Asymptomatic

Where are the good photoblog packages? Here's the target that I'm trying to hit:

• Displays photos with title and description
• Displays thumbnails of photos when more than one photo is displayed
• Allows comments with moderation and filtration capabilities
• Allows tagging of photos by admin or visitor (moderated or threshhold-limited)
• Displays galleries by tag, date range, or pre-defined classification
• Optionally tracks user favorites, allows ratings, and records view counts
• Has no problem with FTP or HTTP uploads
• Can simulate internal galleries using external Flickr photos and galleries (wishful thinking)
• Uses a cropper to select a thumbnail
• Has no "back-end", just a front end with extra controls for the admin
• Integrates easily into existing site layouts
• Displays photo date information (from EXIF if possible)

Is that so much to ask for? Apparently so.

That Saturday we had our most recent WordPress meetup - the best turnout ever! This week there were a few new attendees along with some familiar faces.

David from TalkJunkie.com stopped by. His site is all about talk radio, specifically show schedules, which is even of personal interest to me. We talked a bit about how he can promote his site, which mostly focused on social networks like Digg and del.icio.us rather than trying to get listed in search engines, which would naturally evolve from that.

Tom was wondering about using WordPress MU at his school and whether it was complete enough to give it a try. We were generally of the opinion that the software is stable enough with the thousands of WordPress users that it's probably one of the better options available for communal blogging, and since they would be one of the early adopters, they'd probably get more immediate support from the WordPress MU gang if they helped sort out these early snags. ...

I added my XBox 360 to this XBox Live Blogging service which apparently will create blog entries for when I play games. Weird. 1984. Cool.

This is a first, because usually I ineffectually nominate myself for these things in an attempt to bolster my own self-worth. I wasn't paying attention when I was nominated as a Philly Future featured blog.

Philly Future is what I consider the epicenter for my Philly readings. Disclosure: I'm not actually a resident of Philadelphia. I live in the suburbs (Downingtown) where I can shake my head and sigh as the city news flies by in Philly Future posts. Of course, the state and national issues are of interest to me (especially things like net neutrality), and the entertainment announcements are helpful in deciding what to do on the weekends.

If you're stopping by for the first time as a result of the vote, let me give you a brief rundown of essential details of the blog. I've been blogging since November of 1999. I typically blog about whatever comes to mind, as such Asymptomatic is typically not a good candidate for awards because I'm never focused enough. However, as Albert points out in his nomination of my site, I think the commentary is what makes the site worth notice. ...

With an overwhelming majority of votes (that's funny, folks) I have been elected as this week's Philly Future Featured Blog!

I'm not sure exactly what duties I'll be expected to perform during my week of honor (and if it's picking up trash with a poker around the Philly Future headquarters, I totally got a raw deal). Still, this is my first time my blog has been recognized as worth reading in 6.5 years of blogging, and I plan to attribute to it all of the gravity that it deserves.

Thanks to everyone who voted, not just for me, but for the other nominees who are doing a swell job on their blogs, too. Special thanks to Albert for the nomination, Howard for the spiffy introduction, and all the folks that keep Philly Future running. Hopefully new visitors will find my content worthy of their browsing time.