I am currently very hard at work, trying to get my first game out in time for the holidays. Wish me good luck!

“WinSTEP Nexus Dock” adalah software GRATIS untuk pengguna Windows yang menyediakan ikon refleksi secara live dengan banyak efek animasi.

Fitur List:

* Live icon refleksi.
* Dock magnification, ayunan dan banyak lainnya efek mouse luar biasa.
* Air beriak, permukaan fluida, cairan refleksi dan banyak lagi efek animasi.
* Otomatis Vista, windows 7 Glass semi-blur untuk background transparan.
* Dock auto-hide dan auto-collapse untuk mengambil ruang layar sesedikit mungkin.
* Built-in jam, cuaca, recycle bin, email checker, cpu dan ram meter docklets / widgets.
* Lebih dari 80 perintah internal.
* Kemampuan untuk mencegah tumpang tindih antara windows.
* Mendukung drag & drop sistem berkas virtual objek (My Computer, Control Panel, dll ..).
* Completely customizable – ribuan latar belakang tersedia secara bebas.
* Fully kompatibel dengan skin lain.
* Mendukung Penuh drag & drop dengan sangat mudah digunakan dan intuitif.
* Multi language support.
* Termasuk Update Manager untuk mencari, men-download, dan secara otomatis menginstal versi baru.
* … dan banyak, banyak, fitur luar biasa lainnya! Klik More Detail di bawah ini untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut!

Yang benar-benar gratis dan bekerja pada Windows 9x, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista dan 7. Ini juga mendukung 64-bit Windows versi.

Anda dapat men-download menggunakan link berikut:

Zip File

Homepage

Congratulations to the City of Richland, Washington.  Their ECM solution deployed earlier this year has earned  two prestigious awards within the past month. 

In early November, the City of Richland won the   ImageSource Customer Partner Award for best return  on investment.  The award was presented to Jon Amundson, Assistant City Manager and Christina Palmer, Project Manager at Nexus 2009 www.nexusecm.com. 

Last week it was announced that the City of Richland was also named to the Info World top 100 list of IT projects.  The solution consisted of Oracle IPM, Cardiff Liquid Office,  a Bundle of ILINX products http://www.imagesourceinc.com/Products/ILINXProducts/index.htm which were used to extend the capabilities of the Off The Shelf Software.

The vision, professionalism and standard of excellence exhibited by the Richland team is to be commended.  Congratulations, City of Richland!

You may have seen Case Study Panelist Jon Amundson, City of Richland, at Nexus 09 this year. ImageSource would like to congratulate Jon and the City for winning both the ImageSource Customer Partner Award for the Biggest Return on Investment, as well as an InfoWorld 100 Award!

The InfoWorld 100 Awards recognize 100 IT organizations that have innovatively utilized different technologies through implementations and integrations to meet business goals. The City of Richland was recognized for its use of different technologies together, such as Oracle, ABBYY, Cardiff and ILINX. To read more about the InfoWorld 100 Awards, visit www.infoworld.com.

Nexus 10 is less than a year away! Registration is open and seating is limited! To reserve your spot at a discounted price of $195, visit www.NexusECM.com to register for Nexus 10. Use discount code NEXUS10SPL. After November 30th, the price goes up to $295!

To follow the latest information on Nexus, check us out on Twitter: @nexusecm

Kristina Parma
Corporate Communications Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

Antibiotika aus der Natur unterscheiden sich von synthetisch hergestellten zwar durch eine langsamere Wirkung, im Gegensatz zu ihren technisch produzierten Verwandten stärken sie jedoch das Immunsystem, einige sind auch gegen Viren aktiv und sie sind (fast) nebenwirkungsfrei. Das allein sollte für jeden Menschen, der sich für eine naturnahe Gesunderhaltung interessiert, Grund sein, sich wenigstens Basiswissen zu diesem Thema anzueignen. Sicher – Honig, Knoblauch, Zitrone – die kennt fast jeder. Bei einheimischen Heilkräutern könnte es bei manchem schon kritisch werden oder kennen Sie alle Verwendungen für Augentrost, Brennnessel oder Gundermann? Und was wissen Sie über die antibiotischen Wirkungen von Pappel, Kiefer oder Mais? Es kann gut sein, dass es Ihnen wie mir geht: ich wusste darüber nichts und war überrascht. Einige Exoten wie Tolubalsam oder Ratanhia habe ich zum ersten Mal gehört und Chinarindenbaum kannte ich nur dem Namen nach.

Nach dieser Einleitung sollte klar sein: die Autoren Marion und Michael Grandt haben fleißig gearbeitet und nach einer ausführlichen und übersichtlichen Einleitung zum Thema Antibiotika alle möglichen Natursubstanzen und Pflanzen mit antibiotischen Wirkungen von A wie Agave bis Z wie Zwiebel recherchiert. Historie, Inhalts- und Wirkstoffe, Eigenschaften und Anwendung sind jeweils aufgeführt. Ein Register der Krankheiten mit Verweisen auf die jeweils nützlichen Pflanzen rundet das Buch ab. Mir am besten gefallen haben aber die Zubereitungen bzw. Rezepte. Das ist das Wissen, das Selbstversorger brauchen.

Was Selbstversorger allerdings auch benötigen, sind Informationen zum Vorkommen, also wo ich die Pflanze finde, und zum Aussehen der Substanz oder Pflanze, also schlicht Fotos oder Graphiken, sowie die wichtigsten Unterscheidungsmerkmale zu ähnlichen Pflanzen. Natürlich kann man es wie ich machen und im Herbst Kanadische Goldrute sammeln. Im Unterschied zur echten Goldrute sieht sie auch etwas dekorativer aus, allerdings hat sie auch keine der gewünschten Inhaltsstoffe.

Was ich damit verdeutlichen möchte ist, dass dieses Buch nur nutzbar ist, wenn ich ein Bestimmungsbuch daneben lege. Wahrscheinlich hätten ein paar Fotos auch schon die wichtigsten Informationen geliefert. Aber diese Chance wurde für die erste Auflage vertan. Das empfinde ich als ein echtes Manko und es ist mir einfach unverständlich, denn es mindert den Gebrauchswert des Buches zumindest für mich wesentlich. Schade.

Grandt, Marion und Michael: Antibiotika aus der Natur: Sanfte Heilung durch natürliche Medizin
Rottenburg (Kopp) 2009
ISBN 978-3-938516-92-8

Whether you’re at a dead stop (there are very few of you out there) or 15 percent there (like most of you) enterprises appear to be at a virtualization plateau and driving to the next level of relies more on an IT organization’s ability to evolve their people and processes versus deciding on the technology.

Don’t get me wrong, picking the right technology is extremely important–just ask any manufacturer! And much of the technology, like virtualizing desktops,  has matured and CIOs are more confident to deploy.  But not having the skilled people and honed processes are, in my estimation, an order of magnitude more important.

According to HP’s research, the biggest barriers or inhibitors to virtualization are: upfront costs, staff training/experience, gaining approval from corporate management, and infrastructure planning.

