Cranial Soup

Bit.ly is Harmful to Your Reputation

2010-04-18T00:48:00.001-04:00

It all started with a simple innocent tweet. As Vivek Wadhwa was finishing up his excellent post on outsourcing he tweeted about it and I replied with a tweet of my own:

Note the URL I tweeted to him was shortened using the xrl.in service.

Now, Vivek is a TweetDeck user, and TweetDeck uses bit.ly to shorten links, even links that don't need shortening, like mine. So what do you think happened when he retweeted me and responded?

That's right, my already shortened link was reshortened with bit.ly.

Now what do you think you see when you click that link? The site I was trying to link to?

No, you see a warning page that implies that my original link leads to a malware, phishing, spam, or forgery site.

So my link to a reputable site is being called a bad site by bit.ly because I used a competing URL shortening service in my original tweet.

Note that there is an email link to report mistakes on bit.ly's warning page. What do you think happens when you click it and report a mistake? Do they check the link and remove the flag if the site is ok?

No, they don't. They told me to make a new bit.ly link and give it out to people, as if that would undo the damage that was done, change the links in other people's tweets, and prevent others from retweeting the bad reputation damaging bit.ly link that I never made in the first place.

Then they apologized and told me some day their service will be better, still not removing the reputation damaging flag from the link.

Can something like this affect you and your website? You bet it can.

If you or anyone else ever tweets a link to your site using a competing URL shortening service, and that link gets retweeted with any twitter client that shortens all URLs with bit.ly (whether they need it or not) the resulting link to your site will be flagged as a bad site.

What happens when the average person clicks that link and sees that warning page? Well, the average person believes it and won't visit your site. And if your name is on the original tweet, it will also be on the retweet, giving you the reputation of passing out links to bad sites.

Will a smart web savvy user believe the bit.ly warning page? Maybe, maybe not. But the average person probably will. As a developer I have seen the average person believe a lot of things that were not true, placing their complete trust in things like that bit.ly page and other false positives, and believing the worst, even spreading the word about it as if it were the truth, telling others that a website or application was harmful. They think that companies don't do things like this without ironclad proof, so they believe every word of it.

What alarms me the most is the attitude of bit.ly with regards to this problem and how they refuse to remove the flag from innocent links. They don't care if your reputation is damaged.

And it is in the best interest of bit.ly not to fix the problem, since it makes more people use their service, worried that if they use another service and get retweeted, they could end up with a reputation damaging link to their site. So this whole problem serves to make more people use bit.ly, out of fear, rather than convenience or because they have a better service.

I am not a bit.ly user because it is not convenient for me. I have a browser plugin that uses xrl.in, that with a single click of a button, copies the shortened link to whatever page I am on to my clipboard, ready to paste anywhere I want.

Other links in the stuff I tweet use ff.im, because they are cross-posts from friendfeed. I was pretty sure if I post something on friendfeed, cross-posted to twitter and it gets retweeted, reshortened with bit.ly, it will result in one of those warning pages, too.

But I was wrong, it doesn't. In fact, there are a few other shorteners that don't get warning pages either, probably because they are so popular that they would get noticed pretty quick if bit.ly decided to pick on them.

Bit.ly does white list the following shorteners:

ff.im
youtu.be
goo.gl

There is no reason why bit.ly can't white list the rest of the popular shorteners if they can white list those. But those others are competing services and they don't feel like being nice guys about it. They would rather ruin the reputations of innocent people like you and me.

So what can you do to ensure you won't become a victim of bit.ly's "bad site" interstitial page?

There are only 2 things you can do:

1. Always use bit.ly to shorten your links and make sure everyone else in the world does too. (highly impractical, because you can't control what other people do.)

2. Let bit.ly know this is unacceptable. Tell them to play fair and white list the other shorteners. The choice of url shortener you use should be yours and not theirs, and you should not be punished with a reputation damaging warning page because you use a competing service. (easy to do)

Send them an email: support@bit.ly
Tweet them: @bitly
Spread the word by tweeting this post
Share this post on social networking sites
Blog about it
Tell your friends

Don't stop making noise about this till bit.ly stops damaging the reputations of innocent people.

UPDATE May 8, 2010: Bit.ly has changed their interstitial page, slightly. Instead of the top banner saying "WARNING - visiting this website may harm your computer" it now says "Stop - there might be a problem with the requested link"

But it goes on to say

Some URL-shorteners re-use their links, so bit.ly can't guarantee the validity of this link.

Some URL-shorteners allow their links to be edited, so bit.ly can't tell where this link will lead you.

Spam and malware is very often propagated by exploiting these loopholes, neither of which bit.ly allows for.

The link you requested may contain inappropriate content, or even spam or malicious code that could be downloaded to your computer without your consent, or may be a forgery or imitation of another website, designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information.

I still consider this unacceptable. If bit.ly can detect a shortened link at the time someone clicks, they can detect it at the time someone submits it for shortening, and just not allow it. That page is completely unnecessary and can still be damaging to someone's reputation.

Come on, bit.ly, just do the right thing! How hard is it to just not reshorten?

Bad Blogger Award: SpywareGuide Blog

2009-09-26T16:02:00.002-04:00

I hereby present this Bad Blogger Award to the SpywareGuide blog for their recent article on Twitter spammers, in which they stated that the bird graphics used by the spammers were an attempt to fool Twitter users into thinking they were somehow affiliated with Twitter in some official capacity, and suggesting that anyone using one of these bird graphics is a spammer and should be blocked.

I am not giving them this award for being dead wrong. I understand that everyone makes mistakes. I am giving them this award for refusing to acknowledge or correct misinformation, when they were given every opportunity to do so, after being informed of the mistake.

They published their article on September 17, 2009 and shortly after I left a comment informing them that the bird graphics these spammers are using are just the new default avatars for Twitter accounts, used when the account holder doesn't upload one of their own.

These colorful bird images are the new official replacement for the old creepy looking "brownie face" images. Many people have them and not everyone with these avatars are spammers. Some are just new to Twitter and don't understand how it works yet, or they don't feel a need to upload an image. Some are just lazy and don't want to be bothered with changing anything and personalizing their profiles.

I have friends with these new bird avatars and I can attest to the fact that they are not spammers. They do not deserve to be blocked and treated as if they are. They have done nothing wrong.

And this Mashable article seems to suggest there is also a bug within the Twitter service that could cause people that have uploaded avatars to suddenly have them unexpectedly replaced with one of these new default bird avatars. Twitter is aware of the problem.

I had to jump through hoops to leave a comment, being forced to register, validate my email address, and then leave my comment, which was immediately placed in their moderation queue and still hasn't been posted. Nor have they corrected their article, as of this date.

For a security related site, I find this unacceptable and it does nothing to lend any credibility to their blog. I will not be returning to read another article, never mind commenting on one.

Enjoy your award!

Forget getting more Twitter followers, here's how to keep the ones you have

2009-09-13T13:21:00.002-04:00

How to annoy people on Twitter (or at least me).

Don’t do these things and you will be more likely to keep the followers you have and get more followers by being recommended by them.

1. Copy & paste quotes from famous people instead of letting your followers read what you have to say.

2. Send them an automatic DM with a link to your crappy site, a free gift, or some valuable secret info you want to sell for the low price of $49, as your very first communication with them.

