Life – dead fish

Why I do Open Source development

I was on a scrum master certification over the last two days, lead by [Joseph Pelrine](http://www.metaprog.com/blogs/about/), and beside the enormous amount of knowledge on Scrum and the not lower amount of anecdotes and stories he experienced with *[insert famous IT company here]*, he came out with one particular interesting hypothesis:

“Doing Open Source software is like having an affair.”

He argued that if people would have enough fun with their daily development tasks and would identify enough with their company, they wouldn’t have the need for doing Open Source, they would not spend their valuable time developing free stuff.

So, am I cheating my company?

Certainly I love Open Source and Free Software in general. One reason why I love it that much is because I come in contact with interesting and very smart people. For example, I learnt many things from the friendly folks in the monotone community over the last couple of years, things which I did not learn or even came in contact while doing my daily business. And guess what, my company participated and profited from this many times, because I carried a lot of this knowledge back to my day job.

Beyond learning another major thing of Open Source for me is recognition. I don’t get a lot recognition for my daily business – either because most people like my boss just don’t care how software is manufactured and how the process works (after all, its the money that counts, eh?), or because the artifact I’m developing vanishes anyway because some marketing guru of a customer decided to “well, not go into this direction any further”. Sure, the money is ok, everything is paid, but it just plainly demotivates you if you work for the trash can.
With Open Source you work on stuff you or other people demand, you get the reward in terms of positive feedback if you help them solve their problems and you get public recognition for the source code you publish.

So again, am I cheating my company? I don’t think so. Open Source allows me to think outside of the box and try new things, for all of which would be no time in narrowed sprints or busy project plans, and my company profits from that.
But yes, maybe this also opens the door for new employments in the future as well, but lets face it, doing Open Source work is often the only possibility to personally get ahead in this industry today.

50 for 1

Its official. I’m becoming a vegetarian. Since three or so weeks I have lowered my meat consumption to almost zero now. It was easier than I first anticipated. Being a “carnivore” for more than two decades makes you know every possible taste of meat and sausage, so I actually don’t miss anything. My family is – of course – not with me. Especially not my wife, but hey, we have different opinions on almost everything anyways. (Sometimes I think this is the reason why “it works”, we have both quite strong egos.)

Why I’m suddenly becoming a vegetarian, you ask? Three important points to note here:

1. *Money:* Meat will get way more expensive in the mid- to long-term, since the demand from Asia will raise rapidly in the next years as people gather more welfare. On the opposite, we – the “developed world” – will have to reduce our excessive meat consumption sooner or later, simply because we can no longer afford it. I’m just starting a little earlier.
2. *Ecology:* To produce one kilogram meat you need about 50 kilogram of corn. Think about this number for a second. Again, the demand for corn raises rapidly especially in Asia and so do the prices, additionally fired by speculants. At the same time the places where crop can be cultivated shrink, more and more forests have to be cleared. I will simply get sufficiently harder to feed eight billion people by the year 2025, especially if more and more of them become carnivores.
3. *Health:* I’m simply too fat, I cost myself, my family and my environment too much money, now and even more in the future. By reducing the animal fat, I hope to do something good for myself as well (though I know I won’t loose much without changing other parts in my life as well).

There might be more for other people, for example animal rights, hunger in the third world, but the above ones are the most honest for me. (How much have you spent to organizations like “Bread for the World” recently?)

I strongly believe that everbody can change something, in his own life, his direct surrounding and even beyond. You _just_ have to start it. And you know what? It feels right and good.

Auf dem LinuxTag in Berlin

Ich bin am 12. Juni 2010 auf dem LinuxTag auf dem Berliner Messegelände, vielleicht läuft man sich ja über den Weg? Falls ich nicht schon durch meine Statur auffalle, sollte man einfach nach einem Typen mit einem weißen T-Shirt mit monotone-Logo Ausschau halten… 😉

Guerilla Gardening

Das kam gerade über den Critical Mass-Verteiler in Leipzig:

…. und plötzlich werden von irgendwo her mit Erde gefüllte Badewannen im Uni-Innenhof auftauchen und die herbeiströmenden Menschen können nach Lust und Laune einen Grashalm, eine Blume, einen Samen hineinsplanzen …

Wann? Do., 3. Juni, 11.00 Uhr
Wo? Innenhof des Campusneubaus
Mitbringen? Blumen, Pflanzen, Samen …

Wieso? Diese Aktionen – manche nennen es auch “Guerilla Gardening”, also eigenmächtiges Gärtnern im öffentlichen Raum – dient dazu den Innenhof der neuen Unicampus provisorisch zu begrünen, um erstens schon jetzt mehr Grün an die Uni zu bringen und zweitens die Uni-Leitung dazu aufzurufen, das vorliegende ausgearbeitete Begrünungskonzept umzusetzen.
v
Desweiteren: spread the word! bitte weiterflüstern, weiterleiten, vorbeikommen …

[www.myspace.com/pflanzmob]

Es grüßt,
der PflanzMob

PS: Wer zu dem Zeitpunkt nicht kann, soll gerne zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt pflanzen.

