Just Like (a) Human

• TAMARINDO. *sage nod* #
• ProjectWonderful just got more wonderful. I can now has targeted ads by country. #
• COME ON, #TAMPA Grow a sense of adventure! For $7.50, try something different, courtesy of @Groupocity. Adventure? Less than $8? DO IT! #
• Feeling lucky, da! Scooter's just temperamental and needed her battery charged. Should be riding again tomorrow. #
• Sky better clear up for 45 minutes. Let me get to work on the scooter, and then you can piss down. #
• added Fallout 3 to their game list http://gamerdna.com/r/4qrp #
• played Fallout 3 and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords yesterday http://gamerdna.com/r/4qDH #
• p.s.: WET. All day. At work. It didn't wait until I got home. -_-; #
• I PLAYED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 #
• Pelon Pelo Rico. *ptooey* #
• I wish I had a truck, and/or a reliable scooter. Very tired, and still have farther to push this thing home. #
• Is it bad that I relax after a horrible evening by thumbing through adult pictures just to put a smile on my face? #
• Breaking free from all these chains, indeed. ? http://blip.fm/~kcm0f #
• I seriously want bacon ramen. Make it happen. #
• All this talk of pizza is making me hungry for one right now, @Groupocity! So, any hints on when the $1 pizzas are coming back? #
• Hrm. Maybe it's time I RMA'd that old Western Digital HDD. I need that half-terabyte of space. #
• So, played Oblivion With Guns (Fallout 3). All I can say is, FIRE ants. LITERALLY. #
• played Fallout 3 yesterday http://gamerdna.com/r/4uBz #
• Hm. Do I fix this computer and start the OS install on the other one? Or do I play Gunblivion some more? #
• 'Cause you're MINE! ? http://blip.fm/~kfqq0 #
• added Halo 3 to their game list http://gamerdna.com/r/4v7f #
• Decided that I'd fix my cousin's computer so she can have it in the morning. She brought Diet Dr Pepper, so why the hell not? #
• Damn pretty song, really. ? http://blip.fm/~kg50c #
• Nice and crunchy. MJ is great, period. ? http://blip.fm/~kh5ve #
• Feeling silly. Wanting foods wrapped with bacon, and maybe a batter-dipped deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. #
• Not much for this, but someone needs help with medical bills, and is offering a poseable model on eBay: http://shop.ebay.com/230434005935 #
• GODDAMNIT, Ubuntu. That's three times you've failed to allow me to choose what I want for installation of the OS! #
• My fault, Ubuntu. I should have read the bloody manual. This could have been done weeks ago. #
• Exhausted… but I haven't finished this damn install enough times today. #
• I read the damn manual. Ubuntu is a pain in the ass. It took seven attempts to install Ubuntu. Seriously. And I didn't get what I wanted. #
• http://twitpic.com/11xsvv – . o ( . o ( moo ) ) #

As I mentioned a number of days ago, I had written a script that would let me check WordPress installs even if they’re mostly broken, as long as the database information is available to me.

I noted that I wanted to be able to run it from the command line at some point.

I managed to pull this off in a couple of iterations of the script, and as such, I am happy with that.

I offer my little script up for people.

It can be had here: wp-tattler.tar.bz2

To run it, you need shell/command line access and PHP5. You may have to change the shebang. chmod it to executable status (chmod ugo+rx ttlr.php worked for me). cd to a directory that may contain a WP install, and call the script (for me, it was ~/path/to/ttlr.php).
You should get output like this:

[xial: ~/pxnet]$ ~/my/path/to/ttlr.php
WP Tattler 0.1.0
Local WordPress files claim to be: 2.9.1
But the database says: 2.9.1

Hopefully it’ll be a help to some stressed admin, even if it’s only a basic foundation for something written much better than a newbie like me can do.

Addendum: License is a BSD license.

Four years ago, I tossed out a suggestion that I’d love to see.

Back then, I wished quick service food places like McDonald’s, Burger King, and similar, would print calorie counts on their receipts to make people aware of just how many calories they are buying.

Right now, I’m not seeing anyone doing that, which is rather depressing.

It’s not about getting the data into the computers, either — I mean, holy boats, the data’s usually up on their respective websites.

All I want to see is a single row that reads:
“This order has at least xxxx calories.”

Season it up any way you’d like, but the calorie count would be nice to see on the receipt.
If you really want to be pedantic, break it down further, and list it per meal on the order, but even the overall number is good.

Using ‘at least’ would be ideal, because people like to add things after the order, like ketchup, special sauce, and whatnot.

Am I alone in wanting to see this actually happen?

• This is getting to be irritating. Got someone texting me stupid, personal things, and I don't know who they are. #
• But I can't cuss them out — I think it's someone's grandmother. #
• Blarg. Time to head out to work here in a few minutes. #
• … maybe, just MAYBE, I should get ready for work. #
• … it is only after posting a URL that I notice how WRONG the thing sounds when spoken out loud. I lol'd. I sincerely lol'd. #
• Could use a couple of large unglazed terra cotta planters. Would love to have a smoker. #
• Holy crap. They fixed the jukebox in #EVE. Spooooookyyyyy… #
• I should look for an LCD display with a bad backlight. 15 inches is good enough. #
• I just turned off @Firefox's automatic update. I think it's about time I get used to Iron. I'll miss some extensions. #
• Sitting here, combing prime. for old WordPress installations. @biafrarepublic, I'm going to have your head for two of the oldest so far. #
• $24.95 for Air Revitalizing System – Save 64% off Retail, with Free Shipping, too. http://www.groupocity.com/tampa/clean-air-system #
• A-Side Worldwide, Bitchiiiiiz! ? http://beta.blip.fm/~jo1wk #
• DAN CING MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! <3 ? http://beta.blip.fm/~jo26m #
• I can ____ my ____ with no __________. ? http://blip.fm/~jo3w7 #

For those of you who noticed my downtime here, we recently went through a HDD failure.

