• SmokePing: ABOUT SMOKEPING
  SmokePing is a delux latency measurement tool. It can measure, store and display latency, latency distribution and packet loss. SmokePing uses RRDtool to maintain a longterm datastore and to draw pretty graphs, giving up to the minute information on the state of each network connection.
  Tags: sysadmin
• de.lirio.us Sold to Yahoo!
  After one week of publicity Y! has picked it up on the cheap. Of course, this is April 1st...
  Tags: joke
• Boringboring.com
  Parody of boingboing.com. Pretty funny. What will Cory think?
  Tags: humor, satire

• 'Most important ever' MySQL reaches beta - ZDNet UK News
  Triggers, Views, etc. I wonder if it'll still be rocket-fast?
  Tags: mysql, news

• Clusty the Clustering Engine
  Tags: se
• Threadless T-Shirts - Designer Clothing Submissions - Tees, Tshirts and T shirts!
  Tags: cool, tshirt
• EVDB - The Event & Venue Database
  Welcome to EVDB: the Events and Venues Database.
  Tags: events
• RubyGecko - Ruby-GNOME2 Project Website
  This sample mixes Gtk::SourceView and the Gtk::MozEmbed to build a simple "WYSIWYM" (What You See Is What You Meant) HTML editor
  Tags: firefox, gtk, ruby
• Joshua gets funding, goes full-time
  Joshua, of del.icio.us fame was able to get some funding and quit his job to work on delicious full-time. Congrats dude!
  Tags: delicious, sb, vc
• Breaking Firewalls with OpenSSH and PuTTY
  In essence, it shows how openSSH and PuTTY can be used as a VPN solution for your home or workplace.
  Tags: ssh, vpn
• rubric - Ruby Aggregator and Portal Creator
  Tags: portal, ruby, skydasher
• Surftp - Web Based FTP
  Web based FTP client. Looks interesting. I've seen these sorts of things before but my guess is that we'll see more of this, potentially a xul-based system which can be branded, etc.
  Tags: ftp, xul
• Jots API
  Social bookmark system written in Ruby with xmlrpc API.
  Tags: ruby, sb, xmlrpc
• The Man in Blue > Experiments > widgEditor
  Cross Platform Rich Text Editor
  Tags: js, rte

• RubyForge: Project Info- Payment
  An easy to use payment gateway for Ruby. Payment is used to process credit cards and electronic cash through merchant accounts like Authorize.Net.
  Tags: ruby
• Edgewall Software: Trac
  Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Integrates with Subversion.
  Tags: svn, vc, wiki
• MD5_collisions.pdf
  This paper describes a manner in which md5 checksums can be duplicated with different source files using a standard laptop computer. Scary.
  Tags: md5, reference

• ArunaDB - Seems outdated.
  ArunaDB is a database server written in the Ruby programming language. It is an interesting blend of a relational database and an objected oriented database attempting to take full advantage of the power of the Ruby programming language. It allows you to create and drop tables, views, store procedure, and triggers. It supports methods for iterating over rows in a table, view and/or index. It will soon support a server that will allow many users to connect to the database at the same time
  Tags: db, ruby
• Bash Blogger
  Bash Blogger is a small, bash-powered, weblog engine.
  Tags: bash, blog, shell
• Web Interface Design Tip: The Yellow Fade Technique (Signal vs. Noise)
  Why does this matter? When you edit or move something on a web page it usually forces a reload of that page. The problem is once the page reloads it’s often difficult to spot and confirm the change (especially if the change occurred somewhere in the middle of the page). The YFT uses JavaScript to create a yellow highlight that briefly spotlights the change when the page reloads. Then, in a second or two, the highlight fades and the page reverts to its normal state.
  Tags: design, js, ui
• CustomizeGoogle.com - "How do You want to Google today?"
  CustomizeGoogle enhance Google search results by adding links to other useful services. It can also remove ads.
  Tags: firefox, google, greasemonkey
• [ANN] Raggle 0.4.0
  Raggle is a console and web-based RSS (Really Simple Summary / Rich Site Summary / RDF Site Summary) aggregator, written in Ruby.
  Tags: agg, rss, ruby
• GreaseMonkeyUserScripts - An Unnamed MoinMoin Wiki
  This is a list of all the user scripts we know about, with a brief description for each
  Tags: firefox, greasemonkey, js
• Transparent Screens - a photoset on Flickr
  Your monitor's background image as a window to what's behind it.
  Tags: cool, desktop
• Search Wikipedia -- using LookAhead from SurfWax
  quick search access for wikipedia
  Tags: js, wikipedia
• Clocky - from MIT
  Clocky is a clock for people who have trouble getting out of bed. When the snooze bar is pressed, Clocky rolls off the table and finds a hiding spot, a new one every day. When it goes off again, you'll have to get out of bed to find it and shut it up.
  Tags: funny
• AdBrite - The Internet's Ad Marketplace
  Pud's advertising network
  Tags: ads
• Squirm - A redirector for Squid
  Tags: http, opt, proxy

