Movable Type Bitch
I hate bitching, moaning, and whining.
I’ve been attempting to figure out how to write this entry without doing any of those.
I haven’t figured out how, so this will be an exercise in self loathing.
This is an entry that the geeks will follow. Others, try to tag along.
Okay, what started the whole fucking rent was when Six Apart announced its licensing scheme for Movable Type 3.0. (Its the program I use to run this eJournal, as well as my other eJournals and the Interestring Websites page.
Part of the problem is for many people it was a pretty radical change. Movable Type<=2.661 was essentially monetarily free for all non-commercial purposes. As the license for Movable Type 3.0 stands now that is no longer the case.
Some of the “geek” bloggers have been migrating to WordPress. They admittedly like it because it is GPL licensed, meaning that the license can never change on them. Lets put this right out there:
This rent isn’t as much about Movable type as it is about intellectual property in general. First off no one is forcing anyone to abandon their current license of Movable Type. Part of the current culture war is determining what the rights of consumers should be. Consumers want the right to do whatever they damn please with intellectual property. Just look at the P2P networks. I don’t blame the record companies for suing file sharers. I don’t think it a good business strategy, but they make their money from controlling intellectual property. The concern is if they exert too much control the consumers have had usage rights ripped out from under them that they previously had when they paid for the product.
An example, you used to legally have the right to make a copy of a VHS movie you purchased for backup purposes. This is one of the rights that consumers used to have. The problem was consumers abused this right, and gave away copies. The movie studios then started using Macrovision, a technology that the movie to be watched but not copied. This story goes on and on but essentially content producers keep working on novel ways to “protect” their works and consumers keep finding novel ways to circumvent those protections. Its a simple war of mutual aggression. We might as well declare WWIII now. (Assuming it hasn’t already started.)
Back to Movable Type. Us bloggers and eJournalers have enjoyed a whole bunch of free enough software. Mark Pilgrim excellently frames the issue, although he also goes on and bitches too much. It was almost free, and every version except 3.0 is still almost free. You could argue that even GPL’d software isn’t free because if you modify it you cannot license your modifications under any terms you’d want, this is the equivalent of getting a free ice cream cone at the ice cream shop, but being told that when you take a shit you’ve gotta return it to the ice cream shop to be reused by anyone who wishes to reuse it. There are specific economic costs with the GPL license, specifically you do not have the freedom to choose whichever license you like for any derivative work. (I’ll admit right up front even my entries here are not free, they’re licensed under a Creative Commons License.)
So what am I going to do as far as upgrading? I’m not going to. I’m quite happy with my almost free Movable Type. Like I commented on MetaGrrrl’s blog I’m miffed but I’ll live. I’ve considered Word Press, but quite frankly I’m not impressed with the feel of the blogs that are using it now. I still think Movable Type is a better choice. Perhaps because I’ve not been able to get Phil‘s RSS to load, and as far as I can tell it is because of how Word Press functions and the speed of his server. I’ve given up bugging him about it.
Timothy Appnel has also written an excellent piece about Movable Type and Eating, although I didn’t find anywhere to work it in.
Yeah. So thats my bitch. Movable Type, is free enough and damn it I’l stick with it.
Lost, sleepy, fricks.
I went hunting for a Starbucks today. Specifically this Starbucks. Don’t bother trying to find it via the map. Its not where it says it is, but its close. Its just one of those dealies where the road changes name midstream, but there is another road with the same name right near it. (Whoever said urban planners had no sense of humor never drove anywhere in the midwest.)
