What do my blog and the Kent State Rugby Club have in common?

Yes, one might reasonably ask that question. I did, in fact, when I saw 103 hits in my web statistics from exactly that place: www.kentstaterugby.com. Oddly enough, these stout fellows found it convenient to hot link my blog to steal the Ohio State logo that I had stolen from somewhere else. Only difference is that I copied it to my website.

Yes, this is the epitome of laziness. (And for you Kent State grads, that big word means "the height of".) Hehe. I'm tempted to bugger the original file to make fun of these ... er, lazy buggers, but methinks they wouldn't even notice. After all, the logo is toward the bottom of the page. And what's up with their mascot? The "Golden Flasher." Heh. That's pretty funny all by itself.

Like my friend Spork says: "Kent read, Kent write, Kent State."

We welcome our thought police overlords

Finding this article disturbed me, thank you very much. From TFA I read that a "straight-A" student used his imagination and poetic license (yes, I think I would call it that) and got arrested because his teacher was "disturbed" by what he wrote. With out even attempting to discuss this with the student or his parents (well, there was no mention if these efforts were made), the school decided it was better to simply arrest the young man.

Without speaking out of school, here (heh, an ironical joke) I can safely say I would have probably suffered the same fate with some of the stuff I wrote. Even worse for some of the stuff I have written that no one (but me) has ever read.

I'm against a system that can't tolerate free expression. So when they come for me for this blog, you all will know that it's over for us ...

I do get emails, sometimes

I got an email yesterday from a "fan" of my house designs. I do enjoy it when someone likes something enough to actually contact me about it. It's flattering, of course, but it also reinforces the reasons I do it in the first place. 1) Yes, because I can, and 2) because it could provide ideas and inspiration to others.

Sometimes I wish I actually knew more about architecture than I do. I did start out to become an architect, but along the way (and for various reasons) ended up doing software architecture, instead. I have also wanted to be a writer and a rock musician, as well. Software isn't quite as glamorous as the others, but it does pay reasonably well.

Here is the text of the message (note that her name and address has been anonymized):

From: Mary Myers
To: coogan at mindspring dot com
Subject: Classic Victorian #1 House Design
Date: Apr 19, 2007 6:58 PM

To whom this may concern:
Hi, my name is Mary Myers, and I'm looking for information on this house you have designed. I noticed it about a year ago or so, and I have fallen in love with it. I'm curious if there is someone you could give me an estimate on how much a house like this we be to build, and if it would be possible. It is a dream house to me, and I would love to start making cuts now so I am able to afford the house in the future. Thank you very much. You can reply back to me at [address] at yahoo dot com. Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Mary Myers

And here is what I replied:

From: John Horst
To: [address] at yahoo dot com
Subject: Classic Victorian #1 House Design
Date: Apr 20, 2007 1:27 PM

Mary,

It would certainly be possible to build such a house, though the cost would be considerable. Many of the things that were common in the Victorian era, particularly the size of the houses and such things as interior woodworking, all make a house costly to build. Personally, I lament that we tend to tear down such 100 year old treasures today instead of preserving and maintaining them.

The best thing you could do would be contact an architect in your locality. There are architects who specialize in residential work, though you may have to look around to find one. Show them some of the pictures of what you want, and they can give you an idea of the general cost range. Of course, if you aren't ready to build, getting time to talk to someone might be a challenge. I have very little knowledge of the cost to build such a house, since I am by profession a software developer/architect. I only design houses as a hobby--because it's what I like to do. That said, I would guess that outside of the land, a house like that would cost $500,000+ today. No kidding. Quality workmanship and quality materials make a significant difference.

I appreciate that someone likes what they see on my web site. Mainly that's why I post these things--to give ideas and inspiration to others.

Thanks,
John Horst

Some time back a guy (I'm guessing he was male) asked about modeling one of my houses on Second Life. I said it was OK if he wasn't trying to make money from it, and asked if he could let me know when there was something to look at. Who knows where this went, or even if it went anywhere. I don't really expect to hear from him, again.

I'm not really against someone making money from my work, except that if they want to use the images that I've made, I should get to participate in any profits since it was my effort that went into making them. Note that I said images, and not the designs themselves. If someone wants to take my designs and use them, that's not something I can control. Yeah, I know the CC license says no derivative works, which would seem to rule out taking a design and implementing it--i.e., building a house from it, but really the limitation applies mostly to my writing. Don't take my characters or the other stuff I've written about and make your own work from it.

Perhaps I should clarify this, but honestly, exactly 2 people have ever asked, so it doesn't seem too important. But ...

If anyone wants to take a design, or parts of a design, or something, and actually build something similar based on it, then I say go ahead. You don't even have to ask, since I probably would never find out about it, anyway. I am not asking for compensation now, nor would I in the future. If I was worried about being paid for my work, then I probably shouldn't be posting it on the inter-tubes for everyone to see. If you would like to share with me what you've done, then I will be flattered and pleased to know about it. Otherwise, I need to close with my standard disclaimer:

There are no warranties, either express or implied. As in everything (or, as everything should be) use this web site, its contents, and the ideas and/or opinions expressed solely at your own risk. We make no representations for anything.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone

Hindsight is always clearer than trying to predict the future. Microsoft thought that the coolness of a new operating system would be enough to drive its sales up. Turns out, as we learn from this post on TechDirt, that now Dell is offering XP-loaded computers to its customers, again. That's so, like, last year.

