The biggest issue you might encounter is actually removing the old doorknob, depending how old the door is.

Here are some tips for removing the doorknob:

1. The round trim, or plates, are called the Rosettes. It is best to loosen the Rosettes first. Some Rosettes snap into place while other may be screwed into the wood door. To loosen the Rosette plates, simply unscrew them. If they snap in place, you will need to pry the Rosettes from the door mechanism. Take special precaution as to not damage the wood – search around the Rosette and you will find a small indentation where a small screwdriver can be used to pry it from the door.

2. Once the Rosettes are loose, you can then remove the door knobs. The knobs are attached together by a ‘Spindle Rod’. Some old-style door knobs have a simple set-screw at the base of the knob. Loosen the set screw and you can then un-screw the door knobs from the spindle. Some other door knobs have a small indentation at the base of the knob – this style is ‘spring loaded.’ To remove these knobs, simply push in the metal indentation at the base and the knob will easily come off of the spindle rod.

3. Once one knob is removed, you should now be able to pull the knobs apart and out of the door completely. Once the doorknobs are out, you’ll note two screws holding the door mechanism in place. Remove both screws and the bolt.

4. You may also wish to replace the strike plate. The strike plate is the small metal plate that catches the bolt or lock and it is located on the door frame opposite to the knob. Note: This is an unnecessary step in most doorknob replacement jobs.

Once the knobs are removed, you are ready to replace the door with the new hardware.

Here are the steps to replace the doorknob from WikiHow:

Step 1: Obtain a replacement doorknob. Besides the style, look for something solid that will hold up to regular use and last a long time. Also, consider whether this will go on a bedroom, bathroom or closet. Should it have a privacy lock? If you have lever-style handles and a locking handle, you will need to get a right- or left-handed handle appropriate to the door direction. Buy a doorknob with a pawl the same length as the one you are replacing.

Step 2: Remove the faceplate screws. Remove the two screws on the face plate. Twist counterclockwise to remove.

Step 3: Remove the screws holding the handle. Remove the two screws on the knob plate. The handles will come loose, so be prepared for both sides to fall.

Step 4: Remove the handles. Pull the handles off both sides.

Step 5: Push out the faceplate and pawl. Push the faceplate and pawl out through the opening.

Step 6: Remove the strike plate. Loosen the two screws on the strike plate and remove the strike plate.

Step 7: Replace the face plate, if needed. Some doorknobs come with a choice of face plates. On this one, you can replace the face plate by prying it off with a flat-blade screwdriver. Select the face plate that matches the opening in your door.

Step 8: Size them up. Size up the new strike plate and pawl mechanisms with the holes in your door and door jamb.

Step 9: Adjust the openings. Use a hammer and chisel to adjust the openings in the door and door jamb, if necessary.

Step 10: Push the new pawl mechanism into the door. Push the new pawl mechanism and face plate into the door. Be sure the pawl faces the way the door will close, so the slanted side will meet the strike plate. Pushing with your hands should work. Otherwise, you may have to drill the hole a bit larger. Alternatively, you can place a block of wood against the face plate and tap on the block of wood with a hammer. The black plastic collar shown in the photo can help to take up extra diameter if the opening is loose

Step 11: Screw it in. Screw down the pawl mechanism, making sure it is as level as possible.

Step 12: Insert the handles. Insert the handles into the door so that the square peg fits through the square opening and the screw holes align with the threaded cylinders on the other side. Check that levers and locks face the right directions.

Step 13: Screw on the handles. Insert and tighten the screws that hold the handle.

Step 14: Install the strike plate. Check that everything fits and closes properly, and make any necessary adjustments.

I also found this video from ExpertVillage:

Also, I didn’t include any places without a website (it’s 2012, people) but the ones with websites are still not forgiven cause they’re all just terrible.