Find ich persönlich eine sehr coole Idee… 🙂

They’re not enough yet (Update)

I’m watching the climate conference in Copenhagen with great anger, mostly because I’m just feeling confirmed that the manhood is simply stupid. Not individuals on their own, but if they’re organized and have to go into the one, the only right direction, they’re completly dumb. I mean, how many homeless, how many dead people do we have to count before everyone, and I really mean everyone, acts in concert?

Sadly, this won’t happen in one, five or even ten years. Maybe within the mid of this century, when there have been enough Tsunamis, Hurricanes and Typhoons killing people, and enough floods, ground erosion and slash-and-burn have taken place and have wiped out enough farmland to let the remaining poor people die on hunger, then maybe some leaders will open their eyes and come to the conclusion “We’ve fucked up in Copenhagen ’09”.

Update: I’ve stumbled across a noteworthy article of The Guardian from Mark Lynas about the conference and the blocking position of China:

[…] China’s growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower […] Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to. […]

History tells us that a single human life – or even hundreds or thousands of them – doesn’t count much in China. I expect this won’t change in the future.

Das ist meine Laterne!

Am vergangenen Wochenende war ich mal wieder unterwegs in meiner alten Heimat Eisenach, ja genau dem Eisenach, wo einige Tausend Beschäftigte um den Ausgang des Bieterwettstreits um Opel bangen.

Besonders erschrocken hat mich hier die breite Plakatierung von NPD und REP auf fast allen Ausfallstraßen und vor allem auch in Innenstadt-/ Bahnhofsnähe. Es schien sich ausgezahlt zu haben, Umfragen zufolge erreichte wohl gerade die NPD in einigen Gebieten zweistellige Zustimmung.

Dass die hiesige Regierung unwillens oder unfähig ist, diesen “Parteien” auf rechtsstaatlichem Wege den Garaus zu machen, ist hinlänglich bekannt. Eine viel größere Farce ist für mich noch, dass dieses rechte Gesindel sogar noch aus der öffentlichen Hand mitfinanziert wird. Richtig ist aber auch, dass rechtes Gedankengut durch bloßes Verbieten nicht aus den Köpfen der Leute verschwindet. Viele Landespolitiker gerade in der Provinz sehen nun die “Früchte”, die das fehlende Budget für Jugend- und Sozialarbeit in ihrer Region getrieben hat; rechte Blender lauern an allen Orten auf die Unwissenden, Zurückgelassenen und Wütenden.

Ein Ärgernis sind wohl vor allem auch die Hetzplakate, die überall hoch an den Lichtmasten hängen. Der Gesetzgeber erlaubt die Wahlwerbung an bestimmten öffentlichen Plätzen (ausgenommen sind bspw. Ampelanlagen) und unter diesem Schutz kann bpsw. die NPD ungehindert agieren. Anwohner direkt am Ort der Plakatierung stehen dem meist ohnmächtig gegenüber, denn sie machen sich lt. Gesetz sogar strafbar, wenn sie Wahlplakate abnehmen, auch wenn diese erheblich das Stadtbild verschandeln und ein schlechtes Licht auf die Nachbarschaft werfen (“schau, sind ja alles Nazis hier!”).

Was könnte man also nun konkret mit wenig Budget in einer Kleinstadt wie Eisenach dagegen tun, gerade gegen die übermäßige und ekelhafte Plakatierung?
Mir kam hier der Gedanke des “public private partnerships” – wie wäre es denn, wenn die Stadt die Grundstücke ihrer Lichtmasten an die Anwohner verkauft und sie von diesen für einen “symbolischen” Betrag wie bspw. 1 Euro / Jahr pachtet? Da der Eigentümer nun nicht mehr die öffentliche Hand, sondern eine Privatperson ist, müsste die NPD bei jedem Eigentümer einzeln um Erlaubnis bitten, ihre Plakate an “ihren” Lichtmast aufhängen zu dürfen. Wird wild plakatiert, hätte der neue Eigentümer sogar das Recht, die Wahlplakate auf eigene Faust und völlig zu Recht zu entfernen.

Mich würde wirklich interessieren, ob das klappen könnte. Wenn ja, wäre der NPD ein Schnippchen geschlagen und sie hätten vermutlich ein großes Problem, noch geeignete Stellen für ihre Plakate zu finden. Nicht einschätzen kann ich hingegen den Verwaltungsaufwand, jedem Anwohner seinen “eigenen” Lichtmast zuzugestehen. Vielleicht gibt es hier auch die Möglichkeit des “Sammelkaufs” – es käme auf einen Versuch an! Was meint Ihr?

Election day

Germany’s next election day lies still quite a bit in the future (sometime in September), but the discussion about “Politikverdrossenheit” (disenchanted with politics) has already started in the media. Today I was proven right (German, automated translation) that my “Politikverdrossenheit” is actually not based on a lack of interest on these topics or a general misunderstanding, but more on a disillusionment of what is going on “up there” and what a single individuum can actually do in this country. Of course there is always something what can be done, after all I wouldn’t be active in the David vs Goliath challenge the Working Group against Data Retention faces, but still, big moves or radical political changes (for good, not for bad) just don’t seem to be possible here.

