use Perl

Anyway, thank you RIAA, you treated my family to a nice dinner last night and paid my kids' allowance for the week...

...Now, off to download more music.

So.... Some of Microsofts code has been "leaked".

If you are and Open Source programmer, or even thinking of being one in the future... Do EVERYONE a favor and don't look at the source code!

Why? Am I worried about the possible future legal ramifications???

HELL NO! I'd hate for Open Source software to become as buggy and insecure as Microsofts crap!

So PLEASE, keep up the AWESOME job Open Source developers! Leave the bugs and security holes to the fine folks in Redmond...

Thanks.

Dear SCO,

Haahaahaaahaaahaaaaahaaa. Bwaahaahaaaaa. AAAAhhhhaaaaahaaaahaaaaaa. ... and Darl, I am sending you a 55 gallon drum of KY-Jelly for when you get to meet "bubba" at your new country club - Federal Pound Me In The Ass Prison...

Yours truly,

Brent

Here is my page, documenting my purchase of a SCO license...

:o)

I just put up a quick message to SCO on my web site. www.perlguy.net . I tried to keep it simple so they would not have to read...

The stupidity amazes me...

So, I downloaded Metallica's new CD over the weekend. No, I didn't use a terrible, evil P2P program... I simply went to the NNTP newsgroups and got it like I always do...

Anyway, I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad that I didn't pay even a penny for this steaming pile of crap! It sounds like they were TRYING so desperately to make music, but failed miserably...

I was so overjoyed that they were able to work the "F" word into a song also - that way they can get the "Parental Advisory" sticker on the CD and millions of grade-school kiddies will buy it!

Man, what a piece of crap.

Haahaa, just kidding.

I was trying to show someone at our church yesterday a video clip of a fight on ESPN.com... They had a computer running Windows XP if I remember correctly... Anyway, I tried clicking on the link and got a message saying that this file (a .wmf file) was not compatible with the player (Microsoft's own media player)...

At home, on my Linux box, I simply viewed the source of the page and popped the URL of the video into MPlayer and WOW! I could watch the video!

I just cannot fathom why, when all you need to show is some low-quality video clip, sites like ESPN.com feel compelled to only offer a file that has been encoded by the "codec of the week" from Microsoft!

I am just glad that I run Linux since it seems more compatible with Windows media that Windows itself!

So, over the weekend I got an email from someone who bought my latest book "Perl Database Programming" because it was listed on this site...

Note: I've removed the guy's name from the email to prevent any embarrasment...

The whole email follows:

Saw your ad on usePerl and bought your book.
Listing differ on website from those ( Ch. 2 ) in the book.

Yep, there are some changes

Listing 2.1 fails because you apparently no longer maintain the databases. (Err is: Unknown MySQL server Host 'dbserver.perlguy.net).

Of course, that was just an example, I am not maintaining an open database connection for the whole world to use!

I am sick of being ripped off by fellow Christians.

Wow, I thought that this was VERY harsh and uncalled for. So, am I to assume that since the book is not perfect, I am ripping people off?! Also, the problem mentioned above about the database connection - is NOT a problem with the book.

You say it's a new book and the imprint shows 2003 and the website says 2 Oct 2002.

I said it was new? Where? My description of the book was VERY non-descriptive!

Where's the errata page? Line 8, page 25 spells "dbi::mysql" as dBi::mysql" for example.

You got me here! I have not done a good enough job and prepared an errata page for this book. I am sorry and will try to get one up in the very near future.

Can you help?

Sure, you insult me and accuse me of ripping you off, but can I help you?

Actually, since I *am* Christian and I *do* care - I would be happy to do what I can, within reason! No, I won't set up a server that the whole world can use, but I will do my best to get an errata page together for the book - it is long overdue.

I paid $40 for this on your usePerl say-so.

Actually, my usePerl post said "Go get it, or just send me a couple bucks and save yourself the reading!" - I would have preferred the cash :o)

Sorry for the rant, but this email just struck a nerve with me. Writing a book is a lot of work for little reward. Publishers also place some rigid demands and sometimes want unreal deadlines. This book was actually supposed to be in the "Bible" series, but they wanted it to be rushed to market much quicker than was possible, so a lot was cut.

Even though I am a Christian, I can't help but get irate about the ASSHOLES who are directing our government, and our laws...

By ASSHOLES, I mean hollywood.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, appearing as a friend of the court, also sided with the industry, describing DeCSS as a "burglary tool" built for "entering and stealing the property" of the movie studios. Lockyer warned the court in stark terms that California's motion picture, music and technology industries would all suffer grave financial losses if trial courts had to treat computer code as speech when considering legal bids to suppress a program.

I am sorry, but when I watch a DVD on my Linux box that I PURCHASED (the DVD AND the Linux box), I find it disgusting that I am being called a thief, criminal, and a liar by hollywood.

Hollywood (MPAA, DVD-CSS, et al). Please, explain to me how I am causing you harm?! I bought the DVD, I own DVD players too, but by choosing to watch it on my computer, that somehow causes you to lose money?! Am I supposed to pay you each time I watch it on my Linux box - but not in my regular DVD player?!

I guess I am missing something here. DeCSS for me, and 99% of the others out there who REGULARLY USE IT, is used so that we can CHOOSE what we watch OUR LEGALLY PURCHASED movies on.

Why can't hollywood, the courts, and our government figure that out?

...if only the horseless carriage people had lobbyists as powerful as hollywood does these days, we'd still be driving horses...

So, I am finally back use.perl, after about a year away. Does anyone really care, well probably not, but I don't either.

I am now at a job as Washington University in St. Louis, working in the Human Genome department. It is super-cool and I get to use Perl every day!

http://genome.wustl.edu

Bye!