Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Haiku Code Drive 2008

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If you follow the open source community, you might be familiar with the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). GSoC, which has been an annual event since 2005, pairs computer science students with open source projects for a summer of software development. If students successfully complete the task they’ve chosen to the satisfaction of their open source project sponsor and Google, they receive a substantial monetary stipend for their efforts. This simultaneously gives CS students solid, real-world experience (and money ;-)) while contributing to the success of various open source projects.

One of my favorite open source projects, the Haiku OS, is an effort to create a modern, reliable, user-friendly operating system inspired by the defunct BeOS (which was, indeed, a reliable, user-friendly operating system but failed in the marketplace). Haiku has been awarded five slots in this year’s GSoC, which is awesome, but in their drive for reaching a final ‘1.0’ product release they wanted to go a step further.

That’s the driving force behind the Haiku Code Drive 2008. Independent of the GSoC (but along the same lines), the project is raising money to fund up-to five students who wanted to participate in the GSoC but were not offered slots by Google. So far, they have raised enough to fund two additional goals beyond those in the GSoC. The fund-raising continues through approx. May 29, and (if there isn’t enough money to fund all five slots) the goals will be prioritized by a community poll held from May 22-29. If you want to see a free, user-friendly, desktop-oriented OS in the marketplace to compete with the triumvirate of Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, please send these folks a few dollars.

Patiently Waiting for a Snack

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My sister’s cat, Zoe, is probably the dumbest cat I have ever met. That’s okay though, she’s funny sometimes. For example, this morning while we were eating lunch after church, she decided she was going to keep a careful eye on Tarzan the parakeet. Patiently sitting on a nearby table, she watched . . . apparently contemplating how to get into the cage and eat the prey without arousing suspicion. Finally, after a few minutes, she gave up and went back to complaining and making growling and hissing noises at people for no reason.

Wedding Turkey (and a Bonus Parakeet)

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Melissa and I were at a wedding today in Rustburg, Virginia, and, for some reason, there was a big old turkey walking around. I don’t think the turkey had anything to do with the wedding specifically—I think it was just there—but I thought it was pretty random and worth documenting. Read on to see some more pictures of the turkey, plus a bonus picture of my parents’ parakeet Tarzan.

Read more . . .

California Becomes Second State to Recognize Gay Marriage

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The California Supreme Court has overturned that state’s prohibition on homosexual marriage, which means that homosexual marriage is expected to become a reality in California within about thirty days. California would be only the second state in the union, following Massachusetts, to legalize marriage between same-sex couples.

In my 2005 opinion piece, A Compromise on Gay Marriage, I expressed my views on this issue from the civil perspective—views I still hold today. While my personal moral and religious opinion is that homosexual activity is sinful, I do not believe that the government should necessarily be involved in policing the civil arrangements that consenting adults make between one another. I think that a universal ‘civil union’ status should replace civil marriage and be open to any combination of two or more consenting adults. In this way, the civil aspects of marriage would become the purview of the state, and the moral aspects would become the purview of the religious communities. Churches and other religious communities could refuse to recognize or officiate homosexual marriages if they are antithetical to their beliefs, but the state would engage in no such discrimination and leave moral judgments to the individuals and the churches.

Having said that, any change in the definition of civil marriage must come from the people—whether directly by referendum (which can be done in California) or indirectly through the legislature. Judges do not have the constitutional authority to add a right to homosexual marriage to the state constitution. Thus, while I’m not particularly concerned about the outcome, I am concerned about how we arrived at it. It is the judiciary’s responsibility to interpret the law, not to extend it.

Inside the OLPC Project

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You may have heard of the ‘One Laptop Per Child‘ project founded by Nicholas Negroponte. The stated purpose of the project was, essentially, to develop a $100 laptop to be provided to children in poor countries. The first product of the OLPC organization, a tiny, rugged laptop featuring an innovative Linux-based operating system for children, comes in a bit over $100, but gets the idea across.

Unfortunately, the OLPC project appears to be going off the tracks. Many of its high-ranking officials and sponsoring organizations have resigned or pulled out for various reasons and Negroponte, who has publicly stated that the OLPC project will always be based on open software, has raised the ire of the open-source community by announcing his intention to put Microsoft Windows on the OLPC.

Well, no biggie if you ask me (even if I don’t really get the point of offering Windows on the OLPC). But a fascinating article by Ivan Krstic—a former OLPC employee—points to more serious problems in the organization. Their whole approach to providing low-cost laptops to children may be flawed, and Negroponte and his organization might be driven more by petty politics than by spreading education. Give it a read.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.