Source Jockey

This morning on my drive into work, a woman was tailgating me from the freeway all the way into the driveway of my office.  Along the way, the speed limit changed from 50 MPH to 40MPH, and I adjusted speed accordingly.  She came awfully close to rear-ending me.

Police, of course, know that there’s this sudden 20% change in speed limit, so they like to camp out just out of sight in some business park driveway.  Laser in hand, they dutifully check how fast everyone is going.  Including me.  Going 40 MPH.  With a Chevy Blazing trying to inter-brand reproduce with my Audi from behind.  The officer just moved on to the next suspected speeder.

So when I saw the woman in the elevator going up to my office, I apologized for slowing down so suddenly.  She said, “No problem, but why did you do that?”  I told her, “Well, our street is an enormous speed trap.  Did you see the cop on the bike in the driveway?”  She responded, “No, I didn’t.  How’d you know he was there?”  I answered, “Well, they’re there almost every other day, and I have a detector.  It was beeping like crazy!”

Apparently, she was late to work.  It’s a good thing I was going the speed limit, otherwise, SHE’D have a ticket.  May I count that as my good deed for the day?

Historically, software has come in two different types:  proprietary and open source.

Proprietary is when a company produces a program and does not release the code (how the program is made) to the public.

Open Source software allows the public to see the code, and often modify it.

When it comes to web scripting, in other words, the code that makes web pages, the above rule applies, though more loosely.  Proprietary usually means that an individual company makes the code and keeps it in-house, while open source means that a company manages the development of the code by many public developers.

When it comes to creating webpages, Open Source solutions are often less expensive, while proprietary solution costs are set by their private developer.  This blog, for instance, is based on the Open Source “WordPress”.  A common “Content Management System” is Drupal.  These open source web scripts/programs are free, yet can be customized.

It’s this customization that really makes the big difference between scripts.  If a client asks for a highly customized solution, a custom, proprietary build may be the most cost effective solution, even if it means building something from the ground up.

Why is this?

Open Source solutions, while based on standard programming languages, tend to use their own set of commands.  These commands may not be adequately documented, or may not even exist!  Drupal, one of the most flexible and customizable CMSs available, has one of the worst administrative interfaces.  In addition, the company’s lack of documentation make it very difficult to do very basic tasks (while customizing).

So if you’re in the market for a new page, and you don’t know which route to go, make sure you take both sides into consideration; each has very distinct advantages and disadvantages.

For those of you who read the blog directly (rather than seeing it via Facebook or a feed):  Do you maximize your window to read the blog?  If so, are you finding it hard to read because it’s so wide?  I’ve been considering changing how wide it is–but I need some input first.

Many of you may know I have a very sensitive sense of smell.  It’s cool, because I can detect gas leaks.  It’s bad because I can smell everything.  When someone wears more than the normal amount of perfume, it’s ridiculous.  I can often smell then coming into the room.  On Monday, I was at an appointment in someone’s office, and one of their employees was wearing a ridiculously heavy perfume that permeated…everything.  I’m surprised I didn’t get a headache.

I think perfume bottles should come with a spray limiter.  One or two sprays at the most.  Then it locks.  That would be awesome.  Or, I should have lit a match–but that would have probably blown us to smithereens!

Electric cars actually predate gasoline engines by about 70 years.  (For a full history of electric cars, please check out Wikipedia.)  100 years ago, however, there were several marketable brands of electric cars, and they worked pretty well.  Over the years, though, gasoline proved to be less expensive, and filling up took significantly less time than charging batteries.  In addition, batteries wore out over time.

In recent times, General Motors released the EV1, which while cool and efficient, wasn’t cost effective.

Now, Tesla, an electric car company based out of good ol’ California, is releasing two bad-ass cars.  The Tesla, based on the sporty Lotus Elise, and the Tesla S, an electric sedan.  The Sedan is to be $50,000, and pure bad-assness.  I look forward to it.  I don’t fit in the Tesla.  But it’s also bad ass.

I’m hoping these cars pioneer a new path towards cost effective, fun electric cars that will reduce our dependance on all fossil fuels.