• Ruby sucks (All those shaky laguages... )
  Somebody really doesn't like the press Ruby is getting. This seems to be a "Purist" view on programming. There's no such thng as a panacea, especially not in general programming where there are different needs and levels of skill and personally preferred methods. Interesting read though.
  Tags: grump, ruby
• Ourmedia Homepage | Ourmedia
  We provide free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches.
  Tags: backup, storage, watch

• Born Geek: Firefox Toolbar Tutorial
  Tags: dev, firefox, xul
• ClearSilver
  Clearsilver is a fast, powerful, and language-neutral HTML template system. In both static content sites and dynamic HTML applications, it provides a separation between presentation code and application logic which makes working with your project easier.
  Tags: c, dev, ruby
• Rails/Ajax Demo Movie
  A brief movie which shows how easy it is to implement ajax with Ruby on Rails
  Tags: ajax, ruby
• Ruby Buzz Forum - Patching Ruby-FastCGI for leaks and exceptions
  Tags: ruby
• 1clicksub
  1clicksub puts a button on your site so that visitors can subscribe to your RSS news feed with one click.
  Tags: rss
• easyRSS - The News Feed Database
  Tags: rss, se
• Samsung 30-Mile Cordless Phone : Gizmodo
  If you’re the type who dreads being dragged kicking and screaming into the use of a cell phone, Samsung sells their Long Range Cordless Phone. With an incredible (for landlines) 30-mile range, the set includes a caller ID-capable LCD and is able to communicate with the base-station, acting as an intercom.
  Tags: phone
• Web Page Analyzer
  Free Website Performance Tool and Web Page Speed Analysis
  Tags: opt, validate
• Apache AxKit
  Apache AxKit is an XML Application Server for Apache. It provides on-the-fly conversion from XML to any format, such as HTML, WAP or text using either W3C standard techniques, or flexible custom code. AxKit also uses a built-in Perl interpreter to provide some amazingly powerful techniques for XML transformation.
  Tags: apache, opt, xml

Got paged at 4am this morning because we apparently introduced a bug to the blogware project during a code promotion yesterday. It was a subtle thing (obviously not caught in our QA) but has a nasty little impact in certain cases. Whatever, it is in the pipeline for a quick fix. The point here is, I got up at 4am to figure things out and since I was awake I figured I would start my day instead of going back to bed.

I often work late at night because it's quiet -- No phones ringing or babies crying. I tend to get a lot more accomplished during this quiet time. But now that I'm getting a taste of the same quiet atmosphere in the early morning I'm wondering if I ought not quit early every night and get up extra early to do my work. A big difference is, at night it's dark and lonely (although my dog does hang out with me) while in the morning, as soon as the sun peeks out, the birds start chirping (you gotta love Spring time in the Conejo Valley!). It seems more peaceful now and since my biggest customer is on EST I can actually interact with them when they start their day. I think I might try this morning thang for a little while. Now if only I could get my entire team to follow suit.:)

• Asymptomatic » How to Write a Simple WordPress Plugin
  Tags: plugin, wordpress
• adaptive path » ajax: a new approach to web applications
  Tags: ajax, js, xml
• Ruby Conference 2005
  To be held in San Diego, Ca. October 14-16.
  Tags: conference, ruby
• Knoppix 3.8 and UnionFS. Wow. Just Wow.
  Tags: linux, portable
• Listzilla Firefox extension
  List your installed extensions in a jots.com/del.icio.us style format.
  Tags: delicious, firefox, xul

• How to Start a Startup
  An essay by Paul Graham
  Tags: biz, startup

One of my bigger clients is based out of Toronto, CA. so we end up talking on the phone quite a bit when trying to get things done. I tend to pace while speaking on the phone and since I work out of my garage I often head out the side door into the backyard. This time of year has the birds chirping like crazy, blooms on the peach trees and, er, green on the grass. Meanwhile, in Toronto, it's cold -- I mean, it is freezing as far as this SoCal native is concerned. Apparently the birds can be heard over my headset and all notion of sympathy from them for other working conditions flies right out the window.

Apparently Toronto is a cool town with lots of diversity and endless opportunity for fun. I've never been there but this is what I've heard and read. Hmmm... all the hip clubs and and interesting people in the world cannot lure me away from the warm weather of the Conejo Valley. As long as telecommuting is an option I'll be in town, bringing down the property value.

• ZedShaw.com
  Ruby On Rails + XUL Experiment
  Tags: ruby, xul

• Google Search: weather agoura hills, ca
  Weather forecast via Google. Agoura Hills as an example.
  Tags: google, weather

Hello Agoura Hills! Finally getting a bit of time to add a blog to this domain. I moved to Agoura Hills in 1985, went through A.H.S and graduated in 1989. Looking forward to dumping thoughts of my time in the city, the friends I made there and how I miraculously escaped with a diploma.

I'm the CEO of a small, local software development company with a great team of developers. My personal journal (Tom's Garage) is not updated nearly as often as I would like but it does have a recent view of what has happened to me over the years -- Some family pics, a dump of links I find important and general thoughts. You may find it amusing.