Wigdahl takes as much care to implement  the cultural and spiritual background of the island. Like the New  Zealand of our world, Aotearoa is populated by the Polynesian ancestors  of the tribal Māori, and thus their heritage suffuses both island and  game. The introduction opens with a dream about Māui, the Māori  trickster, bringing the island into existence; Eruera, his speech  studded with Māori words, assists the player with additional tales; and  finally, a glossary of the Māori language is included among the  appendices.\n\nWigdahl’s weaving of these settings, both physical and spiritual,  into Tim’s personal journey makes this a solid piece of  character-oriented fiction. We first meet Tim as a timid boy, certainly  excited to have an opportunity to see dinosaurs, yet feeling alone and  afraid in foreign surroundings. He’s not unfamiliar with being alone and  afraid–we soon discover he’s an orphan, his parents the victim of a  horrible accident. Although Tim’s tragic history doesn’t necessarily  serve as the obstacle he must overcome, his lack of family suggests he’s  more alone than many people, and establishes his need to connect with  someone. It turns out this someone is the human, animal, and spiritual  inhabitants of the island with whom Tim collaborates to outwit the  poachers.\n\nThe bond between a white male and non-white, indigenous natives inevitably brings up comparisons to the <a title=\"The Messiah Complex\" href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html\">‘White Messiah’ fable</a>,  wherein a white man finds spiritual fulfillment among a ‘race’  typically oppressed by white men. This oppression is usually sustained  by superior technology, though the ‘natives ‘seem to have a superior  sense of how all beings and their surroundings interrelate (another  familiar trope, that of the ‘<a title=\"Wikipedia: Noble Savage\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage\">Noble Savage</a>‘).  Embraced by the ‘natives’ and exiled by his own kin, the protagonist  leads his new brotherhood to victory against his oppressive family. It’s  a popular, if controversial staple of science fiction and fantasy. <em><a title=\"Avatar\" href=\"http://www.avatarmovie.com/\">Avatar</a></em>, <em><a title=\"Dune\" href=\"http://www.dunenovels.com/\">Dune</a></em>, even portions of <em><a title=\"The Wheel of Time\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time\">The Wheel of Time</a></em>, herald the exploits of the ‘White Messiah.’\n\nTo be certain there is a dash of the ‘White Messiah’ fable within “Aotearoa”, enough to warrant comment from <a title=\"Emily Short: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/if-comp-2010-aotearoa/\">several</a> <a title=\"Sarah Morayati: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://www.sarahmorayati.com/2010/11/aotearoa/\">reviewers</a>, <a title=\"Yoo Ha Lee\'s review\" href=\"http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1107205.html\">one of whom</a> actually downgraded her rating of the game because it shares some elements of the trope. But unlike <em>Avatar</em> and <em>Dune</em>,  the ‘White Messiah’ fable isn’t the point of “Aotearoa”, and many  crucial elements of the fable are missing: It’s evident that the island  and the inhabitants can and will survive without Tim (the poachers are a  mere inconvenience, at best), Tim hasn’t been exiled by anyone, and he  isn’t on his way to becoming the Māui’s leader. Tim is simply a  12-year-old boy who happens to stumble into an adventure that many  12-year-old boys would appreciate: A chance to explore a fantastical  island inhabited by dinosaurs.','','','inherit','open','open','','338-revision','','','2011-05-26 09:57:55','2011-05-26 13:57:55','',338,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/338-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(340,1,'2011-05-26 10:01:40','2011-05-26 14:01:40','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/03/aotearoa-by-matt-wigdahl/\">This article</a> originally appeared on March 4, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Aotearoa\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/aotearoa.jpg\" alt=\"Aotearoa\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" />The winners of the <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY awards</a>, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the <a title=\"Grammy Awards\" href=\"http://www.grammy.com/\">Grammys</a> and <a title=\"Oscar Awards\" href=\"http://oscar.go.com/\">Oscars</a>, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them <a title=\"Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/showuser?id=9y7pa3x5vi1fzi5e\">Matt Wigdahl</a>‘s “<a title=\"Aotearoa\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgemhttp://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgem\">Aotearoa</a>“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the <a title=\"IFComp 2010\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">Interactive Fiction Competition</a> last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven  of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best  Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and  Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it,  especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge  of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete  this game, if not a little more.\r\n\r\n“Aotearoa” follows the adventurers of 12-year-old Tim Cooper, a denizen  of an alternate Earth where the microcontinent of Zealandia did not sink  beneath the ocean. Instead of the New Zealand we know today, the  landmass of Aotearoa formed, harboring climate and geographical elements  that permitted a few species of dinosaurs to survive the <a title=\"Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event\">K-T extinction</a>.  In the modern era, when we meet Tim, man and beast coincide on the  island in relative harmony through the efforts of the joint  British/Māori government’s effective conservancy policies. Tim has been  selected by the Aotearoa Conservation Service to participate in their  Junior Fieldwork Program. While en route to join up with others, Tim and  his Māori guide, Eruera, find themselves in the sights of profiteers  who, in the tradition of ivory hunters, wish to poach the dinosaurs. The  poacher’s destroy Tim’s boat, leaving him and an injured Eruera  stranded on a remote beach. It’s up to the player to guide Tim as he  seeks to return to civilization.\r\n\r\nIt’s evident that a great deal of thought and research went into  crafting the game’s alternate history. In addition to the information  that the player learns within the game itself, Wigdahl includes a number  of appendices containing geographical and historical information about  our own New Zealand and its “Aotearoa” counterpart. However, it’s not  the information alone that earned the game its Best Setting award; it’s  the way the setting is realistically brought to life. Wigdahl takes full  advantage of his alternate time line, bringing species other than the  dinosaurs back from extinction, and creating at least one species that  conceivably might-have-been. And it’s the behavior of these imaginative  creations that cements us in this new reality and earned the game its  Best NPCs award. Showmanship, mating dances, and mimicry abound–in  essence, these animals act like we might expect them to act were we to  discover them in our own world. These interactions also serve as the key  elements to solving many of the game’s puzzles.\r\n\r\nAs with the physical setting, Wigdahl takes as much care to implement  the cultural and spiritual background of the island. Like the New  Zealand of our world, Aotearoa is populated by the Polynesian ancestors  of the tribal Māori, and thus their heritage suffuses both island and  game. The introduction opens with a dream about Māui, the Māori  trickster, bringing the island into existence; Eruera, his speech  studded with Māori words, assists the player with additional tales; and  finally, a glossary of the Māori language is included among the  appendices.\r\n\r\nWigdahl’s weaving of these settings, both physical and spiritual,  into Tim’s personal journey makes this a solid piece of  character-oriented fiction. We first meet Tim as a timid boy, certainly  excited to have an opportunity to see dinosaurs, yet feeling alone and  afraid in foreign surroundings. He’s not unfamiliar with being alone and  afraid–we soon discover he’s an orphan, his parents the victim of a  horrible accident. Although Tim’s tragic history doesn’t necessarily  serve as the obstacle he must overcome, his lack of family suggests he’s  more alone than many people, and establishes his need to connect with  someone. It turns out this someone is the human, animal, and spiritual  inhabitants of the island with whom Tim collaborates to outwit the  poachers.\r\n\r\nThe bond between a white male and non-white, indigenous natives inevitably brings up comparisons to the <a title=\"The Messiah Complex\" href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html\">‘White Messiah’ fable</a>,  wherein a white man finds spiritual fulfillment among a ‘race’  typically oppressed by white men. This oppression is usually sustained  by superior technology, though the ‘natives ‘seem to have a superior  sense of how all beings and their surroundings interrelate (another  familiar trope, that of the ‘<a title=\"Wikipedia: Noble Savage\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage\">Noble Savage</a>‘).  Embraced by the ‘natives’ and exiled by his own kin, the protagonist  leads his new brotherhood to victory against his oppressive family. It’s  a popular, if controversial staple of science fiction and fantasy. <em><a title=\"Avatar\" href=\"http://www.avatarmovie.com/\">Avatar</a></em>, <em><a title=\"Dune\" href=\"http://www.dunenovels.com/\">Dune</a></em>, even portions of <em><a title=\"The Wheel of Time\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time\">The Wheel of Time</a></em>, herald the exploits of the ‘White Messiah.’\r\n\r\nTo be certain there is a dash of the ‘White Messiah’ fable within “Aotearoa”, enough to warrant comment from <a title=\"Emily Short: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/if-comp-2010-aotearoa/\">several</a> <a title=\"Sarah Morayati: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://www.sarahmorayati.com/2010/11/aotearoa/\">reviewers</a>, <a title=\"Yoo Ha Lee\'s review\" href=\"http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1107205.html\">one of whom</a> actually downgraded her rating of the game because it shares some elements of the trope. But unlike <em>Avatar</em> and <em>Dune</em>,  the ‘White Messiah’ fable isn’t the point of “Aotearoa”, and many  crucial elements of the fable are missing: It’s evident that the island  and the inhabitants can and will survive without Tim (the poachers are a  mere inconvenience, at best), Tim hasn’t been exiled by anyone, and he  isn’t on his way to becoming the Māui’s leader. Tim is simply a  12-year-old boy who happens to stumble into an adventure that many  12-year-old boys would appreciate: A chance to explore a fantastical  island inhabited by dinosaurs.','','The winners of the XYZZY awards, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the Grammys and Oscars, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them Matt Wigdahl‘s “Aotearoa“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the Interactive Fiction Competition last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it, especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete this game, if not a little more.','inherit','open','open','','338-revision-2','','','2011-05-26 10:01:40','2011-05-26 14:01:40','',338,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/338-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(341,1,'2011-05-26 10:03:25','2011-05-26 14:03:25','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/03/aotearoa-by-matt-wigdahl/\">This article</a> originally appeared on March 4, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\n\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Aotearoa\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/aotearoa.jpg\" alt=\"Aotearoa\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" />The winners of the <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY awards</a>, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the <a title=\"Grammy Awards\" href=\"http://www.grammy.com/\">Grammys</a> and <a title=\"Oscar Awards\" href=\"http://oscar.go.com/\">Oscars</a>, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them <a title=\"Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/showuser?id=9y7pa3x5vi1fzi5e\">Matt Wigdahl</a>‘s “<a title=\"Aotearoa\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgemhttp://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=lrbpmlpsknsgvgem\">Aotearoa</a>“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the <a title=\"IFComp 2010\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">Interactive Fiction Competition</a> last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven  of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best  Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and  Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it,  especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge  of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete  this game, if not a little more.\n\n“Aotearoa” follows the adventurers of 12-year-old Tim Cooper, a denizen  of an alternate Earth where the microcontinent of Zealandia did not sink  beneath the ocean. Instead of the New Zealand we know today, the  landmass of Aotearoa formed, harboring climate and geographical elements  that permitted a few species of dinosaurs to survive the <a title=\"Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event\">K-T extinction</a>.  In the modern era, when we meet Tim, man and beast coincide on the  island in relative harmony through the efforts of the joint  British/Māori government’s effective conservancy policies. Tim has been  selected by the Aotearoa Conservation Service to participate in their  Junior Fieldwork Program. While en route to join up with others, Tim and  his Māori guide, Eruera, find themselves in the sights of profiteers  who, in the tradition of ivory hunters, wish to poach the dinosaurs. The  poacher’s destroy Tim’s boat, leaving him and an injured Eruera  stranded on a remote beach. It’s up to the player to guide Tim as he  seeks to return to civilization.\n\nIt’s evident that a great deal of thought and research went into  crafting the game’s alternate history. In addition to the information  that the player learns within the game itself, Wigdahl includes a number  of appendices containing geographical and historical information about  our own New Zealand and its “Aotearoa” counterpart. However, it’s not  the information alone that earned the game its Best Setting award; it’s  the way the setting is realistically brought to life. Wigdahl takes full  advantage of his alternate time line, bringing species other than the  dinosaurs back from extinction, and creating at least one species that  conceivably might-have-been. And it’s the behavior of these imaginative  creations that cements us in this new reality and earned the game its  Best NPCs award. Showmanship, mating dances, and mimicry abound–in  essence, these animals act like we might expect them to act were we to  discover them in our own world. These interactions also serve as the key  elements to solving many of the game’s puzzles.\n\nAs with the physical setting, Wigdahl takes as much care to implement  the cultural and spiritual background of the island. Like the New  Zealand of our world, Aotearoa is populated by the Polynesian ancestors  of the tribal Māori, and thus their heritage suffuses both island and  game. The introduction opens with a dream about Māui, the Māori  trickster, bringing the island into existence; Eruera, his speech  studded with Māori words, assists the player with additional tales; and  finally, a glossary of the Māori language is included among the  appendices.\n\nWigdahl’s weaving of these settings, both physical and spiritual,  into Tim’s personal journey makes this a solid piece of  character-oriented fiction. We first meet Tim as a timid boy, certainly  excited to have an opportunity to see dinosaurs, yet feeling alone and  afraid in foreign surroundings. He’s not unfamiliar with being alone and  afraid–we soon discover he’s an orphan, his parents the victim of a  horrible accident. Although Tim’s tragic history doesn’t necessarily  serve as the obstacle he must overcome, his lack of family suggests he’s  more alone than many people, and establishes his need to connect with  someone. It turns out this someone is the human, animal, and spiritual  inhabitants of the island with whom Tim collaborates to outwit the  poachers.\n\nThe bond between a white male and non-white, indigenous natives inevitably brings up comparisons to the <a title=\"The Messiah Complex\" href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html\">‘White Messiah’ fable</a>,  wherein a white man finds spiritual fulfillment among a ‘race’  typically oppressed by white men. This oppression is usually sustained  by superior technology, though the ‘natives ‘seem to have a superior  sense of how all beings and their surroundings interrelate (another  familiar trope, that of the ‘<a title=\"Wikipedia: Noble Savage\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage\">Noble Savage</a>‘).  Embraced by the ‘natives’ and exiled by his own kin, the protagonist  leads his new brotherhood to victory against his oppressive family. It’s  a popular, if controversial staple of science fiction and fantasy. <em><a title=\"Avatar\" href=\"http://www.avatarmovie.com/\">Avatar</a></em>, <em><a title=\"Dune\" href=\"http://www.dunenovels.com/\">Dune</a></em>, even portions of <em><a title=\"The Wheel of Time\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time\">The Wheel of Time</a></em>, herald the exploits of the ‘White Messiah.’\n\nTo be certain there is a dash of the ‘White Messiah’ fable within “Aotearoa”, enough to warrant comment from <a title=\"Emily Short: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/if-comp-2010-aotearoa/\">several</a> <a title=\"Sarah Morayati: IF Comp 2010: Aotearoa\" href=\"http://www.sarahmorayati.com/2010/11/aotearoa/\">reviewers</a>, <a title=\"Yoo Ha Lee\'s review\" href=\"http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1107205.html\">one of whom</a> actually downgraded her rating of the game because it shares some elements of the trope. But unlike <em>Avatar</em> and <em>Dune</em>,  the ‘White Messiah’ fable isn’t the point of “Aotearoa”, and many  crucial elements of the fable are missing: It’s evident that the island  and the inhabitants can and will survive without Tim (the poachers are a  mere inconvenience, at best), Tim hasn’t been exiled by anyone, and he  isn’t on his way to becoming the Māui’s leader. Tim is simply a  12-year-old boy who happens to stumble into an adventure that many  12-year-old boys would appreciate: A chance to explore a fantastical  island inhabited by dinosaurs.','IF Review: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl','The winners of the XYZZY awards, the Interactive Fiction community’s answer to the Grammys and Oscars, have been announced. A plethora of science fiction and fantasy titles are among the award recipients, chief among them Matt Wigdahl‘s “Aotearoa“, a speculative fiction piece which also won the Interactive Fiction Competition last year. “Aotearoa” swept the awards, winning in no less than seven of the thirteen categories, including Best Game, Best Setting, Best Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Implementation, and Best Use of Innovation. Clearly, the game has a lot going for it, especially for a work of short IF, though its length teeters on the edge of our definition: It will take average players two hours to complete this game, if not a little more.','inherit','open','open','','338-autosave','','','2011-05-26 10:03:25','2011-05-26 14:03:25','',338,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/338-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(343,1,'2011-07-29 16:48:34','2011-07-29 20:48:34','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Rogue of the Multiverse by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/07/rogue-of-the-multiverse-by-c-e-j-pacian/\">This article</a> originally appeared on July 13, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\r\n\r\n<a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/rogue_multiverse.jpg\" alt=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\r\n\r\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\r\n\r\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\r\n\r\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\r\n\r\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\r\n\r\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','C.E.J. Pacian’s “Rogue of the Multiverse“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition, and was subsequently nominated for several XYZZY Awards, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.','publish','open','open','','if-review-rogue-of-the-multiverse-by-c-e-j-pacian','','\nhttp://sffportal.net/2011/07/rogue-of-the-multiverse-by-c-e-j-pacian/','2011-07-29 16:52:40','2011-07-29 20:52:40','',0,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?p=343',0,'post','',0),(344,1,'2011-07-29 16:40:24','2011-07-29 20:40:24','<img src=\"http://sffportal.