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Description: The Blog of the Century of the Week
Last Update: 13:05:13 05/27/2006
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Additional Info
First Fetched: 00:18:28 01/31/2004
Last Updated: 13:05:13 05/27/2006
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A libertarian says that "Congress should supply the tax monies needed"; an atheist takes up arms in the War on Christmas... on the side of Christmas; WTO protestors chow down at McDonald's before hitting the streets to stop globalization; the Christian Defense Coalition, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), and Matt Moore all agree that the Patriot Act should not be renewed. Today's dose of total anarchy brought to you by Reason's Hit and Run, the world's Best Group Blog.
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| 15:50:46 December 15, 2005, Thursday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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I love Cliff May for ripping into Katie Couric and Ramsey Clark. I hate Fox for cancelling Kitchen Confidential after airing only four episodes. The hate I feel for the 3.86 million people (a word I use very loosely) that watched a fucking rerun of 7th Heaven last Monday? It cannot be described with mere words. If the baby Jebus is a just God each viewing household shall feel the pain of a hundred hemorrhoids plus a dozen paper cuts for every member of the important 18-to-45 demographic. Amen. Update: I also love craaaazy NFL plays. Michael Vick just went in motion as a receiver, the ball was snapped to Warrick Dunn then tossed to Vick, who launched it down the field to Roddy White. He looked to be covered but the Saints defenders, Josh Bullocks and Dwight Smith, got tangled up. White caught the ball and stumbled for ten yards... touchdown.
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| 18:40:27 December 12, 2005, Monday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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There's currently an ad running on Denver's CBS4 that features news anchor Jim Benemann and his son, a high school football player. The son's jersey clearly says "Bienemann," yet the caption (and Jim's official bio) says "Benemann." My theory: Jim's legal name has the silent i, but in his professional life he drops it to avoid mispronunciations. Anyone know for sure?
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| 15:30:59 December 4, 2005, Sunday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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According to the Movable Type support desk it's a known bug that <MTEntryModifiedDate> sometimes returns the original publishing date rather than the modification date when used in a dynamic template. I think this must be a regression of the same bug from 2.661 mentioned here, but now it only affects dynamic publishing. Luckily, the fix is much easier to implement this time. Simply backup /path/to/mt/php/lib/function.MTEntryModifiedDate.php and then edit it so the file looks like this (or download the whole file): <?php function smarty_function_MTEntryModifiedDate($args, &$ctx) { $e = $ctx->stash('entry'); $args['ts'] = $e['entry_modified_on']; return $ctx->_hdlr_date($args, $ctx); } ?> I should probably understand this sort of stuff better (you did backup your current file, right?) before I go hacking around, but I figured that my <MTEntryDate> tags were working correctly in my dynamic templates. Why not just copy the code out of that PHP file (function.MTEntryDate.php), change ...
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| 13:19:14 November 22, 2005, Tuesday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Like my last post this is a small fix to a problem with the PHP implementation of the SimpleComments plugin. The original perl code allowed the use of the <MTSimpleCommentCount> outside of SimpleComments tags. This is really useful if you want to output info on comments or trackbacks based on how many there are. In my case I want the updated timestamp on my individual Atom feeds to match that of the most recent comment or trackback, but if there isn't any feedback yet, the timestamp should match the modified date of the entry itself. For some reason (and I don't know enough about writing PHP plugins for Movable Type to tell you why) the "official" PHP version of SimpleComments returns null if you try to do this. Luckily kate at geekmum noticed the same problem and figured out that installing one file from Rad Geek's PHP port fixes the issue. So download that package, and copy function.MTSimpleCommentCount.php to /path/to/mt/cgi-bin/php/plugins/ (make a backup of your original ...
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| 09:43:14 November 22, 2005, Tuesday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Adam Kalsey's SimpleComments plugin for Movable Type was written long before MT allowed comments and trackbacks to be marked as unpublished, so in its original version it will output junked and moderated feedback. It was also written before MT had dynamic publishing, so of course it didn't support that, either. Luckily Brad Choate quickly added dynamic support to the plugin, and recently Joe D'Andrea released a patch that made the static half recognize junk status. So all I had to do was combine the two fixes to make SimpleComments compatible with dynamic templates and junk status aware. Directions follow. 1. Download and install the original SimpleComments package (this includes Brad's code for dynamic publishing). 2. Apply Joe's patch to SimpleComments.pl. 3. Apply the following patch to /path/to/mt/php/plugins/block.MTSimpleComments.php: 147a148,149 > if (isset($args['visible'])) > $moderation_filter = "and tbping_visible = 1"; 153a156 > $moderation_filter Or you can just ...
