Chris Wilper reportedly put a Mulgara instance on Amazon EC2 and loaded a quarter-billion triples into it, just for fun. The data he used was generated from Paul Gearon's numbers RDF generator. The generator creates facts about numbers and keeps creating RDF until you stop it.
Chris was using the new XA version 1.1 storage layer for Mulgara. The quarter-billion triples loaded in about a day, which is about the same loading performance that Paul has seen on his laptop. The size of the indexes were about 4.6 gigs compressed and 51 gigs uncompressed. Paul notes that the XA version 2 storage layer will store strings and URIs much more efficiently and thus reduce the index sizes considerably.
Way to go, guys! We can't wait for XA2!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
New PURL Code in the Wild
Several PURL installations have been seen on the 'net using the new code base:Others include at least one startup that doesn't have a Web site yet (GRACE Research Corporation) and a couple of others still in stealth. Not bad for a project that never had an official launch. Keep 'em coming, folks. I have some hope that OCLC will join that list soon, as well as a couple more startup companies.
PURL Server v1.2 Released
I released the new Persistent URL (PURL) server, version 1.2 over the weekend. This release fixes a major bug in version 1.1 whereby PURLs would not resolve for those not having a cookie set. Minor upgrades include better error reporting and URL handling.
All users of earlier PURL servers are encouraged to upgrade immediately.
Binary (JAR) and source code downloads are available from purlz.org.
All users of earlier PURL servers are encouraged to upgrade immediately.
Binary (JAR) and source code downloads are available from purlz.org.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
The Perfect 11-year-old Boy Birthday Party
- 4:00 PM: Archery (supervised, of course)
- 4:45 PM: A few minutes free time on a trampoline
- 5:00 PM: Fencing lesson (even more stringently supervised, with cardboard boxes as opponents)
- 6:15 PM: Make your own pizza for dinner
- 7:15 PM: Communal game of Crossfire on a map created by the birthday boy himself
- 8:30 PM: Cookies
- 8:35 PM: Pass-the-parcel (an Aussie game for our Aussie son)
- 8:40 PM: Open presents
- 8:50 PM: Movie night (The Princess Bride)
- 10:30 PM: Sleep over
- 8:00 AM: Breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes
- 9:00 AM: Pickup by parents
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
My Last Degree
Tonight, I passed the oral defense for my Ph.D., having submitted my thesis in July. It's all administration from here :)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Dulles TSA Lets Leatherman Squirt Slip By
Knives on a plane? Believe it.
I flew from Dulles International Airport on Monday and forgot to remove my Leatherman Squirt from my keyring. I put my keys in a bin with my shoes when passing through security and the TSA simply didn't notice. Neither did I until I was on the plane :/
I flew from Dulles International Airport on Monday and forgot to remove my Leatherman Squirt from my keyring. I put my keys in a bin with my shoes when passing through security and the TSA simply didn't notice. Neither did I until I was on the plane :/
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Aidan Beats Sarah
Wow. My son, 10, today gave his sister a succinct and cogent description of the Bush Doctrine on the way home from school today. He covered all the basics, including the ethics of preemptive strikes, the use of sanctions and inspections and the limitations on presidential power. Take that, Sarah Palin :)
Truck Fire on I-81 Today
I traveled from Fredericksburg to Lexington, Virginia today in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley to kick off a seminar series that I organized at VMI. Unfortunately, an accident involving a semi rig completely shut down a section of I-81 this morning about 8 miles South of Staunton for many hours and I arrived late. I was luckily still able to give my talk.
I haven't seen any other reporting on this accident other than this blog post, which is surprising considering the amount of time the entire Southbound lanes were closed. Traffic was still crawling through a single lane a couple of hours ago.
I haven't seen any other reporting on this accident other than this blog post, which is surprising considering the amount of time the entire Southbound lanes were closed. Traffic was still crawling through a single lane a couple of hours ago.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Canary in Ohio
I checked in with my favorite indicators of political opinion in the swing state of Ohio today; my parents. Their political position in support of McCain was not surprising, but the details are interesting.
My mom, 81, favors abortion rights, but loves Sarah Palin. She stopped listening to the Youngstown radio station because she "couldn't believe how hard they were being on her." She suspected that the reason the media was being hard on Palin was "because she is a woman." She was amazed to hear about a poll that suggested that the women of Ohio were supportive of Obama, because everyone she discusses politics with supports McCain.
