Happy Halloween!

Yes, I'm fully aware it's not Halloween yet. But we're having our party tonight and the house is having its tomorrow, so close enough.

Now, before anyone complains about being offended, I would like to point out that I am already a reverend (proof) of the Universal Life Church. Like many, many other people, but a reverend nonetheless.

Ka-switched!

My first post using Ubuntu! I've also got 50% more hard drive, 100% less hard drive suck, and a better surge protector!

About Damn Time

I finally bought an uninterruptable power supply - the Tripp Lite SmartPro UPS. It normally costs $210, but I got it at Costco for $100. It slices, it dices, it keeps my fucking computer from catching fire. So far, my monitor, power supply, and hard drive have all died, all in manners consistent with power problems. That, and the lights in my old apartment flickered, and the power in this one has gone out so many times that Jeff and I have adopted the "not it!" system for who has to reset the circuit breaker. So hopefully this will solve the problem.

Also, Caty is giving me a ride up to Worcester on Wednesday. I'll be back in time to party with Rowe and the gang for the second half of fall break.

Newbuntu

Hey, the new version of Ubuntu Linux is out! This week, I will make the big switch.

Could it be?

I've enjoyed my hiatus of phone, but if this means what I think it means, I may be in contact with the n00b world soon enough. I shudder to think of my voice mail.

Update: Ok, I've managed to call some people. The voice mail wasn't bad - it was chiefly "I met Billy Corgan!" and "Uh.... what's up.... and stuff....." from various people. The phone will probably work intermittently until it is fully charged.

Open Source Wiki

So lately, I've been thinking about open software. For starters, I'm going to switch to Ubuntu Linux when I replace my hard drive over break. Also, I've been thinking about starting a wiki for GPL software development. That is, I download the wiki software, set up a server, and make a few tweaks like section editing on loops, a "download it!" button, etc. I'm aware of Wikisource, but the code there is public domain, not GPL, so I can't just take preexisting GPL code and add it. I'd want to to take full advantage of the momentum the GPL has already gathered. Not that I've got anything against BSD, but it's not shiny enough for me.

Some things I'm pondering before I start the project...

• What legal issues might arise out of this?
• How might I address the security weakness of public wikis? I'd imagine that people wouldn't be willing to run programs that had malicious code some scum added on.
• Has anyone tried this with GPL code yet? If so, how did it fare?
  

How viable do you folks think this idea is? Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Apparently, contributions to Wikisource are under the GNU FDL, not the public domain. Unfortunately, the GNU FDL is incompatible with the GNU GPL used by Linux. I'd want the whole site to use the same licensing scheme, so project code snippets could be quoted in discussion and then moved back, etc. So now, I have even MORE questions!
Can I license non-code discussion pages under the GPL? Can I just slap a dual license on the discussion pages?

I like the idea, but this red tape is giving me a headache.

Hair!

You know, I was thinking about getting a haircut, but then I said to myself, "Justin, someday you will be bald." So, I'm enjoying my youth, and letting it grow for a little while before I get the crew cut again. I've got a big job interview in a couple weeks, and plan to whore out as much as possible.

Also: Yesterday, I got into PTN! Go me! Now, I get to rant to the new guys about back when "the house was a house".