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| 08:49:43 November 22, 2005, Tuesday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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I hope that's not a spoiler, buddy.
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| 08:38:00 November 17, 2005, Thursday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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This is only a test of Rae's new EE trackback system. (More posts soon, I promise. I've set up individual Atom feeds for entries that are very useful for tracking comments, so I'll be posting a howto.)
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| 15:03:35 November 13, 2005, Sunday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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But rather than getting one of these to help the Insta-Wife park his new SUV perhaps Glenn could just hang a tennis ball from the ceiling.
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| 09:49:50 November 7, 2005, Monday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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But rather than getting one of these to help the Insta-Wife park his new SUV perhaps Glenn could just hang a tennis ball from the ceiling.
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| 09:49:50 November 7, 2005, Monday (PST) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Googlewhack! Well, it's not really a googlewhack at all, since there are results for it. Just not as an exact phrase. I misheared the lyric, again. It's actually, "Everybody gotta learn sometime."
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| 22:36:18 October 29, 2005, Saturday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Googlewhack! Well, it's not really a googlewhack at all, since there are results for it. Just not as an exact phrase. I misheared the lyric, again. It's actually, "Everybody gotta learn sometime."
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| 22:36:18 October 29, 2005, Saturday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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The PageRank checker I've got in my sidebar stopped working for a few days, so I downloaded this PageRank extension for Firefox. It works really well, but I found some weird stuff while playing around with it. First, the homepage of TBOTCOTW has gained in rank (from a five to a six) at the same time that it's dropped from the first to the fourth search result for "Matt Moore". How does that happen? Second, AdActors.com has a rank of four, yet barely gets any traffic at all. The site has 544 visits this month, with only 127 of those off Google searches. Also, how in the heck did it get a four, anyway? The only links to it are from TBOTCOTW, The World Wide Rant, and ResurrectionSong. I don't think three links from sites that all have a PageRank of six should equal a PageRank of four. Finally, the most bizarre oddity of all. Why does Vodkapundit have a rank of zero? Steve gets four thousand visits a day, there must be at least one hundred links to his site from high traffic blogs, and ...
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| 13:28:58 October 23, 2005, Sunday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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The PageRank checker I've got in my sidebar stopped working for a few days, so I downloaded this PageRank extension for Firefox. It works really well, but I found some weird stuff while playing around with it. First, the homepage of TBOTCOTW has gained in rank (from a five to a six) at the same time that it's dropped from the first to the fourth search result for "Matt Moore". How does that happen? Second, AdActors.com has a rank of four, yet barely gets any traffic at all. The site has 544 visits this month, with only 127 of those off Google searches. Also, how in the heck did it get a four, anyway? The only links to it are from TBOTCOTW, The World Wide Rant, and ResurrectionSong. I don't think three links from sites that all have a PageRank of six should equal a PageRank of four. Finally, the most bizarre oddity of all. Why does Vodkapundit have a rank of zero? Steve gets four thousand visits a day, there must be at least one hundred links to his site from high traffic blogs, and ...
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| 13:28:58 October 23, 2005, Sunday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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I oppose the Miers nomination. She doesn't have the background in constitutional law, the conservative judicial philosophy, or (judging by the leaks coming out of Senatorial offices) even the knowledge of legal precedent to be the nominee of a Republican president. We can't even count on her as a reliable conservative vote (which would be the wrong reason to support her nomination, regardless) because we just don't know if she'd be that reliable, or even on which issues she's a conservative. A few days ago Glenn Reynolds linked to a description of Miers as liberal on economic issues and conservative on social ones (she's some kind of anti-libertarian, evidently), which is precisely backwards from what I, personally, want in a public official. Maybe those truly are her views, maybe not. Maybe she'll call on some hidden reservoirs of constitutional knowledge and become a great justice, mabye not. We just don't know. All we do know is that she was chosen because George Bush knows her ...
