Don't Back Down

I don't often troll Technorati to see who is linking to me, but perhaps I should, as it can turn up some interesting results. For instance, the other day I found my way to Global Vue, a site which is apparently run as part of a class project of some sort by Andria Krewson, a 25-year veteran of newspapers, and apparent current employee of the Charlotte Observer. That last part isn't really relevant, I just thought I'd let you know so that you're aware of the details.

In any case, the link that garnered my attention was The five best and worst sites, part IV, in which she featured none other than yours truly. In case you're still wondering, I won the worst title, not the best, which is but one of the reasons I'm writing today. The subject of part four of this ongoing series was sustainability, defined as capable of being sustained. Since we aren't supposed to use the word in the definition, sustained means continuous. In other words, for our purposes, the definition shall be capable of being continuous. It doesn't flow off the tongue, but you should be able to get what I mean. Let's take a look, shall we?

Read "Is This the Least Sustainable Site on the Internet?" »

It's not difficult to get a web site these days. To be fair, it's never been particularly difficult, but now it's probably easier than it's ever been. I'm sure that it will only get easier as time goes on. Just because you have a web site, however, doesn't necessarily mean that you have one that functions well, however. You need to consider first the ability of others to get to your site, second the ability of visitors to return to your site, third your ability to keep the site running and finally what you will do if you need to move the site for any reason. These aspects of running your site are all related, but it is not always immediately clear how the pieces fit together.

First and foremost, you need a domain name. This is, quite simply, how people find you. Sure, you can get a site on a hosted service, and many of those will offer you the ability to map your domain to theirs. But whatever you do, don't settled for foo.somehostedservice.com, because invariably you will want to move your site, and when you do, you won't be able to take your link mojo with you. Get the domain name and start using it from day one. It'll cost about $10 per year. It's a worthwhile investment so do this first. Yes, even before you have somewhere to put your data, because the two do not have to go together. I'll tell you why next.

Read "The Three Pillars of Constructing Your Domain" »

Okay, so maybe Vinny's hair isn't gray yet. Or maybe he just uses a gallon of Grecian Formula. I don't know. But does it really matter? For perhaps the first time this season - and maybe last season as well, the Carolina Panthers seem to have a bit of momentum, thanks to none other than Vinny Testaverde.

This is a guy who wasn't even on their roster last week at this time. He wasn't on anyone's roster last week. He wasn't even playing football (football with the kids doesn't count). According to most sources, he hasn't played in five weeks. But he arrives in town in the middle of last week, passes a physical and wins a game. Most of us couldn't do that when we were half his age - and because of his age, that's a realistic possibility. Here Vinny makes it look almost effortless as he gets ready to turn 44 in less than a month.

Read "Carolina Panthers Win One With the (Silver) Fox" »

It just doesn't seem like anyone wants to run away with the high school football season this year. Even the mighty Independence Patriots were beaten back in September after a public school record 151 straight wins. Now they didn't lose to an area high school, and they did travel all the way to Ohio, but they still lost. And they haven't looked like the power team that they've been in winning seven straight state championships (though recent weeks have seen them pick up some steam).

Now the Butler Bulldogs, who most in the area have already crowned as the heir apparent to the Patriot's crown, just can't get it done. First they lose to the West Charlotte Lions in mid-September, in a two-part game that had them looking completely flat. At least that was West Charlotte, who has a strong team. Now they face the East Mecklenburg Eagles, who aren't bad, but who definitely aren't in the top of the rankings, and what happens? They get smoked (the Bulldogs, that is). What's going on?

Read "East Mecklenburg Eagles Stun Butler Bulldogs" »

When Six Apart released the latest version of Movable Type, the software underwent a massive rewrite. The interface changed considerably from what it had been, and by most accounts it is a good change. There are, however, a few things that just don't work quite right.

One of the things that is perhaps most frustrating is the editing box. There is little that can be done with this for now, especially if you want to maintain the WYSIWYG editor. Similarly, the syntax highlighting function of the template editor causes problems too, especially on lesser-used editors like Opera and Safari. So we have to focus elsewhere, perhaps on the menus.

Though the drop-down menus are certainly cool, they tend to get stuck open, and that is terribly annoying. There is almost nothing worse than trying to work, only to find yourself sitting there looking at a menu that appears to be looking back.

Read "Making Your Movable Type Menus Snappy Again" »

It's not uncommon to find people screaming at the top of their lungs that credit cards are bad. Of course, if you use just about anything incorrectly it can be bad. Frankly, I don't have anything against credit cards - I think that they are great, provided you know how to use them. We have a handful of credit cards that we pay off each month, so in effect, we are using other people's money for the course of the month. And yes, I fully understand that we could get into a bind if we needed to pay some other bills first, and couldn't pay those cards off. But that's why we try and have money available to pay the bills. It's all about using your head.

