Archive for August, 2007
SN Update: Wordpress Wins
As much as I’ve loved Movable Type in the past, it’s time for me to move on. I didn’t mind MT 3 too much, but MT 4 (even though still in beta) isn’t good.
The upload feature looks good at first, but it’s really not. The previous version gave the option to start a new post or get the code which I often used. However the new version does not which means if you want to upload files and have it displayed in assets it’s going to be a huge pain.
On top of that, it decided recently to stop letting people click on the body to write in a post. To fix it you were required to write in a title, save/preview the entry, then go back to write it. Not much fun when you’re trying to get new people to post and they have to jump through hoops to do so. After reinstalling twice the system refused to recognize bold and italics, which was the straw to brake the camels back.
So I’m now using WordPress, Lets hope this works better. Now to start a layout again…
US Department of Justice hates penguins
I might not be up to date on international rules and regulations, but isn’t this kind of treatment prohibited by the Geneva Conventions?
sk0t was informed by his Probation Officer that he has to have special software installed on his PC so that the government can monitor his online activities. However, what is a more bitter pill to swallow for him is that the monitoring software is Windows only and as sk0t is an Ubuntu user, the Justice Department is forcing him to switch operating systems.
I’d honestly hate to be this guy. Though the fact that he got charged for uploading Star Wars: Episode III he had it coming. Who in their right mind would want to make other people watch such a horrible movie? I might still have windows installed out of laziness (and that my burner won’t work to burn off Ubuntu), but to force somebody to use windows is just cruel. They should just castrate him and put him out to pasture instead, it will have the same effect.
Movie: Grindhouse: Planet Terror (Review)
This was awesome. Firstly just the style of it as a whole with the previews and film scratches was fantastic, it really set a good theme for the movie. I loved the fact that they used old-style effects for this entire movie. Honestly, if they had taken this same plot with the same actors and tried to make it ‘modern’ as far as effects and everything goes it wouldn’t be as entertaining.
To explain myself further, take the gore. Being a zombie-based movie, there was a scene where a group of zombies ripped apart a body and it broke into was looked like puzzle pieces (as one was a perfectly straight line cut from shoulder to bottom rib on the other side of the chest) as well as resulting in tons of blood just spraying everywhere. Were that done with today’s mindset, I’m sure they’d have ripped the limbs off and left the torso as well as less blood that was shown. Another great thing was the way they did the explosions: it actually looked real. I find personally that today’s “special effects” are just that, effects and not realistic looking so was a nice change.
Did I mention that it had a sex scene and boob shots? Well it did. As well as a melting penis, which almost made me vomit. It also had very subtle comedy thrown in. There was one section where the girl said “I don’t fucking care” (or something along that line) and the guy replied “I like the way you say fuck”, and she retorted “fuck you” followed by him taking his shirt off.
So as far as an awesome movie goes this had zombies, a sex scene, explosions, blood and zombies. It’s definitely a “guy’s movie” if there ever was one.
Total: 9/10 I dare you to watch this and try not to say “Duuuuuuuude” or “Oh my god!” at least once.
SN Update: Weekly Series
With the new layout being fairly clean and the whole site almost starting fresh, I’m going to work on coming up with a consistent flow of posts. One thing I’d like to start is a weekly series. Perhaps something like a “Tuesday Tip”, “Wacky Wednesday”, or “Thursday Thumbnail” type of thing. Simply a topic that will be posted every week on a certain day with similar content to the previous week. I haven’t figured out exactly what this is going to be yet or on which day of the week it will take place, but I have one or two general ideas in my head.
So keep an eye out for that, I’ll have it decided on and posted by the end of the week.
The IT Crowd is back!
The IT crowd, a show about geeks and obviously for geeks, has finally aired Season 2 Episode 1 this past week. No sooner had it aired, it was put up online. I’m normally not a big fan of British TV but I think this is really great, though it may just be the content talking. You can check out more info on Boing Boing’s post about it.
Or you can just watch it and all the episodes on their Stage 6 channel.
SN Update: New layout coming
I’ve decided that with the new content I’m going to create a new layout as well There is a lot of stuff that this layout just isn’t doing that many other sites out there are. I want to include some of those features in here and I might as well get to doing it now. I haven’t started on it yet, but it’s swirling in my mind. Some features/changes will include:
- Making the feed more available. I want people to see the easy option to be able to subscribe.
- Digg integration. I’ve noticed a lot of sites are adding ‘Digg This!’ and it seems to work really well.
- Removing multiple CSS. Though being able to change the color of the site is cool, I think I’m going to remove it.
- Not going to use the calendar anymore. I don’t think it’s actually being used, so I’ll just leave up the Recent Posts and Categories.
- Webchat will be removed (nobody uses it anyway)
- Links will be revised and most likely removed with the exception of hostees.
- In short, the website will be stripped down to feature only the blog posts in their simplest forms.
Update: I’m resetting the entire site back to Movable Type defaults. Because my site was created based on the MT 3 system, there are a lot of features completely missing from the code. On top of that, i did a really bad job at organizing and it will need to be redone. To save time, it is therefore being set to default to wipe out the old layout. I’ll look into customizing the site once I start on the new layout, so some features might be unusable for a few days.
