I år har jag beslutat att inte köpa så många julklappar. Men även om de inte blir många till antalet, så hoppas jag att många kommer att få glädje av dem! Jag har idag gjort donationer till följande organisationer och artister:

Läkare Utan Gränser

En organisation som gör insatser och räddar liv där det behövs utan att ta politisk hänsyn.

• http://www.lakareutangranser.se/
• http://www.msf.org/

Missing People Sweden

En ideell organisation som hjälper personer att finna anhöriga som försvunnit. Till minne av Emil K.

• http://www.missingpeople.se/

Barncancerfonden

Cancer är skit. Punkt.

• http://www.barncancerfonden.se/

LukHash

En av mina favoritmusiker just nu. LukHash gör fantastisk elektronisk musik med hjälp av gamla spelkonsoler och datorer, såväl som elgitarrer och pianon. All musik från LukHash kan laddas hem gratis! Det senaste albumet, Falling Apart, släpptes 29 september i år.

• http://www.lukhash.com/
• http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/353807/lukhash

Tryad

Tryads musik är inte bara gratis, den är fri. Det betyder att du kan använda den i egna projekt, både personliga och kommersiella, utan att fråga om lov eller betala licensavgifter. Hurra för fri kultur!

• http://tryad.org/
• http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/104/tryad

Nina Paley

Nina är en förkämpe för fri kultur och alla hennes senaste verk är tillgängliga gratis för dig att avnjuta och remixa. Hennes seriestripp Mimi and Eunice kan läsas online och du kan ladda hem hennes film Sita Sings the Blues utan kostnad. Åter igen, hurra för fri kultur!

• http://blog.ninapaley.com/
• http://mimiandeunice.com/
• http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/
• http://blog.ninapaley.com/2011/11/11/how-to-free-your-work-video/

Linux Mint

• http://www.linuxmint.com/

Mint är ett fantastiskt trevligt alternativ till Windows. Det är gratis, fritt och användarvänligt. Det är sant att det kan vara bökigt att installera, men det kan du få hjälp med och när det är gjort så är det lätt att använda. Hurra för fri mjukvara!

God Jul!

—–

I have decided to buy only a few christmas gifts this year. But even though the number of presents is low, I’m hoping they will bring joy to a lot of people. Today, I have made donations to the following organizations and artists:

Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres

An organization that saves lives wherever it’s needed, without politics getting in the way.

• http://www.lakareutangranser.se/
• http://www.msf.org/

Missing People Sweden

A non-profit organization that helps people find relatives that have gone missing. In memory of Emil K.

• http://www.missingpeople.se/

Barncancerfonden / Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation

Cancer sucks ass. Period.

• http://www.barncancerfonden.se/

LukHash

One of my favorite musicians right now. LukHash creates awesome electronic music using old games consoles and computers, as well as electric guitars and pianos. All his music can be downloaded for free! His latest album, Falling Apart, was released on 29 September this year.

• http://www.lukhash.com/
• http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/353807/lukhash

Tryad

Tryad’s music is not only free of charge, it is free-as-in-freedom. That means you are allowed to use it in your own projects, both personal and commercial, without asking permission or paying license fees. Hooray for free culture!

• http://tryad.org/
• http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/104/tryad

Nina Paley

Nina is a champion of free culture, and all her latest works are available for you to enjoy and remix, free of charge and free-as-in-freedom. Her comic strip Mimi and Eunice can be read on-line, and you can download her film Sita Sings the Blues. Again, hooray for free culture!

• http://blog.ninapaley.com/
• http://mimiandeunice.com/
• http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/
• http://blog.ninapaley.com/2011/11/11/how-to-free-your-work-video/

Linux Mint

• http://www.linuxmint.com/

Linux Mint is a fantastic alternative to Microsoft Windows. It’s free of charge, free-as-in-freedom, and it’s user friendly. True, you can run into problems while installing it, but there are people who can help you, and when it’s done, Mint is easy to use. Hooray for free software!

Merry Christmas!

If you’ve never tried programming a computer, you really should try it!

Learning computer programming is fun! It’s empowering and immensely satisfying. Sometimes it can even be useful! By learning a programming language, or at least trying it, you get a wider understanding about the inner workings of computer programs. This can increase your confidence in using computers, as it removes much of the mystery surrounding these, sometimes seemingly infernal, machines.

Python is a great language for learning to program. It’s free, there are tons of great resources on-line, and it’s easy to learn and use.

Why is it fun? It’s fun to be able to order computers around. You spend so much time wrestling with them, trying to get them to behave, getting the chance to be in total control is very satisfying. Basically, when you tell your computer to jump, instead of sulking in the corner, it will ask “How high?”

How is it useful? Learning a programming language can actually be helpful if you work with computers, even if you’re not going to work as a programmer. Let’s say your boss hands you a log file with thousands of lines of text and tells you to find all email addresses and list them alphabetically. Doing this manually would probably make anyone contemplate suicide. But if you know Python, you could easily write a small program that does this for you. It would only take you a few minutes to write the program, and it would only take the program a second to complete the task. Yes, really! Or let’s say you’re working with a spreadsheet, probably in Excel but maybe in OpenOffice, and you need to add some formulas to do a bunch of advanced calculations. Guess what… That’s a form of programming, and if you know a programming language, understanding what you need to do and how you need to do it will be much easier.

