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P2 Didn't Quite Cut It
I’ve thought a lot about where I’m posting content and don’t like the fact that where my inane posts end up are in locations that I don’t control.
I’m likely not going to stop posting content but I’d like to at least own it and be able to move it from place to place. So, I decided to dust off my blog and give it a face lift.
I really like the Tumblr model and set out to find something similar. I started with the P2 theme from Automattic but it was ugly as hell and I didn’t have time to tweak it.
Instead, I settled on what you see here. It is the Mindstream (aff) theme from Studiopress. I’m pretty pleased with both the framework and the look of the theme and think it was worth the money.
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Bodymedia System Wishlist
I bought myself a Body Media On Body Monitoring System. It seems to work really well and I got a good deal on Amazon. It was under a hundred bucks.
This is less about what is great about Body Media and more about what they need to improve.
- My confidence in the step counter. I switched the iOS app to workout mode and walked around my house while it the app and armband were communicating. The updates weren't realtime, instead it looks like they were batched. It wasn't clear to me whether it was working properly. You should provide some notification in the UI that explains this. Not something overt like a pop up message but instead integrate the behavior in the UI elements.
- The calorie intake. No one does this well, your setup is especially bad. If I can't easily log what I've eaten I'm not likely to use the tool.
- In an ideal world, I'd like to be able to take a picture of a nutrition label and the software would OCR the data. These labels are standardized so this doesn't seem like a hard problem.
- In a less than ideal world, take a picture of the label, upload it to you and display your form and label side by side to make data entry easier.
- Do you store items that are manually entered by users in your database for public use? It feels like this should be shared pain. It will help improve the database.
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Spicy
Spicy
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Congress Almost Certain To Blow Unemployment Deadline
Happy Holidays from +John Boehner
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As Swing Districts Dwindle, Can a Divided House Stand?
It may not be GOP congressman are irrational after all. #link
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Use the "Layoff Test" to Build Your Professional Network
If you were laid off today, who would be the first ten people you'd reach out to for advice, or to catch up with? When is the last time you spoke with them? If you can't even list ten people, much less remember the last time you caught up with some of the people you would normally call references, it's time to start reaching out now, while you're comfortably employed and don't need anything in particular.
via Use the "Layoff Test" to Build Your Professional Network. -
Blech I ended up going back to Zoneedit...
Blech, I ended up going back to Zoneedit because I couldn’t get setup SPF and DKIM DNS entries through Dreamhost.
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Blech I ended up going back to Zoneedit...
Blech, I ended up going back to Zoneedit because I couldn’t get setup SPF and DKIM DNS entries through Dreamhost.
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Hey, America! Republicans want to raise your taxes
The always spot on Ezra Klein writes in the wonk blog today.
The big lie of the fiscal cliff is that the argument is between Democrats who want to raise your taxes and Republicans who want to cut your taxes. That’s wrong. Republicans want to raise taxes on more people than the White House does.
via Hey, America! Republicans want to raise your taxes. -
Whoops forgot to update my MX record I...
Whoops, forgot to update my MX record. I guess I am having #DNS problems after all. My email is totally borked right now. If you need to get a hold of me DM me on Twitter @JoeCotellese or find me on Google+
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P2 Theme Kill Sites with Many Users
I recently updated my blog theme to use P2. P2 is a free Wordpress theme that gives your site more of a Tumblr / Twitter style look.
In general, I liked it. However, I noticed that the performance really sucked. Digging in deeper it turns out the culprit is the P2 variable “mentionData.” I presume it is used to allow the mention feature to work. What it does is preload all of the user profile data onto the page. This can be bad news for a Wordpress instance with a lot of users.
I had over 700 users on the site (that was another problem that I rectified), on each page load it P2 will fill in the mentionData variable with all 700+ account holders.
I’ve since deleted the offending users and my performance is great again. I don’t know enough about the theme to want to dive in and take a look at it. Hopefully the guys at Automattic can fix this.
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Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About 'Human Decency'
Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About ‘Human Decency’
This is a much more enjoyable read then the Mashable post.
via Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About ‘Human Decency’.
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Randi Zuckerberg Not Happy About Facebook Photo Privacy Breach
Lovers of irony take note: Mark Zuckerberg’s sister Randi has complained about a Facebook privacy breach.
via Randi Zuckerberg Not Happy About Facebook Photo Privacy Breach.
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Wow didn't kill DNS That's cool
Wow, didn’t kill DNS. That’s cool.
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Mucking with my DNS settings Better than 90%...