At World Wide we recognized the importance of people & processes, so we offer a variety of services including virtualization consulting that assesses an organization’s “operational readiness.” It includes an examination of the “as is”  infrastructure as well as the management tools and processes.   Steve Chambers, a Cisco virtualization evangelist in the U.K,  says that Cisco has put this “readiness assessment” in a framework called VOMA (Virtual Operations Management Assessment).  VOMA is about “institutionalization of technology across six dimensions:”

1. Management Processes
2. Organization
3. Governance
4. Technology
5. People
6. Metrics

via ViewYonder » Poor IT hygiene is a barrier to technology adoption.

The field of players is expanding and CIOs now benefit from more virtualization  infrastructure choices than ever.  Experienced CIOs know, while the technology is important, capitalizing on the benefits of virtualization is more about the people and the process.

I had an earlier post, Stand Up and Get Ready, that was more about manufacturers and resellers being ready for the economy to turn.   I now ask CIOs and IT leaders as a whole….

Are you virtualization ready?  More importantly, are your people and processes ready?

Per il secondo anno consecutivo, il Rat-Man Fans Club da il via all’operazione Caccia l’€uro 2009, un’asta di beneficenza di disegni originali su manifesti di Lucca Comics & Games 2009, con la collaborazione di Leonardo Ortolani (il papa’ di Rat-Man) e John Kovalic (autore del fumetto Dork Tower e delle illustrazioni dei giochi di carte della serie Munchkin).

Leo e John interpretano a loro modo il rapporto dei fumetti con la tecnologia ed il favoloso mondo dei computer. Il manifesto originale, illustrato negli stand della fiera lucchese, porta sul retro i disegni dei due famosi autori e sul fronte le firme e gli scherzosi testi dei membri del Rat-Man Fans Club, che anche quest’anno ha deciso di organizzare tutto questo per aiutare due associazioni: Changamano ONLUS, che si occupa di progetti di microcredito in Tanzania, ed Emergency, che con le sue sezioni lucchese e toscane stanno raccogliendo fondi per sostenere il progetto del poliambulatorio di Emergency a Palermo.

L’asta, a cui potete partecipare seguendo questo link, terminerà il giorno 1 dicembre. Un’altra asta si terrà poi a metà dicembre, con un’illustrazione (sempre su manifesto di Lucca Comics & Games 2009) di Leo Ortolani e Milo Manara.

Buon’ asta a tutti!

I had the opportunity to work the Interface ‘09 tradeshow yesterday with ProStor Systems. There was a ton of activity at the ProStor booth, and it was a great opportunity to learn more about the storage solutions that ProStor offers. Some things that people were interested in that ProStor specializes in were:

• Long-term data storage
• Archiving
• Backup
• Compliance

I am looking forward to working more with ProStor and learning more about their storage options as well. ProStor exhibited at this year’s Nexus conference, and we would love to have them at Nexus ‘10 as well. Registration for next year is up and active. Don’t miss your chance to register for the northwest’s premier ECM Solutions Conference, Nexus.

Kristina Parma
Corporate Communications Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

Hallo an alle Interessenten der Herr der Ringe Collectors Edition:

Einige Fragen stellen sich doch immer wieder. Wir wollen diese hier kurz beantworten:

Frage: Ist die CE komplett auf deutsch?

Antwort: Ja, komplett auf deutsch.

Frage: Beinhaltet die CE auch die Erweiterung?

Antwort: Ja, die CE beinhaltet das Grundspiel und die Erweiterung “Das dritte Zeitalter”.

Frage: Was wurde am Spielplan verändert?

Antwort: Der neue Spielplan ist komplett neu gestaltet worden.

Frage: Wurden die Regeln und die Karten überarbeitet?

Antwort: Ja, wir haben drei begeisterte Spieler im Boot die aus der Community kommen und die uns intensiv mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stehen.

Frage: Sind die Karten leserlicher?

Antwort: Ja die Karten sind leserlicher Aufgrund der Tarot-Karten Größe.

Frage: Wird es die CE im Handel geben?

Antwort: Nein, die wird es nur über Phalanxgames.de geben.

Frage: Wann wird die CE erscheinen?

Antwort: Die 150 Exemplare sollen noch vor Weihnachten ausgeliefert werden.

Frage: Wann soll ich das Geld überweisen bzw wird mir auf Paypal in Rechnung gestellt?

Antwort: Ende des Monats werden wir das Geld einziehen bzw erwarten wir die Überweisung. Hierzu wird es kommenden Donnerstag eine Email geben.

I know that a lot of players feel that storytelling is a sideshow to the main event in games; it doesn’t involve gameplay, and it’s seen as fluff to keep the punters/ fanfic writers amused. I don’t agree with this view, I think the role of storytelling in games is to make encounters feel meaningful – why else would we care about characters and avatars like Lara Croft, Sonic, sackboy, Commander Shepherd; might as well just represent the player by a  giant blue square.

But like it or not, the quality of storytelling and NPC design has a huge effect on how players respond to different parts of the game. Or in other words, the virtual reward of being able to deliver a good kicking to an NPC who people truly hate is on par with epics for a lot of people. After all, the epics will get replaced soon enough, but the storyline is a lasting memory and experience.

So, in that vein, which is the most unpopular storyline in Wrath? It’s undoubtedly the blue dragonflight – we kill an aspect (that’s like a demi-god) and no one cares. A few completists wonder whether that story was supposed to tail off, and everyone else is glad that Blizzard seems to have buried it. This is partly because of an unpopular raid fight which involved awkward vehicles, but it’s also because the writing didn’t make us care.

Piss him off by killing his consort? That was your entire plan?

I’ve had the great misfortune to play through Colderra again on an alt recently. It’s a subzone of the Borean Tundra in Northrend (ie. this is Wrath content) and although it’s not horribly painful as an experience, it’s also not a shining beacon of level design. Kill 10 x, collect 10 x, return to quest giver and be told to kill or collect x other things. And so on.

But the low point of the zone is the Keristrazsa questline. A game like Dragon Age would have nailed that storyline, because it has all the right elements. A wronged prisoner seeking righteous revenge, enlisting the PCs help, everything goes pear shaped and she ends up in a worse state than before, doomed to have her mind broken and forced to become Malygos’ new consort.

Now that really should have been good story material. But not in the hands of Blizzard writers, oh no.

What actually happens is this:

You discover the arcane prison and one of the NPCs at the local base is able to unlock it. He tells you to open the prison at your own risk. When you do so, a pretty girl who is really a dragon appears. Malygos (big bad dragon aspect who will die to countless raid groups later on) has imprisoned her – boo. We don’t entirely know why but she’s out for revenge.

You agree to help, having already been told that the blue dragonflight are the bad guys here. She has you gather some stuff so that she can lay a trap for Malygos’ consort, who you later kill on her behalf. OK, so that was kind of random revenge fantasy on the NPCs part but I guess she has been imprisoned for ages and that has to take it out of you.

