Spontaneous Derivation

GenderAnalyzer claims that S∂ most likely written by a man—specifically, a 71% chance.

My Sherlock Holmes blog (which sorely needs updating) is also 71%-possibly-written-by-a-man. Not too much of a surprise.

And my fiction blog, surprisingly, is 74% likely to have been written by a man. And I thought my fiction was a bit effeminate. Okay, it is a bit effeminate or else it would have hit strong 90s.

I wonder why it thinks I’m only in the range of 70% a guy?

Actually, the really funny bit is that my LiveJournal, which is more or less a 100% mirror of my main blog, is in the range of 70% a gal.

I guess it must be my About pages, because they’re not present on my LiveJournal. And if they’re strong enough to swing the vote from 70% one way to 70% the other way, I think… well, that’s interesting, anyways.

And now for a long reel of new science fiction and fantasy (and related) on the Kindle, because it just isn’t the day after Thanksgiving without consumer consumption.

Also, I’ve started covering offerings from Webscriptions, which includes books from Baen, Nightshade Books, and Subterranean Press.

1. Note to philandering boyfriends: your significant other being a werewolf tends to give such games away. [↩]

The Mumbai terrorism still continues even at the time of this blog posting, and so do the tweets.

Many people are talking about the Wired article on social media (and especially Twitter) and Mumbia, but I found this article at Vator.tv to be more informative.

With respect to updates on the web, Gauravonics’ round-up post is routinely updated, and has links and screenshots of various social media sites (the Wikipedia page, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr).

Over at India Uncut, Amit Varma blogs his narrow escape from the violence.

On Blogger, Mumbai Help has been set up with informative links, including right now lists of the injured and dead.

The photo on the Guardian’s article is very… strange and fitting.

The Hindustan Times really has the scoop.

This started from a discussion on Tor.com about the monthly free eBook for registered members, The Buried Pyramid by Jane Lindskold.

Artanian asked about a version for Microsoft Reader (since the formats offered, while including ePub, Mobipocket, PDF, and HTML, did not offer the LIT format), which isn’t going to be offered because the free eBooks department is a one-man machine and Pablo, while all things wonderful, is still just one man.

At some point, because I can’t shut up sometimes¹ , I offered my thoughts on yaoi .LIT. Mostly I noted that there were a lot of tools out there to read and write every other format for eBooks, and many tools to read a .LIT, but suspiciously very, very few (by which I mean “all owned by Microsoft, even if they’re free”) that actually write in .LIT format.

At some point Artanian actually digs up the licensing terms for the Microsoft Reader SDK, which include:

“Distribution Terms. You may reproduce and distribute an unlimited number of copies of the Sample Code and/or Redistributable Code (collectively “Redistributable Components”) as described above in object code form, provided that (a) you distribute the Redistributable Components only in conjunction with and as a part of your Application; (b) your Application adds significant and primary functionality to the Redistributable Components; (c) you distribute your Application containing the Redistributable Components pursuant to an End-User License Agreement (which may be “break-the-seal”, “click-wrap” or signed), with terms no less protective than those contained herein; (d) you do not permit further redistribution of the Redistributable Components by your end-user customers; (e) you do not use Microsoft’s name, logo, or trademarks to market your Application except and unless as provided under a separate license program agreement between you and Microsoft; (f) you include a valid copyright notice on your Application; and (g) you agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend Microsoft from and against any claims or lawsuits, including attorneys’ fees, that arise or result from the use or distribution of your Application. Contact Microsoft for the applicable licensing terms for all other uses and/or distribution of the Redistributable Components.

(Bolding mine.)

Artanian remarks, and I agree, “(c) and (d) are probably the sticking parts, although as a small software developer (g) bugs me a lot more. If I were to throw together a tool to do the conversion, (g) would prevent me from releasing it as a freeware tool.”

rickg then remarked that (g) is more or less par for the course for what the license covers, to keep people from publishing illegal eBooks using the .LIT format.

At which point I knew my answer would be overflowing, so I just made a short comment there but linking here, where all my thoughts on yaoi are exposed:

(g) is still extremely uncommon for a license. I develop software for a living. Normally you say “yo, we givin’ you dis, we ain’t got NOTHIN’ to do with it if you gets into trouble with it, our responsibility ends HERE.” You don’t say, “we don’t let goes of responsibility but really youse pays the annoying legal bits.”

That license term basically says that Microsoft owns whatever tool uses that library, in name if not in royalties, without saying that they actually own it, and without the more hassling of legal responsibilities when it comes to actual ownership. It’s NOT real ownership, but it’s basically ownership.

