Thoughts on Saddam Execution

Saddam executed. What a sobering day this is. I’m a musician and have little taste for politics; so I have no comment on right or wrong, international justice or our current involvement in Iraq. Who cares what an artist thinks in a world of politics anyway. My profession is the one that paints pictures for the ears. That has nothing to do with the real world or it’s events.

But here’s what one artist, one small feeble mind, has felt in the last 24 hours. Who cares. Sometimes I think the purpose of the arts is to make life bearable. The creation of magic that keeps us inspired to trudge on, to lift our eyes to a higher place. Theology being the perfect match for music, both with the same goals to reach to our depths. Then when life is taken away, the real world futility of the arts is heir apparent.

Gallows, thick rope, men in black hoods. A cross between the French Revolution and a Clint Eastwood western. And there’s the bad guy. So why aren’t I happy? Why do I feel like crying? He’s a bad man, I don’t even know this guy.

Have you imagined you were him and what it was like? I have. Several dozen times. Each time glad that it’s role playing, that it’s not real for me. But it is for him.

Saddam executed. My biggest concern this last week was working out some software bugs and a nagging regret that I didn’t cut down my own Christmas tree this year. Saddam executed.

I heard on Thursday that he would be executed soon. Executed? I thought they were still in trials and execution would be years from now. I’m used to prisoners being on death row for twenty years. No, surely something will intervene.

I hear Friday afternoon that Saddam Hussein will be executed within hours, roughly 7pm Friday my time. It’s about 3pm when I hear the news. The first thing I do is imagine that I am him. What would I be thinking. All this fight, all this time, all this drama – and now it’s a cold and empty feeling.

What can I do? It is what it is. Will it hurt? How will I act? What will my last words be. Do I even care? I’ve met with my family and that’s all done. The world will think what it will and I can have no control over that now. I have no one to have power over now, just me.

Cold concrete and echoing murmurs down the hall. The distant look in people’s eyes. Some with hatred, some with pride, some with compassion. It’s not really my concern, but I look for just one pair of eyes that understands. My concepts of heaven and hell seem like theological grade school games now, religion’s Rubik’s cube for the living. I’ll know soon enough, but now I’m well aware that it may just be a thing made by men.

Life was good overall, I made my mark. History will know me. Maybe I could have gone out a little bigger. Maybe I should have gone down in the streets of Tikrit or Baghdad. That spider hole I hid in was a mistake, I should have stood tall been a martyr. Who cares. It will be what it is now. The world and it’s trivial pursuits are gone. The things that concern you now are no concern of mine. I will be gone, you will go on. Eventually you will be as me so it’s all the same.

Some will rise up, maybe. It’s not my fight anymore.

*******

I received this prayer request today from my prayer request forum at Christian-Prayers.com today (mispellings are part of the original post):

To whom it may concern

To start I am not a support of this man and his work – but as a fellow human being and sinner – not to his extent but a sinner none the less. I was going to post this but decied not to as to much contraversy of the life and effect of this man, I ask that a pray be said for the soul of Saddam Hussein. I am Catholic and I know he will probley not make it to heaven or
will suffer much, and many peole will say that is a good thing, by I ask that a pray be said for him, his family, that nation, his victoms and their families, and the world as what he had dobne has effected the lives of many. I had just loged onto the internet and that was the headline – that they had hung him. I did not know a desision was made regarding his punishment. I felt a pain in my heart for him and all that has rooted from his deeds – knowing that his death will not resolve all the problems that stemed from him. So I as that a prayer of mercy, healing, and forgivness be said for
all involved.

If you have any comments please feel free to contact me.

**************

That was the post. Is it right, wrong? I don’t know. I do know that I find myself unable to be immersed in the rapturous joy that some are feeling at the news. I’ve seen the complete execution video on Google video. It struck me as very pedestrian. Not dramatic, not a world ruler being dethroned. Just some guy. Some in the room tried to make it dramatic with shouting before hand and afterwards. But to Saddam it appeared just to be a thing. It is what it is.

Now if they had hired me as MD (Musical Director) on this gig, I could have showed them a REAL execution. Of course there would be snare drums rolling and large kettle drums. Nice ominous cellos and basses complete with an SATB choir joining in a haunting Requiem. We would have timed the finale perfectly for a great crescendo, full orchestra hit, then just the high strings sustaining a single note while Saddam said his last words. Our strings would have plunged and kettle drums roared in perfect time with the drop of the gallows. Dance music and showgirls for the dancing segment, then a compelling romantic theme for the panoramic sweep of the body. Let’s end with a shot of the sky with sun breaking through the clouds and then the full main theme with brass and soaring strings.