Then she moves to the next stage of her plan. She has you lay out the consort’s corpse on the ground and she burns it, and calls out to the dragon aspect to come look at what she has done. Now, this really should set danger warnings  because dragon aspects are very badass. In any case, he comes out of the Nexus to mourn? (Well, he laments about the consort so he’s actually got more sympathy at this point than the NPC you’re helping.) Keristrazsa literally flies loops around him for no special reason, she doesn’t seem to want to attack. Then she lands, tells you to run away and … Malygos comes down and spirits her away to an instance. I’m not sure why being frozen in an instance is going to persuade her to be his consort. In any case, when you get to the Nexus, she’ll beg you to kill her so she can hand over some epics … or something.

It’s just that bad. It doesn’t make sense on any level, it’s confused, the characters are stupid and yeah. I got nothing. Dragons have really failed to impress. Again. Except Onyxia.

Nexus BankID är ett säkerhetsprogram som flera stora banker använder. Tyvärr är programmet paketerat på ett sätt så att det blir rätt nördigt att installera, men eftersom det är ett program som många har nytta av får ni en länk här. http://ubuntu-se.org/wiki/NexusPersonal. Jag har själv inte installerat programmet – min bank kör en annan lösning – så får ni problem bör ni be någon annan om hjälp, men om ni följer instruktionerna noga bör det gå bra.

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Nexus, BankID, Ubuntu

Salve a tutti, in questi giorni mi sono addentrato ancora nel mondo del continuous integration perchè sto lavorando su un progetto in Java, gestito in outsourcing, dove aiuto un gruppo di sviluppatori ad utilizzare strumenti di sviluppo che facilitano il lavoro quali un sistema di continuos integration.

Sono partito da un progetto con subversion installato su una macchina e so che nel progetto usano Jboss con JDK 1.5 (ancora non so perchè)

Su un’altra macchina remota vado e installo JDK 1.5.0.22, Ant 1.7.1, Maven 2.2.1 (fino ad ora (2 mesi di progetto) hanno usato solo Ant e vorrebbero passare a Maven), Jboss 5.1.0, Webclient for SVN 3.1.0 e Artifactory 2.1.2.

Piccola nota: volevo usare Sventon ma l’ultima versione aveva problemi con le librerie e le precedenti mi davano anch’esse problemi.

Non sapete cosa è Artifactory ??? Allora è possibile che siete ancora freschi su Maven (non è che io non lo sia )

Artifactory è una applicazione web che permette di gestire repository Maven, sviluppata in Java e rilasciata con licenza LGPL 3.0. L’applicazione è realizzata da JFrog Ltd, una società privata isreliana.

Strutturalmente si poggia su Apache Jackrabbit per l’implemetazione delle specifiche JSR 170 per il cosiddetto Java Content Repository (anche altri content manager come Nuxeo si appoggiano su Jackrabbit).

Piccola nota: la JSR 170 (rilasciata nel 2005) è seguita dalla JSR 283 da poco rilasciata (25 Settempre 2009) ed entrambe sono condotte da David Nuescheler, CTO della società svizzera Day Software.

Inoltre Artifactory si basa su Apache Lucene per indicizzare i file e Apache Wicket per l’interfaccia utente.

Ora l’applicazione è rilasciata come standalone ma esiste la versione war che può essere deployata su un application server e quindi l’ho messa su Jboss insieme ad Hudson e Webclient for SVN (questi 2 li ho poi legati con il plugin di hudson per Polarion che permette di linkare la lista di file modificati ai file presenti sul webclient e si possono anche vedere le differenze con le versioni precedenti).

La struttura è basata anche su database, di default Apache Derby ma che può essere cambiato (vedi anche qui).

A parte il fatto che Artifactory permette di base una autenticazione LDAP, quello che lascia senza parole è la semplicità di uso (andrebbe confrontato con Nexus ma non ne ho tempo, di sicuro nella versione base manca LDAP (anche se ho scoperto di recente che esiste un plugin di terze parti) e di sicuro gli sviluppatori hanno realizzato una bella guida a maven e un plugin per Eclipse). Una volta andato su

http://localhost:8080/artifactory

e loggato, sono andato sul pannello amministrativo e nella sezione repository ho creato un repository locale dove fare il deploy dei propri jar file e un repository virtuale in cui aggiungo quello locale più tutti i remoti quali quello di Maven, Jboss ecc ecc. Fatto ! Ora potete generare anche la sezione del file settings.xml da aggiungere nel vostro progetto Maven.

Per una vecchia guida vi rimando qui. Per un confronto con Nexus e Archiva vi rimando a questo link (attenzione è scritto dallo stesso autore della guida su Artifactory ma sembra serio)

Buon maven a tutti !

Nota: Webclient for SVN si basa su Subversion 1.4 (con versioni successive ho avuto problemi perchè usa un SVNKit vecchio che non posso aggiornare perchè c’è una particolare classe non più presente nelle ultime versioni), potete trovare Subversion 1.4 qui:

http://downloads-guests.open.collab.net/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=6

Ayo ayo… Mari kita berkuis ria lagi…

Dalam rangka apa nih? Gak dalam rangka apa-apa, cuma ya emang gua selain ganteng kan emang baik hati dan tidak sombong… Huahaha… Gak deh, ini kebetulan ada yang berbaik hati mau sponsorin hadiah (thanks to Aero Computer), jadi ya marilah kita bikin kuis tebak tebak buah manggis.

Pertanyaannya:

Hari Jumat kemaren, Esther pergi ke satu Artist Management untuk mengikuti sebuah audisi.
Nah mari kita tebak bersama… Audisi untuk ngapain hayooooo??

Clue: Kalo audisinya berhasil, Esther bakal dibayar US$ 300 (alias sekitar 2,8 juta-an rupiah ya). Jadi kira-kira menurut kalian, kerjaan apa yang pantes dihargain segitu? Dan ini one time job ya…

Jawabannya tinggal ditulis di komen posting-an ini ya…

Hadiahnya:

1 buah USB Flash Disk 2GB, merk Nexus untuk 1 orang pemenang. Lumayan kan??

Ketentuan:

1. Kuis ditutup tanggal 24 November 2009 jam 24.00 WIB atau 09.00 PST. Pengumuman pemenang akan di-posting di tanggal 25 atau 26, tergantung ntar sempetnya kapan. Hahaha. Yang pasti bakal gua umumin kok di bulan ini… Maklum lah hari-hari itu kan udah deket-deket Thanksgiving’s Day… (Duh asiknya mau libur!!)
2. Semua orang boleh ikutan, kecuali keluarga (soalnya udah tau jawabannya sih… ).
3. Hadiah akan dikirim ke alamat di Indonesia saja. Jadi kalo yang ikutan tinggal di luar negeri, harus punya alamat di Indonesia untuk pengiriman hadiahnya. Kalo gak punya, ya dianggep gak jadi menang.
4. Yang menjadi pemenang tentunya yang jawabannya bener, atau yang paling mendekati bener.
5. Kalo ada lebih dari 1 orang yang jawabannya bener atau mendekati bener, akan diundi untuk menentukan pemenangnya. Jadi bukan berdasarkan siapa yang ngejawab lebih dulu ya.
6. Kalo gak ada 1 pun yang jawabannya bener atau mendekati bener, akan dipilih jawaban yang paling lucu/kreatif.
7. Kalo gak ada yang bener, gak ada yang mendekati bener, dan gak ada yang lucu/kreatif, hadiahnya buat gua aja dah kalo gitu. Huahahaha. Gak ding… hadiahnya bakal diundi dari semua yang udah komen di posting ini.
8. Ketentuan pemenang gak dapat diganggu gugat ya! Dan tidak melayani surat menyurat, kecuali kalo di dalem suratnya ada duitnya, baru dah kita layani….