Mucking with my DNS settings. Better than 90% chance that I am going to lose access to this site.
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Bleh, spending way too much time fixing my Wordpress installation toda...
Bleh, spending way too much time fixing my Wordpress installation today. #wp
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P2 is a really cool micro blogging theme...
P2 is a really cool micro-blogging theme for Wordpress ma.tt/2009/05/h…
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So my Wordpress instance was hacked today Grr...
So, my Wordpress instance was hacked today. Grr. Give me an opportunity to do some clean up though. Checking out the P2 theme, kinda neat.
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The Matrix secures its place in film history
This movie was so great when it came out. It's a shame that the Wachowski's completely blew the sequels. #wp
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Western Antarctica experiences rapid warming
Cue the doubters…
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I am a horrible gift wrapper. Yes, that is a patch.
I am a horrible gift wrapper. Yes, that is a patch.
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Use TextExpander to Create SurveyGizmo Surveys Fast
I build surveys using SurveyGizmo. It’s a great online survey tool, but building longer surveys through their interface is a bit tedious.
In order to speed up the process you can create surveys from specially formatted text files. To help things along even further, I’ve created a series of TextExpander snippets to allow me to quickly create survey questions.
What is TextExpander you say? It’s an Mac app that will allow you to replace text you type frequently with smaller shortcuts. So, say you type your address a lot, you can replace it with addr. Then every time you type addr it will expand and replace it with your address.
If you have a Mac, you should definitely get TextExpander, it’s an awesome tool that will save you a boatload of time. Then, you should download these here.
Load them into TextExpander and you can use them to quickly create new survey questions.
When done, simply copy and paste the survey into the Survey Gizmo importer tool and you are 70% of the way to completing the survey.
If you add any new snippets please leave them in the comments.
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UI Fail - Application icons that look like app state.
I recently installed Grammarian; a stand-alone spelling and grammar checker for Mac OS X. I had a difficult time getting the application to work properly. I thought I was following the directions but still had no luck.
After about 15 minutes and, an email from tech support I realized that the problem was the application icon used by Grammarian.
Note the screen shot below. There is a checkbox next to the text Grammarian. This would indicate to me that the item is enabled. That is not the case. This is the application icon for Grammarian itself.
For what it’s worth, tech-support responded within 10 minutes and I’m using the app now. It beats Word’s grammar checker hands down.
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Pending Class Action Lawsuit for LG Appliances
LG appliance problems are not limited to just kitchen appliances. Apparently there is a class action lawsuit for LG washing machines.
According to the filing a defect in the machine causes a mold and mildew build up in the dishwasher. Nice. Once again, nice job LG.
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LG Microwave Problems Widespread
I’ve collected a series of links here that show I’m not the only person having problems with LG appliances.
Here is a whole series of complaints about LG microwaves from Consumer Affairs.com. I’ve pulled out some select quotes from customers.
"Have had spots in the bottom of the oven for the past several months and the cleaning cycles, soap & water, will not remove them.
He told me that sometimes it takes two full cleaning cycles for spots to come up. I specifically asked him if I should run the stove through two complete cleaning cycles. He said yes…that’s a total of 6 hours!
Anyway I did and now I have a big old rust spot in the bottom of the oven and the paint is chipping off."
“I bought an LG microwave oven from Home Depot. The over was broken on arrival - the turntable motor had to be replaced.”
“The first year we had trouble with the microwave electronic door. It ended up getting replaced Then we developed the same problem a year later and ended up getting the door replaced, but had to pay 160.00 in services fees. Then our dishwaser inside rubber thing came off. We ended up fixing it, but now the pump and door electronic panels is bad.”
“Ok I
m not going to argue I just know that Lg doesnt stand behind there products and they wont recieve another penny from my house or family and friends.I tried to say maybe its just me but I ordered the part and paid for it,well guess what they dont seem to have that part every place has it back ordered.Could it be that this is not only happening to me,but seems to be a common occurance.Perhaps Im not the only one.”“I bought a LG microwave Apr 2009 and it been out for major repairs 5 times in 18 months. The lates was Sep 8, 2010.”
“I purchased an LG Microwave Oven from Home Depot on January 8, 2007. The item was subsequently delivered and installed.Since that date, I have had to have this item repaired fifteen (15) times. Fifteen times I had to make sure that someone was here between the hours of 8 am and 1 pm.”
“Within 6 months the control panel went out in the over the stove microwave. Called LG - pointing out that this is a DESIGN flaw (steam goes into panel and damages it according to the technician)”
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