blummy - The bookmarklet management bookmarklet

blummy - The bookmarklet management bookmarklet: "blummy is a tool for quick access to your favorite web services via your bookmark toolbar.
It consists of small widgets, called blummlets, which make use of Javascript to provide
rich functionality (such as bookmarklets). "

rough draft of Research Proposal

I’ve got a rough draft now, with a few holes in it. Around 2,000 qualifying words, somewhat disjointed. It needs an absract along the lines of ‘explain to us in 3 minutes what your proposal is, and why you are doing it”

work in progress is here:

http://tinyurl.com/9uvjo

See more progress on: write my research proposal

Upgrade sooner rather than later

I was hoping to leave the ukcider wiki on mediawiki 1.3.9 while installing 1.5 for the new project, but now I think some of the advantages are pressing:

• bug and security fixes


• potential for anti-spam plugins


• easier skin customisation


• editable navigation side bar.

Since it’s a live database, I have to make a backup copy of it first and use that to create a testbed environment where I can try out the upgrade safely, since it’s not just a matter of uploading new software, but restructuring the existing tables in the database as well, and there is no guarantee this will work with all combinations of upgrade.

See more progress on: live upgrade from mediawiki 1.3 to 1.5

it doesn't exist

Well I?m dead chuffed that 14 people have cheered my original photograph of the dark side of the moon, but there?s just one tiny little problemette isn?t there. The moon rotates on its own axis such as to always present the same face towards the earth, but it also rotates around the earth once every 28 days, and the earth is rotating once a day as well. So the dark side is a variable piece of turf, which is also the light side depending on your point of view. Sorry to dispel any illusion.

See more progress on: The Dark Side Of The Moon

Tag cloud

Here it is:

http://www.tagcloud.com/cloud/html/I_read/default/50

See more progress on: Make a taglist type diagram of my learning

Maybe change to Flock?

There’s something about adding Technorati tags which is just a little bit too contrived for me at present, so it doesn’t always happen by any means. A smoother solution might be to adopt the new Flock browser, with its integration of del.icio.us tagging in the blogging tool.

See more progress on: Use Technorati tags in my blogs

Sustainable improvement in diet

I?ve managed to keep up a regime of including far more raw food in meals for 2-3 months, ate home packed lunches every day instead of eating out and kept several batches of sprouts on the go continuously. No danger of going back to wheat and dairy either. So I?ll mark this goal as ?done and wants to do continuously?, I just need to watch out for the coldest months of the year when it might be more tempting to shop for the oven rather than the salad bowl.

See more progress on: eat more raw foods

plazes.com

It was linked to by Ross Mayfield, and I installed it out of interest one day. It didn’t work and now it won’t go away.

See more progress on: find a way to delete ‘plazes’ from my mac

Self-publishing challenges hierarchies - and facilitators

Self-publishing challenges hierarchies - and facilitators: "Former intelligence agent Matthew Burton provides a couple of insights from his world that have much resonance for me elsewhere. First, that networks reflect the culture of the organisations that run them, and second the importance of self-publishing to release creativity and challenge hierarchies. Matthew offers these in a comment to the item I wrote about his article on intelligence agency knowledge systems.
I've been to a couple of meetings in recent weeks where a day's discussion among participants drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, and mainly freelances, released a wealth of ideas for the convenors. In each case the purpose of the day was to develop ways forward for the organisers, working with the freelances - but of course people also saw many ways in which they could work together in pairs and groups without detriment to the central purpose. The network energy could add to the centre.
As each meeting closed, I made the suggestion, prompted by comments among participants, that it would be a good idea to have a better-than-email system to enable people to share ideas and work together since there were no plans for a further get-together for some time. I offered to set up a 'neutral ground' system since nothing was in place.
In each case the response was the same .... don't do that, we'll get around to doing it......
....
I think I am right in detecting some instinctive anxiety about giving people a space with freedom to publish and a network structure different from the tightly moderated approach in the workshops.
A little self-reflection makes me think that behind my practical suggestions was also a desire to offer up that challenge. The great thing about social software is that the individual has that capability. In future I'll try and raise it earlier in the day."

multiple wordpress

I’ve nearly completed this one, with some difficulty. Uploading the unzipped wordpress files doesn’t work using Dreamweaver as an ftp client for some reason, similar problem to mediawiki 1.5 I think, something to do with files such as ”.htaccess” or edited .php files which DW hangs up on. My solution was to go and look for a proper FTP client, but I found Fetch instead, which kind of works. There must be a simple, free, two-pane Mac ftp client out there?
Once I had one instance of Wordpress installed, I tried running the config.php again using a different table prefix. That worked fine for the second instance, but overwrote some parts of the first instance. In order to start all over again I had to go into mySQL and delete all of the tables, then ftp the whole thing up again to a second directory, but still pointing at the same database as the first. Thus I now have two wordpress blogs running off the same mySQL db, and all that’s left is to repeat the excercise but using /blog/ instead of /wordpress/ so I get a better URL for the new blog.

