Hmm, that was a little terse, wasn’t it? I should have said I’ve been playing with a Google CSE that searches Perl World - or at least as many Perl related sites as I could remember / find. I quite like it - to the extent that I’m currently using it instead of search.cpan.org most of the time. Anyway, see what you think, tell a friend, knock yourself out.

Search Perl World:

Piers Cawley speaks in praise of toolmakers over here:

I don’t know my way around a machine shop, except in the vaguest and most theoretical way. The tools I’ve grown up knowing to use are programming languages, editors, fine manuals and the mental tools a grounding in mathematics brings.

He draws a parallel his dad manufacturing tools to keep his vintage Fraser Nash on the road and himself programming the bits of code he needs to supplement what’s already available.

He makes a good point but he could go further. Increasingly cars have at their core proprietary chunks of electronics that are completely inaccessible both to hobbyist tinkerers and non-franchised garages. Our local garage man is a wizard with Land Rovers and tractors but modern cars defeat him - not because he’s stupid but because all the interesting functionality is inside an inscrutible black box.

I feel the same frustration contemplating the engine room of a modern car that I do when I’m let down by a bit of closed source software. I can tell from the nature of the problem that I could probably fix it myself if only I could get in there. But I’m locked out - so instead I have to speak to the people I bought it from. That generally tends up being costly, frustrating or both - but the real kicker is that I’ve been denied the opportunity to use the skills I know I have to help myself. Against my will I’ve been transformed into a passive consumer.

That’s not the only reason free software is important but it’s a huge factor for me. I grew up with Meccano and Lego; I’m used to making my own toys and fixing or modifying them when they break. Long live the tinkerer and the toolmaker.

Search CPAN:

Search Perl World:

The Small Business Blog has a curiously paranoid list of 20 things they hate about the Internet. Unfortunately I can’t link to it because they don’t seem to have permalinks for individual items…

Here’s their list:

20 Things I Hate About the Internet

1. I really hate the fact that individuals can say whatever they want, regardless of whether it is true, there is no recourse for libel or slander because in many cases the posts are not in the same country as the person slandered.

Just how paranoid do you have to be for this to be your number one hate about the Internet? Let’s find out…

2. I hate that the truth is becoming collective, or from those the most persistent. The popularity of wiki’s and in particular wikipedia means that history is becoming fluid.

History has always been fluid, subjective. Princes in the Tower anyone? Oooh, look, here’s Wikipedia trying to deliver a balanced overview of the various prevailing theories about whodunnit. I’m pretty sure that’s a more appropriately skeptical treatment of the subject than I remember from school text books.

3. I hate that it is almost impossible to discern an online writer’s credibility.

You mean unless you engage your critical faculties? You know, read some other stuff they’ve written, make a judgement? Online you can quickly find just about everything someone’s written and feed the whole lot into your bullshit filter.

4. I hate that crime is allowed to flourish online.

As opposed to the real world where crime has been completely eliminated?

5. I hate that the EU forces US companies to collect VAT on European sales. US companies don’t benefit from the tax, yet they are forced to staff individuals to handle collection and submission of VAT taxes to European Governments.

Sucks. Has precisely what to do with the Internet? The same rules would apply to conventional mail order. Isn’t the fact that the Internet opens this market to you at all a good thing?

6. I hate that U.S. legislatures passed a law that it is illegal for US citizens to remain anonymous on line yet pedophiles hide behind anonymity.

Is that true? I can’t find any reference to a U.S. law that makes online anonymity illegal. Obviously people doing bad things will attempt to conceal their identity; that’s hardly a bad thing about the Internet.

7. I hate that email is so impersonal and so easily misunderstood.

Check. Sometimes you just have to talk to people.

8. I hate that personal information on nearly any person is simply only a click away.

Not strictly a single click. In practice you need an eleven year old hacker from the movies who can crack the strongest known crypto with ten minutes of frantic typing. Or are you just talking about whatever you choose to reveal about yourself? Isn’t that, you know, your responsibility?

9. I hate that children see Internet pornography without even trying.

Well as you later point out they are much more adept at using the ‘net. Still, jealously is an ugly thing - I think you should let it go. If you practice really hard you’ll be able to find pr0n without trying too.

10. I hate that law abiding citizens are at a distinct disadvantage on the Internet.

No, sorry. You’ve completely lost me now.

11. I hate if you work at an Internet business your day does not end at 5:00.

I like the fact that I work pretty much whenever I want to - unlike friends who work in conventional businesses. Still, YMMV.

12. I hate to be at Google’s mercy for search engine ranking.

I’m glad Google goes to such lengths to stop you gaming your search engine rank.

13. I hate that search engines are constantly changing their algorythms.

I’m glad Google goes to such lengths to stop you gaming your search engine rank.

14. I hate that children know more about the Internet than their parents.

Yeah, it’s terrible to see kids embracing a new technology with their hungry little minds. They’ll probably live longer than us too. Bastards.

15. I hate that the Internet archives can store. Comments that may or may not be true for what could be an eternity.

And even if your grammar gets better they remember the time when you used to randomly. Start new sentences for no apparent reason.

16. I hate that the Internet is litered with junk sites and abandoned out of date content.

As a specific example a recent survey has shown that if all the redundant top 20 lists were properly recycled we’d free up enough numbers to count to nearly 1,000,000.

17. I hate that Internet obsession allienates the older generation.

I must ask my 75 year old parents about that the next time I can drag them away from emailing bridge scores to each other.

18. I hate that Google so much power.

Grrr! Still smarting over that crappy pagerank eh?

19. I hate that the playing field for small businesses on the Internet is no longer level.

Yes, it’s really irksome that crap companies can’t stand shoulder to shoulder with great ones any more.

20. I hate that clickfraud is a part of life if marketing on the Internet.

Undoubtedly clickfraud is one of the major threats to society as we know it. I couldn’t agree more on this one.

From Lessig’s blog:

As reported yesterday, there was an ad in the FT listing 4,000 musicians who supported retrospective term extension. If you read the list, you’ll see that at least some of these artists are apparently dead (e.g. Lonnie Donegan, died 4th November 2002; Freddie Garrity, died 20th May 2006). I take it the ability of these dead authors to sign a petition asking for their copyright terms to be extended can only mean that even after death, term extension continues to inspire.

Does anyone have the names of these artists so I can boycott them? I might make an exception for the dead ones - they probably didn’t have too much say in the matter.

Update: We have a few names:

Lonnie Donegan
Freddie Garrity

From here:

The Beatles (Paul McCartney)
Eric Clapton
Cliff Richard
U2 (Bono)
Robbie Williams

From here:

Mick Hucknall
Kiri Te Kanawa

From here via here:

The Clash (Paul Simonon)
PJ Harvey
Kaiser Chiefs
Maximo Park
The Who (Pete Townshend)

Update: Via ORG there’s a complete scan of the ads in four parts here.