Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Print This Post
Let’s put an ethical person in the White House for a change.
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Print This Post
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
Print This Post
If you are fed up with Washington’s policies of taking from the poor to give to the rich, read on.
Let’s all tell Washington DC and the Bailed Out Banks what we think of them. Move your money out of the so called “too big to fail” banks.
The SixShooter
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Print This Post
During the past few years as computers have gotten more and more powerful, software has tended to get larger and larger. This happens because of so called “Feature Creep” and is the reason it now takes a 30 megabyte file with a 27 megabyte update to read a 20 kilobyte pdf file. Tonight I installed Adobe Reader on my laptop because I am getting it ready to loan to a friend. Normally I use Foxit Reader which is only a five megabyte download.
On my day job, I am responsible for configuring, installing and maintaining hundreds of PCs. Updating all the Adobe products gets tiresome, especially when the updates are as large as the original program was at the time of its initial installation!
Thankfully, when my friend is finished with my laptop, I only need to re-image it so it will be back to its lean and mean configuration.
The SixShooter
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Print This Post
Wordpress is known for its extensive collection of themes and plugins. A blogger who is self-hosting a Wordpress blog (as opposed to using wordpress.com) can find plugins for nearly any task, and the selection of themes is almost overwhelming – and there is no end in sight. More are coming out almost daily.
John’s Joint and The Go Light are presently using 28 different plugins, and Blog Diyiin Bi and Christian Internet Resources are using 29. Many of the plugins in use are designed to aid in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and some are for more convenient blog administration. The one plugin I really wanted to use, though, would not work on John’s Joint! Nor would it work on my business blog, The Go Light. (That’s why only 28 plugins.) It does work on my other two blogs, Blog Diyiin Bi and Christian Internet Resources. I’m not sure, but I think the themes in use on the two blogs are not compatible with the plugin. At any rate, that is the only thing that is completely different between all four blogs.
It is good that the plugin works on two of my blogs, since the plugin in question is “reftagger.” This plugin converts a Bible reference, like John 3:16, into a clickable link that will take you to bible.logos.com’s online Bible, and it also pops up a window with the Bible text displayed. And, of course, Blog Diyiin Bi, being a Christian ministry blog, has tons of Bible references.
Go ahead, place your mouse cursor over this link to Rev 22:21. (The last verse in the Bible.) Click on the link, too. It will open in a new window, as do all links in this article.
But wait…didn’t I just tell you that the plugin does not work on John’s Joint? That’s right, it doesn’t, but there is a workaround. Fortunately, I’m not at all squeamish about playing with php code, and so I simply copied some code from a post in bible.logos.com’s reftagger blog to the php code for the theme used by John’s Joint. And that does work! So I did the same thing on The Go Light, then played with the .css files on both to make the popup windows’ colors match the respective blogs.
Reftagger works on links in articles, comments, and the sidebar. In case you want to write comments or articles for any of the blogs, and include Bible references, there are three .pdf files you might want to read. They are bibleref-in-60-seconds.pdf, bibleref-overview.pdf, and bibleref-specification.pdf. Actually, the only one you really need to read, unless you are into technical detiails, is the first one, bibleref-in-60-seconds.pdf. The other two, bibleref-overview.pdf and bibleref-specification.pdf, are more for webpage developers. The documents can be freely distributed under the Creative Commons license. You can find links to the source website within the documents.
Just in case you don’t wish to read any of them (the first is really short, but you do need a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat), here’s a quick lesson on properly citing Bible references in articles or comments submitted to a blog or other website that uses reftagger: simply enclose the reference between “cite” tags like this: <cite class=”bibleref”>Genesis 1:1</cite>. Be sure to include the class=”bibleref” part. And, in actuality, it is not strictly necessary to use the “cite” tags, but it is a standardized way to tell robots (like google’s search engine spider) that it is a Bible reference. The “cite” tags will display the enclosed text in italics on most Web browsers unless that behaviour is overridden with a custom style sheet.
