I am going to completely overhaul this blog in the next two days and switch from my somewhat modified XHTML 1.0 Movable Type templates to HTML5 code and templates of my own creation. As is my want for my own blog, I will be doing this live and not in a test dev/stage server type thing. Be prepared for a bit of a bumpy ride and you might see a peak behind the curtain, hang tight.

Wish me well, I am diving in.

I have run a selection of pages through the validators** to see if there is some dropped code or other reason, of which there is nothing to fix right now, so it is the server. Please bear with us and hopefully we* will return to reasonable server performance fairly soon, or by December we will move.

Mon 11.15.10 - Photo of the Seal Beach Pier seal statue taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N8.

This is after I shut off my computer and was on my way to bed, when I realized that maybe those of us in the web & mobile industries need to give more than lipservice to the idea of web education but is it time for all of us to consider that HTML should be apart of the canon of literacy.

Should HTML, in a basic form, be taught in primary school along with reading, writing, and arithmetic?

Yes, I do think it should. The internet, in all of its permutations, is in every aspect of our lives regardless if one lives in the developed or developing world(s). If we don't teach the basics of the markup language of how to develop | create for the internet, then we are leaving literacy half-baked at best for the 21st Century, because if one does not understand the basic underpinnings of the internet, then one is illiterate to a major facet of 21st Century life.

The drive to increase literacy over the last 200 years has been more than making sure the most folks possible can read and write but it has also been the drive to give everyone the skills to participate on a more level playing field in society, as well as to open the opportunity for all of society to rise to the level of the educated. In every country where literacy has risen above 80%, poverty has decreased, self-sufficiency has increased, and the economy grows in proportion to the increase in literacy.

If you can learn to count to ten in another language, you can learn the 10 most used tags in HTML. If you can string to together a sentence or two in your native language, you can learn the semantics and grammar of HTML. With HTML, you are more than partially capable of creating simple pages and apps for the internet, be it mobile or desktop.

When one can create a page or alter a page in their care, then they are no longer audience, but a participant. No longer just a consumer, but a creator.

*******
Ms. Jen's DIY Programming Series:
DIY Dev: Program or be Programmed
DIY Mobile Programming: Get Started with HTML, CSS, and Javascript
DIY Programming: Should HTML be Required for Literacy in the 21st Century?

Some friends recently asked on Twitter what was the best way to start programming mobile apps with Nokia's Qt, as they found that it was not as easy as the publicity from Nokia had purported Qt to be.

I replied: "When devs say a 'framework' is "easy" it is code for "It won't take 15 months of 10 hour days & make you want to KILL yourself.""

Anyone who has developed an application, be it for the desktop or mobile, can tell you that framework makes it so much easier, but easy is a relative term. What easy may mean is that development time is reduced from 6 months to 6 weeks or less. Still not that easy, but easier and a big relief.

For folks who want to learn to create and develop their own mobile apps, but don't have much programming experience or little at all, I would like to suggest starting with developing a simple app in HTML, CSS, and Javascript to get your feet wet and see if you can get your idea up and running either as a mobile web app or as a native mobile app that is coded in HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

As I wrote in DIY Dev: Program or be Programmed a couple of weeks back, there comes a time when your own natural diy urge or curiosity or frustration with a lack of an app drives one to learn how to program a computer, server, or mobile phone so that the itch has been scratched.

Rather than get bogged down in the debate between mobile web apps and native apps, let me give a few links to resources out there to help get you started on creating your own mobile HTML, CSS, Javascript app be it for the mobile web or a native app:

Cross Platform HTML, CSS, Javascript Mobile Development Frameworks:
PhoneGap - http://www.phonegap.com/
Sencha - http://www.sencha.com/
JQuery Mobile - http://jquerymobile.com/
Qt Quick - http://qt.nokia.com/products/qt-quick/

Tutorials and Presentations:
Building Mobile Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
HOWTO: Create native-looking iPhone/iPad applications from HTML, CSS and JavaScript
Forum Nokia on Developing for the Mobile Web
Tips and Tricks for developing Mobile Widgets

Books:
Programming the Mobile Web
Beginning Smartphone Web Development: Building Javascript, CSS, HTML and Ajax-Based Applications
Building Android Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Have fun, get coding, and send us/ let's us know what you have created.