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| 19:46:28 October 22, 2005, Saturday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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I oppose the Miers nomination. She doesn't have the background in constitutional law, the conservative judicial philosophy, or (judging by the leaks coming out of Senatorial offices) even the knowledge of legal precedent to be the nominee of a Republican president. We can't even count on her as a reliable conservative vote (which would be the wrong reason to support her nomination, regardless) because we just don't know if she'd be that reliable, or even on which issues she's a conservative. A few days ago Glenn Reynolds linked to a description of Miers as liberal on economic issues and conservative on social ones (she's some kind of anti-libertarian, evidently), which is precisely backwards from what I, personally, want in a public official. Maybe those truly are her views, maybe not. Maybe she'll call on some hidden reservoirs of constitutional knowledge and become a great justice, mabye not. We just don't know. All we do know is that she was chosen because George Bush knows her ...
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| 19:46:28 October 22, 2005, Saturday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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If you see someone on teevee using a computer, it's almost always a Macintosh Powerbook. Can't really blame the producers for picking a Mac, they're the most stylish and aesthetically pleasing computers around.† How come, then, do they always try to hide the fact that it's an Apple product? I understand that they want to protect product placements and their adveristers, and giving Apple free time would be a bad precedent. But it's not as if putting a sticker over the apple logo actually fools anyone, a Powerbook is a very distinctive computer. (Every time one pops I tell my wife, "Sidney Bristow uses a not-a-Mac!") Do they really think they'll get more ad money from Dell if they carefully position a lamp behind the "generic laptop" in every shot? CSI: NY, for some reason, doesn't buy into any of this. They constantly show the brandnames and logos of electronic products, whether it's Dell, Toshiba, Apple, or Nikon. Anyone know why that is? I'm assuming that they're not getting paid ...
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| 23:41:02 October 21, 2005, Friday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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If you see someone on teevee using a computer, it's almost always a Macintosh Powerbook. Can't really blame the producers for picking a Mac, they're the most stylish and aesthetically pleasing computers around.† How come, then, do they always try to hide the fact that it's an Apple product? I understand that they want to protect product placements and their adveristers, and giving Apple free time would be a bad precedent. But it's not as if putting a sticker over the apple logo actually fools anyone, a Powerbook is a very distinctive computer. (Every time one pops I tell my wife, "Sidney Bristow uses a not-a-Mac!") Do they really think they'll get more ad money from Dell if they carefully position a lamp behind the "generic laptop" in every shot? CSI: NY, for some reason, doesn't buy into any of this. They constantly show the brandnames and logos of electronic products, whether it's Dell, Toshiba, Apple, or Nikon. Anyone know why that is? I'm assuming that they're not getting paid ...
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| 23:41:02 October 21, 2005, Friday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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(You say barbeque, I say... well, there's really only one way to pronounce barbeque, I guess)
As long as you don't use the word as a verb, whatever you do to your meat is fine by me.
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| 08:59:57 October 21, 2005, Friday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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(You say barbeque, I say... well, there's really only one way to pronounce barbeque, I guess)
As long as you don't use the word as a verb, whatever you do to your meat is fine by me.
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| 08:59:57 October 21, 2005, Friday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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"I imagine she's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say." What the hell was I thinking? Suddenly the title of that song makes a lot more sense.
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| 01:08:26 October 20, 2005, Thursday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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"I imagine she's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say." What the hell was I thinking? Suddenly the title of that song makes a lot more sense.
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| 01:08:26 October 20, 2005, Thursday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Tamiflu resistant avian influenza? That's bad news. Another Rocky movie? That's even worse news. My initial reaction: "There's already been five Rocky movies? Five?!"
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| 13:51:20 October 17, 2005, Monday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Tamiflu resistant avian influenza? That's bad news. Another Rocky movie? That's even worse news. My initial reaction: "There's already been five Rocky movies? Five?!"
