Into the Void

Coming soon:

Into the Void - Mobile Edition

Technorati: mobile web Self-Help bipolar+disorder

Andrew Beacock’s Blog: Oddiophile’s Technorati Tags Bookmarklet is available here

I originally used the simpletags plugin for WordPress, but it has a couple of little quirks. I began manually typing in the links with images - they have the added benefit of telling Technorati about page views even when my visitors don’t click. What a pain.

I went looking for a bookmarklet and found the one I linked to above. It works great and has saved me a lot of time, but doesn’t do the images. So here’s my modification.

Leslie’s Technorati TagGen

In IE, right click on the link below, select “Add to Favorites” and file it under Links. You’ll get a warning that it’s unsafe - that’s because it’s javascript, not because it’s doing anything horrible.

When you click the bookmarklet link in your link bar you’ll get a popup window prompting you to enter your tags. Enter the tags separated by spaces. If the tag is a phrase, you should use + signs instead of the spaces inside the phrase. Then hit the OK button. The window will now contain the tag code. Copy it, hit ok to close the popup, then paste it into your blog.

And there you are. I hope you find it useful.

Рецепт: [tag]ХАГГИС[/tag] (dreaded haggis) / Gotovim.RU2

(Amazing! [tag]Wordpress[/tag] let me paste [tag]Cyrillic[/tag] text into my blog.)

For some reason I was looking up “[tag]dreaded haggis[/tag]” on Google the other day. Oh, right, to scare the Russians. Much to my surprise, I found a recipe for it on a Russian site.

My English mother warned me about the dreaded haggis. She said it tasted offal.

Why should the [tag]Sassanachs[/tag] be the only ones to have to suffer?

Click map to see directions.

Google Maps: Philadelphia, PA to Liverpool, UK.

The 24th leg of this trip is brutal.

TigerDirect.com Best Deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Desktop Computers, Laptops, Notebooks

I buy a lot of computer stuff from TigerDirect because their prices are good and they often have kick-ass deals on computer items I need. I am continually tweaking the hardware configuration of my home computer. (This one at work is pretty much a lost cause.)

So when I went there today looking for after-Black-Friday specials I noticed that they are giving away five - count ‘em! - five PlayStation 3 Entertainment Centers in a sweepstakes. If you are interested in getting emails from TigerDirect, click the TigerDirect link above then look for the PS3 banner.

Best of luck to you!

I’d review the PS3 here - maybe even tear it apart and take pictures of its innards - but I don’t have it in me to camp out in front of a toy store. I really want to try out Tony Hawk’s Project 8, too. If you haven’t tried any of the Tony Hawk games, the scenery tilts as you skate up and down walls. It gave me that “warm thrill of confusion” in a way that Altera Quartus II just doesn’t. Unfortunately I had to fight my nephew to play the game, and he has youth and skill on his side.

Well, I finally made it to the big time.

Well, no, what I really mean is that the spambots found “Into The Void” this week and they are hammering my Wordpress blog with comment spam. I’ve received 500-some requests in the last 48 hours.

Would anyone in their right mind patronize a company that has its people dump irrelevant ads into sites? The most common were drugs and online casinos, followed by mortgages, and then a specific bank’s credit cards. Oh, yes, let me just give all my financial information to someone who uses a fake email address.

Anyway, I installed Bad Behavior.

Let’s see how it goes.

Update 9/22/2007: Bad Behavior, when it isn’t used in the sense of “Leslie’s hobbies,” is a Wordpress plugin that blocks spammers from the site.

Bad Behavior works great. See the bottom of the page for stats. FYI, Homeland Stupidity has moved to a new website.
They also have an immensely satisfying project called Project Honeypot. This project identifies bad spiders and reports them for later action including lawsuits against repeat offenders and the occasional witch-burning. See if you can find it on Into the Void and get yourself added to the spam list… NOT!!!!