That said, if you can't do that, then maybe they aren't for you at all, and that's okay as well. But what I don't get are the people who talk about credit cards being the worst thing to hit the planet since, well, evil, but they don't talk about things like ATM cards. I mean really. ATM cards - in fact, let's lump all debit cards or check cards or whatever you want to call them into the same bunch - can be just as bad, if not worse. Sure, there is the advantage that you can't spend more money than you have, but you can sure spend it just as quickly.

Read "Is All Plastic Bad, or Only Certain Kinds?" »

To be fair, in this day and age, just about anyone anywhere can become famous. All you need is a webcam - and to be able to visit YouTube with some regularity. After that, you'll be famous in no time flat.

But there are still a huge number of syndicated radio programs out there, in every shape and size. Many are simple talk radio formats, but just about every sort of music has a show as well. Here in Charlotte, the most popular show is apparently Steve Harvey. I can't say that it's either good or bad. Before anyone gets upset, I'm not saying either way - I can't say that I've heard it. That's just the way it is. But Steve, to my knowledge, isn't based in Charlotte. There are, however, at least five other shows that are based in Charlotte that are syndicated across the country. I don't know if that's a lot, but it seems impressive.

Read "Is Charlotte a Hotbed of Radio Syndication?" »

During the game against the Atlanta Falcons two weeks ago - yes, the one where they barely squeaked by with a win - Jake Delhomme came out of the game grasping his elbow in what appeared to be a serious amount of pain. What was perhaps the strangest thing about the injury is that no one appeared to touch him.

We found out over the next few days that Jake's elbow was strained or sprained or otherwise damaged, but that it should heal up with some minor rehab - nothing major, and though surgery was mentioned, that's just because surgery is usually mentioned in these things as a possibility. Worst case is that it would happen after the season. He'd be back. As it turns out, Jake won't be back this season, and it's currently looking like he may not be back in time for next season. In fact, he might not be back at all.

Read "Carolina Panthers Lose Jake Delhomme for Season" »

Today the United States - and to be fair, a number of other countries - celebrate Columbus Day. Unlike many other holidays named after a person, this one doesn't celebrate his birth (for the most part because no one knows exactly when he was born) but when he first landed in the Americas. Interestingly, even that is perhaps a bit of a misnomer, because according to what slim facts there are, land was only sighted on October 12, 1492, and the land in question was an island in The Bahamas. We don't even know which island it was!

While The Bahamas are in North America, it's not like he set foot on the US mainland in 1492, and certainly not on that particular day. So why do we celebrate today? Why do we celebrate today at all? Actually, it's not really today, since here we do things on the closest day to weekend, and, well, that would be Friday, and for some bizarre reason, we do it on the second Monday in October. I don't know why. Let's just talk about Columbus instead, okay?

Read "Curiously Celebrating Christopher Columbus" »

Despite a few lackluster performances over the last few weeks, it looks like the high school football powers have finally found their stride, at least for one week. We'll have to wait for another week to see if it's for real or if it's really a fluke that all of the big three are really starting to fire on all cylinders.

In last night's games, the Butler Bulldogs, the Independence Patriots and the West Charlotte Lions all won fairly easily, making things continue to be crowded at the top of the high school football charts. While Charlotte Latin is still in the mix - and in fact is still undefeated - they didn't fare as well, with their offense having some trouble getting on track, winning only 28-7.

Read "High School Football Powers Hit Stride" »

Over the last few years, the term beta has been somewhat misused. It used to be that when you used beta software, you expected to encounter problems. But when Google started throwing around the term for its offerings, people came to expect that beta software wasn't so bad. Still need an example? Despite Gmail arguably being the leader in web-based email systems, it's had that tag for more than two years.

There are plenty of examples, but hopefully you get the point I'm trying to make - that beta just doesn't mean what it used to. So there really shouldn't be a surprise that people install beta software. It used to be that only a certain crowd would install beta software, but these days, just about everyone will do so, thinking that they can expect to get what they have come to expect. That's not always the case, as sometimes you can get nasty surprises.

Read "How to Fix a Common MT4 Feed Formatting Error" »

Many of you may know that a few years ago, when I married my wife, I not only became a husband, but I became a father at the same time, because my wife had two children from a prior marriage. For a long time I had told myself that I wasn't planning to date anyone who had been married because I didn't want to deal with the issues that may arise. I also didn't want to be with someone who had children for the same reasons. Naturally, the universe saw to it that I had both.

As I am adopted myself, I don't think that it matters at all that I am not the biological father of the children, and I am certainly glad that I had a chance to know them when they were younger (meaning before we were married), as that has made the transition all the easier. In fact, our youngest I have known since he was born, and our oldest I have known since he was perhaps one. It is as if they are my own. I'm sure it would be that way regardless, but it is just that much easier.

Read "The Joy of a Child" »