• What is Panning: The process of sifting out your stones with water so that they settle to the bottom
• What is Sluicing or “High Banking”: A larger scale method of Panning, with a sluice box.
• What is Creeking: Panning in a river or body of water

The Emerald Hollow Mine | visit their website
Hiddenite, NC 1-866-600-GEMS

Emeralds.The Emerald Hollow Mine is the only emerald mine in the world that is open to the public for prospecting. Located in the heart of one of the only emerald bearing deposits on the North American continent, finds worth thousands of dollars are not at all uncommon here. They have slucing, creeking and digging for gems which is more than a lot of other places. Also, camping.

Sheffield Mine | visit their website
385 Sheffield Farms Rd., Franklin, NC 828.369.8383

Rubies and Sapphires. As featured on the TRAVEL CHANNEL. NATIVE Rubies & Sapphires (some will “STAR”) or Enriched Rainbow Buckets with Semi-Precious Gems from around the world. April 1 – October 31. Open 7 days a week from 10am-5pm. Admission includes 2 starter buckets. Mine rain or shine at covered flumes. Picnic tables, Snacks & Beverages. Gem Identification. Stone Cutting and Setting available. Camping area and cabins available.

Mason’s Ruby and Sapphire Mine | visit their website
6961 Upperburningtown Road. Franklin, NC 828-369-9742

Sapphires, pink and red rubies.This mine has an abundance of beautiful sapphires in all colors along with pink and red rubies. It’s one of Macon County’s oldest and most productive mines. One of the only mines with a guarantee that all will have success their first time. Dig your own dirt. Open April 1 to October 31, 7 days a week 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. . Located in the Burningtown Community off Route 28 North. Follow signs.

Gem Mountain Gemstone mine | visit their website
Hwy 226 Spruce Pine, NC 888-817-5829

Crabtree Emerald, Wiseman and Brushy Creek aquamarine, as well as moonstones, garnet, citrine, ruby, amethyst, sapphire and others. As seen on TLC. Covered flumes allow for prospecting rain or shine. All necessary equipment is supplied. Your stones will be inspected free of charge.

Crater of Diamonds State Park | visit their website
209 State Park Road Murfreesboro, AR (870) 285-3113

Diamonds of all colors of the rainbow can be found at Crater of Diamonds, but the three most common colors unearthed by park visitors are white, brown and yellow. Along with diamonds, over 40 types of rocks and minerals can found here, too. These rocks and minerals include lamproite, amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, quartz, calcite, barite and hematite. Adult fee is $6.50, Children are $3.50. Bring your own tools. Tools available for rental.

Royal Peacock Opal Mine | visit their website
1 Virgin Valley Road, Denio, NV (775) 941-0374

Opals.The Royal Peacock Opal Mines are located in the Virgin Valley of Northern Nevada, a region renowned for spectacular black fire opals. OPEN May 15 thru Oct. 15. Bank Digging $180.00 per day- per person, Tailings $75.00 per day per person. Children 12 and under with a paid adult dig free in the mine dumps and tailings only. Bring your own tools. Tools available to rent. Camp and RV sites available.

Emerald Village | Visit their website
McKinney Mine Rd, Little Switzerland, NC 828-ROK-MINE

Aquamarine, Emerald, Garnet, Smoky Quartz, Uranium and Fluorescent minerals as well as 60+ other different rocks & minerals. This Gemstone Mine guarantees a gem find every time. Sift through genuine mine ore. Comfortable shaded flumes where knowledgeable, friendly personnel will help you identify your gems. FREE admission to the Gemstone Mine. Children’s buckets are $7.50 and Adult buckets start at $10 and go all the way up to $1,000. Open Daily April 1, 2008- November 15, 2008.

Cotton Patch Gold Mines | visit their website
41691 Gurley Road New London, North Carolina 704-463-5797

Gold. They can melt down your findings into a single Nugget. Panning, Sluicing and HiBanking. Open Year round, but only open on the weekends December through March. Campground. All tools supplied. Adult Panning is $10.00, Children are $6. Sluicing rates vary.

