Wordcamp Houston. Matt M. Keynote #wchtx

The first Wordcamp Houston got off to a great start with Matt Mullenweg - the developer of Wordpress - giving the keynote. Matt is from Houston so his talk was more hometown focused than it would be if he were somewhere else.

The sessions went well too. Several tracks for bloggers, developers, business users, and case studies. Extremely well attended. All the seats were sold out. It was held in the really neat venue of the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Testing... Testing... New fonts from Google

Last week google released 18 fonts along with instructions on how to embed them into web pages and get free from the "usual suspects" of Times Roman, Arial, Verdana, and (God no!) Comic Sans.

A number of Web designers -- if not all readers -- are excited that newer browsers support downloadable fonts so sites can use more than the handful that it's safe to assume are installed already on people's computers.

For every eyeball-searing grunge font and blood-pressure-raising instance of Comic Sans, there's a tasteful use of an artful logo or distinctive text.

But font licensing rules mean a Web designer can't necessarily upload any old font for a site. This is where Google's move, announced at its Google I/O conference, comes in. The company released 18 fonts and also announced an interface that lets Web sites use them.

I took a wild hair and decided to try it. Surprise! It works. The blog title text and the post titles are now displayed in the “IM Fell English SC” font. I may play around a bit more, especially if more fonts show up as available for free. So do not adjust your set, we know what we are doing.

Smut is good for you - who knew?

It's another entry in the "Here, eat this root" meme. Isn't it amazing that stuff we have been trying to eliminate is actually good for us? Any day now I expect to read that cockroaches are the secret to 200year lifespans.

It's now an established scientific fact: Smut is good for you. Corn smut,
that is.

For years, scientists have assumed that huitlacoche -- a gnarly,
gray-black corn fungus long-savored in Mexico -- had nutritional values similar
to those of the corn on which it grew. But test results just published in the
journal Food Chemistry reveal that an infection that U.S. farmers and crop
scientists have spent millions trying to eradicate, is packed with unique
proteins, minerals and other nutritional goodies.

And here's a bonus:
agro-economists have found it can sell for more than the corn it ruins.

Fungus On Corn Makes It Better For You - Health News Story - KPRC Houston

Didn't "War of the Worlds" Start like this?

Video of the Wisconsin Meteor from last night (4-14-2010)

Switch to LED lights or we kill the Easter Bunny

Oh, the humanity!

New format - IE6... Bu-Bye!

I used the new still-in-beta Blogger theme tool to update the blog a few days ago. Did I save my old format? Hell No! Did I have issues? Hell Yes! Many of the clever tweaks and add ons I have added over the years went, well, away. Several of the ones that stayed morphed into a mess. I have done some cleanup and, as usual with my learner blog, I will be doing more as I am able.

But mostly: Oh, uh, er, um, oops. It seems that while it looks just great in all the real browsers (IE7+, FF Chrome, etc.) IE6 has been left behind.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. IE6 is a good browser for sites built using 2003 tools and tech, but if you why this site looks weird, its because the web has moved on and you haven't. Time to get a life. And a grownup browser. I prefer Firefox 3.6.x, but Chrome, Safari, Opera, and (sigh) even IE7 or 8 all are so much better than the old, increasingly unreliable IE6 that it does not make any sense NOT to rethink your choice of how you experience the web.

All of that said, however, I am actually pleased with the new look and feel. Some of the things I had added were to provid functions that did not exist in Blogger previously, but have since been incorporated in an even better way. Other things, like rounded corners, made my head spin to try and follow the set up instructions so I did without. But here they are, and nicely done, too. And I really like the background image effects. I can't wait to dig in to the code and see how all this works.

"The Soul of New Orleans"

This video was sent to me by a fraternity brother who lives in New Orleans. It is a wonderfully uplifting piece connecting the rebirth of the city with the rise of the Saints. They may not win on Sunday, but they damn sure won't lose!

Houston - The most air conditioned city in the world.

...but normally we mean inside the buildings.



What happened to all that global warming folks are making such a fuss about?

Getting ready for New Year's festivities?

Somebody was expecting fireworks, I bet.

A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street.

When officers went inside, they found something that made them concerned enough to call the bomb squad.

They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks.

Yes, we have video:

Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston

Here, eat this root. No, really.

For some reason this humorous item doesn't seem so funny anymore...

"A short History Of Medicine"
2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root

Three recent stories:

• Disinfectants Cause Some Bacteria to Adapt, Thrive - Yahoo! News
• Pressure rises to stop antibiotics in agriculture - Yahoo! News
• Too Clean? Fight Against Germs Fuels Allergy Increase | LiveScience

 Gaia seems to be getting cranky, and that means no fun at all.