3. Send them a DM thanking them for following you when you are the one that just followed them first.

4. RT every link posted by Robert Scoble ASAP. Since we are all following him already, it's not likely we saw it when he posted it 30 seconds ago, right?

5. Tweet links to pages that look like a bad ebay ad, selling some new method of getting millions of twitter followers overnight, how to get your site on the front page of Digg, how to get tons of traffic for your website, or how to make a fortune on Adsense.

6. Do searches and tweet people you are not even following, attempting to sell them a $100 mini flashlight, just because they mentioned a flashlight in one of their tweets.

7. DM people unsolicited links to photos of your hairy scary ass or other equally ugly body parts that you really should keep covered.

8. TWEET IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

9. Tweet the same message 10 times in a row.

10. Make sure at least 1 tweet per hour contains the words "FREE LAPTOP".

11. Tell every Windows user to "just get a Mac"

12. At least 50% of your tweets should be about how great your iPhone is.

13. Have your ENTIRE lifestream feed into twitter from friendfeed, then go on a huge "like" spree with every LOLcat posted there in the last 6 months.

14. Follow and unfollow the same person repeatedly.

15. Publicly welcome every new follower you get.

16. #Make #every #word #in #your #tweets #into #hashtags #and #toss #in #a #few #extra #popular #but #irrelevant #ones #just #for #the #hell #of #it. #Don't #forget #to #finish #by #making #one #up #that #is #complete #nonsense. #ljhgliu

17. Use URL shortening services to make links that point to links already shortened by other shorteners.

18. Beg for retweets.

19. Post many tweets in a row for #followfriday with just a bunch of names and no explanation of why anyone should follow them. Every childless person on twitter should follow that stay-at-home mom that tweets diaper changing and toilet training tips, right?

20. Use a service that auto-tweets spammy paid ads from your account.

OpenCandy: A New Kind of Adware/Spyware

2009-05-13T00:34:00.014-04:00

They claim to be doing something noble, but the only thing sweet about OpenCandy is the sales pitch to naive developers that might just fall for it, tricking them into thinking it is somehow different than the typical common adware/spyware.

A lot of developers do seem to be biting the bait, but no matter how you slice it, it's still adware/spyware, and to me it stinks worse than the old fashioned kind.

In OpenCandy's own words, this is what they do:

Recommendations are made to users during the installation process. Utilizing the install process creates a user-friendly experience and offers optimal engagement for making a software recommendation. The user is presented with a screen that describes the recommendation, at which time they may choose to install the recommended software.

That makes it adware!

We then provide analytics back to the creators, so they can see how their software and recommendations are performing. This way they can better understand how to build and recommend great applications.

That makes it spyware!

We've also provided our technology as a platform to a handful of software creators who are utilizing an offer screen during the install process as an advertising unit. Some creators are already monetizing their distribution by offering apps like browser toolbars, so we're helping them improve their user experience and optimize the effectiveness of their offers.

That makes it your typical spyware/adware we have always known.

Actually, this is much worse, because instead of big companies like Sun & Opera making some software and offering it for free and advertising Yahoo's toolbar in the installer, we have a lazy predator company backed by venture capitalists that doesn't want to bother with or take the risk in developing a ton of software of their own to push toolbars to make their millions. They want to use the software of naive developers to accomplish it.

An ad is an ad, and to me there is no difference.

There is no difference between showing an ad for some other product by some other developer in the installer of my software, no matter how much I might even like that software myself, and popping up an ad for CocaCola or Viagra on a user's screen during the install process.

Do you remember what you parents told you about not taking candy from strangers and why? Well, these guys are not really strangers, they are known preditors. The founders of OpenCandy are the same guys responsible for the inclusion of the spyware/adware in DivX.

Now, before you call me a hypocrite for bashing adware installers while having ads on my blog, let me explain the difference:

Any visitor to my blog can turn off Javascript and not be exposed to ads. Or they can use a noscript plugin, or an ad blocker. They have that choice before they land on my site.

I even offer an ad-free RSS feed.

If I want to recommend software to my users, I put it on a separate page of my site and not in my software or installers.

When the ads are in an installer, the user can't install the software without seeing the ads. They have no real choice. That's the difference. And I seriously doubt that developers are going to offer two different installers and give users the option to see or not see ads or be exposed to spyware.

So now that I have told you what I think, what is your opinion on OpenCandy, as either a software user or developer (or both)?

UPDATE Saturday, February 19, 2011:
The following applications have been found to install OpenCandy:

aMSN
Any Video Converter (last freeware, OpenCandy free version 1.21 available here)
ApexDC++
ATI Tray Tools
aTube Catcher
CDBurnerXP Pro
CrystalDiskInfo
DarkWave Studio
Dexclock
DoubleTwist
Driver Sweeper
Duplicate Cleaner
DVDVideoSoft products
eRightSoft products,including Super
ExtractNow
FL Studio
Free YouTube Downloader
Frostwire
IE7Pro
Image Tuner
IZArc
kantaris
Media Info
MediaCoder
MediaInfo
mIRC
Miro
Office 2010 Trial Extender
Orbit Downloader
PrimoPDF
PSP Video
RedKawa
SIW
Soldat
Startup Manager
StepMania
Super Simple Photo Resizer
TechTracker
Trillian Astra
True Burner
Unlocker
Veoh Web Player
Videora
Vistaglazz
WebShot
Winamp
WinSCP
Xfire

This is not an exhaustive all inclusive list. This is just what I have found with a quick Google search. If you know of any other applications that should be added to this list, leave a comment and let me know.

It was a "Fizzbin" kind of day today.

2009-03-25T14:55:00.001-04:00

I have a very high tolerance for stupidity when helping other people. I can guide even the the most brain dead along, explaining things 55 billion different ways till it clicks in their heads, without losing my patience.

But I have no tolerance for incompetence when I am forced to deal with a complete idiot, when calling a company with a support issue.

I had the worst tech support experience of my life with Verizon, today.

First, my internet went down at about 1:30 AM. I did the usual rebooting my router and PC, making sure my daughter's laptop was turned off (it was) before calling to complain, yet again. This has become a ritual I have had to perform an uncountable number of times since I ordered my DSL speed upgrade back in early December. I have been complaining about the flaky connection for months, with Verizon not doing a damn useful thing to fix the issue, which they have insisted is on their end and their fault, each time telling me they have fixed it and they really haven't.

Had I known that ordering an upgrade was going to give me such a flaky connection and crappy tech support at twice the price, I would have stuck with the slower stable connection and paid less, and kept more of my sanity.

So, I called Verizon and as normal, had to go through their automated menu crap and get put on hold to wait for a human. This time, I was on hold for more than an hour and a half.

Then someone finally picked up the line, and it turned out to be the most incompetent idiot I have ever come across, at any ISP, beating even the AOL guy from some 3rd world country that told me to make a backup of all my husband's emails (since he had the smallest amount), delete the originals, and replace them with the backup copy, in order to fix my dialup. And when it comes to incompetence, that AOL guy is a hard one to beat.

The Verizon nitwit I had to deal with today, beat all of the AOL nitwit techies I have ever had to deal with, combined.

After doing a line test and saying that the problem wasn't on their end, and checking router/modem settings, and making me tell her what username I was using, and making me disconnect /reconnect just to make sure I was using the right password for that username, she finally "knew" what the issue was...