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/showimage-e1310530963497.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\n\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\n\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\n\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\n\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\n\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\n\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','','inherit','open','open','','343-revision','','','2011-07-29 16:40:24','2011-07-29 20:40:24','',343,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/07/343-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(345,1,'2011-07-29 16:47:57','2011-07-29 20:47:57','<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/rogue_multiverse.jpg\" alt=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" /><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\r\n\r\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\r\n\r\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\r\n\r\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\r\n\r\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\r\n\r\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','','inherit','open','open','','343-revision-2','','','2011-07-29 16:47:57','2011-07-29 20:47:57','',343,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/07/343-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(346,1,'2011-07-29 16:53:44','2011-07-29 20:53:44','<em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Rogue of the Multiverse by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/07/rogue-of-the-multiverse-by-c-e-j-pacian/\">This article</a> originally appeared on July 13, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\n\n<a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/rogue_multiverse.jpg\" alt=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\n\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\n\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\n\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\n\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\n\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\n\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','C.E.J. Pacian’s “Rogue of the Multiverse“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition, and was subsequently nominated for several XYZZY Awards, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.','inherit','open','open','','343-autosave','','','2011-07-29 16:53:44','2011-07-29 20:53:44','',343,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/07/343-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(347,1,'2011-07-29 16:48:34','2011-07-29 20:48:34','<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/rogue_multiverse.jpg\" alt=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" /><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\r\n\r\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\r\n\r\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\r\n\r\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\r\n\r\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\r\n\r\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','C.E.J. Pacian’s “Rogue of the Multiverse“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition, and was subsequently nominated for several XYZZY Awards, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.','inherit','open','open','','343-revision-3','','','2011-07-29 16:48:34','2011-07-29 20:48:34','',343,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/07/343-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(348,1,'2011-07-29 16:52:17','2011-07-29 20:52:17','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em></em><em>Author’s note: <a title=\"The Portal: Rogue of the Multiverse by Matt Wigdahl\" href=\"http://sffportal.net/2011/07/rogue-of-the-multiverse-by-c-e-j-pacian/\">This article</a> originally appeared on July 13, 2011, in <a title=\"The Portal\" href=\"http://www.sffportal.net/\">The Portal</a>, an online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy literary reviews.</em>\r\n\r\n<a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" src=\"/images/blog/posts/ifcomps/rogue_multiverse.jpg\" alt=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a><a title=\"C.E.J. Pacian\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xwedbibfksczn7eq\">C.E.J. Pacian’s</a> “<a title=\"Rogue of the Multiverse\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=clrttol4iw7juc0k\">Rogue of the Multiverse</a>“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the <a title=\"2010 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://ifcomp.org/\">2010 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, and was subsequently nominated for several <a title=\"XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.\r\n\r\nYou assume the role of an inmate within an offworld prison. Surrounded by unfriendly aliens who appear to have a distinct dislike, yet healthy appetite, for humans, your predicament deteriorates when a routine computer scan congratulates you on being selected for scientific experimentation. Under the careful observation of the reptilian Doctor Sliss, you are to be matter-transmitted to a variety of less-than-hospitable worlds where your mission is to quickly bag-and-tag valuable salvage. As might be expected in a game set within a prison, this new role as Doctor  Sliss’s ‘assistant’ ultimately provides an opportunity to escape.\r\n\r\nAlthough you take the guise of the protagonist, the true heroine of this story is your antagonist, Doctor Sliss. It is not difficult to see why this character earned the game its XYZZY award: It is her wonderfully comic and spirited personality, not that of the player, that suffuses the game; it is mostly her motivations and ambitions, not those of the player, that drive the story forward. In many ways, she is the <a title=\"GLaDOS\" href=\"http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/GLaDOS\">GLaDOS</a> of this particular facility.\r\n\r\nAnd where GLaDOS had her test chambers, Sliss has her offworld missions. These are a series of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Rogue\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29\">Rogue</a>-like expeditions where your goal is to wander through a grid of a randomly-generated terrain collecting a series of randomly-generated objects while avoiding (or hunting) some randomly-generated monsters. If this sounds monotonous, it is, which is a shame, for the game’s title implies that perhaps these chapters were originally the heart of the story. Certainly, a great deal of care and programming went into this multiverse, and its inclusion in the game is at first interesting, but it doesn’t take long to discover that there isn’t much to explore here. Landscapes are minimally described, as are the objects for which you hunt, and you can do little with these objects other than tag or examine them. A few monsters lurk about, some even attack you, but their presence tends to be more than a nuisance than a challenge.\r\n\r\nA nuisance rather than a challenge best describes the missions as a whole. This might have been alleviated if there had been a secondary goal to them–say, to tag objects that could directly be used to thwart Doctor Sliss or attempt your escape. Instead, the sole purpose of the missions is to trade in the tagged salvage for money. Granted, you can take advantage of these new funds to purchase items necessary to further the story, but the whole affair feels like the text adventure equivalent of a standard computer role-playing grind. Finally, the procedurally generated content resulted in at least two bugs that I encountered: A sauropod, munching on treetops in on an otherwise treeless mountain summit, cannot be examined or tagged; and there is a condor that swoops into an area, only to disappear from the game a turn later without explanation.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, the missions represent the most amount of interactivity and freedom you will have while playing the game. A majority of the other scenes require either (1) typing in a command suggested by someone within the game, or (2) repeating a single action over and over again. For example, to move the beginning of the story forward, you must literally move forward repeatedly, lest you face certain doom from your inmates or other hazards within the prison. It could be argued that this inability to interact is reflective of the confines of imprisonment, but if so, then I would have expected to have more freedom in my actions outside of the prison; this does not turn out to be the case. Instead, with the exception of one act, we are relentlessly pressed onward as if caught in a textual cinematic.\r\n\r\nDespite these shortcomings, “Rogue of the Multiverse” remains a fun, entertaining experience, primarily due to the sharp, comedic wit found throughout the game. Again, a majority of this theater stems from the antics of the award-winning Doctor Sliss, but even the other, minor NPCs have distinct personalities, and contribute to the overall comic escapades (and the author isn’t afraid to sink to a little toilet humor, literally). Furthermore, Pacian’s tight prose in both descriptions and dialogue deftly conveys your predicament: You are an alien on an alien world, and there’s trouble afoot. Add to this a variety of game styles–including the aforementioned missions, an action sequence, the <a title=\"The Sims\" href=\"http://www.thesims3.com/\">Sims</a>-like ability to decorate your prison cell with in-game goods, and some sly character generation reminiscent of the <a title=\"Ultima IV Character Creation\" href=\"http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultima-iv-character-creation.html\">Ultima IV personality test</a>–and “Rogue of the Multiverse” deserves its placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition.','IF Review: Rogue of the Multiverse by C.E.J. Pacian','C.E.J. Pacian’s “Rogue of the Multiverse“, a delightful blend of comedy and science-fiction, demonstrates how good writing, endearing characters, and the incorporation of various game genres can help a title overcome what the IF community might normally consider flaws in implementation. Despite fairly linear gameplay and some outright bugs, “Rogue of the Multiverse” took third place in the 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition, and was subsequently nominated for several XYZZY Awards, including Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Use of Innovation, and Best Individual NPC, the last of which the game won.','inherit','open','open','','343-revision-4','','','2011-07-29 16:52:17','2011-07-29 20:52:17','',343,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/07/343-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(350,1,'2011-11-11 19:18:31','2011-11-11 23:18:31','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"May the Flow be with you...\" src=\"/images/teaching/yoda_use_the_flow.jpg\" alt=\"May the Flow be with  you...\" width=\"250\" height=\"168\" />In our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Section 05 Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/\">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','publish','open','open','','section-05','','','2011-11-11 19:18:47','2011-11-11 23:18:47','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?page_id=350',0,'page','',0),(351,1,'2011-11-11 19:03:08','2011-11-11 23:03:08','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\n\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\n\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\n\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li>Section 05 Slides (PDF, MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/ \">CSS Positioning</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\n	<li>Taming Lists</li>\n	<li>More Nav Lists</li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision','','','2011-11-11 19:03:08','2011-11-11 23:03:08','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(352,1,'2011-11-11 19:03:53','2011-11-11 23:03:53','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Section 05 Slides (PDF, MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/ \">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-2','','','2011-11-11 19:03:53','2011-11-11 23:03:53','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(353,1,'2011-11-11 19:03:57','2011-11-11 23:03:57','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Section 05 Slides (PDF, MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/ \">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-3','','','2011-11-11 19:03:57','2011-11-11 23:03:57','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(354,1,'2011-11-11 19:04:46','2011-11-11 23:04:46','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Section 05 Slides (PDF, MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/\">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-4','','','2011-11-11 19:04:46','2011-11-11 23:04:46','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(355,1,'2011-11-11 19:16:39','2011-11-11 23:16:39','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Section 05 Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/\">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-5','','','2011-11-11 19:16:39','2011-11-11 23:16:39','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(356,1,'2011-11-11 19:18:20','2011-11-11 23:18:20','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"May the Flow be with you...\" src=\"/images/teaching/yoda_use_the_flow.jpg\" alt=\"May the Flow be with  you...\" width=\"250\" height=\"168\" />In our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Section 05 Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/\">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-6','','','2011-11-11 19:18:20','2011-11-11 23:18:20','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(357,1,'2011-11-11 19:18:31','2011-11-11 23:18:31',' ','','','publish','open','open','','357','','','2011-11-11 19:18:31','2011-11-11 23:18:31','',0,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/357/',4,'nav_menu_item','',0),(358,1,'2011-11-11 19:18:31','2011-11-11 23:18:31','<h2>The Flow Is With You</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"May the Flow be with you...\" src=\"/images/teaching/yoda_use_the_flow.jpg\" alt=\"May the Flow be with  you...\" width=\"250\" height=\"168\" />In our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\r\n\r\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\r\n\r\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\r\n\r\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Section 05 Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\" href=\"http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/csslayout/\">CSS  Layout  and  Formatting</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Positioning\" href=\"http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/\">CSS Positioning</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps\" href=\"http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/\">Learn CSS Positioning in 10 Steps</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Inline Elements and Padding\" href=\"http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/inline/\">Inline Elements and Padding</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"CSS Lists\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_list.asp\">CSS Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Taming Lists\" href=\"http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/\">Taming Lists</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"More Nav Lists\" href=\"http://www.learn-css-tutorial.com/CSS-Lists-As-Hierarchical-Menus.cfm\">More Nav Lists</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 05','','inherit','open','open','','350-revision-7','','','2011-11-11 19:18:31','2011-11-11 23:18:31','',350,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/350-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(359,1,'2011-05-18 23:22:35','2011-05-19 03:22:35','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03\" href=\"/section-03/\">Section 03</a>, <a title=\"Section 03 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 04\" href=\"/section-04/\">Section 04</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-15','','','2011-05-18 23:22:35','2011-05-19 03:22:35','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/05/272-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(362,1,'2011-11-11 19:24:12','2011-11-11 23:24:12','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03\" href=\"/section-03/\">Section 03</a>, <a title=\"Section 03 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 04\" href=\"/section-04/\">Section 04</a>, <a title=\"Section 04 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/section-05/\">Section 05</a>, <a title=\"Section 05 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-18','','','2011-11-11 19:24:12','2011-11-11 23:24:12','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/272-revision-18/',0,'revision','',0),(360,1,'2011-11-11 19:21:23','2011-11-11 23:21:23','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03\" href=\"/section-03/\">Section 03</a>, <a title=\"Section 03 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 04\" href=\"/section-04/\">Section 04</a>, <a title=\"Section 04 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/section-05/\">Section 05</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">, </a><a title=\"Section 05 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-16','','','2011-11-11 19:21:23','2011-11-11 23:21:23','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/272-revision-16/',0,'revision','',0),(363,1,'2011-11-11 20:05:24','2011-11-12 00:05:24','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"CSS is dreamy!\" src=\"/images/teaching/css_is_dreamy.jpg\" alt=\"CSS is dreamy!\" width=\"150\" height=\"282\" />By the time we convene in this section, we have covered the following:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>CSS Rules</li>\r\n	<li>CSS Inheritance</li>\r\n	<li>The Cascade</li>\r\n	<li>The DOM</li>\r\n	<li>The Box Model</li>\r\n	<li>The Flow</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nIt\'s now time to take everything we have learned about CSS and use these techniques to construct a professional-looking web page. But rather than create an entire page from scratch, we disassemble a professional template, then build it back up in 10 simple steps. This exercise demonstrates many of the pitfalls one encounters while designing and implementing CSS, and even introduces the concept of the infamous \"hack\" to force quirky browsers and standards to do what we want them to do.\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Color Scheme Designer\" href=\"http://colorschemedesigner.com/\">Color Scheme Designer</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','publish','open','open','','section-06','','','2011-11-11 20:05:24','2011-11-12 00:05:24','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?page_id=363',0,'page','',0),(361,1,'2011-11-11 19:22:37','2011-11-11 23:22:37','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03\" href=\"/section-03/\">Section 03</a>, <a title=\"Section 03 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 04\" href=\"/section-04/\">Section 04</a>, <a title=\"Section 04 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/section-05/\">Section 05</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">, </a><a title=\"Section 05 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-17','','','2011-11-11 19:22:37','2011-11-11 23:22:37','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/272-revision-17/',0,'revision','',0),(365,1,'2011-11-11 19:54:54','2011-11-11 23:54:54','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\r\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Color Scheme Designer\" href=\"http://colorschemedesigner.com/\">Color Scheme Designer</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','363-revision-2','','','2011-11-11 19:54:54','2011-11-11 23:54:54','',363,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/363-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(364,1,'2011-11-11 19:54:06','2011-11-11 23:54:06','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\nIn our third exploration of Cascading Style Sheets, we explore the foundations of CSS Layouts. CSS provides powerful tools to transform our structured XHTML into a beautiful document. But with great power comes great responsibility: There are many concepts and quirks to CSS layout, and it\'s our duty to learn and control them.