I spent about 45 minutes aimlessly driving around and turning around way too much, and even waiting in a Burger King drive thru for a bit too long. (They would’ve failed if I was timing them. (Yeah I worked at this McDonald’s too long…))
Okay but back to the place that doesn’t make my stomach churn, Stabucks. I actually had almost given up on finding the dang store, and was gonna get on 471 to get back home via Ohio (yeah I like being suspended over lots of water in a heavy chunk moving of metal) and I thought “hmm, let me check the other side of this road..” Low and behold behind a Graeter’s Ice Cream there was a little Starbucks tucked in a plaza. From the outside the place looks like a dump. (well a dump for a Starbucks) But I walked in and I knew right away this was my Starbucks. (For the Starbucks uninitiated, addicts like me find a store that they like, and always go to it; there is something special about the store that draws us to em.) My first “my Starbucks” was the Mad River location in Dayton, Ohio. I’ve actually driven from West Chester, Ohio (a 30 minute drive!) just because I wanted to go there. When I was in Atlanta “my Starbucks” was the Little Five Points location. (Which was really convenient because it was on the way between home and work.) I really like the Newport/Fort Thomas location because, well it pulls off that architectural trick I love so well, taking the old and making it new again without destroying it. It preserves some history instead of just bulldozing over it, and re-papering the walls so you can’t see the the history. My kudos to the design team!
Hmm in other news I’ve been getting unpacked. I plan to die in this apartment, I’m just gonna live here till I’m 185 because I’m so freaking sick of moving. If I don’t live to be 185, I’m gonna sue someone, who and how I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.
In other news, I’m amazed how fricking irresponsible people are. I went on a date a week or two ago. Cathy, my coworker, has taken to calling him the drunk. Thats how good the date went. He couldn’t even wait till he got out of the car to start drinking a beer. But what amazed me is that he actually got himself into enough financial trouble to file bankruptcy, but didn’t actually show up at the courthouse to finalize it. Now you see if a day goes by where I don’t talk to someone who is filing bankruptcy, its a rare day. Usually when I talk to someone who has recently filed, they sound really relieved. They’re happy that they are going to be done with the matter once and for all. I also get pissed at people who complain about random fees on their account when they’re five months past due. Crike, pay you bill and then don’t worry about the fees silly!
Okay but almost enough about my job, one more thing. I really like it. Its a great place to work I’ve found and hell its a great boost of schadenfreude.
Okay. Its sleepy time. And I am going to try to be more regular with making entries…
G’night!
Family
I wandered through Wright State‘s website today.
I took a quick peek at the new and the old members of the student government. I only know one of them, and I only know him by name.
Its shocking that so many faces have changed. I used to be at one point extremely connected into Wright State’s student politics. Now, well I could give a rats ass about half of it.
I also had to check in on Lambda Union, my former baby. I’m encouraged and discouraged at the same time. Discouraged because that asshole jeremy wright is president again. I will refrain from going any farther into the matter.
I’m encouraged because Christy Dyer seems to be doing an excellent job and it looks like they’ve got some great activities planned.
In some way I miss WSU. No, let me rephrased that, I miss Lambda Union. I worked so fucking hard at that organization and I loved every minute of it. (Okay, thats a little exaggeration, but not much.) I miss the family that I had both in Lambda Union and the Theatre Department. (Although I was the estranged black sheep in the Theatre Department, and the somewhat neurotic mother in Lambda Union.)
I’m just a little lonely right now, I don’t quite feel part of the Citifamily, I’m not yet at NKU. I’m far enough from Dayton that it makes getting together with my actual family quite hard, and well we’re all in our own worlds now a adays.
I need to sleep. Wish I had some “family” here with me right now.. ;-)
Moving Blues
What a gigantomundo pain in the ass.
Uhaul started this fest off by delaying and essentially canceling the truck I reserved.
Budget came to the rescue.
Hauling shit up two flights of 100 year old stairs sucks.
100 year old apartments are pretty cool.
Cats meowing in discontent while riding in the car sucks.
A shower after a long day of moving and one missed shower is wonderful.
Sleep is even better.
Goodnight!
A whole lot of nothing…
I’ve been saying I should write a PEIDM entry for quite a while.
I just don’t know what to write one on.
