Assorted Miscellany

I must be crazy. I just got a call from a market research firm looking for men between the ages of 18-44 to participate in a study about snacking. They would pay $75 for a 2-3 hour session. I'm a terrible snacker--probably just the kind of subject they're looking for. Imagine being paid to snack and talk about snacks! But I turned them down. That would be selling a precious evening cheap for such a shallow end.

The days slip by and I deeply regret the neglect to which you've been treated here. And still tonight, I have only light fare to offer. Not that it ever gets very deep here. Well, it might get deep, but more in the way of what you'd find in a barnyard. And when I say light fare, I mean my own contribution, and not as a statement about the sites linked to below.

Anyway, just a few odds and ends...

Joomland

Definitely in the "odd" category, Amy Stephen gave me a guest blogger account. At first I thought she was just being nice and there was no ulterior motive, but then I realized that it's probably part of her plan to lure me in to the cult of Joomla!.

I wrote an entry there promoting this week's Free Software Magazine article. Amy said to write it, so hopefully it wasn't a completely obnoxious contribution. I was happy with the article and thrilled that it was collecting some diggs along the way to getting to the front page, but then it got buried, which apparently doesn't make it disappear but prevents it from being found very easily. Maybe my provocative title was frowned upon. It still received a number of reads and some good comments, especially at FSM. I'm very appreciative of the response I've received to my writing so far.

Amy's blog is a cool place and a great free software community, although they often call it "open source" over there. (I better watch myself, or my guest account will be revoked and I'll be run out of town for constant harping on semantics.) I'll try to post something more than just base, self-serving promotion in the future.

Questions please...

In other promotional news and following up on last week's FSM entry, Jon Roberts has the audio of his panel discussion with Richard Stallman, Jeremy Allison, and Jeff Waugh available at Questions please.... I thought it turned out pretty well and am looking forward to more.

Free Culture

I came across the web site of aspiring author Jeremy James and was impressed that he is embracing the idea of free culture and understands that it doesn't rule out making money. He has a post up this week with some interesting thoughts about the publishing business. I think it will take new writers like Jeremy to prove the new business models.

I pointed him to Crosbie Fitch's web site, Digital Productions, as I often do to people interested in ideas about making money on free culture, and I noticed he unearthed a lengthy article, The Digital Art Auction, that I'll have to throw on my "to read" stack. I know Mr. Fitch is working on some interesting things but haven't gotten in to the details. I need to read more in an attempt to understand the roots of his resistance to the Affero clause being included in GPLv3.

Related: Some of my own rambling thoughts on the publishing business and the sad tale of one of my oft-rejected short stories, "Picnic."