Flush with my recent success running Tiki Wiki under Windows XP SP2, I thought it might be fun to try Subdreamer, too. Subdreamer is a Content Management System and is different from a Wiki mainly in the way it organizes and presents data. Subdreamer has the advantage of allowing me to integrate my phpBB forum into it so that my current users have the same user id and password on the new CMS.
In case anyone else wants to smear Linux web apps all over their harddrive, it’s not very hard to do. In this article I’ll walk you through the four main tasks required to evaluate the Subdreamer CMS on a Windows XP box.
You will be using an application called PhpTriad. PhpTriad contains Windows versions of the ubiquitous Apache server with PHP support, MySQL database software, and phpMyadmin. You’ll have no trouble at all getting PhpTriad running.
Next you’ll get the free version of Subdreamer and unzip it onto your hard drive. If you want more functionality when you take your CMS on-line you can buy the full version later.
Then you’ll run the MySQL software and use phpmyadmin to set up the MySql database where the Subdreamer CMS will store the contents of your web site.
Finally, you’ll open the Subdreamer installation file in your browser, work a little magic, and there you’ll be. It’s a little tricky, but I’ve made the mistakes several times so I’ll try to point out the gotchas before you make them.

Ok, let’s do it.

Download and install PhpTriad.

1. Download and save phptriad r2.2 from the project pages at http://www.sourceforge.net/phptriad/ on SourceForge.
2. Run phptriad2-2-1.exe.
3. When the install is done, run PHPTriad -> Apache Console -> Start Apache from the start menu like any other Windows app. A command window named “Start
   Apache” opens. Minimize the Apache window, but don’t exit the program. Apache is now listening on port 80 for browser requests.
4. Open your browser to http://localhost/ and you’ll see the PhpTriad welcome screen. Great!

Download Subdreamer Light.

1. Register on the Subdreamer site at http://www.subdreamer.com/, then log in. Go to http://www.subdreamer.com/light/, download the Subdreamer Light .zip file
2. Extract it into C:\apache\htdocs\. This will create directory C:\apache\htdocs\Subdreamer_Light_2202. Go into this directory, find the directory named upload and move it up to C:\apache\htdocs.
3. In directory C:\apache\htdocs\subdreamer\includes\, make a copy of the file config.php.new. Rename this file config.php.
4. Important! Check the properties of folder subdreamer and uncheck Read-only if it’s checked.

Configure a database for Subdreamer.

1. From the start menu run PHPTriad -> MySQL -> MYSQL-D-NT.
2. When you point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin you’ll see the phpMyAdmin welcome page. It’s pretty much self-explanatory.
3. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and create a new database named sdcms.
4. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and Reload MySQL. It is very important to reload the SQL by revisiting http://localhost/phpmyadmin after every command, so check that out if things don’t work.
5. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and go to Users.
6. Select database scms in the pulldown menu Check Database Privileges. Now add a new user sdadmin and with password sdpasswd. Give the user all privileges. Don’t forget to write down that password!

Install Subdreamer Light.

1. Run the Subdreamer installer by pointing your browser to http://localhost/subdreamer/install/install.php. Fill in the requested data:
      Database server hostname: localhost
   Database name: sdcms
   Database username: sduser
   Database password: sdpw
   Table Prefix: sd_
   Username: admin
   Password: changeme
   Confirm Password: changeme
   Email: you@your.com
   When you click “Install Subdreamer” it should take you to the “Installation Successfull!” page. Hooray!
2. Now delete the install directory and you’re ready to create your web site.
3. Go to the subdreamer admin panel at http://localhost/subdreamer/admin/ and log in as user admin with password changeme. You will be prompted (via a pink error message) to enter the full URL for your Subdreamer installation. It is http://localhost/subdreamer/

And that’s it! Experiment with settings, post entries, create and delete users. Subdreamer is suitable for a small to medium website, and that is why it is so easy to use. If you like Subdreamer, by all means buy the full version.
Just remember to periodically export the sdcms database via http://localhost/phpmyadmin. Not only does it protect your data from late-night errors, and there will be errors, but when you decide to go live with Subdreamer you can reuse your local data on-line. Your web host will likely also use phpMyAdmin and you can follow the same steps to create the database, and then import the file.

“See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you…”
- Jeremiah 8:17

You might remember a few months ago when the ‘Net lit up over the upcoming Samuel L. Jackson film, SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Not to be left out of the fun, I blogged it, too.

Well, kids, it’s almost here. And for your enlightenment and amusement, here are some scenes from the movie.

