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Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/212 first.

I use Creative Commons because I believe that it's better to share my creative works with people who can appreciate it than it is to die with a huge stack of unpublished works.

Creative Commons is not permission for you to make money off my work without compensating me. Creative Commons is not the same thing as dedicating your works to the Public Domain. Creative Commons is a way to let other artists know that they are welcome to see, enjoy, be a fan of, redistribute, and build on your work.

Raster and I played some good cop/bad cop on the Internet the other day regarding this subject. Here's a shout-out to the Creative Commons discussion going on here.

A side issue not being discussed here is the general emergence of the feeling that "the Long Tail" is bullshit. My opinion is that if you feel that the Long Tail is bullshit, I say you and I are probably talking about a different Long Tail.

Also, if you want to learn more about Creative Commons, I highly recommend this film.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/210 first.

It's strange. I can never predict which photos at Flickr are going to be popular.

Big shout-out and thank you to the folks at SeriousEats who were kind enough to call Gaia "Adorable."

I'll pass on the discussion over whether this is a correct application of the creative commons license in favor of simply basking in my daughter's new found internet fame.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/404-Errors-in-Update-Manager first.

Are you getting 404 errors when you try to update Ubuntu 8.10 beta/release candidate? So am I.
Annoyed because most of the resources on the internet are dismissive, unhelpful, and kind of snide? Me too.

Now, in spite of my continued assertion that I am something of a linux expert, I actually am not very savvy when it comes to fixing parts of an OS that just don't work, but I'm not afraid to root around... especially when it's just a virtual machine I'm mucking with.

So, here's what fixed it for me. I picked "Main Server" instead of "Server for the United States" which was the default in the virtual machine I downloaded. This prompted a distribution upgrade for some reason, and after three hours and a reboot, update-manager was working for me again.

Try this for yourself. From your desktop, choose System --> Adminstration --> Software Sources to launch the Software Sources application. Pick something else from the "Download From:" option box. It'll look something like this, (especially if you're using the hotter-than-hot dark human look).

Anyway, It's Fixxored.
Linux is so easy.

(FWIW, I'd happily entertain discussion about what really was/is the problem on this here blog, if any one is in the mind to share.)d

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/CoolPix_for_sale first.

You wonder if Gabe is shallow enough to leverage social networks and his blog in order to draw attention to some crap he's selling on Craig's List?

You're kidding right?

Of course he is.

You could own an old Nikon CoolPix 950. Just $20. Say the magic keyword "I saw it on Writelarge.com" and I'll throw in Four possibly dead energizer rechargeables.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/199 first.

I'm really looking forward to Web414 tonight-- I don't think there are any plans to webcast it, so you should definitely come by.
At first I didn't think we'd need to have a meeting so close on the heels of a virtuous and successful BarCampMilwaukee, but in retrospect, now I'm glad for the chance to get together with the gang and breakdown the BarCampMK3 experience. I just hope we're far enough removed from it so that we can realistically assess what total failures we all are. Things like Freely exchanging ideas and inspirations and building on one another's passions are great and all, right, but will they feed a hungry orphan? Will the turn a frown upside down? Will they translate sarcasm across a textual experience? No. Of course they won't. I propose that BarCamps, in and off themselves, are for wankers. And that, when it comes right down to it, at the end of the day, we're all wankers.

The thing is, we're still int he Barcamp Honeymoon phase, right? After every Barcamp that I've been involved in, there is this period for a couple of weeks afterward that everybody is really high on the BarCamp experience and wants to do stuff and get thigns done and "hold a barcamp every three months," and stuff.

Here's a far-be-it-from-inclusive list of post BarCampMilwaukee Three Projects that have been launched in the not-quite-four-days since BarcampMK3 ended:

• WriteCamp (Reboot)
• Cook/FoodCamp
• A Sex With Ashe podcast
• Justin's iCal for next year that doesn't have anything on it.

Will these things grow and evolve into THE NEXT BIG THING?
Fortunately, and so far, we've been able to stave off any kind kind of wide-spread excitement or passion for these projects. I'm proud to think that by really hanging on to our bitter disappointment and selfishness, we can probably continue to stave off doing interesting, intelligent things together in favor of a bleak post-McCain election depressive episode. We wouldn't want to make the world a better place. Shit. Can't let that happen.

I, hereby promise that I will make it my life goal to prevent meaningful communication, effectively stamping out meeting, talking, sharing ideas, and inspiring change. And it is for this reason that I am looking forward to Web414 tonight. For the good of the nation, Web414, If it is my job to be the urine stream in your open-source wikiflakes, a urine stream I shall be.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/198 first.

One of the sessions I wanted to do at BarCampMKE3, but didn't get an opportunity to was the "Finding time for the Internet." I suspect I would have been one of the only people who would have attended this session, but, given my concerted effort as of late to run on my treadmill in the basement and spend more time with the Girl, I've had a hard time getting some time together to spend with my computer.
Granted, a big part of that has to do with how broken my office is right now-- read the word "broken" as "Gabe is a pig: a fifthly, filthy pig". However, I've got a metric tonne of things to blog about and increasingly less time to do it.
And really, the thing is, if you can't find time to blog about something, you can certainly find the time to blog about not having the time to blog.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/197 first.

