DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (DCC)

Born 1876 in the mind of Melvil Dewey who has long since passed away. His Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) is a system for classifying and organizing works in libraries in such a way that almost anyone who can count can find and return books in their proper place. Not as much as a problem for chained libraries with hand written books. But in a modern libraries with the number of books ever increasing, this system is quite useful. Its only real competitor (in the real world) is the Library of Congress Classification (LCC). The DDC is widely known to be the easier of the two systems. The LCC systems is also extremely American-centric as evidenced in its categories such as "Class D - World History (everyone except American History)", "Class E American History" AND "Class F - American History", and "Class F - Local History of the United States and British, Dutch, French, and Latin America". The DDC was of course a product of the USA also, yet open enough to diverge from it's roots to be used in over 200,000 public and private libraries in 135 or more countries while the LCC remains mainly used US university libraries. So why does the LCC remain in use? I'll come back to this question.

Its proprietary. Yup, 134 years since its invention, the better system is still locked up in trademarks and copyrights. One would think its not possible. But some searching will reveal that current combinations of laws and congressional acts make it possible hold innovation hostage over 300 years (proprietaries can outlive nations). Many of the libraries using DDC are doing so illegally. The copyrights and trademarks supposedly designed to encourage Mr. Dewey's mind to create such a system in exchange for the US government's guarantee that it remains his to buy, sell, and trade have been acquired in a corporate takeover. Its not entrusted to his descendants. Not a foundation or charity. Its sold out to a corporation.

Meanwhile, librarians are worried. Books are being digitized and libraries are closing down due to lack of visitors and support. The Internet has taken a big share of the market. Never mind that Internet access costs money and libraries are free to customers or at least its much cheaper to pay for a library card. While the apparent majority can afford the expense, what of the ones who cannot? Some of the librarians seem willing to do almost anything to save their real world books on real world shelves in their real world buildings. This seems to be why they've willingly allowed the current state of affairs.

When I was a teen, I loved going to the library. Yes, I was a geek, still am. When I was relocated to a middle of a desert trailer park, I thought I might not get to a library for many years. But, there was a county library branch just a few blocks away; open from sunrise to sunset. Very small. Very, very small, but they could get any book there for me within a week by picking up the phone and asking for it. How did I know which book to ask for? They had a DDC index. They had a building, tables, chairs, a few shelves, a few books, a phone, a librarian, a type righter, and a DDC index. They did not have, electricity. Thus no computers, thus the hours of operation.

Currently libraries are under the thumb of the Online Computer Library Center of Dublin, Ohio. On the surface its non-profit membership corporation. Yet they are putting competitors out of business and/or acquiring libraries and other corporations. That should raise red-flags. A single corporation is gaining control of more and more libraries. Their software systems take control away from the libraries and centralize it to themselves. No longer can librarians search for and checkout books at the library. Now everything, even locating the book in the library, must be done on the computer over a network, even if your *at* the library. You see the librarians are compelled to input all the records into the system and _delete_or_physically_removed_ the old catalogs. Now only the OCLC knows where to find the books. But there is a charge to access the data. There's even a charge for using a scanner too many times. The very data the librarians provided is sold back to them. It is reminiscent of the lesser known variety of the chained libraries, sometimes called the "cadged library". In these, the books are unchanged but the readers are forced to be locking into a cage with them until they are finished reading. Now, its the librarians, chained to the OCLC through the computers. "Exaggeration" you say? Librarians must carry an RSA SecurID key fob that creates a new 6-digit number every 60 seconds. It keeps them bound to the computer. And, they must use the key along with their personal pin to access their own computers for *any* use.