Get your copy of the player here

So you’ve decided to start a blog. Blog, of course, is the nickname for a Weblog. Blogging has been described as “grassroots journalism”, in that it is closer to the events described and has more immediacy than a magazine or even a newspaper.
The Blogosphere is the world of weblogs, the cycling and recycling of news and commentary that occurs as bloggers analyze and spin information found on mainstream news media and on other blogs.
A Blogger, then is one who blogs. Bloggers have been described with syllogisms such as
blogger : journalist :: tick : sheep
and
bloggers : journalists :: dung beetles : elephants
Here are a few hints to get you started.

Define your purpose

This is simple enough. You want to attract readers who have the same interests as you do, and you want to keep them coming back. Your blog can be anything from an online “Dear Diary” to a political editorial column. Decide in advance what you want it to be.

Know your intended audience.

Are you blogging for teens or for customers? Spelling, capitalization and punctuation really matter if you are trying to create a professional web presence. If you’re writing for hackers or then it’s quite ok to use smileys and l337-speak.

Choose a look and feel that matches your purpose.

Themes are available for many blog programs. A theme is what creates the color scheme, type font, and layout.
If you’re sharing photos with friends and family, by all means make the site friendly and laden with cute graphics. But if you are sharing technical information with engineers, keep the layout clean and the wording concise.

Decide where to put your blog.

Whether you use a blogging service or maintain your own page depends on your technical level and how much mojo you’ll get from hosting it on your own domain.
Hosted blogging accounts can be set up quickly and require no maintenance. The data can be hosted on their site or it can be published on yours via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). This is a quick-and-easy way to find out whether you get what you want out of blogging.
Blogger is a popular general-purpose blogging site, now owned by Google. It gives you the option of exporting your blog to your own web page if you have one.
LiveJournal is probably the most popular host. It is centered around personal diaries, and is used to create a community.
TypePad is another popular hosted weblogging service.
If you are technically inclined, you may decide to use blogging software. This usually requires that your web host provide MySQL and PHP capabilities. It also allows you greater control over the look-and-feel of your blog, and gives you the ability to add custom functionality.
WordPress is a free, state-of-the-art personal blogging tool that you maintain on your own site. It is easy-to-use and very customizable.
Moveable Type is another popular weblog platform for businesses and organizations.

Use categories and tags to organize information

Blogs are presented sequentially, latest first, and older articles are no longer visible on the front page. To help visitors locate information about a specific topic, create a category and tag your posts. Robotics enthusiasts might tag articles with categories “software,” “hardware,” “man-machine interface,” and/or “kick-butt end-effectors.”

Get your blog noticed.

Your first thought might be to get listed with the search engines. By all means, list your site at dmoz.org. Most of the other search engines get their data from the dmoz database. However, search engines take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to crawl your page. This is too slow if you are publishing time-critical information.
Fortunately, there are a number of services designed specifically for tracking and connecting blogs. By sending a ping to each service you let them know you’ve updated. I have WordPress set up to do this automatically every time I write a blog entry.
Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the Blogosphere. Search for your interests on Technorati, subscribe to blogs that interest you. Technorati will let you know whenever they’ve been updated.
Feed Burner allows your readers to subscribe to your RSS feed, and formats into html. Feed Burner now offers a mobile feedreader for Pocket PC.
Ping-O-Matic. Ping-O-Matic automatically pings multiple services including those listed here so that the services can notify your subscribers that you’ve updated.
gada.be is a new blog metasearch engine that searches several popular search engines all at once. You can set up an RSS feed with your search results. Its most interesting feature is that it’s set up so that you can put the search term in the subdomain, i.e., http://blogosphere.gada.be/. Remember to tag your posts!
Read other blogs that interest you, and follow up on them. Feel free to leave thought-provoking, relevent comments on their site, then blog your reply, including a pingback.
List the blogs you read on BlogRolling. This service will let your readers know when you have added a new entry to your blog.

Get your fine self noticed.

This is where social networking sites come in. The idea is to create a virtual community where folks who share your interests can meet you.
Post your books on Bookcrossing. Check for books you might want to read. I got into this because I have far too many books, and a good portion of them aren’t likely to be re-read. I can’t just throw them away!
Share your bookmarks on Netvouz and tag them so that folks who share your interests will read them and look you up.
Create a list on 43 Things.
Share your photos on Flickr. It helps you integrate them into your blog, so do it to save server bandwidth. It allows you to email pictures from your phone right to the web for an immediacy that wasn’t possible just a couple of years ago. A similar service in the UK posted photos from the London tube bombings as they were happening.
ning looks interesting. Apparently users get to write playgrounds, apps for interacting with others.

