Well it looks like the issues with MySQL 4.03 aren’t going to resolved anytime soon, and it was messing up other applications anytime a variant of SELECT DISTINCT was used so I went ahead and rolled the installation back to 4.02. So things should be working fine now; if you see any bugs drop me an email or something. I’m getting ready to put some new summer-themed pictures up, so keep your dials locked.
Postiecon
“So, PostieCon (a conference sponsored by PayPerPost) was among the most controversial things I’ve ever done. People really hated that I was speaking there. I got constant crap from my friends and foes alike because of my decision to speak there. But, it turned out they didn’t have enough attendees so they postponed it to November.” — Robert Scoble
Greek Blogger Camp
At the end of the month I’m going to Greece for the Greek Blogger Camp on Ios Island. It looks like it is going to be fun, and the registration is very reasonable (30 euros) so I hope to see some of you there.
Smart Quotes in PHP
One of the true joys I find in reading different websites is when the author of whatever text you see has taken the time to make his text typographically pleasing to the eye through the use of proper typographical elements. CSS has enabled designers to shape text on the web in ways that allow for far greater control over presentation than the creators of HTML ever envisioned. However, I see many sites where it’s obvious that great pain has been put into the layout and presentation of the text, but there are still things like single and double prime marks being used instead of true quotes or apostrophes. Part of the reason for this is it’s a pain to enter the proper entities in when you type, especially if the entry is being added through a normal text box like most blogging software use. While I’m not going to go start a society (more) I still have written a small function in PHP that will hopefully make the world a better place, one curly quote at a time :). Thanks to my dad, Mark Pilgrim for inspiration and the code that got me started, and Barrett for help.
A little background: This whole thing started a few hours ago when I was writing a paper and when I looked back to proofread I saw that there were a number of occurrences of words like it’s, where writing out the HTML entities had become so ingrained in me from various situations where I hand code that it was now translating into my ‘normal’ typing. At that moment I immediately thought of ten other reasons why it’s probably better for the content to be entered into the database as a single or double prime and then translated to its proper character on display. Most of all, it’s just easier, and the free flow of ideas into your writing is not impeded in any way. My mind also went back to an entry I read on Dive Into Mark early last month which addressed a similar issue, but from looking at the code I saw no easy way I could drop that into my site. And thus this very generic function was born. It can be dropped into any PHP application anytime you want to make some text display worthy. Without further ado: Update: fixed a display issue, and a small bug.
Start Conference Photos
A series of snaps from the excellent Start Conference, which I spoke at in the morning after Ev Williams and before Mena Trott.
Facebook Platform
I actually dig the Facebook platform, but this quote is hilarious:
“And looking over press coverage of the announcement today, you’d think it was the late ’90s and Six Degrees had made Flooz its official currency and offered free Kozmo.com deliveries to all its members.”
Si vous parlez français, vous pourriez profiter de cette interview avec moi sur Journal Du Net.
WordPress and Greasemonkey
Customizing WordPress with Greasemonkey, I expect to see a lot more of this in the future. Any other GM scripts for WP? Hat tip: Billy via email.
Typekit has announced that they’ve been acquired by Adobe, I’m excited for Bryan, Jeff, and the whole team and can’t wait to see what they launch next. Had the pleasure of working with Typekit as an investor and as a partner in WordPress.com’s Custom Design feature.
WordPress 57%
LA Saturday
A day in LA spent looking at Fort Street carpets and vintage furniture around town, and then SOHO House for the Montblanc / Harvey Weinstein pre-Oscars dinner and party. (Stopped taking photos once the actual party started, didn’t want to get kicked out :).)
A great piece in the New York Times today: How do you parent without a future, knowing that you will lose your child, bit by bit?
The other week in my hometown of Houston, Texas I ended up on stage in a joint conversation with Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal. The video of our chat is now on WordPress.tv, and worth checking out particularly if you’re curious about the early history of both projects. We’re more alike than different, and Dries is someone I respect a lot.
ReadWriteWeb covers the WordPress.com / Federated Media deal which will give high-end bloggers access to run advertising from FM, which is significantly higher quality than alternatives like Google Adsense, which has been declining in quality and is no longer a great choice for bloggers. Proud to be part of the empowerment of the Independent Web, which is the dark matter of the internet.
Feeling Lucky?
Feeling Lucky? by Tara Hunt: “It turns out that there IS such thing as lucky people, but it’s not some sort of mystical fate playing its hand at work after all. Instead, ‘lucky people’ are those who are really observant and open to opportunities.”
“Apple Lossless, also known as ALAC, is a lossless audio codec Apple developed some time ago for digital music. The codec compresses music files anywhere from 40-60 percent of their original size with no discernible loss in audio quality or fidelity.” — Apples ALAC codec is now open source. About a year and a half ago I started re-ripping all my music in ALAC, it’s fantastic, especially now that iTunes can down-convert when syncing to iPhones / iPods.
Jish Goes to Houston
Had a wonderful time tonight at Market Square Grill with a number of new people who I hadn’t met in person before. The guest of honor, Jish, was an extremely nice guy. I think he really enjoyed his visit, because everything is bigger in Texas. It was wonderful meeting everyone, such colorful personalities, and I’m definitely going to make it out to the next event. In attendance were (Kathy’s list helped me out here) Katie, Mike, Jish, Elaine, Chuck, Ted, Robert, Hanna, David, Kathy, Christine, and Kymberlie.
The pictures from tonight are now online. I’ve also gotten around to putting up the entire morning shoot from the Sights Unseen series. I also added some photos from 9-27 with some interesting ones in the downtown area that Sarah took. Actually she didn’t take all of them, just the good ones.
Flying to Camp in Alaska
First day in Alaska, flying toward start point on the Canning River in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
Pun-A-Day #7
A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is called “Ahmal.” The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him “Juan.” Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, “They’re twins! If you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Ahmal.”
Open Source Tax Credit
Is an Open Source tax credit a good idea?