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October 05 2010
Clean URLs for Textpattern with Nginx
October 04 2010
A line-by-line guide: Setting up Nginx, MySQL, PHP-FPM, phpMyAdmin and properly functioning WordPress on an Ubuntu 10.04 VPS
June 23 2010
LEFT5 (this WP theme) is finally packaged and ready for anyone who wants it!
The very theme this site is now using, which was originally created for and implemented over at Loupe, is now publicly available. The theme is not for the kind of WordPress bloggers out there who use widgets or masses of plugins for their sites. I personally detest those things, and I know there are many more people like me out there, so this theme is for them. If you don’t like all the noise that’s turning many WordPress blogs into sparkly, browser-crashing nightmares, then LEFT5 may be the theme for you.
The one and only catch is that you must be comfortable editing the smallest bit of HTML and CSS, and I do mean small. Like three lines small. So, if you dig this theme, head on over to its download page and grab a copy. Happy blogging!
March 23 2010
How To Make Your Cat a Pokémon Trainer
Oddly enough, this isn’t purely sarcasm.
First thing’s first, you’ve got to get your hands on one of the newest iterations of the Pokémon game franchise — either Soulsilver or Heartgold. They’re basically revved-up, remixed and rebuilt DS-platform releases of the now ancient Gold and Silver versions of the game from about a decade ago.
These two versions of the game come with an added bonus: The Pokéwalker. This nifty little egg-shaped gadget is what you get when you mix a Tamagotchi with a pedometer, and build it for Pokémon. It’s fairly hilarious as a concept, but also fairly awesome if you really think about it.
The Pokéwalker trailer from Nintendo:
The next step’s the hard part
Now that you’ve got yourself a new Pokémon game for your DS and a Pokéwalker to go with it, you’ll need a cat. Assuming you have such an animal (and a Nintendo DS), the second step in this process can be a bit tricky. Get your cat to wear a harness.
Once the cat stops hating you and gets comfortable wearing the harness, you’ve got yourself a platform for all sorts of hilarity; but we’re keeping this post to strictly Pokémon-related shenanigans — so build special cat-borne beer coolers on your own time.
The Pokéwalker comes with a pretty solid little belt-clip on its backside, so all you have to do is clip it on securely, and make sure you have it centered on the harness so the cat has less of a chance of getting annoyed by it — and putting a fang through its tiny screen. If your cat isn’t harness-trained already, this entire step may actually take a few days to complete.
That’s it! Your cat may now carry around a pokémon in its Pokéwalker.
The really funny part about this, aside from the ridiculous sight of a cat running around with a pokémon backpack, is that cats are exceptionally good at accumulating pedometer distance. They’re always running around the house, rolling around to play, or being otherwise active in some way that activates the meter, and that means more is getting done on your Pokéwalker than would be the case were it still sitting on your desk.
The first night that I loaded a pokémon onto mine, I managed to accumulate 180 steps of pedometer distance in a couple of hours. My cat managed twice that in less time. While I slept, she added a further 1120 steps, even while fitting in a healthy amount of napping. Is this cheating? Psh. It’s Pokémon.
She’s quite used to wearing her Pokéwalker now; it really has become like her little cat backpack. Now the real fun will be taking her for a walk around Seattle — for everyone to see how ridiculously awesome my cat is. Especially being that she’s a pokémon trainer and all.
February 12 2010
How to Get Your Name Verified with Google
A while ago (sometime last year that I don’t remember anymore) I came across a quick blurb in a now long-forgotten Google blog entry telling users exactly how to get their names verified for their Google Profile pages.
It’s really simple, and free — the whole thing’s furnished by Knol, which has itself become somewhat forgotten when compared to Google’s many other ventures. I hadn’t given it much thought since, but with the recent advent of Google Buzz, our Google Profiles have taken on a whole new responsibility.
I also feel like I should have told more people about it when I got my own name verified, but that’s neither here nor there.
As I said before, it’s pretty easy to do, and should only take a couple of minutes to complete if you’ve got the right information on hand.
Disclaimer: This only works for Americans. Sorry (whole rest of the world), but the company is based here and the data they need to reference for verification is the kind that they can’t go looking for elsewhere.
Step 1: Go to Knol.