I usually write these things when I’m pissed, or meditating some decision, or I’ve come to some semi-profound conclusion that I want to solidify so it cannot morph itself into something else without a record, or some commentary on something weird, or a funny take on my life.
I’ve had those little bits, but they seem to fizzle by the time I get near paper or the computer.
In someways its a good thing I’ven’t needed to write anything here. If you look at the January 2003-Mayish 2003 entries in my eJournal (as it was known in those days), you’ll note that in some ways this was a therapy method I used to ensure my sanity.
Also I’ven’t been reading as much as I would like. I did finish Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson. It didn’t spark any amazing insight. I mean I know that there are separate tools that people develop and we’re not using them all at once; that there are chemicals that affect our brain as well as different brain structures; that people who are good at specific tasks because they can get in specific brain patterns when the need arises; that we have primal systems that learn and don’t always work with us. It could be that I was a bit spoiled by reading the excepts of the book. Sometimes once you get the key ideas that the book is built around the filling is well, boring. Its similar to Dr. Irvine‘s next book. In some ways I am looking forward to it to see how it came out (and possibly if my name made it into it somewhere.), but in many ways I’m not looking forward to it because I am not really sure how much new information will be in it.
An Amusing snippet from my conversation with Phil.
Me: oh, did I tell you Cincinnati Bell is trying to kill me?
Phil: nope, but I believe it.
Me: lol, you’re too easy
Phil: i know
Me: I’m disturbed, you don’t even ask for an explanation.. perhaps I should be worried that CinBell has had enough contracts on other people’s lives that its common practice in Kentucky…
Phil: shhh. you’re not supposed to know. sigh. *finds tire iron*
Hmm other news. I’m moving to Covington, Kentucky. I’ve gotten all the obligatory state paperwork done, although I’ven’t gotten my plates taken care of completely. (I’m actually being very Kentuckian about the matter right now, I have my Ohio plate, which is stuck on the rear plate mount, and I have my Kentucky plate in the window. I figure if push comes to shove, I can argue that “I’m following the law to the best of my ability I just couldn’t get the Ohio plate off to put the Kentucky plate on”)
Felines, they’re all well. The boys are cute as ever, and the female.. Well shes a bitch and shes unhappy because she got cut up the other day. (Gotta follow Barker’s advice)
Hmm.. What else. Oh I’m frustrated with Phil’s take on Movable Type. Come on, its a blog engine that is so flexible that people can and have contorted it to do things that no one even imagined it could do. Yeah the commenting sucks, and I think the Net wide comment registration thing is a great idea, better than captchas, blacklisting, or single site registration.
Really for a majority of the blogging community MT or something similar works. Most of us don’t add a huge number of entries, (My database has 544 entries, plus comments in it right now) and even if we do we don’t rebuild all that often.
I guess I must say I do get around a lot of the complaints by using Server Side Includes gratuitously, to the point that I’ve turned it into a programming language in its own right. (The page you are currently viewing is composed of no less that five separate files on my web server.)
I could go on and on and on, but I’m more of the opinion that it works, most people can get it to do what they want it to without too many headaches.
Hmm.. what else should I rant about?
Unfortunately no one has added themselves to my PEIDM mailing list, although this could be because it is only on one page. (Guess I got side tracked somewhere down the line when I was adding it.)
Oh while I’m mentioning it features that I want to add to my website:
- The subscribe box on all the PEIDM pages, as well as a page explaining the PEDIM mailing list
- Search (I’ve got the CGI sitting installed I just need to do it.)
- I’ve got a whole section of my site of my school papers that is in the process of being prepared for prime time, that well has been forgotten about.
- Plus just some general updating here and there
Okay so hows that for having nothing to say?
Fucking Kitty
Fucking Kitty.
I’ve got this thing where my cats are my kids. They probably think I’m nuts but I take the approach that they are my kids.
You see the problem is I’ve got this stray and I want her to have a good place and home but she is currently a big pain.
She got on my nerves this morning and currently she is spending the day on the patio. I’m just frustrated that I can’t help her permanently and right now she is a big pain in the ass.
