Happenings

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I installed FC5 yesterday, using the free space on my hard disk. I couldn’t resize the Windows Vista partition on my second hard disk so I’m stuck with running a dismal 19GB on my root partition and 9GB for /home. Luckily, the sound worked this time [probably because last time I used the pre-release version of Fedora Core 5]. My network card didn’t work however and I had to bring in my handy USB card. I also had to configure X Server to fix an invisible but active mouse problem.

I forgot to get KDE up and running and I’m not yet so expert as to attempt the installation myself. The university’s connection today was jumpy so yum downloaded all but two of the files I need.

I registered for he Fall semester this morning and discovered I’d be having Miz Bonifer for Commnications 204. I heard she’s the best — I guess I’m going to find out.

Business has been slow for a while. It seems most Freelanc sites want to pick me up only to write WordPress themes which don’t pull in anything and are easy to work with. Hopefully, I’ll start migrating many of my PHP apps to Linux when I figure out how to install Apache and MySQL.

As we say, ‘na small small.’

Presentation and Open Source

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I have wronged the Open Source movement by misrepresenting them in front of my coursemates.

I’d decided to make my presentation without notes. Public speaking has always been my greatest phobia, so I waited while half the class walked up to the front and read out their presentations. I was beginning to sweat just sitting in my chair and I decided to get it over with.

The first blooper was that I talk very quietly. I watched embarassed as the class turned off the AC just to hear my voice — some still had to come forward to hear me. My shirt under my arms was soaked and my palms were moist as I gripped the podium.

I started out fine, explaining what source code was and introducing them to open-source and closed-source coding. Suddenly, I went blank. Everything I’d thought to talk about flew out of my head and immediately, my reflexes kicked in. I went on a round of Microsoft and Windows bashing, extolling the virtues of Linux. Everyone appeared to be rapt with attention.

I was asked if Linux still ran from the command line like DOS and I, of course enlightened them on the how easy the installation was. Sometime into my explanation, I said,’Depending on your computer architecture, Linux can be a bit geeky to install.’ I had to explain what geeky was…

Suddenly, I was going on and on talking about how insecure WIndows was and how your data is sent to Microsoft, etc. Everything that came to my mouth went right out without me thinking. I was in a disjointed state, observing myself talk with increasing horror at what I was outputting.

I finally rounded up by making an appeal to users to make use of open source software. Now, everyone was going to think Linux was un-crackable and that Windows was evil. With an embarassed smile on my face that most people took to be joy, I walked back to my seat amidst applause.

As I sat down, I kept thinking,’Azuka what have you done?’

My presentation was a failed experiment — next time no one’s going to tell me to use notes.

Fireflies

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I retrieved my debit card from the ATM and stuffed the $20 bill into my wallet. Just as I crossed to the other side, a big bug drifted towards my face and I stepped back quickly. It was getting dark so I couldn’t make out its features to decide if it was harmless.

I squinted in the dim light as it made another sweep towards me. I waited calmly, then it glowed momentarily — a firefly. It had been long since the last time I saw one, but my mind went back to one of those vivid childhood memories.

We had been sitting on the verandah talking. NEPA had just struck and the entire street was shrouded in darkness. Big brother Chi was telling me a story, while Uche toddled around, giggling at something that interested him. I turned to look at what excited him and saw the blinking bug that had alighted close to him.

Its light came and went in a slow rhythm and i was fascinated by this morning.

‘Mommy,’ I asked. ‘Where does the light come from?’

She didn’t know, and I wasn’t any the wiser when I looked it up in the encyclopedia the next day — it said there was still much debate on it. Two special chemicals were at the rear end of the firefly and when they mixed, there was a glow. The light was however, a mystery because it produced no heat and scientists were still trying to figure out how the fireflies kept the chemicals from mixing when they weren’t producing light.

“There’s a battery in the ‘yansh’,” our neighbour Nonso who was slightly older than my elder brother announced importantly.

“Where does the battery come from?” I asked, suspecting there wasn’t any — my Dad’s torch didn’t blink on and off the way the insect did.

He shrugged and ran off with the other children in the neighboorhood.

That night, I watched them longingly as they collected fireflies in glass jars and ran around in glee. My mom had forbidden us to join in.

