Twitter update

Just realized my wife and I are the only ones still awake. Kung Fu Panda almost over.

Twitter update

"wtf have you done lately?" Well, credits are rolling on the film Wanted if you must know. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Twitter update

OMG, the trash heap has boobs!

Twitter update

Watching first season of Fraggle Rock.

Twitter update

Choice between Carson Daly or Ryan Seacrest?!? WTF Little help?

from wordpress.com to wordpress.org

For some, this post will be a look at the magic behind the scenes. For most, though, it will be like seeing how the sausage is made. If you are in the later category, please skip this one and never think on it again. ; )

First, an explanation of WordPress. WordPress is a free (free as in beer) and open source (free as in freedom) blogging software package that is very popular. There is an entire community around the project contributing free support, plug-ins, themes, and more. The software is downloaded from WordPress.org and installed on a personal web server or at your web hosting provider. It is fully customizable and there are virtually no restrictions on what you can do with it.

Some of the developers of the open source project got together and started WordPress.com. It is a hosted version of WordPress where users can get up and running with a free blog with almost no technical expertise. This is wonderful tool for bloggers who do not need the flexibility (or headaches) of managing the software themselves. In fact, WordPress.com has hosted our blogs for some time now. Unfortunately, there are many limitations to the free hosted version.

For one, there is limited storage space for files related to your blog (unless you pay). Also, you can’t use your own domain name (unless you pay). I have been getting around this by redirecting our domains to our WordPress.com blogs using the forwarding option at GoDaddy (my favorite domain registrar). For example, when you type in thedailyflashkube.com you are actually being redirected to flashkube.wordpress.com. This presents a major problem with statistics because I can’t see any of the referring site information. Another major limitation of a WordPress.com hosted blog is the inability to embed certain content in your posts. For example, I can’t use the <embed> tag that is needed to embed videos from most video services. To their credit, they do allow the posting of YouTube videos through the use of a special WordPress-specific tag. But, many videos and other content out there are not allowed. Probably the largest drawback to the service is the inability to install plug-ins or additional themes. You are limited to a handful of themes that are not very customizable (unless you pay). And you can’t install any of the plethora of plug-ins available for the self-hosted WordPress software.

I feel that we have outgrown the free, hosted version of WordPress. So, I have pulled the trigger and signed up for my own web hosting with Dreamhost. After installing WordPress there, the first blog that will move over is this one. I have much work to do to get it set up properly. So far, I have only transferred DNS services from GoDaddy to Dreamhost. I will continue to use GoDaddy for domain name registration but they will no longer be used for DNS. They seem to have much better prices on registration than Dreamhost. The reason I did not use GoDaddy for hosting is that their user interface is atrocious. I have worked with Dreamhost before in my capacity as an IT consultant and have found it to be quite intuitive and fast. The only thing missing from Dreamhost that I enjoyed with GoDaddy is URL masking. Right now, with Dreamhost, when you visit http://thedailyflashkube.com it will redirect you to http://flashkube.wordpress.com but it will also change the URL seen in the address bar. GoDaddy was able to hide this even after redirection.

More tours of the sausage factory will come as I make this transition.

NOTE: I’d like to throw out an idea for you to ponder. The thought occurred to me yesterday that this site could eventually become a kind of micro community of amateur photographers. WordPress supports creating user accounts for contributing bloggers. If this were to occur I would, of course, cease writing politically charged and personal posts. I would also actively promote the site online so we would actually get some traffic. If there is the slightest possibility that you would be interested in contributing posts and articles, please drop me an email or comment here. Thanks!

Foyer

Good thing we bought this shoe rack.

Twitter update

A guest on Slate’s Political Gabfest podcast just said "whiff of taint." And so innocently, too.

new family blog

1/50, f/5.6, ISO 900, 85mm (D300, 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6)

The hand in this image is that of my wife working on our new family blog, The Lucas Life. It was created to replace the blog we had for our baby daughter. Well, she is not such a baby anymore and we had no place to post photographs and stories that were unrelated to her. I am relieved to have my wife working on the family site rather than me. She is much warmer in her comments than I am. Just looking at her first few posts I knew she would be much better at it. She is also more inclined to post photographs that have a documentary value rather than just a photographic one.

All our sites are created and updated using WordPress. Their service made it very easy to export all content from our daughter’s blog to the new family blog. It moved posts, comments, pages, etc. I then went through and deleted all the parts that will no longer be needed. You can use the same export feature in WordPress to transfer your blog to other services like Blogger or Typepad. The other nice feature is the ability to add users to your blog with various permissions. For example, I was able to create a WordPress account for my wife and add her as an administrator for the new site. I will probably add my older daughters as contributors on their sites and teach them how to post for themselves. Hopefully, in 2009 I’ll be able to spend more time on photography related blogging.