Update 2: I’ve avoided sleeping and have all the previous features that will be returning working correctly (I think). That means I have to move on to the design itself. This modified version that is up now is kind of growing on me, I think I’m going to use this as a base instead of going full new. Yes, I’m being lazy. So now that part should take awhile, since I have to create a logo and such. So if anybody has any great ideas for a logo speak now or forever hold your peace.
SN Update: Category changes
I’ve decided to change up the categories some to make things easier to find. That being said, the “Bored/Entertaining” category is being retired. In it’s place will be the following:
- Neat Link: Anything I can say ‘that’s cool!’ but really don’t want to make a big discussion about it such as a flash game or video.
- Tech’d Out: Anything useful or related to technology. Be it applications, a helpful website, or discussion about something geeky. Unlike Neat Links, most of these will likely be more time consuming or discussion.
- Culture: Anything related to media, the population, trends or other general happenings offline.
I’ve also decided to remove the “Creative Squabble” and “Quizzes/Test” categories as neither had very many posts. The posts have now been merged with either Personal or Neat Links. As I am including quite a few of my posts (if not a majority) into Neat Links, I may create some sub-categories or make sure to use key words such as “flash game” or “video” if it becomes a problem.
That’s it. I may start breaking up some other categories as I start focusing my content a bit better. I’ll go through the bored/entertaining entries in the next few days to move them over to their new categories.
That being said you’ll notice that we’re pumping out a lot of content lately. It may not all be of interest to you, but I’m working on the theory that “The more that is put out the more chances are that somebody will like it”. And note that if you have any suggestions for the site, a topic you want me to blog about or even if you want to blog drop a comment or send me an email. We can always use more content.
Update: Moved all the bored/entertainment posts to their new categories. It seems once I started it went pretty quickly.
Microsoft office no more!
I came across a great article earlier that I had to share here. In the article there is a great list of online applications to replace many of the Microsoft Office suite programs. I myself already use Sun’s OpenOffice so have gotten rid of Office long ago. However, some of these online apps are really appealing. There are alternatives of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Outlook Calendar, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Movie Maker and Windows itself. Now given, many ‘leet comput3r n3rds’ already know about some of these. But the list is fantastic. So check it out and give some of the apps a go.
No Download Required: 30+ Apps That Are Killing Microsoft
Pownce
I’m a little late on the draw here (like always) but I’m just checking out Pownce and I have to say it’s pretty damn cool. It’s like an instant bulletin board where you can put up messages, files, events and links to groups or single friends. I know you’re thinking “Can’t I do this with an IM?” and the answer is yes, but then you have to send the file to each of them. This uploads it to the Pownce server and allows them to just click and open it, much better.
The way I see it, it can be used as a whiteboard and simply throw just out for people to remember/do/see. Works better than posting a million and one “hey look at this url!” entries when you really only feel like targeting it at certain people. It’s currently still in Beta so requires an invite, hit me up in the comments if you want one.
Movin’ On Up
Warning, I ramble here for a bit. Scroll down to paragraph 4 to save time
Jeff needs to be more like The Jeffersons. So far his life has gone almost nowhere. He graduated from high school and wanted to take a bit of time off while he decided what to do. He went up to his father’s for vacation that summer and never went back to where he came from. He got an easy and remote job (which he was told up front wouldn’t be wise to try turning into a career), saved a bit of cash and moved into his first apartment. Over the next year and a half Jeff completely killed his social life and wasted almost all of his money as he made it, not thinking this virtual babysitter job would ever end. Then it did.
That brings us to the present day. I, the sad shell of a former great Jeff, needs to become FUCKING AWESOME again. I cut my hippy hair off, started eating right again and am in the process of deciding who the hell I am supposed to be. I think 2 years is long enough to ‘take off’ after high school, don’t you?
So the first step is to decide what the end goal is going to be, what is it that I want to do? I’ve jumped through a lot of things I’ve called to be my ‘dream job’. I’ve wanted to be a firefighter, a game tester, a politician, a cartoonist, a director, a blogger/writer, an IT tech, a cop, a dancing chicken, and most recently something involving online social networks (see extended). Of all those jobs the only ones that have really stuck are blogger/writer, IT tech, and a dancing chicken (most of which eliminated due to complete lack of talent or not being physically fit enough).
Jeff realizes he’s rambling and tries to sum it up
If the remaining jobs, I need more practice/education to achieve these goals. As I’ve already discussed with a few people, I think I’m going to try getting back into school and try to get some tech certifications since I think I fair pretty well on the content anyway. I’m thinking about starting with the CompTIA A+ certification, as it is widely recognized and is a good balance of both hardware/software. Further than that, I might look into some more specialized, maybe a MCSE. Though costs money, so I’ll work on getting the first one then see what’s up.
To swing another way, I might take some journalistic or writing courses. I might actually try to take some anyway, even if not for a career to attempt to improve my blogging abilities. I know I don’t have many readers, but there are those that do and it feels great knowing somebody thinks enough of me to read my posts and cares what I think. And I will admit, my heart jumps with glee every time I get an email with the subject “Somebody has comment on ( Post )”. I might look into finding some resources as well about writing better online, maybe actually read a book if needed (I know, I’m shocked I just typed that too!)
Of course, if I get lazy I can just dance around the house in my underwear and practice for the chicken job.
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