I went on a month long backpacking trip when I was 16 with an organization called NOLS. It was good fun and I learned quite a bit

My trip leader was Laura Ordway and she had this great phrase:

Boje the sequence

I had heard weeks ago from chatting with Mike Hostetler that he was working on a code repository for jQuery plugins which got me quite excited. Historically getting specific versions of jQuery plugins has been a little difficult. Now there's a great jQuery Plugin Repository that replaces the Wiki. The recent jQuery Blog post discusses the new system:

And not just terms they'll understand, but terms they probably have memorized!

Ok, so this is just plain awesome. Generally speaking I don't like blogging and just linking to something else, but I have to give it to Laura on this one: Disney fairy tales deconstructed (and reconstructed) to explain copyright, public domain, fair use, and a little history of the related laws. It's a parody, it's news, it's criticism, it's small compared to the cited works, it has no commercial impact on Disney's original works, and it is absolutely, 100% brilliant.

Go watch it. Take the five minutes, it's worth it. (If you're like me and using some crazy operating system try the vlc media player).

Now, here's what I have to say. Copyright is a big deal. Trademarks are a big deal. Patents are big deal. And yes in general intellectual property rights are a really big deal. We really need to protect them. Like, really protect them. Without the guarantee of profit from protected intellectual property rights we won't have (much) investment in new music, arts, performance, technology, gadgets, and, perhaps most importantly, drugs. We like music, arts, and gadgets. We need new drugs. But we need old drugs too. And we need them at a reasonable price.

Colorado is not known as a rainy place, but in the spring and summer months we do get our fair share of downpours -- especially in the mountains. This past spring my good friend Libby and her man Reid took off to Central America. But before they went, they were kind enough to hook me up with a great a-line rain skirt!

The Rain Skirt Story - at least as I know it

A while ago Libby made herself a rain skirt. The idea was simple - skirts are so useful and keep cool even on hot days. When you're wearing a cute skirt, how do you make sure that it stays dry? Why not combine her favorite piece of clothing with some protective goodness and a lot of time at a sewing machine trying out different designs to come up with the ultimate wet weather wearable? So, she did. Libby's rain skirt made her extremely happy and led to lots of envious looks from friends who had uncomfrotable rain pants or drenched legs when their long jacket failed to protect them fully. So, Libby started thinking about making them for other folks.

The Rain Skirt Evolution

Libby has thought a lot about the best way to bring Rain Skirts to the masses. She knows that she needs them to be professional, that's for certain. So, she started exploring vendors that make outdoor apparel and found a great company that creates lots of items for some of the big brands. They went back and forth with ideas for designs - both to make them more functional and more fashionable.

Rain Skitrs are Born

Last weekend we went on a hut trip with friends Sleeper, and Steve and Kaycie Rosen. See all the wonderful scenery in a gallery of photos from Harry Gates Hut Trip.

This past weekend I went to New York for a bachelor's weekend for my friend Marty. We're all hip progressive guys but we're still men so on Saturday night we went to a strip club:

(photos after the break)

Just kidding. But we did go to Smoke in Harlem where we got a photo of Marty and "Dr. Lonnie Smith".

Also, my friend the "blogged" about it on his non blog. Looks a lot like blogging to me. Welcome, to 2003, T.