\n\nUsing an iconic page from a comic about everyone\'s favorite web-slinger, we explore the CSS box model. We learn each and every XHTML element is contained within a box. And although these boxes are built from similar properties--such as content, padding, borders, and margins--the behavior of these boxes differs radically depending on whether it is inline or a block.\n\nThe differences in behavior are manifested when blocks are laid out on a web page by the flow. Our favorite Jedi master demonstrates how we can use the flow to our advantage, either by floating boxes to the left or right, or directly positioning boxes my manipulating their CSS properties.\n\nFinally, we combine our new-found CSS powers upon XHTML lists to create functional, navigation menus.\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\">Color Scheme Designer</li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','363-revision','','','2011-11-11 19:54:06','2011-11-11 23:54:06','',363,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/363-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(366,1,'2011-11-11 20:03:04','2011-11-12 00:03:04','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"CSS is dreamy!\" src=\"/images/teaching/css_is_dreamy.jpg\" alt=\"CSS is dreamy!\" width=\"150\" height=\"282\" />By the time we convene in this section, we have covered the following about CSS:\n<ul>\n	<li>CSS Rules</li>\n	<li>CSS Inheritance</li>\n	<li>The Cascade</li>\n	<li>The DOM</li>\n	<li>The Box Model</li>\n	<li>The Flow</li>\n</ul>\nIt\'s now time to take everything we have learned about CSS and use these techniques to construct a professional-looking web site. But rather than create an entire page from scratch, we disassemble a professional template, then build it back up in 10 simple steps. This exercise demonstrates many of the pitfalls one encounters while designing and implementing CSS, and even introduces the concept of the infamous \"hack\" to force quirky browsers and rules to do what we want them to do.\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Color Scheme Designer\" href=\"http://colorschemedesigner.com/\">Color Scheme Designer</a></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','363-revision-3','','','2011-11-11 20:03:04','2011-11-12 00:03:04','',363,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/363-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(367,1,'2011-11-11 20:04:04','2011-11-12 00:04:04','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"CSS is dreamy!\" src=\"/images/teaching/css_is_dreamy.jpg\" alt=\"CSS is dreamy!\" width=\"150\" height=\"282\" />By the time we convene in this section, we have covered the following:\n<ul>\n	<li>CSS Rules</li>\n	<li>CSS Inheritance</li>\n	<li>The Cascade</li>\n	<li>The DOM</li>\n	<li>The Box Model</li>\n	<li>The Flow</li>\n</ul>\nIt\'s now time to take everything we have learned about CSS and use these techniques to construct a professional-looking web pag. But rather than create an entire page from scratch, we disassemble a professional template, then build it back up in 10 simple steps. This exercise demonstrates many of the pitfalls one encounters while designing and implementing CSS, and even introduces the concept of the infamous \"hack\" to force quirky browsers and standards to do what we want them to do.\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Color Scheme Designer\" href=\"http://colorschemedesigner.com/\">Color Scheme Designer</a></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','363-revision-4','','','2011-11-11 20:04:04','2011-11-12 00:04:04','',363,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/363-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(368,1,'2011-11-11 20:06:26','2011-11-12 00:06:26','<h2>Professional Layouts With CSS</h2>\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"CSS is dreamy!\" src=\"/images/teaching/css_is_dreamy.jpg\" alt=\"CSS is dreamy!\" width=\"150\" height=\"282\" />By the time we convene in this section, we have covered the following:\n<ul>\n	<li>CSS Rules</li>\n	<li>CSS Inheritance</li>\n	<li>The Cascade</li>\n	<li>The DOM</li>\n	<li>The Box Model</li>\n	<li>The Flow</li>\n</ul>\nIt\'s now time to take everything we have learned about CSS and use these techniques to construct a professional-looking web page. But rather than create an entire page from scratch, we disassemble a professional template, then build it back up in 10 simple steps. This exercise demonstrates many of the pitfalls one encounters while designing and implementing CSS, and even introduces the concept of the infamous \"hack\" to force quirky browsers and standards to do what we want them to do.\n<h2 title=\"Section 03 Slides\">Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Section 06 Slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_06_slides.pdf\">Section 06 Slides</a> (PDF, 4.9 MB)</li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free CSS Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplates.org/\">Free CSS Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Free Web Templates\" href=\"http://www.freecsstemplate.net/free-css-templates.php\">Free Web Templates</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"More freebies\" href=\"http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php\">More freebies</a></li>\n	<li title=\"CSS Layout and Formatting\"><a title=\"Color Scheme Designer\" href=\"http://colorschemedesigner.com/\">Color Scheme Designer</a></li>\n</ul>\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','363-autosave','','','2011-11-11 20:06:26','2011-11-12 00:06:26','',363,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/363-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(377,1,'2012-02-23 20:15:19','2012-02-24 00:15:19','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with a variety of puzzles, a host of characters, an intriguing narrative, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\r\n\r\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\r\n\r\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by <a title=\"Zarfhome\" href=\"http://eblong.com/zarf/home.html\">Andrew Plotkin</a> (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games create a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\r\n\r\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced interactive fiction player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, albeit a compelling one, which it was ultimately meant to be.\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','publish','open','open','','the-life-and-deaths-of-doctor-m','','','2012-02-23 20:15:19','2012-02-24 00:15:19','',0,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/?p=377',0,'post','',0),(370,1,'2011-11-12 12:25:23','2011-11-12 16:25:23','<h2>JavaScript, Part I</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" src=\"/images/teaching/kirk_uhura.jpg\" alt=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" />We have discussed the structure web pages, we have covered the presentation of web pages, it\'s now time to start thoroughly exploring how to give web pages functionality. We already investigated this aspect back in section 3, when we learned the art of making forms. But web page functionality goes much deeper than forms: Forms are great for collecting and sending data, but in order for us to dynamically manipulate the structure and presentation of our web page, forms can do little to help us.\r\n\r\nEnter JavaScript, the heart of all web browser functionality. JavaScript, whether purists like it or not, is a programming language. And the first rule for fledgling web developers who are encountering JavaScript for the first time is \"Don\'t Panic!\" We are not going to force you to learn how to program--indeed, an entire semester could be devoted to this--but we are going to show how to take advantage of other people\'s programming efforts.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, it\'s necessary to understand the basics, so we delve into the concept of variables, little boxes of computer memory that hold bits of information. We discuss writing statements, lines of text that tell a computer what to do with its variables. We show how we package up variables and statements into reusable functions. And, at last, we demonstrate how both variables and functions can be bundled together to form the core players of JavaScript: objects.\r\n\r\nWith this in mind, we present our final lesson of the day, one thing to remember above all else: JavaScript treats your web page as one gigantic object, an object that JavaScript can manipulate to its heart\'s content. And by doing so, applications as complex as Google Docs are born.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 08 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_08_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 5.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp	\">JavaScript Tutorial</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Developer Center\" href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en/javascript\">JavaScript Developer Center</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)\" href=\"http://www.webteacher.com/javascript/index.html\">JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 08','','publish','open','open','','section-08','','','2011-11-12 12:30:15','2011-11-12 16:30:15','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/?page_id=370',0,'page','',0),(371,1,'2011-11-12 12:17:01','2011-11-12 16:17:01','','Section 06','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision','','','2011-11-12 12:17:01','2011-11-12 16:17:01','',370,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/370-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(372,1,'2011-11-12 12:23:09','2011-11-12 16:23:09','<h2>JavaScript, Part I</h2>\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" src=\"/images/teaching/kirk_uhura.jpg\" alt=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" />We have discussed the structure web pages, we have covered the presentation of web pages, it\'s now time to start thoroughly exploring how to give web pages functionality. We already investigated this aspect back in section 3, when we learned the art of making forms. But web page functionality goes much deeper than forms: Forms are great for collecting and sending data, but in order for us to dynamically manipulate the structure and presentation of our web page, forms can do little to help us.\n\nEnter JavaScript, the heart of all web browser functionality. JavaScript, whether purists like it or not, is a programming language. And the first rule for fledgling web developers who are encountering JavaScript for the first time is \"Don\'t Panic!\" We are not going to force you to learn how to program--indeed, an entire semester could be devoted to this--but we are going to show how to take advantage of other people\'s programming efforts.\n\nNevertheless, it\'s necessary to understand the basics, so we delve into the concept of variables, little boxes of computer memory that hold bits of information. We discuss writing statements, lines of text that tell a computer what to do with its variables. We show how we package up variables and statements into reusable functions. And, at last, we demonstrate how both variables and functions can be bundled together to form the core players of JavaScript: objects.\n\nWith this in mind, we present our final lesson of the day, one thing to remember above all else: JavaScript treats your web page as one gigantic object, an object that JavaScript can manipulate to its heart\'s content. And by doing so, applications as complex as Google Docs are born.\n<h2>Resources</h2>\n<ul>\n	<li><a title=\"Section 08 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_08_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 5.0 MB)</li>\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp	\">JavaScript Tutorial</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Developer Center\" href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en/javascript\">JavaScript Developer Center</a></li>\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)\" href=\"http://www.webteacher.com/javascript/index.html\">JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)</a></li>\n</ul>','Section 08','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision-2','','','2011-11-12 12:23:09','2011-11-12 16:23:09','',370,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/370-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(373,1,'2011-11-12 12:23:13','2011-11-12 16:23:13','<h2>JavaScript, Part I</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" src=\"/images/teaching/kirk_uhura.jpg\" alt=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" />We have discussed the structure web pages, we have covered the presentation of web pages, it\'s now time to start thoroughly exploring how to give web pages functionality. We already investigated this aspect back in section 3, when we learned the art of making forms. But web page functionality goes much deeper than forms: Forms are great for collecting and sending data, but in order for us to dynamically manipulate the structure and presentation of our web page, forms can do little to help us.\r\n\r\nEnter JavaScript, the heart of all web browser functionality. JavaScript, whether purists like it or not, is a programming language. And the first rule for fledgling web developers who are encountering JavaScript for the first time is \"Don\'t Panic!\" We are not going to force you to learn how to program--indeed, an entire semester could be devoted to this--but we are going to show how to take advantage of other people\'s programming efforts.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, it\'s necessary to understand the basics, so we delve into the concept of variables, little boxes of computer memory that hold bits of information. We discuss writing statements, lines of text that tell a computer what to do with its variables. We show how we package up variables and statements into reusable functions. And, at last, we demonstrate how both variables and functions can be bundled together to form the core players of JavaScript: objects.\r\n\r\nWith this in mind, we present our final lesson of the day, one thing to remember above all else: JavaScript treats your web page as one gigantic object, an object that JavaScript can manipulate to its heart\'s content. And by doing so, applications as complex as Google Docs are born.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 08 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_08_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 5.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp	\">JavaScript Tutorial</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Developer Center\" href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en/javascript\">JavaScript Developer Center</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)\" href=\"http://www.webteacher.com/javascript/index.html\">JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Section 08','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision-3','','','2011-11-12 12:23:13','2011-11-12 16:23:13','',370,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/370-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(374,1,'2011-11-11 19:24:32','2011-11-11 23:24:32','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"How I sometimes imagine myself appearing before my class. Yeah, I know I&#39;m not that handsome.\"]<img class=\" \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Real Genius\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/teaching/real_genius.jpg\" alt=\"Real Genius movie poster\" width=\"250\" height=\"259\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce upon a time, while I serving as a graduate student at <a title=\"Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.purdue.edu/\">Purdue University</a>, I couldn\'t fathom talking in front of large groups. Sweaty palms, pounding heart, quavering voice--I struggled with the symptoms of a self-conscience speaker unable to happily entertain himself with <a title=\"Picture Your Audience in Their Underwear\" href=\"http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/picture-your-audience-in-their-underwear-3534112.html\">thoughts of the audience in their underwear</a>.  Despite my fears, I somehow managed to regularly get up in front of thirty-six undergraduates and teach them the fundamentals of human anatomy and physiology, which sometimes included discussing naughty bits that civilized gentlemen don\'t normally discuss. Not the most comfortable of situations, yet I did fairly well--reviews were altogether positive, the single most memorable criticism suggesting, \"He\'s cute, but he should smile more.\"\r\n\r\nTo date this particular period in my life, we still used overheads and transparencies as visual aids. Flash forward to the days of projectors and PowerPoint, and I find myself back in the teacher\'s saddle, this time at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University\'s</a> <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://dce.harvard.edu\">Extension School</a>. Nowadays, I find the experience more comforting and delightful. The two hours that I teach every week in the spring lends me a two-hour catharsis of sorts--day-to-day worries bleed away while I focus on helping my students. And, admittedly, I sort of enjoy being on center stage, dancing my way through slides and evoking diagrams on the whiteboard.\r\n\r\nNot only has my attitude changed, so has the content that I teach. No longer do I list the bones of our skeleton, tour the chambers of our heart, or guide us through the labyrinth of the lymphatic system.  Instead I lead students through a different kind of anatomy, the very building blocks of the world-wide-web. XHTML elements replace cells as our fundamental unit of life, GET and POST protocols stand in for our blood, and it\'s CSS, not bone structure and skin cells, that flesh everything out. This is my area of expertise now.\r\n\r\nUntil this semester, my visual aids consisted of dynamic pedagogical constructs, which is a bookish way of saying I scribbled doodles on the whiteboard and performed some online demonstrations. And that\'s all that I really needed for students to learn. This semester, however, I wanted to give them something more--something tangible, something they could take home and review. My fellow teaching associates had extensive notes, examples, and slides. Our professor, David Heitmeyer, also had an extensive collection of slides and notes. I wanted to provide the same, but make mine unique from the others. So I added a dash of design and humor. And thus on ongoing project, constructing a weekly slide deck, was born.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to share these efforts with not only my students, but the rest of the world. I\'m not certain why--on their own, the slides can\'t teach web site development. But they are excellent pointers in the right direction and, in my opinion, there\'s some amusing pictorials in there. I\'m a firm believer in the visual learning; I\'m a firmer believer in that learning should be fun. Combine the two and you\'ve got a pretty powerful cocktail. <a title=\"Head First Labs\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/index.php\">Head First Labs</a>, the publishers of my favorite textbooks, <a title=\"Head First Labs secret formula\" href=\"http://www.headfirstlabs.com/readme.php\">lays out this formula</a> and is the inspiration behind my own pedagogical carafe.\r\n\r\nSo as the weeks go by and the slide decks roll in, you\'ll find this portion of the web site slowly updated with summaries of my classes, along with a links to PDFs of the slides. And remember, if you\'ve enjoyed watching the slides just half as much as I\'ve enjoyed making them, then I\'ve enjoyed it twice as much as you.