Also, be sure to use standard names or abbreviations for the names of the books of the Bible and for the desired translation. For single-chapter books, like Jude, you must use the chapter number, like this: Jude 1:1 NIV. The above-mentioned .pdf documents have more details, including ways to display non-standard book names and abbreviations while still creating a working link. And here is one more example: Jude 1:1 KJV
The default translation used by reftagger on all four of my blogs is NKJV. (My favorite modern English translation, since it is the most accurate one. NIV stands for “Not Inspired Version”…<grin!> If King James was good enough for the Apostle Paul…) It is possible to override that; see the .pdf documents for instructions, see the Bible references in the previous paragraph for examples. And see bible.logos.com’s website (just click on any Bible reference on one of the blogs) to find a list of available translations. (They have a bunch of them!)
You might also want to check out my article on Blog Diyiin Bi about Vision for Life Ministries. That article has some information about reftagger.
Pastor Marv
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Print This Post
Well, I guess the US showed the radical muslims! In response to them killing 3000 people on our soil, we invaded two countries and succeeded in killing another 4500 US citizens. We also adopted draconian laws that severely curtailed our God-given rights, and ruined our economy to boot! Yes, we really showed them.
It is time to bring our troops home! What right does the US have in occupying nearly every country in the world? Our founding fathers were right. The US should pursue a policy of peace, and not interfere in the affairs of other sovereign countries.
More Americans need to read “Ain’t My America” by Bill Kauffman and “We Who Dared to Say no to War” by Murray Polner and Thomas E. Woods, Jr. You will be challenged to re-think what you have been taught in school. The history of the United States was one of peace and non-intervention for a long time.
The SixShooter
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
Print This Post
Today, my son and I spent two and a half hours dealing with the State of Colorado so he could get his learner’s permit. The county in which we live has a population of over 500,000 people, and only two offices that handle driver licensing issues. Well, there were about 150 people before us, and more coming in all the time. The workers were pleasant enough, and the crowd was well-behaved, but I couldn’t help but think how Kennedy-Obama-Care would look like if it passes.
For the entire time we were there, only about half the positions were manned, and overall was a feeling of resignation and occasional cheer when a lucky applicant was summoned to the window. The one bright spot came when an elderly couple came in to renew their licenses. There was a nice young lady about 17 years old who, upon seeing them enter, immediately offered them her seat. The chairs were uncomfortable, the floor was dirty, the air was stuffy, and people were tired of the whole thing.
Is this how the waiting room in a Government Hospital would be? Without competition, the DMV employees do things in its inefficient manner, working slowly, and taking their breaks on schedule without regard for the number of staff manning the office.
The best way to argue against Kennedy-Obama-Care is to point out that the government does not have the constitutional authority to interfere with the private lives of the citizens. They promise unlimited quality care along with cheaper coverage. Do they think they can repeal the law of supply and demand? Any way you look at it, you can only have two of the three. You want quality? Give up quantity or economy. You want it cheap? Give up quality or quantity.
In any case, the best way to reform health care in the USA is to deregulate the insurance companies, repeal all of the mandated coverage, and let competition sort out the rest.
The SixShooter
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Saturday, September 5th, 2009
Print This Post
Yesterday, September 4, 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the unemployment rate for August climbed to 9.7%. That is almost 1 in 10 working Americans out of a job.
How did this happen? His Royal Wannabe B. Hussein Obama blames all the ills of American society on George W. Bush. Others blame everybody from the lazy bums who don’t want to work to the Christian right. Most Americans apparently think it is just the way things are. You know, it’s just the natural ups-and-downs of the economy, and we can’t do anything about it.
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article on my ministry blog that places the blame squarely where I think it belongs – on the Christian right! Yes, I, Pastor Marv, the Pentecostal preacher, blame the Church for the sad state of our nation. Read it here. (Opens in new window.)
