Wikis

Wikis are a great tool for knowledge management, great for quickly documenting insights you've gained and ideas of interest. It's like your own hyperlinked encyclopedia which you can add to, or whatever. Wikipedia was probably the wiki that captured the attention of most people and whilst not perfect it's great to see this vast body of humanity's knowledge growing.

My journey with wikis started with Wikipedia followed by a side trip to blogging. Blogging is a less structured form of knowledge management, a hyperlinked online journal in essence. Whilst looking for a convenient way to store recipes I came across TiddlyWiki.

TiddlyWiki is not your typical client/server wiki, everything is stored in a html file that incorporates JavaScript. That means its all run on the client and you only have one file to worry about which has its ups and downs. Version control is rather rudimentary but you can always chuck that single file into a version control repository. TiddlyWiki also has an easily accessible blogging function, so you get your structure and your informality.

Not entirely happy with TiddlyWiki's feature set I eventually found out about the MoinMoin Wiki engine. This is a traditional client/server wiki architecture although there is a stand-alone distribution. The stand-alone distribution is a bit messier to work with than TiddlyWiki, what with having to start services and all. However it is one of the few client/server wikis that can run as a stand-alone and should be a lot easier to move the a server.

MoinMoin is used by quite a few of hosts of open source projects such as Apache and Ubuntu. Whilst I haven't had a chance to use it properly it has all the features that you've come to expect from most other wikis like JSPWiki. Unlike a lot of other wiki engines MoinMoin does not use a relation database, instead data is stored in a flat structure of files.

At the end of one project I used TiddlyWiki to capture my knowledge of that project. Whilst hastily written it was quite effective in letting me capture ideas as soon as they came to my head and letting me quickly group and link articles together. In a later project I have used JSPWiki right from the start. That too has been great in knowledge management and saving us time in recalling insights which disappear as quickly as they were gained. The time spent updating wikis and administering them is more than gained in ensuring knowledge does not slip away and the speed of recall.

Bruce Eckel's Thinking In... Books

Bruce Eckel is a great communicator and programmer, he runs a company that provides training and consulting services in software development. He's written quite a few books on programming, and is the author of the Thinking In books. These latter books are quite comprehensive as well as being easy to comprehend.

Whilst the Thinking In books are written so that readers will gain a practical understanding of the subjects on their own, they also tie in with the courses and seminars that he gives. As such, and for a variety of other reasons, he's made them freely available online. This was a boon back when I discovered his work as a poverty stricken student back in 2000. Whilst I've never set aside enough time to go through them thoroughly they are great reads from a great mind.

The Emperor's Shadow

I remember watching this Chinese movie on SBS back in my final year of uni. I'm pretty sure it was listed by SBS as "Son of Heaven". For ages I was trying to look it up under the name of "Son of Heaven" but to no avail. Although I do recall it being listed under another name on a few web sites.

It's about the rocky friendship between two men, Ying Zheng and Gao Jianli. Ying Zheng was the man who would become the first Emperor of China and Gao Jianli was his childhood friend, whom if memory serves me correct was the son of his wet nurse. Ying Zheng prior to becoming Emperor of China was the King of Qin, one of several Chinese kingdoms vying for supremacy during the Warring States era.

Whilst in the midst of conquering the rival kingdoms the King is after an anthem for the his subjects that will drive them onwards in his conquests. Gao Jianli becomes his captive during the King's conquest of Gao Jianli's native kingdom of Yan. As Gao Jianli is a talented music the King instructs him to compose this anthem.

The story revolves around the struggle between the two men as Gao Jianli harbours a hatred of the King's rule. However the bond of friendship between the two men is deep and both men are torn between their political convictions and their old friendship. Gao Jianli constantly pushes the temper of the King with disastrous results.

Whilst the story is a fictional account, the people and events in the movie are for the most part historical. The movie captures the Warring States era with the scenery, costumes and props all gelling well. Ying Zheng is portrayed in a realistic manner as a person with love for those close to him yet also capable of evil and with conviction.

The movie is a great work of historical fiction with an accurate background allowing for an intriguing tale to be told. Unlike more recent Chinese films of historical fiction it has a good depth to it and explores some important ideas. The main idea of art being able to influence people and government being unable to control artistic expression is as relevant in our increasingly interconnected and homogenous as it was back in an age of conquest and totalitarianism. A movie well worth its big, for a Chinese film back in 1996, budget and some of our attention.

Food Links

Korean food:
Korean Kitchen (Only recipes I've tried from the net so far, just as good as in restaurants)
My Korean Kitchen (Interesting articles, not too sure about fusion food though)
ZenKimChi Korean Food Journal (More interesting articles from a bloke teaching English in South Korea)

Khmer Food:
Khmer Krom (Cambodian food from a Khmer person from south Vietnam that used to be part of Cambodia)