Gem Mountain Sapphire Mines | visit their website
3835 Skalkaho Road, Philipsburg, MT 1-866-459-GEMS

Sapphires are some of the rarest gemstones in the world, but not at Montana’s Gem Mountain. Gem Mountain in Montana was first developed in the 1890s and since then has produced more than 180 million carats of Montana sapphires. Gem Mountain is family owned and operated by the Cooney Family for the purpose of entertaining treasure-seeking visitors from around the world. Open from May 19th through October 9th, they will keep the gate open for you seven days a week, from 9:00 am until 5:00 p.m (from Memorial Day to LaborDay, they extend their evening hours until 7 pm). You can purchase a single gravel bucket ($12 each). Or, try their Lucky Seven Deal (buy six for $72 and get one FREE). This is more of a “sifting” experience than a “mining” experience because they do all the work for you. All equipment provided.

Wegner Crystal Mines | visit their website
82 Wegner Ranch Road, Mt Ida Arkansas (870)867-2309

Quartz crystals. A great experience, learn first hand about geology and mining techniques. Plan on coming early to dig at out Phantom or Crystal Forest Mines to get the most out of your adventure. Tools and buckets are available to borrow with a refundable deposit. Must go as a group $22.00 per person ($220.00 daily minimum) for the whole day. This includes transportation to and from the mine with one of our miners who will act as your guide and help you make the most out of your dig experience. There are no hidden fees and you keep all that you find. Reservations required for mining. Panning and Sluicing needs no reservation. Adults $10.50 Kids under 11 and seniors $6.60. No Food. Mon – Fri 8:00 to 4:00.

Crystal Grove Diamond Mines | visit their website
161 Co. Highway 114 St. Johnsville, NY (800) KRY-DIAM

Herkimer Diamonds. Mine your own “Herkimer Diamonds” in beautiful upstate New York. 3 large areas, no claims. Rent tools or bring your own. Stay next door in their spacious, wooded campground-sites for tent or RV, camping cabins, modern facilities. Mining daily April through October, 8AM to dusk. Camping begins mid-April.

Himalaya Tourmaline Mine | Visit their website
26439 Highway 76, Santa Ysabel, CA 619-444-3731

Tourmalines. Dig your own pink and green California tourmalines from the world’s most famous tourmaline mine, the Himalaya Mine near beautiful Lake Henshaw in San Diego County, 20 miles east of Pala. Over 200,000 lbs. produced since 1898 including quartz crystals, lepidolite, topaz, morganite, and other pegmatite minerals. The prices for all you can dig gem screening at our main location is $75 per person per day. The cost of digging at and touring an active tourmaline mine is $95 per person per day. Buckets of very high grade gem pocket ore which can be taken home for screening are $50 each and there will be extra special $100 buckets as well. Bring a shovel and bucket, although some equipment will be available. Hours of operation are year round from 10am to 3pm.

Gold City Gem Mine | visit their website
9410 Sylva Rd., Franklin, NC 800.713.7767

Rubies, sapphires, citrine, silver topaz, garnet, amethyst, emeralds, iolite, tourmaline, ametrine, and peridot. Home of the 1061 carat sapphire found at Gold City, featured in PEOPLE WEEKLY, DISNEY ADVENTURES and ROCK & GEM Magazines. Native and Enriched Gemstones buckets. Gold Panning and Tumbling offered as well.. New and Improved large covered flume for Gem Mining rain or shine. New inside heated flume for cold days. Located on Highway 441, 6 miles North of Franklin. Open most of the year.

Rose Creek Mine | visit their website
115 Terrace Ridge Dr. Franklin, NC 828.349.3774

Rubies, sapphires, garnets, emeralds and so much more. Open Monday through Saturday in April, May, September and October and seven days a week in June, July and August, 9am to 5pm. Last new miner accepted at 4pm. Dig your own dirt, first bucket free with admission. Help for beginners, equipment supplied, covered flume line, clean restrooms, covered picnic tables, snacks. Five miles north of Franklin on Hwy 28, left on Bennett before river.