Marv
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Monday, August 24th, 2009
Print This Post
End the Fed!
Here is one way to get even with strike fear into Ben Bernanke and his ilk: Preorder Ron Paul’s book “End The Fed” so it will debut on Amazon.com at number 1 when it is released.
Link: End The Fed (Opens in a new window.)
The SixShooter
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Print This Post
Permalinks are now finalized to use the form “ht…am.org/politics/apologies-100/”. For just a short time, they were set to use the form “ht…am.org/politics/apologies/”. I found a way to use both forms of permalinks at the same time.
When I finally figured out and fixed what had been the cause of the categories links being broken, the Migration feature of the Advanced Permalinks plugin was left unused. So I used it to allow permalinks of the form “ht…am.org/politics/apologies/” to have a 301 redirect to the now-finalized permalink structure, “ht…am.org/politics/apologies-100/”.
Only one minor hitch…the plugin “Link Juice Keeper” intercepts the link in the shorter form and does its own 301 redirect to the home page of the blog, effectively disabling the Advanced Permalinks redirect. What is “Link Juice Keeper”? Glad you asked!
When talking about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), there is something SEO “experts” call “Link Juice.” “Link Juice” is mostly a count of how many other websites link into your website, and the importance of the sites that have those links. It helps Google and the other Search Engine Big Boys decide how important your website is, and thus, it affects how near the top of a given search your website will show up. If a link to some inside page of your website is broken, Google penalizes your website slightly. Causes of a broken link might include things like the page is no longer there, the location of it was changed, the webmaster of the site linking to yours made a mistake when setting up the link, or any of a zillion other reasons.
“Link Juice Keeper” does a 301 redirect of ANY link to an inside page of your website that is not found, so that the home page will be displayed in its place. Thus, the search engine spiders do NOT see a broken link to your website. So, for instance, if you typed “ht…am.org/win-a-million-rubles” into your web browser, there is no “win-a-million-rubles” page on “ht…am.org/” and Link Juice Keeper would redirect your browser (and the search engine spiders) to the home page.
So I can use one or the other, but not both.
Which to use? Decisions, decisions. Probably, Advanced Permalinks will lose because there are very few, if any, links using the “numberless” form of permalinks outside the blog itself. There are other ways to make the few links within John’s Joint articles that use it to still get the right post, and any of the 4-billion+ websites on the Internet can potentially have links that point to non-existant pages on John’s Joint.
Marv
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox
Related Posts:
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Print This Post
The currently-enabled theme is called Violinesth Forever. The original header photo was one of a violin (see below) but I changed it just to make sure it can be done with this theme. (It can…duh!) The temporary header photo is one I took with a cheap digital camera (1280×960, 2.0 megapixels) when I was still able to walk more than a hundred feet or so. It was cropped down to 1024×279 using GIMP from the Portable Apps suite. (Opens in new window.) It was taken from the top of Prayer Mountain, a photo of which is on the header of Blog Diyiin Bi (link to Blog Diyiin Bi is in sidebar.)
Maybe I can twist John’s arm to send me a decent digital photo of Pikes Peak. Or maybe the whole front range of the Rockies. Or maybe some of the scenery in Garden of the Gods. Whatever theme is finally chosen for John’s Joint will need a good header photo.
I will be changing the content of the sidebars, and will also play with what’s in the footer. Also, a page about me will be added – but that has nothing to do with deciding which theme to use, or what to place in the sidebars and footer.
Here’s the header photo currently used on Blog Diyiin Bi.
When I took the header photo presently (if only temporarily) used for John’s Joint, I was standing right by the cross shown in the Blog Diyiin Bi header photo.
Here’s the original photo that is used in the Violinesth Forever theme. It would be great for a blog dedicated to music, especially classical music. (Or bluegrass…)
Click on either photo to see the full-size version.
Return to John’s Joint often. More changes are on the way, as well as some good articles.
Marv
Related Reading:
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
codebox