I am a huge Roman history nerd and I have a weakness for anything related to the Roman Empire, so I think it's pretty cool that this kind of story still gets mentioned in the mainstream media some 1,600 years later.  One point of interest to me is how little we understand the group that actually invaded Rome - the Visigoths. We know they were a group of mercenaries led by a man named Alaric and that they had very recently been granted permission to live on Roman soil thanks to a treaty signed by their previous leader Athanaric.  The basic story seems pretty clear: the mercenaries grew unhappy with their payment (or perhaps weren't paid at all), so they started attacking Roman cities to get their money.  The part that doesn't make sense to me is how they were able to march into the capital seemingly unopposed.  Can you imagine hearing that news as a Roman citizen?  A group of mercenaries paid by your government just destroyed your capital?  It would be as if Blackwater (now called Xe) turned and attacked D.C. - unthinkable, right?

Alaric's story leads me to believe the following conditions were true:

1. The Roman army was incredibly weak - and Alaric knew this, probably from inside sources.  I doubt he would consider attacking the capital if he knew a huge Roman army would meet him there.
2. Alaric had people working for him inside the city of Rome - this part of the story is unclear from what I've read, but I find the whole story very hard to believe without this type of planning.
3. Roman citizens knew their empire was on the verge of collapsing and they were prepared to support anyone who was strong enough to protect them.  There was little risk of punishment for turning against the weak empire.
4. The city of Rome was symbolically much more important than Rome's leadership thought it was.  It seems like as soon as word spread that the city had fallen, the whole empire gave up hope.  I think even mediocre leaders would have the sense to protect the capital city with every force possible if there was risk of it being attacked, yet it seems like the city of Rome was left fairly unprotected.

I believe Alaric was emboldened by his ability to take one of the greatest cities of his time with relative ease.  He attempted to lead his army south to North Africa - the great grain factory of the empire, but he allegedly picked a bad time of year and storms sank most of his ships - or so the story goes.

Like many of the stories from the Roman Empire, I think we should keep the story of Alaric in mind when we consider many of the events happening in our world today.  Variations of this story have echoed throughout recent history - a simple search/replace for "Roman Empire" with "corporation" and "Visigoths" with "contractors" and this story might loosely resemble an article from the Wall Street Journal.

Lately I have been reading up on Microsoft certifications and learning more than anyone should ever need to know about SQL Server 2008.  I figure I’ve been glued to the .NET Framework for a couple of years now at work and I might as well learn as much as possible about the technology I use every day (more kool-aid anyone?).

I saw an interesting headline that caught my attention (mostly because I thought it was a joke): It seems IE actually gained market share last month, evidently reversing it’s painfully slow downward spiral.  I read the chapter from the book Founders At Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days on Blake Ross (creator of Firefox) and he basically says Firefox was only successful because Microsoft had disbanded the IE team and had totally stopped improving its browser.  Blake also mentions that Firefox will quickly lose to Google and Microsoft if they aren’t constantly innovating (obvious), so I’m a little curious as to the reason behind IE’s recent success.  Firefox is still innovating, Google has been idle for a while now, and IE is still stuck at version 8 with promises of 9 around the corner. 

As a Web developer, I really hope to see more adherence to standards – especially IE with version 9.  I am 10+ years sick of things not working or rendering correctly between browsers.  I know this “browser war” will be written later in the history books as one of the most foolish and absurd blunders in the history of the Internet.

Anyway, I’m standing by Microsoft as I’ve been boycotting Apple for well over 15 years now (another story) – but now I’ve decided to take a more active role with Microsoft development.

Oh yeah, and Happy 4th of July!

“Since World War II, U.S. imperialism has stepped into the shoes of German, Japanese, and Italian fascism and has been trying to build a great American empire by dominating and enslaving the whole world.  It is actively fostering Japanese and West German militarism as its chief accomplices in unleashing a world war.  Like a vicious wolf, it is bullying and enslaving various peoples, plundering their wealth, encroaching upon their countries' sovereignty, and interfering in their internal affairs.  It is the most rabid aggressor in human history and the most ferocious common enemy of the people of the world.”

- Lin Biao, minister of defense of the People's Republic of China – Sept. 2, 1965

There's a quote you'll never find in an American history book.

I was browsing through a book called "Respectfully Quoted" which is a collection of quotes dug up for use in congressional speeches and this quote stood out to me as a criticism I think every American should at least be aware of (so I'm posting it here!).  I think it's obvious most Americans don't think much about the rest of the world (only about 28% of us even have passports), but I also get the feeling they also don't trust much of the world.  It's not surprising given all the media attention about things like lead in toys, jobs outsourcing, cyber war, etc.