She seemed to think that Internet Explorer was broken, and because all applications that use the internet do it through Internet Explorer, if Internet Explorer is broken, then Firefox, Chrome, K-Meleon, Opera, and every other browser will not work...and she doesn't think there is such thing as non-browser applications like XChat, Filezilla, GTalk, etc and insisted they all use IE to connect to the internet too, and none of them will work, because IE is broken. Yes, she told me this crazy load of crap.

And how did she verify and make a final determination that IE was the problem? Because she had me run it and without typing in any URL, she wanted me to tell her what the error message was. There was no error message, because I don't have a home page set. When I run it, it's blank. That's the way it's supposed to be. But nothing I could say would convince her otherwise, that a blank page when you open IE is normal when you don't have a home page set. To her a blank page with no error message is positive proof that IE is broken.

Now let me tell you how she said my Internet Explorer got "broken" while I wasn't even running a browser, and certainly not IE. She seems to think that while I was typing in XChat, some virus forced its way onto my machine and broke my IE so it is blank and doesn't give an error message, and that is why my internet does not work.

So I guess that means that at the exact same time, that virus also managed to force its way onto my daughter's laptop and break her IE, too...while her laptop was shut off, since her internet wasn't working either? And that sneaky virus did it to my PDA too?

Now I haven't even told you about the "My Computer" fiasco yet.

While trying to "help" me, she tells me to go to "My Computer", right click and go to "My Computer". Now if you have a desktop icon for "My Computer", right click it and see if it has an entry on the menu that says "My Computer". You won't find one.

I asked her to confirm this, that she wanted me to right click "My Computer" and select "My Computer" from the menu. She said yes. I told her it wasn't on my menu, and maybe she meant something else, like "Properties", perhaps? She insisted that wasn't it.

She then told me to go to "Start" and then click "My Computer". Sorry, but that isn't an entry at the root of any Start menu in Windows XP unless someone adds it there themselves, and I sure didn't add it to mine.

Then she had me look in "My Documents" and "Control Panel" for "My Computer". Then had me go to Start, Run, and type in "My Computer" (try it, it's fun!). I suspected she may have wanted me to go to "System Properties", but she kept insisting that wasn't it and we needed to find this elusive "My Computer" entry that was missing from all my menus.

She wouldn't let me speak to her supervisor, or another techie that actually had half a brain, and ended up hanging up on me when I totally lost my patience with her. I probably would have hung up on her long before that, if it wasn't for the fact I didn't feel like waiting on hold for another two hours.

When I called back and went through the automated crap again, before placing me on hold I got a recording that said that Verizon was having issues in my area code and there could be outages for the next 6 hours and if I still wanted to speak to one of their techies, to hang on, otherwise hang up.

For some reason, the nitwit I had talked to earlier didn't know about the issues on their end, as she kept insisting there was no problem on their end, nothing wrong with my modem/router, and that my IE was broken on every computer in my house.

Scott Hanselman was right...there really should be a magic word like "Fizzbin" that you can say when you call tech support, so they don't treat you like you are an idiot...or force you talk to one of theirs.

7 Reasons Not to Direct Link to a Developer's Download Files

2009-03-16T23:10:00.001-04:00

As a developer, I can't help but be more than a little bit bothered by the fact that some bloggers chose to direct link to application download files (.zip, .exe, etc) in some of the articles they write, rather than the page on the developer's site, in which the download links can be found.

If this is how you do things when you write articles & reviews, then I'd like to inform you that this isn't a very nice thing to do, for the following reasons:

You are depriving the developers of the full credit they deserve for the work they have done. If the application is worth writing about, it's also worth giving the developer full proper credit.
Some freeware authors have Paypal donate buttons on their sites, and your readers will never see them, therefore never click them. This deprives some developers of their only income and maybe their only incentive to keep making freeware/donationware.
Some freeware authors have advertising on their sites, and additional page impressions or clicks generated from the traffic you send them means an income for them, and your direct linking to the files prevents that from happening. This is how some software can remain free, rather than the author resorting to making it payware (or even worse, adware). If you would like things to stay free and clean, you have to do your part to help the developers keep it that way.
A blog linking to a page on a small developer's site can mean a big boost in Page Rank, making their software easier to find through search engines. This helps the people searching for the perfect tool to do the job they need, as well as the software developer that created it.
You are depriving and cheating your readers of the chance to browse around the developer's site, and perhaps the opportunity to discover more useful software they might be interested in. And in the case of the applications that come from sites like donationcoder.com, you are preventing them from discovering a wonderful software enthusiasts community that they really would enjoy, and can even request custom made freeware, made to their specifications.
In some cases, you may also be making it more difficult for your readers to find the info necessary to submit bug reports and get support, not to mention application updates and upgrades.
You may also be depriving your readers of important information related to installing or using the application, that they may need to know.

So, could you please be a really nice person to us poor freeware/donationware developers, and your readers, and fix your links to point to the pages and not the file downloads? And in the future, always link to the pages, instead.

Your readers and the software developers would really appreciate this.

Thank You.

AutoHotkey is NOT a Virus, Worm, or Trojan!

2008-12-06T13:00:00.003-05:00

I am so sick and tired of irresponsible antivirus companies unfairly flagging compiled AutoHotkey (AHK) scripts as viruses, trojans, and worms.

AutoHotkey is a free, open source scripting language, just as much as Perl, Python, Ruby, or JavaScript is a scripting language.

There is nothing wrong with the language itself, nor is there anything wrong with most scripts written in it. A lot of really awesome, useful, Windows utilities have been developed in AutoHotkey.

The language is powerful, easy to learn, enables you to write Windows utilities very quickly, and you can compile them to .exe and distribute them to others that don't have AutoHotkey installed, or you can give them the source script (.ahk) and they can run that if they do have it installed.

The problem is that there are idiots that will write malware in AHK, just as there are idiots that will write malware in any other programming language. You can't blame the language for this. And you can't blame all the developers that use the language, either.

But that is exactly what the antivirus companies are doing. They have decided that if a single person writes and compiles malware in AHK, then all compiled AHK scripts are malware. This results in tons of false positives, ruined reputations of innocent programmers, and a mistrust in AHK applications by the general public.

Developers have repeatedly contacted antivirus companies and complained, which after enough outcry from programmers and the public will result in them fixing the problem with the false positives. That is until a new version of AutoHotkey is released. Then the antivirus vendors get amnesia and forget that AutoHotkey is a language again, and flag all utilities made with it as malware, once again.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

This has been going on for a few years now and it's a viscous cycle that needs to stop.

I have written utilities that I would love to distribute to the public, with the source code, but I am afraid of putting them on my website, out of fear that my reputation will be destroyed by the stupidity of the antivirus companies.

This is unacceptable behavior on their part. Can you imagine if these antivirus companies decided to pick on another programming language and did the same thing they do to AutoHotkey? Can you imagine if every six months they decided that all applications written in C/C++ were malware? Or anything compiled with Microsoft's Visual Studio was malware? How about if they decided that all JavaScript was malware? You wouldn't be able to load most web pages or run most of your software. If they did that, those antivirus companies would all be out of business very quickly.

But that is exactly what they are doing. And AHK is the language they are picking on.

I am asking all developers and AHK users to join an organized effort to take the bull by the horns and petition the antivirus companies to stop the unfair treatment of our software.