See more progress on: install multiple blogs on one database

minute by minute

Minute by Minute was a local film making project in which 12 artists each made 3 individual 1 minute films for a joint website using the same creative limitations based on lumiere brothers aesthetics brought into the digital age. The outcome was a lavish launch at Stratford Circus of minutebyminute.co.uk , which is no longer available, in fact even the instigators deseperateoptimists.com seems to have been taken down after 10 years work. Strange. Fortunately I put my own contribution onto my own site so it’s still there at http://www.frankieroberto.com/dad/minute/

See more progress on: Take part in a collaborative creative endeavor

Introducing the LMOS Open Source Project

The LMOS project seems to have admirable aims and aspirations, such as "The next generation of LMS's should put students, not classes and groups, at the center of the design."

Introducing the LMOS Open Source Project: "Update: The LMOS Project Vision and Mission Statements are now in HTML format on the project wiki.

I?m pleased to announce that the LMOS now has a home on Eduforge. This is an idea that really belongs to some of my colleagues at SUNY as much as it does to me, and I?ve been dying to give them the recognition and credit that they deserve. (Some of them are a little shy.) In particular, Patrick Masson and Bernie Durfee have been equal partners in working out the LMOS concept.

You can find the project?s vision and mission statements here [RTF]. We?re eager to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Expect more announcements on this project in the coming days. We?re working on some partnerships that could be truly exciting. "

distributedresearch.net

I checked out my preferred name with a select group of shrewd researchers and got a positive response without any problems and then decided to go for it. Then I discovered that just because a doamin name returns “site not found” doesn’t always mean it’s available, so I switched from .com to .net which is fine by me.

See more progress on: Register a new domain name

Research Proposal cannot be written just like that.

I’ve come to realise that writing the research proposal is not something that I can just sit down and do one day, consider it ‘done’ then get on with the rest of it. It’s going to need to be left open and developed alongside the completion of other tasks, such as researching literature, doing the first few AEs and preparing the pilot exhibition.

See more progress on: write my research proposal

How to backup mySQL

Well that was easy, I can do it through the php control panel thingy. From “operations” choose copy structure+data to wiki2 and that then becomes a complete copy of the entire wiki. Then empty the data from ‘old’ and it reduces right down to 4Mb. Shame I can’t have more that 2 DBs at the moment. Next task perhaps, upgrade mediawiki to 1.5

See more progress on: be satisfied that mySQL database is safely backed up

walking 10,000 steps a day

Over exactly seven days I managed to get the overall total down to 79000, so that’s an average of only 11287 steps per day. If I did any less than this I would fail to earn a living or buy food.
conclusion: If I wanted to get fitter by walking more I would have to adopt a target like “walk 15000 steps a day” but I’m not at all convinced that walking more is the answer for me. Walking the same number of steps only faster would seem a better one, but the pedometer doesn’t measure speed or effort, only the number of movements. I think I’ll pass it on to somebody else for a bit.

See more progress on: walk 10,000 steps a day

Schools put science on big screen

Schools put science on big screen: "Young filmmakers are to premier their 10-minute movies at London's Science Museum."

This was a test blog post from the new browser based newsreader Google Reader , re-edited with ecto

pilot exhibition

For the pilot exhibition I want to try and make sure I’ve got all the technology in place, including domain hosting, blog, wiki, ggroup, podcast and feedback mechanism. Then I will be able to concentrate on doing as many research cycles as possible, building up the contacts and content for the main exhibition in March 2006.

See more progress on: decide what my 3rd year exhibition will be like

Still sprouting

I’m still sprouting and learning. Alfalfa and fenugreek are infallible staples, which can be taken to the green leaf stage easily. The chick peas, cow peas and lentils can start to go off and there can be problems with sunflower husks despoiling the sprouts. In fact, I think the seeds I’m using have far too many broken or damages individuals so I shall seek better quality ones.

I tried some dried broad beans from the Turkish shop, and these are really interesting. After soaking for two days and sprouting for at least 7, the green stalks which emerge can be eaten at about 2-3 inches before the young leaves unfurl at which stage they are fresh green and juicy. The rest of the bean and the root looks a bit offputting, so I mashed them up in a food processor to make a sprouted bean paste which was fine. The advantage of these is that fresh broad beans are only available for a short season but sprouting dried ones could be done all through the year.

Yet to try: brocolli, radish, unhulled sesame

See more progress on: eat more raw foods

Carefully

This requires a lot of initial research and thinking to make the right choice. I need to choose a name which will be sensibly descriptive way into the future, easy to remember, not too long, unambiguous, distinctive, interesting.

See more progress on: Register a new domain name

Not much choice really

I was given a pedometer today, along with lots of other people. It says “the first step towards fitness” on the box, and apparantly people should be walking 10,000 steps per day. I don’t own a car, and I have a regular journey to make most days which I think will cover most of the 10,000 anyway. I don’t really want to walk any more than that, it just wears out my joints and makes me feel tired, but what itrigues me slightly, is whether having the pedometer will influence decisions I make about journeys.

See more progress on: walk 10,000 steps a day

Musical Ability: a blessing or a curse

I discovered I liked singing at a very early age, then I was made to take piano lessons which became a chore, so I stopped. A couple of years after, I picked up a guitar, taught myself, and it soon became an obsession. I specialised in 12 string guitar for quite a long time, and then developed a 6 string fingerpicking style which transferred back to the flatpicking. But it’s more about the songs really, than just the guitar technique. It’s opened doors for me but also caused pain. The curse of having a musical capability is that if you try to make a living out of it, much of the joy can get squeezed out of it, but if you don’t then you have to put up with a day job that isn’t really what you’d rather be doing.

See more progress on: Learn to play a musical instrument