So… Selamat menebak!

PS. Kali ini PS nya bukan Post Script, melainkan singkatan dari Pesan Sponsor. Kuis ini terselenggara berkat kerjasama (halah, resmi banget! Hahaha) dengan Aero Computer sebagai sponsor. Silakan buat yang lagi mau nyari-nyari komputer atau aksesorisnya, bisa klik www.tokoaero.com, atau langsung meluncur ke Mangga Dua Mall Lt. 5 Blok C No. 161. Ayo lho jangan malu-malu, pada ke Aero Computer ya… Yang punya toko baik banget lho orangnya (kalo orangnya baik, jadi kemungkinan besar ngasih harganya juga baik tuh… Hehehe). Buktinya sampe mau ngasih hadiah di blog ini… *Menunggu komisi dari Aero Computer*

PS (kali ini baru Post Script). Ada yang mau mengikuti jejak Aero Computer berpromosi lewat blog ini? Silakan lho… Tinggal sediain hadiah buat kuis dan tentunya uang lelah mengetik. Huahahaha… Malah dijadiin bisnis…

PS terakhir. Doakan semoga audisinya Esther berhasil ya… Lumayan kan dapet US$ 300. Hehehe.

For a private project I try to use nexus behind apache and ssl. I used a self-signed certificate.

But each nexus repository request ends with a security exception:

[WARNING] repository metadata for: 'artifact org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-enforcer-plugin' could not be retrieved from repository: nexus-plugin-releases due to an error: Error transferring file: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target


I found many site for that problem and they describe always the same solution

import the self signed cert in your local truststore!

… here are the steps:

1. download the certificate
2. create a local truststore and import the certificat
3. call maven with the correct security properties

The import is simple  (java keytool):

keytool.exe -importcert
            -alias nexus-xxx
            -keystore xxx.jks
            -storepass secret
            -file xxx.crt

For maven I’m using a cygwin bash alias:

alias mvn_xxx='/cygdrive/d/maven-2.2.1/bin/mvn
-gs "d:/maven-2.2.1/conf/settings-xxx.xml"
-s "d:/maven-2.2.1/conf/settings-xxx.xml"
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=d:/maven-2.2.1/conf/xxx.jks
-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=secret'

I point the global config  (-gs) and the personal config (-s) to the same file to ignore other configuration from my default maven config file (i.e. common mirros settings / repositories etc.).

And at least here is my complete maven setting-nexus settings:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/settings/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">

  <localRepository>D:\maven-repository-xxx</localRepository>

  <mirrors>
    <mirror>
      <id>xxx-nexus-snapshots</id>
      <mirrorOf>nexus-snapshots</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://nexus.xxx.com/content/groups/public-snapshots/</url>
    </mirror>
    <mirror>
      <id>xxx-nexus-snapshots</id>
      <mirrorOf>nexus-plugin-snapshots</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://nexus.xxx.com/content/groups/public-snapshots/</url>
    </mirror>
    <mirror>
      <id>xxx-nexus-releases</id>
      <mirrorOf>nexus-releases</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://nexus.xxx.com/content/groups/public/</url>
    </mirror>
    <mirror>
      <id>xxx-nexus-releases</id>
      <mirrorOf>nexus-plugin-releases</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://nexus.xxx.com/content/groups/public/</url>
    </mirror>
    <mirror>
      <id>xxx-nexus-releases</id>
      <mirrorOf>*</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://nexus.xxx.com/content/groups/public/</url>
    </mirror>
  </mirrors>

  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>xxx-nexus-mirror</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>nexus-releases</id>
          <url>http://foobar</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </repository>
        <repository>
          <id>nexus-snapshots</id>
          <url>http://foobar</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>nexus-plugin-releases</id>
          <url>http://foobar</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </pluginRepository>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>nexus-plugin-snapshots</id>
          <url>http://foobar</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </snapshots>
        </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>
    </profile>
  </profiles>

  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>xxx-nexus-releases</id>
      <username>foo</username>
      <password>bar</password>
    </server>
    <server>
      <id>xxx-nexus-snapshots</id>
      <username>foo</username>
      <password>bar</password>
    </server>
  </servers>

</settings>

You can replace xxx with your personal domain-alias.

This page will describe the process to create and upload a new archetype to the repository.

We will be creating an archetype of a basic spring MVC application that is pre-configured to make a test connection to a MySQL database. We will run this application using the built in servlet engine in Maven called jetty.

Before starting please review the following article to learn how to publish artifacts to remote repositories.

Requirements

• Maven 2
  
• Read Article on Maven and Nexus
• Nexus repository manager

Create a Archetype Template

We start by creating an archetype from well…. an archetype…

Execute the following command

mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=test -DartifactId=test-archetype -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-archetype

cd /test-archetype

Code Your Application

In this section we will take some time to code the project that we will install into this archetype. Since creating a Spring MVC application is beyond the scope of this page please navigate to the following page to see how this application was coded. We will move this application to this archetype so that it can be used as a starting point for new projects.

MySQL Test Connection using Spring MVC

Import files into the new archetype

At this time you can copy the files from the project you created using the above link into the src/main/resources/archetype-resources/

Before we can proceed we need to make some small changes to the project we just created and imported into this archetype.

These changes are necessary because when developers create project based on archetypes they are asked a few questions.

• group id
• artifact id
• version

The group id is important typically its (com.yourcompanyname). Since developers can provide anything in this field you need to modify your template code to take this parameter and place your code into the right java packages.

Modify the project’s pom.xml

Before we can proceed we need to modify the template project’s pom.xml file. Replace the groupId artifactId and version tag’s with the following

  <groupId>${groupId}</groupId>
  <artifactId>${artifactId}</artifactId>
  <version>${version}</version>

The above step is necessary since the developers that are using your archetype to create their own project can use any group artifact and version. When the project generates maven needs to create a pom.xml file for the project with the values that were specified by the developer.

Modify the archetype descriptor

The archetype descriptor contains a list of files that are part of the archetype we are creating. It is located in the following directory.

test-archetype/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/archetype.xml

<archetype>
  <id>test-archetype</id>
  <sources>
    <source>src/main/java/test/DBParam.java</source>
    <source>src/main/java/test/HelloWorldController.java</source>
    <source>src/main/java/test/TestDBConnectionController.java</source>
  </sources>
  <resources>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/jsp/dbParameters.jsp</resource>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/jsp/helloWorld.jsp</resource>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/jsp/success.jsp</resource>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring-servlet.xml</resource>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml</resource>
    <resource>src/main/webapp/index.jsp</resource>
  </resources>
</archetype>

Modify the source files

During the creation of a project maven asks the user for the groupId. Maven uses this to place the source files into packages that represent the user’s groupId. For this reason we need to modify each of the source packages and change them to look like this…

package ${package}.test;

So go ahead and modify the three java source files and spring-servlet.xml. replace the package statement with what you see above.

