ocean of the streams of story

I read a short passage this morning that stuck in my head all day, maybe a sign that it was meant to be shared.

…so Iff the Water Genie told Haroun about the Ocean of the Streams of Story, and even though he was full of a sense of hopelessness and failure the magic of the Ocean began to have an effect on Haroun. He looked into the water and saw that it was made of a thousand thousand thousand and one different currents, each one a different color, weaving in and out of one another like a liquid tapestry of breathtaking complexity; and Iff explained that these were the Streams of Story, that each colored strand represented and contained a single tale. Different parts of the Ocean contained different sorts of stories, and as all the stories that had ever been told and many that were still in the process of being invented could be found here, the Ocean of the Streams of Story was in fact the biggest library in the universe. And because the stories were held here in fluid form, they retained the ability to change, to become new versions of themselves, to join up with other stories and so become yet other stories…

Rushdie, S. (1991). Haroun and the Sea of Stories. New York: Penguin.

I've read this excerpt before, but the language and the allegory really struck me today.

my photo policies

After several years of having an informal policy in my head regarding the rights to my photos, I decided to finally put it in writing. These policies apply to any photos I publish on the Web, particularly those appearing in my Flickr photostream. Each photo in my photostream will have a (c) or (cc) designation noted beneath it.

Photos designated as "(c) All Rights Reserved" are fully copyrighted. No reproduction or distribution without prior permission is allowed. However, if you appear in a photo, you are welcome to a copy of that photo for your personal use -- my way of saying thanks for being in the photo -- ask me if you would like an original full-resolution file or a print (my complements).

Photos designated as "(cc) Some Rights Reserved" are licensed as "Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives" (English, legalese) through Creative Commons. Everyone is welcome to reproduce and distribute, without modification, for non-commercial purposes as long as attribution (name credit) is provided. This is my way of contributing to the spirit of the web and sharing some of my work for the world to use, for free.

After taking Pfaffenberger's class in college I know this policy is not very enforceable on the Web, where copying is easy and rampant. Plus, I know that copyright laws were written in an era prior to the Internet and information age, so interpretations can sometimes get hazy. Theoretically, it should still hold up in court if someone out there steals one of my photos for their benefit. It's amazing how one's view of copyright changes when one shifts from being a consumer of intellectual property to becoming a producer of intellectual property (IP).

The thing is, I'm not really one of those people who defensively hoards their IP. I feel like if I'm posting something on the Web, I'm doing it because I want to share. This is why I never have and probably never will put watermarks on my photos. Watermarks put ugly clutter into the photo and it doesn't really protect the photo because someone can just crop it off or work some photo editing magic on it. There is no way to prevent copying. If I really wanted to prevent people from copying something I created, I wouldn't put it on the Web. What I don't want to happen is someone taking my stuff and claiming it as their own and/or making a profit off of it.

Flickr Community Manager Heather Champ phrases this all a little more succinctly at the bottom of her About page.

dc adaptation of dickens' christmas carol

If you live in DC, you've probably heard about A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre being a Washington tradition. If you haven't enjoyed the tradition, I highly recommend it, although this year's show is being held at the Lansburgh Theatre because Ford's Theatre is under renovation. I found a really interesting variation on our local tradition in the paper this week though.

Christmas Carol 1941 is a local adaptation of Dickens' story. It will be performed this season at Arena Stage (on the Southwest Waterfront). The description from the website:

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Washington, D.C. prepares to celebrate Christmas. The Schroen family keeps the holiday spirit alive in spite of shortages, a housing crunch and a son who wants to enlist despite his mother's fears.

Ensconced in his G Street office, Elijah Strube doesn't care about the holiday or battling tyranny. He can only think about making lots of money. After three local spirits take him on an incredible journey across time, a reformed Strube is committed to serving his community, country and fellow man. Featuring everything from a high-energy USO dance to White House fireside chats, this fresh take on Dickens' classic tale by James Magruder (Broadway’s Triumph of Love) breathes new life into a beloved story. With original songs by Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls) and Susan Birkenhead (Jelly’s Last Jam), this holiday event is magical family entertainment.

