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One time the summarizer displayed a search string that consisted solely of pornographic terms: "pussy", "fuck", and the like. I was pretty confused because my site is just an HTML guide. Turns out it found me because of the word "maypole"... I still have no idea what that means in a porn context.

... what my dot.com venture actually made some money? I'm broke.

OpenEMR is, overall, a good application with all the features we need. However, I'm dreading the inevitable deluge of support calls I'm going to get because of the sloppy UI. For example...

Consider this screen for scheduling an appointment for a patient. The first time I went to this screen I thought I had clicked the wrong link. It just didn't seem to be about scheduling an appointment. The most prominent form is for finding a new patient... very confusing considering that I just came from a patient record where I clicked "new appointment". Then I realized that the "new appointment" form is scrunched down in the lower right corner like a bad afterthought. Even then it's confusing. The "Time" and "Duration" fields don't line up correctly. It doesn't provide a calendar with which to juxtapose the new appointment with other appointments. If you click the "first available appointment", by default it tells you that it can't find any appointments.

OpenEMR will be much better than the dreck that they've been using down in the clinic, but it's still not good enough. Hopefully I can tweak it and submit the changes back to the development group.

Draw map of major media coverage? Not hard at all

Well, when I finally gave up that dream, I released the Guide as Open Content. Anybody who wants to can publish the content as they see fit. AFAIK, nobody's made a fortune off of my work (which, I admit, would bug the crap out of me), but some people have been helped, which is pretty cool. I wonder if WebMonkey will consider doing the same thing.

I have several email addresses that do absolutely nothing but get spam. They're the byproduct of examples in The Idocs Guide to HTML. I currently forward the email to /dev/null. I'd be happy to forward them to you instead.

I want to be the first hacker to have a server powered by one of these things. Then I can have a great web button: "Powered by Poop".

-Miko

My wife Starflower and I have been volunteering for the Rescue Mission of Roanoke, a Christian organization that provides meals, shelter, and other needed services to the homeless in the Roanoke area. It's a great place and Starflower and I are very proud to help out there.

One evening I was having dinner with Joy, the director of the mission, and she mentioned that her computer had crashed a dozen times that day. Out of habit I said that that sort of thing doesn't happen in Linux. She got very interested and said that I was the fourth person to say that, so tell her more about this Linux thing. Well, I gave her the standard pitch, talking about the value and quality of open source in general and Linux in particular. I told her about LTSP and how the mission could make life a lot easier with a set of thin clients and one good server. I talked about how great and helpful the open source community is. I even mentioned that Larry Wall (I'm doing the database project in Perl) is an evangelical Christian. Joy was very interested in all of this.

The following week, I presented a requirements document for a new database system using Apache, PostGres and Perl. I call the system Joyis, and you're welcome to read through the document yourself.

My intention was to develop the system on a volunteer basius. The management team had a better idea: they offered me a full time job on the spot. I accepted on the spot. I'll be developing Joyis for the next couple months, then migrating the entire mission to a completely open source infrastructure: Linux, LTSP, OpenOffice.org, Evolutions, and of course, Joyis.

The pay ain't much, but we can get by on it. On the plus side, I get to spend all my time in my favorite development environments, working my own hours, and creating a system that will actually help people and make the world a better place. When I'm done, Joyis will be released open source so that other homeless organization can use it. Keep an eye on SourceForge for the first release in a month or so.

The Way Out People have already changed the HTTP headers for the site. I wonder if they actually changed the server, though. Is there a non-felony way to get other information about the server?

Of course, some might argue that it's time we change the way the web works, but personally I like the web the way it is now, and I say this as someone could probably benefit from pay-per-page.

Personally, I feel no need for strife to make life interesting. The challenge of my latest programming project and the excitement of may extracurricular activities makes for a happily interesting life.

An example: the suit. You know (and probably hate) the kind of outfit I'm talking about: matching pants and jacket, a stiff shirt, a tie. It's gone through a lot of different variations, but it's recognized the world over as the official uniform of "business". Happily, it's not the way all business must be transacted anymore, but it's still a common symbol of "business". Somehow this distinctly European invention is now worn in China, Africa, South America and occasionally even in Silicon Valley.

Proponents of globalism say that it's a good thing because it spreads good values around the world, e.g. democracy. Opponents say it's a bad thing because it spreads bad things around the world, e.g. powerful, corrupt corporations.

On balance, I think globalism is a positive trend. Democracy is more popular now than it has even been in the history of the world, and this is due in large part to the spread of capitalism and democratic thought. I acknowledge the problems and hope we'll continue to resolve them, but I don't think the solution lies in artificially compartmentalizing the world in the hope that each compartment magically solves its own problems.

