This is a test of IMified. I just love the idea of this thing. The next step is to integrate it into my daily routine.
Posts in category Blogging
Upgrading from WordPress 1.5 to WordPress 2
Last night I decided to upgrade and move this blog to WordPress 2 from WordPress 1.5. I’ve had a Dreamhost account for several months and used their one click installer to get the code on my shared hosting space. That was the easy part.
The more difficult part was migrating my content from the old database to the new database.
Here’s what I had to do:
On WP 1.5:
1) Execute the following SQL statements:
alter table wp_posts ADD COLUMN post_lat FLOAT(12,31) after post_excerpt;
alter table wp_posts ADD COLUMN post_lon FLOAT(12,31) after post_lat;
alter table wp_categories ADD COLUMN category_count bigint(20) default NULL;
2) Install http://technosailor.com/downloads/wp-xmlmigrate2.zip per the instructions
3) Activate the plug-in
4) Export the contents from WordPress 1.5
5) Import the contents into WordPress 2
I hope that helps and if anyone reads this and I missed a step please let me know.
Writely Does WordPress
Does Writely really play nice with WordPress? Or does Writely whack WordPress on the dome with the sand shovel every time we try to post? Will there be tears or giggling?
I honestly think this would be the best thing to use to post my bloggings blatherings. There was a post at Lifehacker comparing blog editors. I haven’t tried Performancing for Firefox yet but I have a feeling I’d give Writely all of my business if it had the stats plug-ins that Performancing has.
Anyway, here goes.
UPDATE:
There were tears. The title doesn’t get passed in properly. I’ve added it in for fun. The other features not available in Writely for blogging include the ability to add tags. Woe is me until I test Performancing.
Test Post From Writely
I’m testing out Writely. I just got an invite from Pnut. Pnut is super cool for doing this. Google is cool for buying Writely and the makers of Writely are cool for making Writely.
As you can see, my literary skills are wanting today. That’s OK, I’m just testing this thing out.
Here’s what I like so far:
- Bulleted lists
- I can share my docs.
- I can edit anywhere with a web connection
- I can edit off line and upload. I’m not sure if it’ll over write the existing Writely document or not
- No advertisements
Here’s what I want so far:
- Access to templates
- Ability to fax from the application for a fee
OK, enough prattling. Time to try uploading to my blog.
The post didn’t really work because it didn’t let me correctly chose my blog API. I’ll have to let them know.
Otherwise I’m very impressed.
Postie at last!
Is my cron job working now?
I’ve sent several dozen of these test emails to the email address I set up for moblogging. I feel like the psuedo hipster of Verizon Wireless fame.
Finally, after nearly a week of wanking with it and changing the settings I can finally send an email to this address and have it show up on my blog. Next up is a test of a camera phone photo email then all I have to do is learn the special Postie codes then I’m ready to blog as I go through my day.
I ended up changing the way the recommend calling the get_mail.php script in the cron job from */5 * * * * /usr/bin/lynx –source http://www.economysizegeek.com/wp-content/plugins/postie/get_mail.php >/dev/null 2>&1
to
*/5 * * * * /path/to/php -q /path/to/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/postie/get_mail.php >/dev/null 2>&1
At the top of get_mail.php I added the following line which enables me to run the script from the command line. I’ve added it above the actual < ?php opening tag. #!/usr/local/bin/php -q
I hope this helps someone.
Moblogging?
I’m trying increase the quantity and quality of my entries and moblogging seems like a good way to do this. I think about things I should blog several times a day but I’m not in front of a computer.
Setting WordPress up for moblogging on the other hand is not as easy as it could be. I’ve installed and configured
Postie but I’m not having much luck at the moment. I can run it from the command line and through the web based interface but that’s kind of lame. I have set up a cron job that is in fact running as advertised but for some reason it’s not actually pulling in the settings I need to make automatically posting from my cell phone work.
I’ve also tried the cronless postie setup but I can’t get that working either.
Stay tuned as I get this all working and blaze a path toward fame and fortune.
Turning off comments
After nearly an hour removing comment spam and turning off the comments in this shitty little blog I’ve decided to just simply turn them off. I’ll probably turn them back on for registered users later.
I have way to much stuff to do right now to delete comment spam. What twisted fuck dreamed up comment spam? I’d love to meet him (it’s most certainly a male) and kick his ass.
w.bloggar Test Run
Today for some odd reason I clicked a link I’ve never clicked in my blog admin area. It was the link for the comments section. To my surprise and delight it said I had 69 comments. Then my bubble was burst as I reviewed the comments and learned that the vast majority were SPAM. Arrrgghh. I’d read a lot about blog comment spam but since I’m so under the radar it never occurred to me that my blog would be spammed. As I was cleaning my spam out I ran across a legitimate comment by John Galloway. I clicked his link and found w.bloggar, a blog client that doesn’t suck.
I’ve just made the decision not to give BlogJet $20 for various reasons including the fact that I don’t think it’s a very polished product and that it doesn’t fill a compelling need I have. It’s slightly more convenient but only slightly more than entering into a web based interface. The biggest advantage was the spell check but it’s all British spelling so it was always telling me things like color were spelled incorrectly.
Now I’m trying w.bloggar which is freeware that takes donations and offers a greater feature set to patrons. I’ve done this with Trillian for years and have found it to be well worth the money.
This is my first post so my final review will wait until after tonights black tie event but so far I really like it.
Leonard Got (blog) Game
Daaaaaaaaaammmmmmmnnnnn!
This Leonard guy sure has thought this blog thing out.
- Blogging is what you make of it. The formal definition of reverse chronological microcontent (sometimes hypertextual) is simply that, a description of a format. While one can’t deny the power of the medium on the message, the sheer range of content and form can’t be denied. Also, we’re just at the beginning of things. 43things in some ways is an extension of the exploration of the medium. It’s also related to the trends I see in life-logging.
- Blogging is inherently democratic as a medium. To put this within one modern socio-economic deconstruction, blogging helps connect people with themselves and others, working against the other pressures that tend to isolate. It’s a disruption of the consumption cycle, although, not in the sense of stopping but rechanneling. It’s not “saving” the world, but it is helping people communicate, which is a good thing. (Yeah, somewhat scale-free, but still way more fluid and sure beats pure broadcast hierarchy anytime)
- To elaborate on that last point, while blogging can become insular, degenerating into pure egoism or echo, all the worst parts of mob behavior (amplified by a central arbiter of pagerank)… well, ok, I’m just depressing myself now. However, for most people, being exposed to other views and information and being able to anaylze their own selves is good. Lets hope that this sort of behavior can be encouraged.
- Our online lives and digital lives have begun intersecting. This deserves it’s own space. Perhaps I should write some essays …
If I was one quarter as smart as Leonard I’d be working for myself or better yet financially independent by now.
Feeling kinda dumb
I still don’t get what trackback is all about. What does it do? Why do people use it?
I simply must uncover this mystery by the end of the week.
Now playing: Shirley Horn – Return to Paradise [Mark de Clive-Lowe Remix]