Man. That’s ingenious. It’s brilliant.

Even if you created a program that wasn’t free, there’s no guarantee enough people will actually buy it to make the possible risk worth it. Microsoft has even undercut the biggest market, small users, with the free Word macro, which increases the risk something-fold.

Technically, this means that Microsoft has won in terms of ownership of the Microsoft Reader format. This is how you do it. Amazing.

On the other hand, I’m amused because of two things:

1. Most tool writers seem to have backed away slooowly and chosen some other format to generate. This has resulted in some amount of marginalization of the format.

2. Microsoft Reader is still one of the most common formats used in pirated eBooks.

The irony. It is epic.

And yes, it is actually much more interesting and fulfilling to read the book (which has hieroglyphs!) than to discuss this niggly point in the realm of eBook creation, but… what can I say. Sometimes I’m extremely short-sighted. So download and read The Buried Pyramid; thus far, it’s much more intriguing, even to a geek like me.

1. When it doesn’t involve licenses, NDAs, gag orders, company secrets, and lawyers. I don’t like getting sued. [↩]

I’m out for yesterday and today. It’s the good old

1. 3-hour trip to see doctor
2. 3-hour trip back
3. Medication
4. Uncertain reaction to said medication

Last time it took me out for half a week. Things should be better right now, since my reaction to the medication is currently along the lines of whooa, Nellie, we’re happy but let’s try to focus. I should get used to the, ah, upswing by next week.

In the meantime, Typealyzer claims to know your personality type from your blog. I’m in doubt, personally.

The analysis indicates that the author of http://spontaneousderivation.com/ is of the type:

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

That… is really, really not me.

Oh… and yes, I’m reading Elizabeth Bear’s All the Windwracked Stars and enjoying it immensely. Review in a few days.

But this is surreal.

Of course, fictional characters sometimes turn up with their own Twitter accounts and start following people. Such is the beauty of Twitter. Here’s President Josiah Bartlet’s Twitter profile:

Yes, he will sometimes interact with you. I don’t know if this is Aaron Sorkin behind the wheel or just a rabid West Wing fan who still has the election twitch (I know I still do), but I think this is cute. Next thing you know, Toby Ziegler and Joshua Lyman are going to show up and start following people.

I did buy the complete series on DVD:

I’m on Disc 3 of Season 2 by the way. And the complete collection is beautifully cased. And sturdy, too. The first season isn’t widescreen—I assume because it’s ancient—but the rest of them are. The episode guide is pretty with summaries, although it doesn’t go into detail. Tons of extras.

Here are my West Wing bookmarks on StumbleUpon. I especially like The West Wing Episode Guide, even if the site is a bit unsubtle in some of its design. (Past the front page, it’s pretty readable and normal.)

So John Scalzi finds himself needing a more professional website—plus he has this writing gig, you know, novels and stories and events and other little things like that, so he doesn’t have time to tinker with a website. And since I like reading his books and stories and, heck, his blog, I and pretty much everybody else in the Whatever audience support ads coming on Whatever, so long as they’re un-obtrusive, relevant, and are good-looking static images with maybe a little text. The money from the ads will go to hiring a skilled web designer/WordPress guru. Good deal all around.

Currently he has a test ad on his blog, and I think it looks alright—it’s off to the side, and it’s relevant, and it’s pretty, and it’s a static image with a little text under it.

I’m putting the rest of this under a cut, due to the images.

Continue reading “Thoughts on John Scalzi’s Test Ad on Whatever”

I’m a fussy person. I wanted to show books in my library on my blog sidebar—but not just in any old way.

Update: Fixed the code samples and script.

Requirements

• One or more things in the sidebar that shows books in my library.

• I want to show books I’ve read, books I’m currently reading (and, in some cases, re-reading), and books I will read.

• Preferably separated from each other.

• I want to be able to adjust the number of books shown in each category.

• I want someone else to worry about all the little book images and not have to store/resize them myself.

• I want flexibility in linking; sometimes I want to link to reviews I’ve written, for instance, and sometimes direct to Amazon, Audible, Webscriptions, etc.

• If I’m linking to Amazon, I want my Amazon Associates code attached. Optionally, if any other stores have associates programs, I want to use those tags too.

Widgets from Book Social Networks

None of the widgets from Shelfari, GoodReads, or LibraryThing could satisfy these requirements.

The widgets at GoodReads came closest, but in the end they weren’t flexible enough.

Now we descend into high geekery, including ruby code, so the rest of this goes under the cut.

Continue reading “Fooling Around with Amazon Images”