Its not for lack of trying…
Okay, problem solved. I spay her and a coworker will take her. so the kitty has a home!
Quick round up
I have lots of stuff to get through quickly, cuz I need to sleep..
- I have a kitty for adoption. She’s definitely got a strong personality and is a fighter. She needs to go to the vet first though (thats happening on Friday.) She is adoptable at no cost, you just need to provide a good home and cover the vet costs.
- I registered for the March of Dimes. My employer Citicards is matching every donation, so its a great way to make that $10 donation be worth $20.. I also need to get my coworker Cathy to register too, as she is procrastinating on the matter. Leave your comments with suggestions on how to get her to register. Oh and I have a personal donation page at the March of Dimes where you can pledge a donation. I suggest that you mail me a check, just so i make sure it can get matched, by Citicards..
- Cincinnati traffic sucks.
- Oh, Cincinnati traffic sucks.
- Okay thats it. No more. Oh but Cincinnati traffic sucks.
Civil Limbo
I’ve been wandering around Barnes&Noble.
I’m currently sitting in limbo about equidistant between the Gay and Lesbian section and the Religious Fiction section. (Yes I realize the latter title is redundant, but I didn’t make it up)
Between the dichotomy of these two sections and the scattering of political hack jobs masquerading as books, I’m disturbed by the divisiveness in today’s culture.
There was a prevailing theme of unity after 2001. “Lets be united, lets be strong, stand together in solidarity.” (Why does this sound slightly like communism?)
Instead its as if we got together and took a good look at our brothers from the north and from the south and ran, disturbed with what we saw. We’ve taken to hacking at each other, attempting to win a silent battle.
Unfortunately this is not the most disturbing thing I’ve seen recently.
On the day George Bush stated he would support a constitutional amendment to enshrine the religious standard of marriage as being between one man and one woman, I got a telephone call from my older sister, Randi, upset and frustrated by his hateful stance. I had simply labeled it as the words of a bigot and felt secure that history would run its course and GWB would look like the ignorant prick that he is.
What is disturbing to me is I went to my Dad’s house the other day and he had “signed” pictures from GWB’s campaign. (Its possible these were for donating to the RNC, as I’ven’t found his donation on GWB’s website.)
My dad was the parent who took my coming out the best. So I’m frustrated when my dad supports a man who has placed himself directly blocking the path of his son’s future happiness.
I’m in limbo as to what to do. I want to scold my Dad for his position. But, at the same time he has been kicked enough as is.
So, walking around Barnes&Noble seeing this war unfold around me has crystalized the limbic middle ground on which I’m standing on.
My father is unexplainably with the south and I’m with the north.
I don’t want to see this battle…
Bastard Bard
I’ve been in a bit of a quandary lately. Besides trying to figure out why my kitties are shedding so much, and if I should just give them a fur cut and get it over with, I’ve also been debating that evil matter of what to major in.
I spoke with Maribeth at Northern Kentucky University on Tuesday. I mentioned Organizational Systems Technology as a major. Armed with knowledge gleamed from my transcript she brought up theatre.
I’ve got some type of aversion to being a theatre major again. I’m reminded of the song The More You Ruv Someone from Avenue Q. One of the main characters professes that “sometimes love right where you hating most Kate monster.”
I love theatre. I also hate it with a passion. There have been far too many times when I’ve wanted to take preening teenage actors and beat the shit out them, just to break them down. Yes, theatre is work, its not some fun fucking game we just do because we’re bored. In college we’re learning to make it a living, stop pretending like this is high school.
I’m half tempted to continue my leaps into the unknown that have been really good to me this year. I just don’t know when my luck is going to run out. I need to do this more intelligently this time, but I also realize i only get so many choices. (Filling out beneficiaries for the new life insurance policy with the new job will do that to you.)
Theatre or not to theatre. That is the question.
Alan
Listen to the voice PEIDM Entry.