Busy, busy

A few years back, I knocked up a simple database front-end for us to maintain a database of our CDs/Videos/whatever. Apart from a brief tweak to add DVDs to the media list, this has been fossilizing for some time, and kinda needed a replacement, mostly because it relies on the Borland Database Engine - which is a bit of a swine to install and configure on new machines, not least because I can never remember how, or find the CD.

So today, I applied my professional skills, downloaded and installed Tomcat and MySQL, ported all the data over, and hacked together some JSPs and Servlets to interact with it.

It still needs a lot of work, but it's getting there. I can list what's in the database, and edit individual items, so adding new items or searching shouldn't be much of a challenge.

Just Read: Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, by Alastair Reynolds

[amazon.co.uk]

Two novellas, set in the same universe as Revelation Space/Chasm City/Redemption Ark.

Diamond Dogs is a tale of Ultras, mercenaries, obsession, and a dangerous alien artefact. There are some obvious influences, and Reynolds gives them a nod in the text. Unless I'm missing a subtle reference, this story is mostly a footnote to the main novel sequence, simply adding a bit of colour to the universe.

Turquoise Days, however, fills in the background of some of the more enigmatic denizens of the universe. It tells the story of a visit to a backwater Pattern Juggler world by a group of researchers with more on their agenda than they are willing to let on.

I preferred the latter, but enjoyed both.

Just read: Sun Tzu on the Art Of War, Translated/Edited by Lionel Giles

[project Gutenberg e-text]

A bit of a change, this.

A very old (500 BC +/- 5 years) book on how to wage war, which has been cited as an authority for centuries. This edition is the best that could be reconstructed in 1910, and includes notes on the historical provenance of a 2400-year-old work.

A surprisingly large fraction of it is still relevant today, particularly the the oft-quoted "All war is based on deception", which is primarily referring to deceiving the enemy about the disposition and movements of your forces, and forms the core of Sun Tzu's arguments.

Other notable points are that well-disciplined armies are quite capable of beating poorly-organised but otherwise superior forces; generals should aim to win quickly (as long campaigns will be a huge financial drain on their country) and that politicians/rulers should leave the warfare to their generals.

An interesting read, at least as much for the editorial comments (which actually form about 50-60% of the Project Gutenberg text) as the title work. This edition was published in 1910, so where a modern textbook would wheel out examples from WW2, the history quoted here is mostly from the (then recent) Boer war, with a few references to the Napoleonic era, the American Civil War, and British Colonial scraps in what is now Afghanistan/Pakistan/India.

It's notable that the author draws attention to Sun Tzu's focus on movement of armies and unwillingness to get into a war of attrition, especially as he was writing four years before WW1.

I admit that I got rather lost in the passages about Chinese history 600-400BC, since I lack the sort of background knowledge that the editor assumes. An educational read, nonetheless.