Of course I’m being an ass. It wasn’t that. It was boring. It was pedestrian. It lacked pathos. My official review for the Saddam execution is a thumbs down. My point? The drama and pathos in an event is what we cloak it in. The events themselves contain nothing.

Our concepts of heaven and hell do much to bring ourselves solace over the actions of others. A final judgement that awaits the wicked. This seems to me very much to be an invention of the living to make life bearable. If you believe in those absolutes then you have to do nothing to make this world better, it will all be sorted out in the end.

But if you can entertain the thought for an instant that these absolutes may not necessarily be so, then you may be filled with a renewed drive to do what you can NOW to help out the person next to you. Maybe the execution of Saddam is part of that, man’s laws making things better now. Has it?

We have this intoxicating drive to make our lives something grand so that at the final curtain call we have something to show. Our final death. Something dramatic, the weeping, the accomplishments, the length of our resume. But maybe it is just a thing so everyday like brushing our teeth. And maybe the final tally of our life’s events does not happen in the way we expect.

So hug your family, keep your friends close and look what you can do NOW to help. Help what? That’s up to you. But do it now. Don’t wait. Life may fizzle and be a nothing. Let the drama unfold while you can see it.

And if faith draws you. Use that to harness yourself and enjoy the power of humility. Intellectualism is not the opposite of faith, the opposite of faith is hubris. It will take ten thousand to undo the pain that Saddam has created, but undone it will be. Not through his death, but through our living with better intentions.

Is OSCommerce Deprecated?

Current new installations of OSCommerce require that global variables be turned “on” for the server. That feature has been deprecated on most servers for security reasons. The OSC gzip file contains an .htaccess file with a rewrite fix that is commented out. If you need global variables turned “on” then you need to UN-comment those commands in the .htaccess file for your install to work properly. It is a short .htaccess file and the commands are at the end.

Using .htaccess to override a deprecated server setting? That’s a big red flag to me.
The problem is that global variables turned “on” were deprecated for a reason, and only older software platforms still use it. For detailed information visit this University of Washington article on php.ini and global variables.

The breakups and offshoots of development teams have left many source software users high and dry, constantly tempted to follow a branch that is the latest hot update.

OSC has not been active with software updates. The 3.0 release has been in Beta for quite a while, like a year and a half or more. If you do a Google you will see many discussions that consider it dead. I’ve used OsCommerce extensively in the past, and also made the mistake of following a branch called OSMAX. The problem with that branch is future support was limited to those that hosted with the branch creators. This goes against the whole concept of open source, and the same scenario is seen over and over again where open source developers break out on their own with a branch to monetize on the software platform.

There are many examples of software branches that attempt, sometimes succesfully, to take over the market of the original platform. Mambo to Joomla, PHPBB to CRELoaded, OsCommerce to ZenCart, etc. It makes the job of network admins sometimes seem like sitting at the craps table, just hoping you’re betting on the right line. Maybe that’s the reason to stick with paid software support instead of open source. But isn’t the root concept of open source exciting? That we all share as a community, taking and giving back as we can. A great testament to the web’s interactive sharing.

My site is a bit like that, as yours probably is too. We use so many features and software for free, then when something hits our area of expertise, we do what we can to give back. From what I’ve read, most of the software developers that break away on their own branch do so because of disagreements with the original software team. Google the word “draconian open source” to see some interesting discussions.

So in the midst of choosing software I am directly affected by the infighting of these different teams. The very nature of open source that is so full of creativity and generosity is also hampered by the weakness of being human. As an admin all I want is the teams to keep developing so I’m not totally screwed with my network development.

Maybe it’s just the nature of the beast: Software is eventually deprecated. When I think about all the hours spent developing websites, then years later having to scratch and overhaul the whole thing, it makes me a bit ill.

If you’ve been involved in software for a long time I’d be interested in your thoughts on the life cycle of it.

PHPBB 3 Olympus 3.0

*Note – PhpBB 3.0 Olympus has been released since this post. Please leave comments below on your thoughts about the update. Thanks!*

We’re all waiting patiently for the PHPBB 3.0 “Olympus” release which is currently in Beta4 release since November 2006. I think I’m not alone in hoping it would be released by Christmas 2006 but understand it will be released when it’s released. PHPBB got a bad rep in the past for it’s numerous security flaws which in part is just the nature of open source software.

It has tied my hands a bit in preparing to integrate ecommerce, CMS and other features with my forums. I don’t want to get too heavy into mods that won’t work with PHPBB3. In the current PHPBB 2.0.22 update there are some issues with AOL browsers and sessions. I’ve kept mods to a minimum for an easy transition, but it’s been frustrating� not to be able to update and customize layouts, games, cash mods and all the fun stuff for phpbb. So like the rest of you, I’m waiting…

You’ve probably noticed most of the SERP’s show Invision and VBulletin results when you’re searching for info on Google. You’ve maybe also noticed how many websites have gone to subdomains for their forums, as in forum.website.com – I have VBulletin running on one of my forums and it is very confusing for me. I guess just because I’ve been running phpbb for so many years. If VBulletin and Invision were intuitive on the backend I would probably jump ship to those formats even with the cost involved. But I’m hoping PHPBB3 raises the bar with it’s software release and that the transition is smooth.

