Out of Egypt:

the blog is back!

Ok, so now all the permalinks are working and all the comments are approved. Now maybe I will have the motivation to start blogging again...

Fixed all my old entry permalinks

I've got to be going now, so I don't have time to get into the nitty-gritty details of how it worked. But here are the links to the relevant pages:

• Updating Publishing Paths & URL Structures (it would great if Terrablogs would create the .htaccess file as described on the linked page; then I wouldn't need to use Archive Mapping)
• Archive Mapping
• Archive File Path Specifiers (the old Terrablogs used %e%x)

Now if only I could find a way to approve all my comments at once, instead of 100 at a time...

so comments are working again, i hear

Apparently the comments are back up, which is cool. Hopefully you can comment on this.

Not that you'd want to. :)

Just got back from the White Mountains, which was great. Now time to sleep....

UPDATE: Doesn't look like the comments are back - for me, at least. Oh well. If this were my job, I would research the issue. But since my job is Drupal and not MTOS, I will simply wait for a message from the authorities.

Overall, the new interface is nice. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade if the comments can start working.

2nd UPDATE: Comments are working now. Thanks, John!

upgrade done - some things off

Looks like my permalinks and comments are currently broken. I do have permalinks though - I confirmed that using Google. They're just not being linked on my index template for some reason.

Ah well, no upgrade is perfect :)

UPDATE: Looks like permalinks are being formed a new way - as paths based on the title (sort of like Pathauto in Drupal) rather than as a number. Hence the breakage of all the old links, though the pages are still there. I could possibly fix this with a rebuild of the full blog, but I don't want to risk it. Especially since it would most likely cause serious Google linkrot.

for faster loading

One of the external JavaScripts for my page seems not to be loading. This is causing the page to look whacked out. I am sorry. I'll try to isolate the problem, but not tonight.

UPDATE: It was either Twitter or Bloglines. Both were slow anyway, so I've commented out both. Ah well.

2nd UPDATE: I commented out the del.icio.us RSS code as well. It wasn't loading either. That's the problem with including external content. I'll continue to think about a workaround.

decisions

I am so glad that Terrablogs is finally upgrading to MT 4. A quick look at the MT 4 features list makes me think that migrating my blog to Drupal would be a bad call.

Drupal is a full-scale CMS, and both WordPress and MT are more suited for blogging out-of-the-blogs. If I do end up creating a personal site on my own domain name, I'll probably just link to this blog, instead of incorporating it in the main architecture. I would have to do more work than I care to do to get all the archiving, navigation and blog templating features of MT to work on the Drupal platform. I'm not a PHP guru (yet?).

Again, thanks Terrablogs!

think my blog may load faster now...

Looks like it was the stupid W3Counter web counter code that was taking forever, not the page content itself. That's what happens with remote JavaScript...

added twitter to my blog

Still have to style it a bit, but I like the concept. Now that I can Twitter from Adium, updating my blog has never been easier.

Gradually, what with del.icio.us, last.fm, bloglines, and now Twitter, I'm getting to the point where I don't have to do anything to get my blog to change.

my optimization tactics are working :)

I'm now on the top results page for [out of egypt]. Now, if I can only beat Anne Rice, I'll be #1.

And why did I call my blog that, you ask? Let's just say I'm trying to make a Biblical worldview more popular.

taking a cue from radiohead

I decided to put a PayPal donation button at the top left of my blog, taking down the ElectionVine app which no one has used in weeks.

I know my blog's not as good as a Radiohead album, but I thought I'd give people the opportunity to contribute anyway. Since it's PayPal, the money would go directly into my music purchasing fund :)

I have big plans for the future, if I can ever figure out: a) how to get Drupal to work and b) how to link my hosting space with my domain name. I'm talking about a web community up in he-ya!

messing around with redirects and php includes

I'm trying to add another feed to my blog: this one showing my recent UrbanMinistry.org blog posts. However, I didn't want to slow the page load time any further, since it's already causing problems, so I thought I'd change my Feedburner feeds (del.icio.us and, now, UrbanMinistry.org) over to use the PHP include method.