Ok, so how do I learn Python? As I said, there are loads of resources on-line. I’ve just discovered a new one, a website called Udacity. They do free university classes for everyone, led by people who really know their stuff. Their first class is called CS101: Building a Search Engine. By taking this seven-week class, you will not threaten Google’s market share, but you will actually learn some of the basic mechanics that make Google tick. Most of all, though, you will learn to program using Python. The goal of the class is not really to teach you how to build search engines, but to teach you how to use Python, while building a simple search engine in the process. Speaking of Google, though, it’s worth mentioning that lots of the professors actually work at Google. So, yeah, like I said…they know their stuff. CS101 is now in its final week and will start again on April 16. I’ll be taking the class, in parallel with a couple of other classes, CS212 and CS253, because even though I’ve been programming for years, I’m completely new to Python.

So why am I writing this blog post? Do I get a percentage from somewhere, or something? Ha ha, no. I honestly just want to share the love. I want more people to learn how to program, because I enjoy it so much and I think you might enjoy it, too. By writing this blog post, I hope to inspire someone to take the class CS101 with me, beginning April 16, because learning together is more fun than learning alone.

If you’re curious, know this:

• It is absolutely free to enroll in these classes. You will not be asked for a credit card number.
• There’s a great forum at Udacity, where nice people will help you whenever you need it.
• I will help you all the way, no matter who you are, if I can. If you have problems installing Python on your computer, or if there is a lesson you just can’t wrap your head around, I will do whatever I can to help you.
• You can quit whenever you want, even though I hope you won’t.
• It will be fun!

So, come on! Learn Python with me!

Twilight Over the Lake

I like taking pictures and sometimes I get one that I think is worth sharing. So, I have finally set up my own Flickr photostream!

I’ve been inspired by Nina Paley and groups like Tryad to share my photos under a Creative Commons – Attribution – Share Alike license. Creative Commons – Attribution license. That means you are free to use them for pretty much whatever you want, as they are “free as in freedom.”

If you use one of my pictures, for anything, please include a note saying who took it. “Photo by Stig Rudeholm” will do nicely. If you include the address to this website (http://stigrudeholm.roll2dice.com/) as well, that would be greatly appreciated!

Angel in Sunset

I’m currently looking for a good place to host the full-size .png’s. If you know of a place, please tell me. In the mean time, if you want one of the pictures for a project, let me know and I will get it to you ASAP, in the highest quality I have available. Usually, that means 3872 x 2592 pixels, 300ppi, but sometimes they are smaller. For instance, the image Angel in Sunset is smaller, as I have rotated it slightly and trimmed the edges a bit.

Please visit my photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stigrudeholm/

UPDATE on 7 Feb 2013: I have changed the licensing on my photos to CC-BY, an even more open and free license!

I also donated some money to LukHash through Jamendo.com.

I’ve pledged some money to Tryad and will probably do the actual donation tomorrow as I’m on my way to bed right now.

I’ll also be buying the latest video from Louis C.K. Through Techdirt.com I found out that he’s doing an experiment with selling downloads directly to fans. I won’t write more about it right now, because, as I just said, I’m on my way to bed. But you can check out these links:

• http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20111213/04081117065/louis-ck-connecting-with-fans-giving-them-reason-to-buy-being-polite-awesome-human.shtml
• http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20111214/00162117076/louis-cks-experiment-brings-110k-sales-550k-gross-over-200k-net-four-days.shtml
• https://buy.louisck.net/statement

People who know me know that I talk a lot about copyright reform, free content, open culture, and alternative funding. I’ve thought about sending some money to several people and groups for quite some time, but I’ve just not gotten around to it. And frankly, I am a bit disappointed with myself. It’s time for me to start putting my money where my mouth is.

This christmas, I’ll be donating to, and buying from, some of my favorite artists and causes. I will start with pledging amounts here on my blog and on Facebook. Then I will initiate the actual transactions. By pledging the money publicly, I’m hoping to inspire you to do the same.

Personally, I’m planning on spending about €50. I’ll just take a few days to think about how I’ll divide the money. A fiver here and a fiver there is not much, I know, but that’s why I’m asking you to take part!

Please, join me and show the world that sharing is caring. Share some money with the people who share their works with you.

I’m not trying to guilt or force anyone into anything. If you want to join in, that’s great! Give whatever you want to whoever you want. If you don’t want to join in, that’s fine too. I just ask you to be sincere. If you pledge an amount, please go through with it.

Here are some suggestions on how you can support your favorite creators and causes:

• Donations
• Buying merchandise
• Paying for premium content
• Buying songs or ebooks from iTunes, Smashwords, or wherever, where the creators get a fair slice of the pie

Give as much or as little as you want, to whatever artists, groups, causes, or random people you want!

Sharing is Caring

/Stig Rudeholm

Photo by Krystal T on flickr.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krystalt/
Licensed under a “Creative Commons – Attribution” license

Barry Eisler

Over at techdirt.com, best-selling author and former intellectual property lawyer Barry Eisler is talking about Copyright, Piracy And Why SOPA/PIPA Are ‘Extremely Disturbing’.

Copyright terms have grown to be over a century. No reasonable person can claim that, with a term of less than a century, artists wouldn’t be adequately incentivized to create. So current copyright terms are clearly too long from the standpoint of what’s best for society overall. Personally, I think a twenty-five year term would be more than enough. Anyone who claims he wouldn’t bother creating if he could only commercially exploit his creation for a quarter century wasn’t going to create anything worthwhile anyway.

If you are at all interested in this stuff, you really should go read it right away!

Big media companies hate copying, not because it’s stealing (because it’s not), but because it is a form of competition. And competition is always bad when you are guarding a monopoly.