• src/main/java/test/DBParam.java
• src/main/java/test/HelloWorldController.java
• src/main/java/test/TestDBConnectionController.java
• src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring-servlet.xml

Relocate Source If Necessary

Also you may need to relocate the .java files so they represent the package statement. This means if you replaced the following with a ${package} statement then everything under that must be moved to the highlevel folder.

com.mycompany.mygroup.program -> ${package}.program

In the above example the program package and everything under it needs to be moved to the top level (/src/main/java) folder.

The xml file needs to be modified because we need to tell spring to scan a different package for controller beans.

	<context:component-scan base-package="${package}.test"/>

Installing the archetype into Nexus

Make sure the nexus repository is up and running.

Before we publish the archetype we need to define the location of the Nexus repository.

We do this in the archetype’s pom.xml file

After adding this section your pom.xml file should look like this.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>test</groupId>
  <artifactId>test-archetype</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>Archetype - test-archetype</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

<distributionManagement>
	<repository>
		<id>releases</id>
		<url>http://localhost:8081/nexus/content/repositories/releases</url>
	</repository>

	<snapshotRepository>
		<id>snapshots</id>
		<name>Internal Snapshots</name>
		<url>http://localhost:8081/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
	</snapshotRepository>
</distributionManagement>
</project>

mvn deploy

Open up the Nexus repository and verify that the archetype has been added. If it has not please review the instructions above before continuing.

Running the Archetype

In this section we will generate a project from an archetype we just created above.

open up the command line and navigate to a clean working directory.

mvn archetype:create \
  -DarchetypeGroupId=test \
  -DarchetypeArtifactId=test-archetype \
  -DarchetypeVersion=1.0-SNAPSHOT \
  -DgroupId=yourgroup \
  -DartifactId=your-project

You can also use the new format to generate a project form an archetype:

mvn archetype:generate \
  -DarchetypeGroupId=test \
  -DarchetypeArtifactId=test-archetype \
  -DarchetypeVersion=1.0-SNAPSHOT

Running your newly generated project

cd your-project
mvn jetty:run

At this point you can navigate to all the urls listed below:
http://localhost:8080/
http://localhost:8080/app/helloWorld
http://localhost:8080/app/dbParameters

Publishing your Archetype to a Website

Good News! You don't need a Nexus server. Maven artifacts can be published to plain old web sites.

To test this I have uploaded the test-archetype to the following location and used the following command to generate a project based on the archetype.

mvn archetype:generate \
  -DarchetypeGroupId=test \
  -DarchetypeArtifactId=test-archetype \
  -DarchetypeVersion=1.0-SNAPSHOT \
  -DarchetypeRepository=http://your static site hostname/directory of your repository

Maven makes a Http connection to the above archetypeRepository and gets all the data necessary to create the project.

Summary

As you can see creating an archetype is not much difficult. You can use this technique to create templates of small projects you find yourself creating often. Archetypes can be posted not only to Nexus repositories but static html sites as well.

That's all for now!!!

Hope this helped. If so please rate this page and/or leave me a comment.

For those of you who attended my breakout session at the NEXUS ECM Conference on automating business processes this topic will be familiar to you.  If you missed the session, this blog will provide a glimpse into the world of automating and optimizing business processes. 

There are many different ways to approach process automation and optimization and the purpose of this blog topic is to provide information based on my industry experience.  I will discuss identifying processes within an organization and then automating those processes utilizing a number of valuable implementation strategies.

Why Automate?

From my experience in the Enterprise Content Management industry, I have found the main reasons to automate or optimize a business process are as follows:

• Gain Process Efficiencies
• Process Quality Improvement
• Improve Reporting, Tracking & Auditing

Process Identification

Let’s take a look at identifying a business process that could be automated.  When looking at processes to automate or optimize, the starting point is to identify a process and then extensively research the process to get a clear understanding of the current state.  A good place to start with this research is to look at all of the inputs and outputs of the current process.  This can include documents, data and communication associated with accomplishing tasks in a process. 

Next, we will want to evaluate the identified process to determine what manual steps in the process can be automated.  From identifying the steps we then can determine which ones will provide the best return for the business and/or user.

The last key to identifying and evaluating business processes is the inclusion of the user community in the analysis of the current process to determine; 1) what is currently working well, 2) what could use improving, 3) what are the major deficiencies and 4) what is on the user’s wish list for the process.

By following these steps in identifying and evaluating a business process you will set yourself up for success when architecting and implementing a solution for automation or optimization.

Implementation Strategies

Now that we have discussed identifying business processes let’s take a look at some implementation strategies to assist you in automating/optimizing the process.

• Understand the Business Process: As discussed earlier in the post, it is critical to fully understand the process that you are automating.
  • Evaluate current bottlenecks
  • Determine the user interaction with the current process
• Require Ownership at All Levels: In order to get full acceptance of the solution you are implementing you should ensure that the entire team is on board and understands the benefits to them and the organization.  This includes:
  • Executive Level
  • Departmental Management
  • End Users
• Know what to Automate: Don’t automate every manual process for the sake of automation.  Determine the return value associated with the re-engineering of the process.  In some cases it will make more sense to keep the process manual.  For example, in a customer service organization, it may be more beneficial to provide human interaction to a customer instead of sending an automatically generated email.
• Educate Yourself on Existing Systems: Understanding the current infrastructure in place can be critical when determining the return on investment and initial cost of the process re-engineering. 
  • If there is already an Enterprise Content Management system in place, you should be able to leverage this for tasks associated with document capture, document management/archival, workflow, etc…
  • Line of Business systems (Oracle E-Business, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, MSFT Great Plains, etc…) can be leveraged for storing metadata associated with the documents you are capturing.   Using software like ILINX Integrate, these LOB systems can then be image enabled to retrieve documents directly from your document management system without ever leaving the LOB system.
• Promote Ongoing Analysis & Optimization: This strategy is key to creating and maintaining truly efficient and optimized processes within an organization.  Let’s take the following example:
  • A manual process is identified to automate
  • The process is automated with success using the above implementation strategies
  • Everyone is happy and uses the new and improved process
  • Now that the process has been improved it is common to call the project a success and never look back.  This may work for some time, but eventually the process will need to be evaluated again to determine if additional automation or optimization needs to take place.  Over time business processes evolve and technology changes, so this step can be imperative to keep your business process streamlined.

 In summary, we have taken a quick look at the process of identifying business process to automate and optimize, as well as, some strategies for success when taking on the task of business process re-engineering.  Please feel free to post comments related to this information or your own experiences related to this topic. 

  

Nexus 09 was a hit, simple as that!

If you missed out this year, make sure to register for Nexus 2010 and lock in the reduced rate of $195! Use code NEXUS10SPL.

A big thank you to our sponsors: Bowe Bell & Howell, Kofax, ProStor, OPEX, Autonomy/Cardiff, AIIM Northwest, Fujitsu, Oracle

To read a recap of Nexus 09, check out the Trends blog.