\r\n<h2>Sections</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">Section 01</a>, <a title=\"Section 01 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_01_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 4.5 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 02\" href=\"/section-02/\">Section 02</a>, <a title=\"Section 02 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_02_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.4 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 03\" href=\"/section-03/\">Section 03</a>, <a title=\"Section 03 slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_03_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 9.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 04\" href=\"/section-04/\">Section 04</a>, <a title=\"Section 04 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_04_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 8.9 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 05\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/section-05/\">Section 05</a>, <a title=\"Section 05 slides\" href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/teaching/section_05_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 7.1 MB)<a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"../../section-01/\">\r\n</a><a title=\"Section 01\" href=\"/section-01/\">\r\n</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Teaching','','inherit','open','open','','272-revision-19','','','2011-11-11 19:24:32','2011-11-11 23:24:32','',272,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/272-revision-19/',0,'revision','',0),(375,1,'2011-11-12 12:25:23','2011-11-12 16:25:23','<h2>JavaScript, Part I</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" src=\"/images/teaching/kirk_uhura.jpg\" alt=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" />We have discussed the structure web pages, we have covered the presentation of web pages, it\'s now time to start thoroughly exploring how to give web pages functionality. We already investigated this aspect back in section 3, when we learned the art of making forms. But web page functionality goes much deeper than forms: Forms are great for collecting and sending data, but in order for us to dynamically manipulate the structure and presentation of our web page, forms can do little to help us.\r\n\r\nEnter JavaScript, the heart of all web browser functionality. JavaScript, whether purists like it or not, is a programming language. And the first rule for fledgling web developers who are encountering JavaScript for the first time is \"Don\'t Panic!\" We are not going to force you to learn how to program--indeed, an entire semester could be devoted to this--but we are going to show how to take advantage of other people\'s programming efforts.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, it\'s necessary to understand the basics, so we delve into the concept of variables, little boxes of computer memory that hold bits of information. We discuss writing statements, lines of text that tell a computer what to do with its variables. We show how we package up variables and statements into reusable functions. And, at last, we demonstrate how both variables and functions can be bundled together to form the core players of JavaScript: objects.\r\n\r\nWith this in mind, we present our final lesson of the day, one thing to remember above all else: JavaScript treats your web page as one gigantic object, an object that JavaScript can manipulate to its heart\'s content. And by doing so, applications as complex as Google Docs are born.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 08 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_08_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 5.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp	\">JavaScript Tutorial</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Developer Center\" href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en/javascript\">JavaScript Developer Center</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)\" href=\"http://www.webteacher.com/javascript/index.html\">JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)</a></li>\r\n</ul>','Section 08','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision-4','','','2011-11-12 12:25:23','2011-11-12 16:25:23','',370,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/370-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(376,1,'2011-11-12 12:29:36','2011-11-12 16:29:36','<h2>JavaScript, Part I</h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" src=\"/images/teaching/kirk_uhura.jpg\" alt=\"Famous Star Trek kiss\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" />We have discussed the structure web pages, we have covered the presentation of web pages, it\'s now time to start thoroughly exploring how to give web pages functionality. We already investigated this aspect back in section 3, when we learned the art of making forms. But web page functionality goes much deeper than forms: Forms are great for collecting and sending data, but in order for us to dynamically manipulate the structure and presentation of our web page, forms can do little to help us.\r\n\r\nEnter JavaScript, the heart of all web browser functionality. JavaScript, whether purists like it or not, is a programming language. And the first rule for fledgling web developers who are encountering JavaScript for the first time is \"Don\'t Panic!\" We are not going to force you to learn how to program--indeed, an entire semester could be devoted to this--but we are going to show how to take advantage of other people\'s programming efforts.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, it\'s necessary to understand the basics, so we delve into the concept of variables, little boxes of computer memory that hold bits of information. We discuss writing statements, lines of text that tell a computer what to do with its variables. We show how we package up variables and statements into reusable functions. And, at last, we demonstrate how both variables and functions can be bundled together to form the core players of JavaScript: objects.\r\n\r\nWith this in mind, we present our final lesson of the day, one thing to remember above all else: JavaScript treats your web page as one gigantic object, an object that JavaScript can manipulate to its heart\'s content. And by doing so, applications as complex as Google Docs are born.\r\n<h2>Resources</h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a title=\"Section 08 Slides\" href=\"/teaching/section_08_slides.pdf\">Slides</a> (PDF, 5.0 MB)</li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial\" href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp	\">JavaScript Tutorial</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Developer Center\" href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en/javascript\">JavaScript Developer Center</a></li>\r\n	<li><a title=\"JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)\" href=\"http://www.webteacher.com/javascript/index.html\">JavaScript Tutorial (for non-programmers)</a></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<a title=\"Return to teaching home\" href=\"../../teaching-home/\">Return to teaching home</a>','Section 08','','inherit','open','open','','370-revision-5','','','2011-11-12 12:29:36','2011-11-12 16:29:36','',370,'http://www.biggles2k.com/2011/11/370-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(378,1,'2012-02-23 16:54:19','2012-02-23 20:54:19','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\n\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\n\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by Andrew Plotkin (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games created a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending in one only by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\n\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, which it was meant to be.\n\n<em>\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor MI\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','inherit','open','open','','377-revision','','','2012-02-23 16:54:19','2012-02-23 20:54:19','',377,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/02/377-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(379,1,'2012-02-23 16:54:43','2012-02-23 20:54:43','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\r\n\r\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\r\n\r\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by Andrew Plotkin (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games created a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending in one only by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\r\n\r\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, albeit compelling, which it was ultimately meant to be.\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor MI\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','inherit','open','open','','377-revision-2','','','2012-02-23 16:54:43','2012-02-23 20:54:43','',377,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/02/377-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(380,1,'2012-02-23 16:54:47','2012-02-23 20:54:47','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\r\n\r\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\r\n\r\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by Andrew Plotkin (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games created a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending in one only by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\r\n\r\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, albeit compelling, which it was ultimately meant to be.\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor MI\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','inherit','open','open','','377-revision-3','','','2012-02-23 16:54:47','2012-02-23 20:54:47','',377,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/02/377-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(384,1,'2012-10-29 21:59:40','2012-10-30 01:59:40','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that <a title=\"The tire swing project\" href=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/tire_swing.jpg\">no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted</a>. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really <strong>will</strong> work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','publish','open','open','','agile-open-source-and-itil','','','2012-10-29 21:59:40','2012-10-30 01:59:40','',0,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/?p=384',0,'post','',0),(382,1,'2012-02-23 20:14:39','2012-02-24 00:14:39','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with a variety of puzzles, a host of characters, an intriguing narrative, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\n\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\n\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by <a title=\"Zarfhome\" href=\"http://eblong.com/zarf/home.html\">Andrew Plotkin</a> (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games create a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending in one only by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\n\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, albeit compelling one, which it was ultimately meant to be.\n\n<em>\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','inherit','open','open','','377-revision-4','','','2012-02-23 20:14:39','2012-02-24 00:14:39','',377,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/02/377-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(383,1,'2012-02-23 20:15:34','2012-02-24 00:15:34','<a href=\"/doctorm/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" src=\"/doctorm/images/symbol_flowers.jpg\" alt=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" width=\"251\" height=\"251\" /></a>I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, <a title=\"The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M\" href=\"/doctorm/\"><em>The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M</em></a>. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of <a title=\"Wikipedia - Infocom\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom\">Infocom</a> text adventures, <em>Doctor M</em> confronts you with a variety of puzzles, a host of characters, an intriguing narrative, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, <em>Doctor M </em>weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.\r\n\r\n<em>Doctor M </em>originally made its appearance in the <a title=\"2011 Interactive Fiction Competition\" href=\"http://www.ifcomp.org/\">2011 Interactive Fiction Competition</a>, written under the pen name of Edmund Wells. Out of 38 games, <em>Doctor M </em>placed sixth, tied for third for the <a title=\"IFWiki - Miss Congeniaiity\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Miss_Congeniality\">Miss Congeniality</a> award, and won the coveted <a title=\"IFWiki - Golden Banana of Discord\" href=\"http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Golden_Banana_of_Discord\">Golden Banana of Discord</a>. <em></em>The game is also up for two <a title=\"2011 XYZZY Awards\" href=\"http://xyzzyawards.org/\">XYZZY Awards</a>, the interactive fiction equivalent of the Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Story and Best Individual Puzzle, the latter of which it shares with several co-conspirators.\r\n\r\nThe co-conspirators include <em></em><em><a>Cold Iron</a>, </em>by <a title=\"Zarfhome\" href=\"http://eblong.com/zarf/home.html\">Andrew Plotkin</a> (as Lyman Clive Charles); <a title=\"Last Day of Summer\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=422j31x1l6ulwagy\">Last Day of Summer</a>, by Doug Orleans (as Cameron Fox); and <a title=\"Playing Games\" href=\"http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=7xxhw9da4j3ff3hd\">Playing Games</a>, by Kevin Jackson-Mead (as Pam Comfite). Together, the four games create a \"meta-puzzle,\" now known as \"<a title=\"The Hat Mystery\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/event/hat-mystery/\">The Hat Mystery</a>.\" Although each game stands as an independent piece, a player can unlock a secret ending by combining elements found in all four games. A tip of the hat to Kevin Jackson-Mead who came up with the idea, and to Andrew Plotkin who conceived the actual puzzle.\r\n\r\nFor those interested in playing <em>Doctor M</em>, but who have never played interactive fiction before, I strongly suggest consulting the <a title=\"Brass Lantern\'s Beginner\'s Guide to IF\" href=\"http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html\">Beginner\'s Guide to IF</a>, and playing a few other <a title=\"Play some introductory games\" href=\"http://pr-if.org/play/\">introductory games</a>. <em>Doctor M </em>assumes you\'re an experienced interactive fiction player--that you know the language, so to speak. Even those fluent in interactive fiction have found <em>Doctor M </em>a challenge, albeit a compelling one, which it was ultimately meant to be.\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n</em>','The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M','I\'m pleased to announce the official release of my interactive fiction game, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M. The game follows the exploits of you, a dying soul, who must determine your fate as you wander a land somewhere between life and the afterlife. In the tradition of Infocom text adventures, Doctor M confronts you with interesting (if difficult) puzzles, a host of characters, and decisions that only you can make. Tied together, Doctor M weaves a tale of morality and choice that is ultimately dependent on you, the player.','inherit','open','open','','377-autosave','','','2012-02-23 20:15:34','2012-02-24 00:15:34','',377,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/02/377-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(385,1,'2012-10-29 20:38:56','2012-10-30 00:38:56','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\n\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"implementing,\" \"incorporating,\" \"combining\" or \"merging\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\n\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\n\nOpen Source is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, Red Hat Software founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of Linux, an Open Source operating system.\n\nAgile software development is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the waterfall method, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\n\nITIL arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\n\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team.','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision','','','2012-10-29 20:38:56','2012-10-30 00:38:56','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(386,1,'2012-10-29 20:55:47','2012-10-30 00:55:47','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\n\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\n\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of open sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\n<h3>Agile</h3>\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team.','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-2','','','2012-10-29 20:55:47','2012-10-30 00:55:47','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(387,1,'2012-10-29 20:56:19','2012-10-30 00:56:19','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team.','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-3','','','2012-10-29 20:56:19','2012-10-30 00:56:19','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(388,1,'2012-10-29 20:56:57','2012-10-30 00:56:57','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [1. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-4','','','2012-10-29 20:56:57','2012-10-30 00:56:57','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(389,1,'2012-10-29 20:57:38','2012-10-30 00:57:38','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-5','','','2012-10-29 20:57:38','2012-10-30 00:57:38','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(390,1,'2012-10-29 21:13:50','2012-10-30 01:13:50','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\n\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\n\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\n<h3>Agile</h3>\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-6','','','2012-10-29 21:13:50','2012-10-30 01:13:50','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(391,1,'2012-10-29 21:50:51','2012-10-30 01:50:51','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work models might not seem exactly novel, and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-7','','','2012-10-29 21:50:51','2012-10-30 01:50:51','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(392,1,'2012-10-29 21:51:47','2012-10-30 01:51:47','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-8','','','2012-10-29 21:51:47','2012-10-30 01:51:47','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(393,1,'2012-10-29 21:51:53','2012-10-30 01:51:53','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-9','','','2012-10-29 21:51:53','2012-10-30 01:51:53','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(394,1,'2012-10-29 21:57:56','2012-10-30 01:57:56','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that <a title=\"The tire swing project\" href=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/tire_swing.jpg\">no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted</a>. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really *will* work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-10','','','2012-10-29 21:57:56','2012-10-30 01:57:56','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(395,1,'2012-10-29 21:59:01','2012-10-30 01:59:01','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that <a title=\"The tire swing project\" href=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/tire_swing.jpg\">no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted</a>. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really <strong>will</strong> work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-11','','','2012-10-29 21:59:01','2012-10-30 01:59:01','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(396,1,'2012-10-29 21:59:37','2012-10-30 01:59:37','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"From left to right: Agile, ITIL, and Open Source--a development trinity... of sorts.\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" src=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/delivery_trinity.jpg\" alt=\"ITIL, Open Source, Agile\" width=\"250\" height=\"233\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nLast week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at <a title=\"Harvard University Information Technology\" href=\"http://huit.harvard.edu\">my place of employment</a> about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie,[1. The joke was that I was wearing a tie.] I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.