Palin's lack of understanding of the Bush Doctrine did not bother her at all: "She'll learn." When asked about Palin's religious views, especially her assertion that the war in Iraq is "God's Plan", she dismissed it as propaganda from the Obama campaign. I pointed her to the video. We'll see what she says after viewing it.
My mom also didn't care that Palin linked Iraq to 9/11. My mom does, too. She didn't fully believe me when I explained the Big Lie and that even George Bush has publicly repudiated the notion.
My dad, 82, expressed disdain for all four candidates and the electoral process in general. He was not rocked by the allegations that McCain may have used his Senate influence to tamper with a DEA investigation, saying that "they all do that sort of thing". He went on to say that he has been going to the library to rent old movies and other videos until two weeks before the election. At that point, he will try to listen to the position of both candidates and make a decision.
My mom, 81, favors abortion rights, but loves Sarah Palin. She stopped listening to the Youngstown radio station because she "couldn't believe how hard they were being on her." She suspected that the reason the media was being hard on Palin was "because she is a woman." She was amazed to hear about a poll that suggested that the women of Ohio were supportive of Obama, because everyone she discusses politics with supports McCain.
Palin's lack of understanding of the Bush Doctrine did not bother her at all: "She'll learn." When asked about Palin's religious views, especially her assertion that the war in Iraq is "God's Plan", she dismissed it as propaganda from the Obama campaign. I pointed her to the video. We'll see what she says after viewing it.
My mom also didn't care that Palin linked Iraq to 9/11. My mom does, too. She didn't fully believe me when I explained the Big Lie and that even George Bush has publicly repudiated the notion.
My dad, 82, expressed disdain for all four candidates and the electoral process in general. He was not rocked by the allegations that McCain may have used his Senate influence to tamper with a DEA investigation, saying that "they all do that sort of thing". He went on to say that he has been going to the library to rent old movies and other videos until two weeks before the election. At that point, he will try to listen to the position of both candidates and make a decision.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
China as an Island
This makes sense!
John Mauldin, an analyst at Investors Insight, came up with an awesomely useful idea: Instead of thinking of China as a huge land power, imagine them as an isolated island. Geographically, politically and demographically it makes a lot of sense.
John's idea is just part of a larger analysis of China to be found in this article, although the site was not responding today when I checked it.
The graphic is worth repeating. It is powerfully concise:
I found both the graphic and the link to the original article on Strange Maps, a blog worth watching.
John Mauldin, an analyst at Investors Insight, came up with an awesomely useful idea: Instead of thinking of China as a huge land power, imagine them as an isolated island. Geographically, politically and demographically it makes a lot of sense.
John's idea is just part of a larger analysis of China to be found in this article, although the site was not responding today when I checked it.
The graphic is worth repeating. It is powerfully concise:
I found both the graphic and the link to the original article on Strange Maps, a blog worth watching.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Running for President? No, Thanks.
I had to laugh at this interesting thought from my dad:
Dear Dave:
I finally decided that I have only one interest in the upcoming election and it involves your birthday.
Since you and Obama are of the same generation and about the same age, it occured to me that your life experiences are much broader than his.
You have served in the military, have operated a business under difficult circumstances, and have never had to shape your beliefs for political purposes as all politicians do.
Just wanted you to know I am glad you are not running for president.
Love,
Dad
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Bernadette's Mom Has Passed
Bernadette's mom died this morning at 2:30 AM US EDT. She passed peacefully in her sleep at 91 years old.
The family requests that mourners consider sending a contribution to the Rhode Island Hospice or your local Hospice. Contributions are tax deductible.
The family requests that mourners consider sending a contribution to the Rhode Island Hospice or your local Hospice. Contributions are tax deductible.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
NetKernel Architects Conference
This year's NetKernel Architects Conference is being held 25-27 September 2008 at the University of Mary Washington, right here in Fredericksburg, VA. Brian and I are helping Peter and Randy from 1060 Research to organize it.
1060 will be introducing NetKernel version 4.0 Pre-Release. Each attendee will get a copy on the first day. Brian and I had the chance to see and play with it last month in London. All I can say is, wow! Fans of resource-oriented computing are about to get a very powerful tool to add to their toolbox. The Architects Conference is a great way to learn the concepts and get a jump on the competition.
