General: February 2005 Archives
I finally got round to upgrading my install to v 1.5
At the moment it's using the default theme, but I'll probably change that once I have some time to play with it.
There are a lot of new features, so it will probably take me a while to discover them all.
Possibly the "coolest" addition to any blogger's arsenal is the addition of the "Plugin Manager" which gives you direct access to Wordpress plugins from within your blog.
Some of the plugins do require manual intervention, but you can auto-install quite a few with no extra work.
I enjoy films, in fact I have been known to spend entire days in the cinema.
One of the reasons I got Cable tv from Chorus was to watch films, so I subscribed to the Sky Movies pack or whatever they call it.
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Not only do they not show as many films as I would have thought, I am also missing a number of the "secondary" film channels that are available to digital subscribers.
Looking at the choices this evening for example:
Analyze that - 8pm Sky Movies 1. I saw it in the cinema and this is probably the 3rd or 4th time it's been on Sky in the last few weeks
The Four Feathers - 8pm Sky Movies 2. I saw it on DVD last year, though this is the "premiere"
The only good thing is that there are no advert breaks, which I do really like. Watching films on RTE is so frustrating by comparison. Typical scenario:
Film starts. Intro. Ad break in middle of intro. Ad break continues. Film restarts - at this point you've probably lost track of where the plot was when the ad break started.
Adam posted a nice link to a rather wacky collection of 404 errors , which also contains some very sound technical information.
Some of the ones I liked:
Cannot get laid
P0rn
Googlesque
Jmcc pointed me at an entry on Bernie Goldbach's blog tonight, so I started reading and following the links, as one does.
Robin O'Brien Lynch's article seems to have brewed up quite a little storm, if you'll excuse the cliche.
Bernie rips into it, breaking each assertion across his knee, as if it were balsa wood.
Gavin Sheridan was good enough to provide what would seem to be the bones of the actual article. (I don't read the Irish Times and I am not going to pay to read it online as long as I can read other news sources)
Jmcc not only takes the article apart, but also provides some very nice arguments that turn the entire situation on its head.
Some of the comments in this character's article got me thinking.
Am I supposed to feel some kind of moral obligation to write about the Irish psyche simply because I am Irish?
Why would I write about something unless I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on the subject?
Does this mean that my blog is not Irish?
The entire thing reminds me of the Adrian Weckler article on Irish hosting companies.
I get the distinct impression that some of these journalists are so wrapped up in their own "little worlds" that they really don't seem to be aware of what is going on in the "real" world, albeit a virtual one in this instance.
I've been involved in the Irish ICT industry in some way for the last 5 years (or more - I tend to lose track). In that time I've seen some good journalism covering online trends, new technology fads, crazy ideas and moments of sheer brilliance.
The Irish 'net space has been vibrant since the first graphical browsers were available. I remember the levels of activity in the "vax lab" in UL back in '94, as guys hacked away all day to build up what is now Skynet - Ireland's first "net soc" (I could be wrong).
If Irish bloggers are so "inactive", how come the multi-user version of wordpress is being developed by an Irishman?
To make these kind of blanket statements is simply nuts, but as a journalist writing in a "quality" national newspaper it is more than that, it is quite dangerous.
Journalism, in any form, can have an extremely powerful influence over people's perceptions, opinions and ideas.
When you give your thoughts written form you move from an abstraction to a more concrete layer.
You may not be aware of it, but your every word has an influence.
From a purely linguistic perspective you may choose to analyse the relationship between words, clauses, phrases and sentences, how the very placement of a comma may alter an entire concept, albeit accidentally.
Put that in your private diary and it will gather dust and possibly be forgotten, unless you are famous.
Put your thoughts to print in a more public medium and you begin to influence.
We officially launched a range of new servers in Amsterdam this morning and, needless to say, informed the press.
What will be interesting to see is which publications and sites pick up on the news
So far it has been picked up on a number of the "techie" news sites:
- ENN carried a snippet in their daily roundup
- Hosting Tech gave a slightly different slant
- The WHIR's coverage was too the point
- Webhosting.info carried a slightly longer version and also included it in their daily news letter