\r\n\r\nFirst, an admission: Open Source, Agile, and ITIL are nothing new to the realm of IT; all have been around for years, if not decades, and many industries have embraced them in some form or another. So the fact we are now incorporating these practices into our work might not seem exactly novel and, if I was strictly speaking about incorporating just the individual practices into our work, such an assertion would be correct. But I\'m talking about merging all three, and a quick Google Search on \"<a title=\"Google Search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=implementing+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...2901.4653.1.5179.2.2.0.0.0.0.64.124.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.ULufexgDn7g&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">implementing</a>,\" \"i<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=incorporating+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...41295.42889.2.43142.13.13.0.0.0.2.166.1059.11j2.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.DboWHZxsbH0&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">ncorporating</a>,\" \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;oq=combining+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=hp.3...24043.25829.3.26330.9.9.0.0.0.0.86.606.9.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.NXeKUe43E5o&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=5a788ec4e1cc4d0a&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">combining</a>\" or \"<a title=\"Google search\" href=\"https://www.google.com/#hl=en&amp;sugexp=les%3B&amp;gs_nf=3&amp;gs_mss=merg%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;pq=combining%20agile%20itil%20%22open%20source%22&amp;cp=7&amp;gs_id=241&amp;xhr=t&amp;q=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;pf=p&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;oq=merging+agile+itil+%22open+source%22&amp;gs_l=&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&amp;fp=db8aada8086920e9&amp;bpcl=35466521&amp;biw=1257&amp;bih=856\">merging</a>\" this trinity doesn\'t exactly return a cornucopia of results. So maybe what were doing is somewhat novel, after all.\r\n\r\nBut before going into any details--that I reserve for later posts--I wanted to give a brief--a very brief--overview of each of the practices, methodologies, standards, philosophies, or whatever you want to call them. Up first, Open Source.\r\n<h3>Open Source</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Open Source Initiative\" href=\"http://opensource.org/\">Open Source</a> is not only a practice, it is a philosophy, the mindset of baring a piece of software\'s soul to the world. At the heart of Open Sourcing software is the act of distributing one\'s source code so that the development community may download it, use it, but most importantly, modify it, then redistribute it so that others may download, use, modify, and redistribute their modified code, so on and so forth, ad infinitum. Although such a practice is often deemed synonymous with \"free software,\" Open Source code can be found in commercial products. For example, <a title=\"Red Hat\" href=\"http://www.redhat.com/\">Red Hat</a> founded its company by selling and supporting its own version of <a title=\"Linux\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux\">Linux</a>, an Open Source operating system.\r\n<h3>Agile</h3>\r\n<a title=\"Agile software development\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development\">Agile software development</a> is a team-oriented approach for iterative software development. Agile evolved when software developers began revolting against \"traditional\" project management methodologies, such as the <a title=\"Waterfall model\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model\">waterfall model</a>, in which development teams gathered requirements from their customers, retreated to their caves to bang out code for several months, then returned with a piece of software that <a title=\"The tire swing project\" href=\"http://www.michaelhilborn.com/images/blog/posts/tire_swing.jpg\">no one recognized as anything that anyone ever wanted</a>. At its core, Agile embraces the the awareness that those who believe they know how their software should work, actually don\'t have a clue about how it really <strong>will</strong> work. And the only way to get around this is to approach the development of the software in iterations: Requirements are drawn up, software is developed, software is reviewed, the requirements are revisited, the software is refined, so on and so forth, rinse and repeat, until the final release.\r\n<h3>ITIL</h3>\r\nThe <a title=\"ITIL Home\" href=\"http://www.itil-officialsite.com/\">Information Technology Infrastructure Language</a> arose in the mid-eighties when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, instructed the government agencies to get their act together when it was determined that the disparate practices of their IT groups was costing the realm a large fortune. Four years and 8 billion pounds later, the Central Computer and Telecoms Agency came up with a suite of best practices that all IT organizations should follow. These best practices for delivering any IT service now form the core of ITIL.\r\n<h3>To Be Continued...</h3>\r\nAs I mentioned: Brief and high level. I\'ll go into more details about each in later posts, then describe how they are all coming together within our web team. [2. Hopefully, my posts will be separated by mere weeks, and not months, as they are wont to be.]','Agile, Open Source, and ITIL','Last week I gave a quick talk to the leadership at my place of employment about how my team is incorporating Open Source principles, Agile software development, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Language (ITIL) into the delivery of our web services. Although the audience laughed and applauded my jokes, especially the one regarding my tie, I think they also appreciated the core of the talk, so I figured I would start sharing my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and how one might go about mixing and merging them.','inherit','open','open','','384-revision-12','','','2012-10-29 21:59:37','2012-10-30 01:59:37','',384,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/10/384-revision-12/',0,'revision','',0),(400,1,'2012-11-13 11:19:11','2012-11-13 15:19:11','by w4l3XzY3','by w4l3XzY3','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','publish','open','open','','note-to-future-self-about-the-2012-election','','','2017-02-05 13:59:12','2017-02-05 17:59:12','',0,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/?p=400',0,'post','',0),(436,0,'2017-02-05 13:59:12','2017-02-05 17:59:12','by w4l3XzY3','by w4l3XzY3','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','inherit','closed','closed','','400-revision-v1','','','2017-02-05 13:59:12','2017-02-05 17:59:12','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2017/02/400-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(398,1,'2010-09-04 19:39:03','2010-09-04 23:39:03','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"247\" caption=\"Sidney and me--I&#39;m the one on the couch, being directed by the one on the floor.\"]<img class=\"  \" title=\"Sidney and Mike.\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/me_with_sidney.jpg\" alt=\"Sidney and Mike--Mike is on the couch.\" width=\"247\" height=\"191\" />[/caption]\r\n<h2><a id=\"theBasics\" name=\"theBasics\">The Basics</a></h2>\r\nI am of species <em>geek</em>, specifically of genus <em>Computer</em>.  Although no person, not even yours truly, can completely fit into a single stereotype, should you wish to form an overall vision of my persona, then the above description, courtesy of <a title=\"Binomial nomenclature\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_nomenclature\">binomial nomenclature</a>, suits me best. More to the point, I like geeky things, things like computers, technology, gadgets, programming, books, science, Star Wars, Star Trek, video games, board games, Dungeons and Dragons--you know, that kind of stuff. I also like dogs. People can be nice, too. (Speaking of which, I am often told I am of species <em>guy</em> of genus <em>Nice</em>. You can be the judge.)\r\n<h2><a id=\"profExp\" name=\"profExp\">Professional Experience</a></h2>\r\n<blockquote>\"The brain is a wonderful organ.  It starts working the  moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into  the office.\"  <strong>~Robert Frost</strong></blockquote>\r\nI\'ve been in the field of web application development and management for nearly a dozen years. If you count the time I spent hacking away at web sites while I was supposed to be finishing a Ph.D. in neuroscience... Well, then add a few more years to the tally. I am most familiar with the <a title=\"LAMP\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_%28software_bundle%29\">LAMP</a> environment, particularly in writing programming prose with <a title=\"Perl - A beautiful language\" href=\"http://www.perl.org/\">Perl</a> and/or <a title=\"PHP - The other Perl\" href=\"http://www.php.net/\">PHP</a>, complemented by HTML, CSS, and Javascript on the front end, and either <a title=\"MySQL - Been there since the beginning\" href=\"http://www.mysql.com/\">MySQL</a> or <a title=\"Oracle - The Other MySQL\" href=\"http://www.oracle.com/us/products/database/index.html\">Oracle</a> databases (or sometimes, both) on the back end. Despite my preference for the (mostly) open-source world, I have also dabbled in Microsoft\'s realm, at one time coding <a title=\"ASP\" href=\"http://www.asp.net/\">ASP</a> applications that utilized <a title=\"Microsoft SQL Server\" href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/\">Microsoft SQL Server</a>.\r\n<h3><a id=\"manager\" name=\"manager\">Managerial</a></h3>\r\n<img class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"We have met the enemy and he is us.\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/about/ph_boss.gif\" alt=\"Our favorite boss, from Dilbert.\" width=\"77\" height=\"77\" />Lo! I have seen the enemy and he is me. I never thought it would happen, but three years ago I stepped into the field of management... voluntarily. I oversee a team of six web developers at <a title=\"Harvard University\" href=\"http://www.harvard.edu\">Harvard University</a>, a small-town bastion of academe, widely known through its mention in <a title=\"The Da Vinci Code\" href=\"http://www.danbrown.com/#/davinciCode\">Dan Brown novels</a> and the TV show, <a title=\"Fringe\" href=\"http://www.fox.com/fringe/\">Fringe</a>. Our award-winning team is part of the <a title=\"ATG\" href=\"http://atg.fas.harvard.edu\">Academic Technology Group</a>, and we oversee dozens of online applications, including course evaluations,  the course planner, a suite of instructional tools, a plethora of databases, and the University\'s portal. Being academia, our technological environment is varied and vast, ranging from LAMP to Java to Microsoft ASP. We even have some <a title=\"Apache Cocoon - XML on steroids\" href=\"http://cocoon.apache.org/\">Cocoon</a> servers running.\r\n\r\nI must admit that I\'m very happy in my position, and that\'s primarily due to the people I manage: A great group  who are smart, creative, cooperative, humorous, and satisfied with their work environment. I\'m very fortunate to be leading them and hopefully, they feel the same way about leading me.\r\n<h3><a id=\"webmaster\" name=\"webmaster\">Web Development and Administration</a></h3>\r\nPrior to my role in management, I spent eight years as a professional software developer for Harvard, designing, implementing, and more often than not, maintaining legacy web applications. I focused primarily on instructional software used by faculty, staff, and students in their course web sites. For each application that I wrote, I was there from start to finish, often writing up the requirements, designing the underlying architecture and data models, then bringing the whole thing to life with well-documented and modular code. I was also part of the committee that helped designed the University\'s proprietary course platform.\r\n\r\nIn addition to the coding, I also assisted in maintaining the application servers themselves (good ol\' <a title=\"Apache\" href=\"http://www.apache.org\">Apache</a>!) configuring them when necessary. Indeed, prior to my stint at Harvard, I held the title of webmaster at a now defunct company, called Xchange, overseeing and developing within a <a title=\"Microsoft ISS\" href=\"http://www.iis.net/\">Microsoft ISS</a> environment. And prior to that, I was the webmaster for the Departments of <a title=\"Department of Mathematics, Purdue University\" href=\"http://www.math.purdue.edu/\">Mathematics</a> and <a title=\"Department of Statistics, Purdue University\" href=\"http://statistics.purdue.edu\">Statistics</a> at Purdue University.\r\n\r\nWebmaster... a title I truly miss, both for its grandiose and the necessity to be a jack-of-all-trades. As a webmaster, I was not only administering the servers, but designing web pages, coding applications, maintaining databases, and generally just having a damn good time. Ah, days of youth, how we miss ye!\r\n<h3><a id=\"gaming\" name=\"gaming\">Game Design and Development</a></h3>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.u5lazarus.com/\"><img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Ultima V: Lazarus\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/about/u5_lazarus_logo.jpg\" alt=\"Ultima V: Lazarus\" width=\"150\" height=\"130\" /></a>We all have hobbies, and I dabble in game development when I get a chance. Indeed, I spent five years co-producing <a title=\"Ultima V: Lazarus\" href=\"http://www.u5lazarus.com/\">Ultima V: Lazarus</a>, a remake of a classic role-playing game that rivaled its commercial counterparts in scale and complexity. I helped lead a international team of programmers, level designers, writers,  artists, musicians, and general enthusiasts in a quest to retell <a title=\"Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_V:_Warriors_of_Destiny\">Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny</a> as a modification of the <a title=\"Dungeon Siege\" href=\"http://www.microsoft.com/games/dungeonsiege/\">Dungeon Siege</a> engine. In addition to leadership duties, my main contributions were developing the back story, implementing the skills and healing algorithms, and designing and developing the NPC conversation engine, one of the pinnacle features of the game.\r\n\r\nThat was not my first telling of an Ultima tale. I\'m responsible for one of the first adventure games written in dynamic HTML, back when the acronym DHTML was as hot a buzzword as HTML5 is now. <a href=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/darkcore/\">Ultima: The Dark Core</a> was an experiment in JavaScript, a new and shiny scripting engine offered by <a title=\"Netscape\" href=\"http://browser.netscape.com/releases\">Netscape</a>. Over a decade later, you can still play it in the most recent version of Internet Explorer (though the game is bound to thrash the browser after the first few moves).\r\n\r\nNowadays, I\'m  experimenting with the ancient art form of <a title=\"Interactive Fiction\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction\">Interactive Fiction</a>, often referred as \"text adventures\". It\'s a unique challenge of game design, writing, and programming that I enjoy. I have a couple of small works out there, courtesy of my endeavors in Interactive Fiction Month, and eventually I\'ll share them with the world.\r\n<h3><a id=\"teaching\" name=\"teaching\">Teaching</a></h3>\r\nWorking at Harvard has given me an opportunity to instruct at its <a title=\"Harvard Extension School\" href=\"http://www.dce.harvard.edu/\">Extension</a> and <a title=\"Harvard Summer School\" href=\"http://www.summer.harvard.edu\">Summer</a> schools. For the past two years, I\'ve assisted <a title=\"Professor David Heitmeyer\" href=\"http://www.facebook.com/david.heitmeyer\">Professor David Heitmeyer</a> in welcoming students, both young and old, into the world of web development. \"<a title=\"Fundamentals of Web Site Development\" href=\"http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/csci.jsp#e-12\">Fundamentals of Web Site Development</a>\" covers a range of topics, introducing students to the building blocks of web pages (XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, multimedia) and eventually incorporating these blocks with the more complex and dynamic tool sets that are out there. Cliched as it sounds, teaching others is a rewarding experience and it helps me keep abreast of this ever-changing technological field.','About Me','','inherit','open','open','','10-revision-40','','','2010-09-04 19:39:03','2010-09-04 23:39:03','',10,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2010/09/10-revision-40/',0,'revision','',0),(401,1,'2012-11-11 19:17:11','2012-11-11 23:17:11','<h4>Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"\n\nPredicting the Winner\nWhen it came time to try and figure out who would pull off the race, I decided to ignore the mainstream media and my gut instincts, the former of which I mostly ignore anyway, the latter of which usually serves me well (my tummy predicted the Bush victories back in 2000 and 2004, and the Obama victory in 2008). Instead, I decided to place my chips on in-depth statistical analysis and the wisdom of the crowds. While the mainstream media continued to insist that the race was tight (and constantly tightening), Nate Silver\'s FiveThirtyEight blog and Intrade confidently predicted a decisive Obama victory in the electoral college, if not necessarily the popular vote. Both were amazingly accurate: Obama swept the electoral vote, but his advantage in the popular contest was not nearly as well-defined.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Pay attention to FiveThirtyEight and Intrade.\n\nThe Media\nAs mentioned above, the mainstream media (and I\'m referring mostly to the 24-hour news fiascos that are MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News) and its pundits insisted that this was going to be one of the tightest races of all times, going so far as to lay out several \"doomsday\" scenarios, including a repeat of the 2000 debacle or the possibility of a tie in the electoral college, thus leaving the choice of the presidency in the hands of the House of Representatives and the vice-presidency in the hands of the Senate.\n\nAll hype and bluster. Nothing to substantiate it.\n\nFuture self: Remember that the mainstream media has one thought on its mind: Ratings. And they seem to believe that the only way to get those ratings is to stir up controversy where it doesn\'t exist.\n\nElection Morning\nThe polls opened at 7am. I went to vote a little after 9am, thinking that my flexible  schedule would allow me to bypass all the voters who had to be in work. Wrong. I ended up standing in line for over an hour with, well, all the other flexible workers or, perhaps, those unfortunate to be suffering the injustices of our current economy.\n\nFuture self: Maybe try to get in a little earlier, or skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the lines. Not that waiting in line was awful; it quickly moved, and the volunteers were a fine bunch, keeping up cheer, as well as handing out coffee. Kudos to them.\n\nElection Evening\nThe rest of the day, I kept refreshing multiple news sites to see if there was any indication of the ultimate outcome. Nothing. Not even exit polls. I had forgotten that data doesn\'t really start trickling in until after the polls close, which is around 7pm. That\'s when the media madness truly begins.\n\nThe projection of the winner arrived at approximately 11:10pm Eastern, when the networks called Ohio. This was about the same time they called the election back in 2008.\n\nFuture self: Chances are, you\'ll know who the new president of 2016 will be by 11:30pm Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 8. Don\'t expect any significant results until about 7pm.\n\nDow Jones and the Day After\nThe day after the election, the stock market dropped approximately 300 points (about 2%), which, of course, the media made a big stink about. What the news failed to mention was that on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the stock market dropped nearly 500 points (about 5%). And that in six elections prior to that, only two of them showed an upswing in the Dow Jones, one after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, the other after the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996.