Well, you're looking at the new server.

Most of the plugins from the old site aren't even installed any more. So there is a lot of stuff not working.

One of the things I'm working on is the theme that you're looking at. It's not quite ready for public consumption, but I don't want to put anything else on here, so I'll be motivated to fix it to my satisfaction.

Just so you know: This theme is probably the most advanced theme ever conceived for WordPress. Some of the things it already does are things that I've never seen a theme do before. And just because it looks like this here doesn't mean that it would look like this at your site. It's three-column native, and doesn't look like it, does it? Anyway, I digress.

There are only two plugins installed currently. OSA and moreadsense. OSA is managing spam comments for the time being. It's in serious need for an update. I thought of an improvement in the shower this morning that is so obvious I'm not sure why anti-spam plugins aren't all already doing it.

moreadsense is a plugin that I had not released (and don't know if I will) that replaces the --more-- in a post with an AdSense ad whenever a full post is displayed.

I'm running a SVN of WordPress 1.6, this time without any custom changes. Although, there are a couple of quirks I need to work out. Perhaps just send them in as changes. I'll be doing my custom WordPress work on a different site from now on so that this site can keep running normally.

I guess that's about it for now. I'll just have to wait for the DNS changes to propagate and see if anyone notices.

The server isn't dead. You would think this is good news.

I have arranged for everything here to move to a new server, as soon as they configure it, with TextDrive. That should be quite a bit more reliable than what I've got here. This is the fourth time in three months that the server has simply died for no reason. I never had this kind of trouble at EV1, even when I was on Windows 2003.

With this transfer comes a new hosting philosophy: I'm parcelling out my web services.

Instead of going for one of their monthly hosting plans, I've signed up for one of TextDrive's lifetime accounts. It's supposed to last for as long as TextDrive is around, and I'm sure that'll be at least as long as I am (or they're bought by some giant company, likely Yahoo if anyone). So I won't be paying monthly hosting fees ever again.

At the same time, I don't have all the freedom I had with the server before. My current server (this one here before transferring to TextDrive) has a whole harddrive for me to use, so I would likely not run out of space for storing images and whatnot. But on the TextDrive server, I will have only 1GB of space, and will have to use my storage more carefully.

What this means is that the money that I would usually spend directly on hosting will now go to other services related to hosting. For example, I will now be a dedicated Flickr user, injecting myself with that heroine every year when my Pro account comes up for renewal.

I think I may also need an email hosting location, since I don't want huge emails (I host email for some family members who don't know how to log in every so often and delete some things - I would say "you know who you are" but it's all of you doing it!) cluttering my limited space, I'll have to find a home for them elsewhere. There are quite a few services out there offering email on mail.yourdomain.com for a reasonable yearly fee. My registrar (registerfly.com) actually offers a few interesting-looking plans. I'm still looking for something that definitely has IMAP, though.

And I'm loving Stongspace. I recall specifically thinking, "Why would anyone want to do that?" And now it's my lifeline. Flawless backup and instant availability. If you're running a website and you have access to cron and rsync, you need to sign up for Strongspace right now for your backup needs. Seriously, it's internet service perfection.

Ok, well, I think I've satisfied myself that this is the last thing I'll be posting on this server. If you see all kinds of oddities in the transfer (Currently I'm inclined to run only WP 1.6 SVN with no custom themes and minimal plugins, for example) then please bear with me. Of course, I welcome any specific "X isn't working, and it looks like it should be by now" comments you might have. If there are features here that you absolutely can't live without, then please let me know.

Of course, my other sites, including redalt.com will be affected by the move, too. Patience, please.

See you on the other side.

Here's what I want.  I want to be able to type a keyword into the editor for this post and have it produce a set of 200x200 images that match that keyword that I can use as an accent for the post.  Maybe someone could erect a service that provides these images and connects via a WordPress plugin?

Because as it is, all of this text is too much to look at without a little accent image now and then.

This is the third crazy-comment I've gotten this week. Where are these people coming from, and who gave them computers to play with?

