Well, I think everything should be set for the new domain name. I updated the primary domain on the hosting account, and got the old domain to forward to the new one. If you’re not seeing that yet, it might take a little longer to propagate. Both sites will get you here until March 14 when the old domain expires.
Now it’s time for lunch at a new place in town – HuHot. It’s a Mongolian BBQ with a really dumb name, but everyone who’s been there says it’s awesome. I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Common Exception domain is set to expire in mid-March unless I renew it, and I think it’s time to let it go. Over the next few days, I’ll be working on moving the site to a new domain. Common Exception has been fun, but the 3 roommates who started it have gone their separate ways for the most part and the name doesn’t really mean much anymore. I’ve been the sole author for a while, and I’m going to take a few more steps to make this a site for Amber and me. (Now if I can just get her to post!)
I’ve owned a few other domains for quite some time, and it seems like a natural transition to move the site to one of them in particular. So starting soon, the sight will be renamed and move to MadisonMonroes.com. The old domain will redirect to the new one until CommonException.com expires in March. I’m also hoping to start devoting more time to the site in general and add more features and content. For the 3 or so people actually reading, send ideas my way. Wish me luck!
Just upgraded the site to WordPress 2.7 in preparation for some changes in 2009. It’s a huge jump from 2.1.2 or whatever I was on before. I’ll have to dig into the new goodies in the new year.
I don’t know how long I’ve been telling myself I need to post about xkcd. I don’t really remember how I first stumbled onto this web comic, but I’m pretty sure the first one I can remember was Guitar Hero. After seeing a few more on digg or elsewhere, I ended up subscribing to the RSS feed so I can continually enjoy the “webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” His style fits my sense of humor perfectly. I even went through the archive and read from the beginning. My cube at work has about 5 comics posted already.
Anyway, the comic that finally got me to post blends together perfect references from one of my favorite games and one of my favorite childhood comic strips. How can you go wrong with Mario Kart and Calvin and Hobbes? Don’t forget to mouse over the images to read the alt text; if you’re initially confused, a lot of times this will help clear things up.
Digg.com unveiled their latest version including expanded topics and some new customizations. If you’ve never been to Digg, you should go check it out. I’m interested to see if the new topics acheive the same general quality as the Tech news has for the past year. I’m also excited because they’ve added the ability to deselect topics from your homepage view, which means I don’t have to see anymore stories about the latest Linux distro or tech deals that I can’t afford. You’ll have to register to gain access to all the new categories (until the list the Beta status in the coming weeks), but you can’t really take advantage of Digg without registering anyway. Don’t forget to add me as a friend.
I don’t get it. Spammers hit this blog with spam every single day. Almost all of it comes in the form of trackbacks for things like brand name drugs, sex sites, and random names of famous people. When this first started happening, I didn’t know how to handle it. Every little thing made it onto the site, and with the default WordPress install I couldn’t figure out anyway to hold it so that the three of you who actually visit this site wouldn’t be able to see it all.
In the last 24 hours alone, there were 606 spam trackbacks. That’s definitely the highest number I’ve noticed so far. Thanks to the Spam Karma 2 plugin, not a single one of them made it onto a viewable page of this site. And that’s why I don’t see the point in sending me this crap. Why bother spamming a site that gets zero traffic and zero spam views? Maybe they just enjoy wasting my time. Well, guess what? It takes me about 30 seconds to delete all that spam, and if I wait long enough, Spam Karma will do it for me. So they aren’t even wasting my time. So what’s the point?
Edit: I should point out that the default WordPress install does include the plugin Askimet for combatting spam, it’s just not turned on by default.
I found an interesting article that explains what Google plans to do with all their dark fiber. This whole thing is pretty incredible. It’s a really interesting read. I wonder how accurate this really is?
Update: Here’s a little expansion on Cringely’s article.
It’s official. I’ve finally started working on a new site design. I’m trying to do things right using CSS for a standards based layout. I’m saying goodbye to tables, so this is a new experience for me. I’ve used CSS quite a bit before, but never without tables to structure the site. No promises on when this thing will be done. It’ll probably be a work in progress for a long time, especially since I hope to do this all on my own. If I want something like rounded corners that will require custom images, I’ll have to create them all on my own.
There’s several things I really want to be able to do with my site. I’m hoping I can add a photo gallery of some kind, because I have a pretty decent digital camera and haven’t really shown off many of my pictures. I really want to create a layout that will allow me to easily change the theme to coincide with the current season or whatever holiday is coming up, hopefully with some kind of artistic image highlighted at the top of the page (similar to HumanRadiator.com). I’m also trying to be less dependent on Blogger for everything except some of my content (and I hope to phase that out at some point as well). Still considering a change in domain name, but I’ve got this one for another five months, so it won’t be happening right away.
Currently Playing: The Web 2.0 Show
But more interesting are some of the other comments:
They listen to feedback actively. Emailing Google isn’t emailing a blackhole.
Some other good stuff as well.
Google is joining the ranks of the Knights Templar, the Masons, the Illuminati, and Skull and Bones, effectively setting up secret invitation-only meetings with 400 elite attendees, including major media figures, who are all sworn to secrecy about next month’s Google Zeitgeist 05. Passwords will be used in lieu of secret handshakes.
Google, what are you up to?