So who's the members in this 'membership' corporation? The chained librarians of course.

note: this is long winded
As a child I discovered a computer language called BASIC. The knowledge that I could command the computer to recreate the thoughts in my mind changed my perception of the world. Since then, I wanted to create virtual stuff, games mainly. I piddled around with Apple ][s (my favorite), Commodore 64s, Atari 8-bits, IBMs, Atari 2600 (I had the basic programming cartridge, thank you Mr. Warren Robinett), NES (Excitebike included customer track design), and even calculators whenever I could while growing up. Sometimes while standing in department stores where they were being demoed. I couldn't afford my own computer after all. My parents (both sets) were not likely to buy me one. Most of the time the schools I attended had some Apple ][s available for me to use (with or without permission). I confess that I used burglar tactics (entering but not breaking) on more than one occasion just to use a computer and leave without a trace. I finally did manage to buy my own Apple IIc only to have life circumstances take it away. Through it all I held onto a dream of being a successful videogame maker someday. But life happens, and so does gray hair. I delayed my dream because of circumstance and choice in favor of other priorities. I don't regret these for a moment. But, I realized at some point in my life that I was going nowhere and life was meaningless. It was not about my priorities, my dream, or the consequences of my choices. It was about who I was. Much to my surprise, I was saved by Jesus. At the time, Videogames were becoming, or already were, violent, sexual, crass, vile, and that is no place for a Christian, right? And so my dream died. But, life happens. I was encouraged by _some_ church leaders, _some_ fellow Christians, and by some lesser known facts about the gaming industry. My dream is alive again, as long as God wills it, because it is no longer mine. I may never personally be successful but its not really about me anymore. Truth, many Christians are horrified when I tell them I want to make videogames. I get the distinct impression that some of them want to slap their palm on my head and yell, "Be gone demon!" (even from Baptists, Lutherans, and Methodists). But others point me to the Bible and show where Jesus went amongst the sinners to perform His Job. He did not seal himself away in a building surrounded by only His most well-behaved followers. And it turns out that some of us (Christians) have been there all along. And there's even games by Christians promoting Jesus. http://www.uvlist.net/search?ftag=christian&sort=year&listed=50. I hope I'm not misunderstood. I have no intention of making games for the Christian market or about supposedly 'Christian subjects'. If any game I design ever becomes popular among Christian players, I will consider my dream a failure. I intend to make great games because I'm working for a great boss (Jesus). But, life happens. And I think I've avoided the main issue long enough. I don't yet have the skills or equipment to do a great job. I don't have the GPA for college. What I do have, is the opportunity to attend a trade school. It's reputation in the gaming industry is questionable. It won't be easy. It may not get me a job. But it will get me the skills. But, life happens. Since getting new final boss, I have come to look at everything from a different perspective. I've realized that Libre Software is the only Biblical model for all useful software. Not much call for that in the industry yet. I recognize there is art and opinion in the content of games that can be packaged separately from the code. Ironically, neither the Libre Software community nor the industry seem to be catching on to this. I wonder what shall I do with the skills I obtain? Get an industry job? What should I do when I'm asked to create games that are morally reprehensible to me?


Yes, many 'Christian games' suck. Probably for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they are often made by well meaning but technically unequipped people who's primary concern is preaching the message instead of _presenting_ the message. Even a person's favorite meal does not look appetizing if served on garbage can lid.

WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME

It doesn't matter if you're a fan, or even if you hate it, if you only see one Star Trek production in your life, make it WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME

(Don't watch the trailer, the trailer sucks.)

Mathematics is Doomed

It has just come to my attention that mathematics are by and large, not protected by copyright! This invention has apparently been are virally infected by communist Open Source pirates! This is an emergency! How will math users earn a living!? Tax consultants will go hungry! Math teachers are doomed! People will stop bothering to learn math because there is no money in it. Think of the quality of machines when engineers stop learning math! No more cryptologists! Passwords will become useless and all data will be unprotected. A communist plot to steal our state secrets! Science will grind to a halt! Banks will cease to exist! Every economy in the world will crash permanently! Won't somebody please think of the flashin' children!