My #1 Reason for Hating Digg

2008-07-24T14:09:00.009-04:00

Aside from all that infects Digg and makes it such trash, such as the Super Digger cartels that bury the good stuff and digg the crappy stuff without even reading it, the fact anything with "Google", "Digg", "iPhone", or "Linux" in the headline automatically makes it to the front page (even if it isn't news worthy), and the comments that seem like they were written by a gang of uneducated pre-teen delinquents that live under a bridge...there is one thing above all that really aggrivates me to no end.

THE BLOAT!

The site is the most unusable piece of trash that has ever been coded. Worse than AOL webmail, the latest version of GMail, Yahoo webmail, Neopets, and FeedBurner, combined.

It should not take 20 minutes to log into a site. One should not receive a billion "unresponsive script" warnings per page. It should not take an hour to switch tabs. Someone needs to dig a hole and bury that site before I lose my mind. I am so aggrivated right now that all the Kitaro in the world could not calm me down.

Every time I think about giving Digg another chance, I end up regretting it and shaking with frustration. I am a very patient person, but I am not THAT patient.

I seriously hope that if Google does buy Digg, that they don't turn their search engine into a bloated mess while they add Digg buttons to all their search results. My poor little computer and I wouldn't be able to handle it, and in my opinion, we shouldn't have to.

I have had it! Enough is enough! I will never load another page from Digg in any browser, on any PC, for as long as I live...unless someone can direct me to a Digg Lite that isn't loaded with all the bloated crap.

I don't care if I can vote or comment on stuff, or not. I really am not feeling in a very social mood right now, any way.

I just want a list of the headlines, descriptions, and direct links to all the articles that have been submitted in the upcoming stories section. I would like to find some interesting stuff to read that isn't already plastered all over every blog & splog in creation.

I don't want the front page crap. I would rather have all the hidden gems that never have a fair shot of making it to the front page.

Does such a thing even exist?

If it does, give me a link, please!

UPDATE 08-04-2008: I have found not one, but two alternatives to the main bloated Digg site. Please see my article titled "Digg, Digg Lite, Digg Ultra Lite" on my Snailware blog.

Bloggers With Comment Forms That Suck a Chunk of Your Life Into a Black Hole

2008-07-15T01:57:00.006-04:00

Listen up, John Chow, Jack Humphrey, Matthew Henrickson, Andy Beard, and the rest of you lazy and/or inept bloggers out there:

I am tired of wasting my time on broken comment forms, screwball captchas, lazy moderation, and bad site design.

Too many times in the past 2 weeks, I have tried to make comments on blogs that ended up sucked into cyberspace and never making it to its destination, which is the post in which I was commenting on.

On three blogs, after taking the time to formulate an informative, relevant, quality comment (one of them was at least an hour of work), it was just sucked away after clicking the submit button, with no indication that it made it to where it was supposed to go, or it being held for moderation, or anything else. Will I ever grace those blogs with another comment again? No!

On another blog, after almost the same amount of work and hitting the submit button, I was informed that commenting on that post was closed. Why was there a comment form then? And why was there no visible indication that commenting was closed that I could see, before I wasted my time putting together a comment? Will I ever grace that blog with another comment? No!

On another blog, after I took the time to make a comment thanking the blogger for his post and tell him how useful it was to me and why, and how I was going to send him some traffic because it was that damn good, his captcha informs me that I must have flunked math in school because 4+3 does not equal 7. Don't insult me like that. I try to compliment you and thank you, and this is the thanks I get? A screwball captcha that calls me an idiot? Will I ever comment on your blog again? No!

On another two blogs, my comment was being held for moderation. Now I can understand the need to do that in order to keep spammers at bay, but don't you think you should check your queue to see if any comments were made, at least once a week, if not more often? Maybe even check it when you are making a new post, at least. Will I be commenting on those blogs again? No!

I am tired of wasting chunks of my life trying to comment unsucessfully on your blogs.

So to all you bloggers out there, please check to make sure your comment forms and captchas work, when commenting is closed that it is visibly closed to your visitors before they waste their time (remove the form if possible), if comments are being held for moderation that commentors are told this, and process your comment moderation queues on a regular basis!

And if you have no clue what you are doing or how to fix things, ask someone to help you!

Picking Up Where George Carlin Left Off

2008-07-11T23:00:00.002-04:00

I found a brand new blog today called "What a Crock of Monkey Snot". It's a rant blog, written by a guy from the UK that goes by the name of "Crock".

And while he doesn't have very many posts yet, he is off to a great start. From ranting about stupid blog comments, to stupid Vista updates, to the increasing amount of bandwidth it takes to load your ISP's homepage, he does it with an amusing style that will bring a sympathetic smile to your face, as you chuckle and nod with agreement.

I am adding him to my sidebar of site feeds, because this blog is definitely one to keep your eyes on.

Crock, you are doing great. Just keep posting and don't fizzle out.

Pro-life and Pro-choice Can Be Two Sides of the Same Coin If That Coin Is Education

2008-06-28T18:58:00.007-04:00

I am both pro-choice and pro-life and the 2 views are not in conflict with each other because I am also very pro-education.

In a perfect world, every child would be born to 2 responsible parents that loved it, wanted it, had the means and skills required to take care of it, nurture it, properly educate it, and help it to become a productive member of society.

But we don't live in a perfect world, do we?

And people do make mistakes. That is why there are erasers on pencils and backspace keys on keyboards...and abortion.

Unless and until we can find a way to eliminate the mistakes before they are made, then the eraser is still needed, and the backspace key...and abortion, and all of those will continue to exist.

If you want to end abortions, then end the mistakes that lead to them...by educating people to make better choices.

Instead of telling kids that babies come from the stork or by swallowing watermelon seeds, start at an early age and tell them where they really come from.

And don't tie the hands of educators that want to provide children with knowledge by forbidding them from teaching how the human body works, how and why pregnancies occur, how one can prevent pregnancies. This is valuable information they will need, even if they do wait until marriage to have sex.

Arming your kids with the facts doesn't lead to wild orgies of teens having sex. On the contrary... Show a classroom full of 14 year olds a video of a live birth, with a nice close-up of the woman's twat opening wide to pass the head of a baby, and it's likely to scare the crap out of them and give them something to think about and make them not want to have sex for at least a year.

Telling them about birth control choices and making them available prevents them from getting pregnant, in the event that they do decide to be sexually active. And don't forget to educate them on the psycological effects of abortion and the lingering effects it has on the mind of the mother that decides to take that route, so they won't see abortion as a first line birth control choice.

Do whatever it takes to change the attitudes of young women who regard taking care of a baby as being all fun and games, like playing house, or playing with baby dolls, so they don't deliberately get pregnant with a child they are unable and unprepared to care for. And make them understand that caring for a child isn't like caring for a pet dog, cat, or hamster. They need to understand this before they get pregnant with the first one and not find out after the fact, which can lead to aborting a second pregnancy.

Give them enough information and better choices and they won't make so many damn mistakes that lead to abortion. There is so much to consider before getting pregnant. Teach them this and don't wait till after the fact to tell them. End abortion by ending unwanted pregnancies...end unwanted pregnancies with knowledge and understanding.

