The Mouse Vs. The Python

I’ve been thinking that it would rock if this website had a cool logo or artwork of some sort. So I thought I would create a contest to allow my talented readers a chance to help me out here. Here’s what I’m looking for:

• Some kind of banner or background picture
• A mouse (the furry kind, computer mouse, mecha or whatever) going up against a Python (or other cool snake). It can be realistic, cartooney, surreal, etc.

The artwork would be used on my blog and I’d put it on shirts and other items on a Zazzle-type account, cross-linked to my blog. The art will go under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

Here’s what the lucky winners get:

First Prize

• $100 Amazon gift certificate
• Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python
• Attribution on my blog and links to the artist’s website(s)

Second Prize

• $50 Amazon gift certificate
• Attribution on my blog and links to the artist’s website(s)

Yes, I know it’s not much, but this is coming out of my own pocket and I’m no corporate bigwig. For those of you interested in statistics, this blog generates around 21000 page views a month with approx. 12-14000 visitors.

Email your submissions to contest@pythonlibrary.org. Submissions should be no larger than 10 MB. Contest ends October 31, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time. I am the sole judge and will choose the two submissions I like best.

This week, I finished editing another book for Packt Publishing. The book’s name is Python Graphics Cookbook by Mike Ohlson de Fine (I think). You may wonder why I don’t know if de Fine is the author. Well, Packt thinks that its Technical Editors shouldn’t know that information. In fact, Packt is so cagey (and stupid) that they’ll give us forms to fill out asking us for the ISBN of the book we’re reviewing, but refuse to give us the ISBN.

Let it be known that Technical Reviewers for Packt Publishing are paid absolutely nothing. The only remuneration we get is a copy of the book we review, plus another book of our choice and our name/bio appears in the book we reviewed. That’s it. If Packt approaches you, let this be a warning to you.

Now, it’s not all bad. You get to read a book before almost everyone else AND you even get to help shape the book! That’s really cool! However, if you don’t read quickly, then this job is not for you. You usually only get 3 or 4 days to review a chapter. But enough of my whining, let’s get on with the Preview! (more…)