Attribution Required !

As a serious writer for the past few months, I've been dealing with a very common issue.

How do I use content - articles or images off the internet with proper attribution ?

In fact its a given, that its safe to use content under an open license for mixing with your content.

I still remember an instance when I used an image url from philip greenspun's site without proper attribution and resulted in a weird image loading up after several days. This was a program driven content filter that possibly checked for certain details before sending a standard un-called image.

Ever since that incident, I ensure proper attribution for images are included without offending anyone. I typically include a "References or Credits" section at the bottom of the article to attribute the original content properly.

You may not be the best writer or photographer and may want to re-use some available community content under an open license like Creative Commons. But what does it mean when it says attribution-required !

Make sure you understand what attribution-required content sites imply.

Reference :
Attribution Required - StackOverflow
Quoting, Referencing, Citing & Not Copyright Violating
Howto Formally Cite a blog

Addicted !

I've been telling Jenny recently that I've become addicted to blogging. I keep processing a lot of events with the perspective of a blogger. Some times it bugs Jenny !!

What can I share with others ?

• Famous captions, funny one-liners, Understated pics.

• Anything meaningful and informative that can help others.

• Stuff I can write-up in order to be used later.

• Maybe thoughts that my family & friends can appreciate. 

The only explanation that I have at this moment is that writing is addictive or blogging is ?

I'm hardly bothered by the audience that reads the content. It just helps me write better if I know its getting published on the web.

The one motivation that I have is the simple post from 2007 on Howto apply for an International Drivers Permit in Pune.

The article was written in a fit to help other drivers and since one did not exist with complete information on how to get it done yourself.

The helplessness I felt at the hands of the Driving school folks can only be emphasized by writing a good article.

Here's to assert the need for everyday bloggers who can help pass-on valuable know-how !! 

Fascinated by Wordpress

After creating a bunch of blogs on blogger.com , creating a new entry on the wordpress.com blog site. The reason for this, is an itch that I’ve suddenly felt. 

Whenever I looked at a well designed site with a great concept, I end up looking at the bottom footer to know if there is any reference to the type of blog platform used.

Invariably every cool site seems to be using WordPress. Blogger seems to be used by the less technical and purely content driven folks.

Tried the following domains : alphacs, alphacons, alphateam. The platform is so popular that all the blog names are taken. Feels good that this blog name exists.

Movie in the background : The Count of Monte Cristo.

Password Protected Post on wordpress (password : test)

Weblog Client

Search Terms : Weblog client 








Experience with various Weblog clients to increase productivity. After careful deliberation moved the article under Techie Hacks !

Categorization of content is better when its published under separate pseudonyms. Need to be more careful in future to avoid content disruption.

Google Doodle Copyright © google.com 

Serial Blogger

Copyright © The Backlight

Previously titled : Multi-Blog Tips



















Well written / visualized article on maintaining multiple blogs effectively. I for one, think there are multiple advantages to keeping your topics on separate blogs.

Have been slowly becoming more productive writing my thoughts on a variety of topics on blogs instead of paper and its environment friendly too !

Creating a blog to manage topic-wise content happened on a whim since it felt better organized.

Why writers need multiple blogs ?

It almost feels like I'm writing a book of thoughts pertaining to a set of hobbies or interests that could fluctuate over time. Slowly, I'm observing a small pattern emerge from the whole process of containing the writing into their own identities.

For now the urls are all sub-urls within my own domain, but I've checked the availability of individual domains (on impulse again) just to see if it fits into the broader plan.

I'm treading a very thin line of creating content and formulating a long-term plan/goal together. Don't want to end up changing the footer every day instead of adding proper content.

I've created this snippet with the sole prerogative of initiating & collecting data on forging multiple signature blogs without indulging in the headaches involved.

Finally !

Managed to recover the password to this LJ account. 

As part of the plan to merge all the content here -
1. Exported LJ Content using Livejournal2blogger tool into an xml 
2. Imported the xml content here using the Settings/Import Blog tool.

It seems nostalgic to not only get hold of some content written in the past but also being able to use the LJ interface after ~ 7.5 years.

History

Here is a timeline of various blog accounts created over time :

Defunct (blogspot, livejournal, wordpress):

• December 30 2004 : anthonyraj.blogspot.com 
• February 19, 2005 : anthony_raj.livejournal.com
• February 6, 2006 : anthonyraj.wordpress.com 
• Februray 22, 2006 : paradoxsoft.wordpress.com 
• July 15, 2007 : anthony-raj.blogspot.com

Active (blogspot.com) :

• June 17, 2007 : myloudthinking
• July 10, 2007 : campingthoughts
• October 31, 2010 : dreamtalkies
• November 29, 2012 : renewedthoughts, psychofoodie, criminalthought
• December 3, 2012 : schoolingthoughts 
• December 4, 2012 : alphacsthoughts
• December 6, 2012 : startuptalks, techiehacks

There's been a lot random blogging over a period of 8 years.