If my daughter made a mistake, which is highly unlikely because I have educated her myself, I would hope she would seriously consider giving her baby a chance at life, like I did, but I would also hope she would make that choice after careful consideration about what kind of life that baby would have and how it would impact hers, and exactly how she will provide for it and not eventually become a burden to her child at the same time. But in the end, the choice is hers and not mine, and I don't have the right to make that choice for her. If my daughter decides she is not ready to be a mother, than I am not ready to be a grandmother, as well.

Whether you like the definition or not, babies are perfect parasites, by the technical definition of what a parasite is, and not one that can be cured with a little bit of medicated soap.(funny how we don't see "save the pubic lice" protests, huh?)

Parenthood is a permanent condition. When you decide to have a baby, you are stuck with it and it's effects for life, not just till it becomes legally an adult. Even if your child dies before you do, you don't stop being a parent...you just become the parent of a dead child.

I wonder how many old women died from falling out of bed, severe bone fractures caused by the osteoporosis that began with a baby leeching the calcium from their bones when they were young.

Yes, you may have contributed to the cause of death of your mother by your actions before you were born. Kids also need to know and understand things like this before they get pregnant.

And just like you can't end typos by outlawing backspace keys, you can't end unwanted pregnancies or abortions by making it illegal...you only end legal abortions, driving women to seek their abortions illegally, putting them at great risk of death by having an abortion performed by an untrained person in a tattoo parlor or butcher shop, or doing it themselves with a coat hanger at home, rather than a nice safe medical clinic by a trained doctor.

Outlawing abortion can kill both your daughters and grandchildren at the same time, which is much worse than just losing your grandchildren, and I would never forgive the one that takes my precious daughter away from me with their thoughtless laws.

Bill Gates Cleans Out His Desk and Leaves Behind a Priceless Email

2008-06-28T06:01:00.005-04:00

The internet has been cluttered lately with tributes and articles devoted to Bill Gates and his contributions to the world of computing, on the eve of his retirement from Microsoft.

Out of all of these, one in particular stands out...

Back in 2003, Bill Gates tried to download and install Windows Movie Maker, unsuccessfully, and then sent a whopper of an email rant to the proper department heads.

I chuckled and felt a great sense of satisfaction as I read this, because this is a whole different side of Bill that we have never seen. This is not the smiling Bill you see in all the publicity photos. This is not the Bill you have seen in interviews and videos.

This is "Bill the XP user"...one of us. And he was pissed as all hell, at all the crap he had to go through to download & install an application from Microsoft.com, which in the end, he still wasn't able to do.

This email rant is a priceless gem.

It is the email we all wish we could have written, a million and one times over.

Each and every time that we have blamed and cursed out Bill over the years because of some stupid-ass Windows crap that has annoyed or confused the hell out of us, Bill Gates has been annoyed and confused right along with us, and bitching at the people responsible for the bullshit.

Thanks, Bill. You changed our lives. And I hope, even though you are retiring, that you plan to keep on bitching.

Rainbows and Cake

2008-06-27T23:09:00.005-04:00

My daughter went for an orientation meeting for her new job today. She landed a position on a special project with a rather large, well known company with locations all over the US.

After the meeting and a tour of the facilities, she was told she could go into the break room and have some cake.

Upon entering the break room, her eyes were met by the sight of rainbow banners all over the place, and a giant one in the middle of the wall shouting "GAY PRIDE", and a huge rainbow cake, sitting on the table. (the Gay Pride parade in NYC is this Sunday)

The woman that had taken her through orientation then told her how the company believes in tolerance and diversity and this was the reason for the decorations & cake.

While I am all for tolerance, I can't help but wonder if this is somehow counter productive.

How many people that work for the company are tolerating the diversity of their co-workers every day by biting their tongues and not expressing their point of view that is contrary to those they work with?

What kind of work environment is the company creating with things like this, for the fundamentalist Christians they may have working for them? How comfortable would they be walking into the break room to see something like this?

My daughter seems to think it is no different than hanging up the usual "Black History Month" stuff in schools during the month of February. But I tend to disagree.

There would be a big difference between hanging up an educational black history poster in an educational institution and decorating a whole room in "black pride" decorations and serving a "proud to be black" cake in a typical office building. Just like the issues with the Gay Pride party, this could create some definite workplace tension in some parts of the country.

I don't think a company makes a wise decision when they plan parties like this, and I think things like this have no business in the workplace and serve just to point out the differences among people and create division rather than tolerance.

Do we really need a party to remind a homophobe that the guy/gal he works with is gay, when he has gone through the trouble to put it out of his mind when he comes to work every day, so he can earn a living without getting himself into trouble?

Companies have gone out of their way to remove bias from the workplace, in an attempt to make race, gender, sexual preference, marital status, ethnicity and religion not an issue. They would like all of their employees to work with an attitude that they and everyone they work with is a gray genderless robot with no mind or beliefs of their own that have nothing to do with work. Parties like this bring it all back to being an issue by reminding everyone that they are not all gray, genderless, robots when they are on the job.

Ironic that it all comes down to cake, which you can't have and eat it too.

The American Spaghetti Crisis: Part 1

2008-06-26T14:46:00.011-04:00

While the world's eyes are focused on the global rice shortage, skyrocketing rice prices, and how it is affecting 3rd world countries, there is another issue that seems to have slipped by relatively unnoticed: the skyrocketing price of pasta in the US.

Over the last year there has been an extreme increase in the price of spaghetti and most other macaroni products. In some cases it has been an almost 300% price hike.

Around this time last year, I was able to purchase 3 packages of spaghetti for $1, regular price. Now I am lucky if I can get 1 package at that price, on sale.

And the price for a box of macaroni & cheese has gone from $0.49 to $0.89..

A case of ramen used to be $1.99. It is now $2.50.

All of this within the last 12 months.

While rice may be the staple food for the poor in many 3rd world countries, pasta is also a food heavily consumed by the poor, in the US. And even though the price of rice has increased drasticly, it is still by far much cheaper to buy than spaghetti currently is.

I believe that it is quite possible that the rising cost of macaroni products can make the global rice shortage even worse than it already is, as more lower income families switch from pasta to rice, to save money, thereby increasing the demand for rice.

What is even worse, is that the rising prices of food in general will cause a rise in prices that restaurants charge for a meal, causing more middle income families to eat at home rather than going out to eat. This loss of business to restaurants translates to a loss of jobs and income for many lower income families that depend upon minimum wage restaurant jobs to support themselves.

The poor that rely on the Food Stamp program are running out of money before the end of the month because of the increase in food prices, but no cost of living increase in their monthly allotment of funds. They are being forced to turn to local church run food pantries for help feeding their children.

Pasta is a staple of many local food pantries that supply the poor with free food. As prices go up, the poor can afford less, and rely on these food pantries more & more to keep from starving. And as prices go up, donations made by the middle class to these food pantries decreases, and then they don't have enough to meet the demands of the poor they are feeding.

Poor children are eating cheap, high fat, high sugar, low nutrient junk food to keep from being hungry. They are not getting the nutrients they need to grow strong & healthy. They are getting sick and missing school more. The ones that are in school are too busy thinking about their growling stomachs to pay attention to their work. Their health & education are sufferring, and they will pay for it in the future by never acquiring the means to rise above their current poverty status. At the same time, as a result of bad nutrition, they are becoming a bigger burden to the free government provided Medicaid healthcare system, that is paid for by the tax dollars of the middle class.