If you've read this far, here's the gem: Arena Stage is offering a one-day sale of its tickets for this production. Half price tickets for shows Nov. 16-25 are available this Sunday, Nov. 4! Regular prices are $55-74. No service fees if you go to the sales office in person. If you go online, the promotion code is CAROL50. I found this deal in the November 2 Washington Post, Weekend section.

Although it might sound like it, I'm not affiliated with this production, but I am excited about going to see it. (If you'd like to meet up to go see it, I welcome one and all to join me.) Plus for those who know me, you know I'm a big into supporting anything and everything local :)

tasting notes from california and virginia

The last time I featured my wine tasting notes was in May 2005, when I wrote about Gibbston Valley (New Zealand) and Veritas (Virginia). I've only been tasting at wineries three times since then: once in Central Virginia in the fall of 2005, once in Napa, California this past summer, and most recently a few weeks ago here in Northern Virginia (Purcellville). I need to be going more often!

A list of the few of the bottles I enjoyed enough to buy and recommend…

Villa Mt. Eden 2005 Grand Reserve Chardonnay, Santa Maria Valley, Calif.
Winemaker Mike McGrath describes it as, "An affable cream-hazelnut aroma wafts along bearing flowers and ripe fruit. The juicy, ripe fruit flavors gradually introduce butterscotch wafers and toast. Lively and clean, the overall effect is an attractive, enjoyable quaff that urges a repeat sip." I'm not much of a chardonnay person (not into oaky or buttery wines), but I really liked this one. I actually picked up this bottle at Conn Creek in Napa Valley, their sister winery.

Rutherford Hill 2003 Sangiovese, Napa Valley, Calif.
Tasting notes from the winery: "Sangiovese, also known as Brunello or Sangioveto, is the primary grape in the famous Chianti appellation in Italy. Sangiovese was brought to California by Italian immigrants, many of whom settled in the Napa Valley. With the many micro climates that exist in the Napa Valley, Sangiovese thrives and produces great wines. Rutherford Hill’s 2003 Sangiovese shows the full potential of this varietal. Ruby in color, this wine has an aroma profile of strawberry jam, ripe plums that open up into cherries with notes of hazelnut and caramel. In the pallet, the wine is smooth with alcohol and acids existing in complete harmony with the tannins to create finesse in the finish. In other words, 'Alzi il vostro vetro a questo vino!'" This is where I learned that Sangiovese is the same grape that Chianti is made of, but one can only call it Chianti if it comes from the Chianti region in Italy. Wine lesson aside, this was a really nice wine.

Frank Family Vineyards Rouge Champagne, Napa Valley, Calif.
"A blend composed predominantly of Pinot Noir with a dash of Chardonnay both grown in Napa Valley, Rouge is a fun, festive, fruit driven champagne. First scents of strawberries and lychee tickle the nose, followed by essence of orange zest and then the sparkling fruit flavors enchant the taste buds." Any wine that has hints of lychee has me sold, but the winemakers did an artful job of blending the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Breaux Vineyards 2002 Nebbiolo, Virginia
"This bold Italian varietal grows on the mountainside at Breaux Vineyards and gives way to earthy flavors of tar, tobacco violets and licorice while plum and smokey cherry round out the finish." By far one of the most interesting red wines I've ever tasted. I've had one other Virginia wine with hints of tobacco and it was not-so-great, but this one was fantastic.

Breaux Vineyards 2006 Viognier, Virginia
"Beatiful tropical aromas and flavors. Orange blossom, honey and freshly sliced pineapple dominate the palate. crisp acidic finish." This is truly one of the best Viognier wines I've had, possibly one of the best whites. The other Viognier I would highly recommend is...