Kristina Parma
Corporate Communications Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

For those of you who attended Nexus 09, you know how awesome it was. For those of you who didn’t, here is a little recap for you.

The opening event at the Twisted Cork at the Hyatt in Bellevue was a great way to kick off the conference and bring together attendees, vendors and ImageSource staff. There were appetizers and cocktails, and it was just a fun way to mingle with everyone.

The first day of the conference was very eventful. It kicked off with Atle Skjekkeland, Vice President of AIIM as the keynote speaker. He discussed new worker models, Enterprise 2.0 and social media. The second keynote presentation that day was a case study panel. Each panelist discussed his solution and the benefits it brought each organization, as well as answered questions.

The breakouts for the first day were packed with information ranging from SharePoint, to ILINX Capture, to Social Media.

The evening event was held at Lucky Strike Lanes in Bellevue. This was an awesome event. It was not your typical bowling alley. It was chic and modern. The food was fabulous and the music was great.

Day two of the conference boasted Shadrach White, CTO of ImageSource and John Isaza from Howett Isaza Law Group as the keynotes. Breakouts were centered around records management, enterprise planning, and more.

If you haven’t registered for Nexus 2010, you need to! Space is limited and right now, the price is only $195! Use code NEXUS10SPL. The dates are Nov. 4-5 at the Meydenbauer Center.

If you would like additional information on ECM topics, please add us to your RSS feed and Follow us on Twitter. Stay tuned for our Facebook Fan Page and Profile as well.

BLOGS
Nexus ECM: http://nexusecmsolutionsconference.wordpress.com/
ECM Project Managers: http://ProjectManagementForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Systems Engineers: http://ECMTechnicalExpertise.wordpress.com
ECM Solutions: http://IndependentIntegratorsOfECM.wordpress.com
ECM Developers: http://SoftwareDevelopmentForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Products: http://ProductsAndSolutionsForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Support: http://ECMTechnicalSupport.wordpress.com
ECM News and Trends: http://newandgoodinecm.wordpress.com

Twitter
Nexus ECM Twitter feed http://twitter.com/nexusecm
ImageSource Twitter feed http://twitter.com/imagesourceinc
ILINX Capture Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ilinxcapture
ECM Support Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ecmsupport

Kristina Parma
Corporate Communications Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

Nexus 2009 ECM Solutions Conference was a resounding SUCCESS!!

First I would like to thank every single attendee and our valuable sponsors for your enthusiastic participation and support.  Nexus2010 registrations continue to be completed by organizations that understand the value and importance that this event has on the strategic planning of ECM initiatives for their businesses.  Nexus2010 will be held at the Meyedenbauer Convention Center on Nov. 4^th & 5^th – 2010.  We are encouraged of course by the outpouring of positive feedback we have received, we are grateful for each and every comment.  ImageSource will work diligently to again “raise the bar” in all aspects of planning, execution and content delivery.  We are listening on our Nexus Twitter feed for any and all recommendations for speakers, breakouts and special events that you feel would be valuable, so Tweet us!

The Green ECM Video can be found on YouTube so check it out.

We are offering a limited time promotion for early registrations of $195 for a full conference pass. Use discount code NEXUS10SPL.  Register early as we are keeping this event exclusive so seating is limited

Also a reminder of where you can find more information on ECM topics, please add us to your RSS feed and Follow us on Twitter.  Stay tuned for our FaceBook fan sites too.

BLOGS
Nexus ECM: http://nexusecmsolutionsconference.wordpress.com/
ECM Project Managers: http://ProjectManagementForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Systems Engineers: http://ECMTechnicalExpertise.wordpress.com
ECM Solutions: http://IndependentIntegratorsOfECM.wordpress.com
ECM Developers: http://SoftwareDevelopmentForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Products: http://ProductsAndSolutionsForECM.wordpress.com
ECM Support: http://ECMTechnicalSupport.wordpress.com
ECM News: http://newandgoodinecm.wordpress.com

Twitter
Nexus ECM Twitter feed http://twitter.com/nexusecm
ImageSource Twitter feed http://twitter.com/imagesourceinc
ILINX Capture Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ilinxcapture
ECM Support Twitter feed http://twitter.com/ecmsupport

Shadrach White
ImageSource, Inc.

Intro – to Enterprise Content Management (ECM) in 7 days.

I started the journey in a new town, new company, and new industry on Sunday, November 1st. It has truly been one of the most exciting first weeks in the history of my career. ImageSource hosted Nexus 2009 at the Hyatt/Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. This is an industry driven conference that is held annually and focuses on timely and relevant ECM topics. This two day conference is a top notch event. I attended as a new employee but more as if I was an outsider looking in. I have learned everything from a whole new set of acronyms to a more responsible way of consuming and sharing data. I have attended conferences all over the nation with hosts as large as Johnson and Johnson and this event ranks above and beyond the rest. Each moment for me was relevant, educational, and worthwhile. I believe customers left understanding the importance of how we should manage our data in a corporate environment, and how to take control of it. It isn’t about solving the overall problem, but accepting that this is part of something greater. It was summarized in a funny yet concise way when Pam Doyle, Director at Fujitsu said that “Implementing an ECM solution is similar to eating an elephant one bite at a time.” As the new kid, full of excitement I have tasked myself with raising awareness about this event and gathering the best people to join us for next year. One of the folks that have chosen to join me in my journey is Jeff Shuey – industry blogger. Jeff is a technology expert and his knowledge ranges over many topics. I want to thank him for being willing to take me on as a mentee in this new world! To read Jeff’s blog, visit www.jshueywa.blogspot.com.

Register for Nexus for only $195! Use code NEXUS10SPL

Geetha French – Sales rep with an interesting name (similar to TWAIN – Technology with an Interesting Name)
Account Executive
ImageSource, Inc.

Now we are well into the Nexus year, lots of work to do, lots of bass to play, lots more of God to discover. Amazing! I am having so much fun here, it is incredible. From encounter on a Monday where we sing to God, to Wednesdays theory lesson up until ”cake Friday” were one of the bass students brings in a cake for the whole class. What a brilliant idea!!

At the Moment we are planning towards the Christmas concert which will be epic. We are put into Bands and we present a song each week, and our tutors tell us what needs to be done to make the song as best as it possibly can. At the same time as this, I am working towards my Week 10 assessment. This covers everything we learnt in the previous weeks. Besides all of the bass stuff, we are into the book of Ruth. I am actually going through the Bible and discovering so much about God, he is AMAZING. One thing I may add here, the book of Numbers, Balaam and the talking donkey. What an awesome story, and I love that when the donkey talks he just answers and is not phased. Hilarious.

I hope that you guys are staying in good shape, keep praying for me. I know this year is going to be so relevant to me for the future.

Love you all.

Sammy j…

Over the years, we have watched Cisco launch new products with a marketing panache that few companies could match.  However, this week Cisco quietly launched 61 products centered on their ever expanding portfolio of collaboration technologies.  The importance of these announcements cannot be overstated, as we are watching Cisco’s long term strategy unfold before our very eyes.