And why exactly are the food prices so high? Could it be the price of gas affecting the shipping costs and driving everything higher? Could it be that the economy really sucks right now and businesses are raising prices in order to turn a profit and keep their doors open? Bad weather killing off crops? A combination of things?

Whatever the reason for the increase in prices, this much you can be sure of: the prices are not going to come back down, whenever the problem that is driving the increases goes away. I have never known a business to lower prices after an economic slump. They usually just keep them at what they are, raising them again when the next crisis hits, that eats their profits. Your dollar is shrinking fast, and it's likely to stay shrunk, even when the economy improves.

The amount of low income families in America is increasing, the bar that marks the poverty level is rising, the middle class getting smaller as they slip down below that bar, the number of elderly increasing, the amount of tax dollars needed to support social services & healthcare for the poor and elderly increasing, the amount of tax dollars available to fund it all decreasing, the amount the middle class needs to make ends meet increasing, the amount in their paychecks after taxes decreasing.

This is a serious long term crisis, and a $300 economic stimulus check ain't going to fix it.

Read More:
American Spaghetti Crisis: Part 2
Other articles, news, and information resources

Creative Commons and Author's True Intentions Creates Copy Confusion

2008-05-13T02:30:00.004-04:00

You see it every day on blogs all over the web: content posted with a Creative Commons license.

The Creative Commons license, for his own original works, is the choice of the author. He is not forced to do this (unless it's a derivative work based on another Creative Commons work, or he is publishing someone else's CC licensed work). He does it willingly. He makes the conscious decision to make his work copyable under certain restrictions, whether they be giving him credit, not making derivative works, derivative works allowed, restrictions on commercial use, no restrictions on commercial use, etc.

But he is giving you the right to copy it, nonetheless.

I spotted this one at the bottom of the page on a blog today:

According to the Creative Commons license for that site, in which the author links to, I CAN copy his content. According to the little Copyscape banner above it, I may not.

So which is it? Can I or can't I?

I wish authors would think about it seriously and make up their minds before they put the banners on their sites. They can't have it both ways. They can't say out of one side of their mouths you can copy their work, and out of the other that you can't. They are conflicting statements and ideas.

If you don't want to give people the legal right to copy your work, don't release it under any type of Creative Commons license. Retain full copyright and priviledges for yourself. And get the Creative Commons badges off your site!

EntreCard Needs Bigger Better Whips

2008-05-09T13:25:00.005-04:00

What is the deal with EntreCard's signup form?

I have been trying to create an account for at least a week. Every time I hit the submit button on the signup page, I get this error:

Is there some trick to getting an account that I do not know about? Is this some sort of exclusive club and "certain people" are not welcome to register?

This is not a problem affecting a certain particular browser, as I have tried with more than one, my usual K-Meleon and I even brushed the dust off of IE and tried. No luck.

Checking through their forums to see if the problem has been reported (and what the official word on when it will be fixed) doesn't help. The only issues reported are from people that have accounts already. And there is no way for me to report the issue without having an account...and I can't get one! If I could get one, there would be no issue to report.

Maybe one of you guys that has an EntreCard account could post on their support forum and bring some attention to my post here.

Mainstream Media and Censorship

2008-02-29T02:36:00.002-05:00

This is not a post about Ron Paul, although it could be seen as one. This more about bias in the media and how it can affect an entire country, more than anything else. Read through to the end and take a look at the rest of the censorship, that has nothing to do with Ron Paul, to understand the full effect of what is going on.

The American people have been deprived of the truth by the mainstream media.

Because they see Ron Paul is a threat to their corporate interests, the mainstream media has gone out of their way to bury anything positive about Ron Paul, misrepresent the facts, deprive him of equal treatment in media coverage, exclude him from debates, polls, and reporting.

They have gone out of their way to silence Ron Paul's supporters by deleting their comments from news sites, misrepresenting the number of supporters present in official news photos of various political events.

The list of their biased atrocities goes on & on.

The following videos will show you exactly what has been going on.

Are you angry yet? Why not? What makes this fair treatment of a Presidential candidate?

Even if you don't agree with Ron Paul's message and what he stands for, you should agree with his right to be heard. You should agree with equal treatment of candidates. You should agree with unbiased news reporting.

The American people have the right to know the truth. They have the right to have each candidate treated fairly and equally by the media. It should be left up to the citizens to decide the results of the next election...not the mainstream media companies.

If they have done this with Ron Paul, what else have they done this with?

Let's see...

How about this for starters: Project Censored's 2008 Top 25 Censored News Stories

That's one hell of a scary list!

It really makes you wonder who exactly is in charge of this country and what plans they have for YOU.

We are not the enemy

2007-06-03T17:24:00.001-04:00

On May 15, 2007, the Air National Guard decided to bomb NJ, even though it's still officially part of the US. This is not the first time that they have 'attacked' and put residents and their property at risk. Sure, New Jerseans are known for being cranky, arrogant, and hating Republicans, but is that any reason to attack us?

There has been at least 5 major incidents in recent years, including one in November 2004, in which they opened fire on Little Egg Harbor Township's middle school during a night-time training exercise. Had that accident taken place during the day, it could have proven to be much more disastrous than it was.

On May 15, a flare dropped from an F-16 during a training session over a section of the Pine Barrens in Ocean County, about 25 miles north of Atlantic City resulted in an extensive forest fire that burned over 17,000 acres (69 km²) containing rare pygmy Pitch Pines, and forcing evacuation for more then 6,000 area residents.

Some residents used garden hoses to protect their property as the fire approached.

Along the nearby Garden State Parkway, northbound and southbound ramps on Exit 63, as well as the southbound ramp for Exit 67, had to be closed.

Three trailer homes at Pinewood Estates in Barnegat and four at Brighton at Barnegat were destroyed.

About 50 homes sustained some damage at Brighton at Barnaget, including some that had smoke damage.

Three nursing homes had to be evacuated.

An elderly woman suffering from dementia, only knowing her name, disappeared during evacuation and was missing for 2 days.

The following are videos of the fire, made by local residents (some may contain accidental profanity):

Man drives through forest fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQvoE5CbnhM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BNDF2kODdI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULNIVaQM6As

Slide Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUy6xYxVIsw

Another video (creator has disabled embedding):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bH5rTcTIbw

Photo gallery of New Jersey Forest Fire Service - Section B-10:

http://www.sectionb10.org/wargrovewildfire.html

Gov. Corzine has called for an end to the training sessions and/or a relocation of the Warren Grove base, to an area where the threat to the public's safety will be minimized.

Although Gov. Corzine does not have jurisdiction over the fate of the federal military facility, he has not ruled out legal remedies that he can pursue and he is presently in contact with his lawyers about the matter.

Yes, our nation is at war and the military needs to practice, but aren't there better places to do this than over our nation's first nature reserve, in the most densely populated state in the country?

Verizon's Prepaid $0.99 a Day Theft Plan

2007-05-03T15:31:00.001-04:00

So, I am just sitting here, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I get an IM from a friend of mine that just needs to be shared. (he wanted me to, which is why he told me about it.)

byte: I was checking out prepaid cell phones today online..
byte: and while I was at verizon's site, this popup thing came up on my end...
byte: wanna see the convo?
byte: lol
app: sure

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please wait for a Verizon Wireless sales representative to assist you with your order. Thank you for your patience!

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with Kelly.