Horton Vineyards, 2006 Viognier, Virginia
"A bold, spicy, aromatic wine with intense peach and vanilla flavors." Like I said, one of the best whites I've ever tasted.

It's not really well-known yet (although some newspapers have picked up on it before), the Viognier grape is Virginia's gem. After tasting the Horton Viognier last year, I went on a round-the-world tasting by way of my local wine shop. I tried Viogniers from France, California, Washington, and New York. None held a candle to Virginia's. If you haven't tried a Virginia Viognier, it's worth a try.

Just remember to take the advice given to me by Jim Prager, the proprietor of Prager Winery and Port Works, the very first time I went wine tasting: it doesn't matter what anyone has to say about a wine. Taste it yourself and if you like it, that's all that counts.

minimizing losses on a late project

The following post is the text of a short paper I wrote for a course in Software Systems Development. The writing style is a little formal for a blog, but I wanted to share because I believe the advice is sound, not just in terms of the citations, but based on my real-world experiences as well. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I've been working in software for over a decade...

Although software engineering practice focuses on establishing good project plans from the onset, sometimes it becomes necessary to consider what happens when a project becomes late and over budget. In the case where a project is nearing completion (and one has come too far to cancel the project), there are some project management strategies, specifically relating to project monitoring and control, to minimize the lost revenue for the project.

Monitoring and controlling the staffing level in the project is essential for stabilizing the development cost. Personnel shortfalls are common in projects, so common that Boehm (1991) considers it one of the top 10 risks on any software project. However, according to Brooks (1974), one must resist the temptation to add staff to the project or risk it becoming later, and as a result, more expensive. Adding staff generally increases the communication overhead between project team members and it takes time for new staff to familiarize themselves with the project (Brooks, 1974). The only case where adding staff might help accelerate the project towards completion is where new team members are already familiar with the tasks to be performed, thus reducing the learning curve to understand how the project operates (Glass, 1998).

With a stable development staff working on the project, it is also important to monitor and control the project’s requirements. Wallace and Keil (2004) consider “scope and requirements” to be one of four major risk categories on a project. Scope and feature creep needs to be controlled through the customer and controlled within the development team as well. Using a Requirements Traceability Matrix, the project manager should monitor the development team’s effort to ensure everything being done in the design, implementation, and testing activities is traceable to a stated requirement. Tracing work being performed by the development team back to requirements helps to limit any extra work beyond the stated requirements being done (Wallace and Keil, 2004), which would further delay the project and increase the cost. Glass (1998) also suggests reducing the initial project scope if it is possible with the customer – deferring or eliminating some requirements or features to make the task more feasible.

Despite the pressures of a project being late and over budget, the project manager should continue to monitor and control the project processes, particularly quality control. Glass (1998) suggests that projects often fall behind schedule because there was not enough time originally allocated in the schedule and that 85 percent of project managers extend the schedule as a result. Although extending the schedule may result in revenue loss, conducting the remainder of the project according to the planned processes may minimize the revenue loss. Effective quality management reduces the risk of introducing defects, which would adversely affect cost and schedule in terms of effort required to manage and rework the defects.

In a project that is late and over budget, project managers should reexamine what is known through project monitoring and readjust through project control. The project manager must address the fundamental questions in a project: Who is working on the project? What are they working on? How are they working on it? Finding stable answers to these questions will result in the project being completed with a minimal loss in revenue.

References
Boehm, B. (1991). Software Risk Management: Principles and Practices. IEEE Software, 8(1), pp. 32-41.

Brooks, F. P. (1974). The Mythical Man-Month. Datamation, December, 1974. pp. 44-52.

Glass, R. L. (1998). Short-Term and Long-Term Remedies for Runaway Projects. Communications of the ACM, 41(7), pp. 13-15.

Wallace, L. & Keil, M. (2004). Software Project Risks and their Effect On Outcomes. Communications of the ACM, 47(4), pp. 68-73.