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| 13:51:20 October 17, 2005, Monday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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You're an Amazon Associate, maybe you make a few dollars a month by linking to products you like, but you know you could make more if only it was easier to build the links. Or you've already found an easy way to automagically add your associate ID, but then you upgraded your blog or moved servers and broke all your links. I think I've got a great solution to both of those problems. I like Brad Choate's method, and I used a slightly modified version of that before I upgraded to 3.2. But during the upgrade I accidentally deleted my macros, and all my <amazon> tags† became useless. At the time I was running TBOTCOTW as a dynamic blog, as well, and Brad's code uses plugins that don't work on dynamic pages (yet). On top of that, MTAmazon hasn't been actively developed in years, and I wasn't sure it would work with 3.2 at all. So I gave up and changed all my tags back to regular links to Amazon.com. Then I switched back to static publishing found out that Byrne Reese developed ...
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| 13:32:02 October 14, 2005, Friday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Michael Moore is such a miserable failure. * Pass it on. Update: Howard Dean? Also a miserable failure.
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| 04:51:17 October 13, 2005, Thursday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Colby Cosh trashes Joss Whedon and the Cult of Firefly for about a thousand words before admitting that he actually liked Serenity. His points about the creepiness of Firefly evangelists are well-articulated and correct (it is kinda creepy), but basically miss the point. Says Cosh: The Browncoats want everyone to like "Firefly". (Or, rather cynically, they want just enough people to like it so that studios will go on bankrolling it.) In the end it's not clear that the show matters as much as being part of the group that watches the show. The parenthetical, I think, is more true than the original assertion, and it's a very different kind of evangelism (if it's even evangelism at all). I'm certainly not a Browncoat... I didn't even know Firefly existed until it was off the air, so my views might not be typical. I don't care if everyone likes my favorite shows, but if no one likes them, they'll be cancelled. I don't like stories to just end, with all sorts of loose threads and ...
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| 12:07:42 October 4, 2005, Tuesday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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According to this website Serenity made a good but still disappointing $3.9 million on opening day. Usually a movie makes 30% of it's weekend take on Friday, so it will probably make less than $15 million this weekend. That's still good enough for second place, behind Flightplan, so perhaps it's only disappointing because I've been on the inside of a blogger-based echo chamber of hype. What surely can't be described as disappointing are the sales of the Firefly DVD set. As I write this post it's number three at Amazon, behind only the DVD debut of Cinderella and some Family Guy thing. (That's an interesting portent, because we all know what happened when Family Guy sold a ton of discs after being cancelled.) Obviously, the movie is driving a whole lot of those DVD sales. Hopefully a solid percentage of newbies are leaving the movie wanting to see more. I don't know anything about the licensing agreement between Fox and Universal, perhaps it makes it impossible for the series to ...
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| 10:57:58 October 2, 2005, Sunday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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The review I wrote of Serenity was based on the free press screening that Universal invited bloggers to attend. I think this was the first time a major movie studio let bloggers into a screening, and I think it's a great idea and (hopefully) the start of a trend. I love going to free movies before they're released. Since this was the first, there were definitely some kinks. This Blogcritics post outlines all of the issues that bloggers had with the event. Most of the problem was with the ambiguous wording of the email the PR firm sent to invited bloggers (well, most invited bloggers. I didn't get the email, more on that later). Congratulations! You are one of the lucky bloggers to be chosen and confirmed for the screening of SERENITY for the time, date and the number of guests that you have requested. Please note, this confirmation DOES NOT guarantee you a seat at the screening. To significantly increase your chances of getting into the screening, you MUST do the following: · You ...
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| 13:28:57 September 29, 2005, Thursday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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Serenity is a very, very satisfying movie, and that was a tough trick to pull. A movie based on a beloved (yet short lived) teevee series and written and directed by a man frequently called a genius has to be great to satisfy. I really don't think that this movie would be any good if it was merely good. If that makes any sense at all. (On the way to the theater I expressed this fear to my wife, and she said, "Of course it will be great! It's Joss Whedon, he's a genius!" I replied, "Ever seen Alien: Resurrection?") What really stood out was the writing, of course. The characters are mostly drawn from action film archetypes (there's the amoral tough guy, the spunky woman [well, several spunky women], the conflicted leader) and they could have been cardboard flat. Instead they were all very human, reacting to situations and each other unpredictably but always in ways that make sense. There were also lots of classic Whedon bits: extremely funny lines in the middle of intense action, ...
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| 09:32:01 September 28, 2005, Wednesday (PDT) |
Source: TBOTCOTW |
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