Week ending December 21, 2001
Friday, December 21, 2001
The content v. copyright v. fair use v. profit motive v. whatever you want to call it battle is heating up. Perhaps because of the Christmas season? Anyway, another couple articles today on Slashdot that deal with this topic. Cryptome has an article on Hollywood v. the Internet.
A second article on the techs v the content people. I've started an article on this.
Lastly, Lawrence Lessig finally answered questions from Slashdot about copyrighs. Unfortuneately he didn't pick my question. :(. However, this is one of the best set of writings on copyrights and digital rights that I have ever seen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Thurday, December 20, 2001
I found this link from Slashdot today where there is an article about some musicians working against the RIAA. Their site is . An interesting article on Work for Hire under the "Issues" link as well as a transcript of Don Henley's testimony before Congress.
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Finally, some time to do some real programming. This is my DMO day where I built a little application that automates the process of scripting some items. Of course, it's not that simple, but it appears to be working ok. Look for an article on SQL Server Central early next year on this one.
My wife and I decided to get one of the portable video in a bag for our minivan so we can get the kids to take some trips. I think we are going to settle on one of the $300 Audiovoxes. If anyone has another suggestion, please send it to me.
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
I get a daily newsletter from Lockergnome. Yesterday there was a writeup from Jim Gerard about the SSSCA bill, which is in mine and many others, a horrible law against consumers. I added a banner to this site which links to an site with a petition against the bill. Check it out and sign the petition. The article is:Resistance is Not Feudal at the bottom of the page.
There was also another mention of an article on standards at Lockergnome. While I am usually someone who really believes in standards, I've been working in environments for so long that I'm not sure of the benefits here. Not too many people need to access a bunch of servers and people will learn which ones they need. I've had this argument before and haven't seen any good resolution.
Finally completed Christmas shopping for the kids today. Whew!!!!!!! It gets tougher as we get more kids, but I have to admin it is fun buying things for the kids. Reminds me of my childhood and how much I loved Christmas and dreaming about what I might get.
I've been listening to ESPNRadio over the last few weeks as opposed to the few months as it comes on right after the Jim Rome shows. I've been listening to the Dan Patrick show and it's been pretty funny over the last week. Give it a try if you can get it.
Last note, a friend hosts my SQL Server Central site and setup a bandwidth monitoring solution using MTRG last week. Awesome!! It samples bandwidth every five minutes and generates daily, weekly, and yearly graphs. Shows min, max, and avg usage. This is great for checking up on your ISP, who uses a similar method to generate billing if you paying for badwidth (and overages). I need to dig into this more, but I'll post some information.
Monday, December 17, 2001
I received my Crypto-gram from Bruce Schneier at Counterpane Internet Security. I always love getting these because he's a good writer and has fantastic content. Mostly about security, but always a realistic and practical take, pointing out things that many people (myself included) forget to think about. This month, national ID cards and a great commentary about security on the Internet and judges forcing people to be responsible.
There were two cases recently where the judges had forced groups to disconnect from the Internet until they could prove they had increased their security. A great idea. Force people to be responsible. To me, this is the same as someone who leaves a old refridgerator on the street. In the US, you must remove the door to prevent children from getting stuck inside. People must take some responsibility for their property. While I still think those who break into systems should be persecuted, those who leave their systems unprotected and allow people to break in should also take some responsibility for their systems.
A report that Bob Knight exploded today at the manager of the Compaq center. Some things never change. Personally, I think this guy needs some counseling and I wouldn't have hired him.
Sunday, December 16, 2001
I know another year is almost gone when we do our Christmas card mailing and include a short summary of the year. We just finished this years (a copy is here). I think back across the year and it's been a long one. Lots of good and bad, but overall good. I'm looking forward to each year as the kids grow and I think 2002 will be another great year for me and the family.
Training Horses
Blog Maverick
Jonathan Schwartz's Blog
SQL Server Central
ESPN
Slashdot
37 Signals
A Mile a Day
Joel on Software
Rockler
My Brother
Woodcraft
Weather at the Ranch
Books
