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Celebrating a quarter century of jcm

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

25 years ago, on one of the coldest nights in recent UK history, I was born in York, England. A quarter century later, I’m living in the US and my life has changed quite dramatically from even just a few years ago. As I look back on the first 25 years of my life, there are a lot of things that come to mind – things I’d rather I hadn’t done, things I’m glad I did do, things I’m proud of, and many other emotions besides. But on the whole I’m glad to be alive and living the life that I have with the friends and family that I have to support me. That’s what it’s all about really – nothing else is actually important.

For the first time in my life, I’m heading toward being truly happy – sure there’s a lot wrong with the world, and I try to do my bit to help leave it in a better state then when I arrived – but happiness is what it’s all about. I love living in the United States, I can’t say that enough. I like the job that I have and the great people that I work with. And then there’s a special someone who I’d like to write reams about, but not here

There’s a lot more I want to do with my life in future in order to look back in another 25 years and really feel I’ve achieved a lasting legacy, and by the grace of good providence I shall have time to do just that. Special thanks to those who have already sent me good wishes – I’ll try calling a few of you on Sunday, timezones permitting.

Jon.

Posted in General | 3 Comments »

Heathrow security “compromised”

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

According to the BBC, London Heathrow is to begin trials of a new biometric security system. The system, like many others being tested/used worldwide is “voluntary” at the moment, and only in use for certain flights, but it’s part of a worrying trend towards 2-tier security that will (over time) degrade the security of the traveling public.

As Bruce Schneier has pointed out previously, when you introduce two different classes of security into the security theatre, you degrade overall security because now all the bad guys need to do is defeat a machine and they’ve overcome all your anal-probing, abbrasively annoying manual human inspection and any other security used for “regular people”. But the bad guys don’t know this, so we’re ok.

I’ve often thought Heathrow security was an annoying, humorless joke, and this just serves to back up my thoughts on the subject – closed source biometric security systems are not only a bad idea but they’re actively dangerous because people don’t see what could be wrong with them. But they’re digital! They use computers! They use words like biometric in their descriptions! How could they possibly be a bad idea?

Jon.

Posted in General, UK annoyances | 1 Comment »

Boston Ballet – The Nutcracker

Saturday, December 2nd, 2006

So we went to see The Nutcracker at the newly rennovated Boston Opera House last night. That was totally awesome – having never seen The Nutcracker before, I was looking forward to it. I had other reasons to enjoy seeing the ballet, but the performance itself was great. I need to see more performances in Boston. London can move over, even the Royal Albert Hall can’t really touch the Boston Opera House for style and class.

I’m debating going to see Handel’s Messiah performed by the Handel and Haydn Society as another cultural outlet, though I have suddenly realised that I could spend a million years in Boston and enjoy every minute of it.

Jon.

Posted in General, Living in the US, United States | 1 Comment »

The War of 1812

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

So I’m moving on to a War of 1812 documentary (man, I love these History Channel documentaries) as part of my daily exercise regimen (mental exercise, physical exersion) since I want to learn more about James Madison and his wife Dolley (she’s one of my favorite American patriots in history and has been for a long time), who single handedly preserved numerous artefacts of the American Revolution and prevented them from being burned by the British onslaught of Washington. Really. Dig. This. History. Thing.

I also just started reading a recent (September 2006) Biography of Thomas Paine (Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations) by Craig Nelson. Fantastic stuff, Nelson really helps me to understand the man more and the really unfortunate treatment he got – Roosevelt would later call him a “dirty little atheist” despite the fact that he was actually a Freemason (and therefore believed in the Supreme Being) and a deist. People really misunderstood this man and continue to do so, despite the great things he did for the United States. It makes my blood boil, for some reason, at the injustice of it all. I’ve spent a few hours over the last few evenings sitting in Boston, drinking various herbal teas and reading this book – it’s better than watching TV.

Paine’s writings were a battle cry against the British Government, his work directly lead to American Independence, helped the French Revolution against their Monarchy and first coined the term “The United States of America”. But because he also happened to criticise the established Church of the day, he was alienated by those who knew him – a man before his time in many ways. For all his good deads, he died a lonely, hated man whose remains would later be dug up in a stuff-of-fiction late night grave digging and lost to history. He’s the only Founding Father who has no giant statue celebrating his life (excepting the one in Thetford, UK) and I think that’s a truly sad state of affairs. Maybe, once we as a nation finally learn to accept that not everyone has to be overtly supportive of established religion (and that it’s ok to reason about it) then he’ll get his statue.

Part of me wishes they’d taught us American history in school, it’s far more interesting than British Monarchs I could never get excited about (because they’re unelected and I detest that). The history in this part of the United States is just mindblowingly interesting – it’s not all great (and there are many historical compromises that we have come to denounce), but it’s very very interesting stuff.

Jon.

P.S. I enjoyed reading about The News Of The World Getting Fucked Over. They deserve it – a truly horrible “newspaper” from Murdoch’s empire and I hope they get everything that’s coming to them for tapping phonecalls of the rich and famous (I may not like the Monarchy, but this is unacceptable).

Posted in General, United States | No Comments »

On Linode, UML, Xen…

Monday, November 27th, 2006

I’ve been experiencing performance issues on fremont.jonmasters.org, due to the combination of low memory, UML and poor IO throughput under swap. For these and other reasons, I’ve decided that my linode account is going away shortly – I’m just completing the tranistion over to dallas.jonmasters.org. Turns out that Xen may not be the way of the future, but it’s damned better than shared UML.

Jon.

Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Revolutionary War

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

“The House of Peers made no pretence To intellectual eminence, Or scholarship sublime”

– When Britain Really Ruled The Waves

Continuing in my quest for self reform, and my penchant for reading about the brave people behind the American Revolutionary War, I’ve been watching a History Channel series (13 parts – ever wondered why the networks really like those multiples? ) while working out. I’ve got a stationary bike hooked up and I’m trying to cycle around 10-15 miles a day in addition to my new diet (healthy, with a mix of vitamins – wikipedia has great articles on things you should and should not take) and walking regimin that I’ve imposed upon myself recently. Earlier, I walked from my apartment into Boston again – I just love a stroll across the Charles down to Park Street and around the Common.

I might need to ban myself from Amazon or Ebay at some point. I’ve been looking at more revolutionary writings (just bought a copy of Thomas Paine’s American Crisis this evening) – especially the rare antique variety. That could get expensive, if I let it.

I’ve been listening to a lot of G&S lately, and in a similar cultural vain am sorely tempted to see Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker this season.

Jon.

Posted in General | 2 Comments »

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2006

Friday, November 24th, 2006

Photo: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2006

So I went to New York for the 80th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was interesting (and very very cold and wet) and an overall fun experience from the “had to be done at least once” viewpoint. “Unfortunately”, with it being Thanksgiving, I didn’t actually get to do any shopping as even Macy’s itself was closed

The flightcrew on the flight back had to dispense sick bags to some kids due to the turbulance, which was understandable given that we were stuck at 17,000ft on the way back (it was worse still at 16,000ft on the way down). Maybe I’ll take the train next time.

Jon.

Posted in General, Living in the US | No Comments »