Be the signal http://bethesignal.org where we're going, we don't need roads... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:23:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7-RC1 en hourly 1 Intriguing sessions at WordCamp Australia… http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/28/intriguing-sessions-at-wordcamp-australia/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/28/intriguing-sessions-at-wordcamp-australia/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:41:45 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1261 If you’re missing out on WordCamp Australia this weekend, you might really be missing out! A bunch of sessions that will be of particular interest to WordPress fans (and fans of all things new and groovy) have snuck their way into the published schedule, including:

  • “Launch: Prologue Groups” at 11:05 on Saturday, from Sam Bauers and Jane Wells
  • A “Special Presentation” at 13:30 on Saturday, from an undisclosed speaker
  • “Launch: Secret Product!” at 10:05 on Sunday, from Alex Shiels
  • Certain titles that may or may not suggest other project releases…

Might we see a live WordPress 2.7 release? Perhaps we’ll see some of the goodies previewed in Ranaan Bar-Cohen’s recent “Seven Tips for Virtual Collaboration” presentation… of course, you’ll never-never know if you never-never go.

I will be there. Wearing green. ;-)

Bonus: Crikey Blogs is now featured on WordPress Showcase!

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/28/intriguing-sessions-at-wordcamp-australia/feed/ Eumemics http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/14/eumemics/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/14/eumemics/#comments Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:50:44 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1256 Somewhere out there is a person with enough gumption and perseverance to write a Venus filter that would strip Planets of idiotic memes using some kind of clever heuristic or learning system. Perhaps we can call this the immoral study of “eumemics”. :-)

Because this would just be cheating:

exclude = (the nearest book)
]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/14/eumemics/feed/ WordCamp Australia 2008 http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/wordcamp-australia-2008/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/wordcamp-australia-2008/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:08:16 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1252

WordCamp Australia 2008 will be held in Sydney at the end of the month, right before OSDC… and I intend to celebrate my first WordCamp by giving a talk!

Yes, I will dimly glow next to such bright stars in the universe of WordPress as Matt Mullenweg and Jane Wells (who is kicking butt with the WordPress 2.7 admin redesign), as I present an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the recently launched Australian über-blog-network, Crikey Blogs. :-)

WordPress lovers and the blog-curious should come along and join the fun!

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/wordcamp-australia-2008/feed/ Let the Wookie win http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/let-the-wookie-win/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/let-the-wookie-win/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:25:32 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1249 This is so chock-full of incredible goodness, I simply can’t comprehend how many layers of awesome there are. John Williams film music + Star Wars to song + choral incredibility + split-screen hilarity.

Click here to view the embedded video. ]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/10/let-the-wookie-win/feed/ Quantum of Landslide http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/09/quantum-of-landslide/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/09/quantum-of-landslide/#comments Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:17:56 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1242

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/09/quantum-of-landslide/feed/ The Amazing Emanuel Brothers http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/08/the-amazing-emanuel-brothers/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/08/the-amazing-emanuel-brothers/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 06:29:23 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1236 President-Elect Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was the inspiration for The West Wing’s #1 White House hottie, Josh Lyman.

(Interesting aside: After serving as Deputy Chief of Staff to Leo McGarry through President Bartlet’s administration, Josh Lyman became Chief of Staff under President Matt Santos at the end of the series. The eerie similarities between Obama’s reality and The West Wing’s storyline continue…)

Ari Emanuel was the inspiration for Entourage’s hilarious super-agent, Ari Gold.

Ezekiel Emanuel is a medical ethicist.

Screenwriters, start your engines!

Yeah, perhaps the Emanuel family won’t be scoring a hat trick. :-)

Update: Jonathan informs me that the Emanuel brothers were interviewed by Charlie Rose this week. Now to find it online!

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/08/the-amazing-emanuel-brothers/feed/ A Change is Gonna Come http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/05/a-change-is-gonna-come/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/05/a-change-is-gonna-come/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:14:25 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1232

I was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like the river
I’ve been running ever since

It’s been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it is

It’s been too hard living
But I’m afraid to die
I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky

It’s been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will

Then I go to my brother
I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

There’s been times that I thought
I wouldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come
Oh, yes it will

 — Sam Cooke, A Change is Gonna Come

Thank you to all my friends in the USA, at both ends of the political spectrum… and thank you to Barack Obama and everyone who participated in this historic campaign. It’s a giant first leap to renew America’s image throughout the world, and there are so many of us who couldn’t be more excited that you’re back on track.

The idea of America is amazing. That a country and people of such breadth and depth hangs together as a democracy is incredible. It has been so disappointing to see that idea dragged through the mud for the last eight years, but tonight was wonderful and uplifting.

… and hopeful. There, I said it. :-)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/11/05/a-change-is-gonna-come/feed/ Hopemobile http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/hopemobile/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/hopemobile/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:36:12 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1226 The only thing that concerns me about an Obama presidency is the heightened possibility of extremist nutjobs making an attempt on his life. The last couple of weeks of the campaign have highlighted that it is indeed possible, even coming from quarters that purport to be “against terrorism” and “for America”.

More than ever, the USA needs an inspiring leader, so I don’t want to see Obama locked away from the people, forever stuck behind bulletproof glass podiums and the windows of heavily-armoured cars.

At least there’s one very tiny sliver of silver lining, if I may smother my concern with humour for a moment: We can call his car the Hopemobile.

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/hopemobile/feed/ PHP5 vs. daylight saving in Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/php5-daylight-saving-dst-timezone-tzdata-ubuntu-hardy-lts/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/php5-daylight-saving-dst-timezone-tzdata-ubuntu-hardy-lts/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:35:53 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1217 Much of Australia went into DST mode this week, with the only holdouts being the odd little backwaters of our country (generally referred to as “Queensland”) for whom daylight saving is a threat to curtains or farm animals… and anyone relying on PHP5’s bundled timezone database.

I filed a bug and test case regarding the problem (which will hopefully be be fixed with an official update, given that Hardy is an LTS release), but here’s a quick guide to work around the problem in the mean time. Thanks to Andrew “ajmitch” Mitchell for pointing me in the right direction!

  1. Grab and unpack the timezonedb extension tarball from PECL.
  2. apt-get install php5-dev
  3. phpize
  4. ./configure --with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config5
  5. make
  6. sudo cp modules/timezonedb.so /usr/lib/php5/20060613/
    Note: The precise name of the final directory might be different. For instance, on hardy-i386 it will be 20060613+lfs.
  7. sudo vi /etc/php/conf.d/timezonedb.ini
    Yes, this is a new file. Content: extension=timezonedb.so
  8. sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload

Now your PHP has the very latest timezone data up its sleeve, so you can rest easy knowing that your web visitors won’t think you’re a Queenslander.

Zing! :-)

Update: The php5-timezonedb extension was added to Debian, but removed from intrepid… seems it was because intrepid’s php5 has a patch to use the system tzdata. It would be awesome to get that patch into hardy!

Update: Uh, what about make…? :-)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/10/08/php5-daylight-saving-dst-timezone-tzdata-ubuntu-hardy-lts/feed/ YouTube Four http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/09/27/youtube-four/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/09/27/youtube-four/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:56:49 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://bethesignal.org/?p=1210 I like Blizzard’s latest gimmick… memebait that is actually interesting. :-) Here’s my YouTube Four, care of the very appropriately named Firefox Awesome Bar:

Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video.

… and a bonus one because I can’t resist. But also because 5 is a much cooler number than 4. I don’t know what Chris has been smoking.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Hooray for Viper’s Video Quicktags! Except for that bug with incorrect YouTube links in my feed…)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2008/09/27/youtube-four/feed/