Thank you to Javascripter for the RGB to Hex converter.

View it here.

I came to the conclusion that I would develop a Firefox extension that would make it easy for everyone to do. I prepared some quick documentation so that I could later put this all together. (That file is bundled in the .zip file linked later on.)

This is not a new issue, or one that Bandcamp isn’t aware of. In their FAQ, they have an entry dedicated to theft from their site, and wave it off. Here’s what they have to say:

One of my fans showed me a totally easy way that someone could STEAL my music off of Bandcamp using RealPlayer 14.1 beta 3, or RipTheWeb.com, or by going into Temporary Internet Files and renaming blah blah blah. What are you doing about this grave problem?

Nothing. Since streams on Bandcamp are full-length, rather than 30-second snippets, it’s correct that someone could use one of the above methods to access the underlying 128k mp3. And sure, we could throw some technical hurdles in their way, but if they hit one of those hurdles, it’s not like they’d slap their forehead and open their wallet. Instead, they’d just move on to some other site where those restrictions aren’t in place, and you’ll have squandered the chance to make your own site the premier destination for those seemingly cheap, but enthusiastic, word-spreading, and potentially later money-spending fans. In other words, the few people employing the above methods are better thought of as an opportunity, not a lost sale. If you’re still skeptical, Andrew Dubber’s post on the topic of music piracy is a must-read.

Now, the post they link to (I’ve kept it above) is actually dead. But they go on to paraphrase the ideas express in it.

“Music is pretty much unique when it comes to media consumption. You don’t buy a movie ticket because you liked the film so much, and while you might buy a book because you enjoyed reading it so much at the library, typically you’ll purchase first, then consume…But music is different — and radio proves that. By far the most reliable way to promote music is to have people hear it. Repeatedly, if possible — and for free. After a while, if you’re lucky, people get to know and love the music. Sooner or later, they’re going to want to own it…whether it’s a pop tune, a heavily political punk album, or an experimental, avant-garde suite — the key is very simple: people have to hear music, then they will grow to like it, and then finally, if you’re lucky, they will engage in an economic relationship in order to consume (not just buy and listen to) that music. That’s the order it has to happen in. It can’t happen in any other order. There’s no point in hoping that people will buy the music, then hear it, then like it. They just won’t. Nobody really wants to buy a piece of music they don’t know — let alone one they haven’t heard. Especially if it’s by someone who lies outside their usual frame of reference. And a 30-second sample is a waste of your time and bandwidth. It’s worse than useless. That’s not enough to get to like your music. Let them hear it, keep it, live with it. And then bring them back as a fan.”

These are sentiments I agree with, and are quite obviously also at the core of what Bandcamp does.

This evening I decided to actually start working on my plugin. Going through all of my steps, I hit a roadblock (due to my somewhat limited understanding of all things JavaScript) and decided to search for examples of how other “ripping”  plugins work. Then I came across a German website that had the exact plugin I was looking to develop already made. I installed it, and it ran like a dream. Sure it didn’t have all the bells and whistles that I had originally dreamt up, but it is a great start, and it works. I’ve bundled this Greasemonkey UserScript in the .zip file as well.

I decided to stop developing my own, but I’ve decided to improve upon this script that already exists. I’ll get to that a little later though.

For those of you interested, here’s the bundle: grabBandcamp.zip

I Love Kelly Kapowski

I needed to put this together for myself after being diagnosed with gout and figured it would be a neat tool for anyone else in need of this info.

Check it out here: Purine Table

Visit DoesCarloCare.com.

I’ve finally finished working on the 3rd incarnation of the Selfish Jerk theme for WordPress. You are looking at it right now!It’s super minimal, extra clean, and pretty darn customizable!

I’ve taken advantage of all the great new features WordPress baked into it’s theme system, and even added a few of my own.

• Custom headers (470px x 50px)
• Custom backgrounds
• Widget ready
• Custom header, text, and link colors
• Custom background colors
• Choose your desired websafe font
• Fully controllable home page
• Sticky post support
• Share buttons
• Full Featured Image support
• Flexible sidebar placement (left or right side)
• and more!

If you are interested in downloading the theme, you can do it here. If you want to read more about it, go on ahead!

I’m hoping that it grabs a few downloads, I’ve submitted themes before with moderate success, but I’m appalled at how awful they were. I’m really working hard on making this one good.

The best part about this theme, for me, is the front page. It’s customizable (to a point) and really steps away from the whole “blog” look that many people (including myself) hate. Don’t get me wrong, if you have a blog, it should look like a blog. But if you are using WordPress as a CMS of sorts, you shouldn’t be locked into the crappy look of a blog.

You’ll notice that there are no images associated with this theme, except for one, which is a sticky note (to distinguish sticky posts, of course). I really wanted to just have the lightest, and most clean looking theme I could make. No silly gradients, no crazy graphic banners. Just clean design, smart markup, and plenty of room for you to add your own touches. I too often see “really cool” themes that overpower the content of the site. No one visits a website because it looks “really cool”, they visit for the content, and that’s what I tried to highlight here.

I’ve named the theme “Selfish Jerk 3″ after the two previous theme’s I’ve made. I used the first theme for a long time, and then made a poor attempt at updating it for the second incarnation. This one is very different than those. What they had in common was my developing/designing them for my own use, putting a lot of care into them, and hoping others would find them useful as well. This one is the best so far (as it should be! I’ve learned a lot in the years between them).

I have a little more work to do on the them, mostly stuff I hate, like styling comments (why isn’t Disqus baked into WordPress?) and writing up documentation. Here’s the remaining items:

• Tweak Font Settings
• IE Stylesheet
• Check Editor Styles again
• Search template
• Style Comments
• implement share buttons
• write full documentation
• check against http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development
• code tag styling?
• archive titles
• theme branding

Keep posted I guess!

But this is what I’ve obsessed over the past couple of days. These obituaries are, more often than not, a sad summation of a person’s life. Especially when it’s a child’s life.

Imagine a child, no older than 10 years, tragically dying. What kind of obituary would exist for this child?

Child “Chucky” Smith born in Staten Island in November of 2004, taken from us senselessly by a rabid chipmunk on November 21st 2012. He leaves behind his Parents, grandparents, two older sibling, and a number of Aunts and Uncles. He attended Public School 7000 for 3 years. An avid Phineas and Ferb fan, he had many of the episodes saved on his family’s DVR. He had modest grades, and recently brought home a finger painting of his favorite television show.

Is Chucky here nothing more than a little kid who liked a popular Disney Channel cartoon? IS this how his family really wants to remember him?

I’m lucky enough to be completely ignorant on this topic (and hope to remain that way) but I just can’t wrap my head around having much more than that? Sure, Chucky was probably a sweet kid, but even if he wasn’t, would that really change the obit? Let’s say Chucky grew up a middle-aged asshole who obsessed over football. Would the obituary mention his thought’s on the Jet’s secondary problems in 2011? Is that really important? It was to Chuck.

I’m forcing myself to learn to write obituaries. I’m thinking about writing terribly sad ones and trying to get them printed in the paper. It’ll probably be a little tough to find a paper.

Always check with the newspaper and/or funeral home first.  Many funeral homes provide forms for basic information, and will write the full obituary for you as part of the services they provide.   Some newspapers have specific style guidelines or restrictions on length, some only accept obituaries directly from funeral homes, and some only publish obituaries written by newspaper staff members.

It seems like the NY TImes just takes them, so long as you pay. This is most likely my best bet.

I signed my eternal soul to Satan on November 3rd, 2011. This blog will chronicle my life since. Let’s hope the Dark Prince keeps his end of the deal.

Since I Sold My Soul to Satan