Fear of Open Source, "I don't want my compeatitors to have my code"

I once emailed a game developing company to thank them for promising not using Damaging Restrictions & Malice (DRM) in their products. I also took the opportunity to list a few benefits of going a step further and releasing their game engines under open source licenses, while retaining the copyrights and trademarks of the content. I will sum up some of them here:
* free (gratis) testing, bug tracking, and even bug fixing by volunteers. Thus increasing the quality of the engine your content runs on
* free (gratis) translations by volunteers. Thus increasing the number of potential customers who want your content. Note that this one requires a little bit of permissiveness in the content's copyright.
* free (gratis) ports of the engine to different platforms by volunteers. Thus increasing the number of potential customers who want your content.
* Additional content created by volunteers. If its good, you can license it to sell so you and the creator profit. If its good and free (libre), you can package it for inexpensive sell, and charge to support it (bundle support for it when they purchase your content). If its good and proprietary and the creator will not license it, it is still likely to make your engine more popular; thus increasing potential customers who want your content. If its bad, then your content looks better.
I skipped little things like free (gratis) or cheep distribution, free (gratis) publicity, etc... I actually figured, because of the manor in which they arrived at the no DRM decision, I wasn't saying anything new to them. This assessment was correct, in their response they confirmed that they'd considered the open source option. They gave the usual reason of Linux is a small market, which I admit is seen as legitimate business decision not risk changing the whole way a successful business is run (I did not initially mention World of Goo to them). And the concern that their code is not pretty enough to be bragged about. I understand embarrassment. They had no other arguments with my reasoning. But they gave a reason not to use open source that I'd never considered before, "The only problem I have with open source for a game that still sells well, is the fact that you effectively hand proprietary code to your competitors."
They got me to thinking, and thinking. I thought about it a long while. I decided, competitors having your code is wonderful. Once you open source your code its no longer proprietary and your competitors cannot make it proprietary. If they improve it, you get the improvements too. If they market it well, your market expands. Its entirely possible that your competitor could take over your marketing, distributions, sales, everything for your engine. Oh, the horror! Should you panic? Nah, just scratch those expenses off your budget. In fact, give your competitors a call and offer them a license to sell your content so you can make a profit from it while simultaneously concentrating on creating more for new games. In fact, the concern of protecting the intellectually property of the content is now theirs also, a little less to worry about. Now you have another company offering support for your engine and content. Are you having a persistent uncorrectable code 18 error? Well you can let them know that "we want customers to be satisfied no matter what the sacrifice. Please give our competitor a call, they may be able to resolve this issue for you." And let your competitor know that you are glad to reciprocate. Most people offering death threats against you will be thrilled at the idea of doing business with you competitor, and visa-versa.

Click here to eliminate pre-installed junk on your computer

Click here to eliminate pre-installed junk on you computer
http://www.ideastorm.com/ideaView?id=0877000000006iiAAA
For a variety of factors like sales, popularity, quality of tech support concerning the offense, and the offense itself, I nominate Dell as the leader of shoving pre-installed junk applications and trial software that nobody wants down their customers necks. But Dell's gone a done something right. They created ideastorm.com . The inevitable suggestion that pre-installed junk needs to be optional instead of mandatory was posted there. Then users added 102,220 points to promote this idea (as of 2009-02-05). If enough people tell Dell where to shove it, they will have to give up the back-room briberies that plague us with pre-installed junk. Other companies are bound to take notice. Dell might actually become a worthy leader in the elimination of pre-installed junk. Hey, it could happen. After all, technically, they even offer Linux now, sort of.
Click the title of this post tell the computer industry where to stick pre-installed junk.

The Internet is not public.

Paul Garrin points out that the infrastructure of the Internet is privately and corporately owned, it has patrolled [electronic] boarders, there is a centralized authority over the Internet, and the owners have agreed to provide all this while having no requirement to do so or to provide it unregulated. All good points, then he says some other stuff. For those who don't know, Paul Garrin is a video artist. He's probably most famous taping police who covered their badges while beating protesters and bystanders, including himself, in the Tompkins Square Park Riot in New York. He also purposed a revolution to create a reverse Big Brother state where citizens use surveillance to continually watch the government.
How is it that these paranoids are allowed to say whatever they want on the Internet?