Sunday January 06, 2008

First Ride of 2008

Starting Ulysses mileage: 863 (barely getting started)

Went for a nice, 42 mile ride around Des Moines today, this afternoon the temperature was around 44 or so, so it really wasn't too bad. I wasn't planning on it, really, until I went to get groceries this afternoon and saw another motorcycle out and figured, why not?

First picture is from Gray's Lake, still frozen over, but they're flying the red flag indicating that it isn't safe to walk out on.

These are the penguins from the Jolly Holiday Lights display in Water Works Park.

I still need to fix the bent bits on the bike from when it was backed into, right after they showed up the temperature here dropped and I've done nothing out in the garage since mid-November.

Struts Sprout - Annotation-Powered Simplicity for Struts

Some time ago, I was looking for a way to simplify the build process for a Java application I've been working on for quite some time. It started out using XDoclet 1.2 to generate the EJB and Struts configuration files. As the years have gone by, that version of XDoclet hasn't aged very well, and even the improvements made in Java 5 proved problematic for it. Eventually, some folks released an updated xjavadoc for use with it, but it never worked quite correctly (support for some syntax changes were incomplete).

Some time ago, I made the changes needed to move to EJB 3, and eliminated XDoclet from that portion of the build, but I was still using it to generate the struts-config.xml. I always meant to do something about that, but ended up just dragging my feet on it. I'd stumbled across Sprout a long time ago, it seemed interesting, but I never did anything with it at the time.

Finally, in December of last year, XDoclet had annoyed me enough so I went back to looking at Sprout. Its support for configuring Struts wasn't complete enough to cover what I needed it to be able to do so I dropped the author, Seth Fitzsimmons a note asking if he'd done anything with Sprout beyond the version posted to his web site. Unfortunately here's what I received back: "I haven't touched Sprout (or Struts, for that matter) for about 3 years now, but it's been waiting all that time for someone like you to find it useful. You're welcome to either continue to use my svn repo as you change things or move it elsewhere."

So we chatted a bit by email, and I decided to set it up as a Google Code project: Struts Sprout and add the features to it that I needed. Finally, today, I got around to adding some of the code that I wrote back in December to the public site. Once I have a chance to make the classpath scanning a little more robust, and write some examples using the new annotations, I'll post a download with a new version number, but until that time, at least the changes are available in Subversion.

ANIME TODAY Looks at the Year in Anime With Chris Beveridge of AnimeOnDVD.com

Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Chris Beveridge – the founder and webmaster of Anime On DVD (AnimeOnDVD.com), – to episode 57 of ANIME TODAY.

In this “anime year in review,” Beveridge shares his thoughts about 2007’s biggest anime stories, industry trends in licensing and packaging, the future of high-def anime and what fans can look forward to in 2008.

Also in Episode 57:

• Chad tells listeners "What's Hot" in the world of anime.
• Shawne reminds fans about the final days of Right Stuf’s BIG New Year’s Clearance sale.
• Dustin Phillips, chairperson of Ohayocon 2008, previews the signature events, panels and more that await for those attending the eighth annual convention in Columbus, Ohio.
• Kris and Judy talk about new video games, available in Japan and in North America, that can help anime fans keep their New Year’s resolutions in the “Anime and Gamers’ Guide.”
• Rich and Nick announce the winners of our contest for Geneon Entertainment “Volume 1” gift packs and kick off a new contest for a Love*Com gift pack from Viz Pictures.
• Marie recommends the Hell Girl anime.
• Judy-sensei starts 2008 with a new Japanese 101 lesson.
• And finally, ANIME TODAY highlights some of the newest fan reviews from RightStuf.com visitors.

Ready to listen in? Download episode 57 now!

Meet other ANIME TODAY listeners, submit your suggestions for future episodes and more at the official ANIME TODAY forums at AnimeOnDVD.com.

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