Kelly: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. How may I help you today?
Kelly: Are you an existing Verizon Wireless customer?
You: No
You: I'm looking over the prepaid plans, and I'm wondering how Verizon thinks they can get away with charging $0.99 per day even if I were to not use the cell phone.
You: that's theft
Kelly: That is the access fee for that plan.
You: access fee for accessing nothing?
You: theft.
You: do you have a legal degree, or is there a lawyer present?
Kelly: No, there is not lawyer here.
You: I was honestly considering a prepaid phone through Verizon - until I read that your company will be stealing $0.99 per day EVEN if I DON'T use the phone. Then, unfortunately for you, this jackassy pop-up came popping up, asking me if I wanted to talk to someone.
You: sorry you were there to catch the brunt of it.
You: I have STRONG reason to suspect that I will be going with another provider OTHER than Verizon.
You: sheerly due to the fact that no matter if I use the phone or not, I'll be charged $0.99 each day.
You: a $15 card would last how long at that rate?
You: just shy of 15 days?
You: yet it expires in how many days?
You: that's gotta be deceptive advertising
You: a $15 card will NEVER last 30 days.
You: not with you all stealing $0.99 each and every day even if the phone ISN'T USED!
You: Cingular at least is kind enough to not commit such theft.
You: TMobile is nicer as well
You: what do I get with Verizon?
You: what is the "party-bonus" that I get if I go with Verizon and your theft plan?
You: *prepaid plan
You: my mistake
Kelly: We do offer the in calling and night calling free with that plan.
You: ok - anything else?
You: what are "ringback tones?"
Kelly: That is tones that the person calling you hears before you answer your phone.
You: alright
You: well, I have to say that it seems as if Verizon's prepaid plans are, for lack of a better word, flat-out theft from the pocket phones of the prepaid world.
You: even if I don't use it, I get charged?
You: what the fudge?
You: who was smoking what when this idea came around?
You: You see, I'm not a phone addict like you would wish I were... are there any plans which won't charge me even if I don't use the phone? prepaid plans?
Kelly: WE do have the Easy pay plan that allow you 350 minutes for $50.00 per month pre pay.
You: do you have any plans comparable to the $29.99 prepaid cards (which aparently, with your company's theft of $0.99 per day even if the phone isn't used, would only last 1 month anyhow)?
Kelly: No, unfortunately we do not.
You: ok, well thank your supervisor for this jackassy popup appearing on my end, and for your company offering what appears to be crappy prices and theft. in the mean time, I would like to thank you for working for complete and total morons who probably figure no one reads the fine print.
You: I hope you have a very nice day - honestly I do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

byte: that poor gal prolly never expected it
byte: damned jackassy popups
byte: "Do you want to talk with a representative?"
byte: no, but since you're bothering me with a popup, fucker, sure.
byte: right now, I'm thinking about Cingular for a prepaid
byte: I haven't talked with tmobile yet
byte: not extensively enough to decide
byte: it's gotta be better than Verizon's theft plan
byte: *prepaid plan

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really do need to start another blog...a group one...for the occasional ranters among my friends. That way they can have their own place for this and won't have to borrow my blog. (lol)

Can you say "Hell no!"?

2007-01-08T14:59:00.001-05:00

I received an email today from Yazzle, offering me $0.80 per download if I bundle my software with their shitty spyware.

Sorry, but $0.80 isn't enough for me to compromise my integrity.

Stay off their website, especially if you are using Internet Explorer. These guys are bad news. Just look at what McAfee Site Advisor had to say about them:

Again, another email from someone that can't read very well. Don't they realize they are barking up the wrong tree when they come across a site that says this on it's main page?:

Never any spyware!
Never any adware!
Never any viruses!
Never any trojans!
Never any nag screens!

That's NEVER x5!

Maybe they figured I needed something 'amusing' to write about today?

I know I signed up for jokes in my inbox, but this is ridiculous!

New Type of Spam Targets Developers

2006-12-10T11:25:00.000-05:00

I recieved a rather odd piece of spam in my inbox recently.

Instead of trying to sell me something useless like a larger penis or bigger breasts (mine are big enough, thank you), or the usual Christian spam (yes, sadly I have had to add the word "Christian" to my spam filter), this one offered me a programming job.

At first glance, I thought this was an attempt to extract personal info from me...maybe an attempt at identity theft, but I have been told that this isn't exactly the case. (thanks for sharing your knowledge & experience tinjaw)

In tinjaw's own words:

tinjaw> no, it is low-level recruiters who troll the Net looking for people that have computer knowledge to fill some client's needs. Most of the recruiters that do that are crappy recruiters with openings at crappy companies.

If that is what it truly is, then they really are crappy recruiters. Anybody casually glancing at my website can clearly see that I am a Delphi programmer and not VB.net or C#. I mean, the animated "Built with Borland Delphi" graphic is on almost every page of my site. And it's not like it's all that tiny, either. How can you miss this?

And where on my site is there any kind of indication I have the kind of skills that they are looking for?

Give me a break! I am a damn n00b! Even in Delphi I am not qualified for any type of programming job.

If the job was local to me, I would almost be tempted to fabricate and submit the info to make it look just like I was the perfect person for the job...then screw them up royally with whoever they have a contract with, by being the n00b that I am. (could I actually do otherwise?)

They would still have to pay me for any time on the job, right? I think I could manage to learn how to write 'hello world' in both VB.net and C# in time to duplicate it on my first day on the job without needing to refer to a book.

Or maybe I'd spend my time on the job making clocks...and then sue them for discriminating against the disabled when they fire me. (my obsession with time & clocks could be considered symptoms of a mental disorder, by some)

Of course I'd never do anything like that for real. I am not that type of person. So don't take me seriously and think I am some type of dishonest asshole. I am not.

It is not in my character to deceive anybody in order to obtain a job. And I am not the lawsuit happy type. The odds of me suing anybody is pretty low...even if they deserve it. (Norman Brodsky of Perfect Courier deserved it...deserved to be royally sued! But I was just happy with dragging his ass to NJ a few times and settling out of court for 2 weeks pay and a letter of recommendation signed by him.)

Some thoughts on open source software

2006-08-03T05:27:00.000-04:00

Open source has nothing to do with the price of the software...it only has to do with the source code of that software.

Many confuse the term "open source" to mean freeware.

It's not. It's software in which you are entitled to the source code, entitled to change that source, and entitled to redistribute that software, providing you give the source to those that receive it.

Nowhere in there does it say that the programmers should starve themselves while coding it and nowhere does it say they have to give their work away for free.

Why do people get confused and think that open source software is a type of freeware? Because many open source projects are freeware/donationware.

But not all are free. There are some where you only receive the source once you buy the product. And this is OK, and it's still in the spirit of true open source software. And those projects are the ones most likely to survive because they force you to give back something.

In the true spirit of open source is a concept of sharing. In any sharing relationship, it won't last if one does all the giving and the other does all the taking and giving nothing back. It leaves the first party feeling unappreciated, taken advantage of, and totally drained.

If someone shares with you, etiquette says you should share something back with the giver...become a giver yourself. Etiquette says you ARE obligated. Everything has a price...no exceptions.

There is no such thing as a 'free lunch'. At the very least you should 'kiss the cook'.