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Ms. Jen's DIY Programming Series:
DIY Dev: Program or be Programmed
DIY Mobile Programming: Get Started with HTML, CSS, and Javascript
DIY Programming: Should HTML be Required for Literacy in the 21st Century?

Kilts.

Oh yeah.

In other News, Ask the Pilot, tells America to remember recent history and take a chill pill. And that includes the TSA.

Sat 11.13.10 - Last night I helped out Alex and worked the front door at the bar for the Ill Repute / Fang show that Ron Martinez put on. I used the opportunity of my favorite low light photography challenge to see how the Nokia N8 does at taking photos inside of Alex's, as the walls are all painted a deep red and suck the light out of photos making most photography dashedly difficult even with a flash.

With both the flash turned off and the flash turned on the Nokia N8 did a great job at capturing the scene and not either whiting out with the flash or being completely dark without the flash. Due to being at the door all night, I was not able to see how it performed in taking photos of the bands on stage.

Next time.

Thurs 11.11.10 - Photos of the pier taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N8 this afternoon while walking the dogs.

As bizarre as I find the whole flying experience in recent years, particularly the part at the airport before departure, I do like airports. Back when one could walk one's friends or family to their departure gate, before the advent of boarding pass folks beyond security only, I used to offer to take friends to the airport, as I enjoy the hustle, bustle, and air of possibility that pervades a good, large airport.

People are going places! I could be going places! What fun people watching!

The only problem in the post 9/11 world, the hustle and bustle has been replaced with dour faced, tired, stressed out people. And that only covers the employees and TSA folk, as for the passengers there is an air of defeat.

GW Bush's pronouncement of "Mission Accomplished" aside, I think the terrorists have won. Instead of airports being a place of movement, anticipation, and possibilities, they are now a place of banal, mindless bureaucracy that verges on shows of soul-corroding power trips in the name of supposed security.

One wanna-be terrorist failed to blow up his shoe, now millions of people get to have their shoes inspected. One failed terrorist couldn't get his underwear to explode, now many more innocents get to be patted down & felt up in the name of making us all safer.

Before you start thinking, "Well, I am willing to put up with ALL of that AND MORE to be secure!" Are you really that secure? I raise an eyebrow at you. You must not fly that often anymore.

As I detailed out in last night's post, for trips shorter than 6 hours, I now drive rather than deal with the b.s. at the airport.

Flying internationally is one exception to my little no-fly rule, as I do like to get into an aluminum tube with wings and be strapped in for 10-12 hours so that I can emerge on the other side in a new world. This I like so much, I will put up with quite a bit.

I like watching Labrador, Baffin Island, Greenland, and Iceland from 35,000 ft in the air as the metal tube is getting jostled about by the turbulent air in the interstices of the North Atlantic and the North American landmass. It is even more fun to watch Greenland & Bafflin Island go by with a barf bag* in one hand while one is trying to operate a camera in the other while pressing the lens to the window.

One of these days, I will touch down in Iceland and Greenland for a proper visit rather than just fly over. For Greenland, I will even put up with the airport.

*Sometimes, if it smells real bad, no matter how hungry, don't eat the airplane food. Yes, they still feed you on International flights.

Generally, I prefer to drive than to fly. I don't like the expense and hassle of flying. It isn't just the cost of the plane ticket & fees but also do I park my car at a protected pay lot or do I ask a friend or family member to drive me & pick me up from the airport? What about the time it takes to get to the aiport, through security, etc? I own a 2007 Toyota Prius that gets between 46-52 mpg when driving; yes, I can go 460 - 520 miles to a 10 gallon tank of gas. For short trips, there is a definite time savings to driving, as well as money savings.

Las Vegas from SoCal? Drive. If you plan it right, it is 4 hours door to door via the car. I dare you to beat that with driving to the airport, going through security, being at the gate 45 minutes before the flight, plus the 45min to 1 hour flight time & additional taxing to the gate & getting out of the airport & to your destination time. Get a road trip partner & just go.

Phoenix? Also, just drive.

San Francisco? Ooh, that one is hard. It usually is 4-4.5 hours door to door if you fly, plus a minimum of $110 for ticket & fees if you book two weeks ahead. It is 6.5-8 hours door to door from SoCal to SF and less than $60 total in my car, if I drive. But dang if the the drive through the Central Valley on the I-5 is not a mind-numbing haul, even if it is really shorter in the terms of time than one's brain perceives it. In the end, it is time and how much I need my car when I am in SF that determines if I drive or fly.