Green’s Farm Garnet Mines | view their website
End of Perkins Rd, Roxbury, CT

Almandine Garnet, Staurolite. Greens Farm Garnet Mine is an old, classic location. Large almandine garnet crystals to 1″ across can be found in both hard rock or loose in the soil. The old mine dumps are also scattered around the woods and provide loose crystals without much work. The garnet is a dark wine red to black color, and commonly dodecahedral crystals in a schist matrix. Much of the matrix is very soft, but the best garnets are found in the harder schist. $2.00 fee paid to owners. Slip under door if they are not home (visit website for more details). Bring hand tools, prybars, sledge hammers, insect repellent, food and water.

God I hope someone reads this post, it’s almost embarrassing how much time I spent on this blog entry. Between the non-existent websites and the obscure references, I’m pooped!

If anyone knows of a place to dig for Turquoise, let me know.

It turns out we were both a little right, and both a little wrong.

Raw food experts will tell you that raw food improves overall well-being, purification, longevity, gives you more energy, and is a cure for diseases like chronic fatigue syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and even cancer. Scientific evidence has yet to back up these claims.

It is also thought that cooking (heating foods above 116 degrees Fahrenheit) destroys vitamins and minerals and that cooked foods take longer to digest and tend to allow partially digested fats, proteins and carbohydrates to clog up our digestive system and arteries.

Organica’s manager Larry Weinstein, a longtime raw food enthusiast agrees that exposing these enzymes to heat and nearly all will be inactivated. The body, he says, then has to pick up the slack and make more of its own enzymes, using energy that it could’ve used for other things — like chewing a raw carrot.

But raw isn’t always best. Rutgers University and Taiwanese researchers at last spring’s annual American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco say that they found that the body more easily absorbs iron from 37 of 48 vegetables tested when they’re boiled, stir-fried, steamed, or grilled. Of note, the absorbable iron in cabbage jumped from 6.7% to 27% with cooking. That of broccoli flowerets rose from 6% to 30%. [source]

An article from 2000 by Tula Karras of WebMD says that tomatoes may also be best not in the salad, but in the sauce. A study published in the December 6, 1995 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that eating cooked tomatoes could improve your chances of avoiding prostate cancer. Harvard researchers studied men who ate lots of tomato sauce, including that in foods like pizza and spaghetti. Those who ate at least 10 servings of tomato sauce every week were 45% less likely to develop prostate cancer than men who ate fewer servings.

According to the Dec. 26 issue of ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a new study says that researchers evaluated the effects of three commonly-used Italian cooking practices — boiling, steaming, and frying — on the nutritional content of carrots, zucchini and broccoli. Boiling and steaming maintained the antioxidant compounds of the vegetables, whereas frying caused a significantly higher loss of antioxidants in comparison to the water-based cooking methods, they say. For broccoli, steaming actually increased its content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds touted for their cancer-fighting abilities.

“The findings suggest that it may be possible to select a cooking method for each vegetable that can best preserve or improve its nutritional quality”, the researchers say.

In conclusion.. it seems that Amander should have eaten her broccoli. I win.

Did you know you can also DIE from picking your nose? “The deadly threat of nose picking comes from the fact that the vein that takes blood away from your nose connects with ones that also drain your brain. So if you pick too vigorously, you could break skin and expose your system to the germs on your finger. Those germs could then cause an infection, which might spread through the blood vessels and clog up the vein that drains your brain. As a result, your brain could fill up like a water balloon and you could die.” [source]

And according to a new survey by Response Insurance, 17 percent of Americans admit they’ve nearly caused an automobile accident while picking their nose while behind the wheel. [source]

Anyhow, here are the celebrities that risk their lives to get the goods:

Nicky Hilton:
Pam Anderson:

Halle Berry:
Ethan Hawke:
Sting:
Michael Keaton:
Kelly Brook:
Jake Gyllenhaal :

Geoffrey Rush:

Manny Ramirez:

The Queen:

Looks like celebrities are human after all

 

So I’ve been thinking.. I know that in the past I’ve had dreams that are subconsciously telling me something is going wrong with my body. I had a dream about my teeth falling out for three days before I started feeling a serious infection in an old root canal that needed to be re-sealed (I eat a lot of candy).

