December 2007 – Page 3 – third world county

December 17, 2007

Send the Grinches a Christmas Card? Maybe…

It’s become a popular yearly tradition now to send the Anti-Christian Liars Union grinches a Christmas card. I personally think its ineffective, and that the money you waste on a stamp for the organization to toss in the shredder would be better served towards a good cause. So, I encourage you to save that money, dig a little deeper, and contribute to an organization that fights the ACLU and defends Christmas. The Alliance Defense Fund, and the ACLJ are both great organizations that defend Christmas each year. The Alliance Defense Fund does it for free. Why not help groups like that out this year?

However, from experience last year…I know that many will insist on sending the ACLU a Christmas card. After all, it is tradition. If that is how you want to make your message…we have some great greeting cards and postcards available at our online store. Plenty of other great Christmas gifts too.

Send your Christmas card to the ACLU at:

ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York , NY 10004

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December 15, 2007

Worst Photo Ever :-)

Now, before you even ask, yes, there is a reason I blurred out my Wonder Woman’s face. And no, I’ll not tell you anything beyond one word: politics *spit*

*sigh*

It was a dark and stormy night… Really. Snowflakes as big around as a heifer’s eye were stampeding down on the Sunflower State when my Wonder Woman was striding across the stage (to her very common name’s mispronunciation by a cultural illiterate) to recieve her empty diploma case while having her “Academic Dean’s Honors” status (4.0 average) announced.

And so, 34 years after her BS, she added an MS (Ed Tech/MLS) to her curriculum vitae. One of a very few bright spots in an otherwise gloomy sitch for public education. Seriously. Sure, adding the masters degree was pretty much de rigeur once she left the classroom to start serving kids’ learning needs in the library (yes, bureaucrats are pushing for more ticket-punching there), but while I generally deride professional certification degrees–and especially in education–I saw some value in the courses and activities she was required to fulfill for this degree.

1. Few “education” classes. Yeh, there were education theory and practice classes included in the mix, each and every one filled to the brim with typical education school hokum. But given the emphasis of her degree, these were thankfully few and easily set aside after having those mini-tickets punched.

2. Most of the classes seriously addressed–and offered avenues for genuine creativity in–the need to make sure that using computers and the like in the library (and classroom–she still does classroom teaching, but now ALL the students are hers) are useful in learning, that measureable objectives in use of technology to aid learning are clear and that actual learning of useful information results, rather than kids just learning how to use computers; IOW, that kids learn how to use computers (and the like) to learn, to do independent research well, etc.

3. Oh, there was no neglect of the other, typical MLS topics, topics anyone who’s had to use a library for research appreciates when they have the aid of a librarian who has MLS training as opposed to someone who has not.

4. But of all the reasons I came–finally–to view this degree as a good thing for the schools here, one is a standout: having a lil more clout with the IT people to DEMAND (nicely, she’s always TOO nice, IMO) that the equipment be configured so that users can, well, USE it to do useful things (instead of just being configured for the convenience of IT folks, as has all too often been the case). *heh*

Now, that’s about all I’ll say here applying to her (new) degree except, “WTG, Wonder Woman!”

Other observations, lessons drawn from the ceremony/event may follow later. For now, enough to say, “Well done, Wonder Woman!”

December 14, 2007

Blogging News

OK, this is probably not really news to anyone who’s not had their head buried in a blog move/maintenance daymare, but in case you’d not yet heard, Moveable Type has now gone open source. So, folks who’re “personal use only” bloggers have another powerful, professional level software besides WordPress to elect.

I don’t plan on moving twc to MT, but I might just set up another, private blog using it, just for fun.

Click the link above for the whole story.

December 14, 2007December 14, 2007

A Moving Experience

Nah, not an emotionally moving experience, just a (so far) successful one.

BlueHost just ain’t half bad, folks. The support folks seem to actually be invested in providing… service!?!

Quite a change from what I had grown accustomed to elsewhere.

We’ll see how this all turns out. So far, I seem to have my blog mostly functional (save for those issues noted in the Thursday Thirteen post yesterday) and so have enabled redirect at my domain management service… we’ll see.

Canceling my Fat(head)cow “Sucks Dead Bunnies Through a Straw” account either today or tomorrow. That should put paid to the whole shoddy experience there.