Perhaps we are now learning that the XP operating system got it just about right. Powerful enough, cool enough. And it's pretty darn stable, too. Perhaps it could use some beefing up in the security department, but that's why I have PC-cillin. Belt and suspenders.

I have already blogged that I probably won't upgrade to Vista. There's no compelling reason to, because it doesn't give me anything I need. I'm not sure it even has anything I want, and that, I think, is the problem.

Maybe we can all wait for the next completely rewritten operating system from Microsoft, because Vista is moments away from imploding. It seems obvious to me that they need to go back and rethink the problem before they release something that is even more like Vista than Vista is already. (Huh? Dude, WTF are you saying?)

I don't think they're (MS) dead or even dying. But they did deliver a stillborn earlier this year. Time for them to reinsert their impetus and set about making something that will really rock.

Protecting America from ... ?

I read this first on BoingBoing. "Korean War hero branded a terrorist by draft-dodging Shrub." The Shrub, of course, is our own President. Then I read about this on The Huffington Post, which linked to another article on the subject.

Retired Marine Colonel Walter F. Murphy, on his way to a conference, was (initially) denied a boarding pass because he was on the no-fly list (AKA terrorist watch list, I kid you not). Col. Murphy is a professor of political science, and gave a speech last year that was critical of the President. That's all anyone can guess as to his being placed on the "list". In fact the TSA clerk supposed this very thing.

That's right. If you publicly criticize the administration, you can be labeled a "terrorist". Never mind the First Amendment or any of that stuff, we have to protect "America". Hence the title to this entry.

Just exactly who are we trying to protect America from? From the look of it, it's us Americans.

Cool new toy

I just acquired a second flat panel display for my computer at home. Not just a flat panel, but a wide screen flat panel. It's a 20" Dell monitor, and you should see the renderings I can do with it!

I did have a couple of minor problems at first trying to get its resolution set properly, but for whatever reason ... my system just seemed to correct all its problems, and now I have my old 17" monitor at 1280 x 1024 (as it has always been), and my new monitor at 1680 x 1050. Even my Home Designer Pro 7.0 CAD program uses the monitor, and I get some pretty cool renderings (well, they're wider than the old ones by about 400 pixels).



The image above (click on it for the full sized thing) is one of my old house designs I'm in the process of updating and outfitting "to my current standards". Of all my really old designs, this one is probably my favorite. Stay tuned, this one should be completed (again) and posted to my web site.

Constitution? What constitution?

Check out this article on the Huffington Post. My stance on the holding of "terrorist" prisoners without benefit of trial has been documented. I have heard the arguments: "Terrorists don't have rights," etc., etc. But of course we find out that some of the people being held in secret prisons, without trial, and without recourse, are not terrorists.

Imagine that. What then? "Sorry we beat you almost to death"? Cripes, we aren't even willing to do that (apologize), let alone recompense those whom we have wronged. I say it's un-American. I say it's wrong. I say the Constitution was written with the protections included (all right, I know they're in the Bill of Rights, but they're still part of the Constitution) for a reason. Because it wasn't better left unsaid. These things were important enough that they be spelled out, lest we forget them over time, and in the end be no better than those who would oppress us. (At that time it was the British; today it's the real terrorists.)

Our Constitution and historical stand on human rights are what separate us from our enemy. There is no expediency worth throwing away these rights--these protections. A good reputation takes years to develop. It can be irreparably lost in a moment.

A Retraction

Lately I have been reading quite a few articles about Microsoft Vista. Today's article on TechDirt spurs me into the blog-posting spirit.

One writer opined that the Vista Content Protection specification could be "the longest suicide note in history." Ye gads. Just the number of links to this one article should give you a clue.

OK, long-time readers will recall what I said about Vista some time ago. Uh, I take all that back. Except the part about the OS collapsing of its own weight. That part doth appear to be true. Forsooth and alas. I hate being so right.

It's looking now like I will never upgrade to Vista. Nope, not ever. When Windows XP ceases to be kept current (meaning they stop patching it), I will most likely keep a computer with it running unattached to the Internet, and continue doing my CAD stuff on that computer. Assuming the program will still run on XP. On my main computer, I will most likely be running some flavor of Linux. Perhaps I'll even get an Apple. That could be cool.

It's sad, really. I've been somewhat of a Microsoft fan for many years. I mean, I had a beta copy of Windows 3.0! No shiat. But they seem to have gone and ruined something that could have been beautiful.

Perhaps in 5 years they will release a completely rewritten operating system that undoes the evils of Vista. Perhaps the notion of "operating system" will become as quaint as "landline". Everyone will simply log onto Google and run everything from there.