Just listened to FLOSS Weekly # 49 where they interviewed Peter Saint-Andre about Jabber/XMPP. He talks about being an "anarchitect" because he likes things really distributed.

The big news this past week has been The Fires, namely a huge fire north of Pasadena in the Angeles National Forest. Biggest in 100 years, they're saying. Our place is far enough away from any wilderness that it's not a problem for us, aside from bad air and ash all over our cars. It's made for several exciting evenings as we drove around watching the flames. We camped out for an hour south of JPL when the fires were close -- thankfully there wasn't any damage there. For awhile the fire was threatening regional TV and radio transmitters and the observatory on Mt. Wilson. The observatory webcam is currently offline (cable probably burnt or severed) and news is being reported from offsite, but it's looking okay for now. In addition to the smoke it's been really freakin' hot the last week. I can only imagine what it's been like for the firefighters (who totally rawk, I must say). But things are pretty much normal for us. If you're really interested in fire news, our local public radio station has an updates page.

Heard today the sad news that Kansai Time Out is publishing its final issue this month. n my previous life as a JET Programme English teacher in Nara prefecture, I carried a copy with me almost at all times. KTO wrote about local history, off-the-beaten-path places to visit, and all manner of things gaijin needed to know to get by in that strange land. Haven't read it in awhile (hard to find here in LA), but I still have a bunch of issues, and was sad to hear of its passing.

Shout-outs to the KTO crew for all those years of a great read! Happy trails to you all.

Readers' note: KTO is still selling the last couple years' back issues and the yen is right, so if you have fond memories of KTO, head on over there and Paypal an issue or two.