\n\nFuture self: Since at least 1984, the Dow Jones has dropped six out of eight times on the day after a presidential election; chances are it will drop again unless the economy is in a serious upswing (good luck with that).\n\n\nThe Times They Are A-Changin\'\nMany things became clear after the election, the most prominent of which is that the demographics of the voting population are shifting away from older, white men. Obama won the election through the votes of single women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and the younger generation. Romney\'s voters were older, whiter, more Protestant, and, more significantly, are declining in number.\n\nIn addition, Colorado and Washington legalized the use of marijuana (my own state of Massachusetts legalized weed for medical purposes). Maryland and, of all places, Maine approved same-sex marriages while Minnesota rejected a ban on same-sex marriages. The country witnessed the election of its first openly gay Senator, and the Senate now has a record-breaking number of women in it. Record numbers of Latinos and Asian-Americans were elected into Congress.\n\nFuture self: This \"new normal,\" as some pundits laud the trend and others lament, is not a fluke. This is a continuation of what we saw in 2008 and what the 2010 Census confirmed: the United States is becoming less about majorities and minorities, and more about the needs of diverse groups and pluralities. Expect the trend to continue in 2016.\n\nWake Up Calls For Both Parties\nHopefully, the election taught the Republicans a major lesson, namely that they can no longer hold to the far right\'s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-evolution, anti-socialist, anti-immigration, anti-education trickle-down platform and expect to continue winning presidential elections. These ideologies worked back in 2004, but almost a half-generation has passed, and it\'s clear that such tactics aren\'t going to work in the future.\n\nYet Democrats and the President shouldn\'t view their victory as a mandate. The President won the popular vote back by only a few percentage points and the House remains in control of the Republicans. Also, and more to the point, it\'s been stated that the Democrats and Obama didn\'t really win; it\'s just that the Republicans and Romney lost because they couldn\'t offer a better alternative. That means that the Democrat\'s record over the past few years isn\'t a very good one. As an example, the failure of Wall Street and the collapse of our economy was the central concern of the electorate in 2008-2010, yet rather than focus exclusively on this catastrophe, the President and the Democrats sacrificed an inordinate amount of time, capital, and resources on reforming healthcare, an issue the electorate was far less concerned about and, quite frankly, didn\'t necessarily want at the time.\n\nFuture self: The successful party will be working their damnedest to fix the economy and getting us all back to work again. They will also be the party that embraces and works within the diverse set of views that our electorate represents. Currently the Democrats seem to be doing a better job of this, but the Republicans can do just as well, should they decide leave the past behind, embrace the future, and shift back to the center of our political spectrum. That doesn\'t seem likely at the moment; John Boehner doesn\'t seem inclined to tax the wealthy, something most Americans favor, and some Republicans insist that the reason they lost was because they were too moderate. If that\'s their attitude, well, then, fine. They\'ll continue to fall behind while the rest of us move forward.</h4>','Note to Future Self: About the 2012 Election','','inherit','open','open','','400-revision','','','2012-11-11 19:17:11','2012-11-11 23:17:11','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/11/400-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(402,1,'2012-11-11 19:42:33','2012-11-11 23:42:33','<img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;\" title=\"Election 2016\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/election2016.jpg\" alt=\"Election 2016\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" />Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"\n<h4>Predicting the Winner</h4>\nWhen it came time to try and figure out who would pull off the race, I decided to ignore the mainstream media and my gut instincts, the former of which I mostly ignore anyway, the latter of which usually serves me well (my tummy predicted the Bush victories back in 2000 and 2004, and the Obama victory in 2008). Instead, I decided to place my chips on in-depth statistical analysis and the wisdom of the crowds. While the mainstream media continued to insist that the race was tight (and constantly tightening), Nate Silver\'s FiveThirtyEight blog and Intrade confidently predicted a decisive Obama victory in the electoral college, if not necessarily the popular vote. Both were amazingly accurate: Obama swept the electoral vote, but his advantage in the popular contest was not nearly as well-defined.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Pay attention to FiveThirtyEight and Intrade.\n<h4>The Media</h4>\nAs mentioned above, the mainstream media (and I\'m referring mostly to the 24-hour news fiascos that are MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News) and its pundits insisted that this was going to be one of the tightest races of all times, going so far as to lay out several \"doomsday\" scenarios, including a repeat of the 2000 debacle or the possibility of a tie in the electoral college, thus leaving the choice of the presidency in the hands of the House of Representatives and the vice-presidency in the hands of the Senate.\n\nAll hype and bluster. Nothing to substantiate it.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Remember that the mainstream media has one thought on its mind: Ratings. And they seem to believe that the only way to get those ratings is to stir up controversy where it doesn\'t exist.\n<h4>Election Morning</h4>\nThe polls opened at 7am. I went to vote a little after 9am, thinking that my flexible  schedule would allow me to bypass all the voters who had to be in work. Wrong. I ended up standing in line for over an hour with, well, all the other flexible workers or, perhaps, those unfortunate to be suffering the injustices of our current economy.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Maybe try to get in a little earlier, or skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the lines. Not that waiting in line was awful; it quickly moved, and the volunteers were a fine bunch, keeping up cheer, as well as handing out coffee. Kudos to them.\n<h4>Election Evening</h4>\nThe rest of the day, I kept refreshing multiple news sites to see if there was any indication of the ultimate outcome. Nothing. Not even exit polls. I had forgotten that data doesn\'t really start trickling in until after the polls close, which is around 7pm. That\'s when the media madness truly begins.\n\nThe projection of the winner arrived at approximately 11:10pm Eastern, when the networks called Ohio. This was about the same time they called the election back in 2008.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Chances are, you\'ll know who the new president of 2016 will be by 11:30pm Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 8. Don\'t expect any significant results until about 7pm.\n<h4>Dow Jones and the Day After</h4>\nThe day after the election, the stock market dropped approximately 300 points (about 2%), which, of course, the media made a big stink about. What the news failed to mention was that on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the stock market dropped nearly 500 points (about 5%). And that in six elections prior to that, only two of them showed an upswing in the Dow Jones, one after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, the other after the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Since at least 1984, the Dow Jones has dropped six out of eight times on the day after a presidential election; chances are it will drop again unless the economy is in a serious upswing (good luck with that).\n<h4>The Times They Are A-Changin\'</h4>\nMany things became clear after the election, the most prominent of which is that the demographics of the voting population are shifting away from older, white men. Obama won the election through the votes of single women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and the younger generation. Romney\'s voters were older, whiter, more Protestant, and, more significantly, are declining in number.\n\nIn addition, Colorado and Washington legalized the use of marijuana (my own state of Massachusetts legalized weed for medical purposes). Maryland and, of all places, Maine approved same-sex marriages while Minnesota rejected a ban on same-sex marriages. The country witnessed the election of its first openly gay Senator, and the Senate now has a record-breaking number of women in it. Record numbers of Latinos and Asian-Americans were elected into Congress.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> This \"new normal,\" as some pundits laud the trend and others lament, is not a fluke. This is a continuation of what we saw in 2008 and what the 2010 Census confirmed: the United States is becoming less about majorities and minorities, and more about the needs of diverse groups and pluralities. Expect the trend to continue in 2016.\n<h4>Wake Up Calls For Both Parties</h4>\nHopefully, the election taught the Republicans a major lesson, namely that they can no longer hold to the far right\'s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-evolution, anti-socialist, anti-immigration, anti-education trickle-down platform and expect to continue winning presidential elections. These ideologies worked back in 2004, but almost a half-generation has passed, and it\'s clear that such tactics aren\'t going to work in the future.\n\nYet Democrats and the President shouldn\'t view their victory as a mandate. The President won the popular vote back by only a few percentage points and the House remains in control of the Republicans. Also, and more to the point, it\'s been stated that the Democrats and Obama didn\'t really win; it\'s just that the Republicans and Romney lost because they couldn\'t offer a better alternative. That means that the Democrat\'s record over the past few years isn\'t a very good one. As an example, the failure of Wall Street and the collapse of our economy was the central concern of the electorate in 2008-2010, yet rather than focus exclusively on this catastrophe, the President and the Democrats sacrificed an inordinate amount of time, capital, and resources on reforming healthcare, an issue the electorate was far less concerned about and, quite frankly, didn\'t necessarily want at the time.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> The successful party will be working their damnedest to fix the economy and getting us all back to work again. They will also be the party that embraces and works within the diverse set of views that our electorate represents. Currently the Democrats seem to be doing a better job of this, but the Republicans can do just as well, should they decide leave the past behind, embrace the future, and shift back to the center of our political spectrum. That doesn\'t seem likely at the moment; Speaker of the House John Boehner doesn\'t seem inclined to tax the wealthy, something most Americans favor, and some Republicans insist that the reason they lost was because they were too moderate. If that\'s their attitude, well, then, fine. They\'ll continue to fall behind while the rest of us move forward.\n<h4>A Final Thought To My Future Self</h4>\nJust keep paying attention to <a title=\"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart\" href=\"http://www.thedailyshow.com\">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a>. It kept you sane in 2012. It\'ll keep you sane in 2016.','Note to Future Self: About the 2012 Election','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','inherit','open','open','','400-revision-2','','','2012-11-11 19:42:33','2012-11-11 23:42:33','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/11/400-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(403,1,'2012-11-12 07:34:33','2012-11-12 11:34:33','<img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;\" title=\"Election 2016\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/election2016.jpg\" alt=\"Election 2016\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" />Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"\n<h4>Predicting the Winner</h4>\nWhen it came time to try and figure out who would pull off the race, I decided to ignore the mainstream media and my gut instincts, the former of which I mostly ignore anyway, the latter of which usually serves me well (my tummy predicted the Bush victories back in 2000 and 2004, and the Obama victory in 2008). Instead, I decided to place my chips on in-depth statistical analysis and the wisdom of the crowds. While the mainstream media continued to insist that the race was tight (and constantly tightening), Nate Silver\'s FiveThirtyEight blog and Intrade confidently predicted a decisive Obama victory in the electoral college, if not necessarily the popular vote. Both were amazingly accurate: Obama swept the electoral vote, but his advantage in the popular contest was not nearly as well-defined.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Pay attention to FiveThirtyEight and Intrade.\n<h4>The Media</h4>\nAs mentioned above, the mainstream media (and I\'m referring mostly to the 24-hour news fiascos that are MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News) and its pundits insisted that this was going to be one of the tightest races of all times, going so far as to lay out several \"doomsday\" scenarios, including a repeat of the 2000 debacle or the possibility of a tie in the electoral college, thus leaving the choice of the presidency in the hands of the House of Representatives and the vice-presidency in the hands of the Senate.\n\nAll hype and bluster. Nothing to substantiate it.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Remember that the mainstream media has one thought on its mind: Ratings. And they seem to believe that the only way to get those ratings is to stir up controversy where it doesn\'t exist.\n<h4>Election Morning</h4>\nThe polls opened at 7am. I went to vote a little after 9am, thinking that my flexible  schedule would allow me to bypass all the voters who had to be in work. Wrong. I ended up standing in line for over an hour with, well, all the other flexible workers or, perhaps, those unfortunate to be suffering the injustices of our current economy.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Maybe try to get in a little earlier, or skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the lines. Not that waiting in line was awful; it quickly moved, and the volunteers were a fine bunch, keeping up cheer, as well as handing out coffee. Kudos to them.\n<h4>Election Evening</h4>\nThe rest of the day, I kept refreshing multiple news sites to see if there was any indication of the ultimate outcome. Nothing. Not even exit polls. I had forgotten that data doesn\'t really start trickling in until after the polls close, which is around 7pm. That\'s when the media madness truly begins.\n\nThe projection of the winner arrived at approximately 11:10pm Eastern, when the networks called Ohio. This was about the same time they called the election back in 2008.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Chances are, you\'ll know who the new president of 2016 will be by 11:30pm Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 8. Don\'t expect any significant results until about 7pm.\n<h4>Dow Jones and the Day After</h4>\nThe day after the election, the stock market dropped approximately 300 points (about 2%), which, of course, the media made a big stink about. What the news failed to mention was that on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the stock market dropped nearly 500 points (about 5%). And that in six elections prior to that, only two of them showed an upswing in the Dow Jones, one after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, the other after the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Since at least 1984, the Dow Jones has dropped six out of eight times on the day after a presidential election; chances are it will drop again unless the economy is in a serious upswing (good luck with that).\n<h4>The Times They Are A-Changin\'</h4>\nMany things became clear after the election, the most prominent of which is that the demographics of the voting population are shifting away from older, white men. Obama won the election through the votes of single women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and the younger generation. Romney\'s voters were older, whiter, more Protestant, and, more significantly, are declining in number.\n\nIn addition, Colorado and Washington legalized the use of marijuana (my own state of Massachusetts legalized weed for medical purposes). Maryland and, of all places, Maine approved same-sex marriages while Minnesota rejected a ban on same-sex marriages. The country witnessed the election of its first openly gay Senator, and the Senate now has a record-breaking number of women in it. Record numbers of Latinos and Asian-Americans were elected into Congress.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> This \"new normal,\" as some pundits laud the trend and others lament, is not a fluke. This is a continuation of what we saw in 2008 and what the 2010 Census confirmed: the United States is becoming less about majorities and minorities, and more about the needs of diverse groups and pluralities. Expect the trend to continue in 2016.\n<h4>Wake Up Calls For Both Parties</h4>\nHopefully, the election taught the Republicans a major lesson, namely that they can no longer hold to the far right\'s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-evolution, anti-socialist, anti-immigration, anti-education trickle-down platform and expect to continue winning presidential elections. These ideologies worked back in 2004, but almost a half-generation has passed, and it\'s clear that such tactics aren\'t going to work in the future.\n\nYet Democrats and the President shouldn\'t view their victory as a mandate. The President won the popular vote back by only a few percentage points and the House remains in control of the Republicans. Also, and more to the point, it\'s been stated that the Democrats and Obama didn\'t really win; it\'s just that the Republicans and Romney lost because they couldn\'t offer a better alternative. That means that the Democrat\'s record over the past few years isn\'t a very good one. As an example, the failure of Wall Street and the collapse of our economy was the central concern of the electorate in 2008-2010, yet rather than focus exclusively on this catastrophe, the President and the Democrats sacrificed an inordinate amount of time, capital, and resources on reforming healthcare, an issue the electorate was far less concerned about and, quite frankly, didn\'t necessarily want at the time.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> The successful party will be working their damnedest to fix the economy and getting us all back to work again. They will also be the party that embraces and works within the diverse set of views that our electorate represents. Currently the Democrats seem to be doing a better job of this, but the Republicans can do just as well, should they decide leave the past behind, embrace the future, and shift back to the center of our political spectrum. That doesn\'t seem likely at the moment; Speaker of the House John Boehner doesn\'t seem inclined to tax the wealthy, something most Americans favor, and some Republicans insist that the reason they lost was because they were too moderate. If that\'s their attitude, well, then, fine. They\'ll continue to fall behind while the rest of us move forward.