21 Mar 2005
I’m finally getting around to moving posts and miscellaneous other junk across from my old weblog, powered by my own junky PHP thing, to this current WordPress installation. There are two reasons for this — firstly, I’d been meaning to do it for ages, but hadn’t been bothered to, and secondly, I’m soon upgrading this to WordPress 1.5 (so I can use my own much talked about DashLite, amongst other things! ;) Yeah, I’m enjoying my 5 minutes of fame…), which means this is as good a time as any to do something about it.
Additionally, there’s just been a server overhaul, which puts everyone in the mood to play and generally break things as a side result of the creative process — oh, yeah, and I’m kinda sorta on holidays, between exams (well, you know, studying hard — but I need something to keep me sane!). Kudos to Dale for his help with porting the articles… working on the comments still, but it’ll get there (probably, assuming I don’t just give up in disgust!).
Something of a more creative nature to come, maybe, once the move to 1.5 happens… it makes that sort of thing easier.
20 Mar 2005
Snippets of conversation from MSN.
Regarding Minesweeper:
Ben: best time for expert is something like 183
Josh: i dont know if i’ve ever beat it, actually
Josh: hehe
Josh: well
Josh: im sure i have a few times
Josh: but i never pay any attention to how LONG
Josh: coz its always a distraction
Josh: not an extreme sport
Josh: …or something
Ben: hey minesweeper SO is a sport
Regarding Telstra’s crappy DNS:
Ben: use iinets:P
Josh: yeah i was, but that was just as slow… something about something? i dont know, it still DOWNLOADS fast, just takes ages to RESOLVE anything :/
Ben: sucks to be you trying to resolve?
Josh: hehe, guess so :p
Josh: but that’s okay
Josh: because it’s the journey, not the resolution, which matters
Josh: ;)
Ben: so exactly how many hops is it between your modem and the telstra DNS? explain the language forms and features (in binary) used and how they effect the responder (your home computer) as it goes about its trip.
What has the Board of Studies done to us?
19 Mar 2005
This website still isn’t running 1.5, but I’ve got two others in the works which are, and, to be perfectly honest, neither of them need the Dashboard, because they’re going to be maintained either in part or entirely by people who couldn’t care less what WordPress was, so long as it works. With this in mind, the whole “Dashboard” RSS syndication of every-website-under-the-sun-relevant-to-WordPress thing is probably a bit much, especially seeing as it increases load times whilst offering no apparent benefits… so I’ve hacked together a far simpler page for use in its place, which I feel is far more along the lines of the KISS principle (click image for full view):
The source for DashLite is available as a PHPS file, which is good for viewing the source, but not for saving directly (because it’s got HTML markup in it to make it look pretty, and will simply break things). You can also download just the plain text source, which you should save as “index.php”.
To install, simply overwrite the file wp-admin/index.php in your blog directory — you may want to backup the original index.php first, as I accept no responsibility for any problems that may arise as a result of the installation of this!
Unlike most content on this website, this is released under the GPL (as is WordPress itself), so go crazy with it…
p.s. the version number is just for kicks — I don’t think it’s highly likely that it’ll change in the near future, but just in case I think of other things to add, or bugs do exist (odd though THAT would be, considering the complexity of the page), or WordPress function names, etc. change, the option to increment it is there…
Update: Oh, yeah — if you use it, it’d be nice if you could send a trackback or drop me a line (I would have completely forgotten to say this, but for Steve‘s comment). Enjoy!
Another Update: Version 1.1 is now out. It’s more of a usability patch than a bug patch, but all the same, it’s there if anyone wants it.
19 Mar 2005
18 Mar 2005
In light of the pending English exams, Guy Betts has invested his time and effort to bring us all an enlightening set of essay questions, encompassing just a few of the many delightful morsels that the Board of Studies is infamous for delivering to its students.
(it’s a scan because it’s Guy’s handwriting, and I felt like doing things that way. Click through to read more for a plain text version of the image.)
Practice Essays
“The lion stalks his prey. The Gazelle becomes wary as the lion pounces. The Gazelle makes his escape. He is lucky, this time.”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: Recipe OR SMS
“Melbourne – Rain and 23 degrees, Sydney – Cloudy and 25 degrees, Canberra – Fine and 23 degrees”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: Smoke signals
“Yummy Kitchen House Chinese Restaurant”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: Stop sign
“Present this coupon and recieve a complimentary Portuguese lesson!”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: Morse code OR Movie subtitles
“Room 84″
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: A 621-page thesis on Norwegian trout-fishing practices.
“Have the porter fetch a mallard at once”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: A tatoo
“Dry-clean only. Do not tumble dry. Do not digest.”
Discuss this statement with regard to the imaginative journey.
Text type: Trolley