But this, of course, involved making my index page into a PHP page, and I don't know how to write a proper PHP header. So I've got the PHP index up now (visible here), but it seems not to be displaying properly, since there's already an index.html in the folder. Is there any way I can get rid of that?

I tried using a 301 redirect in an .htaccess file, but it was causing a 500 error on the server. I don't think that the permissions on the Covblogs server are set to allow me to do that (understandably, as an .htaccess file is pretty powerful stuff).

I could change the index.html to a client-side redirect (either through the <meta> command or JavaScript), but I'd really rather not do that, but for SEO reasons and just general courtesy. What do y'all think?

UPDATE: Also, the footer should now be in the right place, and categories should appear on the individual entry pages. If these things look off to you (esp. in IE), please let me know.

blog should look fine in ie now

I'm checking it out with Browsershots as we speak. But the problem was with IE's implementation of the box model. Apparently still in IE 7, you can't have things floating on either side of normal content, and thus a fully CSS banner is difficult to create.

Now the only thing I wish I could do was create some sort of preload function so the sidebar on the site only displayed after all the rest of my content was loaded. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about text appearing on the unreadable red background, and would be able to move to the next phase of my progressive redesign. Help, anyone?

Also, I'm trying to figure out how to get more than the first 40 words of an entry in the RSS feed. So far, I haven't had any success.

finally backed up my blog

While at Covenant, I could never export my full blog to an external file, since the ever-frustrating filtering software would always block it.

Well, now I've finally got an archive. I hope and trust that Terrablogs will remain stable, but it's always best to be prepared.

Now I need to figure out how to perform transforms on the archive, so that it's actually usable (as a MySQL database, or something).

layout 3.0.1 (3.0.2 forthcoming)

Ok, so I think I fixed the comments pages. One of the closing divs was on the wrong side of a MT loop which generates the content blocks from the MySQL database.

Anyway, I think this weekend at some point (once my fiber-optic is up and running, Lord willing) I'll get my blog header to work in IE. I'm just going to throw semantic markup to the wind and use a table, since IE's support for the box model is woefully poor. That's the last time I'll try a double float - I'm joining Ben Hubbard on the dark side...

new design

UPDATE: Everything should be working now. Tell me if it's not. I'm especially interested to see if the layout appears properly on older browsers and on computers with low screen resolutions.

question about movabletype/covblogs

Is it possible to subscribe to the comments stream (either from your blog or the site as a whole) as an RSS feed? It would very beneficial if possible, since I could just check my bloglines whenever someone commented on my blog.

one more technical addendum

I think that my site may look badly in IE at smaller resolutions (though it looks fine when large enough. Something with margins and the way IE interprets max-width. Tell me if anyone else is experiencing the sidebar being cut off - in half, so only part of it is visible.

okay, then, try this

All right, then. I heard your pleas, and relegated my experiments with the iframe element to a secondary index. Does this work better for you? It was my original idea, as of this morning, anyway.

I really shouldn't have spent the whole day on this. I'm so irresponsible. I've lost sleep and missed church. Hopefully, I won't be tempted to do this again soon, fun as the challenge was.

Anyway, it gave me some good practice for designing the Metropolitan Baptist Church After-School Program website.

finished, finally

I'm a perfectionist and I'm learning CSS as I go (plus my 'Net connection is slow), so it took me about 8 hours total to get this design working. I'm pretty happy with it though, to say the least. So again, please tell me how it looks on your browser. I'd especially like to know if the absolute positioning is working cross-platform, and if the iframe elements look right. Also, tell me if you think the iframes are a good idea. If not, then I'll relegate them to an alternate index page, or something.

Oh, and if someone can tell me how to get it so my blog entries appear in the main iframe when you click on the links, without having the banner jump up and out of sight, please tell me.