Google used their Knol service as the one-stop shop for name verification due to its extant system based on reputation, credibility, true name usage and basically the fact that it’s existence is contingent upon its users not being trolls.
Once at Knol, look up to the top right corner of the page and sign in. Even if you’re already logged into other Google services, it’s likely that when you load Knol you won’t be signed in yet. It uses your regular Google account so this won’t be a problem for anybody already using Buzz or Gmail.
Once you’re signed in, look back to the same top right corner and see that the options have changed to include a link to your Knol preferences. Click the link.
Step 2: Choose the tab for Name Verification.
Seriously, I wasn’t kidding when I said it was easy. Once you’re in Knol Preferences, choose the tab that says Name Verification. You’re almost done.
Once you’ve clicked the tab for Name Verification, you’re presented with two options:
Step 3: Verify.
Now you’ve got an easy decision to make. You can either verify your identity by using a credit card, or by using your Social Security Number. Either works just as well as the other, but since there are still masses of people who seem to think their SSN is somehow both secret and special in some way, the credit option is a safe bet.
Once you submit your info, the system processes it rather quickly. In fact, you may have a note in your inbox telling you it’s done before you close the tab. Now simply go to your Google Profile page, et voila! You’re verified.
February 04 2010
Because Space Gets Old
The Snow Leopard Login Screen
Apple is good at designing things simply and beautifully enough that users generally make little to no changes to their UI — but let’s face it, that space background gets pretty old after the first thousand logins, and they really should have included the login screen aesthetics in the system prefs.
You do not need any of the dozens of trashy apps floating around to tweak this. The methods for tweaking the login screen change with every major inception of OS X, as do the apps for changing hidden system prefs, but those apps all work by changing the system’s instructions themselves, rather than simply going to the source image and leaving the system alone. I’ve always preferred the safer, cleaner way of doing things, which is simply replacing the default images.
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Luckily, changing the login screen background is about as easy as opening the finder and swapping an image file. Just open the finder and hit shift+command+G, which brings up the Go To Folder dialogue, and enter this folder:
/System/Library/CoreServices
Once there, find the image file by the name of DefaultDesktop.jpg and make a copy of it somewhere safe. Now simply replace it with a .jpg of your choosing, so long as it’s 1920×1200 and renamed to DefaultDesktop.jpg — and don’t freak out when you’re asked to validate with an administrator password, since it’s a system folder.
The Apple Logo
As much as I appreciate how clean the OS X Apple logo is, I’ve always liked the vintage look. Just like the login screen’s background image, the Apple logo itself can be swapped out for an image of your choosing, so long as it matches the size and filetype of the original. You can also do the same with the “Mac OS X” underneath the logo.
The login window itself has a totally different folder full of goodies, here’s the path:
/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgentPlugins/loginwindow.bundle/Contents/Resources/
You’ll notice the veritable plethora of image files in there, all named quite nicely so there’s no confusion. You can swap any image ever involved in the workings of the login window, easy as copypasta, just make sure the sizes are always the same, and that you are sure to name them the same filename as the files they’re replacing — including the filetype. If the image you’re replacing is a .tif instead of a .tiff, then name your TIFF image as a .tif like it wants.
Happy tweaking :)
January 26 2010
Greatest Egg Timer Ever
Egg Watchers isn’t just useful as an egg timer, but it’s damn cute in doing it. When you hit the site, you’re given the option of choosing the size of your egg — medium, large, or extra large — and whether or not the egg is fresh from the fridge or sitting at room temperature. It asks if you’d like the egg runny, squidgy, or firm, and gives the time needed to boil the egg properly. Then comes the part that makes it special.
I fully expected some cutesy timer to start after finalizing the setup; the landing page says “Powered by YouTube,” but I figured that meant it had a video of a timer or something. What I wasn’t expecting is that it was really more like egg timer theater than just a simple countdown timer.
I chose a large egg, fresh from the fridge, and wanted it boiled squidgy. The time given was 6 minutes 40 seconds — and this is the video I got:
The video is one of many seriously twisted, hilarious and awesome shorts made by YouTube user Takena. Mad Props to him.
Go Make an Egg with Egg Watchers.
Thanks to Tina Roth Eisenberg over at Swiss Miss for posting this stuff.
Image: Egg Watchers.
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