\n<h4>A Final Thought To My Future Self</h4>\nJust keep paying attention to <a title=\"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart\" href=\"http://www.thedailyshow.com\">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a>. It kept you sane in 2012. It\'ll keep you sane in 2016.','Note to Future Self: About the 2012 Election','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','inherit','open','open','','400-revision-3','','','2012-11-12 07:34:33','2012-11-12 11:34:33','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/11/400-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(404,1,'2012-11-13 11:18:31','2012-11-13 15:18:31','<img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;\" title=\"Election 2016\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/election2016.jpg\" alt=\"Election 2016\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" />Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"\n<h4>Predicting the Winner</h4>\nWhen it came time to try and figure out who would pull off the race, I decided to ignore the mainstream media and my gut instincts, the former of which I mostly ignore anyway, the latter of which usually serves me well (my tummy predicted the Bush victories back in 2000 and 2004, and the Obama victory in 2008). Instead, I decided to place my chips on in-depth statistical analysis and the wisdom of the crowds. While the mainstream media continued to insist that the race was tight (and constantly tightening), Nate Silver\'s <a title=\"Election Forecasts - FiveThirtyEight\" href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/\">FiveThirtyEight</a> blog and <a title=\"Intrade\" href=\"http://www.intrade.com\">Intrade</a> confidently predicted a decisive Obama victory in the electoral college, if not necessarily the popular vote. Both were amazingly accurate: Obama swept the electoral vote, but his advantage in the popular contest was not nearly as well-defined.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Pay attention to FiveThirtyEight and Intrade.\n<h4>The Media</h4>\nAs mentioned above, the mainstream media (and I\'m referring mostly to the 24-hour news fiascos that are MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News) and its pundits insisted that this was going to be one of the tightest races of all times, going so far as to lay out several \"doomsday\" scenarios, including a repeat of the 2000 debacle or the possibility of a tie in the electoral college, thus leaving the choice of the presidency in the hands of the House of Representatives and the vice-presidency in the hands of the Senate.\n\nAll hype and bluster. Nothing to substantiate it.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Remember that the mainstream media has one thought on its mind: Ratings. And they seem to believe that the only way to get those ratings is to stir up controversy where it doesn\'t exist.\n<h4>Election Morning</h4>\nThe polls opened at 7am. I went to vote a little after 9am, thinking that my flexible  schedule would allow me to bypass all the voters who had to be in work. Wrong. I ended up standing in line for over an hour with, well, all the other flexible workers or, perhaps, those unfortunate to be suffering the injustices of our current economy.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Maybe try to get in a little earlier, or skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the lines. Not that waiting in line was awful; it quickly moved, and the volunteers were a fine bunch, keeping up cheer, as well as handing out coffee. Kudos to them.\n<h4>Election Evening</h4>\nThe rest of the day, I kept refreshing multiple news sites to see if there was any indication of the ultimate outcome. Nothing. Not even exit polls. I had forgotten that data doesn\'t really start trickling in until after the polls close, which is around 7pm. That\'s when the media madness truly begins.\n\nThe projection of the winner arrived at approximately 11:10pm Eastern, when the networks called Ohio. This was about the same time they called the election back in 2008.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Chances are, you\'ll know who the new president of 2016 will be by 11:30pm Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 8. Don\'t expect any significant results until about 7pm.\n<h4>Dow Jones and the Day After</h4>\nThe day after the election, the stock market dropped approximately 300 points (about 2%), which, of course, the media made a big stink about. What the news failed to mention was that on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the stock market dropped nearly 500 points (about 5%). And that in six elections prior to that, only two of them showed an upswing in the Dow Jones, one after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, the other after the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Since at least 1984, the Dow Jones has dropped six out of eight times on the day after a presidential election; chances are it will drop again unless the economy is in a serious upswing (good luck with that).\n<h4>The Times They Are A-Changin\'</h4>\nMany things became clear after the election, the most prominent of which is that the demographics of the voting population are shifting away from older, white men. Obama won the election through the votes of single women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and the younger generation. Romney\'s voters were older, whiter, more Protestant, and, more significantly, are declining in number.\n\nIn addition, Colorado and Washington legalized the use of marijuana (my own state of Massachusetts legalized weed for medical purposes). Maryland and, of all places, Maine approved same-sex marriages while Minnesota rejected a ban on same-sex marriages. The country witnessed the election of its first openly gay Senator, and the Senate now has a record-breaking number of women in it. Record numbers of Latinos and Asian-Americans were elected into Congress.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> This \"new normal,\" as some pundits laud the trend and others lament, is not a fluke. This is a continuation of what we saw in 2008 and what the 2010 Census confirmed: the United States is becoming less about majorities and minorities, and more about the needs of diverse groups and pluralities. Expect the trend to continue in 2016.\n<h4>Wake Up Calls For Both Parties</h4>\nHopefully, the election taught the Republicans a major lesson, namely that they can no longer hold to the far right\'s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-evolution, anti-socialist, anti-immigration, anti-education trickle-down platform and expect to continue winning presidential elections. These ideologies worked back in 2004, but almost a half-generation has passed, and it\'s clear that such tactics aren\'t going to work in the future.\n\nYet Democrats and the President shouldn\'t view their victory as a mandate. The President won the popular vote back by only a few percentage points and the House remains in control of the Republicans. Also, and more to the point, it\'s been stated that the Democrats and Obama didn\'t really win; it\'s just that the Republicans and Romney lost because they couldn\'t offer a better alternative. That means that the Democrat\'s record over the past few years isn\'t a very good one. As an example, the failure of Wall Street and the collapse of our economy was the central concern of the electorate in 2008-2010, yet rather than focus exclusively on this catastrophe, the President and the Democrats sacrificed an inordinate amount of time, capital, and resources on reforming healthcare, an issue the electorate was far less concerned about and, quite frankly, didn\'t necessarily want at the time.\n\n<strong>Future self:</strong> The successful party will be working their damnedest to fix the economy and getting us all back to work again. They will also be the party that embraces and works within the diverse set of views that our electorate represents. Currently the Democrats seem to be doing a better job of this, but the Republicans can do just as well, should they decide leave the past behind, embrace the future, and shift back to the center of our political spectrum. That doesn\'t seem likely at the moment; Speaker of the House John Boehner doesn\'t seem inclined to tax the wealthy, something most Americans favor, and some Republicans insist that the reason they lost was because they were too moderate. If that\'s their attitude, well, then, fine. They\'ll continue to fall behind while the rest of us move forward.\n<h4>A Final Thought To My Future Self</h4>\nJust keep paying attention to <a title=\"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart\" href=\"http://www.thedailyshow.com\">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a>. It kept you sane in 2012. It\'ll keep you sane in 2016.','Note to Future Self: About the 2012 Election','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\n\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','inherit','open','open','','400-revision-4','','','2012-11-13 11:18:31','2012-11-13 15:18:31','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/11/400-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(405,1,'2012-11-13 11:18:49','2012-11-13 15:18:49','<img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;\" title=\"Election 2016\" src=\"http://www.biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/election2016.jpg\" alt=\"Election 2016\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" />Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"\r\n<h4>Predicting the Winner</h4>\r\nWhen it came time to try and figure out who would pull off the race, I decided to ignore the mainstream media and my gut instincts, the former of which I mostly ignore anyway, the latter of which usually serves me well (my tummy predicted the Bush victories back in 2000 and 2004, and the Obama victory in 2008). Instead, I decided to place my chips on in-depth statistical analysis and the wisdom of the crowds. While the mainstream media continued to insist that the race was tight (and constantly tightening), Nate Silver\'s <a title=\"Election Forecasts - FiveThirtyEight\" href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/\">FiveThirtyEight</a> blog and <a title=\"Intrade\" href=\"http://www.intrade.com\">Intrade</a> confidently predicted a decisive Obama victory in the electoral college, if not necessarily the popular vote. Both were amazingly accurate: Obama swept the electoral vote, but his advantage in the popular contest was not nearly as well-defined.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Pay attention to FiveThirtyEight and Intrade.\r\n<h4>The Media</h4>\r\nAs mentioned above, the mainstream media (and I\'m referring mostly to the 24-hour news fiascos that are MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News) and its pundits insisted that this was going to be one of the tightest races of all times, going so far as to lay out several \"doomsday\" scenarios, including a repeat of the 2000 debacle or the possibility of a tie in the electoral college, thus leaving the choice of the presidency in the hands of the House of Representatives and the vice-presidency in the hands of the Senate.\r\n\r\nAll hype and bluster. Nothing to substantiate it.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Remember that the mainstream media has one thought on its mind: Ratings. And they seem to believe that the only way to get those ratings is to stir up controversy where it doesn\'t exist.\r\n<h4>Election Morning</h4>\r\nThe polls opened at 7am. I went to vote a little after 9am, thinking that my flexible  schedule would allow me to bypass all the voters who had to be in work. Wrong. I ended up standing in line for over an hour with, well, all the other flexible workers or, perhaps, those unfortunate to be suffering the injustices of our current economy.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Maybe try to get in a little earlier, or skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the lines. Not that waiting in line was awful; it quickly moved, and the volunteers were a fine bunch, keeping up cheer, as well as handing out coffee. Kudos to them.\r\n<h4>Election Evening</h4>\r\nThe rest of the day, I kept refreshing multiple news sites to see if there was any indication of the ultimate outcome. Nothing. Not even exit polls. I had forgotten that data doesn\'t really start trickling in until after the polls close, which is around 7pm. That\'s when the media madness truly begins.\r\n\r\nThe projection of the winner arrived at approximately 11:10pm Eastern, when the networks called Ohio. This was about the same time they called the election back in 2008.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Chances are, you\'ll know who the new president of 2016 will be by 11:30pm Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 8. Don\'t expect any significant results until about 7pm.\r\n<h4>Dow Jones and the Day After</h4>\r\nThe day after the election, the stock market dropped approximately 300 points (about 2%), which, of course, the media made a big stink about. What the news failed to mention was that on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the stock market dropped nearly 500 points (about 5%). And that in six elections prior to that, only two of them showed an upswing in the Dow Jones, one after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, the other after the re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> Since at least 1984, the Dow Jones has dropped six out of eight times on the day after a presidential election; chances are it will drop again unless the economy is in a serious upswing (good luck with that).\r\n<h4>The Times They Are A-Changin\'</h4>\r\nMany things became clear after the election, the most prominent of which is that the demographics of the voting population are shifting away from older, white men. Obama won the election through the votes of single women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and the younger generation. Romney\'s voters were older, whiter, more Protestant, and, more significantly, are declining in number.\r\n\r\nIn addition, Colorado and Washington legalized the use of marijuana (my own state of Massachusetts legalized weed for medical purposes). Maryland and, of all places, Maine approved same-sex marriages while Minnesota rejected a ban on same-sex marriages. The country witnessed the election of its first openly gay Senator, and the Senate now has a record-breaking number of women in it. Record numbers of Latinos and Asian-Americans were elected into Congress.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> This \"new normal,\" as some pundits laud the trend and others lament, is not a fluke. This is a continuation of what we saw in 2008 and what the 2010 Census confirmed: the United States is becoming less about majorities and minorities, and more about the needs of diverse groups and pluralities. Expect the trend to continue in 2016.\r\n<h4>Wake Up Calls For Both Parties</h4>\r\nHopefully, the election taught the Republicans a major lesson, namely that they can no longer hold to the far right\'s anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-evolution, anti-socialist, anti-immigration, anti-education trickle-down platform and expect to continue winning presidential elections. These ideologies worked back in 2004, but almost a half-generation has passed, and it\'s clear that such tactics aren\'t going to work in the future.\r\n\r\nYet Democrats and the President shouldn\'t view their victory as a mandate. The President won the popular vote back by only a few percentage points and the House remains in control of the Republicans. Also, and more to the point, it\'s been stated that the Democrats and Obama didn\'t really win; it\'s just that the Republicans and Romney lost because they couldn\'t offer a better alternative. That means that the Democrat\'s record over the past few years isn\'t a very good one. As an example, the failure of Wall Street and the collapse of our economy was the central concern of the electorate in 2008-2010, yet rather than focus exclusively on this catastrophe, the President and the Democrats sacrificed an inordinate amount of time, capital, and resources on reforming healthcare, an issue the electorate was far less concerned about and, quite frankly, didn\'t necessarily want at the time.\r\n\r\n<strong>Future self:</strong> The successful party will be working their damnedest to fix the economy and getting us all back to work again. They will also be the party that embraces and works within the diverse set of views that our electorate represents. Currently the Democrats seem to be doing a better job of this, but the Republicans can do just as well, should they decide leave the past behind, embrace the future, and shift back to the center of our political spectrum. That doesn\'t seem likely at the moment; Speaker of the House John Boehner doesn\'t seem inclined to tax the wealthy, something most Americans favor, and some Republicans insist that the reason they lost was because they were too moderate. If that\'s their attitude, well, then, fine. They\'ll continue to fall behind while the rest of us move forward.\r\n<h4>A Final Thought To My Future Self</h4>\r\nJust keep paying attention to <a title=\"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart\" href=\"http://www.thedailyshow.com\">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a>. It kept you sane in 2012. It\'ll keep you sane in 2016.','Note to Future Self: About the 2012 Election','Election day 2012 has come and gone. And I, like every other citizen of the United States, can breathe a sigh of relief, not necessarily because a particular candidate won or lost, but because the presidential election season is over. Well, at least for a few years. I think it all starts up again in 2014.\r\n\r\nI\'ve decided to jot down some reflections about this presidential campaign, mainly so I have something to look back on when we go through this madness again. I was going to try to keep my thoughts impartial so as not to bias my future self, but when discussing politics, even with myself, I\'ve come to accept such impartiality as near impossible. So as I say to friends who ask me if I\'m a Democrat or a Republican, \"I\'ll express my viewpoints; you can label me as you wish.\"','inherit','open','open','','400-revision-5','','','2012-11-13 11:18:49','2012-11-13 15:18:49','',400,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2012/11/400-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(407,1,'2013-09-01 15:47:36','2013-09-01 19:47:36','Hacked By BALA SNIPER','Hacked By BALA SNIPER','','publish','open','open','','mindful-of-mindfulness','','','2017-02-06 13:33:53','2017-02-06 17:33:53','',0,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/?p=407',0,'post','',1),(437,0,'2017-02-06 08:49:50','2017-02-06 12:49:50','Hacked By Imam with Love','Hacked By Imam','','inherit','closed','closed','','407-revision-v1','','','2017-02-06 08:49:50','2017-02-06 12:49:50','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2017/02/407-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(438,0,'2017-02-06 13:33:53','2017-02-06 17:33:53','Hacked By BALA SNIPER','Hacked By BALA SNIPER','','inherit','closed','closed','','407-revision-v1','','','2017-02-06 13:33:53','2017-02-06 17:33:53','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2017/02/407-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(408,1,'2013-08-27 01:05:21','2013-08-27 05:05:21','If I were to define one particular theme for the year, this would be the year of mindfulness for me. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt mushier than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-08-27 01:05:21','2013-08-27 05:05:21','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/08/407-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(409,1,'2013-08-27 01:05:27','2013-08-27 05:05:27','If I were to define one particular theme for the year, this would be the year of mindfulness for me. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt mushier than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-08-27 01:05:27','2013-08-27 05:05:27','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/08/407-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(411,1,'2013-08-27 01:06:33','2013-08-27 05:06:33','If I were to define one particular theme for the year, this would be the year of mindfulness for me. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt mushier than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-08-27 01:06:33','2013-08-27 05:06:33','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/08/407-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(412,1,'2013-09-01 08:03:06','2013-09-01 12:03:06','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt mushier than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 08:03:06','2013-09-01 12:03:06','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(413,1,'2013-09-01 08:46:41','2013-09-01 12:46:41','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\n\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is to take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how you are feeling at that very moment--whether you\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with your modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor yourself in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\n\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes to do absolutely nothing except relax, close your eyes, reflect on how your feeling, then focus on your breathing for the rest of time. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard for most of us. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\n\nAnd that\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing, whether it\'s coding an algorithm, meeting with a client, or writing a blog.\n\nAs I\'ve discovered, modern psychology has taken the concept and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 08:46:41','2013-09-01 12:46:41','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(414,1,'2013-09-01 08:46:53','2013-09-01 12:46:53','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is to take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how you are feeling at that very moment--whether you\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with your modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor yourself in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes to do absolutely nothing except relax, close your eyes, reflect on how your feeling, then focus on your breathing for the rest of time. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard for most of us. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing, whether it\'s coding an algorithm, meeting with a client, or writing a blog.\r\n\r\nAs I\'ve discovered, modern psychology has taken the concept and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 08:46:53','2013-09-01 12:46:53','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(415,1,'2013-09-01 08:46:58','2013-09-01 12:46:58','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is to take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how you are feeling at that very moment--whether you\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with your modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor yourself in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes to do absolutely nothing except relax, close your eyes, reflect on how your feeling, then focus on your breathing for the rest of time. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard for most of us. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nAnd that\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing, whether it\'s coding an algorithm, meeting with a client, or writing a blog.\r\n\r\nAs I\'ve discovered, modern psychology has taken the concept and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 08:46:58','2013-09-01 12:46:58','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(416,1,'2013-09-01 15:08:41','2013-09-01 19:08:41','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. And when I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire talk devoted to mindfulness).\n\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is to take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how you are feeling at that very moment--whether you\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with your modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor yourself in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\n\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes to do absolutely nothing except relax, close your eyes, reflect on how your feeling, then focus on your breathing for the rest of time. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard for most of us. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\n\nAnd that\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing, whether it\'s coding an algorithm, meeting with a client, or writing a blog.\n\nAs I\'ve discovered, modern psychology has taken the concept and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:08:41','2013-09-01 19:08:41','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(417,1,'2013-09-01 15:42:34','2013-09-01 19:42:34','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\n\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\n\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\n\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\n\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\n\nModern psychology has taken the concept and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:42:34','2013-09-01 19:42:34','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(418,1,'2013-09-01 15:42:47','2013-09-01 19:42:47','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\r\n\r\nModern psychology has taken the concept of mindfulness and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:42:47','2013-09-01 19:42:47','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(419,1,'2013-09-01 15:42:52','2013-09-01 19:42:52','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of mindfulness. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\r\n\r\nModern psychology has taken the concept of mindfulness and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:42:52','2013-09-01 19:42:52','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(420,1,'2013-09-01 15:44:24','2013-09-01 19:44:24','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of <a title=\"Mindfulnet.org\" href=\"http://www.mindfulnet.org/\">mindfulness</a>. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\r\n\r\nModern psychology has taken the concept of mindfulness and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:44:24','2013-09-01 19:44:24','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-12/',0,'revision','',0),(421,1,'2013-09-01 15:44:30','2013-09-01 19:44:30','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of <a title=\"Mindfulnet.org\" href=\"http://www.mindfulnet.org/\">mindfulness</a>. <!--more-->I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into? At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break for a couple of minutes, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of your mind--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\r\n\r\nModern psychology has taken the concept of mindfulness and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','open','open','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:44:30','2013-09-01 19:44:30','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-13/',0,'revision','',0),(429,1,'2013-09-01 15:47:36','2013-09-01 19:47:36','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" src=\"http://biggles2k.com/images/blog/posts/mindfulness.jpg\" alt=\"Mindfulness--in space!\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" />If I was to define one particular theme for me this year, this would be the year of <a title=\"Mindfulnet.org\" href=\"http://www.mindfulnet.org/\">mindfulness</a>. I first encountered the concept when my workplace offered a 5-week course entitled \"Defrag Your Brain,\" which, I thought, I absolutely had to take, for at the time, my brain felt more cluttered than usual. As it turned out, defragging my brain meant learning about the art of mindfulness and its basic practices.\r\n\r\nAround the same time, while in the middle of a 10-week physical fitness program, I was reintroduced to the concept of mindfulness--in particular, mindful eating. Then after listening to <a title=\"David Rock\" href=\"http://blog.davidrock.net/\">David Rock</a> give a talk at my workplace about <a title=\"Your Brain At Work\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Work-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0061771295\">Your Brain At Work</a>, I read his book and, lo and behold, the core of his philosophy/research is mindfulness. When I tuned into a series of <a title=\"TED Talks\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks\">TED Talks</a> called \"Life Hacks,\" <a title=\"Shawn Achor\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Achor\">Shawn Achor</a> revealed five daily actions that are the \"happy secret to better work.\" One of those five actions is. . . you guessed it . . practicing mindfulness. In fact, there is an entire TED Talk devoted to <a title=\"All it takes is 10 mindful minutes\" href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.html\">mindfulness (and juggling)</a>.\r\n\r\nSo what is this mindfulness practice I keep running into?\r\n\r\n<!--more-->At its core, mindfulness is simply the act of being aware of the present moment. Sounds very zen, and, indeed, if you refer to the <a title=\"Mindfulness\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness\">Wikipedia article</a>, you\'ll find that the history of mindfulness has ancients roots in Buddhism. But what this means to us in the fast-paced, modern, multi-tasking world is that every day, we should take a break, assess how we are feeling at that very moment--whether we\'re happy, sad, angry, or stressed out of our minds--acknowledge that feeling, reflect on it, then continue forward with our modern, multi-tasking life. In other words, it\'s a chance to anchor ourselves in the overwhelming ocean of distractions we call life.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to practice mindfulness, including mindful eating and mindful walking, but the most common form is akin to meditation or, as I like to think of it, taking anywhere from 3-30 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the magic number) to do absolutely nothing except relax, close my eyes, reflect on how I\'m feeling, then focus on breathing--without falling asleep. Sounds simple, yet it\'s ridiculously hard. Try it, and you\'ll see why. Even without any external distractions, even in the dark and pleasant sphere of your own mind, you\'ll find your attention wandering almost immediately, usually to the next series of tasks you need to complete for the day, or to that annoying meeting you just had, or to what you want for lunch. . . in essence, anything other than what you are supposed to be doing.\r\n\r\nThat\'s the point: In our modern, multi-tasking lives, our mind is probably doing something other than what we want it to be doing. Instead of just focusing on coding that algorithm we\'d like to finish, we\'re also thinking about where we need to be in the next hour <strong>and</strong> what groceries we need to buy for the week <strong>and</strong> how we are completely pissed off at our neighbor <strong>and, </strong>oh, yeah, that email we keep meaning to write--we really need to do that <strong>now</strong>--and we\'re off and running, typing up that email. Theoretically, practicing mindfulness can help prevent these distractions--not by preventing the distractions themselves, but by making us more <strong>aware of them. </strong>If we are aware of them, we have a better chance of taking control of them, and they have less of chance taking control of us.\r\n\r\nModern psychology has taken the concept of mindfulness and <a title=\"Mindfulness in modern psychology\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness_%28psychology%29\">run with it</a>, suggesting that practicing mindfulness helps alleviate a variety of psychological conditions, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. As I noted, I ran into the practice via a half-dozen different avenues this year, and chances are, I (and you) will hear more about it. This means, of course, that it could be all hype or, as others, such as myself, are wont to call it, bullshit. Maybe it is. But if practicing mindfulness helps me deal with all of the other bullshit I have to face in life, deal me in--I\'ll give it a try.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Mindful of Mindfulness','','inherit','closed','closed','','407-revision-v1','','','2013-09-01 15:47:36','2013-09-01 19:47:36','',407,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/2013/09/407-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(435,1,'2017-01-01 21:29:38','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','Auto Draft','','auto-draft','open','open','','','','','2017-01-01 21:29:38','0000-00-00 00:00:00','',0,'http://www.michaelhilborn.com/?p=435',0,'post','',0);

--
-- Table structure for table `wp_term_relationships`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_term_relationships` (
  `object_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `term_taxonomy_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `term_order` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  PRIMARY KEY (`object_id`,`term_taxonomy_id`),
  KEY `term_taxonomy_id` (`term_taxonomy_id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_term_relationships`
--

INSERT INTO `wp_term_relationships` VALUES (1,2,0),(2,2,0),(3,2,0),(4,2,0),(5,2,0),(6,2,0),(7,2,0),(1,5,0),(1,4,0),(32,6,0),(8,7,0),(9,7,0),(10,7,0),(11,7,0),(12,7,0),(13,7,0),(89,5,0),(89,4,0),(89,8,0),(89,9,0),(105,5,0),(105,4,0),(128,5,0),(128,10,0),(128,4,0),(128,11,0),(128,12,0),(128,13,0),(146,1,0),(14,7,0),(146,5,0),(146,15,0),(146,16,0),(146,17,0),(170,18,0),(170,14,0),(170,19,0),(170,20,0),(170,21,0),(170,22,0),(191,19,0),(191,14,0),(191,21,0),(191,20,0),(191,22,0),(205,19,0),(205,14,0),(205,21,0),(205,20,0),(205,22,0),(205,18,0),(190,18,0),(190,19,0),(190,21,0),(190,20,0),(190,22,0),(190,14,0),(231,19,0),(231,21,0),(231,20,0),(231,18,0),(231,22,0),(231,14,0),(245,14,0),(245,19,0),(245,21,0),(245,18,0),(245,22,0),(251,1,0),(254,19,0),(254,14,0),(254,18,0),(251,19,0),(251,21,0),(251,20,0),(251,22,0),(251,18,0),(279,6,0),(287,6,0),(338,21,0),(315,23,0),(315,4,0),(338,14,0),(338,20,0),(338,19,0),(338,18,0),(338,22,0),(343,14,0),(357,6,0),(377,14,0),(377,24,0),(377,19,0),(377,18,0),(377,21,0),(377,25,0),(377,26,0),(384,5,0),(384,27,0),(384,4,0),(384,28,0),(384,29,0),(384,30,0),(384,31,0),(400,33,0),(400,32,0),(400,34,0),(400,35,0),(400,36,0),(400,37,0),(400,38,0),(400,39,0),(407,1,0);

--
-- Table structure for table `wp_term_taxonomy`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_term_taxonomy` (
  `term_taxonomy_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `term_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `taxonomy` varchar(32) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `description` longtext COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `parent` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `count` bigint(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  PRIMARY KEY (`term_taxonomy_id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `term_id_taxonomy` (`term_id`,`taxonomy`),
  KEY `taxonomy` (`taxonomy`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=40 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_term_taxonomy`
--

INSERT INTO `wp_term_taxonomy` VALUES (1,1,'category','',0,3),(2,2,'link_category','',0,7),(4,4,'category','',0,6),(5,5,'post_tag','',0,6),(6,6,'nav_menu','',0,4),(7,7,'link_category','',0,7),(8,8,'post_tag','',0,1),(9,9,'post_tag','',0,1),(10,10,'category','',0,1),(11,11,'post_tag','',0,1),(12,12,'post_tag','',0,1),(13,13,'post_tag','',0,1),(14,14,'category','',0,10),(15,15,'post_tag','',0,1),(16,16,'post_tag','',0,1),(17,17,'post_tag','',0,1),(18,18,'post_tag','',0,9),(19,19,'post_tag','',0,10),(20,20,'post_tag','',0,7),(21,21,'post_tag','',0,9),(22,22,'post_tag','',0,8),(23,23,'category','For anything to do with teaching...',0,1),(24,24,'category','',0,1),(25,25,'post_tag','',0,1),(26,26,'post_tag','',0,1),(27,27,'category','',0,1),(28,28,'post_tag','',0,1),(29,29,'post_tag','',0,1),(30,30,'post_tag','',0,1),(31,31,'post_tag','',0,1),(32,32,'category','',0,1),(33,33,'post_tag','',0,1),(34,34,'post_tag','',0,1),(35,35,'post_tag','',0,1),(36,36,'post_tag','',0,1),(37,37,'post_tag','',0,1),(38,38,'post_tag','',0,1),(39,39,'post_tag','',0,1);

--
-- Table structure for table `wp_termmeta`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_termmeta` (
  `meta_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `term_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `meta_key` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
  `meta_value` longtext COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci,
  PRIMARY KEY (`meta_id`),
  KEY `term_id` (`term_id`),
  KEY `meta_key` (`meta_key`(191))
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_termmeta`
--


--
-- Table structure for table `wp_terms`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_terms` (
  `term_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` varchar(200) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `slug` varchar(200) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `term_group` bigint(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  PRIMARY KEY (`term_id`),
  KEY `slug` (`slug`(191)),
  KEY `name` (`name`(191))
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=40 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_terms`
--

INSERT INTO `wp_terms` VALUES (1,'Random','random',0),(2,'Blogroll','blogroll',0),(4,'Web Development','web-development',0),(5,'www','www',0),(6,'Main Menu','main-menu',0),(7,'Friends and Associates','friends-and-associates',0),(8,'apocalypse','apocalypse',0),(9,'doom','doom',0),(10,'Mobile Development','mobile-development',0),(11,'mobile','mobile',0),(12,'development','development',0),(13,'applications','applications',0),(14,'Interactive Fiction','if',0),(15,'google','google',0),(16,'search engine','search-engine',0),(17,'seo','seo',0),(18,'interactive fiction','interactive-fiction',0),(19,'if','if-2',0),(20,'ifcomp2010','ifcomp2010',0),(21,'ifcomp','ifcomp',0),(22,'reviews','reviews',0),(23,'Teaching','teaching',0),(24,'Game Development','game-development',0),(25,'ifcomp2011','ifcomp2011',0),(26,'xyzzy awards','xyzzy-awards',0),(27,'Management','management',0),(28,'agile','agile',0),(29,'open source','open-source',0),(30,'ITIL','itil',0),(31,'management','management-2',0),(32,'Politics','politics',0),(33,'election','election',0),(34,'election 2012','election-2012',0),(35,'election 2016','election-2016',0),(36,'democrat','democrat',0),(37,'republican','republican',0),(38,'obama','obama',0),(39,'romney','romney',0);

--
-- Table structure for table `wp_usermeta`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_usermeta` (
  `umeta_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `user_id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `meta_key` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
  `meta_value` longtext COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci,
  PRIMARY KEY (`umeta_id`),
  KEY `user_id` (`user_id`),
  KEY `meta_key` (`meta_key`(191))
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=32 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_usermeta`
--

INSERT INTO `wp_usermeta` VALUES (1,1,'first_name','Michael'),(2,1,'last_name','Hilborn'),(3,1,'nickname','admin'),(4,1,'description',''),(5,1,'rich_editing','true'),(6,1,'comment_shortcuts','false'),(7,1,'admin_color','fresh'),(8,1,'use_ssl','0'),(9,1,'aim',''),(10,1,'yim',''),(11,1,'jabber',''),(12,1,'wp_capabilities','a:1:{s:13:\"administrator\";s:1:\"1\";}'),(13,1,'wp_user_level','0'),(16,1,'wp_user-settings','m5=o&m0=o&m9=o&m8=o&m7=o&m6=o&editor=tinymce&hidetb=1&m4=c&align=right&m3=o&m1=o'),(15,1,'wp_dashboard_quick_press_last_post_id','435'),(17,1,'wp_user-settings-time','1378038042'),(18,1,'managenav-menuscolumnshidden','a:4:{i:0;s:11:\"link-target\";i:1;s:11:\"css-classes\";i:2;s:3:\"xfn\";i:3;s:11:\"description\";}'),(19,1,'metaboxhidden_nav-menus','a:2:{i:0;s:8:\"add-post\";i:1;s:12:\"add-post_tag\";}'),(20,1,'closedpostboxes_nav-menus','a:0:{}'),(21,1,'closedpostboxes_page','a:0:{}'),(22,1,'metaboxhidden_page','a:1:{i:0;s:7:\"slugdiv\";}'),(23,1,'nav_menu_recently_edited','6'),(24,1,'closedpostboxes_post','a:0:{}'),(25,1,'metaboxhidden_post','a:1:{i:0;s:7:\"slugdiv\";}'),(26,1,'posts-seen','377-384-407-423');

--
-- Table structure for table `wp_users`
--

CREATE TABLE `wp_users` (
  `ID` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `user_login` varchar(60) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_pass` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_nicename` varchar(50) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_email` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_url` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_registered` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  `user_activation_key` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_status` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `display_name` varchar(250) COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  PRIMARY KEY (`ID`),
  KEY `user_login_key` (`user_login`),
  KEY `user_nicename` (`user_nicename`),
  KEY `user_email` (`user_email`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=2 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

--
-- Dumping data for table `wp_users`
--

INSERT INTO `wp_users` VALUES (1,'admin','47fe38d6359a3485f890ff0afa372f33','admin','mhilborn@biggles2k.com','','2010-08-07 19:09:33','',0,'Michael Hilborn');