So basically, dreaming takes place when our body reaches a deep state of sleep, called the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Cycle.

There are two theories, the psychological theory and the physiological theory.

Physiological: We dream because our brain needs to keep active so when our active brain shuts off, dreaming takes place.

• Proof #1: Supported by the fact that we learn the most in the first 7 years of life, and the first 7 years of life is also when we get the most REM sleep.
• Proof #2: Supported by the fact that our brain waves are the same while we are awake and active and when we are in the REM cycle. The state of half-sleep before and after the REM cycle is not the same, which shows how dreaming in the REM cycle picks it back up.

Psychological: The most popular theory is that dreaming takes place to sort of deal with the immediate concerns and emotions in our life at the moment, or weren’t able to think about/express during the day. In theory, if we addressed these emotions during the day, we shouldn’t be dreaming about them. Think of dreaming as “venting” I guess! Dreams should be able to tell us things about ourselves that we might only know in our subconscious. Depending on how clear you are with your emotions, you could have a dream about simply being swept away by a tidal wave, or you could dream about several scenarios mingling into one.

• Proof #1: There is no actual proof for this theory, only a strong a belief in it that goes back thousands of years.

So I guess you can think of this like an Agnostic. You either believe in the faith or the science.

Dis-proven theories:

Freudhad a theory that dreams were basically only wish-fulfillment systems, and that when you go into REM, your expectation dopamine pathway opens. This did not explain why people dreamed about anxiety, being murdered, or raped. It also was dis-proven because when you activate the expectation pathway, you also are activating consciousness. Which is a real contradiction.

Professor Allan Hobson of Harvard University and his colleague Robert McCarley believed in the activation synthesis theory, but the theory has been dis-proven so many times, it’s almost exhausting to explain. Basically, just before we go into REM, there are a few powerful electromagnetic spikes going on in the brain. The theory is that these spikes cause the brain to react, and to compensate, we dream. The problem with this is that they were saying that dreams had no meaning, they were totally random. Now with the newer tests we have we can prove what part of the brain the dreams come from, which happens to be the emotional part of the brain. Also dreams would have to be different every time, and we all know that people consistently roll into the same dream now and again. I know I have certain one with Ewan McGregor that I’m glad to repeat!

Francis Crick and Graeme Mitchison‘s theory suggested that we dream to forget. So basically our memory can only support so much and dreaming takes place to do some “spring cleaning” and knock out all of the unnecessary bits. The problem with this is that people on antidepressants that block REM sleep (monoamine oxidase inhibitors — MAOIs) should suffer memory loss. But they don’t. The two have made a lot of revisions to their theory but it continues to be dis-proven.

Sources:

• http://www.why-we-dream.com/othertheories.htm
• http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/dreams.asp
• http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/why_do_we_dream.html
• http://www.sciam.com/biology/article/id/why-do-we-dream
• http://www.dreamtree.com/Resources/Faqs/Faqs6-10.htm

But it’s a good to know. As I’m about to turn 25, I know the years the flying by and I guess it’s kind of good to know for all women, when it’s healthy and unhealthy to have one.

But first, I figured I’d put the more literal question out there.. If I want to plan my kids date of birth, and I’m kind of a super fertile myrtle who know’s its gonna be an easy wham-bam-thank-you-man… when should i be getting preggo?

