Thursday, April 08, 2004

Some of the comments on my Gmail story got me thinking about what the internet has done to our trust. Somebody brought up that if a postman did go through your mail he would go to jail, that is if someone found out what he did. If a person at Gmail (or any person who is trusted to securely hold your information) went through someone's messages, they could be open to law suits, that is if someone found out. You can equivocate Gmail to the postman (who you trust with your mail everyday) and vise versa. The reason I suppose people are disgusted by the privacy features of Gmail is because they don't trust machines as much as they trust humans. However if I had a huge secret to share, it would be much safer to type it in a computer and save it. The only way the secret could get out would be if a person somehow found it on the computer and told everyone, which would mean the human caused the breech in secrecy as they told everyone, not the computer. This is the same at Gmail, where the breach of secrecy or security would be at the human level where a person would access the email messages with evil intentions, not the computer. So if any complaints should be made, they should be directed towards the evil doers of Google, and not the AdSense software. 12:20:00 AM    comment []

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

There has been so much online lately about Gmail that I felt I had to eventually ring in on it. Amid all the outcries of the horrible privacy violations Google is committing, I have a starkly different opinion. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just a normal web user, one of millions with a Hotmail account and probably soon to be one of the millions with a Gmail account. It is true that if Google wanted to look at my email they could, as could Hotmail or the post man that brings me my 'snail mail'. The fact is that there is nothing all that special that I'm receiving or sending, and anything that I might consider special would be absolutely no matter to anyone else. I know Google will use AdWords in my email messages, but it's all computerized, and I'll be just one of a million other users. If I really had anything to hide I wouldn't be emailing it, or communicating it in any other way if I was that paranoid. Maybe I'm laid-back or unsafe, but my email like most of the other users using free email services is relatively safe, and uninteresting. 6:12:43 PM    comment []

There is a story at Slate about the incredible decline in the use of LSD. Apparently only 1.9% of high school seniors surveyed have said they've used LSD, down dramatically from years past. LSD is a complicated drug to manufacture, and almost all of the supply in the United States is supplied by no more than 10 people. There was a huge bust of some guys in Kansas in 2000 who were thought to be making up to 95% of the US LSD supply. The remaining suppliers are in northern California, but still it is increasing difficult to find LSD. Another factor is the breakup of the Grateful Dead, and Phish (which stopped touring in 2000). It's interesting how a band like the Grateful Dead could have such a big impact on LSD use. 5:36:58 PM    comment []

Monday, April 05, 2004

Today I learned something that took me almost four years to learn. Don't design software and the write code for it too. After years of tinkering with code on some little CMS project of mine, I realized that the quote "Keep it simple, stupid" is very true. When I think of things they always have some fantastic potential as something unique or big, but when you have to execute the plan it isn't as simple as it looks. I remember from All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque at the beginning of the book when the schoolmaster urged his students to goto war and fight, while he stayed behind not having to live the horrors of war. It's easier said than done. When I started writing 'MogLog' (probably it's sixth name variant) I had ideas of a reward based system for users (like the old Half-Empty), a Jabber enabled chatterbox feature, inclusion of every API you can think of and then some. It was the perfect content management system, not only a CMS but something special and unique. Basic features went along nicely, but everyday a new idea would come and work would begin on that idea, followed by another idea and the abandoning of the previous one. Some days I would want to post content, but something was always in the way. The Jabber system wouldn't work so therefore I had to fix a bug so the site was viewable and after doing that I would be exhausted. Things get very out of control very quickly. At this point I'm a software designer, programming, and managing editor. I worked on the system off and on for a few years, and I continue too, but now with a different outlook. You don't have to be a superhero, no one cares about logging on to Jabber while viewing your site, or if you have the Manilla API. Things are a lot more simple now. All I want is a weblog. Forget the Wiki functionality, and user theme selection. Now I keep a list of things that need to be fixed from a few years of half completed projects. Going through the directories and database tables I can see old ideas that were anywhere from brilliant to ridiculous, but for now it's a casual deletion of a field or file. I don't feel like I'm deleting anything of value because the ideas are still in my mind. If I want want to incorporate the Amazon API and Jabber, I'll know what to do and where to start, but for now it's important to finish what I've started, or at least get it to a presentable form. I doubt I'll every be finished totally, but at least I'll know what I've done to that point is quality code. Keep it simple, stupid. 9:58:11 PM    comment []

Sunday, April 04, 2004

I decided to go ahead and buy a Radio Userland license just to tinker around with stuff. I like their product and just bought this to get some ideas and see what works and what doesn't as far as useability of weblogs. I've figured out that having spell check is really important in writing this entry, because there will be probably a dozen errors in this one entry. I'm gonna just keep working and try to get MogLog working. 11:35:51 PM    comment []