The gang and I at work have been asked to create the corporate holiday card this year. We're working on making it the worst possible, most awkwardly phrased, boring message we could come up with.
Then we back-translated from English to Japanese and then from Japanese to English. I just whipped up this fake, design, just for fun.

Although, we think we could definitely make it more awkward, it's painful to read as is. Imagine receiving this, with signatures from your firm's administrative team, on cheap, flimsy copy paper. And streaked with copier tracks. And ever-so-slightly misfolded.

A great holiday indeed.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/195 first.

I hope you guys can make it to Bucketworks this weekend. It's one of the last big wikification/cleanup weekends before BarCampMilwaukee.
October is the Bucket's big grand re-opening. Thanks to some flood damage, the bucket had a rough summer, but she's had her rehab, and she's bubbling over with creative energies once again. Come be part of the reemergence of one of Milwaukee's most awesome centers of probellious excellence. Bucketworks Needs You.

Here's what the delightful Bucketworks Co-Director Jenadenda has to say on the subject:

While we'll be doing a lot of work during the September 27 Physical Wiki Day (Register here) but if you can't make it on Saturday we'll be needing the help all throughout the next couple of weeks leading into BarCampMilwaukee on October 3rd.

I'm not sure if Gaia and I can make it, but we will try. We hope to see you there.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/189 first.

In an effort to spark my designer friends to make some BarCampMilwaukee3 fliers, I've gone ahead and made a demonstration of why I'm a lousy designer.

Free to remix, redistribute, sticker, and poster. Make this better. Then I'll see you at BarCamp Milwaukee.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/182 first.

Robot Parade from Jared Foster on Vimeo.

Love this idea. A Robot Parade at Bucketworks would be an awesome fundraiser/outreach project.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/BarCampMk3-Needs_Sponsors first.

There is a lot going on these days.



BarcampMK3: We're in the hard push for sponsorships: If you have access to $200, you could do more foolish things than spend it on BarCamp Milwaukee 3. There are a couple of promises I want to make regarding this year's BarCamp:

• Bandwidth
  We will have bandwidth for all at BarCampMK3. Dammit.
• Bucketworks
  We will be at the Mighty Bucketfor this years event.

There are other promises I want to make you, but at this time, I'm really not ready to make them. I think we should have electronic check in. I'm working on that. I think we should have webcasting. I think we should have a Creative Commons Salon/lounge. I'd like to have a band. I would like to screen "Steal this Film." I would like to have a *gasp* keynote session. (Appalling, I know.)
But before any of that can happen, we need sponsors. Send us $200. You can do it by PayPal or any other way you're comfortable. We just want your money. We need your money. This can't happen without your sponsorship.
BarCampMk3: October 4th/5th 2008. Starting at 10 a.m. at Milwaukee's famous Bucketworks.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/179 first.

My buddy Mike Rohde over at Rohdesign.com often posts some amazing, incredible, super-awesome Sketchnotes of conferences he attends. While attending a few sessions at the OCF Conference in Boston this weekend, I, too, took a few pages of sketchnotes. The difference between Mike's notes and mine should be obvious to you. Mikes are beautiful works of art, are clean, legible, and done by a man who helped create the genre.
Mine, on the other hand, are illegible, childish, and any of the words you happen to make out will probably be misspelled.
That being said, I think I will post some after I can get them properly scanned. Until then, I am going to enjoy this delicious sandwich. There is a video coming about that, later.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/178 first.

Dear NowPublic,
Because my photo is already licensed under BY NC SA Creative Commons Terms, you don't need my permission to use the photos so long as you meet those terms. Any other use remains prohibited.
Feel free to use my photos under the terms I offer them without asking me to create an account on your site or agree to your terms of service.
If you feel that the terms I'm offering my photos under are too restrictive for your use, please propose a specific use and make me an offer as to the terms you'd like to extend.
Your Pal,
Gabe

Editor's Note: I'd probably be interested in getting to more about NowPublic.com, except that the strange flickrmail that initiated the above response set my Nigerian Email Scam feelers into a tizzy. Anybody know anything about NowPublic?

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/177 first.