When are you going to update to PHPBB3? On the gold release? After a couple updates? Tough decisions. I know many admins are going to just stick with PHPBB2. For me, I’m going to update to PHPBB3 and focus on customizing each community to accent it’s individuality, and slowly add in elements that in time will further� accent the independece of each site.

So….we wait……

Authors and Editors on Forum Websites

shake.gifWould you like to be an Author or Editor for our forum websites? We’re looking for people to represent our forum communities with news and thoughts related the overall forum subjects. It’s pretty fun and similiar to what you’re reading right now.

INTERESTED?
If you’re interested please PM (private message) the admin from your forum account. If accepted you will receive a PM with your seperate login info for your author account. You must PM from your forum account so we can verify who you are. PM the admin and say “I’d like to be an Author” or “I’d like to be an Editor”.

AUTHORS
An author is a member who writes articles, news and thoughts that would be of interest to the community as a whole. If you’re a member of our forums, you’ve already been an Author!

EDITORS
Editors can also write articles, but also can edit submitted articles and news posts. Editors need basic knowledge of HTML. An HTML view panel is provided if needed for articles. If you use FrontPage, Dreamweaver or have built websites, then you probably have all the tools you need. Editors do NOT need to know how to code HTML by hand, but need to be able to spot layout or code problems if it arises. It’s not very scary if you know a little about HTML.

WHAT’S THE POINT?
We are in the process of updating our online communities and this is a first step into moving them towards more interactive portals. There are a lot of exciting things in the works and you’re involvement is crucial to the growth of our communities. If you are passionate about the subject matter on your particular forum, then you are the perfect person for this.

HOW OFTEN DO I HAVE TO WRITE ARTICLES?
There is no set requirement. You can write one every day or once a month. Your involvement is up to you.

AN EXAMPLE OF ARTICLE POSTS
Let’s say the website you’re a member of is a Snowboarding forum. You could write reviews of snowboarding equipment, post links to new snowboarding products, talk about beginner tricks and tips, post weather conditions at featured ski resorts, talk about your last snowboarding trip, write thoughts about snowboarding articles on CNN.com with a link to the original article, write about the music snowboarders listen to – that’s just a start. You write about what you are interested and passionate about.

ONE PER NETWORK
To encourage the diversity of our communities, members can only be an author on one of our sites.

Networks Upgrading for Web 2.0

web20.jpgOur networks are currently in the process of upgrading in preparation for the coined “Web 2.0”. I started working on the backend several months ago on this and have a steady game plan that will go for months. Read about Web 2.0 on Wikipedia.

We will be blurring the line between our forum and ecommerce networks. Our forum networks will have more interaction and trading available for members, and our ecommerce network will integrate some of the community features from our forum networks.

If you’re a user on any of our networks, you’ll just notice that there’s more to do and things will be a little more fun. Tonight was the first time I started installing what I’ve been sketching out for quite a while. For me that’s very exciting.

Ironically, much of my work has been to make things appear simple. A lesson I’ve learned from music that carries over to IT.

To me, this is Web 2.0 in a nutshell: If three years ago someone asked me how get more search engine traffic; I could have gone on for hours about specific SEO tricks to use and how to manipulate the search engines. A couple days ago someone asked me the same question: “How do I get more traffic to my website?”. My answer was: “Create useful content about what you know and make it readily available to users.”

Some people still refer to my networks as “the empire”. That’s how we used to refer to it in-house and out. It was about domination, controlling SERPS, driving traffic and keeping the behemoth money machine rolling. It’s very rare I used the word “empire” any more, and when I hear it; to me it is a reference to a period of time. Today I refer to it as networks. It is about sharing information and ideas. It is also a reflection of my personal shift in theology; it is about giving more than it is about taking.

My favorite question is: “So how do you make money on this?”. Who cares. This is not about money, it’s about interaction. It’s about leaving the world a little better than when you entered it. As Mel Gibson said recently, “I’m keeping my side of the street clean. That’s all I can do.”

Cute Cuddly Seals

eskimo-seal.gifLook at the cute Eskimo petting the seal. Aw shucks….it’s adorable.

Now visit this really fun web page.

After you’ve read it look at the picture again.

This is an avatar from a member on one of my theology debate forums. It has gone unnoticed by members (and myself). I think that’s kind of funny, and a reminder that we often see what we want to see.