What do WebEX, PostPath, Scientific Atlanta, Pure Digital Technologies, Unified Communications, and perhaps Tandberg have in common?  They spell out a strategy of collaboration and social networking centered on video and its delivery.  Whether the video, photo, or recordings take place on a hand-held device, a TelePresence conference, or a web camera, or a HD TV, Cisco is providing not only the transport but also the platform (aka software) or portal destination (WebEx).

While WebEx Mail is interesting as it demonstrates Cisco’s commitment to cloud based applications, I am far more interested in Cisco’s other new products namely; Cisco Show and Share, Cisco Enterprise Collaboration Platform, and Cisco Pulse.  Why?  While some have prematurely crowned Google Wave as the collaboration platform of the future, many Enterprises would rather maintain security, control, and freedom from using their employees as a giant pool for advertisement revenue. 

As Google continues to fight for legitimacy in the Enterprise, Cisco is clearly already a dominant force.  Furthermore, WebEx may be the perfect launching and test bed for these new ways of collaborating as it is trusted, reliable, and well refined.  Perhaps Cisco should consider expanding the WebEx brand allowing for a WebEx-I built within an internal cloud?  Perhaps creating a pre-packaged WebEx, Show and Share, and Enterprise Collaboration Platform conveniently hosted with VMs residing in a UCS-B platform, attached to a Nexus via a Unified Fabric, and on and on…

Of particular interest to me is Cisco Pulse as it combines the power of the network with the advantages of search.  Imagine being able to dynamically tag content as it passes through the network allowing users to actually find the information they are looking for at a later time.  If Cisco can add structure and classification to the tagged data, then they certainly have a winner.

Any discussion of the Enterprise is not complete without mentioning Microsoft.  While they have taken steps to shore up their Enterprise products, are they too focused on taking down Google?  Microsoft has the ability to not only innovate but to rapidly deploy those innovations within the largest Enterprises in the world.  In-the-end, Microsoft needs a way to shed the “Evil Empire” crown while articulating a vision that is exciting, bold, and fresh. 

Whether it is by acquisition or internal development, Cisco has never been afraid to disrupt or innovate across multiple markets.  How far will they go to own the next decade?  Will they pursue mobile devices?  Will they truly escape “the innovators dilemma?”

Traditional or Next Generation Software/Application Vendors beware; here comes Cisco.

Political correctness is running amok like a massive wildfire set by a pack of raving arsonists.  And that wildfire claimed the lives of 14 people at Fort Hood, in addition to some 38 others who were wounded.

We find out things like this:

Danquah assumed the military’s chain of command knew about Hasan’s doubts, which had been known for more than a year to classmates at the Maryland graduate military medical program.  His fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan’s “anti-American propaganda,” but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept officers from filing a formal complaint.

Of course, I myself am quite used to encountering “anti-American propaganda.”  I watch the mainstream media.

Initially, the FBI wouldn’t even consider the possibility that Nidal Hasan was a terrorist.  They immediately came out saying there “was no terrorism nexus” with a Muslim shooter who repeatedly shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as he fired more than 100 rounds at unarmed soldiers.  A Muslim shooter whom they KNEW had tried to contact al-Qaeda.

ABC reported as follows:

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC: We’re going to turn now to the attack at Fort Hood. Authorities are actively investigating whether the suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, had links to any terrorist organizations. Our chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross has learned that Hasan was most-likely trying to just do that, forge that kind of link?

BRIAN ROSS, ABC: Indeed, Robin. As Major Hasan’s road to increased radicalization becomes clearer, ABC News has learned that U.S. intelligence agencies became aware months ago that he was attempting to make contact with people connected to al Qaeda. Two American officials who have been briefed on classified information say it’s not known whether the military was ever told by the CIA or others that one of its majors was making efforts to communicate with figures under electronic surveillance by the U.S. Congress has now asked the CIA and other intelligence agencies to preserve all documents that relate to Hasan, as it appears a full investigation is now likely into whether the warning signs were missed.

Kind of makes you wonder just what you have to do to have the Obama administration call you a “terrorist” these days.  Besides voting Republican or working at Fox News, I mean.

This is now the SECOND successful domestic terrorist-jihadist attack – Oops, I’m sorry, Domestic Contingency Operation – that the United States has suffered under the Obama administration.  And there is little question that it will not be the last.

And even NBC reported that Obama’s reaction to it was just plain weird, in addition to being an example of “frightening insensitivity.”  Among other things, Obama’s first words to the American people consisted in giving a “shout out” to a “Congressional Medal of Honor” winner who has never been awarded such an honor.  Rather, President Obama HIMSELF awarded the guy a Medal of Freedom.  Big diff – and you’d expect a one-tenth-way competent commander-in-chief to know that obvious difference.

And if that isn’t horrible enough, we find out that the Obama administration recruited Nidal Hasan – whom we now know was a terrorist – to write a propagandist ideological Department of Homeland Security report fearmongering “rightwing extremists.”

It should therefore come as no surprise that we find the Army chief-of-staff under Commander-in-Chief Obama being sent out to TV land to say that his greatest worry is some kind of backlash against Muslims, because God – I’m sorry for my intolerance - Allah forbid that ANY of them so much as get their feelings hurt as their community launches so many terror attacks worldwide that nobody even bothers to keep statistics any more.

Well, at least General Casey and his commander-in-chief aren’t worried about something silly, such as the fact that a bunch of his unarmed soldiers just got gunned down on their own base in the USA by a guy yelling “Allahu Akbar!”

Consider how politically correct the U.S. military has become under the Barack Hussein administration: this guy was actually promoted to major, in spite of the fact that he was telling his colleagues that infidels (that’s you and me) should die, and in spite of the fact that he was trying to contact al Qaeda to find out what he could do to help their cause.

Doug Ross at  DirectorBlue located one of Hasan’s internet postings comparing a soldier diving on a grenade to save his buddies with a terrorist blowing himself up to kill non-Muslims (and, of course, “bad” Muslims):

There was a grenade thrown amongs [sic] a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally [sic] took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled [sic] this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair.

Here’s another “in his own words” take on Nidal Hasan available at NPR:

[DANIEL] ZWERDLING: Earlier today, I spoke to a psychiatrist who worked very closely with Hasan and knows him very well. And he said, you know, from the beginning -and Hasan was there for four years – the medical staff was very worried about this guy. He said the first thing is he’s cold, unfriendly. At least that’s who he came off. He did not do a good job as a psychiatrist in training, was repeatedly warned, you better shape up, or, you know, you’re going to be in trouble. Did badly in his classes, seemed disinterested.  But second of all – and this is, perhaps, you know, more relevant. The psychiatrist says that he was very proud and upfront about being Muslim. And psychiatrist hastened to say, and nobody minded that. But he seemed almost belligerent about being Muslim, and he gave a lecture one day that really freaked a lot of doctors out.

They have grand rounds, right? They, you know, dozens of medical staff come into an auditorium, and somebody stands at the podium at the front and gives a lecture about some academic issue, you know, what drugs to prescribe for what condition. But instead of that, he – Hasan apparently gave a long lecture on the Koran and talked about how if you don’t believe, you are condemned to hell. Your head is cut off. You’re set on fire. Burning oil is burned down your throat.