I write and run the Idocs Guide to HTML which contains a lot of JavaScript. I give away the JavaScripts for free, asking only that the copyright notice be kept in place. The copyright notices are in the JavaScript comments, so there's no effect on the user-interface. Nevertheless, I have seen many places where my scripts are used but the copyright gone.

One person even asked for help on using a script while blatantly refering me to a page where the copyright was gone. Sheesh.

The frustrating thing is that I get several emails every day telling me how useful my site is to people, but tips don't accompany the emails. About 90% of the time a request for help accompanies the compliment. I'm glad that I help these people, and I really do develop the site as an act of love, not profit-seeking, but I have to admit it's getting old being told that my site is more helpful than the stack of books they bought ... but of course they probably spent well over $100 for a stack of books but don't send me $5 for the help I provided.

I started the tip jar as a "what-the-hell" thing. Now I'm considering taking it down because I'm worried that it's building more resentment in me than when I just didn't have it at all.

<IRONY> On the other hand, O'Reilly paid me $16,000 to write a book for them (including the final payment approving the final draft), then decided to cancel the book. So I'm not getting paid for content I do publish and I did get paid for content that wasn't published. </IRONY>

Miko O'Sullivan

The frustrating thing is that I get several emails every day telling me how useful my site is to people, but tips don't accompany the emails. About 90% of the time a request for help accompanies the compliment. I'm glad that I help these people, and I really do develop the site as an act of love, not profit-seeking, but I have to admit it's getting old being told that my site is more helpful than the stack of books they bought ... but of course they probably spent well over $100 for a stack of books but don't send me $5 for the help I provided.

I started the tip jar as a "what-the-hell" thing. Now I'm considering taking it down because I'm worried that it's building more resentment in me than when I just didn't have it at all.

<IRONY> On the other hand, O'Reilly paid me $16,000 to write a book for them (including the final payment approving the final draft), then decided to cancel the book. So I'm not getting paid for content I do publish and I did get paid for content that wasn't published. </IRONY>

Miko O'Sullivan

The frustrating thing is that I get several emails every day telling me how useful my site is to people, but tips don't accompany the emails. About 90% of the time a request for help accompanies the compliment. I'm glad that I help these people, and I really do develop the site as an act of love, not profit-seeking, but I have to admit it's getting old being told that my site is more helpful than the stack of books they bought ... but of course they probably spent well over $100 for a stack of books but don't send me $5 for the help I provided.

I started the tip jar as a "what-the-hell" thing. Now I'm considering taking it down because I'm worried that it's building more resentment in me than when I just didn't have it at all.

<IRONY> On the other hand, O'Reilly paid me $16,000 to write a book for them (including the final payment approving the final draft), then decided to cancel the book. So I'm not getting paid for content I do publish and I did get paid for content that wasn't published. </IRONY>

Miko O'Sullivan

I'm not fond of popup ads either, but popups do have their place. I find them handy for help links that provide extra help on something in a form without having to leave the form.

Miko O'Sullivan

I'm not fond of popup ads either, but popups do have their place. I find them handy for help links that provide extra help on something in a form without having to leave the form.

Miko O'Sullivan

So, no Internet connection, no places to plug in your laptop, and no networked games. Pac-man and other old-fashioned games would be permitted (they're preety much no-tech these days).

For added "get away from it all", line the walls with lead (or some other dense metal) to prevent cell phone transmission and recieving. See this article about the movement to ban cell phones from some public places. There are also apparently some paints and wallpapers under development for this express purpose (sorry, I couldn't find any details).

Keep in mind that geeks don't tend to be a heavy drinking bunch, so try to find a non-alchohol revenue stream. Furnishings should be large tables where people can congregate in groups of three to six. Encourage people to hold small meetings there (because they can't be interrupted). This would foster a revenue stream of snacks and non-alchohol refreshments.

Miko

My wife and I are constituents of yours in Blacksburg, VA.

Reading through a recent American Bar Association network article about the ridiculous PriceLine patents, I was delighted to see your denunciation of the PriceLine patent:

"In calling for reform of the patent system, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., ridiculed the PTO for granting the PriceLine patent. There was nothing novel or nonobvious behind it except its use in cyberspace, he insisted. 'The market economy of the Western world and the theory of microeconomics is predicated on individuals setting a price at which they are willing to purchase something.' "

As you know, Blacksburg has quite a few high-tech firms. The continued growth of our local economy relies on a legal system that reflects the honest and appropriate use and protection of intellectual property, not the gouging of loopholes and mistakes from an ill-informed government agency.

Keep up the good work!

- Miko O'Sullivan
Idocs.com

Sounds a lot like the "PayPal Tip Jar" icon I've seen on a few sites (like Mikodocs Guide to HTML)... Doubt that will keep Amazon's hunger for patents at bay, though. Either way, it's a really good idea and I hope to see it on more sites-- I know I would use it.