Even if you are broke, you can share something in return for what was shared with you. It is the only right thing to do. Think about it for awhile and I am sure you can come up with an idea or two on how to do this.

And if the software is making you money, you better damn well share the wealth with the reason why you are making money. Otherwise you are not only being a stingy miser, you are exploiting people for your own personal gain.

If everyone that uses free open source software actually gave something back to these projects then the quality would rival or even exceed the payware versions of similar products and we would all come out as winners...the developers and consumers alike.

It is up to you, the user, to determine the best way to give back, and be generous about it, no matter what it is that you are giving. Try to give back equal to what you received.

If you love it, support it...it's that simple.

Takers may eat better...but givers sleep better.

THE DECORATION AND DESTRUCTION OF THE STONE LIVING ROOM

2006-07-31T05:28:00.000-04:00

recieved from Weird NJ newsletter:

The Appalachian Mountains stretch all along the eastern Coast of the US, and go thru NJ in the area of Warren, Passaic, Morris, and Sussex County. Here you can gain elevation of 800 or 900 feet and see miles of forest (or new developments -- pfft!) as far as the horizon. On the boundary of West Milford and Bloomingdale is a state park with typically beautiful views, but also something very very unique called the Stone Living Room (SLR). The SLR has provided a resting place for weary campers, hikers, backpackers, cub scouts, explorers, and couples for three decades, perhaps longer. Located about a 30 minute hike up a steep trail, you might take off your backpack and sit for a while and enjoy the view. Someone in the 1970s decided they needed something more, so they lugged slabs of rock from the surrounding hilltop and made a base, created a back to lean against, and then piled rock behind it make it secure. When I visited the SLR three years ago, I was amazed by how comfortable it actually was. It didn't feel like rock, though perhaps I was so tired from my hike that I didn't care and was just grateful for the resting spot.

The SLR unfortunately attracted partygoers who would come to the spot to drink and light a bonfire in a makeshift fire pit. Fires are against the rules in all state parks because of the potential for a forest fire, but this doesn't stop people from lighting them all the time. The noise, the litter, and the fire hazard made this a source of irritation for the local residents and the Parks Department. Over the years, the trail maintainers would dismantle the fire pit from time to time. The fire pit was always rebuilt, mainly because it's not hard to make; a few rocks in a circle and there you go.

West Milford is known for many things, most of which they'd rather not be associated with: Demon's Alley with its vandalism and arson, Jungle Habitat with its stories of animal abuse and escapes, and Clinton Road with the tales of ghosts, witches and wild animals. The SLR, on the other hand, was a positive thing, something West Milford should have been proud of. Unfortunately, for someone it was not so positive. In mid-May of 2005 someone destroyed the SLR, cracking the larger pieces of stone in an effort to prevent it from being rebuilt.

Why would anyone destroy it? Could it be the Parks dept, tired of the complaints and threats of fire? If it was, it's strange that they wouldn't also have destroyed the fire pit. When I asked the Parks Dept they denied any responsibility, and I believe them. If they had, they'd simply admit it and justify it somehow and that would be that. What about the explorers who enjoy being destructive? It seems unlikely that someone who might tag an abandoned building with graffiti or break windows in a mental institution would have done this, since most people enjoyed coming here, especially the explorer types. The most likely culprit is a local resident. Tired of the noise, the partying, and the fires that could threaten their homes, perhaps they decided they would eliminate this magnet for partyers once and for all.

In July 2005 a group of adults and children spent three hours moving rocks, using tools to pry up pieces of slab, and lining them up so that the SLR would be comfortable, and also stable once again. Some of them had never visited the SLR before, but volunteered because they knew this was something unique that deserved to live again. The fifteen people left that day feeling that they had righted a wrong, secure in the knowledge that it would be there many years from now. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Within eighteen hours, the unknown vandals struck again and destroyed the SLR for a second, and sadly, final time. They destroyed the rocks, cracking the slabs into pieces, ensuring they could not be reused to reconstruct the SLR a third time. The SLR cannot be rebuilt without going great distances to get suitable pieces of building material, making the chances of another rebuild very remote.

Whoever you are, you have eliminated something that was special to people from all walks of life, all age groups, and from all over NJ and beyond. You've taken a vista with wonderful views and made it a sad place. Anyone who visits the SLR now will see the shattered pieces of rock and know that there was once something special there, and that someone destroyed it. The partying will likely continue, and so will the pit fires. The only difference will be that the partyers will be a bit more stiff-legged and might have some sore muscles. I can't imagine your motives for destroying such a unique NJ attraction. I pity anyone who's life is so miserable and purposeless that they are left with nothing to do but destroy what others have built and hate a place that has brought a smile to the faces of so many. -A Reader

It's a damn shame when spiteful people destroy landmarks that bring joy to others. Things like the Stone Living Room are part of what makes New Jersey great. People have traveled the country looking for things like this, and I have a sort of pride in my state for having so many cool locations for the seekers of the weird to visit.

I never did get to see the Stone Living Room. It was one of those things that were on my list of places to see...and now I never will.

Thanks a lot, you jerks!

Does your OS define your worth as a human being?

2006-05-11T03:44:00.000-04:00

Linux lovers are like those guys that go to a football game in the middle of winter with no shirt on, and their bodies painted in their fav team's colors. Would you want to say something bad about their team where they can hear it? Would you want to say something good about the other team?

I am not talking about a normal person that can see the merits & faults in either OS and can use either one for themselves depending on the circumstances. I am not talking about people that are sane & 'normal' Linux users. I am referring to the guys that think everyone should be using Linux, Microsoft should be blown off the earth, and if you don't like it or can't figure Linux out, you should stfu and get rid of your pc.

They think if you say you don't like Linux that you don't like them, too. They identify with their OS just a bit too much. They have a habit of getting into very heated Linux arguments with Windows users and Windows programmers. Somehow they believe that your operating system defines who you are...not merely what you prefer to use.

Nobody's value as a human being should be rated based on an operating system installed on their pc.

Linux users are not the only ones that do this though. I have seen a great many Windows programmers do the same thing when referring to Windows 9x users. Somehow they think that people that still use Windows 98se or Windows ME are less human than those that can afford newer computers, or afford to upgrade. And they think that these people are less in need of quality software that will run on their systems.

Is their money less green than an XP user? I don't seem to think so. And it's not that hard to support an older OS. It's not unacceptable to detect an OS and disable features in software that will not work on that OS. And it's not unacceptable to provide an alternative or features that will only work on 9x and disabling them for NT users.

Just because Microsoft decided that it will no longer support 9x it doesn't mean that 9x will suddenly disappear off the earth. There are still a great many computers out there that can't run newer OS's...their hardware doesn't allow it. Slow processors, lack of RAM, drivers not available...lots of reasons not to upgrade.

And just because someone does buy a new PC that doesn't mean that they will be tossing the old one in the trash. I moved my old pc to my kitchen and plan on putting a recipe database on it...if I can find suitable software to run on it. Older software may not be an option for me, as most older versions have been replaced with newer versions that forget about people like me. Newer versions are not an option because most think you are running a Pentium 4 with at least 256mb of RAM, and Windows XP. My only alternative may be to code it myself...meaning that it will probably be years before I have what I want.

I am going to make sure that my software I create will work on that old pc...for people like me that still have an old hunk of 'junk'. I promise that to you for as long as that old pc still runs. I will not define your human worth based on your OS.