The ironically funny thing is that Nidal Hassan – after enjoying the fruits of his million dollar education, anyway – ostensibly wanted out of the military.  But because he was a protected member of the cherished liberal class, he couldn’t do anything that could actually offend anybody enough to kick him out.  He could be professionally incompetent; he could tell his colleagues that they should die; he could try to indoctrinate returning veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq into radical Islam; he could post violent terrorist internet comments; he could actually try to contact al Qaeda.  And it didn’t matter.  Not only did he remain an officer and a “gentleman,” but he got PROMOTED.

This is rather like Montgomery Burns promoting Homer Simpson at the Springfield nuclear power plant.  Only in this case, Homer Simpson is a raving jihadist terrorist as well as an incompetent buffoon.

The federal authorities knew all this prior to Nidal Hasan going out and buying an $1100 gun.  Apparently, we have quite a few “Homers” in our ranks these days.

Don’t want to appear like you’re discriminating or anything.

After all, hasn’t Obama already apologized to our enemies enough as it already is? And hasn’t he apologized enough to the Muslim world? Do you want to give him something ELSE to feel that he should apologize for, such as yanking a Muslim radical out of the Army as a terrorist threat before he became a terrorist mass murderer?

Of course, had “Captain Hasan” been a white evangelical Christian who told his colleagues that openly declared gays shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military, he would have been drummed out faster than you could say, “Out, damn’d spot!”  And he certainly would NEVER have been allowed to become “Major Hasan.”  Especially in Barack Obama’s Army.

Being politically correct is not merely a naive attempt to make people feel better; it’s a much larger, much more coordinated, and much more sinister effort to change Western culture as we know it.  Progressives designed this game plan decades ago – following the previous success that Marxists enjoyed after employing the same stratagem – and liberals continue to execute the same game plan today: to shape the debate and control the argument by controlling the language.  All they need to succeed is an oversensitive public that is ignorant of history and morality.

What may be most interesting of all is how liberalism becomes the useful idiot of jihadist terrorism, apart from that thing about liberals being “so open-minded their brains fall out.”

As just one of many examples of liberals brains having fallen out, how about the liberal view that Nidal Hasan was mentally ill rather than a terrorist?  Because, as we all know, terrorists are the epitome of mental health, and being the former must therefore rule that latter out.

And yet here we have Evan Thomas, editor-at-large with Newsweek saying:

I cringe that he’s a Muslim. I mean, because it inflames all the fears. I think he’s probably just a nut case. But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going and it just — I mean these things are tragic, but that makes it much worse.

And again, we have this morally deranged Newsweek ideologue essentially saying that it’s those right wingers who are the REAL terrorists.  We have a moral idiot burying his head in the sand while using every possible opportunity to demonize his political adversaries.

All of this is par for the course in the Brave New World of Barack Hussein.

This is a great time for a replay of an American Thinker article entitled, “Islam’s Useful Idiots.”  It reads in part:

Islam enjoys a large and influential ally among the non—Muslims: A new generation of ‘Useful Idiots,’ the sort of people Lenin identified living in liberal democracies who furthered the work of communism. This new generation of Useful Idiots also lives in liberal democracies, but serves the cause of Islamofascism—another virulent form of totalitarian ideology.

Useful Idiots are naive, foolish, ignorant of facts, unrealistically idealistic, dreamers, willfully in denial or deceptive. They hail from the ranks of the chronically unhappy, the anarchists, the aspiring revolutionaries, the neurotics who are at war with life, the disaffected alienated from government, corporations, and just about any and all institutions of society. The Useful Idiot can be a billionaire, a movie star, an academe of renown, a politician, or from any other segment of the population.

Arguably, the most dangerous variant of the Useful Idiot is the ‘Politically Correct.’ He is the master practitioner of euphemism, hedging, doubletalk, and outright deception.

The Useful Idiot derives satisfaction from being anti—establishment. He finds perverse gratification in aiding the forces that aim to dismantle an existing order, whatever it may be: an order he neither approves of nor he feels he belongs to.

The Useful Idiot is conflicted and dishonest. He fails to look inside himself and discover the causes of his own problems and unhappiness while he readily enlists himself in causes that validate his distorted perception.

Understandably, it is easier to blame others and the outside world than to examine oneself with an eye to self—discovery and self—improvement. Furthermore, criticizing and complaining—liberal practices of the Useful Idiot—require little talent and energy. The Useful Idiot is a great armchair philosopher and ‘Monday Morning Quarterback.’

The Useful Idiot is not the same as a person who honestly has a different point of view. A society without honest and open differences of views is a dead society. Critical, different and fresh ideas are the life blood of a living society—the very anathema of autocracies where the official position is sacrosanct.

Even a ‘normal’ person spends a great deal more energy aiming to fix things out there than working to overcome his own flaws and shortcomings, or contribute positively to the larger society. People don’t like to take stock of what they are doing or not doing that is responsible for the conditions they disapprove.

But the Useful Idiot takes things much farther. The Useful Idiot, among other things, is a master practitioner of scapegoating. He assigns blame to others while absolving himself of responsibility, has a long handy list of candidates for blaming anything and everything, and by living a distorted life, he contributes to the ills of society.

The Useful Idiot may even engage in willful misinformation and deception when it suits him. Terms such as ‘Political Islam,’ or ‘Radical Islam,’ for instance, are contributions of the Useful Idiot. These terms do not even exist in the native parlance of Islam, simply because they are redundant. Islam, by its very nature and according to its charter—the Quran—is a radical political movement. It is the Useful Idiot who sanitizes Islam and misguides the populace by saying that the ‘real Islam’ constitutes the main body of the religion; and, that this main body is non—political and moderate.

[Continue reading].

And so here we are, “speculating” over whether a terrorist mass murderer is actually a “terrorist” (a now banned retranslation of the politically correct “Overseas Contintency Operation” that itself idiotically fails to understand that terrorists can come from right here, too.

Weakness is provocative, as Don Rumsfeld said.  And boy oh boy are we ever “provocative” these days.

Do you want to hear the “politically incorrect” truth?  We are at a crisis such as history has never before seen in the form of jihadist Islam.  And we are making it far worse by burying our heads in the sand and refusing to recognize the dilemma until long after it is too late to do anything to address it.

First, if your interested in the new Cisco UCS blade system and haven’t checked out the Varrow channel on YouTube lately, you should.  We’ve added several new videos from a customer while doing their UCS install.  Pretty neat stuff.

Just finished up another video for our collection.  This one walks you through configuring Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) on a Cisco Nexus 5020 switch.  As you’ll hear me say several times in the video it’s not hard, especially if you know how to configure a Cisco MDS switch.  It’s very, very similar with just a few new steps on the front-end of the configuration.  In the demo I take a vSphere server with Emulex CNAs and connect it to an EMC CLARiiON array via FCoE over the Nexus 5020.

• YouTube Channel
• ScreenCast (higher resolution)

If there is anything that you’d like to see demonstrated on a video just let us know and we’ll do our best.