Twitter update

The holocaust against the Palestinians continues. http://tinyurl.com/9m6she

fairwell polaroid

This is a great movie about the original Polaroid camera. The film for these ingenious devices will no longer be available. You can read about it here. There are some other cool videos at that link as well.

Twitter update

Wife has taken over the family blogging. [praise the lord!] Check out http://thelucaslife.com) for more info.

Twitter update

So sleepy. Drinking coffee so I can retain some of this book. (ISBN 1-59863-534-4)

Twitter update

I think a dish towel (baby sun shade) just got sucked out of my car window!!?!

Twitter update

Preparing for work so that I don’t get holiday-over-too-soon syndrome tomorrow morning. (aka Youtube fever)

merry christmas

cheney’s highest moment

Are you surprised? I’m not.

obama’s pick for education post

If you have been reading this blog for very long you know that I am very interested in issues around this country’s public education system. I have been following chancellor Michelle Rhee in D.C. and others as they reform their school districts. Thus far, I have not taken a political stance on the matter and have been open to any idea that might result in better educated children. I recently came across Alfie Kohn, an articulate advocate quite opposed to Michelle Rhee et al and who questions the very meaning of the word “reform.” Here is a quote from his interview on FAIR’s radio program Counter Spin this week:

…it’s called by the almost Orwellian term “school reform.” What that means, in effect, is a corporate style approach to management of school systems in which the goal is not to help children learn but to prepare them to be employees who will help corporations become competitive in a global economy.

This upends the entire question of education. It means that we should be asking what the goal of childhood education is in the first place. Like many things, the question can be looked at from a micro or macro perspective. As a lawmaker, Obama will need to have his macro goggles on. That’s his role. But as a parent and student, it disgusts me to view education as merely job training for the benefit of U.S. global hegemony. That is why Kohn’s ideas are so attractive for me. You should read his article in the Nation from earlier this month.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081229/kohn

something there, something like us

REUTERS/BUAV/Handout

Nobody could call me an animal rights activist (although admittedly, a PETA mailing caused me to stop eating meat for a year), but images such as these are very compelling. You can’t tell me there isn’t something behind that frightened creature’s eyes. Not a soul per se (I don’t believe in souls), but something like what we have. An awareness I suppose.

Sometimes, I think belief in the human soul is why we have trouble respecting other species. The soul is exclusive to humanity. We alone posess it. All other life is lesser for lack of it.

Twitter update

Woke up with an iPod shaped impression on my chest. At least it wasn’t the face of Jesus or something.

crunchy style

I am completely drawn in when I see stylized photography like this. Straight photography is beginning to feel boring to me as a consumer. Tonight I was playing with the ACR sliders in LR (the basic panel) and came up with this gritty, crunchy look that seems very popular right now.

Twitter update

You know you need to lose weight when your stomach wags while walking. I’m almost there.

Twitter update

…and don’t get me started on the ones that actually sit down next to you!

Twitter update

What grinds my gears? Servers who squat to use the table while taking my order…

early gift for o

1/250 f/3.5 ISO 200 16mm handheld (D300, 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 VR)

Happy holidays everyone (in case I don’t talk to you by Thursday)! My father could not resist giving O her new tricycle early. She still wanted to ride what her sisters were riding (including their old tricycles). Here are some photographs taken of her today. 

1/100 f/3.8 ISO 200 20mm handheld (D300, 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 VR)

1/160 f/5 ISO 200 48mm handheld (D300, 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 VR)

1/250 f/3.5 ISO 200 16mm handheld (D300, 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 VR)

Twitter update

Head clearer than it has been in years (thx Claritin). Now noticing carpal tunnel and other ailments I didn’t know about. Can’t win.

what i’ve been reading

(shot with blackberry)

I have been feverishly catching up on the latest in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series. It started with Blood and Gold which I have read before but since forgotten (Marius is my new favorite character). I then went on to Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. These last two mark a complete merging of the Vampire Chronicles with her other popular series, Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Having skipped over that series in my youth, I am now reading them. I do recommend taking all of her novels in order of publication if you can manage. The Witching Hour, so far, is not very mysterious as I know all of the characters she has introduced.

I own the paperback of The Witching Hour but I began listening to the unabridged audiobook on Wednesday, mostly because I spent the day cleaning the entire first floor of our house, but also because I wanted to compare the two mediums. Quite honestly, I feel that I am cheating. When finished, I will return to this topic and share my thoughts.

Twitter update

Got the bird a few times before this jagoff realized I was trying to save his life. You need lights at night dummy.

Twitter update

@ a Starbucks inside Target. The guy that took my order was wearing a Target tshirt. Nervous.

Twitter update

Thick fog this morning is making me sleepy.