Still to do:

• Fix the links in the "Recent Reads" bar so they appear in a new window.
• Choose a better picture to go under the calendar (like one of the Dover landscapes).
• Get an image editing program (get the GIMP working again - X Window?), and create a gold leaf background for the footer. Possibly put the links over it using the transparency trick. Also, get the transition between main page background and iframe background to be seamless. A matter of adjusting the image to tile at a different height. Possibly use a different, more realistic parchment background (have to make myself).

Eventually: (i.e., not anytime soon)

• Create illuminations for side (Israelites on Exodus, pillar of fire & tabernacle?). Move the rest of the content over to accomodate. Also create illuminations for bottom & sidebar, as well as calligraphic banner and sidebar headings. (Use CSS to superimpose them on what's already there, for accessibility's sake.)
• Make the page quote into a Javascript/PHP, pulling from a quote library I create.
• Remove all spam comments from blog, edit old links so they open in main frame.

new design - does it work?

The product of 3+ hours of labor (and Sarah's prodding). Hopefully it doesn't have the bugs of the last design, on which, of course, it is still based under the skin (even as that design was based loosely on one of the MT templates).

The parchment background was on the first page of a Google image search. The highly saturated picture of me was taken in Oxford, by Jonathan Kirkpatrick, our Junior Dean (a gentleman and a scholar).

At first, I just planned to finally figure out how to fix the problem with the comments page. I knew it was something with templates, but I just didn't know which one. After an hour's worth of experimentation (and five minutes in desperation looking at the MT online manual), I found out which one it was.

So tell me what you think of the design, and what browser/platform you're using (screen resolution might be good too). I've learned through experience the truth of what they say: what looks good on the browser you use, may not look good on others. But Camino is standards-compliant, so it should do the right thing, even across the PC/Mac divide. I'm not as sure about lower screen resolutions and font compatibility, however. And IE, of course, will be the dog in the manger. Microsoft's browser is appropriately named after a cry of pain. (I'd especially like to know if the newest IE is any better than the old ones, or if Microsoft's still playing the same old game.)

UPDATE: One known bug - the calendar will appear in the middle of other text when the window is too small. Something with the float property. Perhaps setting a z-index on the various divs will provide a workaround. (And don't worry if you didn't understand that. That was mainly a note to remind me to work on it. I'm going to bed - finally.)

ok, so my comments/individual entry page is kinda broken

Anyone have an idea about how to fix that? Or just a clean template to work from would be nice.

...

The dangers of blogging are its impersonality, and the ease of slipping into pridefulness. There are certain things I just won't comment on anymore in this venue, one way or another.

Retractiones: corrections and clarifications

All that weird stuff I found on the Internet yesterday was not actually directly from a Wikipedia search. The TimeCube Wikipedia Talk page was a page that "linked to" the Dietrich Bonhoeffer entry on Wikipedia; the demon theory of friction was referenced on that talk page; the postmodernism generator was linked off the site that was linked off the TimeCube.com site (which, I believe, is updated lately, though still as absurd as ever).

so my blog will always be of speciality interest

(Inspired by a look at an old list of the top 10 Christian blogs, some of which I used to read back when I had time for that sort of thing.)

Thanks, Josiah, for fixing whatever it was that was wrong. If I missed any comments while things were down, please don't hesitate to send them in via email. In fact, I ask you to.

Also, a teaser: I might write something significant sometime soon about how I, as a Protestant, feel about asceticism and all kinds of other things that turn up in church tradition, even in every Protestant's favorite Church Father, St. Augustine.

If there are missing words in that last post...

It's because I'm using the Internet at someone else's house, and they have censorship. I never knew I was such a dirty writer :)

Comments work again

Please send them in. It's been a bad week. At least I've got about 900,000 quotes for my Faulkner paper... (Now I just need to start writing it.)

In the spam arms race, looks like it's time for comment moderation...

It's too bad that we have to have comment registration in order to stop spam, but it looks like it'll be a good thing overall. Definately better than having the site going down every few days and having the wonderful people at Coptix working their butts off just to clear out all the comment spam. I remember back when I didn't imagine there even was such a thing as comment spam.

