A License for my Work

The question of the license which I apply to my work has been brought to my attention in the comments on the Taskbar Shuffle post.

This post is simply to keep things "on topic" and to have a place to discuss the question.

I've elected to place my source code, my posts, and comments under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

This license allows free use of my creative works so long as you include attribution.

Acceptable attributions are:

• derived from work originally by Jake Roberts
• by Jake Roberts
• Jake Roberts (http://linebyline.blogspot.com)
• Jake Roberts ([link to a specific post])

Any attribution should include a link to or the complete text of the appropriate Creative Commons license.

(if someone with more experience can make better suggestions please chime in)

For the most part I don't really care how my work is used. I would feel a little upset of someone copied one of my posts and then claimed it was their own creative work (unless they corrected my grammar and clarified my sentences and sent me a copy ;) ). But I just hope my rambling can save some time for someone else (p.s. I won't turn away any gratitude (especially the kind accepted at the local computer shop)).

However, some of my work (e.g. the Natural Sort Algorithm in C#) is derived from the work of others and I would appreciate it if a link back to my post was made so it is clear that the real work originated from some other really smart people.

Also be aware that some works (e.g. the Natural Sort Algorithm and SWFUpload) already fall under other licenses. I'm not always good about following up on those. If you have a concern regarding derivative works please let me know.

Shredders are fun!

Businesses have to dispose of sensitive documents. As we work we need things printed that shouldn't wander off when we're done.

Fortunately there is a simple business practice that solves this problem. The shredder. We recently acquired a shredder for our little area. It slices...it di....hmm...it shreds. It's big, bad, and has some futuristic sensor that makes it turn of if your hand tries to shred itself (It's like those lamps that you touch anywhere and they turn on, except it turns off).

Most new business processes are hard to implement. No one likes to change they way they do things. But not so with shredding! Shredding is fun! Everyone wants a turn and we all cleaned off our desks so we could find something to shred.

If only all our company policies could be so fun. This ranks right up there with Random Drug Testing!

Yes, I am a pirate

Yes, I am a pirate.

Yesterday I went to my parents house (I am no longer a dependent) and watched "The Polar Express". And I didn't pay for it.

A few weeks ago while driving to our vacation destination I listened to Harry Potter Book 3 on narrated CD. I borrowed it (not from the library). I didn't pay for it.

Today during lunch I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation which was recorded to a DVR. I fast-forwarded through all the commercials.

This morning I was listening to Christmas music on the radio. I changed to another station when a commercial came on.

A "Secret Santa" left a burned CD of Christmas music on my porch. I listened to it.

Yes. I am a pirate. Acknowledgment is the first step toward recovery.

Oh, my wife is a pirate too. She made Christmas cookies from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. She gave them to people.

They didn't pay. I suppose they are pirates too.

IE7 released

IE7 has finally been released! So I'm a bit late. Personally, I'm happy for a new IE, but, professionally, it's just going to be a pain. Since you can't have side-by-side IE versions (not easily anyhow, but other browsers are the same way) it is difficult to build and test websites for IE6 and IE7.

I did install one of the IE7 betas in a virtual machine to test the web applications I have built and support. None of them had any issues which was encouraging.

I am a little surprised at the significant GUI changes Microsoft has decided to make for IE and the Office Suite. But I suppose it's not all that different than introducing the "Start Bar" in Windows 95/NT but change is hard.

I'm not a user interface expert but I believe that a consistent location is more important than "good" design. This is why Microsoft has a standard for Menus and Toolbars. You'll notice that the File, Edit and Help menus are almost identical in every program. The order of toolbar buttons is almost the same in every program and they are almost always in the same place.

While playing with IE7 I found myself moving the cursor up toward the 'Tools' menu to make configuration changes but it's not where it used to be. This makes for a slightly jarring transition. We seem to understand the idea of consistency between applications and webpages. Overall, I think these GUI changes are improvements and will make the browser's features easier to access. Hopefully these changes are leading toward making it so application functionality can more easily be discovered.

For example, I suck at MS Word. I can write a letter, change the font size, make it bold and so on. I can't make a table of contents that will auto-update the page numbers to match my chapters. I know it can be done because I've seen it. I've looked through the menus and some help but couldn't figure it out. The GUI does not lend itself to discovering this functionality. So I have the common Table of Contents that I have to constantly update, doesn't quite line up, and has the funny ........ with some converted to (...).

Harry Potter -- Fact or Fiction?

I've never really understood all the debate over works of fiction. I'm not talking about whether Book Y should be banned from School X. I'm talking about all the fans that argue whether Hero A met Villian Z in highschool. Fans arguing over one point or another. It's NOT REAL! It didn't happen. There is no history. Author M just made it all up. You might call it a big lie.

So, you can argue the points in the book. That's fine and dandy. But we really don't know if Lily Evans and James Potter were born in the same hospital and thus destined to be Harry Potter's parents who will eventually become leader of a radical movement of Aurors which brings down the corrupted Ministry of Magic in Book 32: Harry Potter and the Revolting Aurors.

I've read the Harry Potter books several times. I've seen and own the movies (and liked them less than the books but I'm a modern man without enough time for all my entertainment and movies are a relatively quick fix). I enjoy the story and discussing decisions made and their consequences. And I am dumbfounded every time I hear news of the various disputes over the books, factual or fictitious.

I just don't get it.

Be the way, I read this today and got a good chuckle: http://www.slate.com/id/2150585/

It's the little moments...

In the car pool we are listening to the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" book on tape (I'm sure that violates all sorts of copyrights but that's for another rant). We tend to fast-forward through much of it as the author seems to ramble on and on. This morning Harry bumped in to Choe. Her friend had snitched on the DA. Harry was fairly rude and Choe got upset. This scene represents the end of their relationship.

We remarked on how unimportant the scene seems compared to the other events occuring in the story at the time (Umbridge has just become Headmaster and the Twins are causing much havoc).

This led us to a moments thought about how seemingly insignificant choices can change the direction of our entire life.

The common analogy is a compass (a comparison which makes sense to me). Big decisions are like big turns and they change our heading significantly and our direction in life. Small decisions are like little 1 degree turns. After a short distance we don't see any difference but after a lifetime we will be in a much different place that we would have been.

Digg & Reddit

I've become slightly addicted to Digg and Reddit. I don't recommend these sites but they are filling this sick need for new ways to waste time on the Internet. The Internet is my real addiction. Thank goodness there aren't withdrawal symptoms when I go on vacation.

Digg and Reddit are good ideas and it will be insteresting to see if they make it in the long run. I think it takes a certain demographic to make them run. Both sites are full of political rants and arguments for one point of view or the other. It's almost enough to drive me away.

I visit these sites looking for the few tidbits that interest me. Something about the latest in PC gaming. Something about the Wii. Or something funny, sexy, or stupid. Anything but politics. I want to care, but in the midst of all the bickering and arguing I just can't. I feel a duty to care, but it's all so silly and biased. It's sad that these clowns waste so much time and money on it all. What's worse is that part of it is my money!

Anyways, back to community link sites. I could probably search out blogs and grab feeds and build a great list of what I'm interested in, but I'm lazy and Digg is a quick fix. I think the next step in news aggregation will be feeds of feed aggregates. If I can find a few people with similar interest then I can just pull their aggregated feeds together. I'll get my quick fix and relevant information.