It's a lot of work, this content creation thing. I think that creators tend to under-estimate the amount of work that goes into producing quality content-- even publishing stories where the bulk of the content creation has been done for you is a lot of work.
Case in point, I just published an article over at Ocono.com that has been on my plate since July 9. Today is July 27th. Holy crap. It's not exactly a pulitzer candidate, but it's an example of decent blog content, you know? More than a Link, less than a full blown article. It took me 2 hours to write it today.
Granted, I had some formatting troubles that slowed me down-- Evernote text cuts and pastes kind of weird-- and I was sloppy with my HTML-- but that's not the point. the point is that a small but quality article for a blog takes about two hours to produce. This is a lot of time to give away for free.
Fortunately, I don't feel like I'm not getting anything back for my investment-- so don't worry Pete, I'm not going to ask for a raise. With Ocono.com, I get value back in two parts: 1. I have a venue to put thoughts about Oconomowoc, Wisconsin-- old habits die hard that way. 2: I enjoy supporting Publisher Pete's efforts in suburban Blogging. I think, and I am admittedly biased,' Ocono.com is Oconomowoc's best online news and lifestyle magazine-- If the folks at Oconomowocfocus.com knew what they were doing online, they could take the cake, but they don't so they haven't. I enjoy that.
But free content don't come cheaply. It's a sacrifice I'm happy to make, but I feel badly that I just can't put the love and attention into Ocono.com that really needs to be put into it. Maybe it's time to expand the staff?

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/synergy first.

At my day job I work between two main computers and sometimes three. So far, I have found great success running Synergy to enable using a single mouse and keyboard between them.
With my PC set up as a server and my Macs set up as clients, I have basically configured the desktops of my computers to connect in one giant row of desktop space. The effect is so seamless that I often feel frustrated that I can't drag and drop between them.

A couple of items in the popular ordered list format:

1. Go PC to Mac. Seriously. It just works better that way.
2. On the Mac, use

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/174 first.

A few computer/technology related tid-bits that in years past would have been much longer posts.

1. Look, I really kind of like K-Meleon, the lightweight, native Windows Implementation of the Geko Layout Engine. Think of it as Firefox for Windows without the Firefox part. On the Operating System of the Future (Windows 2000), K-Meleon is the browser of tomorrow.
2. If only there were a similar version of Pidgin. I am now taking applications for the windows native multi-service XAMP client of tomorrow.
3. I am currently experimenting with Windows Live Mesh. Mesh is Windows online folder syncing, basically, except that it also syncs to a "Online Desktop," so you can always get at your synched files, so long as you have access to a browser (even KM. So far, I've got my entire allotment of space allocated and it's still uploading. Nice! I wonder what that means. They say that there is a MacOSX Client coming. It has some kind of RDP or VNC built into it, but it's flaky and doesn't work as nicely LogMeIn, for example.
4. If I could add one feature to the Windows Platform, I would add Universal Spell Checking like they have on the Macs. Hands down, Universal Spell checking is OSX's best feature.
5. I still miss you, Linux. Do something awesome and I'll come back to you. Here's a hint. It's not being sold in a box at Best Buy. Hundreds of crappy software products have been sold in a Box at Best Buy over the years.
6. You should be using Evernote. If you're not, you don't care about keeping notes. I have a Ocono.com Story Ideas notebook that I'm publishing there, but it's not about publishing, it's about having your data synced up to the web and on every computer you use. Except for Linux.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/173 first.

When you can't get to the Internet, bring the Internet to you. Trapped in a planning session with nothing to entertain you, might I suggest drawing your own LOL CATs.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/170 first.

Some notes and links to support the conversation at the Co-working session today:

1. The Bountiful Tunic appears to have closed it's virtual doors. I suggest you squat on the domain right now. A cursory search for "Plus Size Renfaire Garb" finds many viable people to whom you could sell the domain.

2. The Draft of "I hate treehouses" the Screenplay is on Scribd.

3. It wasn't Firewire Disk Mode I used. It was a standalone USB drive. Firewire disk mode is what I use for making backups at work. I was both confused and full of shit earlier. I'm sorry for the confusion.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/beersmores first.

Untitled from Gabe Wollenburg on Vimeo.

Oh, Beersmores, the video.

Hey Kids!This was posted at http://writelarge.com/node/160 first.

Congratulations to the Gang at Bucketworks for cobbling together a fantastic space for the Bucket's first event since it was closed by Mother Nature and the subsequent cleanup.

Born 2 Skill was a good artshow focused on the empowerment of women and urban expression, and the event did well in the converted playspace. There was street and sketch sytle arts, fine arts, a DJ, and even some jewelry and sculpture. Gaia really liked the giraffe sculpture.

I stopped by tonight to check it out and was happy to see art and community melding again at Bucketworks. Back on our feet, taking baby steps. I didn't walk through the flow space or the greenhouse, but what I could see through the windows of Quazi Cafe, it'll be a little while before the bucket is back at 100%. Great work, Patrick, Jen, and everybody who, I know, did whatever they could to get the space ready for Born 2 Skill tonight.

I brought Gaia with me; it was her first Art Show and she was very excited to be there. You could tell because she had her intense face on, studying what was going on. She liked the DJ, by the way. Jeni asked how she could know what a DJ even was, and I was all like, but she loves DJ Lance. Yo-Gabba! Gabba!

So on the way home, as we pull out of the Bucket's driveway and up Sixth Street, Gaia says, "Wow. That was cool. This was fun. Thanks, Dad."

She's such a cool kid. Totally spoiled, I am.