What Is All That Crap? -->

If you've ever looked at the side column of this blog and wondered what the hell all the lists/pictures/links are, here's your answer from the top down.

"About Me" is just what it portends. Click the link if you want to read more about my interests and answers to a ridiculous question.

"Links" is a section I originally updated manually to include links to blogs or sites I check regularly. Truth is, I don't really use that myself - I use Bloglines to read my friends' blogs. That list is for you, the reader. There's a cool way to automate a list of links for your own blog called Blogrolling. With the new Blogger tools, it's much easier to simply create a Blogroll, then copy the code they give you and pop it into a new template container. (Sounds complicated but much easier than trying to find the right spot in the template HTML to do it.)

"Archives" is just that - the old posts in chronological order.

The Flickr badge is a cool utility that you can create for yourself if you have a Flickr account. Here's the link to that utility.

The next badge is a clickable link to the main Blogger page (for anyone that's inspired and wants to create their own free blog.) I like Blogger and certainly don't mind advertising here.

"Sub| Bloglines" badge is a clickable link that automatically adds my feed (new posts) to your Bloglines account. If you find yourself reading more than five blogs or web sites in a day, I highly recommend Bloglines.

"Amazon W. List" badge is a direct link to my wish list. If you have been inspired by this blog feel free to buy me anything on the list. (It's also a way to see what kind of music/books/games I'm into at the moment.)

"CC - Some Rights Reserved" is a badge that links to the rules of the Creative Commons license. This is one of the coolest ideas regarding copyright protection and it doesn't get much press. The idea here is that someone that creates something (i.e. me and this written blog) owns the copyright to the work. The CC license allows you to copy my written work and reproduce it as you see fit as long as you're not making money from it. (If you are, I simply want to be part of the action!) Essentially, I'm saying that if you were to take a chunk of this and put it in your dissertation, it's not plagiarism. You have my permission.

"My Del.icio.us" is actually a list of the most recent sites I've visited and wanted to remember. It's essentially a web-based version of my browser "favorites" or "bookmarks" but it's available for everyone to see. You can search my links (or anyone's) by tags (keywords) and create your own list for free.

That's it!