Warren

I’ll be switching hosting providers this week. At some point I’ll have to turn off the comments here so that I can synchronize the database and prevent loss of comments as the DNS changes propagate.

**Update:

**

The switch seems to have gone well and the DNS changes have propagated to the networks I’m using. Comments are on again. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

Theme change not yet complete, but looking good. It’s a widened version of Clemens Orth’s Relaxation_3column, itself a derivitive of John Wrana‘s two columned Relaxation theme. I found it on the WordPress Codex, and though it was among the first group I looked at, I dutifully clicked through to every other three-columned theme listed there.

Anyway, expect the banner to change, and I’m working on how I want to handle the width on smaller monitors (where “smaller” actually equals anything narrower than 1280px). Eh, life goes on.

I’m more than surprised that there’s no (decent) stats plugin for WordPress, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing me own. It’s called “bstats,” and I’ll release a beta soon. In the meantime. the “today’s most popular” list comes directly from this new plugin.

I’m almost ready to call the first stage of my WordPress migration done, except it looks like the comment submission forms aren’t working. While I’m working on that, please note the new feed URLs: RSS 0.9x, RSS 2.0, and atom.

Update: Found a reference to the comment bug on the WP support site and in their bug tracking system. I didn’t find the answer there, though, so this is still a problem. I did, however, discover that one of my spam-blocking plugins, WPSpamAssasin 0.6.2, was blocking the comments from ever getting into the database. Strictly speaking, comments are now working, but the UI isn’t working consistently. Still working on it.

I’ve lost my way a bit and been posting a bunch of trite stories here lately about my kitchen and in my photoblog.

I’m sorry.

I have made a few attempts at serious discourse. If you look carefully you’ll see stories on Grokster, RFID passports, a library conference, a chilling look at the death penalty in Texas. Looking a little further back, you’ll find new stories in the very serious copyrights & intellectual property and politics & controversy categories.

Yes, this Saturday mea culpa might sound a bit familiar. With luck, however, we won’t be seeing another.

I discovered today that my content database is missing about 20 entries from the first weeks of 2005. The feeling of loss is pretty thick, but I get these feelings pretty easily — hey, don’t pick on me.

Of the 21 stories, I can only remember the content of one of them. I think the story was titled “Web Apps Rocked 2004” or something like that and was basically all about the goodness of XMLHTTPRequest. I’ve put that technology to use in a simple demo called LOLA Suggest, where LOLA is the name of our web OPAC.

But back to those feelings of loss….

I think the problem occurred when things went awry at my hosting provider. I suspect their backups backups were incomplete, but what do I know. My backups are shamefully incomplete, so I share part of the blame. Anyway, the only thing to do about loss is get used to it.

Darn.

I’ve got to tear down the last cabinet, get all the junk to the dump, clean, spot-sand and clearcoat the floors, and…. I probably won’t get it all done today.

Watch yesterday’s video for an idea of what’s going on, otherwise, today is re-run day. The archives are yours to explore.

I’m taking a spot of vacation here. Expect nothing more from me today, and not much more in the days to come.

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As before, the Flickr photos have nothing to do with the post. And, no, this is not at all like Martha‘s house arrest thing.

Due to problems with the site all this week, a couple of time-sensitive stories that I wrote but coudn’t post have now been posted with pre-dated timestamps.

I’ve been following every news item about the Mac mini with likely more interest than it deserves. What can I say, I like the little computer. As it turns out, the mini is smaller than it looks in the pitures.

And thinking of pictures, a few shots of Bill Gates vogueing with circa-1986 computer equipment started circulating early this week.

I learned today that pMachine Pro — the software behind this site — has been discontinued. I’d expected the announcement for some time, seeing it today reminded me that I should be looking for a new blog/CMS solution. Expression Engine has largely replaced pMachine, and I know at least one person running it, so I’ll likely be giving it another look soon.

I’ve got a list of things I’d like to solve here, so this news sort of fits. The site needs a new design (though it renders well in Safari, really) and I’m looking for a new host. I guess this means I’m now actively soliciting comments on design, host, and back-end software. Thoughts?

Expression Engine may work well, a friend recommends Host Gator, and I’m almost tempted to buy some design work from Blog Moxie. What say you?

I should admit to it now before it becomes a scandal. I backfilled some content this weekend. Some of it is stuff that I wrote in the past for work (edited for publication here), but I feel may have some public value. Specifically, two stories about wireless: one about its vulnerabilities and another about (then) current practices in the academic community.

I also posted my Wife’s first story for MaisonBisson: a recipe for fish tacos.

I don’t backfill to deceive anyone, these stories had a time context that was difficult to change. I only posted them so Google could find them and future readers might make use of them.