Free the Grapes will do all the work for you. Just click on the Maryland link, scroll down, punch in your name & address, click Send Message and "Free the Grapes" will send an e-mail to your state senator and representatives on your behalf.

I'm not sure when the video was created but I think if you threw the other Java based web development frameworks into the mix (e.g. Grails and Lift) ruby and zope would still win but I can guarantee the results would have been closer.

The author interestingly enough selects Zope as the winner. Try a few Google searches on Sean Kelly and you'll probably see why. A see a little bias....hmmmmm.

Luckily the meeting was a useful session, but take note, if you send out a meeting invite like this somebody is going to blog about it.

"Big SOA with reg/rep and so on- who needs it? Who is using it? Remember UDDI? It was designed to handle WSDL complexity. But very few organisations needed it. UDDI was designed to offer extreme configurability. Who most likes extreme configurability? Consultants."

Being a consultant I couldn't agree with him more. As long as the standards world keeps on publishing inch-thick standards there will be plenty of money to be made.

I don't know about you but whatever it was I'm pretty sure it isn't the kind of business you want.

It will be nice to step it down a notch from super-dad to regular-dad. For basketball and lacrosse I'm just a helper and a spectator and that is fine by me.

The team gave me the opportunity to try and stop him in the middle of the second half and I got my first red card ever trying. He had me beat and as I was going down I was pulling him down with me (didn't work...he stayed on his feet and kept on going). Add to that a referee that doesn't know what "advantage" means and I get a red card.

I really think most of these refs are doing it for the money and don't even have a passion for the game. Most won't run up and down the field. Most can't make an "advantage" or "offsides" call. And most don't know how to control a game when things get ugly. I guess you get what you get in county rec ball and have to match your game up with the way it is being called. For any of you refs out there that read this blog there are plenty of places for you to train up: here, here and here.

This exam looks to be challenging and worthwhile. The Java Handbook covers the details and includes sample test questions. There is a link to their portal (requires login) to take a free 10 question practice test but it was the same questions contained in the handbook. The questions cover standard java (thread synchronization, inner classes, prepared statements) as well as the web-tier (session ids, parameter scrubbing, filters).

If you are looking for a Java certification that isn't your standard programmer/api type exam, then this one appears to answer the mail. I'd be interested in feedback if anyone attempts it.

Of course Mom was plenty mad and was about to lay into him big time. On the other hand Dad thought it was about the funniest thing ever and spit milk up through his nose. And that middle ground between those two reactions is the measured response you need to give to your children. If it was just mom there he would have been on the steps in timeout crying. If it was just Dad there we'd be high-fiving and saying good-one. With both of us it is a stern warning (strike-one) and a correction on the best way to say there is no more milk...

Mom, get your ass in the car and go get some milk!

You can watch them all online today!