Of course, I fully expect the billing folks I talk to to refer to the “six months’ free service” I supposedly have coming (promised by several “support” folks) for all the hassles Fastcow has caused in the past. But why would I want even “free” service somewhere I’m sure to get more BAD service? It’s like getting a coupon for “All You Can Eat” from a restaurant where one got food poisoning. Who’d want it?

*heh*

December 13, 2007December 15, 2007

Getting Inside the Mind of a Terrorist

I’ve been tardy making note of one of the best posts off-twc this week. Angel, at Woman Honor Thyself–a sometime contributor here at twc, I might note–had a “slap oneself upside the head” mind-boggler earlier this week with, Doozie of the DaY, on Monday. (Go read it. No, really!)

It seems some *cough* “Palestinian” guy thought he could “terrorize” folks at that “international conference on the Mideast conflict” (yeh, scare quotes. What? You thought there really was such a thing as a real “international conference on the Mideast conflict”? Riiiight… And Hillary Clinton is a sweet lil lady who bakes cookies) by threatening to jump off a building if they didn’t force Israel to release some terrorists and eject former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon from the meeting.

Angel’s response was a bit wordy, but apropos, I think: “GO FOR IT” Hmmm… I’d have thought a simple, “JUMP!” would have done the trick…

Better yet, I’m reminded of what “Dink Chavez”–a character in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six–had to say about getting inside a terrorist’s mind,

“…the best thing about the inside of a terrorist’s mind was a 185-grain 10mm hollow-point bullet entering at high speed.”

Or, as a bumper sticker I saw (just today, as a matter of fact) said, “Marine Sniper: You Can Run, You Just Die Tired.”

Yeh, how to respond to a “terrorist’s threat” to jump off a building if his demands aren’t met? ANgel had three words, but may I suggest three different words, addressed to a different party?

“Take the shot.”

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December 13, 2007December 13, 2007

T-13; 1.52: Q&D Thirteen

The quick-and-dirty low-down on the twc hosting transfer (just some more inside-blogging yadayada):

The “Fantastico” install of WordPress 2.3.1 at BlueHost was the easiest WP install imaginable. Just CLICK and it’s done. But little things continue to nag…
The Thursday 13 category has bit the dust. It was there last night between 8 & 10, but… (yeh, it’s still sorta there, but linkage to T-13 posts is broken *sigh*)
…everything went *POOF!* at eleven
Nobody likes large sql files. Nope. Nobody (apparently).
A 10MB XML file (done as an export from the WP dashboard) is also apparently too large: maxed out my CPU usage importing the thing. Failed repeatedly.
Export each and every WP database one at a time
Import each and every WP database one at a time.
FINALLY (I think, I hope, darned well better have) managed to get Fat(head) Cow “Sucks Dead Bunnies Through a Straw” to let me download all my media files, theme files (for the lil tweaks I didn’t want to have to redo), etc. Finally.
Upload of remaining files a snap. BlueHost didn’t keep timing out the way Fat(head) Cow “Sucks Dead Bunnies Through a Straw” does ALL the time.
Everything’s there, now, but… so many things are mixmastered beyond recognition.
None of my personally-managed blogrolls/links are properly noted. None.
Categories and their linkage to posts–all screwed up.
But… at least it’s mostly done. Mostly.

Noted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub.

December 12, 2007December 13, 2007

Housekeeping Note

Over the next few days, third world county may be up, may be down, may be mixmastered, hashed, folded, spindled and mutilated, but I project it will be back in full flower by ~~Monday~~, at least. [Sooner, looks like. Still some rough edges as of 11:30a.m. central time on the 13th, but at least the thing loads, now. Again. Was just peachy keen fine last night @11:00, then… reloaded and all was not well. Now better, nearly peachy keen again. Must be the dreadlock wigs and chicken bone rattles at BlueHost support. *heh*]

Thanks for being patient. Just some housekeeping and then calling in the movers. Finally butchering the Fatcow.

[Update: you may notice some screwy category listings on blogposts that were formerly well-*a-hem*-categorized (in my unimpeachable categories *heh*). Don’t know exactly what I’ll do about that. Hate to lose the search ability it gave me–and y’all–but going back to tag each of over 3,300 posts would be a nightmare. Have to see what a reimport of wp-postmeta database might do… Also, user info seems a tad scambled. Oh. Well. It’s still better than when Fat(head)cow (sucks dead bunnies through a straw) screwed up on me transferring twc from one Fat(head)cow (sucks dead bunnies through a straw) account to another in January.]