Archive for June, 2004
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Someone’s making something with a LOT of garlic in it. Like, repel-vampires-for-thirty-miles-in-any-direction lots. It’s really rather unpleasant.
I like tall ships and would love to have the opportunity to sail on one someday, either as a passenger or as crew.
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Master And Commander provides a perfect example of -why- gun safety should be first and foremost in one’s mind, no matter how hungry and/or desperate one is.
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M&C -also- makes me so very very grateful that we have such top-notch medical practices and techniques in these times we live in.
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I’ve had Pers Wilgamon and Company percolating in my head for the last couple of days. It is to be hoped that I will have something to share in the near future.
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I really ought to be in bed and asleep, but due to the heat, I slept much longer than I meant to this afternoon. Yish.
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I meant to call my dad and didn’t. I need to find him a card or something.
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…….I rewatched the entire Kenshin Legend Of Kyoto series this week and desparately want to get my aunt into watching it, but I don’t know if she’ll go for it. I may have to grit my teeth and show her the dub (not that the dub is so thoroughly vile as to damn my very soul to Hades for eternity or anything like that, it’s just that the Japanese seiyuu are pretty much a perfect match for the characters they voice, whereas the American/Canadian voice actors tend to just be…there. I think that’s why the dub Yugi Mutou sounds like a tenth-grader being played by a thirty-year-old-man and Yami Yugi sounds like…a slighty more irritated version of the same thing.
And that is a rant for another time, since I should at least go try to sleep, or rest or something, and if I rant I’ll just get all worked up. I think.)
Broken down, there’s not much technically wrong with the writing after all. Mostly, it’s the effect of the errors all in one place that make it seem so hideous.
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On every single page of this domain and all my sites I have the same copyrite telling people not to steal my code and everything. I’ve created the code through hard work and some people like to take short cuts by looking at the source codes. Most of the time, this angers me as I ask people not to steal anything. Sure, I’m fine with looking at something and seeing how a certain thing works, but I’ve never stolen a whole big chunk from a website and never give any credit to them. O_o
[Name] told me that I took the same kind of CSS from her, same order everything. However, I haven’t. I’ve never done that. The CSS that I use were a compilation from tutorials from Lissa Explains and around the net also from a requested layout back in 2002. So I never stolen anything.
Source codes stealing is a bad thing and shows that you’re lazy and inconsiderate to just give back a link to someone.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
On every single page of this domain and all my sites I have the same copyrite telling people not to steal my code and everything.
The first sentence isn’t too bad — the only real mistake is spelling ‘copyright’ as ‘copyrite’. A ‘rite’ is a ceremony that is performed by priests for various reasons (or by mythological figures cavorting to the strains of Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring, for the Disney/classical-music fans in the audience); a ‘right’ is something that one has by virtue of A) being human (see The Bill Of Rights), B) earning it (“It’s hard work hauling rocks all day, I have the right to take a hot bath and go to bed!”), or C) following the guidelines set forth by the U.S. regarding creating your own copyrights. (I think it’s something terribly simple, like writing down your stuff and/or sending it to yourself. This is a grammar/usage-type post, so copyright law isn’t really the point.)
The
I’ve created the code through hard work and some people like to take short cuts by looking at the source codes.
Again, not really much here to quibble about. I’d throw in a comma between ‘work’ and ‘and’, or perhaps drop the ‘and’ altogether and use a semicolon. The word ‘codes’ doesn’t need to be plural, either.
Most of the time, this angers me as I ask people not to steal anything.
This is a horrible sentence. The most glaring error is the fact that implies that creating code through hard work as well as people looking at the source code (see my previous post on the silliness of -that-) makes the author quite angry. That, of course, is _not_ what they mean. What is meant is that the wholesale thievery of source code makes them angry.
It would better serve the author’s purpose if it were written something like ‘I ask people not to steal anything because stealing makes me angry.’.
