Monthly Archives: February 2009

Everything is amazing! Be Happy!

Louis CK does a routine on Conan on why we live in the best times ever! And why we are all spoiled brats. I have no idea who this philosopher comedian is, I don’t think I’ve seen him before.

You only have to was the first 60 seconds (the good stuff starts at 30). I say that because you’ll be hooked by then and watch the rest (because it just gets better!).

The direct link.

Found at EverydayGoddess.

The Simple Wikipedia ?

When did we get a Simple Wikipedia project. It says it “Use(s) easy words and shorter sentences. This lets people who know little English read them.”

Here’s a sample of the first paragraph from the regular Wikipedia on the word Sniper.

A sniper is usually a highly trained marksman that shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles. In addition to marksmanship, military snipers are also trained in camouflage, field craft, infiltration, reconnaissance and observation techniques.

Here’s a sample of the first paragraph from the Simple Wikipedia on the word Sniper.

A sniper is a soldier in an army. They are given special training with sniper rifles. Snipers are able to shoot at targets very far away, or that are very small, and hit them accurately using a sniper scope. They are also specially trained to be stealthy and hard for the enemy to see when they are hiding, by using camouflage.

It’s interesting. I’ll be checking it out when I look up extra-geeky science stuff, but I just can’t believe I haven’t heard a peep about it.

I only found out about it when I saw this cartoon (and I almost thought it was a joke).

simplewiki.jpg

(I chose the word sniper since it was on the simple wikipedia main page as a selected article.)

It’s time to Register for WordCamp Chicago – June 2009

wordcamp.chicago.pngDon’t forget to register for WordCamp Chicago! It’s only $30.99 for a weekend of WordPress fun. They want to pick a venue based on how many people register by March 1st so sign up now. As far as I know you can register later, but if you register now if helps to make sure they pick a large enough place to have it.

You can get more information at the WordCamp Chicago blog.

They’ve already got a bunch of speakers lined up including Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress.

You can even see who’s already signed up to attend.

If it’s not obvious, I’ll be going…

Neil Gaiman

I get a ridiculous amount of searches for “Neil Gaimen” on my site, but it’s spelled “Neil Gaiman” (sometimes I get some for “Neil Gaimon” too). This post is really just to help point people to the proper postings. The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman

If you’re looking for stuff about Neil you can search this site for Neil Gaiman or posts tagged with Neil Gaiman.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, I’m planning to see Coraline in 3D today!

Neil Gaiman has written many incredible books and graphic novel for children and adults: (these are all Amazon links)”
“Coraline”.
“The Graveyard Book”.
“The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes”.
“American Gods”.
“Stardust”.
“The Wolves in the Walls”.
“Murder Mysteries”.
“The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish”.

And he blogs too!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here’s a Valentine for all of you!

sierpinski_valentine.png

A Sierpinski fractal Triangle diagram but with hearts (from xkcd). It’s cute if you ‘get it’.

My Ski Accident

So this is just a quick update as to what I’ve been up to. I’m been having some problem typing so here’s a video to explain why…

(Oops, this was set to “private” originally. I fixed it now….)


 

thumbxray.jpegHere’s a direct link to the video.

So they tell me when I fractured on my thumb it’s a Proximal Phalanx Fracture but they think it’s gonna be okay. Here’s a little picture of the x-ray (click for a bigger view), they say it’s going to be fine after wearing this cast for a while bit longer.
 

 

Upgrading to WordPress 2.71 – It’s easy!

I upgraded to WordPress 2.71 today (from 2.7). It’s the just one click upgrade which almost worked (I think i have the bugs worked out for next time so it will work with one click).

The first thing I did with I back up my whole blog (which it will tell you to do) but it takes some while to back up the directories, SQL file and images.

When I finally clicked on the one click upgrade it didn’t work but it’s the same kind of pause/interruption I get I try to upgrade some plug-ins (it’s inconsistent, some plug-ins work fine). So i googled it and I find the Codex for the Core Update Host Compatibility page which lists all hosts that the automatic upgrade works with and it even explains that if you’re using my hosting provider (which is 1and1 web hosting) you need to be running PHP 5 for this to work properly. Plus, they had the one line of code you need to to make the change.

So I entered the line to my .htaccess file, I clicked upgrade again and it was done! Seconds later I was done upgrading the whole blog. So if you’re considering doing this upgrade I would definitely do it. I think I’ll be set for the one click next time I have do it.

By the way all my other plug-ins that I had that I couldn’t click to upgrade, now upgrade with a click! So it even solved an additional problem for me.

How Movies Were Rented In The Past – A Historical Reenactment…

Historic Blockbuster Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past. A historical “field trip” on the way to rent videos in the past.

Here’s the direct link.