Monthly Archives: November 2011
Use Morse Code to Identify Spam
Do you have a GMail account? Did you know that you can create multiple email addresses that all go to that same account? How? Well, GMail ignores “dots†in your email address. For example the email address that I give to everyone is nathan.price@gmail.com. But if you sent email to nathanprice@gmail.com I would also get it. And if you sent it to nat.han.price@gmail.com I would also get it. This gave me an idea…
In the olden days (yes, before I was born), there wasn’t a telephone or email system. People had to send messages by telegraph or actually physically moving a letter from one place or the other. Now the telegraph was a sort of binary system. You could either turn on a signal or turn it off. And some clever people decided that by using spaces, short on signals (dots), and longer on signals (dashes) that you could send messages. There is one such scheme called Morse code.
Now combining the information about GMail ignoring dots, with the idea that dots could actually mean something gave me an idea. You could increase the number of dots in your email to indicate a decrease in importance. Lets say you fill out a survey that requires an email address. I could put n.a.t.h.a.n.p.r.i.c.e@gmail.com Now every time I get an email addressed this way, I know it is safe to ignore. Also, I can see who this group has given my email address out to.
Eliminate spam using a Morse code…
Picture Gallery and Slideshow solution for WordPress
You want to be able to create slideshows and lists of pictures within a post on a WordPress site? There are many solutions available. One of them that meets my needs is the NextGEN Gallery WordPress plugin.
Features
- Templates : You can add custom templates for your theme.
- Media RSS feed : Add the Cooliris Effect to your gallery
- Role settings : Each gallery has a author
- AJAX based thumbnail generator : No more server limitation during the batch process
- Copy/Move : Copy or move images between galleries
- Sortable Albums : Create your own sets of images
- Upload or pictures via a zip-file (Not in Safe-mode)
- Watermark function : You can add a watermark image or text
- JavaScript Effect : Use any available popular image effect : Shutter, Thickbox, Lightbox or Highslide
- Multiple CSS Stylesheet : Use a nice shadow effect for your thumbnails with your own CSS file
- Slideshow : Full integrated slideshow as jQuery or Flash solution
- TinyMCE : Button integration for easy adding the gallery tags
- Sidebar Widget : Show a slideshow, random or recent picture at your sidebar
- Language support : Translated in more than 30 languages
- Translation downloader : Download with one click the new translation file
- Upload tab integration : You have access to all pictures via the upload tab
- Tag support for images : Append related images to your post, create a image tag-cloud
- Meta data support : Import EXIF, IPTC or XMP meta data
- Sort images feature
- Support for XML Sitemaps : Add Images to your sitemaps with the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin
How to Install
1) Log into your WordPress dashboard.
2) Go to Plugins->Add New
3) Type “NextGen Gallery†into the search box and click “Search Pluginsâ€
4) “NextGen Gallery†by Alex Rabe should be the first item. The search results may change, so make sure you are installing the right thing.
5) Click on “Install Now†and click “OK†on the confirmation screen:
6) Click “Activate Pluginâ€
7) Now the NextGen Gallery WordPress plugin should be installed, activated, and ready to go…
How to Use
There are many ways to use this plugin. I’m going to show you how I created a gallery and used a short code to insert it into a post.
1) Go to the new “Gallery†section on your wordpress menu:
2) Click Add Gallery/Images
3) Give the Gallery a name. (For this example, I have 9 pictures of street views that I have taken. So I am calling it “street viewsâ€)
4) Click “Add Galleryâ€
5) Now it is time to upload the pictures. You can choose to upload pictures individually, or you can zip them up and upload one zip file. There are several options available here, and I recommend exploring them all. For this example, I am going to use the Upload a Zip-File.
6) Click on “Upload a Zip-Fileâ€. Click “choose file†and then click start Upload.
7) Now let’s view the Gallery. Click on Manage Gallery. And Click on Street views
8) Here you can see all the pictures in the gallery. Make adjustments such as rotating, caption, name, tags, exclude pictures, sort, etc.
9) Now let us insert this gallery into the post. For this, we need to know the Gallery Id. Which we can see in the list of Galleries. This one is ID 1. Type the short code below to insert this gallery.
Here is the results:
[nggallery id=1]
There are many, many more features that I did not cover. But this makes it very simple to add photoslide shows any place you want on your wordpress site.
If there are favorite features you use of this plugin, please leave a comment. Also, if there are other plugins that you would recommend then leave a comment about that as well.
What’s the economy for anyway?
An excerpt of a book “What’s the economy for, Anyway"†was published in The Bloomberg’s Businessweek and sent to me by a friend:
It is a very good article that asks a lot of fundamental questions. Below is a listing of books and other material that is referenced from this article. Also included are works by Josef Pieper, a philosopher that explores the value of leisure.
Common sayings turned funny
I got this email from a friend… Thought I would share.
1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on my list.
3. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
8. Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good Evening,’ and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.
9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
10. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted PAYCHECKS.
12. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put ‘DOCTOR.’
13. I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
17. I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
18. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
19. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
20. There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.
21. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.
22. You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
23. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
24. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
25. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
26. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
27. A diplomat is someone who tells you where to go in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
28. Hospitality is making your guests feel at home even when you wish they were.
29. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
30. When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.
31. Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.