Have managed to consolidate most of the content @ a single location.

I'm still not sure if there are any more blogs still floating on some server.

Using JSON

Link on Yahoo's Developer Page about JSON ,
a good example on how to practically use JSON instead of (traditional) XML.

Bag n Baggage

IMG_0163.JPG
Originally uploaded by Joh Johannsen.

Cute Doggie .... 2 kids and a dog ... thats a load of trouble.

Fr. Allwyns Program

Yesterday was my First Experience at Video Coverage.
"It was fun !" (in short)

Loved every bit of the program. In fact I felt viewing
the whole progam thru' camera enriched my experience.

Thinking of Learning Ruby

Hmm :) Ruby as in precious stones ...
Lets research something before learning this language !

Lots of Internal things in the company that eat your
productive time and stress you out -
1. Team Meetings
2. Apraisal - Self,Peer,Manager

Todays Links
Blog Comparision Chart
Wordpress Sample Sites
Smart Programming

Knowledge Management

Thinking of writing a whitepaper on Knowledgemanagement.

Considering my latest 9-5 project is about KM Group @ PSPL.
This is a fun phase of my career, just as Antarix was at some stage.

Currently we have setup Drupal as a Blogs tool , although we have Twiki doing most of the job. There is some inclination towards Drupal besides being in PHP, which I havent quite understood.

Need to setup livejournal code to give them a taste of a scalable Blogging solution.
Wordpress not sure about the scalability yet.

Email Etiquette

My aunt asked me what does EOM on a subject line
mean and I ended up sending her a link on Email Etiquette.

She's a professional and surely knows about etiquettes
on email, but had never used it around that much since
its not used properly in certain circles.

A lesson learned : I have not read up on the email nuances
much , but its become a habit after having seen / written thousands
of email .

Kind of second nature that you dont realize how
you acquired it. Maybe someone sent me such a mail and it
made sense.

Deep Satisfaction

Proof again that sharing technology is exciting.
Its a truely rewarding experience when the candidate
understands and appreciates the value of knowledge.

Todays experience with Fr. Ernest has helped me
understand how exciting the teaching profession
can be, provided you have a good pupil. 

You definitely learn when you ...
1. RTFM (Read The Frigging Manual)
2. Experiment Yourself
3. Explain How Stuff Works
4. Demo or Show Off
5. Write Docs

Interesting Weblogs

Python Desktop Server Weblog is a tool that competes with
Radio Userland. Interesting to note the usefulness of Blogs and Portals.

Having a tool like Manila and Radio Userland , shows the typical usefulness
of having an easy to use interface. It should not be surprising that this tool
was first made available for the Mac users. (sample account)

An intutive and intelligent tool makes the web experience meaningful.
We have to worry about the content and nothing more.
Adding usefulness comes in the form of plugins once the basic UI is given
to a platform.

Truely enjoyed the inventiveness of the Edit feature.
Wiki Tools are a huge success due to the easy to edit feature which in
turn gives the ease of use paradigm for collaboration a 100% success rate.

Content Management

Analysing a few content management / Portal solutions for a Project.

There is more than one good solution to choose from :

A. Plone / Zope
B. Drupal
C. Wiki (Twiki , Media Wiki .. )
D. PostNuke
E. ACS from ArsDigita
F. Mason
G.Slashcode
H. Mambo

Viva La Open Source.

Startups Are Fun

Paul Grahams HOWTO on startups.
Interestring reading for anyone who loves Pauls writing.

Onfolio takes RSS , Blogs etc to another level by giving a browser
embedded client.

Tsunami : Tidal Waves

Supermans Comics has a very quaint reference
to the terrible destructive powers of tidal waves and earth quakes.

He says that " Earth quakes and Tidal waves might easily maim and kill more people
than all of World War II" .

This is in context to boosting his self image as one
who protects Earth from deadly acts of nature.

Reminds one of the recent Tsunami near Thailand.
If only there were a Superman to save people from such disasters.

IT Conversations

Its notable how audio can transport you to another world.
Probably not in the same league as video though .

Take a look at IT Conversations and get to
hear some notable programmers, inventors & visionaries talk about some interesting things ..

The site streams interviews with people like Paul Graham , Steve Wozniak, Tim O'reilly,
Philip Greenspun , to name a few. There are categories like Open Source and Mac OS X
and some Geek radio streaming which keeps you entertained.

Superman

Point your browser to and understand
some of the dilemas of a super hero.

Makes some pretty interesting reading on a long boring night (Yawn).