Will you be advertising on your blog?

If yes, by all means read The Edelman Blogger Study. This article contains quite a bit about how how the lines are becoming blurred in advertising on the web. It’s an exploration of people’s motivation and presentation, and how readers react. Definitely read this if you’re starting a corporate blog.
Even if your blog is a personal diary, you can still advertise. It is easy to earn enough to pay hosting fees, but don’t expect to get rich quick. There are a number of companies that will manage your advertising for you.
Do you buy books from Amazon.com? Well, they have an associate program that is easy to join and easy to use. When you review or recommend a book, simply add your associate id to the link you provide.
Google AdSense places that familiar block of targeted ads on your site.
Commission Junction enables you to host advertising campaigns from many popular companies. CJ keeps track of number of clicks, it keeps track of your visitors’ purchases, and it sends you a single check for all your commissions.

There you have it. You have something to say, you’ve defined your audience and chosen an appealing theme. By all means start that blog.

I recently decided to migrate the main web page to a Wiki. I’ve messed around with a couple of CMSs - Mambo and subDreamer - and decided that the format and size of the site really don’t require that kind of power. A quick look at the features of some popular wiki software led me to choose TikiWiki for the site upgrade. It will be no tour-de-force to convert the database later.
Rather than playing with the wiki software online, using up bandwidth and taking the risk of hosing my WordPress database or forums, I decided to evaluate TikiWiki locally under Windows XP SP2.
Accomplishing this doesn’t require any programming experience or expertise in using *ix, web servers, MySQL, or phpMyAdmin.
This is how to do it:

1. Get PhpTriad
   1. Download PhpTriad from SourceForge. PhpTriad contains Windows versions of the ubiquitous Apache server, MySQL database software, and PHP support.
   2. PhpTriad’s Windows installer unpacks the whole mess under c:\apache. When the install is done, run Apache like any other Windows app. In the version I’m using, a command window named “Start Apache” opens. Minimize the Apache window, but don’t shut it down. Apache is now listening on port 80 for browser requests..
   3. Open your browser to http://127.0.0.1/ and you’ll see the PhpTriad welcome screen.
      Great!
2. Configure a database for TikiWiki.
   1. Updated 3/12 - thanks, Jacques! Run MySQL-D just like any other Windows app.
   2. When you point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin you’ll see the phpMyAdmin welcome page. It’s pretty much self-explanatory.
      It is very important to reload the SQL by revisiting http://localhost/phpmyadmin after every command.
   3. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and create a new database named tiki.
   4. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and go to Users.
   5. In database tiki add a new user tikiadmin and a password. Give the user all privileges. Don’t forget to write down that password!
   6. Point your browser to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and Reload MySQL. It is very important to reload the SQL by revisiting http://localhost/phpmyadmin after every command, so check that out if things don’t work.
3. Get TikiWiki
   1. Download the .zip from http://tikiwiki.org/ and extract it into C:\apache\htdocs\. God, how I hate backslashes… This will create directory C:\apache\htdocs\tikiwiki-1.9.2 Rename the directory to C:\apache\tiki.
   2. Run the installer by pointing your browser to http://127.0.0.1/tiki/tiki-install.php. Make the selections - database type MySQL, server localhost, database “tiki” and enter the user name “tikiadmin” plus the password that you (hopefully) wrote down earlier. When you click Submit Query it should task you to another install page.
   3. Create the BasicEnabled profile in the pulldown menu. You’ll be taken to yet another install page that shows database print operations. Ignore the verbiage in the boxes - some of the writes will fail and that’s ok. Skip down and follow the link that disables the install script.
4. Create your TikiWiki
   1. Login to http://localhost/tiki as admin with password admin. You will be prompted to change the password. This is not the same as the database password above.
   2. Experiment with settings, post entries, create and delete users. TikiWiki is a simple application, suitable for a small to medium wiki, and that is why it is so easy to use.
5. Go back to the TikiWiki project page and donate!
6. Have Fun!

And that’s it. Just remember to periodically export the tiki database via phpMyAdmin. Not only does it protect your data from beginner’s errors, and there will be errors, but when you decide to go live with TikiWiki you can reuse your local data. Your web host has the same phpMyAdmin and you can follow the same steps to create the database, and then import the file.