Geek interlude.

First, I just upgraded to MT 3.12. You see anything wrong (other than what’s wrong with me, and oh, where to start), let me know.

Second, if you’re running OSX and still using iChat instead of AdiumX, get on it.

AdiumX is a multi-protocol chat client, like Trllian. Only it’s still completely free, it’s incredibly well designed, it’s under active development, and the guys who are working on it are really really cool.

Now, I was a big iChat fan. It has what I still think is the best chat interface around. But it’s full of bugs, it’s not really being worked on much, and it only supports AIM and rendezvous chat. As far as I’m concerned, a chat client that doesn’t support at least AIM and Yahoo is worthless. iChat also only lets you sign in one account at a time; again, useless. I have a work IM account, and a social account, and I need them both signed in. So until they get iChat up to speed with all that (and yeah, I keep asking), I will run something else.

I tried a bunch of other tools. Fire, Proteus, I think some others. They all sort of sucked.

AdiumX though, does not suck at all. It’s got a great, very configurable interface, it’s intuitive to use, it can be configured to look a lot like iChat. It’s got all kinds of plug-ins.

Version .7 was just released. I’ve been beta testing it all along and this is the best version yet. And it’s still getting better.

Even if you like iChat, I’d suggest you get it and give it a try.

Ok, this is just fucking stupid.

And yet, I like it.

The Moronosphere, In Pig Latin.

Courtesy of the Crapola Web Translator.

Hey, it beats watching my football team get slapped around like little schoolgirls.

I’ve changed the style on this blog again, but I must say, I’m sick of the canned styles I can download for MT3.

There are a lot of styles free or cheap for MT2. But now that I’ve moved to MT3, not only is my style switcher broken, but I’ve got a terribly limited set of choices available. It almost makes me regret switching to MT3, only, there’s a lot I like about MT3. The interface is much improved, the speed seems improved, and the look and feel is better, at least on the back end.

But they changed a lot; looks like the almost completely re-vamped the template language (I don’t know why, maybe Elise over at Learning Movable Type could tell me.) Movable Style has a few, but that site has changed hands and isn’t being updated at much as it once was, and the ones that are there are pretty plain. It’s too bad no one’s written an mt2 -> mt3 style converter, it shouldn’t be that hard.

Anyone out there know a good source of mt3 styles and templates? Or better yet, anyone know how to build these things and want to help out? I don’t mind figuring out the technical part but I’m no web designer, so whatever I do will most likely look like crap. I just want a fairly basic three-column style.

You know, i could have just moved my blog over to blogger.com or TypePad and not worried about the technical shit, but that’s not, you know, geeky enough.

In other news, I’m working the kilt booth this coming sunday, August 26th, at Folsom Fair:

This event is sure to be some kinky good fun, so try to be there if you’re a Bay Area local. I’m not sure where the booth is located but I’ll post that info here when I get it. No promises about spanking this time, but I promise I’ll ask you to take off your pants if you come by.

Ok, I’m a convert. My first question when my partner in blogitude (who hosts this blog for me) broached moving away from Movable Type to some other platofrm was “does it support Ecto?”

I can’t blog without Ecto anymore. Hell, I just wrote something else in Ecto that wasn’t even for a blog because it was the first thing that came to mind that could do simple html tags in a posting.

Ecto, my friends, kicks major ass. As Cory over at BoingBoing.

So the beta version of Ecto 2 is out. And it’s looking damned good. Adriaan has a WYSIWYAG interface using Rich Text for people who don’t wanna do HTML, he has the same HTML tag interface I’m used to, he has better support for multiple blogs, he has a better formating interface, a more intuitive interface for main entries and continuations, and I’m guessing some other features that I have not found yet.

Ecto 1 was great. This one looks like a major leap forward in usability.

If you’re an ecto user already, I’d suggest gettng it. If you’re not an ecto user, but you’re a blogger using any of the major platforms, take a look. It’s a big improvement over the web-based interfaces that most platforms provide.

I’m happy to insert this tag:

[Posted with ecto]

Because Ecto rules.

So as you may have noticed, it’s a whole new look for the Moronosphere.

This wasn’t exactly by choice. But we did wind up with a version upgrade to Movable Type 3.1.

Here, basically, is what happened.

Read more “The Uninvited Upgrade”

I’m working on re-building after a blog disaster.

All my old entries should be back shortly. The look is going to change a bunch also.

More details in a future post.

Well, here I had two hours of work done on a new entry, all about love and friendship and distance. It was about 20 or 30 minutes from done, I needed to edit (I write first drafts for these things all stream-of-consciousness and then try to edit into coherence later) and spell check it, was all.

And then I went out to do some shopping for the massive birthday party I’m throwing for my six-year-old. We like to do kid’s parties that adults will stay at, so my shopping included purchase of large volumes of tequila and beer, and a giant cake that needs it’s own zip code.

And then I get back, and go to check my email in hopes that some beautiful woman has replied and said, yes, I will be yours, and I find that my laptop is stone dead.

The one time I don’t store a copy of a draft entry on the server, the ONE TIME.

(shakes fist at an uncaring universe)

Sure, it’s still on the disk and I can almost certainly get it back. But by that time, in all likelihood, inspiration to finish it will be gone.

Grumble. I should go back to using a quill pen and fine parchment. That can’t crash. On the other hand, I would ever be able to read what I wrote, so I dunno.

So I shall give up and go make margaritas – rocks, with salt, and very strong. And who knows, I might still get that email. I might get it more than once.

Read more “Fie upon thee, Computer!”