“You’ll be killing the innocent insects,” she said. “They eventually suffocate inside the jars and die. That’s cruel.”

“But mommy,” I countered. “If I collected enough we could have light in the house instead of using lanterns when NEPA ‘takes light.'”

Trust my mom, she wouldn’t budge. The next morning I found out she was right — all the fireflies, crowded in the jars, had died that very night and they had to be replaced constantly. Of course, they weren’t used to light any houses, but the children had fun with them.

The bug drifted past me as I walked on. I saw a lot more that night before I reached the dorms. They’re much bigger than the ones I’m used to — and far fewer. This is one of those moments I wish I were back home.

Development

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I’ve been doing some Scriptlance work for a while now and I must say I haven’t been so lucky at getting projects, but I guess the perseverance paid off.

I’m currently working on two different projects, but the bad news is that they’re both on hold for now. I won a bid to move someone’s design to a wordpress template — a job that usually takes me about three hours — but the guy hasn’t contacted me since despite my e-mails :(. I’m also waiting for a client to send me some sample data to play around with to see if I’ll have to rewrite a Joomla module.

I set up a development wiki about a month ago and haven’t been able to do any work on AuthWare — which reminds me, the name sounds so, so corny, especially when you think of Macromedia Authorware. I’d sure welcome some suggestions at the moment for a name that has to do with writing.

I’ll be doing a code rewrite during the fall, but have been quite lazy to even start anything on it. I’d been telling myself that I was waiting for my books to arrive from Amazon but I guess I’m actually kidding myself at the moment. Well, I know I’ll be starting ‘sometime’ in the future.

Finances don’t look too good [I know I have enough money in the bank], but I do want to take some of the burden of my Dad back home — the man don try. Well, things are looking good. As soon as I can afford it, I’ll take some certification exams which should be a breeze — I think that’s why I haven’t been getting RentACoder projects.

Wish me luck :lol:.

Negro Mentality

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I saw a link to a topic on the AOL black community forum [ Aggressive African A$$holes!!!]. It was a bit shocking to read the replies to the posts.

Something tells me that Black Americans have become some of the most racist people in the United States, thanks to the views they have of Africans in general, and the way anyone black is supposed to act. I’ve been looked down on because I don’t talk in Ebonics — and I don’t put on an obnoxious American accent either [I’m not hell-bent on giving up my Nigerian accent anytime soon, although some of my pronunciations have changed].

People from back home are even worse. I hear things like ‘How come you always stay by yourself? I understand you might not want to mix with the white guys but we’re all Africans. You need to go out with us’ or ‘The Africans are having a party today. Wanna come?’ Give me a break! Coming from the same continent as someone else doesn’t make you automatically friends or ‘brothers.’ Americans would deny they’re brothers with Mexicans, even though when you trace them back to Europe, Spain and the British Isles share the same continent.

I’m getting sick of this useless hating. I can’t pretend not to notice it, but I’ll do my best. Afterall, no be to […fill this in…] my papa send me come America.

Is PHP Dead?

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I’ve had some people try to pull me onto the RoR train in the past, saying it’s the hottest thing around. Others have pointed Flex as the way forward. I’m just not so sure about things anymore.

Trust me, I’ve worked with the .NET framework both in and out of the web context and the problems it has is the ‘one model fits all’ theory as does Java. I haven’t explored Ruby on Rails or Flex yet. PHP was designed from the ground up with scalability in all directions guaranteed, and I daresay it’s been rewarding. Of course, there are a myriad of security risks when PHP’s put in the wrong hands but they’re worth it. A chainsaw can be used to cut down a tree for wood or to saw off necks, but it’s still a tool — what matters is if it does the job well.

The lack of patterns and a few other features such as no namespace support and inconsistent function names have been criticized in PHP, but I think what matters is that you can implement whatever feature you feel has been left out, in your own way.

I haven’t been able to do any coding for a while but I’ll be moving to Cake soon. Here’s a post from someone who thinks the way I do.

I guess I’m an old stick-in-the-mud, but when the time comes to move on to some new language, I’ll be up for it, however much nostalgia I feel for PHP. Let’s hope PHP 6 gives the other web wannabes a good run.