Backups were restored, but they didn’t feel so… fresh.

When I got back up, I was apparently on WP version 2.8, but had updated to 2.9.1 prior to this. Through some manual trickery, I forced WP to let me into the admin console (which required me to let it ‘update’ my DB to 2.8’s way of doing things), then bumped the files back to 2.9.1, which does another DB update.

Dan mentioned we’re going to have a bunch of people who are going to need to have an update done, to catch them up.

I figured that I’d dust off my PHP skills and try writing something myself.

All it does is this:
Provided that the WordPress installation is at least intact, it includes the user’s config file (wp-config.php), and their wp-includes/version.php file.

It reports back what version the version.php file says it is, and then looks at the database, checking what version the DB says it has.

I’d like to add two features to it in the near future:

• Dump a copy of the database, w.r.t tables that would be affected by a WordPress install/update. This should be relatively easy, as long as all plugins respect the table prefix that WP uses (in my case, I use something other than wp_). Dump ‘em, tar ‘em, gzip ‘em up, and serve with a side of I backed that up for you.
• Provide a link that triggers the WP Update feature. It’s not going to work on every host, especially not if the host uses lame safe_mode = ON in their php.ini config (I HATE YOU WHEN YOU DO THAT. FIND A BETTER WAY TO SECURE THINGS).

It’s not a plugin, because I want to just be able to drop it in the root of a WordPress directory, throw a browser at it, and get an answer. It’d be even nicer if I could invoke that script from the command line and get the same answers to questions (which I think you can do in PHP, but I’m not sure?).

Once I can get back to my code, I’d be willing to share it.

Good times, good times.

• Something about this song… I rather like it. Also, blip 42 get. ? http://blip.fm/~izqjw #
• http://fuk.ly/PV — too. much. time. Seriously. #
• Funny how you can roll your car, pitch you and the girl out, and get right back up 'n race in Outrun. ? http://blip.fm/~j03m6 #
• Surely, there's a name for the effect where supposedly spicy food gets spicier when it gets cold… #
• Thank you for 28.2 on my digital tuner. It's 28 degrees outside, and I don't want to ride to work. Time to compile extra layers… #
• #Tampa isn't supposed to be THIS COLD. #
• Wow. This is the clearest my ears have been in over a week. Awesome. #
• Awesome deal on #JerkHut today @Groupocity. Deal looks good at both locations. I'm personally spoiled on their food – I have it quite often! #
• http://bit.ly/6bUFry – Hey! @UnknownKadath ! :3 TOOOOOONGUE. #
• The Minstrels of Mayhem were great. ? http://blip.fm/~j3iq6 #
• Insert long, complicated stream of profanity, real or made up HERE. I'm frustrated. #
• Underwater sinkholes and the Death Star 'dent'. You herd it hurr first. #
• Sometimes, I shake my fist at people for sticking earworms in my head. ? http://blip.fm/~j6xk9 #
• 50.9 °F! THAT's more like it, Florida! I can ride in this and not be a fox-cicle when I get to work! :3 #
• Urg. Would rather go back to bed right now, but… time to go to work. Can lounge around all day tomorrow. #
• Very funny. Twitter doesn't seem to recognize the ultimate in short URLs. #
• Looking at this #Linode — It's interesting, but I'm having trouble justifying the expense. If I made money with my site, that's one thing. #
• Hm. Neat video on how to handle dry skin on youtube: http://youtu.be/zAF9PPhnatU #
• The weather feels nice, even from in here. Heater's off. AC is off. Sliding door is open. T-shirt weather. No sweatpants. #
• played Mass Effect and Mirror's Edge yesterday http://gamerdna.com/r/49cM #

Last year, I built a fractal antenna for myself, so that I could try to watch local TV.

It’s large (1′ square of plywood), crude (1′ square of plywood), but largely effective. I get all of my local channels except ‘one’ (10.1, 10.2, same network, so one channel, sorta), with very little disruption.

It’s amusing that I mostly use it to check the news and weather in my area. Even though I have internet everywhere I go, either in my pocket on my phone, or on any computer (except one) in the house, I’ve been turning on the TV tuner on my computer just to watch the local news for weather data.

Although I consider myself to be quite firmly entrenched in the Internet age, I guess there’s something to be said for having a real person deliver news in a format that you can divide your attention on. I can push Windows Media Center to the background, in a small window, and continue clearing out my inboxes without missing a beat.

In the absence of channel 10 (the local CBS affiliate, whose signal is non-existent on my antenna, sadly), I’ve started relying on channel 28 (the local ABC affiliate) for my news stream. I’m a bit biased against the NBC affiliate here for whatever reason (one reason could be that BS NBC tried on a prime time socketed show? Just post the TV-MA rating block before the show, send the appropriate V-Chip signal, and let parents actually TRY PARENTING on their own for the first time in two decades. Don’t drown out the opening minute of comedy of a show with a noisy anouncement that this show is not suitable for young audiences, you fools. It actually forced me to have to download that episode to hear what was even said!)… therefore, I feel I can’t rely on content flowing over their station.

If my antenna were stronger, I could pick up at least one station from Sarasota (WWSB, channel 40, ABC affiliate) as well. That’d be nifty.

As a result, I have considered building a new antenna, reduced physical size, with more heads in more directions. If this works, then I’ll be pretty darn happy. I’m thinking that I might use an empty plastic bottle to elevate the antenna, and mount my fractals on top and bottom of the next frame, which needs to be wrapped with foil for reflectivity. I might see a boost in signal as a result.

This could be good…