Apparently, they're under the impression that the "add" that they left won't run for even a day. Well Lau (Lau is the commenter's name), no, I'm not going to run your comment on the post under which you've submitted it.  But in the interests of being fair, I'll do you one better.  I'll store your comment as a top-level post so that everyone can benefit from reading it.

I'm not sure why you submitted the comment on the earlier "Categories versus Tags" post, but I can understand if this is your first time using the web and you were a little flustered.  Clearly the use of the Shift key was causing you some trouble, too.

So, here you go, straight from guest poster Lau, my third crazy-comment this week. Enjoy!

i have a problem with the so called christians here in alabama and surrounding area but what do you want from people who, cant decide wheather they want to be christians or pagans . and before you go and call me names and ask the questions like who is he to judge ask yourself this question how many of you and your god filled churches practiced holloween or passed out the candy , or even better jet dressed up like ghost and dead people. let me school you on your flip flop holiday, thats ok with you. spirit filled ,god loving, christians .. Halloween has nothing to do with Christianity. It is a festival which no one—child or adult—should have anything to do with. We need to better understand the origins of Halloween and its dangers.During the Dark Ages, a number of pagan customs were adopted by the dominant Christian church in Europe. One of these was devil night, which was later named, "Halloween." This special night, celebrated since antiquity as the night when the devils came out and walked about the streets, was a satanic festival on October 31 of each year. The next day was called "All Saints Day" or "All Hallows Day", so "Halloween" was the night before Saints’ day. Like the night before it, All Hallows Day was dedicated to honoring the dead.

Christianizing the Devil?
There are those today who have tried to “Christianize” Halloween even more. They dress their children in Biblical costumes and celebrate Halloween as a “harvest festival.” But the origin of the night’s celebrations remains the same. We should not ape the world in observing special sacred days originated by Satan. Separation is needed, not compromise.

got some of you guys thinking dont i . well lets see just how long this add will run people hate the truth and what does the bible say about the truth . i bet you anything that as soon as the editors of this web page read this it wont run a day . because they are more concerned about hurting your feeling than saving your soul and the first reason they will give is its not our place to try and save your soul . i live in prattville and i have worked a few jobs . where am i going . well lets get there real fast i know some of you have things to do . well i worked at a local area movie store where we sold furniture and a variety of movies , after being there a while i come to find out they had a special section under the counter of xxx tapes imagine my shock when i found this out me being christian and all well the first words out of my mouth were i see why you hide them no one wants to rent that smut . they laughed at me and told me to be here on sunday which i had to be i was scheduled to work that day . clocked in and to my surprizes right around noon or one oclock we were over run alot of these guys and girls older men and women i knew them all and some took me by surprize as soon as church had let out they were renting sex tapes and were bold about it some didnt even take the time to come out of there sunday dress or as we country folk say they were wearing there good cloths . well to make a long story short i lost all respect for alot of people that day and alot of churches aswell the churches these people came from will be listed in the next posting and the churches that practice holloween every year will be posted here aswell just to see how many of you good christian folk will protest my posting or call me a liar but i got pics of the churches with the holloween fixens out front and the cross not far from . ge t the picture you know who you are and i think the rest of the area should know who you are .. ooooops alot of you go to the churches i am talking about . so now i know for a fact this add is cancled . it runs there is a god only the workers of satan will tryand hide the truth

 

No, this stuff is too hard to make up.  Thanks for writing, Lau.  You've made my day!

And the best part is, following the logic at the end of the quote there, I can still be a "worker of satan" because the logic allows the loophole.  See, I'm certainly a worker of satan if the "add" doesn't run, but there is no qualification for me if it does run, so who knows?  Either way, I suppose that I'm doomed to hell for all the times that I've dressed Abby in a nun costume for Halloween.

The other two crazy commenters seem to think I'm on my way to the hot place, too.  Do you guys know something I don't?

Ah, yes...  This comment is a work of staggering genius.  I need to pick this guy up as a daily guest poster for during vacation next week.

Does anyone else see this funky caret here in Firefox?  What's doing that?  It looks like a little nightstick.