The conference schedule and price list are on the Web.
Y'all come down now, y'hear?
1060 will be introducing NetKernel version 4.0 Pre-Release. Each attendee will get a copy on the first day. Brian and I had the chance to see and play with it last month in London. All I can say is, wow! Fans of resource-oriented computing are about to get a very powerful tool to add to their toolbox. The Architects Conference is a great way to learn the concepts and get a jump on the competition.
The conference schedule and price list are on the Web.
Y'all come down now, y'hear?
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
New Linked Data Blogroll
Talis has set up a blog aggregator for discussions of Linking Open Data at http://planet.linkeddata.org/. Good show, Talis.
Gartner Gets FLOSS; Late as Usual
A new report by Gartner on Free/Libre/Open Source Software concludes, " ... if you do not think you use it, then you use it; and if you think you do use it, then you use lots more of it than you know." No kidding. They rightly call out the fact that many common big-enterprise vendors use FLOSS components, but fail to mention FLOSS use by the dominant players like Microsoft.
The full report is accessible only by those with money, but KMWorld reported on it, as did ZDNet. Both reporters focused on the use of FLOSS by cloud computing centers, but the report is much more interesting than that. The most interesting statement to me was the positioning of SaaS for enterprises as a primary cost-cutting measure. SaaS is just another form of outsourcing, but this time to a much more level playing field.
Gartner is a funny organization. I haven't quite forgiven them for reporting in 1997 (!) that the Web was not likely to be important to businesses. They even gave that ridiculous statement a 70% confidence rating, IIRC. This time, they seem to be on track, but reporting a bit late. Why wait until FLOSS use is so ubiquitous in mainstream software before telling enterprise CIOs about it?
The full report is accessible only by those with money, but KMWorld reported on it, as did ZDNet. Both reporters focused on the use of FLOSS by cloud computing centers, but the report is much more interesting than that. The most interesting statement to me was the positioning of SaaS for enterprises as a primary cost-cutting measure. SaaS is just another form of outsourcing, but this time to a much more level playing field.
Gartner is a funny organization. I haven't quite forgiven them for reporting in 1997 (!) that the Web was not likely to be important to businesses. They even gave that ridiculous statement a 70% confidence rating, IIRC. This time, they seem to be on track, but reporting a bit late. Why wait until FLOSS use is so ubiquitous in mainstream software before telling enterprise CIOs about it?
Monday, August 04, 2008
Digging out from Under
Whew! I've submitted my Ph.D. thesis (finally) and am now waiting upon the reviewers. It should be a couple of months and then an oral defense. I may be able to post more regularly once I find my inbox so I can start clearing it.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
The World's First Metadata
I spent a good bit of 29 June at the British Museum in London. Those Brits really know how to loot! Attached is a picture of Mesopotamian girginakku from 5300 years ago. Girginakku were clay tags that were hung off of tablets or rolls to provide clues to their contents. They were originally used as tokens much like an IOU, but evolved into the world's first metadata.
The keepers of the markers ("rab girginakku") were the first metadata wranglers; the intellectual forebears of SemWebbers. Cool, eh?
On the right in the photo are bullae, clay envelopes containing girginakku, presumably to keep the girginakku from being tampered with before they were needed (sort of like a modern lead seal). Unfortunately, neither the girginakku nor the bullae were described in this detail or given their proper names on the descriptive cards near the artifacts. I only recognized them for what they were because I have recently been researching the history of metadata.
The keepers of the markers ("rab girginakku") were the first metadata wranglers; the intellectual forebears of SemWebbers. Cool, eh?
On the right in the photo are bullae, clay envelopes containing girginakku, presumably to keep the girginakku from being tampered with before they were needed (sort of like a modern lead seal). Unfortunately, neither the girginakku nor the bullae were described in this detail or given their proper names on the descriptive cards near the artifacts. I only recognized them for what they were because I have recently been researching the history of metadata.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Making Glass
Bernadette and I had the fun of learning something of the art of glass making last week. The resident glass blower at Oglebay Park, WV showed us the basics and let us make some paperweights. Great fun!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Semantic Technology Conference 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
SWAMM
The Software Agent Maintenance Model (SWAMM) is a NetLogo model of a software maintenance methodology I have been working on. A runnable Java applet of the model is available at: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~dwood/models/SWAMMApplet/SWAMM.html
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