January - Start “Knocking Boots” in April
February – Start “Getting Nookie” in May
March – Start “Doing the Wild Thing” in June
April – Start “Picking Cherries” in July
May – Start “Deep Sea Fishing” in August
June – Start “The Trouser Snake Boogie” in September
July - Start “Doing the Naughty”in October
August – Start “Planting Baby Seeds” in November
September – Start “Making The Beast With Two Backs” in December
October - Start “Hiding the Sausage” in January
November – Start “Making Whoopie” in February
December – Start “Filling the Spunk Bucket” in March

According to my research, 30 years old is the ultimate best time to have a child. It is before all of the real pregnancy complication issues arise, and it gives you the time to have a career, get married, maintain a stable home life, travel, and save up for your first born. However, if you plan to have two children, 27 is a better age because you will likely have your second around age 30.

The BENEFITS of having kids when you’re YOUNGER:

• It’s easier on your body (less complications)
• You have more energy for children
• Kids will be out of the house when you’re old
• More friends, bigger baby shower

The DRAWBACKS of having kids when you’re YOUNGER:

• Less money
• More of a chance for a “baby wedding” and higher divorce rates
• Bigger baby shower, friends with less cash to spend (haha)
• Strains on non-mommy friendships
• You have to make a lot of sacrifices
• Increased chance of credit card debt and bankruptcy

The BENEFITS of having kids when you’re OLDER:

• It’s easier to plan all those trips you told yourself you’d take
• It’s easier to start a career early in life
• More money to spend on the child
• Likeliness of a stable home environment is increased substantially
• You have more time for the 3-year waiting period recommended between getting married and having children

The DRAWBACKS of having kids when you’re OLDER:

• Increased risk of genetic defects, especially down-syndrome (after age 35)
• Increased risk of complications
• Increased likeliness to need fertility treatments (over age 45)
• Depending on how late you have your child, their grandparents could be long gone, there may be a large generation gap with cousins by the time they’re older
• Not more weight gain, but harder to lose the baby weight
• Kids will still be in the house as you get older
• At age 35, there is a 40 percent chance of a c-section delivery compared to 14 percent of first-time mothers in their 20s

Sources: Parenting.com, Storknet.com, Time.com, Duke.edu, BabyCenter.com, and Parents.com

According to Yahoo! Answers, and About.com, this is what one should do.. luckily I was smart enough to know the basics (aka take out the battery and don’t turn it on) before looking it up:

1. Take out the cellphone as soon as quickly as possible
2. Remove the battery
3. Shake it, shake it like a polaroid picture.. c’mon shake it, shake, shake it..
4. Absorb excess water with something dry like a paper towel. Keep at it until the paper towels are no longer wet.
5. If there’s water inside the display, press on it to get it out, then absorb w/ paper towel.
6. Put the cellphone and battery out to dry near a sunny window or something, but not somewhere dumb like the oven or a radiator.
7. Let it dry for 24-72 hours. (You can probably determine this by how much water you needed to shake out). If water is still coming out, don’t turn it back on.

If you’re crafty:

• Get a tiny screwdriver and take the cellphone apart, then wipe down the components with rubbing alcohol (they’ll dry faster and it won’t damage the phone).
• If the phone was already submerged in water, you can literally submerge it in alcohol without any extra negative effects, just quicker drying

Fun tips:

• If your cellphone was off when it happened, it’s much more likely to survive
• If it fell in saltwater, rinse it in fresh water first (aka you’re probably screwed unless you’ve got a bottle of poland spring around).

And if you’re feeling like hitting up the warranty.. just check for the “red dot of death” and you can be sure it’s not going to get covered:

Unless you want to try the advice of some water-damage hackers:

“What most people don’t realize is that the warranty usually covers theft and loss. Get your phone wet? Lose it in a gutter, trash bin, Leave it at a bar, give it to a homeless guy, etc. now they have to replace it.” – Isaac

“I recently got screwed by this because there’s a red dot/bar on both my battery and my cell phone. I merely traded my battery for my wife’s and peeled off her Red dot which is a piece of cloth/sticker and pasted it with a little super glue in place of my red dot which I had promptly removed. Worked like a charm.” – Josh