According to Josiah, the spammers were pretty mad at us for actually taking the time to clear their graffiti out of our neighborhood and they basically did a DDoS attack earlier today. But with MT3, they're not going to be able to come into our neighborhood anymore. (I hope.)

meta

I have to say, I really respect Josh's reasons for not blogging anymore.

And I need to find a better intensifier than "really." I am an English major after all.

i get by with a little help from my friends

Bob Nickles, I love you. Your comments are broken.

I've just been overdosing on Covblogs for the past hour. It's almost as good as "seeing people." Call us narcissistic, call us pseudo-intellectual, call us what you will, I think we've got a good thing going and I hope it never stops.

Forgot to mention last night...

My computer @ home died, so internet access is a bit more sporadic for me. I need to find a WiFi location (preferably free, or very cheap) to which I can take my laptop.

I know it's unlikely, but do any of you know of one in the Lancaster area?

Comments aren't working...

And while they're not, here's a rundown of the top 10 exploding dog cartoons.

Matt, your latest post brought a smile to my face. Van of Ill Repute, indeed. I think you should bring "Car Commercial" back for another spin around the block.

That's Odd

Spooner's item for March 1 shows up on my archives. What's the deal with that?

Transferring Entries

Does anyone know a way to transfer comments from Enetation (on my old site) over to here other than putting them in one by one? After checking out Chris' new site, I was reminded of my most controversial post ever (never had anywhere near 50 comments since). I may revisit the topic someday - if I have more that I can contribute to the discussion. As it was, I basically just sat back and watched the sparks fly.

Self-justification

Ok, so I didn't give you that entry that I sort of promised you. But, in my defense, I worked on the Bagpipe layout (Covenant's campus newspaper, for my non-campus readers) for 5 hours or so in an attempt to keep the paper from falling even more woefully behind schedule. My academics and sleep have been suffering lately as a direct result, but oh well.

Tomorrow, tomorrow... (which is actually today - not again)

"Thank gawd I ain't a lunatic"

I had my day though. Looking back over some of my old relic was almost painful, though there was beauty and grace in it as well. I really am a different person than I was then - but I haven't lose anything that was worth keeping, only some silly pride. My life is much less full of intellectual certainties.

If anyone wants to see them, however, here's some archives that I hadn't thought worked. Providentially, though, they're back. Providentially since I'd like to have some written record of those times - what I was thinking and feeling. If any of this material you find at all useful, I might rework some of it.

On the Brink (also the inception of my blog, strangely enough)

Spring Break: Yeah, Yeah, He's Losing It

Recovery?

The Worst Week of My Life (back at college and on the wrong meds - you don't give a manic person anti-psychotics, dangit)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog (Depakote does it)

There's more, but they're still not showing up. As for these, if anyone wants further clarification/contextualization/good ol' soul-baring storytelling, I can do that. Just drop a comment in the box.

I may just find myself telling the story bit by bit anyway. It would be good to get something of literary value from the experience. Who knows? It might even be instructive to some.

The only difficulty is how little I remember of it.

All right, that's it. Expect the first story post tomorrow (and a new category). The title shall be "3.26.03: The best of times and the worst of times."

Disclaimer

OK, so I finally have enabled categories on my blog. (I've been doing them for a while, but not visibly.)

More importantly, however, I'm adding a new category of "Covenant" to my blog, wherein I will simply say what's going on down on here. I think this is justifyable for the number of friends from back home I have who read this blog.

If no one cares, however, then I'll eliminate this. I was just realizing, however, that the entries on Serfass and Dagen's blogs that I appreciate the most are the ones that reflect, even if ever so vaguely, the ethos of their respective colleges and just what they're doing right now. So I thought they (and anybody else, like Ed if he still reads) might appreciate if I reciprocated (a great word I used earlier tonight.

Oh, and I also added this "Meta-" category in case I ever have to address my readers again and talk self-reflexively about my blog.

P.S. I got more applause/cheering today than I probably will for quite some time. Ah, chapel announcements...