The last two trips to San Francisco, I have flown, as I was only in the city for a day or two and was only at one location both times. The trip before that in April, I drove up by myself as I did need my car to get around, and I drove back with my brother who needed to visit a series of commercial real estate properties for work in the Silicon Valley. I picked him up in SF, we drove around for a couple of hours, hit Chinese food in Sunnyvale, looked at a few more buildings and then drove home to LA. Easy peasy.

I like flying Virgin America, it is fun. I like flying American, even if others don't. I *actually* like LAX. So, if I was only going to be in San Francisco for a weekend wedding and visiting of friends, having to leave late Friday or early Saturday and then be back by Monday morning, wouldn't flying be easier?

Ah, no.

Sun 11.07.10 - Happy 7th Birthday to the one of best the dogs ever, Scruffy McDoglet!

Sun 11.07.10 - Sunday: wake up. Brunch with friends. Tea & crepes at Queen Malika in the Castro with Jason. Get in the car and drive back to SoCal via the Central Valley in the rain.

Photos taken by Ms. Jen on with her Nokia N8.

Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N8.

Sat 11.06.10 - 361 days after Wedding 1.0, Cindy Li and Matt Harris got married (Wedding 2.0) at the Aquarium by the Bay. Jeremy Keith made an excellent officiant, the ceremony was lovely, and I loved that Cindy's dad, Mr. Li gave a blessing prayer in Chinese.

After the ceremony, the receiving line was held in the Aquarium proper and we were encouraged to visit the various tanks & displays while the catering staff re-purposed the event room for the reception.

The reception was lovely with all the guests sat at airport code tables. I was at YVR with a lovely set of friends and the reception was delightful. Food, dancing, laughter, catching up.

Congratulations to Cindy and Matt!

Fri 11.05.10 - Lexi is a three month old long haired chihuahua pup that has visited with my neighbor's daughters twice this week. She is just tiny, tiny, tiny* and super cute/sweet. Best yet, she has soft fur and puppy smell.

* Lexi is about 3 pounds and is not even 5 inches tall.

As I read both articles, I was enchanted by the slice of Los Angeles history that Beth Israel represents and by the people who have invested their lives in that congregation from the 1920s to today. As I read the LA Times story and the first two pages of the LA Magazine essay, the back of my brains kept saying to me, "I think this is Lauren's grandpa's synagogue." I emailed her to see if it was this temple or not.

About six years ago when Lauren and I were roommates, and when I was in the throes of my genealogy research phase Lauren told me what she knew of her various family members to see if I could find more. The Isaacson line was the fun one to research as Lauren's dad Joe was the son of a rabbi, who was the son of a rabbi from Selma, Alabama. We did know that Lauren's grandpa was a founding member and rabbi of a synagogue in LA named Beth Israel.

By the time I had read the sixth page of the LA Magazine article, Lauren had emailed me back to let me know that the Temple Beth Israel in both articles was one and the same as her grandpa had been a rabbi at. I am very glad that Temple Beth Israel is currently undergoing a renaissance with young families in the Eagle Rock / Highland Park area, and even more glad that the temple of my Lauren's grandfather is continuing to be a blessing in its community.

Update from Fri 11.05.10 - Lauren emailed me this morning to let me know that her grandpa, Rabbi Isaacson, as a founder at the Temple Beth Israel in Hollywood in the same era.

Thurs 11.4.10 - Temperature yesterday at 3pm or thereabouts: 92F. Temperature today at 1:30pm or thereabouts: 95F. At the beach, people, at the beach.

Welcome to November 4th, 2010. Every autumn Southern California gets at least two good and hot heat waves. Gah.

Wed 11.03.10 - There is a fabulous garden on the front row of the Seal Beach boardwalk/ Seal Way where the owner/gardener is in a lovely little south facing micro-climate that allows him to grow bananas, tomatoes until Christmas, artichokes, and tropical flowers. This flower is one of my favorites in his garden.

Tues 11.02.10 - I don't like horror or scary movies, but I feel like I am living in one. Early this morning I woke up in the 5am hour from a nightmare in which everyone around me turned into a zombie. My first waking thought, of which I tweeted fairly soon after was:

"Is it just me or does it seem wrong that US Election day this year falls on Dia de los Muertos?"