“Place a piece of satin finish scotch tape over your water damage sticker to prevent the water damage sticker from voiding your warranty. This sticker can usually be found under your battery. It’s a small round white sticker, possibly with dots on it. If this sticker gets wet it changes color and your phone is marked for water damage. Remove the tape if you need to ever bring your cellphone in for repairs.” – MobileMistress

“I’ve had white dots go red. What did I do, I removed the dot. Techs shot me down. So I bought a new battery(which comes with its own new white dot), did a swap put on my phone, and tada replacement phone. Now what I did was not wrong it’s my dot and I’ll do what I want with it(theres people on ebay who will sell you an entire reel of unpunched limus paper for cheap dollars). Now if a tech would do a half decent job and open up the phone like back in the day, they would probably find that my phones problem was, the effect of verizon screwing with the software and the UI of my phone. But they would never admit that. Just keep telling poeple to *228 send and update your phone(cough CRIPPLE your phone+add banners).” – Jason

If anyone has a cingular phone with a SIM slot that i can have, give me a holler at: amander(at)thingsiask.com

Wikipedia defines open source software as software that is made available under a as computer software for which the human-readable source code copyright license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open Source Definition.

This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of open source development and often compared to user generated content.

A classic example of open source software

In short, a good example of this is the blogging platform WordPress. You might be more familiar with the WYSIWYG version on WordPress.COM where a user has an easy to use interface and there is limited customization to the template.

On WordPress.ORG you are able to download the software that is used to make that blog. The user can upload the software to their own server and customize it as much as they want. There are TONS of plug-ins made by the WordPress community that make the software so much more than a blog and more of an unintentional content management system.

Where the open-source part comes in handy/sketchy (besides the fact that anyone can customize and make software to enhance it) is when content management system providers come in and end up selling it. Not to name any names, but there are a few CMS’s that are running purely on hacked up WordPress code, which they sell to their customers for thousands of dollars to turn a profit on something that was originally free.

WordPress is a popular example of open-source software, but there are plenty of other examples:

• Openads is an adserver that offers fierce competition to the many, many paid adservers for online publishers who rely on advertising to make money online.
• Google Android offers fierce competition to cell phone companies because it offers a completely open source platform for mobile.
• MySQL, which is the database software that WordPress (and other websites) runs off of, is one of the most popular pieces of DB software and is also free and open-source.
• OpenOfficeis a multi platform and multi lingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.
• phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable open-source bulletin board package.
• Joomla!, unlike WordPress was actually designed to be one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications.

These are just a few of the biggies, but here’s a much more comprehensive list that you’ll find helpful if you’re a developer.

So basically, the point is that open source goes much further than just “free software”. It is also pre-written codebase than encourages it’s user community to build upon and improve. There is nothing behind the curtains, everything is.. well.. OPEN.

Open Source VS. Closed Source (according to Wikipedia)

Making money through traditional methods, such as sale of the use of individual copies and patent royalty payment, is more difficult and sometimes impractical with open source software. Some closed-source advocates see open source software as damaging to the market of commercial software. This complaint is countered by a large number of alternative funding streams such as:

• giving away the software and charging for installation and support
• make the software available as open source so that people will be more likely to purchase a related product or service you do sell
• cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a product, so it makes sense to share development costs

Studies about security in open source software versus closed-source software show that closed-source software have fewer advisories but open source software usually has less time between flaw discovery and a patch or fix. Advocates of closed source argue that since no one is responsible for open source software, there is no incentive or guarantee it will be fixed, and there is nobody to take responsibility for negligence. open source advocates argue that since the source code of closed-source software is not available, there is no way to know what security vulnerabilities or bugs may exist. However, having the source code for a program could also make it easier for a malicious person to discover security vulnerabilities that they can take advantage of (instead of reporting or fixing them).

