I need this blog like a...   

No insults between me and the Noodle recently, so I figured I'd put this one up.
Google has now officially released the API for Google Maps. Using this new technology, I have managed to locate the secret Lair of the Noodle Hador, the place from which he has gained all his knowledge and ideas.
All is now revealed.

IBM developer Billy Newport, whose picture reminds me of a serial killer mug-shot, warns us not to use ThreadLocal in a managed environment (read J2EE container, read IBM Websphere). Why? Here is what he says:

ThreadLocal and thread pools just don't mix. You may get away with using ThreadLocal on a thread but as soon as you return and give that thread back to the application server then you can't assume:

1. You'll get called again on the same thread.
2. Even if you do get the same thread, it may have different threadlocal values as it may have been used by other applications.

Besides, it's a huge security risk. Suppose an application stores sensitive information on an object held in ThreadLocal. Another customer might send a request which gets processed on a thread just used by a different customer and then one can see the information for the other customer.

He then continues to chide the open-source community for using it. Now technically, his statements are true. There are caveats you need to understand about threads and ThreadLocal. But I might as well say "don't use threads because you can't assume your code will be safe". We don't throw out an extremely useful tool because it requires knowledge to use it.

Instead, he should have offered the solution that anyone who writes J2EE apps and who has discovered the greatness of ThreadLocal knows...use a servlet filter.

Try this:

public final class MyFilter implements Filter
{

public void doFilter(ServletRequest request,
                     ServletResponse response,
                     FilterChain chain)
            throws IOException, ServletException
{

    String myAttr = request.getSession().getAttribute("myAttr");
    MyThreadLocal.set(myAttr);
    chain.doFilter(request, response);
    MyThreadLocal.set(null);
}
}

Of course, you do need to null out the value at the end, as I've done above. Hey, now that I think of it, wouldn't it be nice if the container did this when the thread was returned to the pool? Maybe the security risk is on the side of Websphere! Now if only there was a Websphere developer around.

BTW- For a good article on ThreadLocal, see this one by Brian Goetz. If you want to know why you should use ThreadLocal, just think about all the methods in your application which take a parameter "User user" and how much more elegant your code would be if you got rid of them all.

The kushnitzer magid has an interesting take on the pasuk "ad m'macharas haShabbos ha'shviis, tisperu chamishim yom." He learns that we have "ad m'macharas haShabbos ha'shviis", until 7 weeks, to be "tisperu chamishim yom", to count 50 days. Even if we haven't affected a change in ourselves during the whole sefira, even if we aren't prepared for kabalas haTorah, we can still do it all at the last moment. If we truly desire to be worthy of His Torah, we can do it. Hashem is waiting for us...will we be ready?

I should have stopped. I'm afraid that my blogging has provoked him. Now the Noodle Hador has returned to "help" Jews struggling with their Orthodoxy. Here we are, 4 days before kabalas haTorah, and he returns to try and pasul the shidduch! Oh, but I guess thst never happened anyway, right? It's just a bedtime story. Anyway, I am sorry for what part I played in this.

Many of us who grew up on the goyisha music and felt a bit stifled by the current offerings in the Jewish world were refreshed a couple of years back when Blue Fringe Band came on the seen. There has been much anticipation for their 2nd album, 70 Faces, which was released this past Sunday. I picked it up yesterday and have been through it twice. If you aren't into them, then the rest if this post won't interest you, so you can stop reading now. Considering that this album came about a year after they originally promised, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I was mostly disappionted. It starts when you go to your local Judaica store to plop down your $20 (does goyish music cost this much today?). You would expect to at least get a proper jewel case. But no, the CD comes in a cardboard case like it was some free promotional thing you get in the mail. Those things don't fit nicely in my CD rack so always wind up stacked at the bottom where my 2 year old can reach it and use it to smack things with. Anyway, not all the music is bad. Some of it is pretty good (although the tracks I liked the most I had already heard). In general, Dov tries too hard to sing. In the previous album he sounded relaxed, natural...a little raw, but that worked. Now he seems to have decided he's a vocalist (maybe he took lessons or something). It makes the whole thing sound a little boy-band-ish. Avi is awesome as usual although underutilized. There aren't any tracks where he just plays extemporaneously. Danny and Hayyim are pretty good and the guest musicians definitely add something (especially the horns). Oh, and nearly every song is in English. Many have Hebrew choruses, but I think there are only 2 all-Hebrew songs. The longest track is 6:30. Here is the track review:

1. Lo Irah This one's not bad. "V'Hayikar lo l'fached k'lal". "H' li v'lo irah". I wasn't sure about it the 1st time I heard it but its growing on me.
2. Av Harachamim Boring. I can't seem to focus my attention on it for more than 10 seconds. You can hear a clip here. The clip is 1 minute long. See if you can listen to the whole thing.
3. Modim I like this song. It reminds me of the last album. You can hear some of it here.
4. Lifnei Adon A completely Hebrew song. Also a completely annoying one.
5. Generations Not bad. Can't say I loved it, but I enjoyed it. Nice little keyboard thingy toward the end.
6. Shidduch Song I liked this song when I heard the live version included on a hidden track on the 1st album. This version is also good. They added some horns which make it sound very cool. But the live version had a long jam at the end of it which was very exciting. This one doesn't have that...too bad. I would have rather had that than the horns. Here is a live version of it (a different one than is on the 1st album).
7. Ein Mayim ...Elah Torah. Ein li elah Ayeif.
8. Shir Hashirim This song rocks! No question that this is the best song in the album. A live version is here. On the album version you can understand the lyrics. This song is a pseudo-translation of pieces of Shir Hashirim. Great horns and some good guitar playing by Avi.
9. Roll Cool track...makes my head bob back and forth as I type.
10. 70 Faces Title track. Jazzy, which I like. But a little too CD101.9 for me, if you know what I mean.
11. Hineini A song about Akeidas Yitzchak. It's not such a bad song, but I don't think I would listen to it. The drums are a nice touch.

Hidden Tracks There aren't any, so don't bother looking. Artists aren't mechuyiv to give you any, but since there were 2 on the 1st album, I thought they might give us something here. Ok, so I don't hate it. It's not so bad. I just think the first album was much better. And the songs that are really worth hearing on this album are available in live versions for free. Don't go rush out and buy it. But if you get a chance to go to a concert, I'd take it. Knowing Blue Fringe, alot of these songs probably sound much better live.