getting drupal's big picture

The Pro Drupal Dev book is great. Halfway through having learned about modules, nodes, hooks, menu items, etc I was having trouble pulling together the big picture: how do all these make a site?

Took a step back and thought about a target site archetype: sections, pages, page types, page sections/modules. Mapping the site out this way, creating a page taxonomy (page types and their content components) I was better able to relate to the nodes I’ll need, modules, and even admin behavior and permissions (what should be enabled/disabled, and for whom).

This will help a lot as I go forward with the reading (will probably be revisiting a few chapters) and will probably be revisiting this (both the notes I took and the exercise itself) several times in the near future.

See more progress on: learn drupal

Support a Music Revolution - Ardour.org

More importantly, keep someone doing good in the world out of the kindness of his own heart from having to quit his altruism altogether.

Ardour is an Open Source digital audio workstation. Think ProTools, FL-Studio (formerly known as FruityLoops), ACID Pro and other home to professional studio production tools. Now think FREE as in beer and speech. The tools above range in price from $200-$2000 per license. Ardour is an industrial strength tool, that's free AND runs on a similarly free operating system - Linux (something those other clowns DON'T do).

As Ardour's creator put it, when you buy a car, the hood isn't welded shut. Likewise with Ardour, except you don't have to pay anything for it. You download it, you install it, you own it, and it's TRULY yours. Tinker with it, install it anywhere you want as many times as you want, upgrade it for free, copy and share it with all your friends. ALL of them! Let's see Microsoft offer you all that!!

Huh? What's that? You don't make music and you don't use Linux, so what does this mean to you? Think of a kid with an old used hand-me-down computer running a free operating system (Linux) who uses a beat-up hand-me-down guitar and this free audio production software to make beautiful music that will finally blow all the nauseating crap you hate off of the airwaves once and for all.

It's a dream, I know, but that can't happen if the developers can't afford to support it, upgrade it, and keep it solid and competitive. Doing that is a fulltime job that Ardour's creator and contributing developers do for free. All they ask is a dollar and a dream...a dream of better software, a dream of better music.

There's more to the HeliOS story

After a teacher put a kid in detention and confiscated the Linux CD's he was handing out when that kid was demonstrating a Linux computer donated by the HeliOS project, then contacted HeliOS claiming that handing out software free-of-charge was probably illegal, public outcry at Slashdot and Digg followed. Of course, there's more to this story...I was impressed with this story because it exemplified the term "learning moment". And it resulted in the type of real learning, both technical and social, that work with Open Source uniquely brings.

read more | digg story

Free Your Mind, and Your iPhone Will Follow: an open letter

I wrote the following in response to an email I just received from freetheiphone.org c/o freepress.net. I applaud their efforts to pressure Apple and the FCC to play fair with the release of the iPhone on a proprietary network. Supposedly we own the telecommunications bandwidth and the companies are just renting, but for the past 6 years at least, it's felt like it's the other way around. As I said, I applaud their work thus far and I urge you to take the time to read up on the issues. But as you'll see below, I implore freepress/freetheiphone both that it's time we made our own game and instead let them play catchup.

Apple will continue to work with proprietary software and make sweetheart deals with whomever they choose as it suits their interests and those of their shareholders. As Microsoft didn't feel the pinch until Linux came along and exposed the naked emperor, Apple will sit on its pedestal meting out its favor to those who prostrate themselves until something puts the magnifier to its nethers and reveals that indeed there is no there there.

I give you, OpenMoko: http://www.openmoko.com/

Take REAL action. Create a fund to hire developers full time to make this a project real working reality - one that works with all GSM/GPRS networks globally, that is not enslaved to iTunes, MusicMatch, or the other media mongers, and that transcends whatever bandwidth the FCC (Federal Communications Cyndicate [sic]) seeks to control.

You must leave the matrix to fight The Matrix. With mindfully dedicated backing Neo1973 (http://www.openmoko.com/products-neo-base-00-stdkit.html) can be that red pill.

I endorse your efforts to reign in the FCC and return them to service of the people, for the people, and by the people. Michael Powell is gone but his ghost yet remains. Exorcise him and the rest of the flunkies from all our airwaves and bandwidth!

As far as Apple and others like them are concerned, corporations are no longer beholden to the people who issue their charters and allow them their 14th amendment "right" to operate as citizens (http://www.thecorporation.org/), Thus, like any torch wielding mob does to unrepentant sociopaths, you've got to hit 'em where it hurts. Hit 'em hard. Then bite it off. I know a mad little window smashing penguin that'd be awful proud.

Yours,
The AFroNaut