Anatiferous blog | Move every zig.

Howdy! This is my (William Reading's) webpage. At the moment, I only have this blog script and my gallery up, but I hope to get more stuff on this page at some point, or so I thought when I created this site years ago. Updates and shiny new copy to eventually go here. If you'd like to contact me to point out that I've done something to break XHTML/CSS standards or heaven forbid--look at my Vita--drop me a line at my e-mail address bill +spam @ [ELEPHANT] aggienerds.org. Simply remove "+spam", the spaces and the pachyderm along with its brackets and that address will reach me. I'm also available on Jabber/GChat/AIM/MSN with the same address above.

I received a letter from American Airlines today demanding $532.00 for a flight that I never made, so I decided to send them a little letter:

To Whom it May Concern:

I received an invoice from American Airlines today in the amount of $532.00. I have examined the document and following an investigation, have concluded that a mistake by American Airlines has been made.

The originally scheduled flight, which can be identified by record locator number [removed], was changed by American Airlines to a schedule not accommodating to my needs. As a result, the ticket was left unused and measures were taken to recover the amount in question following American Airlines’ refusal to refund the ticket.

I have been advised that pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 41712, it is unlawful for an airline carrier to apply non-refundability provisions to tickets that require the payment of a penalty for a change of flight time or date.

As personal matters made it necessary to change carriers, demanding payment for this flight may be construed as deceptive and an unfair method of competition in air transportation, which is prohibited by 49 U.S.C. 41712.

Therefore, I request that American Airlines remit the charges specified on the invoice, assert that this matter will not be pursued further, and provide written notification that these actions have been performed within 10 business days.

I appreciate your prompt and professional response in this matter. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Regards,
William Reading

Update: I’m pleased to say that I got a prompt reply from American Airlines:

Mr. Reading,

I have taken the unused ticket and closed it.

With that transaction, I have also cleared the credit card chargeback of $532.00.

Regards,
[Removed]

After some additional correspondance with the University, I received a reply from the Provost of Information Technology, Dr. Pierce Cantrell

Mr Reading,

William Reading wrote:
>I did raise this concern in another class and was instructed to not use
>turnitin.com in that course. However, I was never informed that the
>University came to this conclusion, which is primarily why I presented
>this issue again. I would very much appreciate it if you wouldn’t mind
>pointing me in the direction of the written documentation for that
>decision, as I was never given a satisfactory reply.

We asked the Office of General Council for the Texas A&M University System about the inclusion of a student’s paper in the Turnitin.com database. While OGC didn’t give us a written response to the attached memo, they verbally told me that we could proceed with the purchase and implementation. The second page of the memo summarizes the intellectual property issues and cites the Turnitin.com legal opinion . We see the inclusion of the student’s paper in the Turnitin.com database as “fair use that does not infringe any copyright.”

In your email to Paul Parrish, you cited concerns relative to the following paragraph about “Communications” using the Turnitin.com Web site:

>You grant iParadigms a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual,
>world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display,
>disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or
>elsewhere for our business purposes. We are free to use any ideas,
>concepts, techniques, know-how in your Communications for any purpose,
>including, but not limited to, the development and use of products and
>services based on the Communications.
What is referred to in the above paragraph is “communications” on the Turnitin.com Web site, for example, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and other user forums. It specifically does not refer to the student papers in their database. This is explained in their Usage Policy .

regards,
-pierce cantrell

Although I’m not quite satisfied with the University’s evaluation of turnitin.com on ethical grounds, I can at least attribute them taking some sort of due diligance by bringing up intellectual property issues. The memo attached can be viewed here: Turnitin.com Legal Issues Memo.

I’ve been noticing as of lately that it’s been a bit harder to brake on my bike, but it wasn’t until today that I actually took a look at the pads on my bike. I was surprised at the results:

The front brakes, at least, were apparently worn down enough to where I’d probably be running metal against the rims to stop. The backs were a bit worn down as well, though it appears as if one of them was installed incorrectly. Now it’s granted that I’ve been riding around a lot, I don’t think that’s the kind of damage that you’d expect to see on a bike that’s only a month or so old. I picked up a set of new brakes from the bike shop for $8, so I hope that this is just a fluke.

Dr Parrish,

I was informed today that I that as a requirement for my ENGL 301 technical
writing class, I would be required to use turnitin.com as a requirement for
the course. While I have no qualms against my essays being graded and
checked for plagiarism, I do oppose their incorporation and use in a
commercial database for which a company is to profit from my works. I have
nothing to hide, and invite close inspection of my essays upon submission of
an assignment, but object to what essentially amounts to a company selling
derivations of my work with no monetary compensation for myself.

I have no problems documenting the origins of data that I collect, nor do I
have a problem with sharing my work with other parties. In fact, I generally
put my schoolwork online under a reasonable license, such as the BSD
documentation or creative commons license, complete with revisions of the
every step taken to compile the document. I do this since I am a strong
believer in open documentation practices which I have adopted from the
open-source documentation and software development philosophies. It is my
opinion that this is a better protection against plagiarism than any for-pay
service could offer, since the information is out there and its evolution
free for anyone to review, not just subscribers to an expensive service. The
underlying difference is that the information will always be disseminated
under my terms, not under an ever-changing corporate policy.

I acknowledge the need for ensuring the originality of work, even more-so
for an academic environment, but hope that there are other alternatives for
which I have not been presented with as of yet. If there is no
middle-ground, I will comply with the terms of the course, but plan on
presenting the turnitin.com service with DMCA takedown notices to the site
following the submission and grading of each assignment in order to recover
the rights to my work.

Please note that I have no objection to the retention and automated checking
of my essay against other students’ submissions for the purpose of this
class for this semester, previous semesters or in the future in the proper
context. However, only under the condition that the methodology used for
such checking is made freely available or otherwise open for public audit
and that the entire process is non-profit would I consider this appropriate.
I would even go so far as to offer to help develop such software in my free
time, should an unfulfilled need for it exist in the absence of the
turnitin.com service.

I apologize if I sound a bit rash in this letter, but copyright issues are
very important to me, especially in the field of computer engineering and
software development. I have no delusions that my works will stand at all
outside of the context of this course, but cannot acquiesce to a corporation
profiting from any of my academic work without compensation. I appreciate
the time that you have spent reading through and considering my viewpoint
and hope to hear back from you soon.

Regards,
William Reading

I put together a few humorous flyers advertising our meetings. They are available below:

EDIT EDIT:
And another:

• Salesman

EDIT:
I’ve added two more:

• Knoppix
• Self Reproducing Java

• Pointers
• Cup <T>
• Types