While I don’t envy the US americans for their past eight years of Bush and all the other problems they have, I’m certainly envious of them about their current president Obama. I wonder if somebody like Obama would even get as high in the political triangle in one of the countries of the “old world” – I’m sure that there are a lot of good, political driven people here as well which could do a similar good job, but I doubt they’d ever get the chance to “run for chancellor”…

Slow Death (update)

I visited my grandparents last sunday and it was a really awful experience. My grandfather, 86yrs old, is sickened with something between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and his condition degrades from day to day. If I remember him from my visit in late spring 2008, where he was, as usual, busy working in his rather big garden, completly normal, and compare that with his situation now, I’m getting more than sad.

The outbreak of the disease seem to have started sometime in Summer of 2008, after he was visiting my parents in Eisenach and his relatives in Zella-Mehlis (both located in Thuringia). It was kind of his “final tour” where he was looking for known people and locations one last time. One event seem to have troubled him very much back in the day, the day when he tried to find the grave of his mother in Zella-Mehlis, but couldn’t find it because it was removed long ago; something which nobody of his siblings told him about.

The following months from August to December were horror for my grandmother, which is also already in her seventies. She cared for him all day, cleaned him and his clothes, went with him to several doctors, and while he was sleepy most of the time, he got active overnight and prevented her sleep.

On January 23rd the situation got unbearable for her and they took my grandfather into a nursing home nearby the garden where both used to live. And this was also the place where I met him on Sunday: He sat in a wheelchair in the corridor, his head hung down to the right. His eyes looked glassy, I think he didn’t recognize me at all. No smile, no words, almost no reaction. My grandmother and me sat down on his side and talked, while he was drooling on his pullover. Some time later, after he regorged the last meal, we brought him to his room and I put him into his bed with the help of a male nurse. He fell off his bed just a few days ago and got hurt on his right arm and hip, so he seemed to have big aches with every move that we made. It was more than brutal to see this once proud and strong man in this situation.

I talked to my father the other day about this and he told me about his last visit in mid January. Back then he still had some “light” moments where one could talk to him. After my grandmother left the room, my father was alone with him for a short time. He reassured him that they’ll give him some treat which makes the disease sufferable, but he just responded “How long should all this still last…?”

I don’t wish anybody to die this way and I certainly don’t want to die this way. Time will tell us if researchers will finally find something which treats this disease (there seem to be field tests at least with some special protein blocker) or if I have to put a special paragraph for this and similar cases in my testament later on: “Kill me, I don’t want to live on!”

[Update] My grandfather died on early Tuesday morning, on February 10th, 2009, after he stopped eating for a couple of days already. I’m sad; at least I had the chance to see him one last time before his death. [/Update]

Read encrypted emails via webmail?

I was recently asked how to read encrypted emails securely in some untrusted environment via webmail. Imagine you’re sitting on someone else’ computer and absolutely need to check your inbox for this one encrypted email which contains a password without which you can’t continue. Or you’re in some internet cafe and got an important encrypted email – how would you do that?

Actually, the only thing which comes into my mind here is a combination of Portable Firefox and FireGPG on an USB stick (possibly encrypted). This, of course, bears a couple of problems:

If you don’t know which OS your “target” computer has, you need to have this “tandem” in at least three different binary versions, Mac OS X, Linux and Windows. While this doesn’t sound too hard (three partitions on the same drive), it’ll probably harder to encrypt all three and have something like “plug-and-mail-ready” for the target OS.
If you use a non-standard webmailer (i.e. no public service, but an own setup, like I have with roundCube Webmail), you won’t have a really good integration with FireGPG (i.e. no interface buttons, auto-decryption and other stuff) unless the webmail software plans support for FireGPG. (roundCube targeted it for “later“.)
And maybe the greatest show-stopper is the question: Is it really secure in untrusted environments? After all, GnuPG needs to load your private key into RAM to decrypt your message, and if it resides unprotected there (does it?), it could be, at any time, be read out by some hidden daemon and boom, your private key would be compromised…

How would you solve this dilemma? A VPN to a trusted PC from which you send and receive emails?

If there are no other good solutions then I guess people will have to choose between accessibility from everywhere and email security. And I bet they don’t choose security…

You can’t keep me here

I wanna shake
I wanna wind out
I wanna leave
This mind and shout
I’ve lived
All this life
Like an ocean
In disguise

I don’t live for
Ever
You can’t keep
Me here

I wanna race
With the sundown
I want a last breath
Forgive
Every being
The bad feelings
It’s just me

I won’t wait
For answers
You can’t keep
Me here

I wanna rise
And say goodnight
Wanna take
A look on the other side
I’ve lived
All those lives
It’s been wonder
Full at night

I will live for
Ever
You can’t keep
Me here

(Source)