Don't Back Down

I've just released MT-Outliner v1.1, which adds support for sorting the items in your OPML file. Simply add the sorted attribute to the MTOutlinerItems container. Set this value to case to consider the case of the text (or title) attribute in the sort. Set this value to nocase to ignore the case during the sort process.

  <MTOutlinerItems sorted="case">
  <MTOutlinerItems sorted="nocase">

The sort is performed on the MTOutlinerItemText field, which contains the text attribute of your item if available, or the title attribute of your item if the text attribute isn't available. If this attribute begins with a special character (~()[], etc), your results may be somewhat unpredictable.

In order to upgrade from a prior version of MT-Outliner, simply replace the Outliner.pl file in your Movable Type plugins directory.

"The officer could have taken down a tag number and stopped. You follow them, you don't push them to go faster. I think they were forced into a high-speed chase and they panicked."

An interesting thought, to be sure. Does it merit further consideration? Perhaps knowing the context will help. This quote came from the father of a 15-year-old, who died in a crash following the pursuit in question (free registration may be required). What do you think now?

Rather than engaging in pursuit of a vehicle that exhibits tendencies of an unsafe driver (notably weaving and speeding), should the officer who noticed the erratic behavior have taken down the license number and stopped, letting the vehicle proceed, to whatever end it might find? In a perfect world, where you know everything about every situation and the results that arise from your actions, maybe that would be an option.

But in the real world, our world, which is far from perfect? Absolutely not. The officer had no way of knowing that this was a car full of teenagers out for a joy ride, rather than someone driving after a few too many at the local watering hole. Even if the officer knew that it was teenagers out for a joyride, there would be no evidence that they hadn't been drinking. Even if there was such evidence, it's the responsiblity of that officer to make every effort to keep the streets safe.

If the driver of the vehicle was weaving and speeding, as it allegedly was, the officer had every right to pursue the vehicle in order to maintain safety for other vehicles. That the driver exhibited horrible judgment and took off, rather than stop for the officer, is no one's problem except for the driver of the vehicle.

I'm sorry that these seven teenagers died. It's a tragedy. But blaming someone who should remain blameless - and in fact should receive kudos for doing their job as best they can - isn't going to help. If, instead of crashing by itself, this car had plowed into a loaded school bus a few minutes after the officer stopped, would it be okay, because the officer didn't engage in pursuit? Heck no - at that point, they'd be in the limelight because they didn't stop them when they had the chance.

This is no one's fault but the driver's.

Okay, I admit that I've probably talked too much about weddings here for any normal straight guy. Sorry, but I've got one more observation to make, and I'll try and stay away for a while.

As far as I can remember, the wedding party always faces the person conducting the service - whether that person is the minister, the justice of the peace or Elvis. That's fine. Makes sense, because the officiant is the one conducting the proceedings. I have no problem there.

But why in the world do the betrothed face away from the audience? If I go to a wedding (admittedly, not something I've done often), why do I want to see some person I've never met before, and the backs of the people that I came to watch?

I'm sure there are certainly some valid reasons - the best friend in the front row who makes faces during the cermony, the giggles or the tears in the middle of the vows, the furtive glances between bride and groom. But why is it that this person conducting the wedding, who at best is probably the pastor of your church, gets to witness those moments, while the people you really care about - friends and family - get to watch your butt?

The holidays are finally about over. Vacation days from work will be ending shortly (those due to the holidays, anyway). Hopefully my posting schedule will get back on track shortly.

I've updated MT-ModCheck to include an additional method of processing. If you are currently using MT-ModCheck, like the way it works, and don't want or need to change that method, then you do not need this upgrade. The only thing that is new is another option for getting at the same function.

In MT-ModCheck v1.1, you can access data through the traditional Plugin Mode, or you can use the new Standalone Mode.

Read "MT-ModCheck 1.1.0" »

I was redesigning the plugin pages to get the documentation into a useful format, and found that I needed an anchor tag so that the reader could jump to a particular place in the document.

Read "Anchors Away!" »

I don't know if it's simply because I'm getting older, but I am so glad that Christmas has finally come and gone. Especially the gone part. It seems like each year, Christmas becomes more and more work. Blech. Give me Thanksgiving any time - sure, there is some work to get the food ready, and there might be some decorations that are appropriate for the time of year.

But it's nothing like Christmas, with the presents, and the wrapping, and the tree, and the lights. Whew. I'm bushed. One thing that I am especially glad that has gone is The Christmas Carol. I don't mean the people who walk around and sing (do people actually do that any more)? I mean the Charles Dickens story.

Read "No More Christmas Carols" »

The other day, I had the need to attach to a Microsoft SQL Server database that a customer had sent on CD. Not a backup mind you, just the raw files. Took me a little while to figure out this puzzler, so I figured I'd post it here in case you had run into the same thing.

Read "Attach an SQL Database" »

Not so long ago, the European Union (EU) decided to flex their muscle. You see, President Bush had decided it was a good idea to increase steel tariffs on imported steel in order to give our steel manufacturers more of a fighting chance. Keep the prices artificially high until they have a chance to recover, then we'll be able to compete fairly. Does anyone notice the problems with this statement?

The EU did. They threatened retalitory tariffs on our exports - products from Harley-Davidson motorcycles to orange juice. Guess what happened. That's right, Dubya backed down.

Don't get me wrong - I don't blame him for doing so. To try and keep up such a farce would be suicide. Where I have a problem is that these tactics exist in the first place. Why is it the place of our government to subsidize industries that can't make it on their own? Why do they think that this form of protectionism is good for us? This is the very thing that we don't need.

The problem is that once we set this precedent, it will happen over and over again. Now that they've tasted success, the EU wants to taste it again. Just like the last time, they are targeting states seen as crucial to the president's re-election bid. And just like last time, we will surely cave.

We aren't in the catbirds seat any longer, America. It's time to put up or shut up. Instead of listening to our egos, why don't we speak with our hearts? Rather than letting ourselves get caught up in the minutiae, we ought to just show up and do our jobs. It's time to crawl out from under the government's coattails.

I took a look at the default template for an Atom feed, introduced in Movable Type v2.65. This template seems to be where much of the new stuff fits into the new release.

Read "Atom and Movable Type" »

I've just completed the changes to move the site to Movable Type v2.65.

Read "Movable Type v2.65" »