I've heard story after story about how the U.S. is losing both its prestige and power in the global arena, but I have heard little about us gaining trust amongst foreign countries.  I believe that the more powerful a country or organization is, the less it is generally trusted by outsiders (or even insiders for that matter - but that's a different issue).  Case in point: this year Apple Inc. has seemingly overtaken Microsoft as the big, evil IT empire and there seems to be a growing consensus that Apple is less to be trusted than Microsoft because of this.  Likewise, Google is shaping itself into another IT empire and, true to form, there are now challenges to Google's mantra "Don't be evil".

So I guess my question to the world is: do you trust us more now that we're slipping than you have during the past couple of decades?

I believe all organizations and individuals should take time to reflect upon both their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully learn from both.  I have to admit I'm discouraged by the little progress we've made in fostering global trust over the past decade because it is so crucial for a functional global economy.  I really hope the future holds much greater advances in global trust because globalization is our current and future reality.

Personal News:  I saved somebody's Saturday night by helping them break into their own car after locking themselves out.  It's a mistake I’m not ashamed to admit I've made a couple of times with my old Chevy Nova, so I'm a pro at unlocking cars using the ol' “clothes hanger through the top of the door trick”.  Another thing you won't find in an American history book (hopefully).

And now, your Chinese phrases:

Phrase: "My name is..."
Chinese: 我叫...
Pinyin: Wo jiao...
How it sounds to me: Woa jeeow...

Phrase: "Goodbye"
Chinese: 再见
Pinyin: zài jiàn
How it sounds to me: zie jeean

“Say to thyself every morning: “Today I shall encounter some meddler, some ingrate, someone who is insolent, crafty, envious, or churlish.”  All these evil qualities, however, spring from men’s ignorance of good and evil.

But as for me, since I have beheld the nature of good and know its beauty, and of evil and perceive its ugliness, and since I understand the nature of the sinner, that he is my kinsman, not as regards flesh and blood, but by virtue of his reason and participation in the divine, none of them can injure me; for no man can force me to a disgraceful act.

Neither can I be angry with my kinsman, or hate him.  We were designed to help one another, like feet, hands, eyelids, upper and lower rows of teeth.  To antagonize one another is contrary to nature; and anger and estrangement and antagonism.”

Marcus Aurelius, opening of Book II of “Meditations”

Last week my wife and I went camping in Berkley Springs, West Virginia and we found the historic town offers nice spas, an historic inn, and a lot of interesting shopping.  In one bookstore I found a 100-year-old copy of Marcus Aurelius’s book “Meditations”, so I will be browsing through it and posting random passages here.  I know the book is freely available online, but it’s so much cooler in old book format!

By the way, Berkley Springs is an excellent vacation spot for anyone who enjoys historic towns and fresh spring water.  The town has a park where there is an outdoor drinking fountain with spring water and a place where you can fill up gallon jugs with water.

Personal News: Today we had our green card interview and it went pretty smoothly.  It will be nice not to have to worry as much about all the paperwork we have been organizing over the past couple of months.

In other news, we are planning our trip to visit China in September.  I have my visa and I am ready to go!  We are planning a formal wedding ceremony on September 9, and then we're going to do some sightseeing and visiting the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.  With that said, I really need to step up my Chinese lessons in preparation for the trip.  I will start offering some phrases I have learned here so you can learn with me! (or correct me if you already know Chinese - I need all the help I can get!)

Phrase: "How are you?"
Chinese: 你好
Pinyin: Nǐ hǎo
How it sounds to me: nee how

Phrase: "Excuse me / Sorry"
Chinese: 对不起
Pinyin: Duìbùqǐ
How it sounds to me: dway boo chee

Today a colleague of mine asked me what it's like in Berlin today (I was there around New Years of 2007).  It reminded me how the city is still somewhat divided (most of it seems to be very quiet, but still lingering).  The most obvious difference is in the buildings between East and West Berlin.  West Berlin was swarming with expensive malls and shops and it honestly reminded me a lot of the area I live in now (D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia).  East Berlin, on the other hand, appeared to me still as a work in progress.  Across the horizon were cranes as far as the eye could see.  From the window in the apartment we stayed in you could see signs of construction everywhere: a new office building across the street, a park being renovated, another new building (probably apartments) down the street.

My colleague commented "I think the Russians know they'll never get that city back".  I didn't live through the Cold War, but I found this comment amusing because:

1) I sincerely doubt they want it back.  I don't remember where I heard it today (maybe the Wall Street Journal?), but somebody was talking about how the unification of Berlin really turned two big problems into one big problem for Russia.  I had honestly never thought about it like that, but I think it makes sense.

2) History has taught us never to say "never".  Perhaps Russia won't own Berlin in the foreseeable future, but it's impossible to say for sure what will happen in the next century.  As a side, I think decades from now we'll look back at the past decade as the infancy of a global age where there's no such thing as "superpower" countries. Who knows?

Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out some of the news coverage of the events in Berlin in the news.  I've been watching my desktop webcam widget of the Brandenburg Gate all afternoon and it looks really cool (I just wish I was there!).

Image taken from a webcam at the Berlin History Museum (home of Napoleon's hat and sword - in case you were wondering where those ended up) You can view the webcam at: http://www.dhm.de/webcams/WEB2.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8349742.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/world/europe/10germany.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Hold on, let’s back up a little.  What exactly did Comcast do and why are nerds like me dropping our keyboards for swords to fight the good fight against the evil corporations?

Last year the FCC determined that Comcast had been “throttling” Internet traffic for their customers.  Basically they were filtering Internet data and if they found something that looked like it came from a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing application, they slowed it down (or maybe stopped it entirely?) because it seemed suspicious.  In case you don’t know, P2P applications have a famous (and mostly accurate) reputation for giving people a means to quickly download illegal copies of movies and music.  The Comcast situation would be similar to police stopping all white Ford Broncos in the country and questioning them during the famous O.J. police chase in California.

Honestly, I have absolutely no problem with what Comcast did on a practical level.  If you live in an apartment with a shared Internet connection and somebody is constantly downloading huge files (movies?), then that will slow down your connection significantly – it’s like constantly flushing a toilet while you’re trying to take a shower.   I hope you kind of get the idea of what was going on.  Comcast said “Alright file-sharers.  We can’t scare you into stopping, so we’ll slow you down to the point where it’s not worth your time to download movies anymore”.  The problem is that Comcast violated a very, very important aspect of the Internet: all traffic is to be treated equally. (Thou shalt not anger the noble nerds of the Internet)

If you browse to Google’s home page and then to Yahoo’s home page, the load times should be about the same (granted server location and all that garbage plays a role in the actual speed – let’s forget about that for now).  That’s Net Neutrality.  Google can’t go to Verizon or Comcast and say “Hey guys, we’ll pay you a ton of money if our pages can load faster than Microsoft’s pages – deal?”.  Maybe something like that would start a huge bidding war between Google and Yahoo to see who can pay the most for the fastest pages – but that would completely destroy any chance for a new competitor to offer a similar service on the Web.  Let’s say you’re some college kid and you’ve created a way to search the Internet that’s 10 times faster than Google or Yahoo.  With Google and Microsoft throwing their chunks of money around there’s no way you can enter that battle.

Have no fear, the FCC is here!

The FCC has set up a Website that explains the new chairman’s (Julius Genachowski) thoughts about Net Neutrality and Internet availability in general.  It’s a lot to read and you may not agree with all of it (or any of it), but it’s simply a must-read if you care at all about the future of the Internet.

http://www.openinternet.gov/read-speech.html

Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean Secretary General of the United Nations (if you don't immediately recognize this name, shame on you), wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times today about his recent trip to the Arctic and how he agrees with most climatologists that the Arctic will probably be completely defrosted by 2030…  That’s truly awful news for people like me who love cold weather, but of course there will be a ton of other negative consequences around the world if this is left unchecked (none of this should really surprise you).

Now, I won’t say I completely agree with every forecast I’ve heard about global warming, and I’m still not convinced it’s entirely our fault (I don’t think we know a whole lot about climate change yet and what affects it – we just like to think we do).  I’d like to remind everyone that we were just as concerned about global cooling 40 years ago as we are about global warming today.  However, I think it has been fairly clear that the Arctic has been getting warmer over the past couple of decades and the rate of warming seems to be going up.  So are we totally doomed?

“There is nothing [we] can do.  It's over, my friend. The game is lost."

That was a quote from the late Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite authors, in his interview for the Rolling Stone where he explained how he thought the war against global warming was lost years ago.  I happen to agree with this – I really doubt there’s a lot we can do now to completely stop global warming.  If you argue humans have little or no impact on climate change, then logically there’s little or nothing we can do to stop it.  If you argue humans have a major impact, then two questions come to mind: 1) What exactly are we doing that is directly contributing to global warming? (I think we know some of the answers to this now), and 2) How can we stop doing these things while continuing to thrive as a species?

I’m not going to pretend like I have any answers or even good ideas for dealing with climate change, but I think those types of questions are good to at least keep in mind.

I really don’t think we’re doomed, but I do think we’ll need to be extremely adaptive going forward.  That’s good news for us.  It seems like humans have taken over the world in part because we’re insanely adaptive.  I don’t know about you, but I’m still shocked by how we’ve learned to live in some of the craziest climates on Earth.  So perhaps our battle cry should change from “Stop Global Warming” to “Let’s Get Creative”.  How can we live in our post-apocalyptic, melted-Arctic, global desert of eternal misery with 24/7 mega-hurricanes world of tomorrow?