Sure, I’m fine with looking at something and seeing how a certain thing works, but I’ve never stolen a whole big chunk from a website and never give any credit to them.
Again, this is a case of error through improper implications. If, in fact, this sentence reflects the true feelings of the author, then their whole argument against people even looking at their source code falls apart. There is also the problem of the word ‘give’ being in the present-tense while the rest of the part of the sentence is in past-tense (that is, it needs an ‘n’).
(Also, this implies that the author has either A) lifted large chunks of coding from other pages _and_ credited the source of the source code or B) lifted little chunks with no credit given. Either way, it’s not exactly making them shine with a Paladin-class Light Of Holiness.)
[Name] told me that I took the same kind of CSS from her, same order everything.
This could use either a comma between ‘order’ and ‘everything’, the word ‘and’ between ‘order’ and ‘everything’, or the use of a semicolon and serial commas where appropriate along with an explication of -what- other CSS code was ‘taken’.
Examples:
[...] CSS from her, same order, everything.
[...] CSS from her, same order and everything.
[...] CSS from her; same menu order, same headers, same number of links, everything.
However, I haven’t. I’ve never done that.
These are fine, if a touch choppy. It’s almost more work than it’s worth to rewrite them, so I’d leave them alone (if they were in a report or a story or something).
The CSS that I use were a compilation from tutorials from Lissa Explains and around the net also from a requested layout back in 2002. So I never stolen anything.
Beginning with the beginning, we have a tense problem. Either the style sheets are no longer being used, or they currently -are-, a compliation of code from tutorials and from a requested layout. Then there is the more minor problem of not using commas where commas are needed.
In music, a rest tells the musician where to pause (or where it’s okay to take a breath); in speaking, the comma tells the speaker (or reader) the same thing. If you don’t think commas really make a difference, try reading the next paragraph.
Spencer absently stuck the shiny strip that had been on his arm to the side of the garish pink bakery box shrugging. “Sorry. No I.D. no whatever it is you want.” He turned and looked at Clark suddenly one finger planted on the tip of his chin in mock thoughtfulness. “Although…”
There’s something wrong with it, right? Right. It’s a lot easier (and more pleasant) to read in its original form:
Spencer absently stuck the shiny strip that had been on his arm to the side of the garish pink bakery box, shrugging. “Sorry. No I.D., no whatever it is you want.” He turned and looked at Clark, suddenly, one finger planted on the tip of his chin in mock thoughtfulness. “Although…”
There are also issues with word order. The sentence should run more along the lines of ‘[...]from Lissa Explains, around the net, and a layout I requested back in 2002.’ It flows better, and is easier to read. Last, but not least, we again encounter the problem with choice of tense. If the author is intending this to be a present-tense statement, then the word ’stolen’ needs to be changed to ’stole’. If it’s a past-tense declaration, then the word ‘I’ needs to be changed to ‘I’ve’, or ‘I have’.
On a more philisophical note, isn’t lifting code from a requested layout the same thing as lifting it from a page on line? After all, the one doing the coding and the one using the coding are not one and the same…
Source codes stealing is a bad thing and shows that you’re lazy and inconsiderate to just give back a link to someone.
This is actually much less incoherent than I thought it was at first glance. It’s really not in bad shape, either — but again with the unnecessary plural of ‘code’! Also, it lacks the word ‘too’ between ‘you’re’ and ‘lazy’.
It also raises another interesting moral quandry (and implies that, if the answer is yes, the author’s okay with it[!]): is it really okay to take code in huge chunks from someone else if you link back to the page you ’stole’ it from?
Today, I was minding my own business and looking at layouts on Daydream Graphics when a little blurb caught my eye. Unlike most ‘please don’t move my copyright/linking code, thanks’ notices, this one admonished one to not even _look_ at the source code. Thinking that that placed a rather unnecessary burden on the user of the layout (how can you -edit- the layout for your own use if you can’t even look at the source code? Since, you know, the source code is what you edit…), I decided to visit the layout-creator’s site.