Open Source Software VS Free Software (according to Wikipedia)

Critics have said that the term “open source” fosters an ambiguity of a different kind such that it confuses the mere availability of the source with the freedom to use, modify, and redistribute it. Developers have used the alternative terms Free/open source Software (FOSS), or Free/Libre/open source Software (FLOSS), consequently, to describe open source software which is also free software.

Open source software and free software are different terms for software which comes with certain rights, or freedoms, for the user. They describe two approaches and philosophies towards free software. Open source and free software (or software libre) both describe software which is free from onerous licensing restrictions. It may be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. Free software is not the same as freeware, software available at zero price.

The definition of open source software was written to be almost identical to the free software definition. There are very few cases of software that is free software but is not open source software, and vice versa. The difference in the terms is where they place the emphasis. “Free software” is defined in terms of giving the user freedom. This reflects the goal of the free software movement. “Open source” highlights that the source code is viewable to all and proponents of the term usually emphasize the quality of the software and how this is caused by the development models which are possible and popular among free and open source software projects.

I’ll make this one sort of a poll and I hope people speak up. Comment with your own favorites! I’ll add them to the player as they come up

These happen to be my favorite lovey-dovey songs of all time. Some of them might be depressing. I dedicate these all to you (tracklist below):

1. Author – Karima Francis (missing track, listen to it here)
2. Luckiest – Ben Folds
3. I’ll Wait for You – Connie Francis
4. Sampson – Regina Spektor
5. Night is the Day Turned Inside Out – Beulah (missing track, listen to it here)
6. Amber – 311
7. Strange and Beautiful – Aqualung
8. Life, In a Nutshell – Barenaked Ladies (missing track, listen to it here)
9. It Had to Be You – Frank Sinatra
10. The Blowers Daughter – Damien Rice
11. We Belong Together – Gavin DeGraw
12. Oh, It is Love – HelloGoodbye
13. I’m Yours – Jason Mraz
14. Save Room – John Legend
15. Comfortable – John Mayer
16. The Nicest Thing – Kate Nash
17. If You Only Knew – Maroon 5 (missing track, listen to it here)
18. Nothing Better – The Postal Service
19. You Could be Happy – Snow Patrol

Added via comments (and to playlist):

1. El Scorcho – Weezer
2. When you Say Nothing At all – Allison Krauss
3. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
4. Making Love out of Nothing at All – Air Supply
5. Something in the way she moves – The Beatles
6. Tiny Dancer- Elton John
7. It must be love – Madness
8. Alive with the glory of love – Say Anything
9. Walk with You – Dispatch (forgot i LOVE this one.. but it’s a missing track so listen here)
10. You and Me – Lifehouse
11. L.O.V.E. – Frank Sinatra
12. Hands Open – Snow Patrol
13. “baby it’s fact”–hellogoodbye
14. “someone, somewhere”–jason reeves
15. “no air”–jordin sparks
16. “this is for real”–motion city soundtrack
17. “Sweetest Thing”–U2
18. “Wonderful Tonight”–Eric Clapton
19. “The Way you Look Tonight”–Elton John
20. “Breath me”–Sia
21. Add yours

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

On the newest bill, Grant is freed from the oval frame to which he’s been confined since 1913, appearing instead before a stylized red, white and blue American flag backdrop. There’s a small, metallic blue star near Grant’s left shoulder, and on the reverse side the image of the U.S. Capitol is flanked by clouds of small yellow “50″s. [source]

There have actually been NINE figures to bless the front of the $50 dollar bill:

1. 1861: Bald Eagle
2. 1862: Alexander Hamilton
3. 1869: Henry Clay
4. 1870: George Washington
5. 1874: Benjamin Franklin
6. 1878: Edward Everett
7. 1882: Silas Wright
8. 1891: William H. Seward
9. 1913: Ulysses Grant

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the “average life” of a $50 bill in circulation is 55 months before it is replaced due to wear. Watch out Ulysses! They might go ahead an redesign again next time the press is hot!