A physicist looks at Christmas - XKCD

"Physicists who want to protect traditional Christmas realize that the only way to keep from changing Christmas is not to observe it."

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe: "http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/christmas_plans.png"

Have a Serene Solstice!

Pagans and druids, and wiccans, oh my! And not a Festivus pole to be seen anywhere.

LONDON – Hundreds of people have celebrated the winter solstice at Stonehenge, braving snowy travel conditions and a morning fog.

About 700 people — including pagans and druids — saw the sun rise at the ancient rocks near Salisbury, England.

Druids, pagans mark shortest day of year - Yahoo! News

My next PC -

What gadget geek wouldn't want this neat design. Sadly, it is only a concept, but I bet it could be produced easily enough. Maybe it could be the next hardware project after the "Google phone".

Philco PC from Dave Schultze on Vimeo.

Tis the Season to be Jolly - fa la la...ouch

That this happened in a Walmart parking lot is no surprise to me. But this Walmart is less than a mile from my house. Who are these people, and who let them into my neighborhood??

"A woman remains in serious condition at a Houston hospital today after she was struck by a vehicle in an apparent dispute over a parking spot in southwest Houston, police said.

Portia Thompson, 20, was hit last Wednesday in a Walmart parking lot in the 9500 block of South Post Oak.

“What does it say about a society when a parking space is more valuable than a human life,” said community activist Quanell X.

Police said the driver of a Dodge Durango SUV hit Thompson and dragged her for a short distance after the dispute."

Woman hit by SUV in apparent parking flap | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

It's a wonderful life?

There is at least one story like this every holiday. We don't know if the turkey wasn't done right, the green bean casserole missing a key ingredient, or maybe too much nutmeg in the pie. Whatever the reason it is another example of what Tolstoy said "...unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way." Or as I like to say "This is that wonderful time of year when we leave our loved ones to be with our family."

"Pascarella said the shootings took place inside the house. He said that sometime after Thanksgiving dinner, Merhige left the residence and returned shortly afterward with a handgun.

'What led to this incident, we're not quite sure,' said Pascarella. 'It did not appear there was any altercation prior to this shooting.'

Pascarella said there was an 'ongoing resentment' in the family, but didn't know the nature of the problem or whether the victims were specifically targeted."

4 relatives shot dead at Fla. Thanksgiving party - Yahoo! News:

Executive Misdeeds - What Would China Do?

China has executed the executives who were responsible for tainted milk being provided to babies. Harsh, and quick, and possibly merited. One can only imagine what would have happened to all those Wall Street CEO who walked away with gazillions after they ran their businesses into bancruptcy.

Bernie Madoff's head would probably be displayed on a pike at the entrance to the NYSE.

BBC News - China executes two over tainted milk powder scandal

Stephen Yeargin » Just Skating By

Stephen is a friend of mine and a man with a good head. He posted an entry on his blog that cuts to the core of the health care dilemma. Here is an excerpt:

What is missing from the debate are the stories of men and women who live in fear of real dangers and threats, not whether their taxes will increase. I have never met anyone who was taxed into starvation, but I have met people who lost their homes because of medical bills. I have met people who did not receive the quality of care that we would want for any of our loved ones because they were unable to afford it. They lived with the pain because there was no other alternative for them. So while 100 people in Washington threaten filibusters and attach amendments aimed at gutting the bill or scoring political points, I hope they at least give a moment’s thought given to David and the millions more like him. I hope they give even a passing glance at those who know the word “taxes” mean little when they are spending more than their annual household income in order to pay their medical bills, and diving deeper into debt to make sure the prescriptions can be filled.

Read the rest of his entry and find out why "David" is so important to the discussion.

Stephen Yeargin » Just Skating By

...and that's what I like about the South!

What? His sheep was "indisposed"?

SC man gets 3 years in prison for sex with horse - Yahoo! News: "A South Carolina man caught on video having sex with a horse was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty for the second time in two years to abusing the creature."

For the second time. The second time! Don't you know he'll have a story to tell his prison roommate. heh.

Concert-Hop in Knoxville

New York Magazine Spotlights my home town by praising with faint damnation.

From weekly jazz performances to lo-fi indie shows, this once-decaying football town has become a new hot spot for music. Here’s what to tune in to this fall.

But they do know the best place to be on an October Saturday...

The Weekend Escape Plan -- Knoxville, Tennessee -- New York Magazine

But nothing about gerbils or fudge

Baker Hughes Develops Packer System for Openhole Annular Isolation

Another totally out of context headline that sounds squeamishly suggestive to those of us who wouldn't know a tool pusher if he bit us on the... well, you figure it out.