This is what I found:
On every single page of this domain and all my sites I have the same copyrite telling people not to steal my code and everything. I’ve created the code through hard work and some people like to take short cuts by looking at the source codes. Most of the time, this angers me as I ask people not to steal anything. Sure, I’m fine with looking at something and seeing how a certain thing works, but I’ve never stolen a whole big chunk from a website and never give any credit to them. O_o
This is a perfect example of not saying what you mean. This person has equated simply viewing the source code with stealing the source code — this, as most people know, is a complete fallacy. Looking at something is not the same as stealing it, unless you happen to have a picture-perfect memory and the ability to build a perfect working replica of anything, ANYTHING from one quick glimpse of a (quite possibly incomplete/imperfect) plan or blueprint. Since that sort of person only generally exists in books/movies, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that ‘looking at’ does not equal ’stealing’.
Also, how does this person know that someone is looking at the source code and stealing it? The next paragraph lets us know that code is code is code, and just because the layout/coding of your site happens to look like someone else’s doesn’t automatically mean you stole it…
[Name] told me that I took the same kind of CSS from her, same order everything. However, I haven’t. I’ve never done that. The CSS that I use were a compilation from tutorials from Lissa Explains and around the net also from a requested layout back in 2002. So I never stolen anything.
Right. So, if someone can accuse you of stealing your code from someone else… And you say ‘no no no I got it from this tutorial and that tutorial and a book!’… Then how can code be copywritten? I don’t care that you can put it in a particular order and then print it all out so you had a hard copy (as I once saw as an argument -for- copywriting, of all things, HTML) — code is code is code. Once you know the basics of it, there are about a million permutations of it, and of those million, there are only a handful of layouts that people use over and over again because they are pleasant to look at and easy to navigate.
In fact, the base layout of the site that I found this on is what is known as the ‘Holy Grail’ of CSS layouts: a main column with two navigational outriders, one on either side of the main column. It’s a terrific layout style, offering lots of organizational options for the fussy site owner… But it isn’t exactly -original-. And no one would be able to use it if the person who figured it out in the first place had said ‘oh, it’s mine, you can’t touch it (unless you give me X dollars/kroner/markka/pesos/whatever)’.
I’m not advocating lifting other people’s’ work wholesale, I’m just saying that it’s silly to try to copyright various bits of coding because no matter what, there’s going to be someone, somewhere, that works on their own to code a layout that looks suspiciously like someone else’s.
Source codes stealing is a bad thing and shows that you’re lazy and inconsiderate to just give back a link to someone.
…On the one hand, this is a vile sentence because it is missing some vital components, such as coherence and the word ‘too’. On the other, it’s a good point — stealing source code is pretty lazy. Of course, I’m someone who has looked at CSS tutorials and CSS itself and had my eyes cross from the sheer brain-twisting difference of it from plain ol’ HTML. I still don’t have much facility with it, which is why I use layouts made by other people — other people that let me actually look at the source code, because they know what it takes to use someone’s layout.
As for the way the preceding is written… I didn’t edit any of the bold text. I long to, for it makes my skin crawl with its badness, but I’ll leave that for another time. Right now, I’m going to see about going back to sleep for a little bit.
And now I have to go to bed, because not getting up before noon makes it even more difficult to obtain gainful employment than it usually does.
…and I didn’t -mean- to stay up this late, I just got sidetracked by FameTracker…
I need employment, please.
These are the points on which I cannot/will not compromise:
– health insurance (particularly perscription drug and dental coverage)
– getting at least two days off a week
– salary commensurate with the work I do/services I provide
– salary enough to cover basic living expenses, student loan repayment, and saving some for a rainy day
– something that if it doesn’t make me insanely happy at least does not make me want to run screaming from the building ten minutes after arriving.
If I think of something else, I’ll let you know.
Thanks!
— your insignificant dust-speck named Shan
Just feeling kinda quiet and, I dunno, root-bound or something.
I did go for a bike-ride this weekend, which was nice. I didn’t have ice-cream on the water front, but I did nearly ride all the way to Ballard. On purpose! *Snicker*
….I wanna go to the movies. I love the comfort of my own home when it comes to watching stuff, but ther is absolutely nothing like seeing Harry Potter (I tried to type ‘Happy Porter’ or something like that… Yish.) on the big screen.
Also, I need a new bus pass — I realized that, despite the fact that the bus drivers didn’t hassle me about it on Wednesday, my old pass has expired as it’s now June and not May.
And not just _any_ tattoos… -Geeky- tattoos. Quake and barcodes are very popular, as are various words and sayings in binary. (My favorite binary tattoos are ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’, I think.)
I was trying to get to a vet clinic so I could apply for a job there. Unfortunately, while I -did- have the foresight (and the incredibly cool ability!) to print out the transit authority’s directions, I neglected to have the same foresight when it came to, say, looking at where my stop was on a MAP.
So, I ride the bus and ride the bus and ride the bus, and the driver announces every other stop. Which, of course, means that he doesn’t mention MINE. Oi. So I only figured out that I missed my stop -after- the bus has crossed a bridge into a different part of town than the one I -need- to be in… Fortunately, a couple of people helped me figure out how to get back to where I needed to go.
Unfortunately, in my zeal to keep from becoming a statistic, I didn’t tell them precisely where I needed to be, which resulted in them, of course, giving me imperfect information.
I got on the bus that they said I needed to catch, and it takes me through the neighborhood to the one I more-or-less needed to be in… Only I can’t quite figure out/decide if I should get off at the big interchange/bridge conglomeration or if I should just go out to the U district. I decide to go out to the U district if for no other reason than I -know- how to get back to downtown from there, and once downtown, I can get home.
By the time I get to a populated place, though, it’s five after six and the application session starts at six thirty. I don’t actually end up in the U district, but in a familiar enough place, and I find a stop where I can wait for the next bus going back downtown.
Now, I’m wearing business casual (nice slacks, a white button-down tucked in, a black jacket overtop and buttoned), my hiking shoes, a black bandanna/kerchief thing on my head, and am carrying my Amazing Tubey messenger bag. I figure most people are looking at me and thinking it’s so cute of me to play dress-up and then go out in public (I feel like I am, too — I’m just not a Business Casual person)… And then This Kid comes by and says “Excuse me, ma’am, do you have the time?”
No, I wasn’t offended by being called ‘ma’am’, just terribly amused that I can fool total strangers into treating me like a real-live grown-up when I don’t -feel- like a grown-up. (And rereading Small Fry and Son Of Small Fry hasn’t helped.) He was cute, too, so that helped.
Then, as we were waiting, this mother and daughter came along. They both had these annoying voices, and like, the girl, like, said, like, like, like, all the time. Y’know? And, like, she didn’t know which bus, like, they should, like, take? And so, like, she was looking at the schedule, that was, like, posted on one side of, like, this like light pole? And, like, she -totally- knew what I meant, when, like, I told her that, like, the rest of the schedule was, like, posted on the other side? But, like, her mom? Like, totally started crossing the street? Like, ’cause she thought I like meant the other side of the like intersection, y’know?
And. They. Talked. The. Entire. Twenty. Minutes. It. Took. To. Get. Down. Town. While sitting directly behind, guess who? Me. Ugh.
And then I got on the bus with the guy (or guys, I couldn’t tell if Cell Phone’s Loud Buddy had been with him the whole time) fresh out of jail. Granted, he’d/they’d only spent two days in the county lockup, but still. And they were really really fucking LOUD.
By then, it was seven, and all I wanted was to go home and go to sleep. Which I did, which wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had, but oh well.
Anyhow. I need to go to bed, now, so more later.